130. Fixing Your Cash Flow with Tim Yurek

Do you lose sleep worrying about cash flow in your business? Are you spinning your wheels trying to get ahead? We talk with a highly accomplished financial consultant, veteran, and thought leader in his industry. Tim Yurek is the founder and CEO of Tier 1 Capital, where he has spent over 35 years helping thousands of people across the country achieve their financial goals.

Connect with Tim Yurek:
Website: http://tier1capital.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-yurek/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tier1Capital.wb
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tier1capital_/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Tier1Capital

FREE GIFT - Business Succession Plan: https://www.tier1capital.com/ijb

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You can find Dana @adashofboss, @dana.dowdell and @hrfanatic
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You can find Russ @reliable.remediation
Russ Harlow – Reliable Remediation – Disaster Restoration
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Transcript

Russ Harlow  00:05

Dana, what's happening? 

Dana Dowdell  00:06

How are you? 

Russ Harlow  00:07

A little bit worried about cash flow, you know, kind of slowed. And I want to figure out how to fix that.

Dana Dowdell  00:17

I feel like that's a common situation a lot of business owners find themselves in is like, where do I find the capital. And so, I think we're gonna talk to a great expert. Today, we're joined by Tim Yurek. He is the founder and CEO of Tier One Capital. And he has spent over 35 years helping 1000s of people across the country achieve their financial goals. And so, we're going to talk about business financial goals. So, Tim, welcome to It's Just Business.

Tim Yurek  00:44

Dana, thanks so much. I'm really excited to be here, I think we have some good value for your audience. And that's my goal. My goal is to give massive value.

Dana Dowdell  00:55

I love it. Well tell us your story about Tier One Capital and how you found yourself in the role of being a business owner.

Tim Yurek  01:07

So, I have a degree in economics, and I started in financial services, right out of college. And, you know, you struggle in the beginning. And after about seven or eight years, I was doing pretty well. There's a, an organization called The Million Dollar Roundtable. And I had become a member of The Million Dollar Roundtable. And it's all based on production and quality of service, etc. So, I was doing pretty well. And where I thought, because I was doing everything, the way the industry tells you to do things, and I always recommend making the recommendations to people and it seemed to be going fairly well. But then I had an epiphany moment. It was the the Christmas of 1993. I was at my parents’ home, for Christmas dinner, and I have an older brother and a younger sister. And their significant others were sitting around the table at Christmas time talking about the good old days. Now the good old days for us. We were lower middle class, barely. And to be honest with you, we were poor. We just didn't I didn't realize it until I went to college. And then I remember telling my brother I you know, he came down to visit I was I played football in college and my brother came down for a game and we were talking he's he goes, he said like, hey, so how things going, I'm like, do you realize we're frickin poor. And he just started laughing. But you know what, we didn't realize it and that's fine. But the point is Christmas of 93, we're sitting around talking about the good old days, the good old days was my dad would get paid on Thursday, my mom would get his check. After dinner, she would go to the grocery store, cash the check, buy groceries for the week, and then pay whatever bills needed, be paid. And everything was good. But there were a couple times every year where my dad would not would come home on Thursdays without the pay. And I find out later that the reason is he worked. He was a welder in the coal mines. And the owner of the coal company would his wife did the payroll. So, he would go home for lunch, grab the payroll on Thursday, and hopefully go back to the plant. But sometimes he would stop off at a bar and stay a little too late. And by the time my dad got done with his shift, he wouldn't have his pay. So, on those occasions as a little kid, my mom would get my brother, my sister and myself, load us in the car and we would literally wait in front of this man's house for him to come home. Right? So, we're talking about that. And so, the good old days was the time when we went to pick up daddy's pay and the car wouldn't start. So, then my brother had a knock on the door use the phone call my uncle and my uncle came try to jump the battery didn't work. So, we ended up getting a ride home from my uncle, and how to you know, ultimately get the car towed. So, we're talking about this, the time the car wouldn't start Christmas of 93. And I remember saying to my mom, I said Ma like, what were we doing there? And she said, I was picking up daddy's pay and I said why don't you just wait till the next day? And the look she gave me and the way she said it. She's said, honey, I needed that money or they're going to turn off the lights, or they're going to turn off the gas. She said, we live pay to pay. And then you talk about an epiphany moment I got, it's like, I got hit across the forehead with a baseball bat, because I'm sitting there, now making probably 678 times what my dad ever made. And I'm living pay to pay. Now, I'm giving people financial advice, and I'm freaking broke. Now, I had about $150,000, in a retirement account, I had a home that I had a 30 year mortgage, but I refinanced it 15 years, all my money was tied up, I couldn't access it on paper, yeah, I looked, I looked really good. But I was broke, there are times that I borrowed money from my dad to pay my mortgage. So, the epiphany moment was, Oh, my God, I'm living pay to pay. This has to change. And I figured some things out on my own. And then I found that there's actually people out there that have programs that teach you how to be in control of your money. And I quickly, you know, found out about those folks, and started using their principles. And then the validation for me was, I was taking this to people. And they were like, Oh, my God, that's me. That's me. And we would get them out of jams. And I think I had mentioned earlier on the pre call, that most of the people that have my success stories, in the beginning, were people who were in crisis, who had their backs against the wall from a cash flow perspective. And we were able to help them out, get their problem solved, and, you know, move forward. So what I quickly found out was okay, this isn't about selling financial services, this is about helping people with their cash flow. And then using some of that cash flow to maybe buy, purchase financial services. But if you can help people with their biggest problems, the world is your oyster. And that's what I that's sort of what, what set me on this track, so to speak.

