"Do I Actually Want to Grow My Business?"

0:00I got a special question, if you're feeling good. Hello. >> I'm Mason Haley. I'm from North Dakota. Um I'm a dental practice owner. In 2023, I took the practice over. It was doing 1.2 million in revenue. Now it's doing 3 million. >> Amazing. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> [clears throat] >> We've gone from four days of operatories to running an associate. I've cut myself out from four days to three days a week. >> Awesome. >> I came here and I thought I was going to come here and say I'm going to start this coaching set thing on my Thursdays, Fridays. Work hard.

0:30Pretty much got shut down everywhere that's >> That sounds about right. >> Yeah. And and I agree. And it's kind of been a relief. >> We're a lot We're aligned. That's great. >> Um what's stopping me from growing? I think that we could grow our eight-op practice to 4 million in revenue. >> What are you calling it? What op practice? >> Eight operatories. >> Eight op. Got it. Sorry. It sounded different. Yeah. Okay. Keep going. >> Um I've just had shiny object syndrome. >> Yeah. >> It took a lot to go from 1.2 to three.

0:57>> Okay. >> Really, my question is I'm worried most of my kids think of me. My daughter's three years old. Um you know, sometimes I'll come home and she doesn't want to see me. >> Yeah. >> cuz it's just it taxes It's taxing. It wears on me. And it's like how big do I want to grow? It's like that's whose opinions matter. My daughter, my son is six months. And it's like I want to get this right now. >> Yeah. >> But on the flip side, the person I respect most is my dad

1:23>> Yeah. >> who was the same way. I mean, he worked came from nothing, built >> Yeah. >> You're saying your kid doesn't want to see you You don't want to see your kid? >> She I mean, I shouldn't say she doesn't want to see me, but it's like it's guilt. It's It feels like that. >> You feel guilt. She doesn't feel guilt. >> Probably. >> Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, you feel guilty, which means that you broke a rule that you made for yourself. Okay? Um okay. So, why don't we ask an and question rather than an or question?

1:56What would it take for you to hit your income goal and spend your time that you want to with your kids? >> Right. I think bringing on an additional associate. >> Okay. What's your profit margin on three? >> We're bringing 1 million, a little bit over actually. >> Okay. What's the associate cost? >> 300,000 a year. >> Okay. If you give up a third of your income and how much of your time does that buy back?

2:24>> 30 hours a week. >> Okay, so three the three days that you're like working in the chair, right? >> Right. >> Okay. So, if you don't have to work in the chair anymore and you make 700,000 a year with the extra time of not being in the chair, do you think you can make the 300 up? That's question one. >> Yes. >> Okay. If you then are back to a million because we hired the person and then you got the extra 300k in would you be able to now that you don't have to be in the chair spend the amount of time that you want to to not feel guilty with your kids?

2:54>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Uh the thing that the thing that scares me is when I started out a lot of the team left, essentially the whole team. >> Yeah. >> Having to rebuild it. We're in rural North Dakota. I do implants, third molar extractions, things that the general dentist I mean they're not going to replace it totally but you already answered that by saying the income's going to go down. Um >> Yeah. >> Yeah, that's

3:19>> time's going to go up and then the whole journey of entrepreneurship is with the time that I bought back can I make more than it cost me to replace it. >> Right. >> That's the game. >> Right. >> So, can I give you a really tactical thing to do? >> Absolutely. >> So, one thing not to worry about and one thing to worry about a lot. So, the thing not to worry about is um I forgot but I'll have the other one for you which is which is the thing to worry about. Uh sorry, the thing not to worry about is your ability to get other dentists.

3:49Because there's a beautiful thing called you can just spend more money to get them. Which means you can have relocation bonuses, signing bonuses, you can have kickers, you can do profit shares. There's a million ways to structure it. Uh to get them to come here. As long as the business makes money, you'll be able to attract talent. Also, I think there's a great narrative around like what kind of family did you want to start? Do you want to be in North Dakota? Blah blah blah blah blah. So, I think that's thing one. So, I wouldn't worry about that as the reason to not be willing to be with your kids. >> Right. >> The thing two worry about is that I would like you to draw a line in the sand.

