Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hello, everybody. Jim Klauck here on the Phenomenal Business Growth Podcast.
Are you ready for another exciting episode? By the way, I want to thank Howard
Partridge for allowing me to host his podcast.
I get to meet great people and introduce them to you, the Inner Circle member.
Or if you're interested in joining the Inner Circle, watch this podcast to learn
(00:24):
more. I'd like to introduce to you Duff Tucker. Duff, how are you?
Great, Jim. Great to be here. It is great to have you here.
You're with Belay, and I love what you do because it fits so well with what
Howard does for his coaching clients, for the people who really depend upon him for resources.
(00:47):
You guys at Belay offer a fantastic suite of resources for that business owner
that's really good at what they do,
but they're not necessarily good at all the other parts and or have the capacity
to do those other parts. Can you talk about that?
Yeah, absolutely. So belay is a rock climbing term.
(01:09):
And when you are the belay, you're holding the line so that your partner can climb higher.
And that's exactly what we do with the businesses that we work with.
We take over some of the day-to-day tasks, some of the duties and And responsibilities,
they're very important aspects of the business, but they might not be the best
use of that business owner or
that leader in the business. It might not be the best use of their time.
(01:32):
And so we take that responsibility away from them. We take it over.
And more times than not, we manage it better than they could anyway.
And so it enables them to climb higher. It enables them to be more successful,
scale their business, grow their business faster.
And so we do that three ways. days. We have three different service lines that
(01:53):
we work with. We offer virtual assistants.
We offer accounting services professionals such as bookkeepers,
fractional controllers, fractional CFOs.
And then we work in the social media realm as well.
So we have social media strategists and marketing managers.
And so I kind of like to recap that as there are three M words that we use to define what we do.
(02:16):
We work with businesses to help them manage their time.
We work with businesses to help them with their money and getting that clear financial picture.
And lastly, we work with businesses to help with their messaging.
What's the message and the brand look like that they're projecting out to their audiences?
Yeah, Duff, what you do is really important for the small, small business owner,
(02:43):
arguably self-employed plus.
You know what I mean? Really good technician.
They have an assistant, an admin, maybe, maybe not.
They have another technician or two in the field and they really need help.
And Michael Gerber talks about this all the time.
You know, you got the technician, but are they really a business owner?
(03:05):
Or are they working in the business all the time? Can they work on the business?
Should they even be working on the business? That's another question.
Should they be the marketing expert? Maybe not.
They should have some input. But sometimes it's really important to have people
from the outside who are experts in their field to say, hey,
look, we understand that you're a carpet cleaner, that you're an electrician, you're a plumber.
(03:28):
Or, I mean, you could maybe be a chiropractor.
Whatever it is, you do what you do well.
That's what you were trained to do. You may be licensed to do it.
But are you really good at accounting?
Are you good at social media?
And if you are, why? Why aren't you putting the 10,000 hours into what you do so well?
(03:52):
And then if you're that good, you can charge more and you can pay belay.
Yeah, that's absolutely right. It's really taking a look at what,
and this is kind of an exercise we do with a new client.
We go through an exercise with them and we say, okay, what are the things that
you like doing? What are the things that you hate doing?
(04:12):
What are the things that you're doing that only you can do? do,
what are the things that you're doing that maybe you shouldn't be doing?
And then based upon those answers, we can help pinpoint and streamline where
what the service line is that is the best fit for them.
From my experience, Duff, I find a lot of small operators, small business,
(04:36):
and I operate a small business. Maybe I'm part of the problem, too.
The problem is the little entrepreneur, he or she thinks they know everything.
That's not how we do things here, Duff. That won't work. You don't understand our messaging.
Our accounting is different, which it can't be because accounting is accounting.
(04:58):
It's a law, pretty much. And so do you run into that with the small business
owner, the entrepreneur who knows everything, and they give you a little bit of a wall, right?
They're like, I don't know if you can really help me.
