Anthony Markey

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome everyone back to the Tron Podcast with your host, Rashad Woods, A special guest today, a gentleman who helps business owners, entrepreneurs and has a head heck of a lot of enthusiasm to add to your company and be an assistance with you when it comes to helping you with cost savings and anything else that's going along with your business. He's also a host of his own successful podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Anthony Mark. Thank you, sir, for joining me. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's my pleasure. I appreciate you having me on Rashad. [00:00:42] Speaker A: So I want to obviously thank you first of all for being on here. And second of all, you know, I looked over what you do, man, and I think it's amazing. You're a Noah guy, which I think is such a great name that resonates so quickly because that's the first thing that pops off people's head with anything they may be done. But I'd like to. You'd explain a little bit more what you do. [00:01:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So a bit about me. I've been self employed for seven years. I started off in sales doing life and health. My offers changed up quite a lot to where I am now. I'm a business profit advocate, basically, like you alluded to. I just help businesses find money and save money in ways that they didn't know they have available to them. I wanted to be able to add value and find collaborations and not competitions is when I first started off in sales, it was all competing. Hey, I gotta go take this business. I gotta go do this business. I'm gonna be this guy. After you've been in it for a while, you start to realize there's more than enough to go around. There's an abundance out there. So finding different ways to synergize and help bring people together and work together to help the client further. Right. Because what I'm doing when I'm partnering with somebody is it's not additive. I'm not trying to add a service. It's multiplicative, where it's like me plus you equals 10 times or whatever it is to where if I can save a company money, let's say I save them $100,000 that year. Whoever's introduced me to whoever their service is, whatever they're offering, they're able to go back in and help them exponentially. Hey, happy that, you know, Rashad introduced us. I saved you 100 grand this year. He's coming in Monday to talk to you about and whatever it is. So they're using the found money to reinvest into the Business before, you know, they go buy a boat with it because, you know, the alert, the alert of the boat's strong. [00:02:09] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:09] Speaker B: But you should probably, you know, spin the roi, not the windfall for sure, for sure. [00:02:14] Speaker A: So how did you, when you were in sales, like, so what turned you to say, okay, I'm, you're still selling a service and your, your service is saving money. So you started out in sales, so how did you pivot to sit back and say, and take kind of that bird's eye view and be like, wait a minute, there's more than just selling a product internally. How did you get with the inter internals of a company? Like, how did you even think of this? [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So happy accident. I just, I kind of, I was in the B2C space. I wanted to break into the B2B and everything I was looking, it was like, okay, well you have to go in and convince this person to get rid of their guys, that you can be their new guy. And then somebody's going to kind of come in and try and do the same. And it's all, you know, high competition. I'm like, yeah, that, that, that just sounds exhausting. So I started looking for different things that would synergize with people so I don't have to get rid of whoever they have. I can work with their existing CPAs, I can work with their existing brokers, I can work with whoever they're already dealing with and add another layer of value that most folks didn't even know they were leaving on the table. So if I'm able to go in, find a solution to them and say, hey, we found an area where you're overpaying, you know, $200 a month per employee. Do you want to not do that anymore? That's a, that's a positive. Or if I'm able to go and say, hey, do you know you qualify for this and this and this and you haven't been taking advantage. Same. [00:03:22] Speaker A: Absolutely. Same approach. So is it mostly small, medium sized companies? Like what's the size of your customer base? Do you pinpoint? [00:03:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So a rule of thumb for me is if they have at least 10 full time W2s and more. So I don't, I don't have a maximum. We can help all the way up. You know, they're currently in talks with groups of like a million. Right. They don't get much bigger than that. But for me, if they have at least some W2s, you're looking at 10 or more probably going to be able to help them out. Pretty good chance I