What Happens When You Assume You Will Not Get Hacked with Sheldon Mellon

0:00Sheldon D. Mellon:Welcome to Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners. Every week, we sit down with business owners, founders, and leaders to uncover the real stories behind building a successful business. The wins, the setbacks, the lessons learned, and the strategies that help them grow. No scripts, no fluff, just honest conversations with entrepreneurs who are in the trenches every single day. Whether you are a business owner yourself, thinking about starting a business, or simply enjoy hearing how successful people think and operate, you are in the right place. Let's jump into today's episode, shall we?

0:58Sheldon D. Mellon:Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Sheldon D. Mellon with Paladin Business Consulting. Sheldon, thanks for being here. How are you doing today, sir? I'm doing great. Thank you for having me, Cliff. I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah. We're very excited to have you on. So let's go to jump right into things. So, yeah, for those of you who may not know it yet, know who are you? Who is Sheldon D.

1:28Sheldon D. Mellon:Mellon and what is Paladin Business Consulting? Paladin Business Consulting is a consulting firm with we specialize in IT consulting for companies, startups and existing companies. We specialize in cybersecurity. cybersecurity that we have found in our market space in North and South Carolina is overlooked, to be honest with you, when creating a business plan. And that's one of the things that we want to do. We want to help the young entrepreneur or the existing business understand what it's going to take to protect their company from the cybersecurity compromises. They're all over the place now with our geopolitical situation.

2:09We literally see compromise attempts and unfortunately successful compromise attempts every single day. So it's up to us to teach the client, number one, how to protect their business, how to recover, do a disaster recovery if there is a compromise. And we're always there as a consultant and also for the action of supporting the customer.

2:31Sheldon D. Mellon:Okay. Okay. Love it. Love it. Now, who are you as a person? I am a husband, a father, I have two, I have a beautiful wife of 37 years. I have an awesome son who's 30 and a daughter who's 27. They're wonderful children. They're out on their own. They're doing their thing. I really enjoy seeing them thrive and become their own persons. And we love to play golf. We're people of faith and we like to enjoy life. Love it. Love it. All right. So Sheldon, real talk, you know, let's, let's get into things. So what would you say is something about running a business that people think is amazing, but it's actually not?

3:08I see so many people, Cliff, get into business and really not be prepared for the downsides. I think people are looking for, let's get in business. I'm going to be successful. Things are going to be all rosy. And it's not that. It's some of the hardest work I've ever done is have my own company, which I've had three over the years. and it's just the downsides of things of, you know, how do you handle employees? You know, what are your, can you get control of your costs? I mean, the things that sneak up on the business owner that he's never been privy to as an employee. And so I see also a lot of employees that say, look, I can do this better.

3:45And true, they may be able to do that better. But seeing the things that the next level above them, the C level is used to dealing with every day, the new person walks in and says, wow, where did this come from? So, you know, the business coaching side is very important. Speaking with someone who has been there before. And also, Cliff, the other thing is when we see folks go into business in companies that they're not familiar with, let's say they buy a franchise of a company that they've never associated with or have no idea how to build it. That sometimes is like the fallacy of let's go great in business right off the bat.

4:22Sheldon D. Mellon:Mm hmm. No, that's really good advice. That's true. I've seen that before. And, you know, talking, I talk to entrepreneurs all the time and I've seen that. So you're exactly right. So, Sheldon, what would you say is the exact moment where you realize, you know, this could either really work or it could completely blow up in my face? And that's really with any business you've owned over the years. Wow, that's a great question. When you look at the bank account, you measure the pluses and the minuses, that's a harsh reality. But I think fairly soon when I was in business, I could look and see if I was picking up a momentum.

4:59them. The business, in my opinion, has to have momentum going into the business, but it has to have a greater momentum once you start the business because everything else will continue to jump in at you. Your account's payable, your account's receivable, your employees, any kind of down economy, anything like that that will affect my cash flow, which really affects the business. When I got to see, okay, I've got a little money in the bank, bills are paid, I'm really going forward. That's a big shot in the arm to say, you know, I just might make this thing. And so that gives you a boost because you can actually look at building the business instead of kind of looking at the books all the time.

