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Bill Konves - Trusted Advisor for Entrepreneurs Looking to Scale
Episode 9 • 11th May 2022 • Empowering Entrepreneurs • Glenn Harper
00:00:00 00:46:24

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Bill is one of those guys you can say is on top of his game.

Entrepreneurs seek him out to be behind the scenes to solve problems, act as a sounding board, mediate disputes, and address issues in front of the c-suite. He utilizes his strong marketing background, to facilitate growth, sales, and marketing strategy and incorporate measures to ensure revenue generation, cost reduction, and risk mitigation for his clients.

As he states...

I help business owners, successful business owners, scale their business, bring in the right players, mostly around marketing a lot of businesses that are trying to scale. They have a hard time finding the right marketing partners to help that without hiring full-time staff. And that's not always the best solution.

How were you able to cultivate all your key relationships over your career? How did you figure out the key to that success?

A lot of it starts with people like Glenn and networking with Glenn. Networking with other people in our group, mastermind groups being open, being at conferences, just being open to have these conversations with people and learn and not shut down. You really open up your experiences when you talk to people in other industries.

What was that "a-ha moment" you had to become an entrepreneur?

I hired a supplier once and we worked very closely together to build a loyalty program for Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy. And I liked his life. I liked what I saw. He was out signing deals. He was traveling all around. He was doing some entertaining. He was capturing business and enjoying that life. And I thought I'm never going to have that in the corporate world.

And what's great about being an entrepreneur is that you can do it your own way!

Everything I do in life, I run more in a corporate manner. But I like the freedom of the entrepreneur, so I'm kind of a hybrid.

When you come from the corporate world and transition into an entrepreneur, it's natural to keep that life in the rearview mirror, for a time. But as Bill says, that crutch goes away.

I think the corporate background probably is a hindrance because it's a crutch. I always think, Oh, I can always go back. I don't anymore. I've been out so long. But for the first seven, eight, nine years I kept thinking, "Man, it'd be nice to have a paycheck every week. Man, it'd be nice just to talk to people at the water cooler and not work as hard as I'm out here working." I'm probably not employable because I would drive people insane with "Let's get something done now."

How important is self-awareness of who you are and what you are doing?

You have to have a continual analysis of yourself and where you're going. Because once someone goes on the entrepreneurial journey, they don't really know where they're going to end up. But if you're too focused on where you're going to end up, it could end badly. And some of my business does not end up where I wanted them to go. But because I had a bigger awareness of myself, I knew where I wanted to take myself. So where I'm at today is perfect.

What would you advise fellow entrepreneurs that are struggling, perhaps or trying to get to the next level?

Rely on your network and ask a lot of questions. When I look back, there were quite a few times I'd ask and listen to the answers that they give you. Be around people that have already been in your shoes that can give you that advice.

I'm a trusted advisor and servant leader that works behind the scenes to focus the entrepreneur's time, energy and productivity to the 20% effort that gets 80% of the identified company goals. After 15+ years of experience in Fortune 500 companies, 12 of which were in executive marketing roles, I struck out buying businesses and executing rebranding, turnaround, and growth strategies. During my corporate career, I was a key influencer in revenue growth at retail and financial services companies, including GE Money, Victoria’s Secret, Old Navy, Pep Boys, Gap, Banana Republic, Alliance Data Systems, Wachovia Bank (Well’s Fargo) and Kohl’s. I progressed from Market Analyst to Marketing Director and VP of Client Strategy and Marketing. My personal business ventures have ranged from retail and food services to construction, real estate, and marketing services.

Bill's Website

Running a business doesn’t have to run your life.

Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it’s easy to be so busy ‘doing’ business that you don’t have the right strategy to grow your business.

Stop letting your business run you. At Harper & Co CPA Plus, we know that you want to be empowered to build the lifestyle you envision. In order to do that you need a clear path to follow for success

Our clients enjoy a proactive partnership with us. Schedule a consultation with us today.

Download our free guide - Entrepreneurial Success Formula: How to Avoid Managing Your Business From Your Bank Account.

Copyright 2024 Glenn Harper

Transcripts

Glenn Harper:

:

All right, welcome to another Empowering Entrepreneurs

Glenn Harper:

:

podcast. Glenn Harper here, Julie Smith What's up, Julie?

Julie Smith:

:

What's up?

Glenn Harper:

:

Not too much. Just another day making some doughnuts.

Glenn Harper:

:

We've got a please to have a great guest today.

Glenn Harper:

:

A friend, colleague, client compadre, fellow wingman, bill

Glenn Harper:

:

Converse. He has a bunch of litany of companies that he

Glenn Harper:

:

owns, primarily in the marketing and scaling of one's

Glenn Harper:

:

business. But this guy is into everything.

Glenn Harper:

:

Bill, how are you doing?

Bill Konves:

:

Hey, good, good.

Bill Konves:

:

Good to be here. Thank you, Julie.

Bill Konves:

:

Thank you, Glenn.

Glenn Harper:

:

You bet. Your your bio or your email says chief of Staff Is

Glenn Harper:

:

that like you're the head of a client's company or a part

Glenn Harper:

:

of the Kansas City Chiefs?

Bill Konves:

:

I know that part of the Kansas City Chiefs, unfortunately.

Glenn Harper:

:

All right. What does that mean?

Glenn Harper:

:

Chief of Staff.

Bill Konves:

:

I help business owners, successful business owners, scale

Bill Konves:

:

their business, bring in the right players, mostly around

Bill Konves:

:

marketing a lot of businesses that are trying to scale.

Bill Konves:

:

They have a hard time finding the right marketing partners

Bill Konves:

:

to help that without hiring full time staff.

Bill Konves:

:

And that's not always the best solution.

Bill Konves:

:

You hire someone full time, then you have to manage that

Bill Konves:

:

person. You might only need them for a few months, and

Bill Konves:

:

that's it. So.

Bill Konves:

:

So that's what we do. We bring in people to get jobs done

Bill Konves:

:

and then those people move out.

Glenn Harper:

:

A lot of people say, you know that this part time CFO and

Glenn Harper:

:

these part time HR people.

Glenn Harper:

:

Would you like a kind of that kind of thing like an

Glenn Harper:

:

augmentation of marketing department?

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, that's that's exactly what it is.

Bill Konves:

:

You could call outsourced CMO.

Bill Konves:

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Ok. I do much more for many of my clients than just

Bill Konves:

:

marketing. And so that's where the chief of staff comes in.

Glenn Harper:

:

When you say more, what is more mean?

Bill Konves:

:

Hiring for production, for example, the e-commerce company,

Bill Konves:

:

we were building a great marketing plan for them and I

Bill Konves:

:

said, why can you not get the product produced?

Bill Konves:

:

We're having all kinds of issues as well.

Bill Konves:

:

This is actually where the chief of Staff's concept

Bill Konves:

:

started. I said, I know people.

Bill Konves:

:

Let me help you get that out.

Bill Konves:

:

I called some colleagues x Victoria's Secret people.

Bill Konves:

:

We got the production work.

Bill Konves:

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I hired them on my staff. They came in, they did some

Bill Konves:

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projects for us. Then they exited back out.

Bill Konves:

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So that's an example.

Bill Konves:

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A lot of times businesses are able to scale or we can scale

Bill Konves:

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marketing, but then they can't handle the marketing.

Bill Konves:

:

So what are the other issues in your company?

Bill Konves:

:

What do you need? What do you need to do?

Bill Konves:

:

Do you need more employees?

Bill Konves:

:

Do you need a project done?

Bill Konves:

:

That's the stuff that we look at.

Julie Smith:

:

So Bill, what I hear you saying, though, is that you've been

Julie Smith:

:

able to create all of these relationships to ultimately

Julie Smith:

:

help others in their business.

Julie Smith:

:

How were you able to cultivate and create those over your

Julie Smith:

:

career? How did you figure out the key to that success?

Bill Konves:

:

Well, a lot of it starts with people like Glenn and

Bill Konves:

:

networking with Glenn.

