Less Admin. More Hustle. Making Work, Super Simple for Business Owners with Daniel Bessmert

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Imperfect Action. Today, we'll be talking all about less admin, more hustle, making work super simple for business owners. To drop these value bombs, I brought Daniel Bestmert into EO Fire Studios. Daniel began his career as an executive at Citibank, PayPal, and Visa before starting his own companies. He has built and sold three companies and is currently scaling greatweek.com, which simplifies work for business owners by combining banking, payments, and accounting.

0:41And today, Fire Nation will talk about taking your admin time down to 1%. We're going to talk about the core softwares a successful business actually needs. And we'll talk about decreasing burnout for yourself and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Daniel and our sponsors. As business owners, it's part of our job to stay ahead of the curve. and with AI stealing the show these days, it's time to study up. But where do you even start? Start with HubSpot. HubSpot's AI power tools, including their content assistant and ChatSpot, are changing the way you create content and communicate and serve your customers.

1:18Take HubSpot's content assistant as an example. It helps you brainstorm, create, and share content in no time. And you can do it all right inside their super easy-to-use CRM platform. And with ChatSpot, HubSpot's conversational bot, and CRM whiz, you can not only quickly pull reports for data and metrics, but also learn how to automate manual tasks inside HubSpot for better engagement with customers and more closed deals. These tools run on OpenAI's GPT model, and both are designed to help you get more done all while growing a better business faster. Find out more about how to use AI to grow your business at hubspot.com slash artificial dash intelligence.

1:57Factor is America's number one ready-to-eat meal kit Deliver straight to your door. Treat yourself to more than 34 weekly restaurant quality options ready in just two minutes. Head to factormeals.com slash EOFire50 and use code EOFire50 to get 50 % off. That's code EOFire50 at factormeals.com slash EOFire50 to get 50 % off. Daniel, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? All right. What's up, Fire Nation? So I guess what's not a success factor, according to me, is not to wake up at 4 a.m. every morning. It's not to jump into an ice-cold bath every morning.

2:46It's not to have a bunch of fancy diplomas from universities. And it's definitely not chasing other people's money to build your own dream. I mean, this comes from a guy that I've tried them all. So it's not like I'm a hypocrite. I don't not recommend doing these things to be successful, but I think it's a misconception that unless you do these things, you're going to fail. I like the phrase, everything in moderation, even moderation. So think about that one, Fire Nation. And today, as I mentioned in the intro, we're talking about less admin, more hustle, making work super simple for business owners.

3:26And Daniel, as entrepreneurs, we need to focus at what we are great at. Yet, the average entrepreneur is spending more than 30 % of their valuable time on admin. You have a system to help us cap that to just 1%. Tell us more. Right. I mean, that's crazy stats, right? 30 % of time that could be spent on revenue producing activities. So let's first begin by defining admin. What is admin? Admin is a necessary evil. You need to have a great admin in place in order to be organized and successful. But admin, like I mentioned, is not correlated with new revenue. What is admin? Furthermore, it's like paying out salaries, preparing a contract, chasing unpaid invoices, doing your bookkeeping.

4:16But it has to be done, right? But what if you could, instead of spending 30 % of admin, you could spend this on what you do the best and love the most. It can be, you know, sales, it can be building awesome products, or it can be, you know, spending more time with your loved ones. Yeah, we built a tool, it's called greatweek.com. And I did this simply because I was building businesses and I was just hitting the wall with the amount of admin I was doing. So I started out mapping out Great Week a couple of years ago, but I really kickstarted it about 18 months ago. So what we do is consolidating the core functionality of running a business into one single interface.

5:00So all your banking, all your payments, all your accounting, and even some CRM features are all there for you to you know, do less admin and more hustle. Cap it at 1 % Fire Nation. And I'll tell you, Daniel, one thing that's been literally all the rage right now is AI, artificial intelligence. And a lot of people are saying that it's making lots of processes redundant and it is doing that in a lot of cases. So word is that things like chat GPT will be able to handle bookkeeping and other activities that are admin-like. Tell us more about this. I think first and foremost, AI is not a fad, right?

5:42It's not like NFT that surfaced a couple of years ago or metaverse that is questionable in terms of its use case. Like AI is here to stay and is going to grow exponentially both into our daily lives, but of course, into our business lives. AI is already handling bookkeeping. There are multiple plugins, like you can use ChatGPT for Google Sheets. You can do that literally today. You'll have to tweak a lot of prompts to get it right. But it's already doing the general financial management for some businesses. In my business, we use AI to write the majority of our code. Our tech automatically identifies expense categories and suggests booking them into the right chart of accounts.

