1835 – Profit Maximization with Infinite Profit Consulting’s Marcia Riner

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2:14With us right now, it's Marcia Reiner. Marcia, you are a business growth strategist, and you're the CEO and founder of Infinite Profit Consulting. Your website is infiniteprofitconsulting.com. You are also a fellow podcaster. So I always love to give a shout out right at the top. Your show is Profit with a Plan. So to our friend that's listening to us right now, just do a quick search in your podcast app for profit. Don't listen yet. Just hit subscribe and then stay with us right now because we're going to tell you about a lot of things. But go ahead and hit subscribe right now. It's called Profit with a Plan podcast, helping entrepreneurs to grow profits, strive growth, and plan a future exit.

2:53Marcia, thank you so much for joining us. Awesome, Josh. That was a great intro. Thanks for having me. Yes. You'll notice, listener, a little bit of familiarity in my voice with Marcia. We had a chat yesterday, got to know one another, and I love the work, Marcia, that you do. But I'll let you explain your impact in the world and who you serve and what you do. Yeah, awesome. Thanks for the opportunity. So I help growth-minded business owners that are already in momentum to look for ways and strategies with little incremental changes that will increase revenue, drive growth, and prepare for a future sale.

3:31And why that last part is so important and kind of balances out the two is that, you know, it's a win-win. If I can get you sale ready, that means your business is running really good. You've got positive increasing cash flow. You've got the lifestyle that you wanted with the business. That means you're not swinging the hammer every day. And you're really developing a company that is worth something now. It creates a great business for you now. And, you know, what did we all get into business for? Not for a nasty J-O-B with the worst boss and the terrible employee slaving for wages less than what we originally thought.

4:14We wanted this lifestyle and freedom. So I think that win-win scenario gives you the lifestyle of the business owner you wanted, you know, the enjoyment of a business and, you know, an ROI when it's time to let go. Sounds like a winning plan, right? Yeah. Yeah. And Marcia, how did you find yourself in this role? Funny. Well, my parents were both business owners and mom ran an incredibly successful mortgage company back in the 80s. And even some companies came to her for her processes. She had eight branches. And in 2008, ended up closing her doors without a sale plan when she had an opportunity to sell her company for a million dollars.

5:01And she turned it down because she wasn't ready to retire. And I didn't know better back then. But later, you know, years forward as a financial advisor, helping customers, my business owners, to plan for their retirement, many of them would come in and say, I'm going to sell my business as part of my retirement. Because whisper, whisper, none of us business owners really invest in anything but our business, right? You know, we're shoving money back into our business rather than our retirement plan. And so I would ask a lot of these business owners, hey, what do you think the value is. And they'd give me some shark tank, you know, oh, 10 times EBITDA, you know, and I'd go, sure.

5:40And what are you doing to ensure that that value will be there when it's time to let go? And they really didn't have the ability to prove to me that that number would be there at that time. And so I'd start to give ideas because I invested thousands and thousands into my own education, and I'd start to share ideas with them and they liked that more than my financial planning. So I cut loose and moved into business consulting and coaching and I've never regretted it since I jumped the broom, I guess, broom handle. You know, Marcia, something you had said earlier too about how important this is regarding like whatever stage we're in a business right now, even if we're at the very, very, very beginning is kind of like beginning with the end in mind, right?

6:33And that end may be an exit, but it may be a succession plan, right? But why, I want you, I'm hoping you can spend a little bit more time on why this is so critical for us to stop what you're doing because we're about to, you know, we're about to, you know, again, get that founder, that entrepreneur to spend some time and really start planning this out and then making decisions with that in mind. A thousand percent, because, you know, the day you open your business is the day you should think about how you're going to get out of it, right? There's a revenue generated each month for your business, and that provides your lifestyle and takes care of your family now.

7:16But you've invested your blood, sweat, tears, nights, weekends, a lot of your money back into that business. Wouldn't it make sense to find a way to capitalize on that investment later on, whether it's being sold and there's many ways to exit your business? Junior could buy it, right? Buy it, not give it. There's a partnership that could take it over. There could be an employee buyout. There could be your competition wanting to take over your client base. Or maybe you even have a proprietary process or system or direction that some other company would like to engulf into theirs. Now, those are just a few handfuls.

8:06You could create that unicorn business that is going to be fantastic and there's an M &A or business company that wants to buy it and turn it into the next whatever, right? But if you don't think about that, when you're getting started or even evolving, it's never too late. You're not going to do the steps and pieces in place that would make that opportunity available to you when the time comes. I'm not saying think about it like getting out today. But normally when you decide to get out, it's usually too late to make any changes because when you do plan to get out, they're always looking back at least three years.