Bill Konves:

:

Networking with other people in our group, mastermind

Bill Konves:

:

groups being open, being at conferences, just just being

Bill Konves:

:

open to have these conversations with people and learn and

Bill Konves:

:

not shut down and think, you know what, I only do marketing

Bill Konves:

:

in this what I am going to do, and it's only people I'm

Bill Konves:

:

going to talk to.

Bill Konves:

:

You really open up your your experiences when you talk to

Bill Konves:

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people in other industries.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm scheduled to go to a real estate conference next week.

Bill Konves:

:

I help some real estate investors scale their business.

Bill Konves:

:

I don't need to go learn more about real estate.

Bill Konves:

:

I've done real estate myself, but I'm going to a real

Bill Konves:

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estate conference just to learn to hear what they say, and

Bill Konves:

:

I'll probably meet a couple of people and make some

Bill Konves:

:

connections through that.

Glenn Harper:

:

So you're telling me you don't just sit around and just be

Glenn Harper:

:

happy where you're at and be content, you're always

Glenn Harper:

:

questing for more.

Bill Konves:

:

I wish I could.

Bill Konves:

:

That is correct, so.

Bill Konves:

:

So I'm envious of people that can just sit and work their

Bill Konves:

:

nine to five and come home and hang out with their kids,

Bill Konves:

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see their dog and go to sleep.

Glenn Harper:

:

Don't lie to us. That's not true.

Glenn Harper:

:

And you know it. You love what you do.

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, I do.

Bill Konves:

:

But I am envious at times.

Glenn Harper:

:

Yes. So back in the day, I think you had some, you know, you

Glenn Harper:

:

came out of college and you I think you got what's called a

Glenn Harper:

:

real job and you work for the man.

Glenn Harper:

:

And then at some point you decided to, you know, not work

Glenn Harper:

:

for a man and do the thing you're on your own.

Glenn Harper:

:

What what was your experience prior to becoming an

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneur when you're working for someone?

Bill Konves:

:

It was it was a good experience.

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, I worked at I worked for the man in Victoria's Secret

Bill Konves:

:

limited brands, Coles, Je Gap, several large companies and

Bill Konves:

:

I was promoted. I moved through the ranks.

Bill Konves:

:

It was. It was good, but I guess something was always

Bill Konves:

:

missing because I once I hired a supplier once and we

Bill Konves:

:

worked very closely together to build a loyalty program for

Bill Konves:

:

Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy.

Bill Konves:

:

And I liked his life.

Bill Konves:

:

I liked what I saw.

Bill Konves:

:

He was out signing deals.

Bill Konves:

:

He was traveling all around.

Bill Konves:

:

He was doing some entertaining.

Bill Konves:

:

He was he was capturing business and enjoying that life.

Bill Konves:

:

And I thought, I'm never going to have that in the

Bill Konves:

:

corporate world unless I get to the level of CEOs.

Bill Konves:

:

And that's just not me and how many of them are there.

Bill Konves:

:

That's like high school trying to make a college athlete

Bill Konves:

:

and then college trying to make it in the pros.

Bill Konves:

:

It's the same thing when you're going up through the

Bill Konves:

:

corporate ranks. If you want freedom and you want something

Bill Konves:

:

big and you have to either be a CEO C-suite level.

Bill Konves:

:

Which is probably not going to happen then you have to make

Bill Konves:

:

it happen on your own. And so somewhere they're working

Bill Konves:

:

with that guy. Shifted my thought process and I actually

Bill Konves:

:

went to work for that guy and left the corporate world and

Bill Konves:

:

went still working for the man.

Bill Konves:

:

But it was a three million dollar company.

Bill Konves:

:

Instead, we were working back in selling to all those

Bill Konves:

:

retailers we worked with.

Bill Konves:

:

And so we took that business from three million to 20

Bill Konves:

:

million over the course of three years.

Bill Konves:

:

And I thought, Wow, maybe I could do this myself, and then

Bill Konves:

:

I took the next step out.

Bill Konves:

:

To be fully on my own,

Glenn Harper:

:

Did you have a like when you're a kid, did you have, you

Glenn Harper:

:

know, entrepreneurial tendencies or did you just listen?

Glenn Harper:

:

I just got to go up and go to work.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you think this did?

Glenn Harper:

:

Did that trigger you, those thoughts when you were young or

Glenn Harper:

:

did it trigger you when you saw this different kind of

Glenn Harper:

:

lifestyle dealing with this vendor?

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, that's that's hard to say.

Bill Konves:

:

Not when I was young, because I grew up in a blue collar

Bill Konves:

:

family. You know, my dad worked for the city and so it

Bill Konves:

:

wasn't there. I wasn't even supposed to go to college, so I

Bill Konves:

:

got lucky and figured that out.

Bill Konves:

:

It wasn't in college.

Bill Konves:

:

When I graduated college, I was always messing around with

Bill Konves:

:

with side businesses, side hustles, trying to figure things

Bill Konves:

:

out. So it's always been in me.

Bill Konves:

:

And then when I saw that guy, that lifestyle and joined his

Bill Konves:

:

company, that's when it probably hit me that, hey, there's

Bill Konves:

:

more to this, but I can't identify where it happened.

Bill Konves:

:

It definitely wasn't. When I was a kid, I did not have the

Bill Konves:

:

lemons. Lemonade stand was not shoveling too many walks, so

Bill Konves:

:

it was not walking dogs.

Julie Smith:

:

Do you think that that supplier that ultimately helped you

Julie Smith:

:

make that jump was ultimately your mentor?

Julie Smith:

:

And do you still keep in contact with that person as

Julie Smith:

:

you've, you know, turned into the entrepreneur yourself?

Bill Konves:

:

I do not keep in contact with him, he's changed lifestyles

Bill Konves:

:

as well. He sold his businesses.

Bill Konves:

:

He was 15 years older than me.

Bill Konves:

:

So he's moved on.

Bill Konves:

:

I think there were people that worked with him inside his

Bill Konves:

:

company. I liked his lifestyle.

Bill Konves:

:

I liked how he saw it. I liked how he made things happen.

Bill Konves:

:

I like some people, more of a mentor that were in his

Bill Konves:

:

management team that I followed more closely and the

Bill Konves:

:

entrepreneurs that I like have somewhat of a corporate

Bill Konves:

:

experience. Everything I do in life, I run more in a

Bill Konves:

:

corporate manner. But I like the freedom of the

Bill Konves:

:

entrepreneur, so I'm kind of a hybrid.

Bill Konves:

:

You might be able to throw me back into the corporate

Bill Konves:

:

environment, and I might be able to do just fine.

Bill Konves:

:

I like to think I could.

Bill Konves:

:

A lot of entrepreneurs will say no way do I ever want to go

Bill Konves:

:

back to the corporate world. I just can't handle it.

Bill Konves:

:

I don't. I don't look at it and mind it.

Bill Konves:

:

So but again, I haven't been back in that world.

Bill Konves:

:

I have a few phone calls once in a while and I realize it's

Bill Konves:

:

tough.

Glenn Harper:

:

Yeah, it's funny. The typical entrepreneur, when they leave

Glenn Harper:

:

a real job, they've successfully will never be employable

Glenn Harper:

:

by anybody else.

Glenn Harper:

:

That just is a rule.

Glenn Harper:

:

But you, you definitely have a little bit of tendencies

Glenn Harper:

:

that you, I guess.

Glenn Harper:

:

A Segway is you kind of like process.

Glenn Harper:

:

You like structure.

Glenn Harper:

:

You like that plan the the.

Glenn Harper:

:

I don't want to say a corporate game, but just

Glenn Harper:

:

understanding all the different pieces because you're not

Glenn Harper:

:

just doing one thing, you're doing multiple things.

Glenn Harper:

:

And most entrepreneurs only do one thing when they can do

Glenn Harper:

:

the other things. That brings a little bit of that

Glenn Harper:

:

corporate back into you and works on that.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you feel like, you know, that gave you a competitive

Glenn Harper:

:

advantage, being an entrepreneur, having that experience to

Glenn Harper:

:

understand that you can't look at things in one dimension,

Glenn Harper:

:

it's more of a, you know, all over the place looking at

Glenn Harper:

:

things like a spider monkey or do you feel like you went

Glenn Harper:

:

into this just doing one thing?

