Shaun Bemis- Veteran, innovator, serial entrepreneur

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Listeners of the Tron podcast, this is your host, Rashad Woods. Today I have a very special guest. Today. I've had the honor of talking to some amazing people, but this man's accomplishment speaks for themselves. I have Sean Bemis, military veteran, entrepreneur, all around good guy, father, and I'm really honored for your time on this show, and thank you for your service, sir. [00:00:17] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks, Rashad. Excited to be here. Just. Just chat a little bit. [00:00:21] Speaker A: First of all, like, what compelled you to get into the military? You're about the same age as me, so, you know, I'd love to hear, you know, how you served our country, and, you know, that's a big honor and service and very selfless act of yourself. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah, well, thanks. Yeah. So I was, you know, what I kind of refer to as a September 12th guy. So September 11th happens. You know, I was going to school, a little bit lost, and, you know, it happened. I was like, hey, I'm going to go get in the fight. Like, I want. I want to do something here and not just sit around. And so I immediately started talking to recruiters, signed up, and then a few months later, I was off. Off the boot camp. [00:00:57] Speaker A: It's crazy because, you know, again, I vividly remember that horrible day. I was in college at the time, and, you know, people like yourself, you know, here I am, you know, in a dorm room, I'm talking to a classmate I graduated with. You know, I graduated in 01, and, you know, next, you know, he's in Baghdad, you know, two years later, you know, you're whatever. I'm missing the dates, but it was within 18 months, 22 months at that time. And, you know, here I am, like, worried about going to class and, you know, doing the everyday thing on a campus, and the same guy that I graduated with is there, and it's just like, worlds apart. And experience, man, it takes a lot, you know, especially at that age when you're trying to find, you know, life and then somebody's willing to go that early and decide that that's what they want to do. So thank you for that. [00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you. [00:01:36] Speaker A: It's amazing. So you get. You go out of. You're in the military and then, you know, what started your entrepreneurial journey from there. [00:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, I did a full 20 years. I was an intel guy. And as I. As I go through transition, I was lucky enough. Right. Even when I first joined the military, maybe even halfway through my career, it was just kind of like when you went to get out, it was like, all right, Good luck. Right. Appreciate your service. We're done with you. We're on to the next. [00:02:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:04] Speaker B: And the government nonprofits, they've done a lot to really help transitioning service servicemen. So I was really fortunate. I got into some really good groups. I retired out of Naval Special Warfare. I was an intel guy working with SEAL teams. So I had some advantages there that I could, I could pull on as well. And I actually made a run at working in sports. I had coached youth soccer. I was director of coaching for a club while I was still serving. And I was like, hey, like. And I found some guys that had transitioned into pro sports. Let me explore this. So I started. Instead of taking a traditional route, though, I started pitching a chief of staff concept to pro sports teams. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Wow. [00:02:41] Speaker B: And so newer concept, it is coming online in sports. But, you know, like, I, I interviewed with one NHL team where I got through both the assistant GMs. It was a brand new concept. This is how it's going to look. I basically drafted the job description and then it gets to the, the gm, he's the second oldest guy in the league, and he's like, man, I've been doing this for 50 years. Like, why do I need that dude? [00:03:05] Speaker A: Right? Right. [00:03:06] Speaker B: To his point, he probably wasn't wrong. [00:03:08] Speaker A: But you're ahead of the curve because now every team kind of has that person now, right? Yeah. [00:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah. And so, but what was really cool, what I really enjoyed about that, it wasn't the, oh, here's a job posting. I'm just gonna apply and try to get in, right? I was literally, I was pitching myself. I was pitching the position, the value added, you know, the time saved for those executives, all of those things. And realized that's, that's what I really enjoyed. Right? From traditional Navy into working with the SEAL teams, it was very similar, right? Traditional Navy, everything's structured. It's very much what you would think of typical military, right? Like, yes, sir, no, ma'. Am. All these things, when you start working with SEAL teams, Green Berets, they're like, is it legal, moral, ethical? Like, all right, let me know when it's done, right? And it was more just go do things and less ask for permission. And I, I thrived in that environment. And so I saw, I looked at that experience of trying to break into sports and I was like, hey, startups, this is, this is my place. [00:04:07] Speaker A: That's your lane, right? [00:04:09] Speaker B: It's fast pace, it's loose. It's, you know, everyone has that end goal. And as long as you are moving towards it. And you're not, and you're not spending a bunch of money doing it, right? Like that founder is going to be like, yeah, man, go like, figure it out. Make. [00:04:22] Speaker A: And you're, you're over there with the same people who are same driven and passionate like yourself, the guys who. And women who would be getting up at five, six o' clock in the morning, right. Do the late nights and then basically, you know, I don't want to say burn the candle on both ends, but you're not dealing with somebody you have to kind of, you know, yank out of bed, so to speak. You know what I mean? And hey, Johnny, you know, absolutely. You don't have that, that doesn't happen around the group of people that you are being around. Watch some of your videos and you know, you're relentless running and everything like that. And I say this very respectfully. I can't imagine, like from your military experience that you're not used to, you know, drive low sleep, you know, and being on point when it comes to what you're doing. Is that an accurate description? [00:05:01] Speaker B: No, for sure. I mean, even, even when I worked within the teams, like, I was kind of known as that guy that was just going to grind, right? Like, I wasn't the best analyst, I wasn't the smartest guy, I wasn't the brightest. But you better believe I was gonna sit there and I was gonna find the enemy and give guys a target and I was gonna keep people safe and I was just gonna put in the work. [00:05:21] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:05:21] Speaker B: And you know, the startup community is very similar. A lot of times it's lower