can go a little bit under that, depending on industry. But it's better not to. There's way more savings available for the 10, 20s, 30s, hundreds, 500. [00:03:57] Speaker A: So gotcha. [00:03:58] Speaker B: Wheelhouse for me is probably, we'll assume 15 to 20 employees. All the way up to a thousand would kind of be my, my wheelhouse. [00:04:05] Speaker A: What do you, what do you find? So when you first got in, how did you first introduce yourself? Was it with people you had already done business with before? Did, were you cold calling? How did, how did that come into fruition? [00:04:15] Speaker B: All of the above. You know, I did a bit of that. I started doing a lot of networking. I met some really cool, some really cool people that are really good connectors that you know to this day are still sending me introductions. So we go back and forth. So I was having a lot of one on one meetings and that's kind of where the I know a guy podcast came from. Because the majority of people that I'm meeting in those are solopreneurs, micro businesses, people that I'm never going to be able to help as a client. They're just a little bit too small for what I'm doing. But I still wanted to be able to add value. I still wanted to be able to, you know, assist them in some way because, you know, I'm a firm believer in helping. If people get what they want, you'll get what you want. Kind of a mentality where you lead with service, don't ask for anything. I'm just here to help you out. If something comes back by way, way awesome. I'm excited to see it. So I was having these meetings anyway. I was like, you know, if I just kind of make this all about them and record it and share it, that's going to add value to what they're doing. They're going to know who I am, they're going to know like, trust me a little bit more. And we're probably going to have more of a chance of having an actual meaningful connection as opposed to, you know, if you spend any time networking, doing one on ones. A lot of them are kind of fleeting. You meet somebody one time for a 30 minute meeting, they might sound interesting, but then you never follow up. They never follow up and then you never talk to them again. [00:05:18] Speaker A: Gotcha. Gotcha. [00:05:19] Speaker B: So yeah, kind of learned, leaned into that and that's kind of been where I transitioned. Starting off doing what you were saying, ending with no, I'm just going to try and network in a really Efficient, really beneficial way that people actually find value in. [00:05:31] Speaker A: Right. So what did you find? Is there a general broad consensus where you find they that these smaller businesses were wasting money on or weren't efficient at. [00:05:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So there's different programs out there. My favorite one, it's a health management program. Most of them don't know things like this exist where it doesn't replace anything that they're doing. As far as major medical goes, they can if they already have a broker. Great. This isn't going to change anything. It's going to be a net savings for the business to implement. On average it's about 480 to 620 a year savings per employee on the payroll taxes. And the employees, they also get a net pay rate. So you're looking at about a thousand to fifteen hundred extra year for the employees while getting added benefits like your free urgent care, free primary care, free preventative care. Yeah. So it can actually help lower a lot of the high frequency, low severity claims off of their major medical, leading to lower renewals. Possibly. But one of the big things is hey, my employees are now paid better. [00:06:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:20] Speaker B: They now have more benefits. They're more likely to stick around. So that's a, you know, another savings where you're not having to train and attract new talent. [00:06:27] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:06:27] Speaker B: The business owner can say payroll taxes while they do it. So that's probably my favorite product. [00:06:31] Speaker A: That's awesome. And you know, that has to be such a great value add when people can sit back and say you're, you're giving them essentially a raise internally, not increasing their cost and finding efficiencies during their current system. That, that's mind blowing. And I think what you'll find out is at least from what my, from what I'm listening to you as they're busy enough as it is. Why don't you take that off their plate and find that for them? Right? [00:06:51] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. They don't have anybody, you know, bringing this to their attention. So why shouldn't I be the one to say, hey, here's this, you didn't know it existed. Let's look and see how much of an impact if it's going to have. If it has a big one. Let's talk about it. [00:07:03] Speaker A: That's awesome. How did you, how did you even research. What's your background even like, you know, I'd love to know like how you got