Bill Konves:

:

I think the corporate background probably is a hindrance

Bill Konves:

:

because it's a crutch.

Bill Konves:

:

I always think, Oh, I can always go back, I don't anymore.

Bill Konves:

:

I've been out so long. But for the first seven, eight, nine

Bill Konves:

:

years I kept thinking, Man, it'd be nice to have a paycheck

Bill Konves:

:

every week, man.

Bill Konves:

:

It'd be nice just to talk to people at the water cooler and

Bill Konves:

:

not work as hard as I'm out here working.

Bill Konves:

:

You know, eating what you kill is much different than

Bill Konves:

:

getting that, that paycheck every week.

Bill Konves:

:

So it's difficult to leave that and make that transition.

Bill Konves:

:

But once you're once you're gone long enough, yes, I'm

Bill Konves:

:

probably not employable because I would drive people insane

Bill Konves:

:

with with.

Bill Konves:

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Let's get something done now.

Bill Konves:

:

What are we doing? Why are we talking for an hour and a

Bill Konves:

:

half about this category here?

Bill Konves:

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Why is everyone here?

Bill Konves:

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You know, this is a marketing project.

Bill Konves:

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Let's just move this forward.

Bill Konves:

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Let's take a baby step.

Bill Konves:

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Let's test it. We don't have to.

Bill Konves:

:

We don't have to have the whole committee agree that this

Bill Konves:

:

is the way we're going. So yes, I would probably frustrate

Bill Konves:

:

myself and frustrate others in a corporate environment at

Bill Konves:

:

this point.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you think the you know what I see a lot with

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneurs? Is this the speed that things can get done

Glenn Harper:

:

and the no hindrance of any have to worry about what

Glenn Harper:

:

anybody else thinks you can just say like, well, I just

Glenn Harper:

:

want to go, do that. Let's get it done versus, well, I got

Glenn Harper:

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to go market it to this person.

Glenn Harper:

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This person and this person figured out, get a budget for

Glenn Harper:

:

that and everything. As an entrepreneur, do you you?

Glenn Harper:

:

I mean, you just said that you really, really enjoy that.

Glenn Harper:

:

But can you imagine that if you had to deal with that in

Glenn Harper:

:

your business and have to go through committee to get

Glenn Harper:

:

something done, it'd be nauseating, would it not?

Bill Konves:

:

Yes, it would be I was on a call last week where we were

Bill Konves:

:

going through this with a corporate environment or a

Bill Konves:

:

corporate client corporate environment.

Bill Konves:

:

And I was, I was I was not happy and I probably showed my

Bill Konves:

:

frustration a little bit in the fall when you ask a

Bill Konves:

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question in the first five minutes of the call.

Bill Konves:

:

No, no, no, no, no. We'll get to that.

Bill Konves:

:

And then you go through an hour and a half.

Bill Konves:

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And then I said, you, by the way, remember that question?

Bill Konves:

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I ask, Oh yeah, that's what we are.

Bill Konves:

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That's what we can do. We can do that.

Bill Konves:

:

I ask that in the first five minutes.

Bill Konves:

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We wanted to do a dog and pony show for the entire, you

Bill Konves:

:

know, because you've you had a dog and pony show to present

Bill Konves:

:

and you wanted to get it all out.

Bill Konves:

:

Well, if you don't need to get it all out, then let's just

Bill Konves:

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get the job done and move forward.

Bill Konves:

:

So, yes, that is one big difference.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you enjoy working?

Glenn Harper:

:

I mean, in your career, you definitely being this chief of

Glenn Harper:

:

staff, you have to deal with different sizes of companies.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you find it more rewarding working for somebody who's

Glenn Harper:

:

little trying to get things started?

Glenn Harper:

:

Somebody who's kind of rolling or a company's already

Glenn Harper:

:

established and rocking and rolling?

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you have a preference of which level you like to enter

Glenn Harper:

:

in with a client and be their advisor for that?

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, one hundred percent and I've done all three and I just

Bill Konves:

:

I can't identify any longer with the first two you

Bill Konves:

:

mentioned. You have to be rocking and rolling because my

Bill Konves:

:

experience is too deep.

Bill Konves:

:

Startup's product launches all those things.

Bill Konves:

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One, the client looks at you in a much different light.

Bill Konves:

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They're ready to fire you every second because they're

Bill Konves:

:

like, Hey, we're small. We don't have a budget.

Bill Konves:

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This is it. You've got to go.

Bill Konves:

:

And so if you don't perform very quickly, they're looking

Bill Konves:

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at you to get to push you out the door.

Bill Konves:

:

And that's and that's not the way to run a business.

Bill Konves:

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You have to be well invested and think this is, I mean, you

Bill Konves:

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know, if it's six months and we have to invest ten thousand

Bill Konves:

:

dollars a month in this for six months, that's what we have

Bill Konves:

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to do. So unfortunately, the ones in category that are just

Bill Konves:

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starting up. Not well-funded startup and even well-funded

Bill Konves:

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startups. They have their challenges.

Bill Konves:

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Everything is about the return on investment and then

Bill Konves:

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number two, the ones that are.

Bill Konves:

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It have a product and it's starting to work, they just

Bill Konves:

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don't typically have the hindsight or the foresight to say,

Bill Konves:

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Look, we've budgeted for this.

Bill Konves:

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We're going to write it for six months.

Bill Konves:

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We're going to see what happens.

Bill Konves:

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We're going to analyze it and then we're going to make

Bill Konves:

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decisions from there. The guys that are rocking and

Bill Konves:

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rolling. They're fun to try to keep up with.

Bill Konves:

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They have the challenges because they're scaling their

Bill Konves:

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business, and we don't know who to put here, and we don't

Bill Konves:

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know who to put there. We don't know what marketing is

Bill Konves:

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going to work, but we're doing great right now.

Bill Konves:

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So I like to jump in with those owners and say, OK, where

Bill Konves:

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are your problems here and here?

Bill Konves:

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All right, let me go. Solve those two problems today to

Bill Konves:

:

knock those out of the way those roadblocks are done.

Bill Konves:

:

So I definitely I actually I only now take clients and it's

Bill Konves:

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in my LinkedIn bio successful scaling businesses because

Bill Konves:

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it's much easier to take a business that's already scaling

Bill Konves:

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to a much higher level than it is to take a startup because

Bill Konves:

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a lot of startups fail.

Julie Smith:

:

So Bill, you're talking about where you are now, can you

Julie Smith:

:

kind of take us, you know, you went with that supplier, you

Julie Smith:

:

took that leap of faith.

Julie Smith:

:

You did that. Can you kind of walk us through what's

Julie Smith:

:

happened in your journey to where you are now, where you

Julie Smith:

:

just want to work with successful rock and roll and

Julie Smith:

:

companies?

Bill Konves:

:

Um, yeah, it was it was an interesting journey, Glenn, being

Bill Konves:

:

my tax advisor, knows the journey very well.

Glenn Harper:

:

I can't talk about everything.

Glenn Harper:

:

Maybe just some things.

Bill Konves:

:

Yes, exactly.

Bill Konves:

:

Some of the during the journeys that happened here in Ohio,

Bill Konves:

:

it's been tough because when I went out, I actually bought

Bill Konves:

:

a concrete company. When I left the small company that we

Bill Konves:

:

took from three to twenty five.

Bill Konves:

:

I bought a concrete company and I wanted to go out on my

Bill Konves:

:

own. I needed to make sure I had enough cash flow to

Bill Konves:

:

support myself and my family and my wife because she she

Bill Konves:

:

doesn't work. And so I was looking at different businesses

Bill Konves:

:

that had certain cash flow that I could handle and would

Bill Konves:

:

support us. And so we looked at probably five or six

Bill Konves:

:

businesses. I was in Glenn's office a few times looking at

Bill Konves:

:

a couple of them. Some of them just don't pan out, which is

Bill Konves:

:

a good piece of advice. Don't buy a business without

Bill Konves:

:

getting your your your strategic partners involved, your

Bill Konves:

:

attorneys and your accountants, tax advisers.