pain, right? It's. It's that grind of it is. And you have to enjoy it. And even with my. Right, you watch some of the videos. Even with the running, right? Like, I'm not a guy who wants to go run some crazy fast 5k time. Like I run ultra marathons, like, and it's funny, I've run some 5Ks. And my wife is like, you know, don't you like that better? And I'm like, it hurts. It hurts so bad. It's terrible. And she's like, but you run all day. And I'm like, that's a different hurt. Like, yeah, right, right, right. And have that acute. Just like. And I feel like the startup life is like that, where it's just that, like you sit in that grind and just find your rhythm. [00:06:03] Speaker A: Well, you know, I can't remember the name, the founder of LinkedIn, but basically there was. So I'm paraphrasing when he said, like, if you're in the startup business, there is no sleep. [00:06:11] Speaker B: Right. [00:06:11] Speaker A: There's no. [00:06:12] Speaker B: Right. [00:06:13] Speaker A: The payoff to it obviously is very lucrative, you know, when it, when, when it gets to that pinnacle. But like, you're either all in or you're not. Right. Like, you know how you can kind of decompress if you're, if you're employed, for instance, you have that time off where there's that, that given window, okay, I got off at five or whatever time that is. And you can decompress if you're trying to get something off the ground, you're trying to get business partners, you're trying to grow things. Like, you have to be all in, you know what I'm saying? Like that, you know, maybe you can get that sleep, maybe you can have that night off, you know, to, to have dinner, you know, I can't, you know, speak from that perspective, but even like to a degree with this podcast, you know, the only reason I could talk to people like yourself is that basically, like, I got to put in the work necessary to get people like yourself to dedicate their time to me. So even though I'm not building a product for say, tinkering in my garage, I can't rest on my laurels. I still have to be interesting, I have to do my homework, I have to be prepared. Right. I don't get to have a day off, a bad interview. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Right, Right. [00:07:08] Speaker A: You just don't like. Right. So, you know, not everything's going to knock out the ballpark, so to speak. But to your point, you're either on point or you're not. [00:07:16] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And it's. And I think another thing that's really cool with that startup community is it's in the open. Right. Like, unless you're working at something that is stealth, like, you got, you've got smaller teams. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:29] Speaker B: So when you make a mistake. [00:07:30] Speaker A: Right. [00:07:31] Speaker B: I'll tell you, like, when I first I, because my first exposure was working with a, a startup scale up. It was a Danish company. [00:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:38] Speaker B: It's my first job out of the military. The only American. [00:07:42] Speaker A: That's. [00:07:44] Speaker B: It was, it was an incredible experience. Right. Like, perfect for me. And I go in and I see their lead generation process and I'm like kind of scratching my head and I'm like, man, you guys aren't bleeding money doing it. Like, I was like, so talking to my counterpart in Copenhagen, I'm like, can you just give me two days to play with this thing? And I play with it, you know, bring in some optimization, some autom stuff, work with our developers a little bit. Like, hey, can you write me this code? Like, this is the end result. This is what I need. And so I put together a nice process, like, perfect. And, you know, founders, like, love it. Let's implement it. We implement it and I start, you know, scraping things from the Internet and doing this stuff. I got people finding me email addresses. I send out my first mass emails. And I emailed the founder of our competitor. [00:08:25] Speaker A: Oh. [00:08:27] Speaker B: And he was in, right? And I'm looking at the boss and I'm like, hey, boss. So this just happened. The process isn't perfect, but it's all out, right? And, you know, and it's. But it's. I love it, right? Like, we're moving fast, we're breaking things, we're fixing things. Like, it's. [00:08:43] Speaker A: I mean, if you're making the competitor of Coca Cola, you really think the guy that sells Coca Cola didn't know that somebody down the street was like, making like, come on, man. Like, you're using the same suppliers, acquisition the same talent, right? Like anything that's successful is duplicated, right? Like, let's. Let's call it spade a spade, right? So, you know what I mean? So at some point you have to just be like, I mean, that didn't stop Facebook, because MySpace was there, right? You know what I mean? Straight up truth. You know what I mean? So what I find fascinating, what you said about yourself earlier, right, was like, you know when you said you're not the most talented guy. Like, I. I have a black belt in karate, right? Tsu do. I have a brown belt and Taekwondo. And I've. I've done Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu jitsu and a couple different other styles. And you are the worst kind of guy to, like, go against when it comes to, like, sparring, right? Because, like, it is like, I'm ser. Man, because, like, you know, I'm not saying you wouldn't be talented. I'm not. I don't want to dis whatever your skill set is. But those guys that literally grind you into the ground because they just, like, have the motor is the absolute worst guy to spar. Because you're just like, dude, can you please? Like, you're killing me here, right? Because they have that. They have that gear, and then you're wondering when that gear is going to turn itself off and then it does it. And then you're like, damn, this dude is really pissing me off. [00:09:55] Speaker B: So it's funny Enough. You say that because, like I said, I was a soccer player growing up, and for conditioning, during the winter, I used to go train with the wrestling team. [00:10:03] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:10:04] Speaker B: I talked to the coach, and I was like, look, I don't want to learn. Don't coach me. Just, like, I'm just gonna lay flat on the mat and let your boys, like, work on their move, and I'm just gonna be a pain. And they didn't coach me at all. And I just got the blood beat out of me. But it was great condition, right? And I go back, and I was in way better shape than everybody else because I conditioned with the wrestling team, you know, growing up. [00:10:26] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it. You know, when you came to your military experience, you know, anybody who thinks they're in shape, I mean, listen. I mean, you may be good enough, you know, to make it to the coffee break room on time to go up that flight of steps. So, you know, I did I. I say this very respectfully. Like, I got a print out of a Navy SEAL workout once. I didn't even do the swimming because I didn't have access to a pool. Yeah. And I damn near almost. I mean, it was like, I did it once and I was like, obviously I didn't come anywhere close to the times, respectively, but I just wanted to do what they did, right? Like, learning how, like, chin ups and pull ups, man, like, you talk about a humbling experience right there, man. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah. No, those guys. Those guys were beat. I mean, try being like, the intel nerd working with those guys daily, right? And, like, we would do these runs where they. They bust us to a state park. [00:11:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:07] Speaker B: And it's for whatever reason, even, like, we're. We're in a bus, right? Even, like, the cool kids would sit in the back. Like, we're all adults, right? But all the cool young seals are sitting in the back. But that bus would park and you'd see these dudes, like, flying off the. But, like, relaxed, like, and they were just. By the time I got off the bus, you couldn't even see them anymore. [00:11:25] Speaker A: That's unbelievable. [00:11:26] Speaker B: Like, they were just uber competitive, like, different, no matter what it was. Yeah. [00:11:31] Speaker A: Just different. Yeah. You're talking about the Michael Jordan of. Of in shape, right? Like, you're talking about that. They're just at a different level of anything. You can't be in that realm, in that space, because you wouldn't understand it from the outside looking in, so to speak. [00:11:44] Speaker B: Yeah. No, even the old broken ones would work us all into the ground, right? Like another level. [00:11:50] Speaker A: Nothing but respect for you guys, man. That's amazing. When you, when you either approach on the inside or the outside, how was it starting to be received? Did your military experience give you kind of one. I'm gonna say a leg up, but did it say, like, I'm used to processes inefficiencies in a manner that you may not see or your team may not see? And maybe there was a better quote, unquote, end for you than somebody who. I have an mba and I, you know, did course case studies and I know exactly how to study this bad boy to the. Sure. [00:12:21] Speaker B: So funny enough, when I first retired, I felt like it gave me a leg up. It really opened doors. I had a lot of conversations. I wouldn't say I had a ton of opportunity, but like, I mean, it definitely. I mean, how many people can just basically network their way into pro sports teams and start pitching? Right. Assistant GMs and Chief Soccer officers and stuff like that. Right, right. So 100. It opens some doors, the further away I get. I've actually found that, like, when I. Because over the last, like, year, I kind of looked at corporate America, I was like, should I, should I not started applying? And it was like, no, you don't have any industry experience. You don't have that. [00:13:00] Speaker A: Right. [00:13:01] Speaker B: Discounted. Because they were like, well, you don't have experience. [00:13:05] Speaker A: And it's weird how that works though, man. [00:13:07] Speaker B: You know, it was crazy, right? Like, I, I literally could go in and like, look at a, an intel problem set in places people hadn't been before and build out an entire network and figure out how we're going to get places, you know, position equipment, people working with the budget. Right. All these authorities as well. All these. [00:13:26] Speaker A: So you can navigate, which I hate to touch up, you can navigate between digital analyst and, and, and legal. So, like, in your back. So, like, you, you had all that experience to be able to say, I can talk to the, talk to the chief legal team. I could talk to the, to the, to the engineering squad. Do you find any particular department less receptive to what you offer? Right. Because, you know, traditionally the engineers are the least socially, you know, social kind of people. [00:13:48] Speaker B: I mean, I would say people that have the technical backgrounds, those are the places where it's like, ah, you just don't get this. And it's like, you know, it's like, right. Like, I, I can't go in and set up a network, but I fundamentally understand how it works. Right. Like, I like to say, like, when it comes to analytics I can't write the algorithm, but I 100% understand what you're doing with it. I understand the good info, you know, good output and all those things. I know what we need to adjust. [00:14:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:14:15] Speaker B: I can't go in and rewrite the code to adjust it, but I can tell you that, hey, the output I'm getting is not what I need. And this is what's missing. But those people tend to. I shouldn't say technical folks tend to dismiss it without that background, which, to a point, I get. Right. Like, I mean, again, if you're going to come in and start talking to me about intelligence and how that works. Right? Like, I'm going to kind of be like, okay, hang on. Right. [00:14:40] Speaker A: That's what they tell me. They watch Jack Ryan and they know what they're talking about. Right? [00:14:44] Speaker B: Exactly. Right. Like, yeah, I just got done watching the new terminal list and I'm sitting there, I'm like, well, that's not right. That's not right, but it's great. [00:14:51] Speaker A: It's a. Dude, I just watched season two, man. Like, so I watched the first season. I don't want to derail the conversation. You deserve better than talking about, you know, Amazon TV shows. [00:15:00] Speaker B: I mean, we could do a second podcast talking about it. Yeah, yeah, we'll launch it. [00:15:05] Speaker A: I had no clue. The second season, like, I was really, like, looking forward to it, but it kind of, all of a sudden I'm on Prime and I'm like, because I love the first season and, you know, for entertainment purposes, obviously you can speak much better than I can on that. [00:15:16] Speaker B: It was great. Yeah, no, it was great. But I do sit there and I'm like, you know, like, they call the guy chief throughout it. And I'm like, no one in the teams calls that dude chief. It's his first name. Like, what are they doing? Like, so there's little things and I'm like, come on, where was their military advisor on this one? [00:15:30] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:15:31] Speaker B: To a point, I get it. Right? [00:15:32] Speaker A: For sure. But hey, maybe, maybe a military advisor is like, you know, I tried to give my recommendation. They insist on putting that in the script. And I just let you know. So here you are telling, you know, with these companies giving your expertise and obviously you have to either show a certain sales metrics that you can meet. Cost savings initiative, different markets, they haven't met. So how did you find out? Like, where was that space where. Because I saw, you know, your profile where you did increase sales amongst companies and you navigate that really well. So two and this is kind of a two legged stool. Question number one, do you have a team that you work with that does this or just you? And then number two, how did you begin to start measuring and tracking real progress? [00:16:11] Speaker B: Yeah, so right now it's just me. That being