Russ Harlow  07:31

And I love how you mentioned, like, even making, you know, 10 times what your dad was making. You were broke. But you weren't poor, you weren't, you're broke. And I think back, you know, it reminds me of a story, right, like, cutting those big blocks of government cheese with a slicer. I think we had those. We were broke. We had a roof over our head. We were quite poor, but we were broke. And how many as a business owner, myself and as our listeners, how many of us in business are broke? How many of us are living customer to customer month to month pay to pay?

Tim Yurek  08:11

Well, Ross it's funny you say that. So, we commissioned a research report. And part of the research into it did a survey of business owners around the world 61% of business owners around the world admit to struggling with cashflow. 69% of business owners admitted to sleeping less or losing sleep due to catch cashflow concerns. So, it is a prevalent issue for most business owners and understand most business owners are doing things the way they've been taught. But understand who taught them that the system, the system, the financial services industry, the financial institutions, banks, credit companies, investment firms, insurance companies, the government, they have conditioned us to accept as normal, what is not normal. It's normal for them because it puts them in control. But it does not put us in control. And all we've done is just literally flip the script and put our clients back in control of their cash flow. The money's there. It's literally hiding in plain sight.

Dana Dowdell  09:28

It's so interesting, because I feel I remember when I started my business, I was a big consumer of content. And I would listen to a lot of podcasts that was like, you know, from $25,000 a year to seven figures in six months. And like that was the grab, like we I think as business owners, we play such an emphasis on the sales and the revenue. And that's the focus and we don't think about the actual cash flow and having cash on hand to actually do business. And so, is that what you see in your clients that like their focus is more on the sales and revenue versus the actual cash flow?

Tim Yurek  10:09

Oh, Dana 150%. You know, so small business owners like all of us on this call, we always think that we could sell our way out of any problem. Right? So, if there's no problem too large, that more sales couldn't solve. And that's sort of like the danger. So, the danger is, you have this, we call it the revenue trap, where you're just trying, you're always chasing revenue. But the fact of the matter is, if you focus on being in control of your cash and your cash flow, then all the decisions you make downstream, become much more clear, you're making it with much greater clarity. Because those decisions, it's real simple. Am I, if I do it this way, if I employ this strategy, will I be in greater control or lesser control of my money? And if you're in less control, than what do you do, you don't do it. But it's hard because everybody else is doing it. And they're gonna look at you like you got three heads, if you don't do it that way.