5:37And so that was one of the things I think that helped me the most.

5:41Sheldon D. Mellon:Nice, nice. Okay. Okay. Now, what would you say was the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner? Like, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment? Yeah, and that's a very tough question, too, because when you jump out there and you hang your shingle and you go out and you start your business, there are so many things that have to be considered first. And so, hang on, go back and ask me that again. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, no problem. So, Sheldon, what would you say was the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner? Like, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment?

6:15Mm-hmm. The balance of home and office. I remember when we started our first business, our children were small. We had a three-year-old and a one-year-old. And so the business actually consumed me as I was growing all aspects of the business. And I actually purchased a business that was already started and had about six or eight years of history. And so obviously you want to change up some things. You want to implement the things that you know will work. You also want to keep an eye on your employees. We had employees right off the bat. So that was a concern that we had. And of course, balancing time with the family and the children, as I mentioned earlier, I would come home at five or six o 'clock and then spend time with the family, do dinner, spend time with the kids, help my wife with the kids, get the kids off the bed.

7:01And then I would go back to work. And so I would work maybe till one o 'clock in the morning to prepare for the next day, get up, go in to the office and rinse and repeat. And so, you know, getting used to that, that timeframe and everything that was involved in all those activities. Honestly, Cliff, it's something that I'm still in. I'm a morning person. I'm an evening person. But I think part of that persona comes from me staying up and working while everything was quiet, everything was out of the way. So I could go in and start again. And that's kind of the pattern that I'm still in.

7:34Sheldon D. Mellon:Yeah, no, I totally feel that because I'm the same way. I don't know what it is, but as soon as the sun goes down and it gets dark for me, I get a second wind. I don't know if you're the same way, but I get a second wind and I just have a problem going to sleep. And it's something I've been dealing with since I was 13. So I don't fight it anymore. I used to try to fight it. Oh, I'm going to get to bed a certain time. I'll get to bed at nine o 'clock. It's just not going to work for me. I'm just not built like that. Well, from the use of having to do that as a have to, to be productive around home, it was the greatest time.

8:03I mean, quiet, nothing was going on. I could really concentrate and it really became so fruitful for me. I started doing things late at night that I probably should have done during the day. But, you know, eight o 'clock comes the next morning. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to jump out of the gate. Yeah, yeah, I definitely get that.

8:23Sheldon D. Mellon:Now, you know, and with any of your businesses, have you ever thought about quitting? And if so, what stopped you? No, I really didn't because I've always had the mentality of, you know, if it's going to be, it's up to me. and there's no way in my opinion to gracefully quit a business unless it's a financial issue and you have to dissolve, whatever. But the word was quit the business. So it never entered my mind to quit a business as long as other people had responsibilities to other people, I guess is the way to put it. And it was one of the things that if I had employees or they had expectations, You know, they had bills to pay.

9:04They had families. So I felt like I was very much involved with them and I was responsible for their families as much as my family. So, you know, a lot of decisions for the staff ride on the decisions made, you know, by the C-level. I was very well of that, very much aware of that. That was kind of something that I saw as an employee. And it just made me very sensitive to what happens with that. So number one, I couldn't quit on them, but I couldn't quit on myself because I knew inside, if I had enough time, I can make this work. And I guess I'm just stubborn enough to stick it up. And it actually gave me, you know, it helped my fortitude and it helped my attitude to go out and do the things I needed to do.

9:48Because you have to be the face of the company outside as well as inside. And so that was the thing I just had to embrace the challenges to get through. And I never really thought of quitting.

10:00Sheldon D. Mellon:Now, Sheldon, what would you say is a mistake you made early on that cost you either serious money, time or reputation? Yeah, it was not. It was definitely not a reputation thing, because that's the one thing that I knew Cliff would would be my make or break. And I'm very happy and very proud to say that I've been able to keep a reputation over the last 25 years. And I still have a lot of the customers that I had back then. But honestly, I wish I'd been better capitalized. some of the changes in the electronics in the office and some of the softwares. And, you know, as the business grows, there's a time to add employees.