into sales and cost savings. Do you have an accounting background or do you have an econ background? [00:07:13] Speaker B: No, I was actually, I was a painter, sandblaster For a while I went. I went to college. I was more at college for football and volleyball girls. So I didn't know what I wanted to do. [00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:07:22] Speaker B: I thought I wanted to be a nurse. So I went and got my EMT to see if I even liked medicine. I hated the hospital work though. But I loved the, the ambulance. But I can't work in an ambulance very long because I'm tall. So I hunched over the whole time and I was like, man, not gonna do that forever. I thought I wanted to be a fight nurse. Can't do that. Tallest. You can be a six foot two. So that was never gonna happen. You're taller than six foot two? Six. Six. Yeah. So six foot six. I was an offensive lineman in college, so. [00:07:47] Speaker A: Geez. [00:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it was, it wasn't meant to be. [00:07:50] Speaker A: It's just hard to tell, you know. It's hard to tell. [00:07:52] Speaker B: Yeah. No, we all look the same height when we're on our screen. Yeah. So. So yeah, I. I got into a number of different things. Ended up in the blue collar profession, being a painter, sandblaster. And then it was just, I don't know, it was kind of one. Even overnights it was negative 40 with wind chill and you know, I had to go outside and use a porta potty with bibs on and negative 40 weather. I'm like, you know what? I'm not doing this anymore. Iowa gets cold. I'm going to find that commute that's from the kitchen to the office. And that's kind of where I got into. That's when I got into sales. So. [00:08:22] Speaker A: Right. So what is the percentage? I mean, you've obviously seen. You obviously have very. Customers that are very satisfied with your service. Have you found that there's a trend that, that they're actually a lot of companies are doing, whether it's health, whether it's capital expenditures or whether it's payroll, that there's a general. They miss like this particular set of knowledge. As successful as they are to start their own businesses that this is what they don't really have an expertise or a field in. [00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So when I'm looking at the like health management programs, I think I've met one company that's ever heard of something like it. [00:08:54] Speaker A: You're right. [00:08:55] Speaker B: Out of all my. Out of all my work. So majority. And then on other things like the research and development tax credits, it's so underutilized. If I'm talking to like a brewery or a winery, nine times out of 10, they're like, I didn't know I qualified. I thought I was just doing my job. And you're like, you are. That's still qualifying. So, you know, taking a look and seeing, you know, what they're doing, depending on the industry, if they're making a new product, new process, new technology, new technique, they're probably doing qualifying events. But maybe they're smaller and they don't have a team of forensic, you know, attorneys, CPAs and all that going out there to kind of find these things. So they don't. They never know about. [00:09:26] Speaker A: Right. So do you, Are you, are you just based in Iowa or do you help companies remotely or do you have to go on site to provide services? [00:09:33] Speaker B: No, I work anywhere in the country. My only restrictions are, you know, that they're in the U.S. right. Because we're using us, you know, us programs. Yeah. And that they have a minimum of 10 full time W2 employees. Anything outside of that, you know, I can do it virtually, I can do it in person. Doesn't matter. If somebody really, really, really wants to see me in person, I can make that happen. Hasn't happened yet. More folks are now comfortable enough to do this. [00:09:54] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:09:55] Speaker B: So, yeah. [00:09:56] Speaker A: Okay. And so I gotta ask, like, and I say, obviously, I don't want to give away too much, you know, or ask too personal. Are you. Do you deal with, like, their legal teams, their accounting teams in hand with it, and how is their reception with them dealing with somebody from the outside, kind of making them more efficient? [00:10:11] Speaker B: Yeah, just. Just like anything else that can vary about how people take it. The majority of my experience, let's say I'm talking about, like the, the tax credits and I'm talking to their CPA. A lot of CPAs know it exists. They're like, oh, yeah, that's a thing. They just don't have the time because they have 50, 100, a thousand clients that need them to really be good in this one or this general area. They don't have time to specialize in this one spot. So the majority of time, if I'm talking to somebody, their CPA is all on board. They're like, great. I don't have to try and learn this whole thing, how all these things work. I'll do the filing, you do the legwork, and we're