Russ Harlow  11:31

You know, I went to college, I got a liberal arts degree, I didn't have any business classes. I was, you know, almost 50, by the time I went into business, and had to learn a lot. So, learning how to read a p&l. Fortunately, I like crunching numbers, and then like using spreadsheets to figure stuff out. But it didn't take me long to realize all these guys talking about their top line revenue. And then I realized all of these terms have a meaning, right, that top line and above the line talking about revenue, and I go, yeah, but what about that? Bottom line? What are you actually keeping? It's not about how much you made? Or how much money went through your business? Because that only benefits the government because they're collecting taxes on it. How much did you get to keep? What's that bottom line? What's that net profit? And, you know, it's so hard because it is it's like a measuring contest, right? Oh, we hit 5 million, we had 10 million, you guys aren't doing 15 million yet? Oh, we're at 100. But if you're spending 100 million to lose, you know, 6 million. That was a point.

Tim Yurek  12:39

Exactly. You know, it's funny, you say that we have a YouTube channel, and my daughter and I, my daughter works with me. And we end every video, we post videos twice a week, and we end every video with It's not how much money you make. It's how much money you keep that really matters. And, boy, how true is that? 

Russ Harlow  13:03

How do we I mean, we go into this thing, we just You're right, we just start doing the things that we're told to do. Right? So, we hit all we gotta hit that revenue number, we have to hit that revenue number. And the more you make, the more you spent, so that net profit percentage tends to go down. So, tell me about that process? And what are those numbers you're looking at that are hiding in plain sight that help us figure out the health of our business and how we can keep more.

Tim Yurek  13:32

So there, there's basically five areas where people are unknowingly and unnecessarily giving up control of their money. And so those areas are taxes, how you pay for your real estate, how you pay for your children's education, how you fund your retirement, and how you make major capital purchases. And if you're looking, if you need money to expand your business, I will tell you the money is probably in your cash flow. You're just thinking about things probably in the wrong way. Let me give you an example. I was referred to this one gentleman back in 2019. He owns a business with four locations. He owns the real estate on it every are owned the real estate on every one of those locations. He was doing really well. He had just less than a million dollars. He was like in his mid 30s. He had just under a million dollars in his retirement account. He had equity and all of his real estate. And I'm talking to him and I'm thinking geez now This might be one of those few guys that I can't help. So, I said, you know, let's he had some debt. I said, tell me a little bit about your debt. And he said, you know, I own the real estate. So, I have mortgages on all the on all the locations. And I've got two business loans and a credit line. When I said is the is the line open? He said, yeah, I've, I've got a little bit drawn down on that. And I said, the two business loans was that to purchase equipment for your for your locations? And he shook his head, he said, nah, I pay my taxes, my quarterly taxes, and I usually don't have enough cash on hand. So, I take a draw on my credit line. And I was like, oh, okay. So, both of those loans, you maxed out your credit line, open up another line? He goes, yeah, I said, both loans. He said, yeah. And now, I'm thinking, well, there might be an opportunity, but let me let's pursue it. I said, do you mind if I asked you how much income you make? And at the time he was making six $650,000 a year? So, when you went to college, what was your number? Here's what he made. I said, What was your income number? Like, you know, if what was your dream number? He said, he started laughing. He said about 150-200,000. And then I burst out laughing. And he goes, well, I know. You know, it was a small number. I said, no, that's not what I'm laughing at. I'm laughing because don't you find it ironic, you're making three to four times what you ever dreamed you could make. And you can't pay your friggin taxes without drawn out a credit line? And he just said, I'll never forget his reply. He said, you know, I never thought of it that way. That's just the way I do it. So now, I have an opportunity. And I said, if there's a way that you never, ever have to pay your quarterly taxes, using a drawn a credit line again, would you be welcomed? Would you be open to the conversation? He goes, when can we have this conversation. So we set up a meeting and we started talking and I got a little bit more information from him. This is the summer of 2019. And in October of 2019, we put the plan together. And he started funding, you know, redirecting money that was hidden in plain sight. And by the way, it was about $5,000 per month. So now he's saving $5,000 per month in financial service products, where before, he was literally giving it away. So he had his taxes for 2019. He filed an extension. And he leaves his CPAs office sometime the beginning of July of 2020. And I got a text. And the text was, hey, Tim just wanted you to know, we got our taxes done for 2019. I had enough money to pay my 2019 tax obligation. But better yet, I have enough money set aside to pay the September quarterly, the January quarterly. And for what we've estimated we think we might owe in April of 2020. Thanks so much for all you do for me and my business. Now, think about this. This is nine months later, and we completely transform this guy. If that was the end of the story, is that a good story? I think so. It is so much freakin better. Because in December of 2022, this past December, his CPA, and myself, meet and him we meet in my conference room. He now has three more locations, each location, he has cash on hand. Plus he has money set aside with me. When he added everything up, he's sitting on $1.8 million dollars of cash. Now think about this. This is two years and two months after we started basically transforming how he was doing things. And the bottom line is, it was how he was viewing things are how he was he was trained to do things that was holding him back. The money was right there it was it was hiding in plain sight. He just didn't realize that there was a better way of doing things. So, again, it's how you think about things that really, really, really could make a huge impact on your bottom line.