said, like, I feel like one of my strengths is having a good network. And so there's certainly times when whether I'm directly, you know, going out just on the side and being like, hey bro, can you help me with it? Like I can't, like you're the guy. Or if I'm literally saying like, hey, you need to bring this guy in as well, let's have a chat with him or her and like they're the expert in this, whatever, whatever the case is, you know. And I think that's one of my strengths is not saying, oh, I got it and then, you know, and then messing something up, right? Like if I don't know, I don't know and that's okay. But I'm going to make sure, you know, I do right by the client and I get the right person in. You know, some of the biggest places I see is like, you know, just time saved. I think there's a ton of inefficiency. I'm not going to say the military is the best at it because like if you're supposed to be someplace at 6am that means people are showing up at 5am and you're literally just chilling. I mean, the first time I went to a meeting as a civilian, I walked in like 15 minutes early and like nobody said, and I sat there by myself for 15 minutes, right? And people came in, they're like, where'd you go? And I'm like, I've been here. Why? And I'm like, because you show up to meetings 15 minutes early. What do you mean? Why? So yeah, as far as like, you know, the actual process building of things, like that's where I really think the military does a good job. That's where I think I've been able to bring those over. And you know, it saves a lot of time. Inefficiencies, you get rid of those and then just finding like, I think there's a lot of benefit in bringing in somebody that isn't an expert in what you're doing. And I've worked in a ton of different industry, right. Like I worked with a guy, he was a mortgage broker. And I get in and I'm like, hey, what's your biggest pain point? He's like, it's just bringing new Clients, in closing the deal, I'm like, walk me through your process. And he tells me how he's like sending these like 20 page applications and he's like, print these out, they hand fill them out, scan them back in, send them in. His assistant then hand jams them in. And I'm like, I'm telling you right now, man, if you send me a 20 page application, first of all, if you just send me a 20 page application, I'm probably not doing it. But then if you tell me to print it and then scan, I'm like, come on. And I have a printer and I'm not going to do that. [00:18:21] Speaker A: So no way. [00:18:22] Speaker B: And so it literally just created a type form, right? That was it. Like a survey monkey. [00:18:28] Speaker A: He couldn't see that because it was only him, right? [00:18:31] Speaker B: So like he's only him a little bit older, right? And I think that's another thing as technology, right? Like we're in this crazy advancement of AI and all kinds of things, right? And if you haven't kept up, like, it's terrifying. Of course you don't want to dip your toe in now because it's so far from where it was even a year ago that you're like, I don't know what I'm doing when like, like I said, like, literally a survey monkey, you know, like a type form can be a lifesaver to an organization, but they're scared to make that incremental step. And there's a ton of good that comes with that, but that just comes from working from different industries, working with different people in SaaS and tech, work with, like I said, mortgage broker, blue collar folks. Like, you know, it runs the gamut. [00:19:15] Speaker A: Well, the thing is about it, regardless of the industry that you navigate, the number one thing you don't want to do is bog yourself down with paperwork and cumbersome tax, right? So whether you're working a plumbing service, whether it's a restaurant, whether it's a software service company, whether, whatever. Because at the end of the day, people say, I'm in the service business. Everything is the service business. Yeah, every single thing is the service business. You know, from the airlines to, to, to, you know, government, military contracting, you're providing a service. And the one thing people hate is cumbersome paperwork, redundancies and inefficiencies. And when you talk about technology, like I reference movies all the time, you probably haven't even seen this movie, but there's a movie that came out like 2003 or 4, it's called the cooler. Right. And so it was like William H. Macy was like the guy. Like if a guy was on a hot streak at the casino, he like was the bad luck charm. Right. And so like, and then Alec Baldwin played the CEO of the, of the casino. And it was an old school casino, but then they bring in these Harvard guys that are like, you need to be more transition to new school. And it was like the clash of, oh, we want to keep this traditional and not be the Shangri La. We want to be old school. And so when you talked about that, it's when the advent of technology is in our face, whether we like it or not. And In Ask People, 20 years ago they were using the yellow Pages. I mean that's not happening. [00:20:28] Speaker B: Right. [00:20:28] Speaker A: You know what I mean? They just, they, they just do not have the time. [00:20:32] Speaker B: I just worked with some shippers, some import export guys that were literally taking orders in triplicate. Like, you know, the old school. Like triplicate. You rip it off and like. And I mean these guys are like, you know, that's a million dollar company. Like they're killing like they're doing for what they are their family office. They're killing it. [00:20:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:52] Speaker B: And it's like guys like stop so much more. [00:20:55] Speaker A: Right. [00:20:55] Speaker B: If you just modernize just a little. Like you don't mean an AI chatbot taking orders. [00:21:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:03] Speaker B: But you do need a form online to take orders. [00:21:08] Speaker A: Get a cloud Oracle system, guys. Unless. [00:21:11] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Then you're the guy that's going to transition into that, teach their team, implement it. And here's the, here's your options. And what's crazy is, is that. And you and I are close to the same age, may even be the same age. [00:21:22] Speaker B: Right. [00:21:22] Speaker A: Is that, you know that things transition from, from record to CD to CD to, to, you know, I'm skip tape player to MP3, etc. Etc. Etc. Some of these companies, because they've been successful, they may be grandfathered in. They live in their ice and I'm not dissing them. They have their own pocket of where they've done business. [00:21:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:43] Speaker A: They have a landline, a fax machine. Like you said, the cabinet with a million different, you know. [00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:48] Speaker A: Things like this. [00:21:49] Speaker B: The secretary has been there for literally 50 years. Like gave her a wife watch, she's still not retired. Like. Yeah. [00:21:55] Speaker A: You know, and it's. And it's more common than people think that it