all happy. [00:10:41] Speaker A: That's fantastic. Yeah. Because obviously, you know, you know, and, you know, tax codes change yearly and all these other, you know, and there's a fluctuation in things, and I'm sure there's a lot of knowledge and understanding that they have to keep up with in regards to legal things as well too. So you're based out of Iowa. Do you have a particular. I know you said size of customers. There are particular industry that's been receptive to you. I mean, I know farming is huge in Iowa. So is it agricultural, is it manufacturing? You know, what field particular has been utilizing your services the most? [00:11:10] Speaker B: So it depends on the. It depends on the vertical they kind of have. They tend to help different areas more. So anybody in manufacturing, anybody that's creating a product, enhancing a process, making new technologies or enhancing, you know, new techniques, they're prime for, you know, research and development. So a lot of farmers, a lot of breweries, wineries, distilleries, some places like that are obvious construction. You know, they're building blueprints, they're making things so fairly wide, wide net there, but an even wider net on like the health management side because like I said, the only requirement there is that they have W2 employees, which is insert industry here. And that's, you know, the majority of my clients aren't even in Iowa. For those, it's, you know, because it's such a national thing. [00:11:50] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:50] Speaker B: Getting introductions by meeting people all over. And so because I'm not cold calling and walking into businesses say, let's talk to you about that. No, a lot of the time it's, hey, really happy that, you know, Shot introduced us. We're going to talk about this today. [00:12:01] Speaker A: So, so what networking events do you have to go to? Like, have you gone to like, conferences? Have you gone to other events or, or trade shows or trade meetings or things like that to. To really branch out your business. [00:12:13] Speaker B: I should do more. Yeah, the, the majority of what I've done have been like, with local chambers of commerce because we can kind of work with them real hand in hand. [00:12:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:12:21] Speaker B: And then a lot of like, virtual things, meeting people virtually. And then I've had a lot of great introductions from, like I said, just people that I've met over the years that are like, hey, I know you do this. Have a conversation with so and so and so and so. And that's kind of where the podcasting has come. So the podcasting has quickly become my biggest source of networking because it's a way for me to add value to people. I'm not just there to talk at them. I'm there to say, who are you? What do you do? Let's get to know you a little bit. Let's see what you're passionate about. And I can use it to help them leverage what they're doing. Saying, hey, you know what you said you need help in these areas. I met Rashad the other day. He helps people here. Watch this video. Let me know if you think it would be a good introduction. So I'm saving you time, saving them time. So that's quickly become my biggest source of networking. But yeah, I've done a little bit of everything. [00:12:59] Speaker A: Right. That's awesome. So tell us a little bit about your podcast. You know, I caught some clips of it. I thought your interview style was great and you get a lot of people that are obviously entrepreneurs or sole business owners. So how did the podcast and is it the similar format of how you're, you're helping people in your and your I know a guy business? [00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah, the whole idea is that I help people make more genuine connections. The, the main thing that I ran into when I was just networking to network was 90% of the people you talk to, you'll probably not talk to again. You rarely have a follow up. Even if they do something cool, you know, you might get busy, they might get busy. Things get back burnered. Yeah, with this I'm able to focus in on who they are. Obviously they're going to know who I am. We have that conversation. They know what I do, but I'm going to focus on who they are, less about what they do. Obviously I'm going to talk about what they do, but it's going to be at a high level of why you, why do you love it, who do you like to help, that kind of stuff. So that people more of their passion, more of their heart into it. So that if I come across somebody that goes, I could really use help in xyz, I can send them the recording and say, you know what, I think they might be able to make a good introduction, might be a good introduction for you. And then what happens is, you know, one or two things, they either go, you know what? Not for me. In which case I saved them time. I didn't make an introduction that wasn't going to help them at all. Or alternatively way more frequently, it's oh no, they're perfect, I love