Bill Konves:

:

Then we ended up with a concrete company purchase that then

Bill Konves:

:

at the same time, bridal company purchased that.

Bill Konves:

:

I had to repeat the shops at the same time.

Bill Konves:

:

And I had twenty eight rental properties.

Bill Konves:

:

That was probably way too much to be doing at the same

Bill Konves:

:

time. And so.

Bill Konves:

:

Um, what happened there was concrete was we had more

Bill Konves:

:

business than we know what to do with.

Bill Konves:

:

Well, I'm a marketing guy.

Bill Konves:

:

I needed a chief of staff and that's one of the things I

Bill Konves:

:

learned in my experience is that we were scaling.

Bill Konves:

:

We were growing. We had every builder in town, custom

Bill Konves:

:

builder. We just couldn't keep up and said, the pleasing

Bill Konves:

:

guy I am, the marketing guy is let's find a way to do it.

Bill Konves:

:

Let's find a way to do it. Let's find a way to do it.

Bill Konves:

:

And we overcommitted, and it just was not a good situation.

Bill Konves:

:

And I'm out there just marketing away.

Bill Konves:

:

If I had that number two person, that was with me to say,

Bill Konves:

:

Wait, stop, slow down.

Bill Konves:

:

You got issues here. You've got challenges here.

Bill Konves:

:

Let's fix those because you have a great product.

Bill Konves:

:

Don't get too quickly.

Bill Konves:

:

So that was going on at the same thing happened in a few of

Bill Konves:

:

the other businesses. We're just scaling too quickly after

Bill Konves:

:

it was all said and done, I was worn out being being the

Bill Konves:

:

owner operator.

Bill Konves:

:

And it made me realize that, wow, I really like being

Bill Konves:

:

number two. I want to be number two in all these companies

Bill Konves:

:

and help people.

Bill Konves:

:

I don't want to be the number one guy.

Bill Konves:

:

So working with my coach, we developed that that scenario

Bill Konves:

:

in that marketing plan of of how can I go out and help

Bill Konves:

:

other people? And so I ended up selling all the companies,

Bill Konves:

:

selling real estate and just focusing on being that true

Bill Konves:

:

supporter of that founder in a business.

Bill Konves:

:

And so to keep me busy at the level that I need to be kept

Bill Konves:

:

busy. Yet it has to be a company that's scaling that

Bill Konves:

:

successful. That's moving quick because it gives me all the

Bill Konves:

:

things that I want to get my fingers into.

Julie Smith:

:

So Bill, what it seems like you're saying, though, is you

Julie Smith:

:

kind of took all the lessons you learned throughout your

Julie Smith:

:

journey came to a conclusion through a lot of

Julie Smith:

:

self-awareness, it sounds like.

Julie Smith:

:

And then we're able to take a step back and use kind of

Julie Smith:

:

where you were able to pivot in your journey to help

Julie Smith:

:

everybody else and still be able to succeed.

Bill Konves:

:

That is correct. And so that's that's continual analysis of

Bill Konves:

:

yourself and where you're going helps because once someone

Bill Konves:

:

goes on the entrepreneurial journey, they don't really know

Bill Konves:

:

where they're going to end up. But if you're too focused on

Bill Konves:

:

where you're going to end up, it could end bad.

Bill Konves:

:

And some of my business does not end up where I wanted them

Bill Konves:

:

to go, but because I had a bigger awareness of myself, I

Bill Konves:

:

knew where I wanted to take myself.

Bill Konves:

:

So where I'm at today is perfect.

Bill Konves:

:

All those lessons, the great lessons, the hard lessons they

Bill Konves:

:

add up to where I want to be today and I'm close.

Bill Konves:

:

You think I'd figured it out by now, but I'm close to being

Bill Konves:

:

exactly where I want to be, isn't everybody?

Bill Konves:

:

Yes. Everyone.

Bill Konves:

:

Everyone should be. Yes, they should not have had it

Bill Konves:

:

figured out yet.

Glenn Harper:

:

The fun is actually figuring it out, right?

Glenn Harper:

:

I mean, we don't want to have catastrophic failure at any

Glenn Harper:

:

level, but the only way you can kind of develop and evolve

Glenn Harper:

:

is you have to go through the schnitzel.

Glenn Harper:

:

Is there anything prior to what you're doing now that you

Glenn Harper:

:

wish? You know, if an entrepreneur is listening to this

Glenn Harper:

:

podcast and trying to figure out what they're going to do

Glenn Harper:

:

and where they're at and they may be on their journey at

Glenn Harper:

:

the very beginning, having some challenging times, you

Glenn Harper:

:

know, what is that one thing that you took from when you

Glenn Harper:

:

had to make all those changes?

Glenn Harper:

:

That man, if I had just thought of that or if I had just

Glenn Harper:

:

did this, or if I had to cut the cord sooner here, if I had

Glenn Harper:

:

just got that advice, what would you advise fellow

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneurs that are struggling, perhaps or trying to get

Glenn Harper:

:

to the next level,

Bill Konves:

:

Rely on your network and ask a lot of questions?

Bill Konves:

:

When I look back, there were quite a few times I'd ask and

Bill Konves:

:

listen to the questions.

Bill Konves:

:

I mean, I'm sorry. Listen to the answers that they give

Bill Konves:

:

you. In my in my most challenging times, some of the

Bill Konves:

:

answers that I had received from people like tax adviser

Bill Konves:

:

plug for Glenn. There was some good advice.

Bill Konves:

:

Do you think about this and this?

Bill Konves:

:

I mean, hey, but I don't worry about I got it.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm good. I'm going.

Bill Konves:

:

Instead of stopping slowing down and thinking, Wow, what

Bill Konves:

:

did my attorney say or not even paid help?

Bill Konves:

:

I mean, you just ask questions that my mastermind group

Bill Konves:

:

joined mastermind groups.

Bill Konves:

:

Be around people that have already been in your shoes that

Bill Konves:

:

can give you that advice.

Bill Konves:

:

Don't hang around the same friends and family and don't

Bill Konves:

:

talk about your business with your friends and family

Bill Konves:

:

because they're going to give you the wrong advice unless

Bill Konves:

:

they've already been there.

Bill Konves:

:

So listen to your advisors.

Bill Konves:

:

Have a good, strong group of advisors.

Bill Konves:

:

Reach out to your network.

Bill Konves:

:

Free advice But people have already been.

Bill Konves:

:

There are people that are on the journey that you're on, so

Bill Konves:

:

you can all share your experiences.

Bill Konves:

:

I did not do that.

Bill Konves:

:

I learned that too late.

Bill Konves:

:

I went from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial

Bill Konves:

:

world. I didn't know all these groups existed in mastermind

Bill Konves:

:

groups, and I didn't know to align myself with all those

Bill Konves:

:

people. And I didn't know really to listen to my advisors

Bill Konves:

:

as closely as I should have.

Bill Konves:

:

So it is.

Bill Konves:

:

I do it all over again. It's pretty simple.

Bill Konves:

:

Open up your network and listen to people and move a little

Bill Konves:

:

slower.

Glenn Harper:

:

It it is kind of funny that a lot of entrepreneurs that are

Glenn Harper:

:

like industry specific or doing whatever they do, they

Glenn Harper:

:

generally feel like they know everything there is to know.

Glenn Harper:

:

And it's the second they realize that it's possible, just

Glenn Harper:

:

slightly possible that they don't know it all, and they

Glenn Harper:

:

listen and try to learn.

Glenn Harper:

:

The light switch comes on, and all of a sudden things just

Glenn Harper:

:

happen. And it's the hardest thing is to get an

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneur to understand that at some point, hopefully

Glenn Harper:

:

early on in their journey that they don't know it all and

Glenn Harper:

:

they should go out and get this information.

Glenn Harper:

:

Can you imagine being a entrepreneur?