Dana Dowdell  20:13

I feel like we're trained that like if we're struggling with cash flow to, to look at your expenses, and you know, pick out the expenses or find new ways to drive revenue, but it sounds like it is a little bit deeper than that.

Tim Yurek  20:30

It's deeper, and it's probably more insidious. Because, right, so think about this financial institutions and the government. Well, alright, so let's step back. You know, you have, let's say you have an employee, somebody who works for you, and the work they did last week, you're going to pay them this, this coming Friday, before you pay them, you've got to submit your 941 to the government, before they get paid, before the employee gets paid. In other words, your employee, the government gets paid before your employee for the work the employee did. That's a pretty good system. And likely, before you get paid, Oh, absolutely. You know, that Dana. So, the point is, the system is geared to benefit those institutions. And we as individuals, we have to figure out a better way. Now, I never thought that there was a better way until at the Christmas of 93. And then I was like, oh, okay. And when I saw that the huge, almost immediate impact that it had for me, then I just started bringing it to my clients, and it was incredibly well received.

Russ Harlow  21:53

Is it as simple as allocating money as it comes in? So, that it doesn't get lost in some, you know, operational expense account, you know, having a tax account, you have your, let's say, your taxes are 8%. And so, every time revenue comes in to take 8% thrown in the tax account, or every time you collect sales tax, it goes into sales tax account, or you want, you know, owners benefit to be, you know, 3%. So, every time revenue comes in, you take 3%, and put it in an account. Is it that simple? Or is it more than that, Tim?

Tim Yurek  22:28

It's definitely more than that. Although that is that is a huge first step. So, our process, it's really simple. It's four steps. The first is, will identify exactly where you're giving up control of your money. And here's, here's the rub on that Russ, I can show you with 100 degree with 100% certainty, where and how you're giving up control of your money, I'm not just going to say, hey, Russ, you're giving up control of your money doing this stop doing it, it's gonna be Russ, you're getting this technique or this strategy you're employing, you're giving up control of your money. And here's the four or five reasons why it's giving up control, you'll agree 100%. So, the first step is to identify the second step is the hardest step in our process, you got to stop doing it. And it sounds simple, but it's things you've been doing. And it's things that everybody tells you is the right thing to do. So, they're the there's the first two steps. Third step, you got to save in an area that you own and control. And the fourth step is where the magic happens, where you borrow against your own money, and use it to make major capital purchases, to purchase real estate, to do the things you need to do to expand your business. So that four step process, comparing it to well, what are other finance? What are other financial advisors recommending? Right? So, here's the way the conversation goes, when you meet with a conventional wisdom, traditional financial advisor. They basically say, hey, show me all your stuff. And then they say, and I'm gonna paraphrase, all your stuff sucks. My stuff is better than your stuff. Why don't you buy my stuff? So, then you make a decision. Hey, you know, this guy sounded like he knows what he's doing. But to use a golf analogy or a sports analogy, it's real simple. The way the traditional industry markets is to say, show me your golf clubs. Your golf clubs suck. Come to my pro shop or sell you a new set of well golf clubs. And where I differ, is what we do is and listen, don't get me wrong, I get paid to sell financial products to financial golf clubs. But in the process, what we try to do is rather than saying, hey, come buy our golf clubs, we're saying, You know what, let's take a look at your financial golf swing. Let's see how you're using your money. Let's go down to the range. Let me see your swing. So, you tell me how what you're doing and how you're using your money. And then we make the recommendations. That's where we do the identification. And again, we'll identify it, you'll agree 100%. But the hard part is stop is to stop doing it. Compare that or contrast that with what other financial advisors are doing? What are they telling you? Hey, you're making 5%, I could show you how to make 7%. Yeah, you might have to take a little bit more risk, all they're doing is selling levels of risk. But who's at risk them? Know, your money is at risk every hour of every day. So, and by the way, you could take the risk, and you may not get the reward. Whereas I can show you with 100% certainty where you're giving up control of your money. That's the big difference. So hopefully that makes sense.