Yeah, absolutely. And I have a real heart for this because I come from a small family business.
So I watched my parents start and grow their own business and I watched them
(05:24):
wrestle and struggle through those ups and downs of, okay, I'm managing all
of this and this is my baby.
I want to be managing all of this. I want my hands into it and I own all of
this and really wrestling with, okay, this isn't the best use of me.
I need to hire somebody that maybe is more qualified to do these things so that
(05:44):
I can focus on the vision of my business. And I can, to your point,
be working on my business instead of in my business.
And so I have that. I grew up in that. I worked in that.
I love the aspect of being able to wear multiple hats. But also there's a level
of discipline and some accountability involved in getting to a place where you're
(06:06):
asking yourself those hard questions and maybe allowing some people to hold
you accountable that, hey, that's not the best use of you.
We need to outsource this portion of our business so that you can focus on this
aspect because this is where you really need to be as that owner, as that leader.
Duff, does Belay specialize in certain industries or is it wide?
(06:31):
Who can you help? Yeah, so it's wide. Now, we got our start working with churches
and nonprofits, and about half of our client base are churches and nonprofits.
And so, um, our company is 14 years old.
And so as, as time has gone, we've expanded over into the for-profit realm as well.
(06:51):
And so, but, uh, as a whole, we're very knowledgeable with churches,
nonprofits, but we also, we work with trades, uh, with folks in the trades industry.
We partner with a lot of CPA firms, um, because.
Small businesses work with CPA firms, and quite often they don't have their books up to date.
They don't have their books done, and the CPA firm, in order to do the taxes,
(07:13):
wind up doing bookkeeping as well.
And so bookkeeping is something we specialize in, and so a partnership with
a CPA firm, they make those introductions.
We can do the books and then have that healthy transition over to the CPA firm.
We work with healthcare professionals, so like dentists, eye doctors,
chiropractors, wellness spas. Those are great fits for us as well.
(07:35):
But the sweet spot is really working with those business professionals that
they're building a business, and the business is usually built around a service
line that they're an expert in. They're a subject matter expert.
They've worked in that industry for years, and they built a business around
their knowledge in that particular product or service line.
And so they're experts there, but they're novices and they're learning how to grow a business.
(08:02):
And so we can come in with a virtual assistant and help them get organized with
their inbox, with their calendar, with their systems and processes.
We can get them a clear financial picture with our bookkeeping services.
Services, we can help them see trends in their finances with a fractional controller,
(08:22):
and we can help them forecast and scale with a fractional CFO.
And then with regards to their messaging and what their brand recognition wants
to look like and how they want to advertise and market, we have marketing specialists
that can help them with that as well.
What's the next step for an individual who is in charge of a small business
(08:43):
and wants to engage with you and learn more?
Yeah. So you can go to our website, which is belaysolutions.com,
and you can click on the Getting Started form.
And it's a really easy form to fill out. And then that will put you in contact
with one of our solutions consultants.
And we have what we call an information call.
(09:06):
And it's about a 30-minute conversation where we kind of do a deep dive and
get a clear understanding of what your business is.
And we find out what are the main pain points and then together we start developing
what a solution looks like and how Belay could come alongside you and support
you and help you climb higher.
How does the pricing work?
(09:29):
Can I have just my accounting done and not my social media or my marketing done and not my accounting?
And is there a long-term contract?
Tell me more about it. That's a great question.
And so these professionals, those are three different product lines that we offer.
And so maybe you just need a bookkeeper. We can match you with a bookkeeping
(09:52):
service. If you need a virtual assistant, we can match you with that service line specifically.
Same thing with social media. And the way that that works is with the virtual
assistants and the social media specialists, those are sold in blocks of hours.
And so you buy a block of hours each month.
(10:13):
It's a recurring month-to-month contract. Our contracts are 12 months,
but we have a 30-day termination clause. So with 30 days notice,
you could terminate at any time.
With our bookkeeping services, we offer both blocks of hours and we also offer a scope of work.