them. Can you please make an introduction now? They're 25% more no, like trust in that initial meeting where they already know the background they already know and they can ask more in depth questions. So we're kind of skipping that first meeting where nobody ever follows up. We're going straight to the second one where actual connections could be made. So that's the idea where I'm just helping more people network more efficiently because we only have so many hours in the day to do that. So just trying to find an efficient way of actual fostering genuine connections and helping people do that through collaboration, not monetization. So I'm not sitting here saying, hey, you owe me, XYZ to do this. Nope. If we're going to monetize it at all, it's going to be through collaboration. Hey, you're center, you work well with me. Let's synergize and then let's talk about it to the group so that everybody knows how they should be approaching these. [00:14:55] Speaker A: Right. Is it just you that's just doing this or is. I mean, as. And I know you said you've been doing this for seven years. Have you brought anybody on as a. [00:15:01] Speaker B: Team member for the podcast? [00:15:03] Speaker A: No, just for your. I'm sorry. For your, for your. For your. [00:15:06] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I, I have. So it's actually funny. My mom, she got started in insurance after I did because she was getting sick of the corporate world. You know, we have that, you know, the LLC partnership where she handles more of, you know, that side of it, handle all of this stuff. So a little bit as far as, you know, upcoming, I'm definitely going to have to bring on team members. This is becoming a lot. [00:15:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:15:26] Speaker B: Which is a good problem to have. [00:15:27] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, yeah, that's awesome, you know, because I think every business could use somebody like you, you know, and I think that there's opportunities, you know, for cost savings. Have you found any usage of technologies like AI? Have you, has artificial intelligence at all helped your, your business? [00:15:43] Speaker B: Yeah, it has. It's, it's made a lot of the, the tedious, monotonous things easier where, you know, I just need to kind of get this done. It's going to take me in half an hour, an hour to do it right, where I can just go in high level a lot of this stuff into like a chat GPT and it spits it out in 5 minutes. I proofread it, make a critique, and it's done. So a lot of that has been offloaded. I know there's way more uses for it, but there I'm, I'm slowly embracing those two. [00:16:09] Speaker A: For sure. For sure. I'm sure when you first started, obviously, that this has just been big in the last, you know, year and a half, two years. So a lot of things where you just probably just Microsoft wording it or excelling it, punching input, punching output. Do you have Any, any software platforms that you use, like from an accounting standpoint or from a, from a. Like, is there like, how do you actually compute these numbers? [00:16:30] Speaker B: Are you talking about like for finding the savings? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the teams that I work with do. So when it, when it talks about like, you know, team on my LLC and everything, it's just me and like I said and my mom. But I'm not doing all that work myself. I'm informing and introducing. Hey. And it's kind of part with the. I know a guy as well as. Hey, you know, if you're looking at the R and D tax credit, that's awesome. You're for sure doing qualifying actions. Let's get you in contact with a CPA firm that. That's all they do. [00:16:54] Speaker A: Gotcha. [00:16:55] Speaker B: Literally go in, they deep dive and they do that. You know, that's way above my head. [00:16:58] Speaker A: Yeah. You don't say, wow, that's impressive, man. Yeah. But you can at least. Yeah, you can get that first introduction. You can sit back and say what their capital expenditures are and where the. And the avenue that they can go to, because internally all they're doing is focusing on their business. Day. It's day. [00:17:12] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah. It saves me. Like I said, you don't want me anywhere in your calculator. I'm gonna mess it up. But I can, I can inform you, I can go high level over and I can make a solid introduction. [00:17:21] Speaker A: Right. That's why I was curious. I was like, man, what are they? I was like, that's why I figured you had an accounting background because you were so efficient at, you know, cost savings and things of that nature. That's. No, it's impressive. It's impressive. It's a great field to, to have in. Have you met any resistance from companies? What's the. Do you have any pushback? [00:17:36] Speaker B: So you get a little bit where less so like with research development. A lot of times, like I said, the CPAs are like, no, that's. That's real 100. You know, they