Russ Harlow  26:30

Well, I'll tell you one thing, Tim, there is no golf club brand, or style or size that could improve my game. No matter how much I spent on it to be perfectly honest, and the swing? Well, it could use some work. Definitely, definitely use some work. And so is there. And I think you kind of alluded to it here talking about other financial advisors, they just, they're selling levels of risk. And so that may even come with a better commission for them as well. So, we're in this process. But the question is fiduciary, are you a fiduciary? are you operating? Are people in the industry operating in the best financial interests? Are their clients? Or are they just kind of presenting opportunities?

Tim Yurek  27:24

I know what we do, and we, we look at things from a perspective of if I were in that same situation, what would I what would I recommend to myself. And so, I guess from that perspective, it would be more like a fiduciary responsibility. I think everybody in this industry, or for the most part, most people in this industry try to do the best that they can do. But there are so many extenuating circumstances, like the companies they're working for might put pressure on them to utilize one product over another, or one, one fund over another, etc. So they might be incentivized to do things a little bit differently. But I think for the most part, people try to do the right thing. But I just don't think that they're trained properly either.

Russ Harlow  28:24

So, but not everybody has the same level of integrity and ethics, business ethics, right? A good friend of mine does financial planning. And he said, you know, we sat down with a lunch with a contemporary, and he said he was telling a story. So, client came to me and said, you know, I got $100,000 in this fund. And I've heard about this other fund, and I'd like to move it over. He said, well, let me evaluate it for you. And you know, he would have made a pretty good sized commission by moving it over, but it was doing okay, and wasn't going to do significantly better than the other. And with the money lost on commission, it was actually a net loss for the client. He said, It's just not a good idea. And his buddy was like, you're a better man than me. I would have switched it in a heartbeat. And so that's what we're all afraid of, right? Let's face it, and they're in your industry, people don't just go oh, I just met him, I'm gonna give them all my money and I'm gonna invest it. There's, there's that know, like and trust. How long does it take to build relationships with clients and kind of walk through that process as you learn their business and you learn them and they get to know you and trust you?