Glenn Harper:

:

You know, twenty five years ago, 30 years ago before the

Glenn Harper:

:

internet existed, before all this stuff, you would have no

Glenn Harper:

:

support structure.

Glenn Harper:

:

I mean, the men and women that came prior that started

Glenn Harper:

:

businesses, how the heck did they do it without all these

Glenn Harper:

:

resources? You ever wonder about that?

Bill Konves:

:

I do. I also know that the competition wouldn't be as fierce

Bill Konves:

:

because it was harder to start a business then, so there

Bill Konves:

:

were much. There were many fewer people starting

Bill Konves:

:

businesses. So I think it's all relative.

Bill Konves:

:

There are so many resources now, but we all have access to

Bill Konves:

:

those resources, so we take advantage of it.

Bill Konves:

:

But when you start, a business is probably other.

Bill Konves:

:

Five other people start the same business in the same week,

Bill Konves:

:

whereas 20 years ago there wasn't.

Glenn Harper:

:

What do you think most entrepreneurs have, like we call it,

Glenn Harper:

:

a superpower like something that they're just they just

Glenn Harper:

:

can't figure it out other than the fact that they're just

Glenn Harper:

:

darn good at something, whatever that thing is.

Glenn Harper:

:

And they're just they're unique.

Glenn Harper:

:

They're they've got this special thing that can help other

Glenn Harper:

:

people. It's very rewarding for the entrepreneur.

Glenn Harper:

:

What do you think your superpower is?

Bill Konves:

:

I think you're going to have to wait a few more years till I

Bill Konves:

:

figure it out, but if I had to answer today.

Bill Konves:

:

It's definitely supporting a founder of a business and

Bill Konves:

:

being their trusted chief of staff.

Bill Konves:

:

Most, most people, most founders don't have someone to go

Bill Konves:

:

to. They have their C-suite or they have their partner or

Bill Konves:

:

they have someone that has a completely biased opinion.

Bill Konves:

:

They don't have someone to go to and say, Hey, this is my

Bill Konves:

:

challenge. This is my struggle.

Bill Konves:

:

What should I do? You know my business, your side by side

Bill Konves:

:

with me and my job, much like the chief of staff for the

Bill Konves:

:

president, is to serve at the pleasure of that founder.

Bill Konves:

:

I have no other.

Bill Konves:

:

I have nothing else that I want out of life except to help

Bill Konves:

:

my client get the best results.

Bill Konves:

:

So I think that's my superpower is that I can focus on

Bill Konves:

:

that. I don't care about my results.

Bill Konves:

:

I love to spend money.

Bill Konves:

:

I love to make money. But the money will come.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm not looking for the dollars.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm looking to take care of my client.

Bill Konves:

:

And if the client gets taken care of, I'm going to find out

Bill Konves:

:

how I'm going to make my money.

Bill Konves:

:

So I think that's unique.

Bill Konves:

:

I love to be the number two.

Glenn Harper:

:

I mean, who doesn't want to be Austin Powers number two guy?

Glenn Harper:

:

So when you're sitting there, you just said something too

Glenn Harper:

:

that was kind of unique is the entrepreneurs they always

Glenn Harper:

:

start. Some of them start out like, I got to do it for the

Glenn Harper:

:

money. I'm doing it for the money.

Glenn Harper:

:

But we find the most successful ones ultimately really

Glenn Harper:

:

don't do it for the money. They do it because they like to

Glenn Harper:

:

build something like to do something.

Glenn Harper:

:

They like to exercise a skill set.

Glenn Harper:

:

And if they can figure it out quick enough, how to how to

Glenn Harper:

:

scale and turn that into valuable process and systems and a

Glenn Harper:

:

team, then the money will always come.

Glenn Harper:

:

You said something interesting, like you never did it for

Glenn Harper:

:

the money. You did it because you I mean, you had to get

Glenn Harper:

:

the bare minimum to survive.

Glenn Harper:

:

But it wasn't about, Oh, if I can make $100000 a year, I

Glenn Harper:

:

can make $500 a year, make a million dollars a year.

Glenn Harper:

:

I don't think you have a limit or a base on that, do you?

Bill Konves:

:

No, I don't. My best earning years, very high earning years

Bill Konves:

:

when Glenn, you said you need to do more of that and

Bill Konves:

:

replicate, I'm like, I just I just don't like, I don't like

Bill Konves:

:

that. I don't like what I'm doing.

Bill Konves:

:

I don't like the person. I am doing it.

Bill Konves:

:

And so I didn't.

Bill Konves:

:

And I know where my base is and it's interesting right now.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm having the discussions because I have four clients that

Bill Konves:

:

I really enjoy working with, and they pay me well enough to

Bill Konves:

:

do everything I need to do in life and have a really nice

Bill Konves:

:

life. And I could do that and probably 30 hours a week.

Bill Konves:

:

But here I am, building these other potential projects,

Bill Konves:

:

building other potential revenue streams that I don't need

Bill Konves:

:

and I have. I have a coach that I that I speak with every

Bill Konves:

:

Friday and we talk about this and why am I doing this?

Bill Konves:

:

It's because I like to build things.

Bill Konves:

:

And you know, there are certain things that I haven't

Bill Konves:

:

achieved yet, and I want to know what they are.

Bill Konves:

:

But I am in a position right now to pick and choose my

Bill Konves:

:

clients, pick and choose my work, pick and choose how much

Bill Konves:

:

I work. And yet I'm working more because I don't know why

Bill Konves:

:

there's something I'd like to build, and there's a couple

Bill Konves:

:

exciting things in my life that I want to make happen.

Glenn Harper:

:

So are you potentially off your meds and you're not staying

Glenn Harper:

:

focused? Is that why you keep doing this?

Glenn Harper:

:

Of course, I'm just kidding.

Bill Konves:

:

No, I know. No.

Bill Konves:

:

But that's that's the one thing that that's why I meet with

Bill Konves:

:

the coach every Friday, we call it.

Bill Konves:

:

I said, Will you call me like, it's not business coach,

Bill Konves:

:

it's not life coach. It's just my clarity coach going, you

Bill Konves:

:

know, I like to chase squirrels.

Bill Konves:

:

I always have like to chase squirrels.

Bill Konves:

:

Me with someone every Friday to talk about squirrels that

Bill Konves:

:

you could chase and to make sure it's not a squirrel is

Bill Konves:

:

very valuable. You have been with her for two years.

Bill Konves:

:

She knows me very well.

Bill Konves:

:

And if I bring up anything crazy that doesn't match with my

Bill Konves:

:

personal mission, vision and values, she'll question it and

Bill Konves:

:

say, Why are you looking at this?

Bill Konves:

:

Where are we going with this?

Bill Konves:

:

And then I talk through it.

Bill Konves:

:

And most of the time before she even answers me, I've

Bill Konves:

:

already talked through it and figured it out for myself.

Julie Smith:

:

So has she become your number two essentially as you're

Julie Smith:

:

being the number two to these four companies, has she

Julie Smith:

:

become your number two?

Bill Konves:

:

No, she she's just simply a coach we meet every Friday.

Bill Konves:

:

We talk. She gives me advice.

Bill Konves:

:

By this good point of clarification, when I say, number

Bill Konves:

:

two, I want to be a sounding board, but also I'm not simply

Bill Konves:

:

a consultant. I want to get it done with them.

Bill Konves:

:

So, OK, these are your three problems.

Bill Konves:

:

I got it. I'm going to go solve it.

Bill Konves:

:

Let's go figure it out. I'm going to bring it back to you.

Bill Konves:

:

We're going to make some decisions and go, whereas I call

Bill Konves:

:

her a coach because she is simply a coach, we meet.

Bill Konves:

:

She gives me some advice.

Bill Konves:

:

She goes away.

Glenn Harper:

:

You know, you've seen very most consultants in your space.

Glenn Harper:

:

They come in fire and brimstone.

Glenn Harper:

:

Go through chaos everywhere.

Glenn Harper:

:

Analyze everything. Do this.

Glenn Harper:

:

This is here's what you need to do.

Glenn Harper:

:

And I'm going to charge you 50 grand for that.