And so a bookkeeping conversation or an accounting services conversation is
(10:35):
a little bit more involved because we're doing a deeper dive into what your finances look like.
Like how many bank accounts do you have? How many savings accounts?
How many credit cards do you have? And how many people are using the credit cards?
What does the expense reporting look like? So we need to understand all of those
things. Do you have an accounting software platform?
How are you paying bills? All of that stuff. And so we do a deep dive to understand
(10:58):
what the current process is, what's working well, what's not working well,
and then we can develop a strategy based off of that.
How many clients do you have? So we have over 3,000 clients across the U.S.
And a couple of things that really set us apart from our competitors are all
(11:18):
of our contractors are U.S.-based.
And so everybody works in the U.S. and everybody is U.S.-based.
The other thing that really sets us apart is that we're not just matching you
with a contractor, but we're also going to match you with a Belay employee that's
called a client success consultant.
And the client success consultant, their responsibility is to get to know you,
(11:39):
get to understand your business,
your culture, what are your major pain points, and then they're going to take
that information and do that matching process, that hiring process for you.
And the relationship with the client success consultant doesn't just end once
you've been placed with a contractor.
They'll continue to work with our contractors, coaching them,
(11:59):
and also working with you, coaching you.
Because to your point earlier, a lot of times it's hard for a business owner
to let go of the reins and delegate responsibilities over when they're outsourcing.
And so the client success consultant can really coach them, hold them accountable
to a certain degree, but really put them at ease and help them with that delegation process.
(12:19):
And we've done it with over 10,000 clients over the last 14 years.
So we're very good at it. It sounds like you have this dialed in.
I've seen what you've done.
Belay has a team, and they've gone out to find independent contractors that
are really good at what they do.
(12:40):
And instead of having your own experts,
which is a lot more difficult than going out and finding the best,
you basically deliver that great service slash product, if you will, to your clients.
That's right. We actually have a bench of 1,800 contractors that are all U.S.-based.
(13:04):
They go through a stringent vetting process before they become a belay contractor.
So we do a background check with our accounting services professionals.
They go through a skill assessment test and several video interviews before
they're even offered to be a belay contractor.
So they've been stringently vetted before they can even apply for a job with us.
(13:27):
I know you work with inner circle members from Howard's group at Phenomenal.
I've known Howard for a very long time.
What do you like about the inner circle?
Oh, that's a great question. What I, what I love about the inner circle is it's,
(13:47):
it's, it's an inner circle of people that have a dream and,
and they, they have a passion for whatever the services that they're offering
and they see how that service line,
that business that, that they're growing can make the world better for their clients.
So I love coming alongside businesses where they have that vision,
(14:08):
they have that passion and helping them realize it and helping them get there faster.
And I just, I love learning about new businesses, how they became a business.
Part of that is because I came from a small family business.
And so I understand what that passion looks like. And I just have a heart for it.
I would say that what you do at Belay is a great complement to what Howard does.
(14:34):
It goes hand in hand. Howard offers a lot of great coaching services,
but not everything that you provide.
So when you join the inner circle, there are other assets, including what you offer at Belay.
Then there's other companies, too, and individuals, part of the inner circle,
(14:54):
that offer services and or products to the inner circle members as well.
And I really like what you do because it fits in perfectly with that type of small business owner.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We really can come alongside and complement that small business owner.
(15:15):
We can help them identify where they need help. We can hold them accountable.
So that they're delegating those duties out and getting the help they need,
which is really ultimately going to help them go further faster,
grow their business more efficiently, and get those systems and processes in
place that really streamline what their offering is.
(15:39):
Yeah, absolutely. So, Duff, in the notes of this podcast, I'm going to put all of your information.
And if anyone who's an Inner Circle member needs any assistance from Duff and
his team, he will be there to help you.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining me today here on the Phenomenal Business
(15:59):
Growth Podcast. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you, Jim. It was an honor to be here.