June 27, 2024 • 18 mins
Discover the financial strategies that could catapult your business to new heights, as Colin Sandburg, finance guru and founder of Thin Elevate, joins me, Natalie Guzman, in a fascinating discussion about the transformative power of financial data. We delve into how entrepreneurs can harness their numbers to fuel profitability and growth. Colin offers invaluable insights into navigating the intricate financial structures of diverse business models, and he lays out essential techniques to manage cash flow more effectively. For anyone with a vision to scale their business, Colin's expertise shines a light on the path to turning financial data into actionable growth strategies.
This episode isn't just about the numbers; it's a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit, weaving together personal stories, strategic insights, and the joy found in the world of business. Listen in as I recount experiences from mastermind groups and the significant role of networking, while drawing parallels with Taylor Swift's strategic approach to business and community building. The conversation is rich with tales of success and practical advice, aiming to align your team's efforts with the financial pulse of your company. Tune in for a dynamic exchange of ideas that promises to inspire, educate, and empower you on your entrepreneurial journey.
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Website: finelevate.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Virtual Antics podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet and infopacked episodes will inspire,
educate and leave you feelingmotivated to take one more step
forward in your business.
So put down your never-endingto-do list, because in this
podcast we are interviewing thebest of the best in the
entrepreneurial world as theyspill their secrets to success.
(00:23):
This podcast is sponsored byNandora, the all-in-one software
for entrepreneurs to grow theirbusiness, with unlimited
landing pages, automations,emails and text campaigns, and
so much more.
I'm your host, natalie Guzman.
Now let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back toVirtual Antics podcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman, and today I'm so
excited I have Colin Sandbergwith us.
(00:44):
He is a multi-business ownerand founder of Thin Elevate.
This MBA-led strategic financefirms helps business owners use
their numbers to make moneyrather than simply better
categorizing their expenses.
Colin, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Doing great.
Natalie, thanks for having meon.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I'm so excited to have you.
One of my favorite subjects totalk about is finance, strangely
enough, probably because it'sone I least know about, so that
always gives me that little bitof challenge.
So tell us a little bit moreabout what you do and how you
guys help business owners.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, so, as you said in the intro, I'm a
multi-business owner myself.
So everything I do I approachfrom the perspective of what
does this mean to a businessowner?
And really this was a problem Iwas trying to solve for myself,
which was across havingmultiple businesses.
I was always kind of thefinance guy.
That was just kind of the way Ilooked at business, just more
(01:37):
of a numbers person.
And so as I helped thebusinesses that I owned, I
realized from knowing otherentrepreneurs how rare that was,
that they really had somebodyin the business who was
passionate about numbers,knowledgeable about numbers and
so.
But I kept running into the sameproblem every time I tried to
address it within my owncompanies.
It just falls into the trap ofbookkeeping, which is very low
(02:00):
value.
That's kind of where you saidcategorizing the numbers right,
that in and of itself isn'treally valuable, and so what
we've done is built a playbook,and the playbook can basically
help any business increase herprofit, increase it dramatically
, and so we can really helpcompanies by focusing on that.
One thing I always say it'ssimilar to you know, if you
(02:22):
didn't have anyone at yourbusiness focused on sales,
you're probably not growingright, and so similarly, if
there's no one focused on theprofit side who gets to
exclusively worry about that,you're probably not growing your
profit either.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, it's such a good point and on the last two
episodes we've actually kind oftalked about like data and data
analytics, but in marketing andthen employee retention.
So I'm so excited we're talkingabout kind of like the data when
it comes to finances, because Ithink it's another thing that
is completely overlooked when itcomes to business is a lot of
entrepreneurs, I feel like, arealmost terrified of the subject
(02:55):
of finances, especially if theyhad you know, we're never good
with their personal finances andthen they started a business
and they go down this rabbithole and they're they don't
realize, too that your data whenit comes to your finances can
really give you an idea of whereyour business needs to go and
what you need to focus on.
I know when we, when I startedmy virtual assistant agency, I
(03:15):
ended up opening a marketingagency as well, and I was going
from having retainers, which wasweekly recurring income, to one
time projects, and looking atthe data I was able to see you
know where my losses are andcomparing it, and it was two
completely different financestructures.
So what are some of the thingsthat me entrepreneurs don't
(03:37):
really look at when it comes toyour finances and they should be
evaluating?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so you know, you just really hit the nail on
the head with the first one.
I always say you got to startwith the business model kind of
the financial structure that youmentioned.