10:34Fortunately, we never were in a situation to cut employees, but, you know, just cashflow sometimes is a very, very tough thing. And, you know, it was my opinion that with my six or eight people that I had, I wanted to make sure to pay them first. And so, you know, if there was something that was going to be short or we were waiting on some supplies or whatever the pace, whatever the case was, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, we were good financially. I had responsibilities to the bank at that time. And I think, I think cashflow was the big thing. Yeah.

11:04Sheldon D. Mellon:Okay. Okay. Now what's something about you personally that had to change in order for your business to grow? Would you say?

11:15Well, I don't want this to sound, sound harsh, but I had to, I had to really be tough on some things. And I would say from the discipline standpoint. Sitting down with someone who was not being particularly productive had to be a very direct discussion, but respectful. I had to be very respectful of people's feelings because they don't see the side of the business that I see. I think being more approachable, being more patient. Patience is always something that I've had to deal with or lack of, I should say. So I think that was, I think that was a bigger thing because people do not know what you know if they're not in your shoes.

12:00And, you know, when, like I mentioned earlier, when I had inherited employees, we were all new to each other. I mean, I worked with this company. So it was like one of the guys becomes the guy who writes the checks. And that was, that was initially pretty hard. And I did want to speak to my employees and say, Hey, look, you know, I'm getting ready to take a plunge. I'm getting ready to take over the company. I would really like to have you on board. And so that was, you know, that was one of the things that really had to be an adjustment for me.

12:27Sheldon D. Mellon:Now, and it's obviously hypothetical, but let's say if someone's shadowed you for a full day or let's say even a full week, what would surprise them the most about how you operate and how you, you know, basically run your business? I'm a fierce multitasker. I will be making calls. I will be on my computer. I will be doing something else, you know, just all over the place, trying to balance about three things at one time. And honestly, Cliff, I think that goes back to my early training as a first-time business owner. I wanted to try to pack everything into every minute, not every hour, not every day, but every minute.

13:03And a lot of people don't see that. It's kind of like the duck, you know, illustration. You see the smooth duck on the top, but, you know, his legs keep paddling like crazy under the water. And that's the way I learned, and that's just the way I still operate. That's nice.

13:17Sheldon D. Mellon:Now, you know, let's go ahead and talk about numbers without getting too specific. But, you know, since you've owned your business for a little while, what year would you say was the turning point where things started to scale? probably two i think year number one well let's say zero to six months you're still learning you're still learning about the things that are brand new to you as the business owner and then it takes a while to get your momentum going because the momentum needs to be from a sales standpoint from a marketing standpoint from a cash flow standpoint from From an ordering standpoint, the whole gamut that you deal with, you kind of build up.

13:56And so from month six to 12, I think we were probably getting our sea legs. We knew what we were doing. We were dealing with suppliers. Everything was going smoothly. Sales had reached an upward spiral or an upward arrow, I should say. And then year two, I think you really see what you're made of because, number one, you are literally at this point, in my case, building a business. And so, yeah, I would say year two because the building process really kind of kicked off right then. Okay.

14:28Sheldon D. Mellon:Now, what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now? You know, that's a very good question. And honestly, I think it's prospect or customer education. When we're talking of cybersecurity, we're talking about, you know, things that are highly technical. and a lot of the folks that we deal with, it's cybersecurity is something they know. It's a phrase they've heard. They're not necessarily aware of how to secure their networks, how to prevent a compromise and heaven help us if something does happen, how to get all my data back. And there's a lot of education in my field now to speak with the business owner.

15:10And I try to get to the C-level as much as I can. the business owner and the CFO to understand what happens and how much a compromise and an outage of service will cost your company. Now, fortunately, there are some very good statistics out there now and very accurate analytics that I can show the prospect or the business owner. And it gives the attitude of face at that point because they say, okay, whatever this cybersecurity thing is. I don't know exactly how it works, but if you can do that and save me this heartache financially, let's take it a step further. Well, that the step further is when what I found is successful is you show them the parts and pieces and what happens without the parts and pieces.