8:52Skeletons in the closet, relationships and contracts you have, financials. You know, they're looking at all these pieces for the company so that they can reduce the price that they pay you. So why not strengthen those so that you're attractive and worth every penny you're asking for and putting yourself in a position that someone even wants to buy you? Yeah. Marcia, I'm hoping you can share with us a little bit about how you work with your clients. Like, what does that look like? Where do you come in? And like this kind of the structure of your engagement and as well, you know, maybe let's talk about like, who would be ready to work with you or engage with you?

9:35Like, how would they know? Yeah. Well, let's start with that one because I think that's the easiest one. So if you're not growing in business, you're dying. Inflation is going to beat you out. Your competition is going to beat you out. Innovation is going to beat you out. So I need somebody who's thinking about growing, right? Not market domination like Amazon, but growing your business at a steady click, right? Whatever that click may be. So growth-minded business owners, I want you already in momentum. Meaning I'm not going to make you the cash register ring for the first time. I'm going to help improve everything you're doing.

10:12And what I do is I work with my clients in a way with a combination of strategies that I have. I probably have anywhere between 40 and 50 of them that I can combine, not all at once. And what we do is we determine what are the key levers that we should be pulling on your business to make incremental changes. And then I do it in one of two ways. I've got my VIP one-on-one clients that I work with closely. We sit at the table, virtual table, and we sit together and we pound through the strategy specific for your business. And we do it on a weekly basis. And it usually takes a few months to get rolling.

10:53And the benefits continue for years to come. And then if you're not looking for the total intimate kind of relationship, I have small groups that are forming that we work together as a mastermind kind of program to get everybody moving in the same direction with hot seats and individual attention. But you also get the feeling of the group environment. Oh, I didn't realize I could do it the way that Josh is doing it, right? And so with these strategies, my clients tend to work with me for a long period of time, Not because they have to, it's because they want to, because there's a lot of strategies that are going on.

11:36And so starting any time in your business is never too early or never too late to get going. And I think the real benefit, though, of the way I work versus some other consulting or coaching companies is the opportunity to see tangible results from strategies and tactics being put into action that I can even forecast that and show, hey, well, if we made these changes here, these three changes, maybe it's going to produce a significant number on your bottom line. And then here are the steps, the actual steps to help you achieve that number. So if that wasn't a big mouthful, that's how I work with my customers.

12:26But I get very passionate and very engaged with my clients and their teams to help them really move that business forward. Yeah. So Marcia, obviously, you kind of help your clients with their exit in mind. Where are you going? What's your future? Great question. And I don't know if it's uncomfortable for you to answer that question. Not at all. I love that question because, you know, what I've created is a process that is duplicatable and very easy with a small amount of training for someone to step into my role and do that. And I've even got a position, believe it or not, where I'm looking for coaches to help me because I'm doing well in my business.

13:14But I think there's so many more businesses out there that could use my help. So I've got, I'm actually creating or working in that same environment of building out my business in a way that can be sold in the future via licensing, right? They can step in and duplicate my model and run with it with my coaching and support along the way. I'm glad you asked that. Nobody's asked that. That's a great one. It's been my little secret when I'm talking to other folks in my industry. Because these tools can help anybody. Because we can all suffer from that cobbler's kid's shoes, right? It's like, well, not for me, but for the kind of, you know, it can be easy to do.

13:55But it's interesting because you have this interesting dynamic where, you know, I don't necessarily broadcast my intentions to our clients. I don't know. Yeah, how do you do that? Like you obviously want to have a plan, but then I don't know how much you disclose that to your team members. Like, especially if your goal is acquisition or something like that, you might want to keep that a little bit under wraps. Like, you know, yeah. If you're if you're thinking of selling, I got to tell you, people know you got a feeling the energy shifts and changes. Right. Right. Oftentimes, if you're up front with your team that you're thinking of selling soon, you want to lock those people down.

14:39So they're staying with the company. Right. Key employees are incredibly valuable for the buyer, especially if they're going to be an owner operator buyer. You know, they're going to come in and take over. You never know if you you just I've always found being transparent with the team. team is so much better than going, I got this thing going on over here. I don't want to tell anybody because they're going to stop working for me. Right. But I think being transparent, you never know. You might even find the next buyer in your, in your ranks. Yeah. You know, the next succession. You know, and I think that, you know, again, if it's, you know, especially I think if it's shared in that, you know, obviously, you know, there's a, Well, I can't wait to sell so I can cash out and I can go live on a beach.

15:30That's one way of presenting that. The other way would be, you know, eventually our mission, you know, and our impact in the world is going to get to a point where if we want to continue on our trajectory of changing the world, it's probably going to mean some alignments or some, you know, partnerships or something that is going to transcend my ability, potentially, to grow the company at that level. Like, you know, I'll just say transparently, I don't know if I'm the right person to be a CEO of a company that has, you know, more than 100 employees. That starts to feel a little uncomfortable for me.