is. Right. [00:21:58] Speaker B: Like it is. Yeah. [00:22:00] Speaker A: Where I live at, you know, there were restaurants up until five or six years ago that still were cash only. Right, yeah. You know what I'm saying? And you're just like, that's understandable. You don't pay the merchant fees. And I get that. That's not my business. But there are studies that show that you're missing out on a large percentage of sales by not implementing that. And then next thing you know, you come back two years later. The last, they're like, yeah, they take debit cards and credit cards now. Right. So it's crazy that finally people had to get on board. [00:22:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And like you said, like, super successful companies. And there's an interesting trend, I'm sure you've seen it, where it's like, you've got a lot of these boomers that have these service industry companies that have been crazy successful that they're still doing the same things they did in 1972. Right. And they're ready to retire. Their kids don't want to do it because absolutely. They're like, yes, like, I'm gonna sell paint. Like, what do you mean? [00:22:50] Speaker A: Right, right, right, right, right. [00:22:51] Speaker B: I'm a tech, bro. Like, I'm on, you know, on Wall Street. [00:22:54] Speaker A: I went to Ben's tank, dude. I don't want to take over my dad's plumbing business. [00:22:58] Speaker B: Exactly. Right. So there's a huge opportunity to go in and for others to acquire these companies. [00:23:05] Speaker A: Right. [00:23:06] Speaker B: Those guys need to be quiet. Like, not to toot my own horn, but they need guys like me to come in. [00:23:11] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:23:12] Speaker B: Optimize things just a little. And they're going to 2, 3, 4x their. Their exit. Because those, those people that are coming in to acquire them aren't doing that mental calculation of, well, now I have to update everything. I have to modernize. Like, it literally takes me coming in for 30, 60, 90 days, and they're going to 2, 3x their exit. [00:23:31] Speaker A: You know, let's also call it what it is, right? If you went to a four year school, you got an mba or you, or you went to something high level, Even if it wasn't that your parent, your vision, there's been a very big imbalance where your parents, restaurant versus you sitting in an office suite. It looks prettier for you to have that window seat psychologically because, you know, you got that Gordon Gekko thought in your mind, as opposed to serving people, you know, pizza on a Friday night. Even if serving pizza on people on a Friday night would be more lucrative and more, you know, advantageous because to your point, you know, they're like, dude, I. I went to school for, you know, to be a Software engineer or my. I have an mba. I don't. I'm not going to be doing this right. So there's a, there's a perception or maybe they spent their whole life around it as a kid and they generally like, I don't want nothing to do with that no more, you know? [00:24:16] Speaker B: Well, I think sometimes the parents pushed it, right? It's like, you know, dad owns a landscaping company and he's like, man, I'm breaking my back. I want better for my kids. You're going to go to school. [00:24:26] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:24:26] Speaker B: And now turning around, he's like, who's going to take my company? Because I told my kid to go be a software engineer and I didn't want this for him. But it's a, it's a great business. [00:24:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:24:37] Speaker B: Bonds aren't going away. [00:24:39] Speaker A: Yes. [00:24:40] Speaker B: That programming language you learned is gone, right? Like it's, we're on to like now you don't even need programming language. But I still have a lawn. Like, it's still there and it still needs to be maintained. [00:24:50] Speaker A: And then the dad could be still going door to door and he's like, dad, no, get this app and then get your point scheduled. Right? Because now you have or, you know, have a weather forecast tracker. So that way, you know, or you know when to buy scheduling. Yeah, right, right. And then your customers will love it because they're like, you know, I mean, dude, if you played soccer, you said, you mentioned, I don't want to put your personal life out there, but you said you have, you know, activities outside of here. I have kids and trying to track all their activities, you know, manually ain't happening. You better have a calendar. They got Team Snap. They got all this other crap going on. And then they're like, did you get this parent? I'm like, dude, I guess, like, I don't know, the coaches text message you and then you get a message through it. So to your point, if you have that landscaping business, that plumbing business that's going to help you stay on point with a guy like yourself, like, you need to automate these things and schedule these things so you don't double book. So if appointments are missed, you know, you have, you know, clients lined up and you can continually sell your services to the next prospective client and check your cross tracking. Get gasoline at the right locations. That's, you know, at a fuel station that may be cheaper and things like that. Thinking outside of the box, so to speak. [00:25:58] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's all about those incremental things that you can do that don't get in the way of business that save you time and money. [00:26:05] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:26:06] Speaker B: So it's not building systems that are more cumbersome. It's alleviating that pressure to be able to go out and do things. I mean, you know, I. I'm working with that running company you mentioned, you know, relentless running company. And, like, that's been fun because it is building those systems now. Right. So it's on the flip side where it's a new business. And I'm like, all right, what can I build? Right? What can I come in and put together and optimize some of the things we're doing? And I'll tell you, like, with those guys, there's. I. I've gone through iterations where I'm like, project management, right? Like, I went out and started using JIRA or, you know, something. [00:26:38] Speaker A: I'm like, yeah, yeah. [00:26:39] Speaker B: And so then I'm like, oh, Slack's got project management now. Let me put it in Slack. [00:26:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:43] Speaker B: And like, really? The goal was just to get it out of text messages. We were like, stop searching my text. Like, we need something. And we found a system now. And it's not perfect, but as we grow, then we can start to implement some of the other stuff. [00:26:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Because if you're texting me, it's not business. Serious. Right? Like, that's like. I'm not saying, like, it may be or it's not based upon the project. It may be like, dude, like, there's a party tonight. Or, like, let's go get, like, let's get wings at, you know, XYZ restaurant. But if it's inside of Slack, you know that it's a different