4:17Let's just call it the guilt line. Where you say that if I spend this amount of time with my kids, I will not allow myself to feel guilty. Whatever that number is, you'll know what that number is, not me. And then you you make it a priority, meaning you do that first. And so, I'll tell you a story, which is um my dad back in the day. So, he was a single dad. He uh wanted to drop me off from school and he wanted to pick me up. And so, he did that my whole life.

4:43And he made the decision that he would make less money and be off at 2:00 every day. He was a doctor. And so, he told me my whole life. He's like, "All these people tell me, 'Like, I you could be making more money.'" But he's like, "But then I wouldn't see you. And why would I want to make more money so that when I'm 80, and I'll never see like that I wouldn't even you wouldn't even have known me." >> Right. >> So, I think >> Yeah, that's awesome advice. Appreciate it.

5:08>> I got you. Appreciate you. >> [applause] >> Hey Alex, uh thank for thanks for everything you do for us. Uh my name is James. Um so, we have our company Well, we do like right now. So, it's um used to be a nursery, but now we're mainly this company that I'm specifically talking about just holds the trademark to the tree Autumn Blaze Maple. So,

5:34>> Autumn Blaze Maple. >> Autumn Blaze. >> Blaze. >> Autumn Blaze Maple. Uh so, it collects royalties from the growers that grow the baby trees. When they sell the little trees >> Wow, you said nursery and I was thinking >> Yeah, no. >> Right. And you were talking yeah, [snorts] got it. >> So, a tree tree nursery uh for So, it's a landscape tree for has great fall color. So, it's been cruising along for a lot of years with no input or push. >> Wait, we talking hold on. Cannabis trees or we talking just little trees?

6:01>> Shade trees. So, >> Okay, so I was off there, too. >> Great >> All right. We're back. We're back. Just trees. >> Yep. Yep. >> All right, here we are. >> So, great fall [laughter] color is the biggest deal. Grown in the majority of the country, it's been one of the most popular trees in the country for 30 years. >> Okay. >> Um so, it's been cruising along in the 325,000 a year it collects with no input. No advertising, no work. Um so, I'm just taking it over now.

6:28>> You buying it? >> Yeah, from my mom. >> Okay. >> Um so, we're just finalizing that. And part of that is the income from this. I want to increase it to replace my income. I'm closing or consolidating some of my businesses. Uh they've created a great foundation that I'm helping her manage, and my wife and I are starting her own They're both charitable foundations. I want to free up my time to do that. I feel that's my purpose is to create I used to think I needed to outdo my dad.

6:54>> Yeah. I don't know anything >> that my purpose is to take what they built They built by 60 million worth of land assets and farming, and grow that for their charitable purposes. >> Okay. >> Um so, anyway, back to the Autumn Blaze Maple is increa- So, it used to do in its heyday 750 to 800 just in units. So, we only get a dollar a unit. >> Yep. >> So, it's a tricky like putting money into it, you're not getting, you know, to convince a homeowner on it, you're not getting that big sale.

7:22Um so, I guess the question is where to focus efforts or dollars to increase that popularity again. It's demand. The growers will grow whatever they need to, the ones that pay us the dollar. But, incentivizing them doesn't do any good because it has to come from three people down the line, basically. The tree they sell >> How did it gain popularity originally? >> What's that? >> How did it gain popularity originally? How about 30 years ago? >> Landscape Architect magazine, advertising Better Homes & Gardens. So, it was to homeowners and the industry.

7:52>> Okay. >> I don't know metrics of which produced better results. >> what your mom and dad did. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> I worked for them my whole life basically and 2019 and then >> Got it. Um Okay. Uh interesting. So, the the whole $1 per you know, per tree thing. Um I would be you basically you need a an advertising channel that has greater leverage. Right? So, we can't think in trees, we have to think in like neighborhoods or you know, cities or whatever just from a perspective. Um and so, it's like where are the centers of influence that move the needle pine needles. Uh I know it's not a pine, it's a maple, whatever. Uh but the pun was funny. Anyways, uh

8:37>> [laughter] >> You doing a Home & Garden thing that that medium is gone, right? And so, there's the the day of social media is here and that advertising is thankfully free. So, there's obviously that angle, but we need to like if I was buying the business today, I would be thinking like who are the who are the biggest who are the biggest influencers in that space? >> So, I think it's I didn't I think differently after last 2 days of talking to people. Like 15 years ago when you said Autumn Blaze, a lot of people knew it cuz if they were shopping for trees or building a house, they knew about it. Yeah, yeah.