don't think it scam. That's been around since the 80s. [00:17:45] Speaker A: Right, right, right. [00:17:47] Speaker B: With the health maintenance, you can get a little pushback from their broker, even though you're not there to replace or change anything they're doing, they're just like, hey, I'm your uncle. If it was important I tell you about it and you're like, yeah, no, I get that. Make an introduction. I'd love to talk to him, of course. Or her and you know, show them how this works. But that's the only time you really get pushback is if whoever they have in place thinks you're coming. Because like I said, it is a competitive field. I'm not trying to compete, I'm trying to collaborate. So I prefer an introduction over a rejection. Hey, let's talk about it. [00:18:14] Speaker A: For sure, for sure. Well, you know, I think the work that you do is great. I love the podcast. Have you. What other ways can the audience find you? I know you have, you know, multiple ways that you've been on your Instagram page, you have, you know, tick tock. But I don't want to over talk you. Where else can people find you? [00:18:28] Speaker B: Yeah, no, all my socials, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all those places people can find me if they want to just connect on a one on one, just message me. Probably Facebook would be the easiest. Just Send me a messenger message or you know, I have my calendar link and all that stuff. If somebody likes to be a guest, it's like, I'd love to have a conversation with you. My only real requirement to somebody be the guest is don't sell snake oil. Right. That's, that's, that's a given. And then be passionate about it. If you have a really cool offer and your reason behind offering it is because, I don't know, it pays the bills, probably not going to be a great guest. But if you have a really great offer and you're super passionate and you want to go into detail and you want to help people, you're who I want to talk to. [00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:02] Speaker B: For that. [00:19:03] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's awesome. And my last question for you is, do you recommend your services before company starts or while they're in business? [00:19:10] Speaker B: Business. [00:19:10] Speaker A: Because maybe some people are like, this is my idea. But I want to make sure that from the very beginning I'm established or right when they first start birthing. [00:19:17] Speaker B: Both. Absolutely both. If somebody's considering doing something, let's say they're pre revenue. Let's say they already started in the pre revenue. Like yeah, no, I'll think about that when it comes comes down the line. A lot of this stuff can help you pre revenue, like the R D tax credit, for example. Even pre revenue you can use it to offset your payroll taxes. [00:19:34] Speaker A: So right. [00:19:34] Speaker B: If you're doing a qualifying action and you're in the startup mode, it's absolutely worth looking into because it's going to help you grow faster. Correct. At any point, worst case scenario, if it doesn't help you now, you now have more information, more education to know how to utilize it so that next year can or the year after that. It can. Because this isn't something programs like that and like everything that I offer aren't something that's a one and done. It's just helped me get bigger and I only utilize it more and make it bigger and bigger and bigger. [00:19:59] Speaker A: I'll tell you what, Anthony Markey, you know, I'm already blown away by what you offer. You know, when I says a Noah guy, I love that, that term too because, you know, it resonates so quickly with people because whether it's your car, whether it's your dishwasher, whether it's your floor, etc, it automatically just resonates with everyday regular language and it relates to people really well. And it's been an honor to be able to pick your brain and I know how busy you are and I really appreciate you coming on the Tron podcast. I would also love to have a follow up about this as well too. [00:20:26] Speaker B: No, absolutely. 100. I love talking about this with people that have never heard about it for. Because that's, that's the fun part is they go, wait, that exists? Because a lot of times people look at things and they go, Amazon doesn't pay taxes. And that's as far as they look into it. They never look into why they don't, they don't break the law to do it. They just use it. [00:20:41] Speaker A: Right. [00:20:41] Speaker B: And so why wouldn't you use the same rules? [00:20:44] Speaker A: So of course, of course. So you know, and you know, and I think sometimes people, you know, they just read a byline and don't get into this nuts and bolts of things. So I want to thank you for your time. I really appreciate that. [00:20:53] Speaker B: Absolutely. I really appreciate having me on. This has been a lot of fun. [00:20:56] Speaker A: Thanks, brother. You have a wonderful one. [00:20:57] Speaker B: Okay, you as well.