You know I've had project-basedbusiness, I've had
product-based businesses andI've had service businesses that
are recurring, retainer-basedand, like you said, each of them
you know have differentstrengths and weaknesses and you
really have to understand thenature of the business that
(04:01):
you're in and then you have tomake the best of it.
So if we're in a project-basedbusiness, you know I have to
fight to the nail to get someportion of that money up front.
I've got to get favorablepayment terms.
I cannot have a project-basedbusiness where I suffer all of
the costs and incur all theexpenses up front and then
hopefully someday get paid.
That business model is notsustainable.
(04:23):
You can't afford to grow it,you can't afford to survive if
there's a late payment.
And so really kind ofunderstanding, that's first and
foremost, understanding whichmodel you're in and I would say,
looking within your businessand your industry and maybe even
to some similar industries,figure out the best way people
are doing that model, becausethere's kind of good versions
and bad versions even within thedifferent models, and so figure
(04:46):
out what the best one is, right.
And so, in other words, youdon't want to have a
subscription kind of ongoingmodel, but you're calling for
payment every month.
That doesn't make sense, right.
And so, better than that is acredit card on file, better than
that is an auto ACH, because itdoesn't cost you the fees,
right.
And so, even within that greatmodel, there are multiple
different ways to approach it,and so I think that, first and
(05:09):
foremost, that's where you'vegot to start.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, and I love the whole strategic plan that you
get one client once and thenthey're paying you every month
and that's feeding your business.
I feel like that's where realgrowth happened for us and I've
done like you I've had theproducts, I've had the one-time
projects.
Our new business is passive andmonthly recurring, which is
super cool, and everything isautomated and I am like in
(05:36):
heaven.
It's like the coolest businessstructure I've ever had and I
sort of as a virtual assistantagency which is not really a
thing you can automatecompletely and be passive.
So yeah, so I've played aroundwith lots of different
structures and they always, theyall can be really successful.
It's like you said you've gotto really figure out what kind
(05:58):
of terms and conditions you canput in place so you're not
eating the costs because I sawthat in the marketing agency.
We lost thousands of dollarsand I had to quickly learn, and
the only way I was able to learnwas because I was looking at
the data.
So what are some data pointsthat we should be monitoring
when it comes to our finances?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So I'm a big fan of watching cash as often as daily.
So, depending on the nature ofhow much cash you have in your
business, what the businessmodel is.
Again, if we're talking about aproject business or even a
product business, thosetypically don't have as simple
of cash flow as that monthlyrecurring credit card on file
type of businesses, and so youneed to be watching cash as much
(06:40):
as daily.
And then, depending on thebusiness this is where it gets a
little bit tricky is dependingon the business and the style of
work is how often you need tobe looking at the profitability
of the business.
So I've got one business.
It's a product-based business.
It's a cabinet manufacturingbusiness.
We know about how many cabinetswe're installing and making
every single week.
(07:01):
We have our payroll structuredweekly.
We're able to look at theprofitability of that business
on a weekly basis and that'sreally really helpful because we
get 52 data points instead of12.
Other businesses that I havethat are project-based
businesses.
Some of these projects spanmultiple months.
Those are a lot harder toreally live and die by even a
month, and so we really focusquarterly.
(07:21):
But I would say, get thatperiod of time down as tight as
possible.
So cash daily profit ASAP,preferably weekly if not monthly
, at a minimum.
And then really, I would sayonce a quarter, do a deep dive.
Understand every line on yourbalance sheet.
This is gonna take you two orthree hours and it's not gonna
be exciting if you don't likethe numbers, but it's part of
(07:43):
being a pro right, it's part ofbeing a successful entrepreneur.
Go through that balance sheet,through that P&L.
Focus on all the numbers andreally understand what they are
and understand what story theytell.
That's what I like to tellpeople about the financials is.
It's not just numbers on a page, it really is, represents a
story in your business.
We all know the story.
(08:04):
Tie it back to the numbers andsuddenly the numbers will make
sense.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, it's so true, and but also finance is going to
be really overwhelming forentrepreneurs, like I mentioned
in the beginning, and so I thinkhiring somebody like yours is
really beneficial because notonly do you have people that are
probably better at you thanfinances, they know what they're
doing and they've probably beenin multiple industries and kind
of seen all the differenttrends.
Like I said, you're a serialentrepreneur.
(08:28):
You've done products you'vedone, you know all retainer
based and there's a lot ofknowledge that goes into that,
comes from that and comes fromevaluating the numbers.
So hiring someone like you guysis really really beneficial
because better than you,probably most likely, and the
accountability aspect too,because it's so easy to be like
(08:50):
man.
This year, my new year'sresolution is to work on my
finances and then you never doit, you never check those
reports, Like I know.