kind of conversation that's being had. And to your point, we need to transition to this platform because otherwise it may get lost in that, you know, bottom tier of text messages of whatever it could be. You know, it has different attention in a different. In a different zone, so to speak. [00:27:28] Speaker B: 100. Right. And, like. And the texts have been great for that company because, like, we do have that, you know, kind of the BS sessions and all those things. But some of our. But some of our best brainstorming comes out of those. Hey, look, I just saw this thing. Oh, shoot. Like, hey, I've seen this similar thing. Right? Okay. How can we build this? And then it becomes a. All right, let's put it on the calendar. Let's have an intentional conversation about it. Let's get notes. Let's. All right, now there's a Slack channel that's Specific to this thing. So time and place for all of it. But it's like. But it's been fun to, like, try these different. You know, I use Monday.com@one company. Guys, let's try it. All right. I spent a day doing this. Nobody's touched it. Cool. Let's move on to something else. And, like, finding what works for the company and then watching it grow. [00:28:13] Speaker A: Like, do you find that working with startups and small, you know, smaller companies is more. They're more nimble, more receptive, more ability to make decisions quicker than if you've had a larger client or even, you know, because you work for startups and other smaller companies, is there an advantage to them listening better? Because there's not as many layers that they have to go through to talk for. [00:28:34] Speaker B: Really interesting question. I think, to be honest, I think it depends on the founder. [00:28:38] Speaker A: Okay. [00:28:39] Speaker B: Some founders are like, yeah, come in. Let's go. Let's do this. I'll tell you, there was another gentleman brought me in and, you know, as an example, like, their onboarding process, I was like, hey, you don't have anything documented. You're going to these clients, you're trying to bring them on. Once they get on, they need something physically, right? Even if they don't look at it, it shows you're a serious company. And it shows. Like, if something goes awry, you can point back to it and say, hey, in the onboarding document, X, Y and Z. And he was like, hey. And he's like, I have all that. I'll get it to you, and you can. You can put it together. I never got. And that's just one example. Like, the guy would just. He had all this institutional knowledge, great person, great vision, like, amazing vision. He wouldn't let go of anything. And so it didn't matter. And I would have the conversation and be like, I love it, I love it. We should do that and be like, cool. He's like, I've got all that. I'll send it to you. And he never would. Couldn't get anything out of the guy. Couldn't, you know, so it's the founders that are, like, open to that stuff and are willing to let go a little bit. And I get. It's hard, right? Like, I 100. That is your baby. Like, that individual has literally been working on this idea, this company, for 30 years, right? Like, literally, it's been this maturation, and finally the technology is where you can launch this thing. He just couldn't let go of things. So I understand. But it's also. I've looked at it. My wife and I have had this conversation, right, where we. We've got kids, friends that have kids that are a little bit older and they're like going off, you know, to the movies without an adult. You know, my wife, let it go. My wife's like, never going to happen. Kids never be able to. We'll sit in the back of the theater, we'll do this, we'll do that. It's never going to happen. And I'm like, okay, you say that, but like, when they were a baby, we never left the room. [00:30:27] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:27] Speaker B: And that was like, you know, the thought of me putting the baby down and walking to the kitchen. You're like, don't you ever do that? Never. Never gonna happen. You will never leave my baby alone. [00:30:39] Speaker A: Yes. [00:30:39] Speaker B: And now I'm frustrated when the kid won't go to the bathroom by herself. [00:30:43] Speaker A: 100. [00:30:44] Speaker B: Get away from me. Go. So, and it's the same with the startup, right? You've got this founder, that's their baby. And you know, they're not gonna. [00:30:52] Speaker A: All they know, man. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Yeah. They're not going to let someone just come in the room and watch the baby. [00:30:57] Speaker A: Right. And even if it's. [00:30:58] Speaker B: They have to for the baby to. [00:31:00] Speaker A: Grow up well, more. And here's the thing too, is that, you know, if you are. For every one person that could, and obviously there's that shooting star up there that can do it all themselves and then, you know, make it to be to the stratosphere, most people aren't that person. Right. So at some point there's going to have to be. This is the better path to take. This is an expansion plan. This is your financial. Because usually what happens when you do something, and this is irrespective of business, but just, you know, whether it's working out, you're usually really good at something or really bad at something. Like, if you played sports, you usually have a really good right or left hand and your left or right hand sucks. [00:31:36] Speaker B: Right? [00:31:36] Speaker A: Yeah. That's usually how this works. And you usually don't work on your left hand or your right hand if it sucks. Right. Until you play against or have an opponent that can take away that left or right hand. [00:31:46] Speaker B: Yeah, right. [00:31:46] Speaker A: And then you're like, damn, you know, I should have been working on my left or right hand for quite some time. So if you're. When you're growing or you're doing your business, like if you have a restaurant and if you're, you know, serving the same dishes and you're serving the same clientele base. There's a restaurant that opens down the street that suddenly has alcohol. Hypothetically, right. And you never sold alcohol. And you. They could have comparable food. And then all the customers go because they wanted a happy hour. And you're standing there like, dang, I never. All I had to do is get a liquor license. I've been selling. You know, why doesn't Bob come here anymore? Well, dude, I wanted a beer and I never had beer. It's just like, I didn't know that. It didn't even dawn on me that you could want a glass of wine, you know, at eating at this restaurant. And to your point, you know, if you didn't. [00:32:28] Speaker B: I've seen it a lot with tech startups where you get the cto, who's the brilliant engineer, you know, they're the coder, they're whatever. You get the CEO, they're that visionary. They're the ones, they had the idea, they just didn't know how to do it. Right. Or they're the salesperson. Right. And so these guys team up and literally everything is back. The napkin, institutional knowledge. Nothing is documented. There's no process. It's just, you know, the wild, wild west. And they need that person to come in and bring. You