Tim Yurek  29:34

Yeah, so I'm a relationship oriented person, and our process is probably a little bit longer than others. So rather than being transactional by nature, again, we're more relationship. So, we're coming in and, you know, usually we get brought in where people have an issue that they want to solve. They want a business succession plan or they want to set up an exit plan or they have a key person that they want to incentivize to stay so that, you know, if this guy leaves or this, this employee leaves, our business is going to go down. So how can we provide him or her with incentive to stay without giving away equity in the company. So, these are some of the things that we do. And we think we're really good at that, because we're not afraid to have the difficult conversations. I'll give you an example. We worked with a manufacturing company in Long Island, New York. And it was a family owned business, but no family members worked in the business, the CEO, was running the company and the CFO, you know, was doing the financial aspects of it. The CEO had run the company for over 20 years, and they wanted to reward him for his hard work and growing the company. The CFO was doing a good job had been there about seven or eight years, and they realized that boy, if this guy left, this would put a hurt on the business. So we put together oh, I like this part of it. They brought in a consulting firm from Chicago, a consulting firm charged them $18,000, to do a analysis of putting a plan together for them. And the bottom line was, the plan that they came up with was not viable for several reasons. Number one, they would have a huge impact on their financial statement, which would create some issues on their loans. And number two, it wasn't it didn't have a great benefit for either of the executives. So, they didn't do it. And now the board, and the family who was on most, most of the family members of the owner ownership interest. Were on the board, they had a bad taste in their mouth, I got referred in, we don't charge anything to do an analysis. So, we get referred in we do this, this analysis, we come back. But we have a diff, we have the conversations with both of the executives like what they're trying to what are they looking for. And keep this in mind. The CEO really wanted this to get done because he was getting something for like basically a reward for growing the business. So, we get it done. And we present the plan, first to the board. And the board loved it because it was not only did it have a tremendous benefit for the executives, it had, it was very cashflow friendly, plus, we found some additional cash flow for them. And it had zero hit on their balance sheet just because of the way we structured it. And when and this is the this is the point, having those having the key conversations. When we sat with the CFO, he had gotten a late start in life. So, he had a six year old and an eight year old that he needed to educate and this guy was in his early 50s. So he really didn't have money set aside for his children for educational purposes. So, we tied the benefit to when the children were going to be of college age. And basically figured that this guy wanted to send his children to like, hopefully like an Ivy League school or the cost of an Ivy League school. So that's what we funded for. When we brought this benefit to him after the board approved it, he was in tears of gratitude. Now, here's the key, do you think that guy is going to leave the employer? I mean, it's there's no way that would ever happen. They're going to send each of his children to an Ivy League school. And he doesn't have to pay a penny out of it. That's an amazing. So that's what we try to do. So, you talk about the relationship aspect of it. Or so we're spending extra time we're not we're not in this thing for transactions, we're in this thing for adding value. And I learned a long time ago, the more value you add, the more you're rewarded.

Dana Dowdell  34:28

I'm gonna bring the woowoo into this conversation, because you were talking about your system helps people take control of the money instead of letting the money control them. And I feel like there's a lot of conversations as an entrepreneur about, you know, fear based mindset and abundance based mindset. And I was just having this conversation with someone last night that you know, so much of what they're doing in their business is fear based around the money. So how does that lay into it, you know, having control of your finances, your money, your cash flow, while also not being afraid of money and giving money, too much power?

Tim Yurek  35:14

Oh, wow, that is a great question. So, I would say that you know, cash flow is the lifeblood of every business. And if, if you're not, if you don't have cash flow, it just makes it's very frustrating way, too, run a business. Because I think the biggest frustrations in life are having opportunities come your way and not being having a way to take advantage of them. And then the other side of it is when cash flow is abundant opportunities will find you. So, you know, Dana, I don't know, as far as the fear factor. I will say this, most entrepreneurs fear is not even. It's not even in their equation. I mean, they got gumption, they're not afraid to take risk. Especially if it's in their business, because they can control that risk. So, I don't Did I answer your question?

Dana Dowdell  36:37

Well, I think it's, you know, I think it's a I think it's truthfully, a bigger ongoing conversation. Because like, I look at myself, and I'm like, yeah, I've got, you know, got big business balls, like I'm, you know, I can I can rock it. But then there's those still underlying conversations around, you know, I want to make sure that I make payroll, I want to make sure, you know, so I think it's, I think it's a bigger, probably a bigger conversation. But I was curious, your, your thoughts on it?

Tim Yurek  37:11

Yeah. You know, you mentioned making payroll. So, you know, we have, we have a fairly large staff here. And, you know, one of the things that I learned from that experience of my, my parents having to go and chase down their pay. My employees never had to do that. We had gone, we have gone many times, especially in the beginning, without making sure that our employees had their pay. So, you know, you talk about making payroll like, that's, that hasn't been an issue for us for a long time. But I know, I could see where it is an issue for other folks.

Russ Harlow  38:03

I question whether or not if you've never skipped payroll for yourself, whether you even own a business. So absolutely.

Tim Yurek  38:10

Yeah. That's a great point. Thanks for making that point. Russ. Because that is a great point.