15:57And if there's a pain point, you know, so much the better, not necessarily for the client, but for the future of the client, not to go back into that pain point. So I would say, definitely customer education. Okay.

16:09Sheldon D. Mellon:Okay. Now, what would you say, or, you know, what would you say is one thing you're doing today that's giving you an unfair advantage over your competitors out there? I like to spend a lot of time with my people where we are in our market space. It's still a good face-to-face environment. So many of the, of the issues we deal with as a company, we deal with remotely. That's the nature of a managed data service provider. But to go out and engage with the customer, engage with the prospect, talk about where they are as a company. I want to know their growth pattern. I want to know their expansion.

16:51I want to know if they're going to a second location because it's my responsibility to put them in this position to grow electronically, get the services they need. And yes, if it costs as little money as possible, but I'm not going to go cheap. I think that's a fallacy as well. I would not be there to save people money necessarily. If it happens, it happens. But I'm there to present a solution that they can work with now, grow with well into the future and feel comfortable about it. And I guess to pinpoint the answer is if I establish this relationship now, I will have this relationship for years.

17:30As long as myself and my team do what we're supposed to do, it's going to be fairly easy to do business with them. And as I mentioned in the very beginning of the conversation, I've had customers right now that I've had for 20, 25 years. And we become professional friends and maybe personal friends. I see them out in chamber events. I see them out in B &I meetings. I see them out, you know, in golf tournaments and things like that. And if we do a good job, and thankfully we have, that warmness is always there. So recurring revenue in recurring business is the absolute everything in our industry.

18:08And I think that's probably what I would say is the relationship that I build and continue to build on credibly.

18:15Sheldon D. Mellon:Now, are you able to do that often or? Yes, I am. I am. We travel, I don't know, I'd say within 200 miles and our customer base is growing. And I try to avoid Teams meetings on things that are very important because what I found historically is, again, if I can sit down and talk with someone and there's always that wall that people think are there. It may technically be there in their mind, but I want to get through that wall. I want to talk to the person as a person, and then I can feel them out a little bit what their pain point is. Maybe they have technology. They just don't want to pay for it.

18:55Maybe they don't have technology but have some money to spend. Maybe the inability to have technology is too great, so they know they have to have it. I'm there to consult with them and to meet them where they are with the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-budget. Okay.

19:12Sheldon D. Mellon:And you can't really do that with the Teams meeting, right? You got to be there in person to do that. I love teams, but there's nothing better than being face-to-face. The other thing too with this, Cliff, is I've been in appointments with a C-level person and they would bring their CFO in or they would bring their office manager in. And then the discussion gets great because you get to hear multiple sides and each position in the company has their own side and has their own issues that they deal with and their own perception of maybe the same problems. That's great. If I can get in there and I can extract some of those things, I know I can help the customer on various, various job performances.

19:52Sheldon D. Mellon:Yeah, yeah. OK, OK. I know you talked about this next question earlier, but let's dig into a little bit more. You know, have you ever had to make a tough call like letting someone go or cutting something off that ended up being the right move long term?

20:08OK, let's start this way. I had an engineer that was a really good engineer. He was a younger engineer, and the situation started developing where he didn't kind of want to work after hours or work on urgent service requests. And so he would decline them. Well, the situation required someone, and then another engineer would have to take over and pick up that case, especially if there was an outage. Well, one particular day, the young man decided he did not want to take the call. And I got another engineer, but he had to drive in for like an hour and 15 minutes. And, you know, me being a father, he had to miss his little girl's first softball game.

20:53So the heart and the mind had to get together there and have a little conversation with the young engineer on Monday morning. And we chatted for a little bit and we got real and he actually quit. I did not have to, I didn't have to relieve him, but he understood where I was coming from. And years later, now this is one of those stories that you may have heard before, the years later story. Years later, you know, we became friends and he told me, he said, that was the best thing that happened to me because it pushed me out of the nest. And he started his own small company as well. And we speak with each other today.