I've done that.
So yeah you're a company to keepyou accountable.
Do you like meet with yourclients a certain amount of time
, so how does that work?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, so typically we have a really structured
monthly meeting and then it'sjust kind of as needed in
between those meetings and so,yeah, that that's typically the
way to your point.
You know, a big part of what wedo is is not only the
accountability, but it's asecond set of eyes, right?
A lot of times an entrepreneurhas an idea of what they need to
do, but they need somevalidation.
They want a second person tobounce it off of.
(09:29):
They want to be able to, youknow, talk it through.
We provide that as well.
And then, you know, sometimesthere's big decisions that need
to be made and so we help kindof coordinate and think through
that.
So, yeah, I mean that's.
You know that's part of what welove.
I'll be honest, I've my firstbusiness was selling enterprise
into Fortune 500 companies,billion dollar company.
I didn't like it because Idon't relate to the people in
(09:52):
that kind of an environment.
I love dealing withentrepreneurs Like that's my
passion, that's why I'm in somany mastermind groups, that's
why I've all my friends areentrepreneurs.
You know the, you know thedrill.
So it's just once I'm in thatmode, it's like I love, you know
, helping other entrepreneursand so that's what I always
encourage, even if somebody hasa question or they want to just,
you know, chat, I loveconnecting with people.
(10:13):
Whether we're going to worktogether or not, you know,
professionally we could stillconnect and be friends.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's awesome.
I love that once a monthbecause that's not really so
overwhelming, right?
I know sometimes in the VAagency world it's like we
recommend like once a week justbecause we're doing so much in a
business, but it can beoverwhelming to people.
So having a meeting that's likeonce a month is really, really
cool, and the millennial in meis about to come out a little
bit.
But one of my favorite thingsis so I love Taylor Swift as a
(10:44):
business woman.
She has a really cool structureand one of the things she does
is she'll hire lawyers andshe'll hire you know all these
different specialists within herbusiness, but then she hires
someone to keep an eye on thatperson.
So she'll hire a lawyer towatch the lawyer, and I was like
, oh, that's going to be me oneday.
I was like that is so smart?
(11:04):
Because I know as entrepreneursyou know all entrepreneurs we
make mistakes and we'reespecially because we're in so
many different baskets.
So trying to keep, you know,trying to bring the leads in,
trying to keep up with supplyand demand, trying to make sure
our employees are happy andmaking sure our clients are
happy, that we're gettingreferrals and we're doing all
the things plus the actual jobthat we do, especially through
your service space and or thatyour product quality or whatever
(11:28):
it is.
There is so much to businessand you I will always say you
cannot do it alone.
It's just like raising a childright, it takes a tribe, it
takes a community.
So hiring other businessmen,other businesses, I'm always
really encouraging because youreally can't do it on your own
and you're actually making yourbusiness software, I feel trying
to do everything on your own.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm a huge believer in that.
I always say, you know, noone's success story is like I
kept at it again, you know, yearafter year by myself, and
eventually I broke through.
That's never the story, it'salways you know.
And then this person came intomy life and then I started
working on it this way and intoyour point.
I mean, I think that's a huge,huge thing and I love that.
You know, that's part of how weapproach people's numbers is
(12:10):
we're not in their numbers,we're not moving money around in
their bank.
We can be that kind of set ofeyes on the big picture and
making sure that you know thingsare being done properly and
efficiently.
So, yeah, no, that's brilliant.
Yeah, I mean, you cannot argue,Taylor Swift is brilliant.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Oh my gosh, you just hit billionaire status and I'm
so.
I can't believe a lot of people.
They see her as a singer firstand a performer, of course, but
just the business moves that shehas made are absolutely like
mind blowing to me.
She's so, so smart.
Her and her team and herparents are a huge part of
behind that as well.
I wish they would come out withlike a documentary just on her
(12:47):
business stuff.
I'd be watching that all daylong.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, no, you're right, because I mean you've got
somebody who's obviously knownand her original skill is around
artistry, right, and that'samazing.
But I would argue that you knowvery few of the things she's
doing that we're so impressed by, or her idea per se, but she
knew a good idea when she saw itand she got her herself around
the smartest people and use thebest idea she can come up with.
(13:12):
And when you combine all ofthat, I mean you can.
You can go really far, reallyfast.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, and she built community too, which is what
really pushed her to the fandom.
And so I think one of thethings I love with that story
about her dad giving pizzas tothe people that were waiting in
line for a meet and greet andI'm like, yes, that's how you
serve your community and youraudience and your leads Like
that's, that's lead nurturing atits finest.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Oh my God, it's just, it's so cool and I could geek
out forever.