Glenn Harper:

:

And then they walk out, and that company has to now figure

Glenn Harper:

:

out how to execute it.

Glenn Harper:

:

So you're telling me that you do some a little bit

Glenn Harper:

:

different, you not really get the plan, but you actually

Glenn Harper:

:

finish what you start and do what you say and assume that

Glenn Harper:

:

role very seriously and make sure things get done.

Bill Konves:

:

That is right. Good summary, you're right that on my right,

Bill Konves:

:

that on your blog, if I had a website which I don't.

Glenn Harper:

:

Yeah, well, you want to stay on the down low so you know

Glenn Harper:

:

where you're at right now in your career and your journey

Glenn Harper:

:

is there every every entrepreneur generally will have some

Glenn Harper:

:

sort of like dream deal or what they would like to be part

Glenn Harper:

:

of and be like, man, if I could just get in with that

Glenn Harper:

:

company or that person.

Glenn Harper:

:

And I think I can take that company to that person's their

Glenn Harper:

:

product service, whatever, to a whole different level.

Glenn Harper:

:

What is that dream deal for you?

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you have you thought of that?

Glenn Harper:

:

You have one of those.

Bill Konves:

:

I do not have one, I have a I have a dream deal for each of

Bill Konves:

:

my clients, and maybe that's how I look at things

Bill Konves:

:

differently if I work with a client.

Bill Konves:

:

Then they have to have long term potential for me and they

Bill Konves:

:

have to have something really, really unique that I can see

Bill Konves:

:

and I can dream with them.

Bill Konves:

:

So, for example, I'm working with a Saudi Arabian fashion

Bill Konves:

:

luxury brand startup, which is not my rule, but this but

Bill Konves:

:

this we've been working together for for 40 years now.

Bill Konves:

:

So I didn't know that real then.

Bill Konves:

:

So we are we have a dream.

Bill Konves:

:

I know the founders dream.

Bill Konves:

:

We're doing some great things with the Saudi government.

Bill Konves:

:

They want to support us when involved in international

Bill Konves:

:

consulting, and we're pushing this dream out.

Bill Konves:

:

I have the founder's dream.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm excited about the founder's dream.

Bill Konves:

:

I want to be a part of that dream.

Bill Konves:

:

So I'm connected.

Bill Konves:

:

That's my dream as well.

Bill Konves:

:

And I can say the same about all my clients that I work

Bill Konves:

:

with. I know what they want to do, and I want to be a part

Bill Konves:

:

of it. Long term?

Bill Konves:

:

I don't know. I don't know if that answers your question.

Bill Konves:

:

But for myself, you're probably asking for myself, do I

Bill Konves:

:

have something that I really want to do?

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah.

Glenn Harper:

:

Well, what I mean is like, you know what?

Glenn Harper:

:

What you're saying is that you really don't want to work

Glenn Harper:

:

for a client.

Glenn Harper:

:

You want to work with a client and be part of not on the

Glenn Harper:

:

outside looking in, which is really hard for a lot of

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneurs to be fully vested like that because that

Glenn Harper:

:

takes a lot of emotional capital, a lot of because you're

Glenn Harper:

:

all in, you're not just on the outside kind of playing

Glenn Harper:

:

around, you're going deep.

Glenn Harper:

:

So that's why, like you said for clients, is probably more

Glenn Harper:

:

than enough to do that because that takes a lot of

Glenn Harper:

:

bandwidth. And so I guess what I was suggesting is that if

Glenn Harper:

:

you, you know, you listen to a lot of podcasts, you listen

Glenn Harper:

:

a lot of, you know, educational things, you read a lot, you

Glenn Harper:

:

travel a lot. Have you seen a company or individual out

Glenn Harper:

:

there that would be like, Man, I just know they're doing it

Glenn Harper:

:

wrong. And if they would just do this, I could take them

Glenn Harper:

:

from a to the Moon here.

Glenn Harper:

:

It'd be an amazing journey for them if they would, if I

Glenn Harper:

:

could just get in front of them.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you have anybody like that that you've kind of looked or

Glenn Harper:

:

identified with and say, Man, if I could just get with

Glenn Harper:

:

them?

Bill Konves:

:

I do not I cannot think of one.

Glenn Harper:

:

Well, you've got to go read more Listen more, I guess is the

Glenn Harper:

:

take away from me.

Bill Konves:

:

I know we're here. I'm invested, fully invested with the

Bill Konves:

:

clients that I have now.

Bill Konves:

:

I do. I will tell you this.

Bill Konves:

:

I guess it has an industry.

Bill Konves:

:

I guess we could talk about an industry if the industry.

Bill Konves:

:

So I've been pushed into the home services industry to help

Bill Konves:

:

with marketing and other things by a good friend of mine

Bill Konves:

:

that owns, operates by sells or services company, plumbing,

Bill Konves:

:

heating, all these different things.

Bill Konves:

:

And we're doing some marketing work for him.

Bill Konves:

:

So there are some really large agencies out there that

Bill Konves:

:

charge a lot of money to do work for these guys.

Bill Konves:

:

And once they get their claws in most home services

Bill Konves:

:

companies and founders, they're like, We don't know the

Bill Konves:

:

questions to ask. We're afraid to turn them off, but

Bill Konves:

:

they're charging us with too much money.

Bill Konves:

:

So he and I are working together.

Bill Konves:

:

We fired his agency.

Bill Konves:

:

We're putting together a plan that helps those guys.

Bill Konves:

:

And so he said, Bill, I gave your information to another

Bill Konves:

:

fellow in Denver. Twenty eight trucks.

Bill Konves:

:

Really large company.

Bill Konves:

:

Same problem.

Bill Konves:

:

Wrong agency.

Bill Konves:

:

Charging way too much.

Bill Konves:

:

And I just did a free analysis for him.

Bill Konves:

:

It's like three page report sent it to him a couple of days

Bill Konves:

:

ago. Within an hour, he responded back, Hey, this thing's

Bill Konves:

:

amazing. We've got to work together.

Bill Konves:

:

What are we going to do? My other, my other agencies on

Bill Konves:

:

contract until May. I'm ready to push them out.

Bill Konves:

:

Let's go. And I said, Well, I appreciate that because all

Bill Konves:

:

the home services companies are having these same

Bill Konves:

:

challenges, but my job is not to come in and compete and

Bill Konves:

:

push people out. My job is to come in and help you from a

Bill Konves:

:

sea level perspective, look at your partners and say, Hey,

Bill Konves:

:

maybe they can do this well, maybe they don't do that well,

Bill Konves:

:

we don't need to throw them out.

Bill Konves:

:

And so that industry overall, it needs to outsource.

Bill Konves:

:

Chief Marketing Officer, if there was a term for that

Bill Konves:

:

because that industry and those in those business owners

Bill Konves:

:

are being taken advantage of by a lot of different

Bill Konves:

:

marketing agencies that charge way too much money for what

Bill Konves:

:

they're doing. So I'm aligning myself in that world since I

Bill Konves:

:

know it. I owned a concrete company.

Bill Konves:

:

I know the struggles.

Bill Konves:

:

So that might be my my dream challenge fixing industry.

Bill Konves:

:

And if I do that, it would be very lucrative.

Glenn Harper:

:

It would be.

Glenn Harper:

:

When you are, you know, working with clients, you know,

Glenn Harper:

:

there's definitely certain sizes that you want to work with

Glenn Harper:

:

and and challenges like we indicated you like the more

Glenn Harper:

:

complex, sophisticated type ones.

Glenn Harper:

:

But again, when you describe your portfolio of clients,

Glenn Harper:

:

you're kind of all over the board with that because I think

Glenn Harper:

:

the challenge is again, that was my initial thought or

Glenn Harper:

:

question was is it funner to take somebody that has nothing

Glenn Harper:

:

and bring them up?

Glenn Harper:

:

Or is it better to take somebody who has something and make

Glenn Harper:

:

them even better?

Glenn Harper:

:

Which one do you like more, which is more rewarding for

Glenn Harper:

:

you?

Bill Konves:

:

More rewarding.