Russ Harlow  38:17

You I mean, six out of seven of us are losing sleep over this. Tim right. You gave us that statistic earlier. So other than cashflow, and what what's one thing that we can look at either in our balance sheet or a p&l that can jump out and go, Oh, look, here's something I can fix. Is there one thing that as a business owner, or as a listener can go? You know what, I'm going to check this out. And if, if this number doesn't match up, I'm caught him.

Tim Yurek  38:43

So, the place of greatest possibility is in how you're how you're handling your debt. Again, we worked with a business who needed to fund they had five partners, and they wanted a fund. So, when they started their business, the business was started, literally for a job. They worked in a store and the store was sold to a national entity. And their location was not large enough for the national entity to continue. It was a smaller store. So, five of these people lost their jobs. They went and opened a store in that same neighborhood and grew a very successful business. Because they didn't have any capital, they had a borrow everything to capitalize the business, earn a profit and then pay back the debt. But as time went by, they got really good at generating the profits. So, they paid out, paid off a 20 year note in about eight years. And then two years after they paid off that note, they opened up another location. And everything's going pretty well. Fast forward about 8-10 years after that, they ended up in my office. And now they want to do a succession plan for the partners, and a financial security plan. Because again, they started this job for a job, this business for a job. And now they have a successful thing. And they want to make sure that if, if they die or become disabled, their equity in the business is going to be reimbursed to them and their family. But also, they want to make sure that when they retire, they're going to retire comfortably. So, we put together the plan, and it was going to cost about $25,000 per month to fund this financial security slash succession plan. And when I presented the problem and the number, the CFO said, there's no way we could afford that. And I asked, how much can you scrape up? And she said, maybe about 5000 per month? And then my reply was, understand we had gotten their financials. So, I knew where the place of greatest potential was, and it was in to refinance their debt. And, and again, where did they get this philosophy of paying, they're in a race to get out of debt. So, they were in a race to get out of debt. So, what I said to them was, when you open the second location, did you pay cash? They said, no. Did you use the same bank you use for the first location? They said, yes. And here was the question that got them to think a little bit differently. Whose money did the bank loan you for the second location? And there was silence, it seemed like forever, but it was maybe, you know, 15 seconds. And I remember, after, after we after that meeting, I said to my daughter, who was in the meeting with me, where that meeting seemed to drag a little long she goes, you had them sitting in pain for 45 minutes. And that wasn't my intention. But the point was, when the CFO, the CEO of the company said, those son of a bitches, they gave us our own money, and they charge us a fee for the loan. So now they're thinking a little bit differently, right, they were in a race to get out of debt, only to get back into debt. So, we talked about refinancing their existing debt, which by the way, they were going to have it paid off in six years. And with the way we set this up, they could have that same loan paid off in four years, because of the way we structured this. So, the to answer your question, your question, Russ, the place of greatest potential is in how you're handling your debt. People are, are so in such a hurry to get out of debt, only to get back into debt. So, you go from a situation of, okay, I'm going to double down on my payments, because I want to get out of debt quicker. So, you have no cash flow. Why? Because of how you're handling your debt. And then you get out of debt. And now you still you might have cash flow, but you still have no assets. So why don't if you're only going to get back into debt, why don't you just start saving money on the side, so that at some point in the future, you never ever have to go back to a bank ever again. And that's what we're teaching people how to do. So again, the place of greatest potential is in how you're handling your debt, especially for business owners.

Dana Dowdell  44:15

I love it. All right, Tim. We put everybody through a lightning round at the end of an interview. I know. So some more insight from the great Tim Yurek. We have five questions I'll put you through. First one is what is one thing you wish you had known before starting a business?

Tim Yurek  44:34

Oh, so working smarter, not harder. And it's the same thing with your cash flow.

Russ Harlow  44:44

That makes sense. But all of us are taught you got to gotta work hard. Tim got to work hard. Already work, the more it's going to be paying off.

Tim Yurek  44:52

Listen, and you know, Russ, I agree. And when I was younger, nobody outwork me but here's the point. The guys who were working smarter are killing it. 

Russ Harlow  45:06

Yep. No, I agree to what's your favorite way to market your business? Tim?