So I love that, you love thattoo.
So I was like I don't know ifhe's going to like this analogy,
but we're, we're going for it.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So hey, yeah, you can't.
You can't knock it.
I mean the results don't lieright.
She is a business powerhouseand I mean she's so young like
you can just only imagine whereshe can take this in the next 20
, 30 years.
I mean it'd be incredible.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Even her investments, everything.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I could go on and on, but it just shows that you know
there's all these differentthings.
When it comes, you know, infine, in business and in finance
.
You know, like I said, we havelead generation, we have
onboarding, we have employees,but a lot of that can be watched
and strategized by looking atour finances.
I have actually this reallycool like time tracker app so it
(14:25):
tracks down all my employeestime.
It tells me how much budget ofmy client's budget so I've had,
you know.
It can tell me the activitylevel of my employees and I
basically get to see how myemployees are doing versus where
my money is going and how muchI'm paying out my employees and
how much I'm receiving from myclients.
All on one spot.
And I geek out on that for hoursbecause that was one of the
(14:48):
reasons we realized very quicklythat we were losing money.
When we did the marketingagency was because I was the.
I could see, oh man, we spentthis much of the budget and on
this many tasks and it's goinghaywire and crazy and oh my gosh
, which is so scary.
But we caught it very quicklybecause we had the tools to
really monitor it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Do you?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
have any favorite tools that you recommend for
entrepreneurs?
Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I love that.
So, to your point, you know I,so we're big fans of QuickBooks
online.
Just because it's very common,we built our own tools on top of
it to kind of you know exactlywhat you're describing, to
really watch.
We call it the Finscore.
It's a simplified profitformula and so the Finscore will
tell you, you know, what'sworking, what's not.
We do a six month look back tokind of see the trend line of
(15:34):
what's happening.
And because we really do toyour point, what we really want
is a feedback loop and exactlylike you're describing, if
you're really smart, you'rereally on top of it and you're
focused on that feedback loop,you will figure out how to get
better.
You don't have to know beforeit starts like how you're going
to get better.
It'll tell you where to focus.
It'll say, hey, labor is theproblem right now.
Right, and so exactly likeyou're describing.
(15:57):
I mean I love that.
That.
When you geek out about that,you know some people who maybe
aren't as big on numbers ormetrics or statistics or
whatever.
You know they have a hard timeseeing how they do that.
Well, when you see with yourbusiness and you say, man, if
that number were only this, Iwould have made this much money.
It's inspiring to go.
I'm going to figure this out,I'm going to get to the bottom
of it and that's all it isreally is.
(16:18):
It's just, you know, followingthat journey, and that's what I
tell people.
Look, I'm I'm not a CPA.
You know, I eventually got myexecutive MBA, but it was
because I was passionate about,like, the business, the real
fundamentals of business, and itwas to me just kind of a
natural step in my journey.
Everybody's on this journey andit doesn't mean that you, you
(16:39):
have to want the same things.
But I think, kind of going backto your Taylor Swift example,
be motivated, you know, get theright people around you and and
then you can focus with yourbusiness in order, you can focus
on your artistry, you can stillmake beautiful work, you can
still be special at what you do,but your business is in order,
(17:00):
so you sleep well at night.
You know, that's an amazingexample for people.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, I'm just trusting you know your team is a
huge.
I think it's a huge thing.
I think whenever I have areally good team in place, my
finances are looking amazing.
And you know my systems,processes, my clients are happy,
and so even you know.
Making sure that we invest someof our time and our money into
our team, I think is reallyimportant.
(17:24):
Something we did recently is westarted investing into training
.
So whether I was reportingmyself training my team, or I
was purchasing for a course orsome sort of training for them
to do so that's something we'refocusing on this year because my
team has done such a great jobthat allows the budget to do
that, so just investing backinto them is really, really
(17:46):
important.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, that's the beauty when you get ahead of
things like that.
Now you're getting proactive,you're now making investments
instead of just being reactiveand going what didn't work.
Let me try and fix it.
The beauty is, once you geteverything to where it's in a
pretty good, sustainable placeyou start reinvesting, like
you're describing.
Now your team is more inspired,they're going to be more
motivated, they're going to bemore engaged in what the goal
(18:07):
really is and then, as theydevelop, they have more, you
know, passion and loyalty to thebusiness.
So it's just like a hugewin-win for everybody when you
get into that mode.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, 100%.
Well, can you tell us where wecan find you and your services,
because I definitely want tolearn more about them as well.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I'm on LinkedIn quite a bitjust Colin Sandberg, I'm sure
you'll have that in the shownotes.