know, I've literally sat in meetings. Like, I distinctly remember one, I'm like at dinner with these two co founders, and they're just going. And the conversation is awesome. You know, we've got the 12 month, the three year, the five year plan, DA, da, da. And I finally just stop them. And I'm like, all right, guys, shut the F up. Like, give me my laptop. Like, unless this gets documented. [00:33:19] Speaker A: Yes. [00:33:19] Speaker B: This doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean nothing. Like, it's awesome. It's great. I'm energized. But it has to get documented. And then there has to be a plan behind. You know, there has to be action behind these for sure. [00:33:31] Speaker A: Right? Because otherwise it just becomes hyperbole. And it's a challenge to everybody. Because that's not the fun part, right? [00:33:38] Speaker B: Of course. [00:33:39] Speaker A: That's the fun part is sitting there bouncing ideas back and forth and going. Just go. You're right. Sitting out and taking, you know, the time out to actually, like map things out is very difficult. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Right? [00:33:49] Speaker A: Because then it's like, it's almost like Amazon. Right? Shipping the packages is really cool. The return process sucks. [00:33:56] Speaker B: Yeah, Right. [00:33:57] Speaker A: The returns, like, you know, it's really cool to go, you know, when. When it's a Black Friday. And you're buying everything, right? And you're willing to camp outside, but then when you have to return something and you're like. Like you're trying to find that small window of maybe like 6 o' clock on a Saturday, like, maybe, like, the traffic is a little bit lighter. Yeah, right. [00:34:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:14] Speaker A: Because you're just like, I don't know, you drive past the parking lot because you're like, oh, no, no, no. [00:34:19] Speaker B: Mine's on the way to school pickup. Where I'm like, all right. [00:34:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:22] Speaker B: You're like, real quick to ups. No one's there. I'll drop it off. Like, yeah, far out of my way. I can just to buy it. And by the way, my favorite coffee shop is right next door, so I'll drink 100%. [00:34:32] Speaker A: 100%. [00:34:33] Speaker B: But it is a very intentional thing. It's interesting you say that because it's. I've said this before, and it's just. I guess I'm just built different where, like, love developing the process. Like, I think it's such a cool challenge for me to be like, okay, give me a problem. Let me develop a process and a system. Let's see if it's sustainable or repeatable. It works for your team because I can build the same process across five different companies and it'll only work at one. And then I love just setting it off in the wild and being like, does it work? Yes. Does it? It's. It. It's probably like, somebody who codes where, like, to me, that's not it. That's not fun. Right? Like, and I've tried to learn some stuff. [00:35:12] Speaker A: Try. It's terrible. [00:35:13] Speaker B: Oh, it's horrible. But the moment they get execute that feeling of, like, did it work? And I feel that way with process building, where I'm like, here's the process. I pitch it, everybody's in. And then we set it off in the wild. And I just sit there, like, did it work? [00:35:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:30] Speaker B: And I see it and I'm like, yes. Or we. Or we email the competitors. CEO. And I'm like, oh, the process doesn't work. All right, let me iterate. Right? [00:35:39] Speaker A: The funny part is that. The funny part is he might have poached you. Be like, dude, you know what? That's, you know, pull a ballsy move right here. Like, why don't you come over here? Real talk. [00:35:48] Speaker B: Real talk, right? [00:35:50] Speaker A: You know? [00:35:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So. But that's. That's what's fun for me in the business world is like, I built a process. Does it work? Did it give you time back, did it make you money? Did it make something more efficient? Like, I. I love doing that stuff. [00:36:03] Speaker A: I think there's a certain fearlessness too, because, you know, a lot of times people can get caught up in, you know, you know, starting this podcast. Right. It was the hard thing, like, because the starting was actually the hardest part. Right. Because you're like, I try. I pride myself on not being a subject matter expert in particular field because let's be honest, I can't do what you do. Right. I can't build, I can't cook, I can't repair anything to save my life. Right. So there's a list, laundry list, of things that I just don't do well. Right. [00:36:26] Speaker B: Y. [00:36:27] Speaker A: But the one thing that I did do well was I always research, read and just knew random factoids. And I pride myself being a decent listener. I'll never say I'm great, but I know how to navigate. You know, I watch documentaries, I read. I'm a, you know, advent listener to what's going on historically wise. So being able to talk to somebody like yourself, you know, even though I'm not a consultant, these things are very fascinating to me. Right. Because at the end of the day, whether you're shipping mousetraps or whether you're, you know, building homes, you better have a process of how, what's the. Where's. Where's it going to fail, where's it going to break, who's the market that it's going to sell to, when are we going to have a competitor in that respective region and what's the growth strategy? And that's where you come in. Because people who are working on stuff literally are just. They can get caught up in just the day to day. [00:37:15] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's so easy to be head down. And I think that was one of the cool things about my military experience is you're constantly deploying. You're constantly like, at least for me, like the 20 years I was in, we were at war. I think it's the only time in our nation's history that like, you've got service members that went to full retirement, that we've known nothing but war. There wasn't a peacetime military. So you're constantly deploying. And it was always, especially when I worked with the teams, it was this joke that like the guy that came before you was a complete idiot. So it's your job to go fix what they were doing and whoever's coming after you is just going to screw up all the great work that you've. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Done the camaraderie we had always pursuit of excellence. [00:38:01] Speaker B: It was a common. It was a competition. Right. You got 50 bad guys this deployment. I'm going to get 100. Oh, you were able to drop on, you know, three. Three Predator drops. We're gonna get six. And it was this constant. How can I. One up? How can I make sure that my team did better than yours in a friendly way? Right. Like, it's the rising tide lifts, all boats. And so it wasn't. I wasn't talking about that guy being like. [00:38:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, right. [00:38:27] Speaker B: Terrible. It was you. You were terrible. [00:38:30] Speaker A: This is the standard. Right. [00:38:31] Speaker B: But only. Only compared to me, because. Terrible. [00:38:37] Speaker A: Well, it's. It's like the equivalent of like. Like NFL. Like Drake May is on the Patriots. Like, it doesn't matter what you. What you did before. That's the guy that won six Super Bowls here. Right. So, like, before, there's nothing else to talk about here. [00:38:49] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:38:50] Speaker A: State. You could be the best player from your state. You could be all American, you could say, man, you know, your combine was great. And then they're like. They go. You walk in there and you look in the. There's the trophy cases, dude. And unless you get a quarter of that, we're not having a conversation. It's just a trade. So that's just the standard that's been set. [00:39:07] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:39:08] Speaker A: So people can't get on board with that. There's nothing else to talk about. Right. Yeah. [00:39:12] Speaker B: And that's what was fun there, you know, doing those things. But you got really good at, like, coming in. And we. A lot of times we look at things through three lenses is what. What do we need to stop doing? So what's. What's going on that we should stop? What do we need to keep going? What's going well that we don't want to get in the way of? And then what should we start doing that we're not currently doing? And so you would come in, but it was this constant pursuit of, like, one upmanship. Your best to keep the status quo. [00:39:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:40] Speaker B: But also elevate everything. Right. So, like, it was. It was a tricky thing because you only had six months, Right. So you've got six months to come in, have an impact, get spun up quickly, and then make sure the next team is set up for success as well. Because you didn't want those phone calls, Right. You come home, you get two weeks off. Right. Like, you were at home, and you don't want someone calling you at home and being like, hey, where's this radio. And, like, next thing you know, now you're going into the office because you got to call on security. You got to do all these things. It's making sure there's that continuous improvement in process building. And that's what has been cool about being a consultant is it is, like, these deployments, right? Like, I drop in, I'm gonna work with you for three months. How much good can we do? [00:40:21] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:40:22] Speaker B: And then how can I set you up so it doesn't all fall apart when I leave? Because I don't want the institutional knowledge. I don't want you calling a month and being like, hey, the system you built is broke. Let's want it to work and to set you up for success. So having that military experience of going in and out of deployments was great, because I very much feel that way as a consultant going in, here's my deployment. How do I optimize, make things better and set you up for success? [00:40:47] Speaker A: I have to ask this last question. Did you ever, unfortunately, come in and see if somebody was being less than forthcoming with, like, financials or fraud or anything like that, and you were the guy that came outside in, and even if it wasn't intentional or unintentional, had to deliver that bad news? Like, this has been going on, you know, inside of your company, so to speak. [00:41:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. And I've been fortunate that I haven't necessarily run into it. I have run into, like, just some, like, hey, you know, your team is telling you something. And, like, okay, that, you know, it's. They're. They say they're at an 80% solution. They're probably at a 20, right? [00:41:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. More like efficiency or inefficiency, so to speak. [00:41:25] Speaker B: Correct. But then it's also a cool opportunity for me to sit down, because I do have leadership training, and I do have it, so, like, I can sit down with that CEO, and I'm not just there to build a process. I can be a partner and be like, all right, man, this is how your team is perceiving you, whether they're telling you or not. [00:41:41] Speaker A: Right. [00:41:41] Speaker B: Based on what I'm seeing, they're not being forthcoming with you. So there's a problem here. Right. Like, there is a communication error. There's something going on. And so being able to have those kind of leadership conversations as well, whether it's my military background, my sports coaching background, things like that, like, having that chance to be like, all right, man, this is what's going on, and this is how we can optimize some of your leadership and your communication stuff as well as the process stuff. Because at the end of the day, too, you can build a process. The CEO can say, do it. But if the team doesn't trust the CEO, the process isn't going to work either because everyone's going to be like, this guy's an idiot. And this is obviously going to fail. So it's a trickle down effect. And I, I like to, I don't like to go in and fix a problem without getting to know the team first as well. Of course, I'm not going to show up week one and say, this is what you need to do. Like, I'm going to get to know the team to optimize that process. And in process of doing that, then you come across some of these things where it's like, all right, man, it's not embezzlement. Like, no one's going to jail. Like, they don't like you very much and they're not being honest. [00:42:44] Speaker A: So for sure. Yeah. Right. So, you know, thank goodness you haven't encountered that. That wasn't like one of those, like, muhaha moment. I hope that happened. It was more like, you know, because you hear about stories like that where like, all of a sudden, like, they bring in the outside auditor consultant, you know, whoever, and they're like, as what they thought it was. Well, I had probably bugged you long enough. And so I always, I always ask every guest this, where can people find Sean Bemis? [00:43:09] Speaker B: Yeah, LinkedIn substack. So my LinkedIn is just Sean Bemis altogether. Substack, the Left Foot. I'm trying to revive that. So not a podcast guy, but I do fancy myself a writer. So, yeah, those are the two places. Error. If you're a runner on Strava, I'm ultra marathoner and spend a decent amount of time on Strava. [00:43:28] Speaker A: You'll have to catch me when you're at the finish line, bro, because I'll be passing on tricks now. You're catching me jogging that long. [00:43:34] Speaker B: All good. [00:43:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that ain't happening, you know, but I do, I work out, but the marathon's not my thing. [00:43:40] Speaker B: No, this is. My midlife crisis is my wife. It's a new one for me. [00:43:44] Speaker A: Well, I got to thank you, man. You know, like I said, I appreciate your time. Busy guy. This has been an honor and again, thank you for your service. John Beam podcast. [00:43:52] Speaker B: Yeah, appreciate it. This, this was great. [00:43:54] Speaker A: Awesome, brother. Thank you.