16:08But who knows, maybe I'll grow to that position. You know, but I would think - Well, growth is in your own mind, right? Where you feel comfortable. That's why I said there's no reason that you need to have market domination. If 100 employees managing 100 employees is really icky for you because it's their, the babysitting and the challenges of, you know, more, more personalities inside the company. First of all, are there ways to make it easier for you? You know, are there, are there cultures you can create? So the people you bring in are people you want to work with, or are you finding that you're still trying to run the company with one person or should you hire team players that manage the people for you?

16:56Yeah, right, right. No, there's all sorts of angles and ways that you can think about business. But, you know, the basis for if you're running a business, A, you should be incorporated just for tax purposes and protection of your own personal assets. Yes. To anyone who is listening to us and who is not, hit pause, come back, go get incorporated, come on back. All right, hang on a second. Exactly. All right, Marcia, they're back. All right, let's continue on. So now that you're incorporated, you've just created an entity that will last forever. That doesn't mean you have to be in that CEO presidential role forever.

17:38And so there are many opportunities. Like I said, I just gave you a couple ideas, whether you have people in there or you hire the culture and the development that you want in there. But I mean, there's many ways, but the goal of something that could live forever, wouldn't you want it to live forever? You know, I mean, do you think Mr. Ford would ever think that multiple generations later is still being run by the Ford family? That's fantastic way for for legacy, right? That not only did I write a book, but my my name and my voice will live forever because I wrote a book. It's the same way with your business, your company, which shouldn't be named Marcia Reiner and Associates.

18:24It should be named something else. Problem. You know, but it can live forever. And that that's a legacy. Right. It's something we left a footprint on that changes lives. And, you know, that warms my heart to know that, you know, my footprint, carbon or not, is going to live forever because I created an entity that can continue without me or can continue to pay me until I'm gone or my family until I'm gone. And they're gone. And their kids are gone. And their kids, kids, kids are gone. Kind of a nice lifestyle plan, huh? I, I, I, up my influence is so much bigger than Josh Elledge. I promise you already.

19:10It's, it's our, it's our audiences. It's our people. It's our clients. It's our, you know, team members. It's our mission impact values like that transcends, you know, Hey, the founder and the founder is going to, you know, hand some elements of the reins or whatever. Like that's all part of this big picture. So Marcia, I also want to ask you about, um, so your podcast profit with a plan podcast, who should be listening? And what is the transformation? So if someone's looking for, you know, some ongoing, you know, good energy in their life, who would be who would be tuning in? Oh, awesome. Thanks for that question.

19:48You know, I've had some really fantastic guests, just started year number five. So I'm going five years, 200 and I think I got 40 some odd episodes in the can. It's just created such a platform, like a conversation like we're having, where I'm learning something really valuable. The audience is learning something valuable. And it's all around the three pillars I stand on. Driving income, right? Increasing revenue, driving growth, and planning for a future sale. So that encompasses a huge area of conversations that can go on. I had John Hewitt from Jackson Hewitt Tax on recently, who is just, I mean, just a wealth of information on franchising.

20:34I just interviewed Brandon Steiner, who talked about, we were originally going to talk about relationships with superstars, right? Because he has these great things. But we ended talking about the true nature of growth. I've had so many people on, it's just been fantastic. So if you're a business owner, growth minded, right? Same platform I talk on, and you want to find ideas or conversations that will really ignite your growth and you know, it's not just random, it's all around a plan, then Profit with a Plan will be a nice 30-minute break for every week for hopefully the rest of my life. Yeah.

21:16Okay. So infiniteprofitconsulting.com. When somebody goes there, Marcia, what would you recommend they do? Well, my goodness, I've got my podcasts on there. I've got a blog that I write, very educational tips and strategies that goes out every Sunday. So subscribe to that. And then it just kind of talks about, oh, I've got my books on there. But it's just a little bit of an all-encompassing about me. You can go there. You can get my playbook as a download. I do masterclasses. So it's kind of that all catch all for growing your business and increasing your profitability. So it's a nice little catch-all with a lot of value and resources in there.

22:01Yeah. Excellent. Well, again, Marcia Reiner, founder of InfiniteProfitConsulting.com, your podcast, Profit with a Plan podcast. Again, to our friend, you can search that up right now. Hit subscribe. We're now nearly to the time where you can finish this episode and now continue on to Marcia's podcast. Marcia, it's been a joy and a delight having you. Thank you so much for the conversation. Thank you so much, Josh. I appreciate it.

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