And then my website isfinnelevatecom, and again,
that's really where I'm spendingmost of my time.
I do have multiple businesses,but that's where I'm in and I'm
really passionate because I'mexcited about what we're doing
and something I've done for along time for friends, and now
(18:43):
I'm excited to be taking itbeyond that and getting it out
there.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Awesome.
I'll make sure I put everythingin the show notes, but thanks
again, colin, for coming on.
It has been a pleasure andwe'll talk to you guys next time
on the virtual Antics podcast.
Welcome to the Virtual Antics podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet and infopacked episodes will inspire,
educate and leave you feelingmotivated to take one more step
forward in your business.
So put down your never-endingto-do list, because in this
podcast we are interviewing thebest of the best in the
entrepreneurial world as theyspill their secrets to success.
(00:23):
This podcast is sponsored byNandora, the all-in-one software
for entrepreneurs to grow theirbusiness, with unlimited
landing pages, automations,emails and text campaigns, and
so much more.
I'm your host, natalie Guzman.
Now let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back toVirtual Antics podcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman, and today I'm so
excited I have Colin Sandbergwith us.
(00:44):
He is a multi-business ownerand founder of Thin Elevate.
This MBA-led strategic financefirms helps business owners use
their numbers to make moneyrather than simply better
categorizing their expenses.
Colin, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Doing great.
Natalie, thanks for having meon.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I'm so excited to have you.
One of my favorite subjects totalk about is finance, strangely
enough, probably because it'sone I least know about, so that
always gives me that little bitof challenge.
So tell us a little bit moreabout what you do and how you
guys help business owners.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, so, as you said in the intro, I'm a
multi-business owner myself.
So everything I do I approachfrom the perspective of what
does this mean to a businessowner?
And really this was a problem Iwas trying to solve for myself,
which was across havingmultiple businesses.
I was always kind of thefinance guy.
That was just kind of the way Ilooked at business, just more
(01:37):
of a numbers person.
And so as I helped thebusinesses that I owned, I
realized from knowing otherentrepreneurs how rare that was,
that they really had somebodyin the business who was
passionate about numbers,knowledgeable about numbers and
so.
But I kept running into the sameproblem every time I tried to
address it within my owncompanies.
It just falls into the trap ofbookkeeping, which is very low
(02:00):
value.
That's kind of where you saidcategorizing the numbers right,
that in and of itself isn'treally valuable, and so what
we've done is built a playbook,and the playbook can basically
help any business increase herprofit, increase it dramatically
, and so we can really helpcompanies by focusing on that.
One thing I always say it'ssimilar to you know, if you
(02:22):
didn't have anyone at yourbusiness focused on sales,
you're probably not growingright, and so similarly, if
there's no one focused on theprofit side who gets to
exclusively worry about that,you're probably not growing your
profit either.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, it's such a good point and on the last two
episodes we've actually kind oftalked about like data and data
analytics, but in marketing andthen employee retention.
So I'm so excited we're talkingabout kind of like the data when
it comes to finances, because Ithink it's another thing that
is completely overlooked when itcomes to business is a lot of
entrepreneurs, I feel like, arealmost terrified of the subject
(02:55):
of finances, especially if theyhad you know, we're never good
with their personal finances andthen they started a business
and they go down this rabbithole and they're they don't
realize, too that your data whenit comes to your finances can
really give you an idea of whereyour business needs to go and
what you need to focus on.
I know when we, when I startedmy virtual assistant agency, I
(03:15):
ended up opening a marketingagency as well, and I was going
from having retainers, which wasweekly recurring income, to one
time projects, and looking atthe data I was able to see you
know where my losses are andcomparing it, and it was two
completely different financestructures.
So what are some of the thingsthat me entrepreneurs don't
(03:37):
really look at when it comes toyour finances and they should be
evaluating?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so you know, you just really hit the nail on
the head with the first one.
I always say you got to startwith the business model kind of
the financial structure that youmentioned.
You know I've had project-basedbusiness, I've had
product-based businesses andI've had service businesses that
are recurring, retainer-basedand, like you said, each of them
you know have differentstrengths and weaknesses and you
really have to understand thenature of the business that
(04:01):
you're in and then you have tomake the best of it.
So if we're in a project-basedbusiness, you know I have to
fight to the nail to get someportion of that money up front.
I've got to get favorablepayment terms.
I cannot have a project-basedbusiness where I suffer all of
the costs and incur all theexpenses up front and then
hopefully someday get paid.
That business model is notsustainable.
(04:23):
You can't afford to grow it,you can't afford to survive if
there's a late payment.