Bill Konves:

:

Well, yeah, that's a tough question.

Bill Konves:

:

I know, because then it becomes a financial question

Bill Konves:

:

because you do, everyone needs their base minimum, what

Bill Konves:

:

they're worth, what they feel, what they just, what they

Bill Konves:

:

have to pay their bills. So if I could look and say this is

Bill Konves:

:

a product that's amazing and it's a startup product and I

Bill Konves:

:

know it's going to be amazing.

Bill Konves:

:

I want to ride that journey, then that would be extremely

Bill Konves:

:

fun and fulfilling.

Bill Konves:

:

However, those are unicorns for every hundred products.

Bill Konves:

:

Ninety nine of them just aren't going to make it.

Bill Konves:

:

And so you can hit your your wagon to a lot of tough

Bill Konves:

:

emotional rides.

Bill Konves:

:

Those are also the most emotional.

Bill Konves:

:

You alluded earlier to the emotion.

Bill Konves:

:

When you're all in with a team, you're not playing on the

Bill Konves:

:

outside, you're like, Yeah, hey, here's my bill.

Bill Konves:

:

This is why I think you should do cool paying my bill and

Bill Konves:

:

you walk away when you're inside, you're worried about

Bill Konves:

:

every penny. I mean, you cut your own pace sometimes when

Bill Konves:

:

the client's not doing well.

Bill Konves:

:

I've cut my own pay in half like, Look, I'm still here, but

Bill Konves:

:

I'm cutting my own pay. We're going to make this happen.

Bill Konves:

:

It's going to work. It's very emotional to be in that

Bill Konves:

:

situation.

Glenn Harper:

:

Wasn't that like what they always say?

Glenn Harper:

:

Don't get emotional in business.

Glenn Harper:

:

So how how do you balance that?

Bill Konves:

:

I well, yeah, well, I think you need to be emotion in terms

Bill Konves:

:

of passion, you have to have passion about your product to

Bill Konves:

:

push it forward. If you don't have emotion about it, you're

Bill Konves:

:

not going to have much of a product.

Bill Konves:

:

You're not going to wake up every morning and be jumping

Bill Konves:

:

out of bed, say, I'm going to make it happen.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm going to take over the world today.

Bill Konves:

:

But don't be emotional about the day to day decisions.

Bill Konves:

:

That's where a lot of entrepreneurs get caught up.

Bill Konves:

:

They're emotional about every single decision that's

Bill Konves:

:

happening, instead of even the passion and the emotion for

Bill Konves:

:

the big picture.

Glenn Harper:

:

Perilous by analysis, right?

Glenn Harper:

:

They just can't get out of their own way.

Bill Konves:

:

Yes.

Glenn Harper:

:

So as an entrepreneur, you are out there, you know, making

Glenn Harper:

:

the donuts, slaying the dragons, doing what you do at some

Glenn Harper:

:

point when you're identifying a client that you want to

Glenn Harper:

:

work with. Do you feel like today versus 20 years ago?

Glenn Harper:

:

I can't remember how long you been doing this as an

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneur, but it seems like since I've known you.

Glenn Harper:

:

But do you feel like you have a good, I don't know, gut

Glenn Harper:

:

instinct to recognizing your client if they've got that

Glenn Harper:

:

quote it factor like you like, whoa.

Glenn Harper:

:

They know they they got it figured out.

Glenn Harper:

:

If I can just get in with them, we'll take it to the next

Glenn Harper:

:

level. Do you feel like you have to have that gut check and

Glenn Harper:

:

kind of just recognize that up front, if we're working with

Glenn Harper:

:

them? Because if somebody comes up to you and say, Hey, I

Glenn Harper:

:

need to scale, let's rock and roll.

Glenn Harper:

:

Are you going to just jump in with them or are you going to

Glenn Harper:

:

say, you know, that got to when you said successful

Glenn Harper:

:

entrepreneurs and you said, you know, ones that really got

Glenn Harper:

:

it figured out, how do you know that they could say it?

Glenn Harper:

:

But you have this gut instinct with them that you can just

Glenn Harper:

:

recognize the type of character they have and that they if

Glenn Harper:

:

they have it.

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, you can definitely tell people that are already doing

Bill Konves:

:

well and just ready the conversations you're having with

Bill Konves:

:

them. But I mean, the

Glenn Harper:

:

People that aren't aren't doing well, like like you just

Glenn Harper:

:

like

Bill Konves:

:

I won't. Yeah, well, I will only work with well, I shouldn't

Bill Konves:

:

say that. I know at least busted my target customer right

Bill Konves:

:

now today, and it's happened over the last three months.

Bill Konves:

:

Yeah, actually, in the last two weeks I've had people

Bill Konves:

:

referred to me. A startup was referred to me and I said,

Bill Konves:

:

You know what? It's just not who I work with, but I'm going

Bill Konves:

:

to talk with them and chat with them.

Bill Konves:

:

We'll put them through my my initial survey fill out a

Bill Konves:

:

survey. One of the things I have to do is fill out a

Bill Konves:

:

survey. If they're not willing to fill out this survey,

Bill Konves:

:

which is kind of complex, then it qualifies them away the

Bill Konves:

:

opposite way. So I still have conversations with people

Bill Konves:

:

because maybe there is something there.

Bill Konves:

:

But when we talked with this plumber, I looked at his

Bill Konves:

:

business. I saw he had twenty eight trucks.

Bill Konves:

:

I saw he's spending.

Bill Konves:

:

An ungodly amount of money in a marketing budget every

Bill Konves:

:

month that tells me there's a lot of money in that company

Bill Konves:

:

somewhere. And if he's seeing it or not, that's my job to

Bill Konves:

:

figure it out and make it better.

Bill Konves:

:

So you can ask questions to say, Oh, you're twenty eight

Bill Konves:

:

trucks. Wow, you have an x amount marketing budget.

Bill Konves:

:

Wow. There is a lot of cash flow in your business, so

Bill Konves:

:

someone is making money in there.

Bill Konves:

:

It might not be the owner, as we know in many cases, but I

Bill Konves:

:

can help you figure that out so you can ask questions and

Bill Konves:

:

figure out how successful people are.

Bill Konves:

:

And yeah, I think I'm getting close and what?

Bill Konves:

:

I'm not close. I bring it to my coach every Friday and we

Bill Konves:

:

talk about it like, is this a client for me?

Bill Konves:

:

Is this is this something that matches my values and where

Bill Konves:

:

I want to go?

Glenn Harper:

:

So your coach definitely talks you off the ledge, which is

Glenn Harper:

:

which is good because most entrepreneurs are on the ledge

Glenn Harper:

:

all the time. And it's not only just a ledge or literally

Glenn Harper:

:

walking on the top of the peak on that ridge, and they

Glenn Harper:

:

could slip either way and fall off.

Glenn Harper:

:

And it's over, right? I mean, that's a real thing.

Bill Konves:

:

I lived that life for many years.

Glenn Harper:

:

It's the best to make you feel alive, doesn't it?

Bill Konves:

:

Yes. Until you hit 50,

Glenn Harper:

:

I was something bad happened at 50.

Glenn Harper:

:

I thought, that's when we have all the wisdom.

Glenn Harper:

:

No.

Bill Konves:

:

Well, yeah, exactly.

Bill Konves:

:

You don't want to live that life when you're 50, you're

Bill Konves:

:

supposed to have the wisdom. So that's good.

Glenn Harper:

:

So one thing you said and and I and I applaud that because I

Glenn Harper:

:

find a lot of entrepreneurs that, you know, we work with

Glenn Harper:

:

that they hit the point where they have their.

Glenn Harper:

:

They're not satisfied, but and they're not content, but

Glenn Harper:

:

they're they're doing fine.

Glenn Harper:

:

They're doing OK.

Glenn Harper:

:

And they still have a lot more to give.