6:23At the end of the year, we use AI to produce automatic tax reports and submit them to the IRS for our customers. Another cool thing that happened actually last week, I have a client that was behind on their books for 2022. So what they did, he had this huge Google Drive, and he uploaded 5 ,000 invoices and receipts into a Great Week platform. And our technology basically categorized the majority of these. So it saved them, I guess, hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars that they would pay some accountant to do it for them. Wow. I mean, Fire Nation, AI is here to stay. It's just a matter of how is it going to integrate into society and so many other questions that have yet to be answered.

7:06but you don't want to keep your finger on this pulse. And one thing that's hard to believe for a lot of entrepreneurs, Daniel, is it takes an average of seven apps to manage a business. I want you to talk about what you consider the core softwares a successful business actually needs. Seven apps, that's average, right? Some people have 30 apps, right? But I usually say there are three core apps that a business must have to run a business. So first, you need a bank account. Well, after Silicon Valley bank boom and bust, you probably could benefit from having multiple bank accounts just to spread the risk.

7:43But you need a bank account. You also need an invoicing tool, a payments tool. Most banks don't offer this pretty simple technology feature, right? So a lot of people out there could benefit from using PayPal, Stripe, or Invoice Ninja, or what have you. Then you need an accounting software just to keep your books in order. So those are kind of the core. I usually add CRM. Like you have a great partner called HubSpot. There are many others there like Zoho, Monday.com, Salesforce. So these are the core apps. But of course, it doesn't stop with that. You need ChatGPT, you need Meta, LinkedIn, Figma, SEMrush, Wix.com, Squarespace, WhatsApp, Skype, Venmo.

8:22I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And I would argue that it is becoming more complicated to be a successful business owner just because there are so many apps out there. And you just need to sip through them and make sure that you use the most modern ones. And, of course, the core is essential. Fire Nation, this is something you need to keep your finger on the pulse on as well. Banking, invoicing tools, accounting software, CRM, some of the other things that Daniel was talking about. this is how successful businesses are run. And we're going to talk about this stuff and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

9:04Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business startups, and entrepreneurship. One of Scott's recent episodes was with none other than Jack Canfield, where they discuss adapting to life's twists and turns. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. We're all experiencing some economic uncertainty right now. And if you're hiring, this is extra apparent now more than ever.

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11:55You don't need to do a cold plunge right away. You don't need to do this, this, and this, and this all before the sun rises. And a lot of the reason I'm assuming you're saying that because I, you know, have experienced this in my past, which is why I'm a big believer in moderation, is that burnout is real. I mean, entrepreneurial burnout is really, really real. And there's a lot of reports that are out there that, you know, there's higher burnout for entrepreneurs than the employed staff, which, you know, isn't super surprising because, you know, the pressure's on the entrepreneur, on the business owner.

12:29But I want to talk about ways and things that we can do to overcome this. You're so right. I used to be employed, right? So I used to work for PayPal, Citibank, Visa, and, you know, living the comfortable life of like$300 ,000 a year salary. But I did have a need to become an entrepreneur. And I started building my own stuff, like eight years ago. And five years ago, I hit the wall, one of my business wasn't performing, it actually failed. And I was going through, you know, a bad relationship. And instead of having a couple of million dollars in my bank account, I went to living on credit. So I was definitely burned out.

13:07And it took me years to come back. And the reason I think that entrepreneurs, you know, have this high burn rate is, you know, we wear a lot of hats, we need to do marketing, sales, strategy, accounting, product design, fundraising, hiring, firing, etc. And on top of that, whenever there is a hiccup in the world, like COVID or economic downturn, you know, we don't have the cushion of a paycheck that keeps settling into a bank account. So yeah, and that's, you know, the stats are out there. 20 % of businesses fail within the first year, 50 % fail within the first five years. The majority of the reasons is like, you know, poor administration in your business.

13:47And that's what we're trying to tackle. Let's talk a little bit more about this, because I think a lot of people don't really think about burnout happening to them. I mean, when you were, let's say, months away from this burnout, Did you know it was coming? Could you feel it coming? Did it happen all at once? Was it a slow kind of build? Or was it kind of like being a frog in a pot of water where the water is being turned up? The frog doesn't really know what's happening until it's too late, his goose is cooked. I definitely think it's the frog. Burnout is anxiety, looking at your business or your personal life, and you're feeling like it's not going in the direction that I want it to do or plan it to do.

14:27So let's say from a business perspective, it's like, okay, you have your P &L, you have your revenue targets, and it's not going according to plan. What do you do? You try to throw bad money against, you know, putting in some ads and so forth, and it's just not going in the right direction. Because you don't have anybody in, you don't have the cushion, somebody, you know, saving you from that, you start getting worried. and everybody is telling you to hit the fitness and take your partner to a romantic dinner and you're like, how am I going to make my business and my personal life to be in sync and to be successful?