9:13Uh so, I think it's probably it was >> You need like Martha Stewart to talk about Autumn Blaze's, right? >> Well, maybe. >> Yeah, so I think you need an influencer campaign from people who who talk Home & Garden. Um and they start mentioning Autumn uh Blaze more. That would be my guess. Did it fall? No, okay. Um But, the thing is is I would I want to give you permission to [ __ ] up because you're going to.

9:44And so, you're What How much do you have to sell or finance or how What percentage of revenue are you are you seller financing back to your your mom every year? >> Uh we're we need to finish the evaluation, but not a lot. >> Okay. So, there's there's a couple ways to think about it, but for me, if you have the $325,000 of royalties every year, it's a declining asset because it's kind of degrading, right? And so, I see this as I need to take as much of that as I can, almost like to the hilt of whatever that payment is, and I'm reinvesting the whole thing into marketing.

10:17Um again, I I think about how do I grow the business. Um and if I can feed the business, the business will feed us. And so, I'm trying to minimize all my extra expenses so I can take all that extra juice and put it back in, which it sounds like didn't really happen for a while, right? >> 15, 20 years. >> Right. And so, we just need to go back to what made this work 30 years ago, and all that's changed is just the media. That's it. It just went from print to social and influencers. But that's the that's the whole shift. Um but what we're doing now is talking about a national advertising campaign, which is really tough. And so, I'll say there's two ways to think about it. Way one, because again, I'm conscious of your budget, right? Way one is that you go kind of recruit influencers, send them seeds, let them grow it, trying to go kind of organic virally on that stuff. The second alternative is is there a way that I can kind of think about this from a B2B perspective of where people are buying seeds and trees and all that, and kind of go to those centers of influence. So, I'm sure there's grower conferences, et cetera. And I'm sure if you have done nothing, doing something will work better.

11:19And so, those are kind of two very polar different strategies. If I wanted to be uh if I were a betting man, which I guess I am, um I would try to do this from a like you need to do organic, pun intended, um for your brand because that'll cuz you'll need that no matter what. And then what I'm spending my time on is I want to go to the places where all the fish are who are like can I can I uh can I influence those growers and distributors to push more of my product which right now has been zero pushing and I can promise you that the competitors are pushing.

11:53Even though there's demand from this side, there's still influence here. And so that would be my kind of like two-pronged approach. But what we're talking about is um is tough. It's a like you're trying to bring national awareness to a type of tree. >> Yeah. >> Which is hard. No, I'm being like it is. >> no, 100%. >> And so it went kind of viral probably on some word of mouth and stuff 30 years ago and you've been collecting checks since which is great. Um trying to get that to happen again will be hard. And there is a bit of a risk question um that I would be thinking which is like of all the opportunities that you have is this the one that you would want to bet on? It's very hard. This is a super tough one.

12:32>> Yeah, and I >> Of the ones we had today, yours is the hardest. >> Yeah, like I other businesses if I put that same amount of money into I'll make more money that year. >> Yeah. >> This potentially so I think like the sales cap out in probably 5 to 600,000 units. So I mean raising the royalty price is the simplest a quarter >> Sure. >> Yeah, we could do that. >> Get to a dollar 25 whatever. >> Yeah, it could maybe go to two. There's some there's one tree out there that charges 280. >> Okay. >> I don't know what they sell though. Everybody else everybody our main competitors