And so really kind ofunderstanding, that's first and
foremost, understanding whichmodel you're in and I would say,
looking within your businessand your industry and maybe even
to some similar industries,figure out the best way people
are doing that model, becausethere's kind of good versions
and bad versions even within thedifferent models, and so figure
(04:46):
out what the best one is, right.
And so, in other words, youdon't want to have a
subscription kind of ongoingmodel, but you're calling for
payment every month.
That doesn't make sense, right.
And so, better than that is acredit card on file, better than
that is an auto ACH, because itdoesn't cost you the fees,
right.
And so, even within that greatmodel, there are multiple
different ways to approach it,and so I think that, first and
(05:09):
foremost, that's where you'vegot to start.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, and I love the whole strategic plan that you
get one client once and thenthey're paying you every month
and that's feeding your business.
I feel like that's where realgrowth happened for us and I've
done like you I've had theproducts, I've had the one-time
projects.
Our new business is passive andmonthly recurring, which is
super cool, and everything isautomated and I am like in
(05:36):
heaven.
It's like the coolest businessstructure I've ever had and I
sort of as a virtual assistantagency which is not really a
thing you can automatecompletely and be passive.
So yeah, so I've played aroundwith lots of different
structures and they always, theyall can be really successful.
It's like you said you've gotto really figure out what kind
(05:58):
of terms and conditions you canput in place so you're not
eating the costs because I sawthat in the marketing agency.
We lost thousands of dollarsand I had to quickly learn, and
the only way I was able to learnwas because I was looking at
the data.
So what are some data pointsthat we should be monitoring
when it comes to our finances?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So I'm a big fan of watching cash as often as daily.
So, depending on the nature ofhow much cash you have in your
business, what the businessmodel is.
Again, if we're talking about aproject business or even a
product business, thosetypically don't have as simple
of cash flow as that monthlyrecurring credit card on file
type of businesses, and so youneed to be watching cash as much
(06:40):
as daily.
And then, depending on thebusiness this is where it gets a
little bit tricky is dependingon the business and the style of
work is how often you need tobe looking at the profitability
of the business.
So I've got one business.
It's a product-based business.
It's a cabinet manufacturingbusiness.
We know about how many cabinetswe're installing and making
every single week.
(07:01):
We have our payroll structuredweekly.
We're able to look at theprofitability of that business
on a weekly basis and that'sreally really helpful because we
get 52 data points instead of12.
Other businesses that I havethat are project-based
businesses.
Some of these projects spanmultiple months.
Those are a lot harder toreally live and die by even a
month, and so we really focusquarterly.
(07:21):
But I would say, get thatperiod of time down as tight as
possible.
So cash daily profit ASAP,preferably weekly if not monthly
, at a minimum.
And then really, I would sayonce a quarter, do a deep dive.
Understand every line on yourbalance sheet.
This is gonna take you two orthree hours and it's not gonna
be exciting if you don't likethe numbers, but it's part of
(07:43):
being a pro right, it's part ofbeing a successful entrepreneur.
Go through that balance sheet,through that P&L.
Focus on all the numbers andreally understand what they are
and understand what story theytell.
That's what I like to tellpeople about the financials is.
It's not just numbers on a page, it really is, represents a
story in your business.
We all know the story.
(08:04):
Tie it back to the numbers andsuddenly the numbers will make
sense.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, it's so true, and but also finance is going to
be really overwhelming forentrepreneurs, like I mentioned
in the beginning, and so I thinkhiring somebody like yours is
really beneficial because notonly do you have people that are
probably better at you thanfinances, they know what they're
doing and they've probably beenin multiple industries and kind
of seen all the differenttrends.
Like I said, you're a serialentrepreneur.
(08:28):
You've done products you'vedone, you know all retainer
based and there's a lot ofknowledge that goes into that,
comes from that and comes fromevaluating the numbers.
So hiring someone like you guysis really really beneficial
because better than you,probably most likely, and the
accountability aspect too,because it's so easy to be like
(08:50):
man.
This year, my new year'sresolution is to work on my
finances and then you never doit, you never check those
reports, Like I know.
I've done that.
So yeah you're a company to keepyou accountable.
Do you like meet with yourclients a certain amount of time
, so how does that work?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, so typically we have a really structured
monthly meeting and then it'sjust kind of as needed in
between those meetings and so,yeah, that that's typically the
way to your point.
You know, a big part of what wedo is is not only the
accountability, but it's asecond set of eyes, right?
A lot of times an entrepreneurhas an idea of what they need to
do, but they need somevalidation.
They want a second person tobounce it off of.