Glenn Harper:

:

But they don't want to give in like all in to give to

Glenn Harper:

:

somebody, and they end up turning into these mentors and

Glenn Harper:

:

part of these mastermind groups and just give away some

Glenn Harper:

:

free advice and just sharing those experiences to kind of

Glenn Harper:

:

help other people. And you kind of, I guess, alluded to

Glenn Harper:

:

that with this one. You just said you've got to fill out

Glenn Harper:

:

the survey and even though you will probably not work with

Glenn Harper:

:

them, you may be in a situation we want to mentor them.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you find that that mentoring is a rewarding thing?

Glenn Harper:

:

Is it backfire?

Glenn Harper:

:

Is it a good thing or is it a way to give back?

Glenn Harper:

:

I mean, somebody had to mentor you at some point to help

Glenn Harper:

:

you get where you are?

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you do you feel like you're at that point where you're

Glenn Harper:

:

giving back?

Bill Konves:

:

I don't I think I would be.

Bill Konves:

:

And currently, I am not a good mentor.

Bill Konves:

:

I can give advice.

Bill Konves:

:

And that's where I'm at right now.

Bill Konves:

:

I love giving advice, but I don't have any long term mentor

Bill Konves:

:

shifts and that I'm mentoring people.

Bill Konves:

:

I just don't right now.

Bill Konves:

:

I don't think it fits my personality.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm still driven to, you know, when you're mentoring,

Bill Konves:

:

you're giving advice, you're not helping them take action

Bill Konves:

:

in a lot of times.

Bill Konves:

:

They don't take action, and it really frustrates you.

Bill Konves:

:

So if I find someone that takes every bit of action, then I

Bill Konves:

:

give them, then I'd be all in and probably be excited about

Bill Konves:

:

it. But I'm not actively mentoring anyone.

Bill Konves:

:

I don't have anybody, really.

Bill Konves:

:

That I'm looking to mentor, but that would be the key if

Bill Konves:

:

I'm going to work with you and give you some advice.

Bill Konves:

:

You better take it. Because what's the point?

Glenn Harper:

:

Correct? I've got a list of like 300 people that would like

Glenn Harper:

:

to hire you right now and maybe not even hire, just mentor

Glenn Harper:

:

you. You want that list.

Glenn Harper:

:

Absolutely not. You know, you've got a scarcity of of

Glenn Harper:

:

product, a scarcity of mindset, and it's very valuable and

Glenn Harper:

:

it's to the point where why waste that on somebody who's

Glenn Harper:

:

not going to do anything valuable with it?

Glenn Harper:

:

It's hard to screen that as an entrepreneur about all those

Glenn Harper:

:

opportunities in front of you, of how you get engaged with

Glenn Harper:

:

them. Because just because it's a perfect situation, if

Glenn Harper:

:

they aren't going to do what you tell them, then why even

Glenn Harper:

:

waste that emotional capital and all those things to get it

Glenn Harper:

:

set up? A true statement?

Bill Konves:

:

True. And then that's the emotional part.

Bill Konves:

:

Some people really get mentors can can bounce away from

Bill Konves:

:

that. I get very frustrated.

Bill Konves:

:

There's money sitting on the table here.

Bill Konves:

:

There's a product on the table.

Bill Konves:

:

There's this problem in your life.

Bill Konves:

:

You've got to take care of it. I'll take care of it.

Bill Konves:

:

Let me let me do it for you.

Bill Konves:

:

So I can't.

Bill Konves:

:

That's why I can't be a consultant.

Bill Konves:

:

I need to be involved inside of businesses and work with

Bill Konves:

:

the founders to say, Look, I got it.

Bill Konves:

:

Let me do this. Go do what you're doing.

Bill Konves:

:

I'm going to take care of this. We have a better week next

Bill Konves:

:

week.

Glenn Harper:

:

So I think there's a you're in a unique space because a lot

Glenn Harper:

:

of times an entrepreneur is going to either say, Hey, I'm

Glenn Harper:

:

going to do business and I do all the work and I'm in

Glenn Harper:

:

charge of all those things and make a great career doing

Glenn Harper:

:

that. And you've got a great job to do that.

Glenn Harper:

:

And that's one school of thought.

Glenn Harper:

:

And there's nothing. It's a great, great model.

Glenn Harper:

:

Then there's another set of entrepreneurs that say, Look,

Glenn Harper:

:

I'm tired of being on the hamster wheel and I want to build

Glenn Harper:

:

a business and I'm going to scale this and other people

Glenn Harper:

:

help me do achieve this huge business where I'm not really

Glenn Harper:

:

actively involved and I'm still getting paid.

Glenn Harper:

:

You have a very unique situation because you kind of have

Glenn Harper:

:

like a a hybrid thing.

Glenn Harper:

:

You have this job that you do as doing business for

Glenn Harper:

:

clients, but you are actually helping them build a business

Glenn Harper:

:

and you're part of it.

Glenn Harper:

:

That is very unique in this industry as an entrepreneur.

Glenn Harper:

:

If you looked at it like that before,

Bill Konves:

:

I have and I struggle with it sometimes because I'm not

Bill Konves:

:

doing anything myself and as a builder, I want to build

Bill Konves:

:

something and that's a conversation that I go through every

Bill Konves:

:

Friday. With with again, with my coach, it's like, am I

Bill Konves:

:

ready to build something?

Bill Konves:

:

Do I want to build something? Or am I satisfied just

Bill Konves:

:

building these clients businesses with them?

Bill Konves:

:

And that's all I need.

Bill Konves:

:

So that's why I do have these other small projects sitting

Bill Konves:

:

out there. You know what might work?

Bill Konves:

:

What might take off? What might I get passionate about over

Bill Konves:

:

the next 15, 20 years?

Bill Konves:

:

Because people are like, Oh, you're going to retire?

Bill Konves:

:

Oh no, I'm looking for that thing that I can retire and

Bill Konves:

:

work 20 to 30 hours a week because that's what I like to

Bill Konves:

:

do. I don't like to golf.

Glenn Harper:

:

What that's that doesn't sound normal.

Glenn Harper:

:

Yeah. What do you like to do if you're not going?

Bill Konves:

:

I like to go to kids sports, probably for kids and travel

Bill Konves:

:

sports, you know, that life, so that's fun.

Bill Konves:

:

In about seven years, that's going to be done gone out the

Bill Konves:

:

door. So do I want to still be helping clients build their

Bill Konves:

:

businesses or do I want to build my own?

Bill Konves:

:

And so that's where I'm at in life.

Bill Konves:

:

Like, do I want to build something for myself that's going

Bill Konves:

:

to take me into retirement and let me have something?

Bill Konves:

:

My wife doesn't kill me sitting home all day, something

Bill Konves:

:

maybe for my kids to get involved in something like, you

Bill Konves:

:

know, just something bigger out there.

Glenn Harper:

:

So I think that's the final thought today is the fact that

Glenn Harper:

:

all the entrepreneurs out there, you think you have to have

Glenn Harper:

:

it all figured out and you're really don't because it's

Glenn Harper:

:

ever evolving, ever changing.

Glenn Harper:

:

But try to focus on one thing at a time.

Glenn Harper:

:

Dominate the space before you go to the next thing.

Glenn Harper:

:

Don't run amuck and do a shotgun approach and shoot out of

Glenn Harper:

:

everything. Stay focused.

Glenn Harper:

:

And then you can always pivot and change.

Glenn Harper:

:

Don't try to do everything.

Glenn Harper:

:

Try to do one thing at a time and work through it.

Glenn Harper:

:

Do you think that's a fair assessment bill?

Bill Konves:

:

That's a great assessment.

Bill Konves:

:

And don't forget to expand your network and listen to your

Bill Konves:

:

board of advisors.

Glenn Harper:

:

Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us today and taking time

Glenn Harper:

:

out of your busy day.

Glenn Harper:

:

Good luck out there trying to figure it out, but darn it

Glenn Harper:

:

sure is fun, isn't it?

Bill Konves:

:

It is, yeah. Thank you, Glenn.

Bill Konves:

:

Thank you, Julie.

Glenn Harper:

:

All right, Bill, take care.

Glenn Harper:

:

This is Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith:

:

And Julie Smith.

Glenn Harper:

:

Signing off, talk to you guys soon.

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