15:04And I think a lot of people is just catching themselves saying, I wish I could have done better, but life throws its sucker punches at us and sometimes you hit the wall. But of course, there are tools to overcome that, of course. One thing is to jump into an ice bucket, I guess. Fire Nation, jumping into an ice bucket can be a temporary way to relieve stress, I will say. I love to cold plunge myself. Not at 4 a.m., but I do love to cold plunge as a great dopamine releaser. But this is something that I feel like you just need to keep your finger on the pulse about. Have talks with individuals that you know, like, and trust.

15:39That's why I'm such a big believer in masterminds and specifically small masterminds of just two or three other people that you really know, like, and trust, and you're having open, honest conversations every single week so that you're more aware and also that they're aware like what you're feeling and they can change, they can, they can sense the change in your tone, in your overall outlook and how you're interacting and how you're being as an individual. So just a couple of key things there that you really think about. And I want to shift the subject a little bit, Daniel, and talk about super apps.

16:12That's A-P-P-S as in applications. Because super apps are predicted to be literally the theme of the decade. So what is a super app? And when will we see the first super app exist for business owners? Super apps have already started emerging for consumers, right? So you get a lot of social media stuff out there that Facebook is doing payments and vice versa. There are many financial tools that is actually incorporating social networking into their foundation. But for businesses, there are still very, very, very few banks that actually have a seamless integration to accounting software. And I think the core apps for businesses, they must become super apps, right?

17:01And we're one of them. That's where we're heading. I think we're one of the two in the U.S. at least. that is ticking the box for the core functionality. So we do banking, payments, accounting, CRM. Of course, we're not going to become a social media. We're not going to become a digital design tool like Figma or Canva and so forth. But we are solving the core functionality to allow people to just sleep nicely at night, knowing that their books are done. They don't need to wait until the end of the year. It's done every day by AI. So I think super apps are already here. It's going to take us a few more years.

17:40Of course, with the push of AI, it's going to go a little bit quicker now, but it's already there. And every business owner needs to find the tool that they feel this is the super app. And that's what they need to cut loose, all those legacy stuff that is not evolving properly. Fire Nation, we've talked about a lot of important stuff today, about the fact that you need to stop spending so much time on admin. In fact, try to cap that to 1%. I'm going to talk about how artificial intelligence could play a role in your business and what you should be thinking about looking for, about the softwares that your business actually needs to use.

18:19We talked about burnouts, talked about super apps. Daniel, I want to give you the mic now. Take us home. What is the core theme that you really want to leave our listeners with today? Business is successful when you love your business. And nobody, nobody loves accounting or nobody loves admin. I mean, except unless you're an accountant and actually this is your business, you probably didn't start your business because you love accounting. You love fixing cars or you love building digital products. So if you focus on what you love, the majority of the time, you're going to be fine. This, we've heard it all before from our parents, from our coaches, focus on what you love.

18:59and then you need a partner to kind of do all the rest. So imagine if you have a partner, call it great week or call it AI, but that just takes care of that mundane task of like expense receipts and chasing invoices on behalf of you. So I say happy business or do something that you love and you're gonna be extremely happy and extremely successful. I love that. And if Fire Nation wants to connect with you, your company, give us a call to action before we say goodbye. All right, JLD. Thanks for the opportunity to chat about these important topics. And more importantly, thanks for all the amazing content you put out there for us entrepreneurs and side hustlers.

19:39I guess, you know, pushing us forward to become better at what we do and love. And if anybody from Fire Nation wants to give greatweek.com a try, then head over to our website and sign up for a 100 % free account for life. What I can guarantee is that you'll put your business on autopilot. And just as a side note, even if most of the things that we do at Great Week is automated, you'll still have a Great Week co-pilot that will help you sync everything up and run things smoothly as you evolve in your business life. and if you use the code fire during signup we'll give you a free business audit to help you find ways to improve the top and bottom line results by at least 20 percent so i guess no excuses my friends right if you want to get in touch with me you can find me on all social media platforms just type in great week plus daniel or you can search for my name daniel besmert and i'm pretty easy guy to get along with.

20:37I'm always hungry for new partnerships and of course, helping more clients to automate their businesses or just expand my network with people that loves doing amazing stuff. So at that, I wish you all a great week and happy hustling. Who doesn't want to have a great week, Fire Nation? Let's go because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with DB and JLD today, So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Daniel in the search bar and the show notes page will literally pop up. Daniel, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.

21:19For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Daniel for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation's successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days. And we're talking step by step. Visit thefreedomjournal.com. It'll catch you there or on the flip side. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship.

22:00One of Scott's recent episodes was with none other than Jack Canfield, where they discuss adapting to life's twists and turns. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Factor is America's number one ready-to-eat meal kit delivered straight to your door. Treat yourself to more than 34 weekly restaurant-quality options ready in just two minutes. Head to factormeals.com slash EOFire50 and use code EOFire50 to get 50 % off. That's code EOFire50 at factormeals.com slash EOFire50 to get 50 % off.