(09:29):
They want to be able to, youknow, talk it through.
We provide that as well.
And then, you know, sometimesthere's big decisions that need
to be made and so we help kindof coordinate and think through
that.
So, yeah, I mean that's.
You know that's part of what welove.
I'll be honest, I've my firstbusiness was selling enterprise
into Fortune 500 companies,billion dollar company.
I didn't like it because Idon't relate to the people in
(09:52):
that kind of an environment.
I love dealing withentrepreneurs Like that's my
passion, that's why I'm in somany mastermind groups, that's
why I've all my friends areentrepreneurs.
You know the, you know thedrill.
So it's just once I'm in thatmode, it's like I love, you know
, helping other entrepreneursand so that's what I always
encourage, even if somebody hasa question or they want to just,
you know, chat, I loveconnecting with people.
(10:13):
Whether we're going to worktogether or not, you know,
professionally we could stillconnect and be friends.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's awesome.
I love that once a monthbecause that's not really so
overwhelming, right?
I know sometimes in the VAagency world it's like we
recommend like once a week justbecause we're doing so much in a
business, but it can beoverwhelming to people.
So having a meeting that's likeonce a month is really, really
cool, and the millennial in meis about to come out a little
bit.
But one of my favorite thingsis so I love Taylor Swift as a
(10:44):
business woman.
She has a really cool structureand one of the things she does
is she'll hire lawyers andshe'll hire you know all these
different specialists within herbusiness, but then she hires
someone to keep an eye on thatperson.
So she'll hire a lawyer towatch the lawyer, and I was like
, oh, that's going to be me oneday.
I was like that is so smart?
(11:04):
Because I know as entrepreneursyou know all entrepreneurs we
make mistakes and we'reespecially because we're in so
many different baskets.
So trying to keep, you know,trying to bring the leads in,
trying to keep up with supplyand demand, trying to make sure
our employees are happy andmaking sure our clients are
happy, that we're gettingreferrals and we're doing all
the things plus the actual jobthat we do, especially through
your service space and or thatyour product quality or whatever
(11:28):
it is.
There is so much to businessand you I will always say you
cannot do it alone.
It's just like raising a childright, it takes a tribe, it
takes a community.
So hiring other businessmen,other businesses, I'm always
really encouraging because youreally can't do it on your own
and you're actually making yourbusiness software, I feel trying
to do everything on your own.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm a huge believer in that.
I always say, you know, noone's success story is like I
kept at it again, you know, yearafter year by myself, and
eventually I broke through.
That's never the story, it'salways you know.
And then this person came intomy life and then I started
working on it this way and intoyour point.
I mean, I think that's a huge,huge thing and I love that.
You know, that's part of how weapproach people's numbers is
(12:10):
we're not in their numbers,we're not moving money around in
their bank.
We can be that kind of set ofeyes on the big picture and
making sure that you know thingsare being done properly and
efficiently.
So, yeah, no, that's brilliant.
Yeah, I mean, you cannot argue,Taylor Swift is brilliant.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Oh my gosh, you just hit billionaire status and I'm
so.
I can't believe a lot of people.
They see her as a singer firstand a performer, of course, but
just the business moves that shehas made are absolutely like
mind blowing to me.
She's so, so smart.
Her and her team and herparents are a huge part of
behind that as well.
I wish they would come out withlike a documentary just on her
(12:47):
business stuff.
I'd be watching that all daylong.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, no, you're right, because I mean you've got
somebody who's obviously knownand her original skill is around
artistry, right, and that'samazing.
But I would argue that you knowvery few of the things she's
doing that we're so impressed by, or her idea per se, but she
knew a good idea when she saw itand she got her herself around
the smartest people and use thebest idea she can come up with.
(13:12):
And when you combine all ofthat, I mean you can.
You can go really far, reallyfast.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, and she built community too, which is what
really pushed her to the fandom.
And so I think one of thethings I love with that story
about her dad giving pizzas tothe people that were waiting in
line for a meet and greet andI'm like, yes, that's how you
serve your community and youraudience and your leads Like
that's, that's lead nurturing atits finest.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Oh my God, it's just, it's so cool and I could geek
out forever.
So I love that, you love thattoo.
So I was like I don't know ifhe's going to like this analogy,
but we're, we're going for it.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So hey, yeah, you can't.
You can't knock it.
I mean the results don't lieright.
She is a business powerhouseand I mean she's so young like
you can just only imagine whereshe can take this in the next 20
, 30 years.
I mean it'd be incredible.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Even her investments, everything.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I could go on and on, but it just shows that you know
there's all these differentthings.
When it comes, you know, infine, in business and in finance
.