13:00>> Okay. >> are a dollar. So we're at the with them. >> Okay. >> You know, and those trees have been collecting the same amount of money for 70 years. Like you know, this would probably continue to go at 300 forever. >> Uh-huh. >> With no input. >> Well, it'll still decay cuz it has, right? >> It follows the economy. Like even over the last 15 years it's has a spike up to 4 and a quarter. It's cruised at 4 or 370 380. >> Yeah. >> Uh and it just >> So option one, just collect the check. >> [laughter]

13:26>> And then just run the other business that is significantly easier to to to build. I just think that like in order So, I I'm changing my mind a little Not changing my mind, but like you could go that path. Those would be the two paths that I would pursue if I wanted to do this. Seeing what that would look like, I would be like, is there anything else that I could do that would make me more? And I'll bet you, given the business acumen and that you have and the other business that exists, probably. And so, maybe you just do a deal with your mom and she gets a paycheck for a while and you basically take over handling the mail and whatever small legal things you got to do.

13:57And then just focus on the other businesses that have more upside. Did that help? >> Yeah, that's what we did the last year already pretty much and >> I mean, free money >> I don't know if it's low-hanging fruit that >> Yeah. Oh, I don't think this is low-hanging fruit. Also, great pun intended. But >> Well, how about the raising the quarter on the royalty? >> Oh, obviously, for sure. I mean, here's the great part. You can do it and if it doesn't work, change it back. >> it back. >> Yeah, you might be able to get to 150. >> Yeah. >> I mean, if you haven't changed the price How long has it been since you changed the price?

14:26>> 2001. >> Yeah, I mean, it's $2.00 a tree now anyways. >> No one else is yet, though. >> Yeah, but like How much do they make on a How much do they make on a tree? >> So, the guys that pay the royalty, they're only selling the tree for $1.80 to $2.80 cuz they're selling the babies. And then it goes to another wholesale grower that grows it for 3 years. >> Well, then they're they're not going to be able to make a make money if they buy it for a dollar. >> pay the royalty, the customer does. So, like they should They list the price separate. So, in the catalog, it's the price of the trees $2.80, royalty is a dollar.

14:55>> Got it. Oh, I don't think the customer's going to care. >> They I don't think so, either. >> But dude, I don't think they're How much are they buying it for? The tree? The final product? >> In the way Well, >> The person who pays it, how much do they pay in total? >> $2.80. >> Okay. >> They have to And then they have to pay the dollar royalty. >> Got it. So, it's still Okay, so it's meaningful there. Okay, yeah. >> Yeah, yeah, at that scale, yeah. It's a lot. >> Yeah, cuz you're buying 20 of them or whatever the hell. Yeah. >> Well, well, no, I mean, they're buying thousands. Like that that, you know, >> Understood.

15:19>> 10,000 at a crack they buy. So, >> Um, I again when price testing I would try it. I'd bump it a quarter, see what happens. If nothing happens, phenomenal. And if you don't like it, you bump it again. >> [laughter] >> And if the whole thing burns down, you're like, "Oops, that didn't work." You move it back. Right? Yeah, that's what I do. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Appreciate you. >> [applause]

15:45>> Hey Alex. >> I'm looking like you, man. >> Um What? >> So I'm trying to look like you. >> Oh, yeah. >> Jack's. >> Um >> Sorry, I interrupted you. Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> Uh, so I sell performance upgrades to German car owners. And uh, we're doing >> If you are a business owner and you are not growing as fast as you'd like, I'd like to give you a free gift. So my team and I put together the $100 million scaling road map, which is basically 200 hours of us looking over all the portfolio companies we've had and what stages of growth they went through and more importantly where they got stuck and how they got past it. And so we broke it in these 10 stages and we made this little kind of quiz thing where if you put in your business information, it'll tell you where you're at and the most important part for you, what to do for each of functions of the business across product, marketing, sales, customer success, recruiting, IT, human resources and finance. And so no matter what you're struggling with, someone else has already struggled with it and solved it. And so I'd like to give you this thing absolutely free. You can go to acquisition.com {slash} road map, plug in your business information and if you want us to actually help you deconstruct the business and you're trying to scale, we'd love to help you out. On the thank you page you can just book a call with my team and we will look at your business, see if we can help and if we can, we'll invite you out to Vegas and we'll do this in person live.