You know, like I said, we havelead generation, we have
onboarding, we have employees,but a lot of that can be watched
and strategized by looking atour finances.
I have actually this reallycool like time tracker app so it
(14:25):
tracks down all my employeestime.
It tells me how much budget ofmy client's budget so I've had,
you know.
It can tell me the activitylevel of my employees and I
basically get to see how myemployees are doing versus where
my money is going and how muchI'm paying out my employees and
how much I'm receiving from myclients.
All on one spot.
And I geek out on that for hoursbecause that was one of the
(14:48):
reasons we realized very quicklythat we were losing money.
When we did the marketingagency was because I was the.
I could see, oh man, we spentthis much of the budget and on
this many tasks and it's goinghaywire and crazy and oh my gosh
, which is so scary.
But we caught it very quicklybecause we had the tools to
really monitor it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Do you?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
have any favorite tools that you recommend for
entrepreneurs?
Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I love that.
So, to your point, you know I,so we're big fans of QuickBooks
online.
Just because it's very common,we built our own tools on top of
it to kind of you know exactlywhat you're describing, to
really watch.
We call it the Finscore.
It's a simplified profitformula and so the Finscore will
tell you, you know, what'sworking, what's not.
We do a six month look back tokind of see the trend line of
(15:34):
what's happening.
And because we really do toyour point, what we really want
is a feedback loop and exactlylike you're describing, if
you're really smart, you'rereally on top of it and you're
focused on that feedback loop,you will figure out how to get
better.
You don't have to know beforeit starts like how you're going
to get better.
It'll tell you where to focus.
It'll say, hey, labor is theproblem right now.
Right, and so exactly likeyou're describing.
(15:57):
I mean I love that.
That.
When you geek out about that,you know some people who maybe
aren't as big on numbers ormetrics or statistics or
whatever.
You know they have a hard timeseeing how they do that.
Well, when you see with yourbusiness and you say, man, if
that number were only this, Iwould have made this much money.
It's inspiring to go.
I'm going to figure this out,I'm going to get to the bottom
of it and that's all it isreally is.
(16:18):
It's just, you know, followingthat journey, and that's what I
tell people.
Look, I'm I'm not a CPA.
You know, I eventually got myexecutive MBA, but it was
because I was passionate about,like, the business, the real
fundamentals of business, and itwas to me just kind of a
natural step in my journey.
Everybody's on this journey andit doesn't mean that you, you
(16:39):
have to want the same things.
But I think, kind of going backto your Taylor Swift example,
be motivated, you know, get theright people around you and and
then you can focus with yourbusiness in order, you can focus
on your artistry, you can stillmake beautiful work, you can
still be special at what you do,but your business is in order,
(17:00):
so you sleep well at night.
You know, that's an amazingexample for people.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, I'm just trusting you know your team is a
huge.
I think it's a huge thing.
I think whenever I have areally good team in place, my
finances are looking amazing.
And you know my systems,processes, my clients are happy,
and so even you know.
Making sure that we invest someof our time and our money into
our team, I think is reallyimportant.
(17:24):
Something we did recently is westarted investing into training
.
So whether I was reportingmyself training my team, or I
was purchasing for a course orsome sort of training for them
to do so that's something we'refocusing on this year because my
team has done such a great jobthat allows the budget to do
that, so just investing backinto them is really, really
(17:46):
important.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, that's the beauty when you get ahead of
things like that.
Now you're getting proactive,you're now making investments
instead of just being reactiveand going what didn't work.
Let me try and fix it.
The beauty is, once you geteverything to where it's in a
pretty good, sustainable placeyou start reinvesting, like
you're describing.
Now your team is more inspired,they're going to be more
motivated, they're going to bemore engaged in what the goal
(18:07):
really is and then, as theydevelop, they have more, you
know, passion and loyalty to thebusiness.
So it's just like a hugewin-win for everybody when you
get into that mode.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, 100%.
Well, can you tell us where wecan find you and your services,
because I definitely want tolearn more about them as well.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I'm on LinkedIn quite a bitjust Colin Sandberg, I'm sure
you'll have that in the shownotes.
And then my website isfinnelevatecom, and again,
that's really where I'm spendingmost of my time.
I do have multiple businesses,but that's where I'm in and I'm
really passionate because I'mexcited about what we're doing
and something I've done for along time for friends, and now
(18:43):
I'm excited to be taking itbeyond that and getting it out
there.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Awesome.
I'll make sure I put everythingin the show notes, but thanks
again, colin, for coming on.
It has been a pleasure andwe'll talk to you guys next time
on the virtual Antics podcast.
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