Tim Yurek  45:12

Well, for me, it's referral. It always has been. It always will be. We're, you know, we're looking at other mediums right now. And we have some I have some, we're getting some traction with some other areas as well.

Dana Dowdell  45:32

What is one business platform that's changed your life?

Tim Yurek  45:40

So, by platform, what do you mean like a program like a computer program or something?

Dana Dowdell  45:47

We've had people say, social media platforms we've had guest mentioned, you know, Zoom. See their CRM? It's,

Tim Yurek  45:57

yeah, um, I would say, alright, so this might be an outlier. But I participated for 15 years in the Strategic Coach program, Dan Sullivan. And that helps you to, to work on your business rather than working in your business. And that has had a lasting effect on my business.

Russ Harlow  46:27

That's a it's a common phrase, and it's really hard to do. It is, believe me, this is my personal favorite. What's your favorite business book? Or is there a business book that's had a huge impact on you and your business?

Tim Yurek  46:41

Yeah, for sure. Chet Holmes, the Ultimate Sales Machine. And that's one of the mediums that we're, we've taken up, we engage with Chet Holmes International. And we're starting to rock a different way of doing business. And we're really starting to get some traction with that right now.

Dana Dowdell  47:07

I love it. Alright, last question. When did you feel like you had made it?

Tim Yurek  47:19

So, I never feel like I've made it. Right. I guess that is right. So, I played offensive line. So, like, we don't want any, any accolades. But I would say this, that not so much that you made that I made it, but what was gratifying for me was, and still is, you know, if I'm out for dinner with my wife, or out at a, when my kids were younger, at literally games, or soccer games, people coming up, and you know, saying, hey, you know, thanks for everything you've done, like, you've really set us straight, and like, they're so grateful, and that I believe me, I'm incredibly grateful for those opportunities. And that, you know, being able to help them so I don't know, if I look at it from a perspective of saying, I've made it, but I look at it from a perspective of saying, this is I'm getting really good feedback for what we do. And you know, in the beginning of our business, because we were so different. We really got bashed and it was, there was a I just happen to watch the other night, the movie Moneyball. And at the end, when Billy Beane played by Brad Pitt gets a job offer, he had worked for the Oakland Athletics for all these years. And he had, you know, like they have no money. They were running on a shoestring budget. And he was putting perennially playoff level teams. And he starts to get noticed now, because he started using these, the analytics, and it made a huge difference. So, John Henry, the owner of the Red Sox, brings them into Boston and makes them an offer that I can't even believe this guy refused it. But he did. And so, John Henry made an made a comment or made a comment complimenting Brad Pitt or Billy Beane about you know, you've done such a great job the you know, you want as many games as the Yankees who paid like, a million dollars per win, and you only paid 200 and some $1,000 per win. And Brad, or Billy Beane says yeah, but I don't know that it makes better matters. And he's referring to like, nobody appreciates it. And everybody's, you know, criticizing him and all this stuff. And here's the point. John Henry, the owner of the Red Sox turned to him and said, you’re questioning everybody's way of life. Of course, you're going to be criticized. You're questioning a system and an establishment. The first guy through the wall always gets bloodied. And that's how I felt back in the 90s. So, it's really gratifying now to see that a lot of the stuff that I've been teaching for 30 years now is starting to catch fire and catch hold. So that's the gratifying part. And I hope that makes that answers your question.

Russ Harlow  50:56

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's being a disruptor. In your industry. Yeah. You're not going to? Was it? The? The explorers kind of get the arrows and, you know, and the settlers get the land, right? Yes. I mean, that's probably not a politically correct metaphor. But oh, well.

Tim Yurek  51:16

Yeah. No, no, well,

Russ Harlow  51:19

anyhow, it gets the point across. And it's always going to be hard. And it's going to make it even harder if you want to be a disrupter in your industry. But if you're going to be true to yourself, then that's what you got to do. Tim, where's the one place that people can connect with you find you. Where's the best place to do that?

Tim Yurek  51:36

Well, our website, www.tieronecapital.com. And we have a free gift. It's called the six critical questions when looking for a succession plan, a succession planner, or executive benefit planning. And if you go to www.tierone capital.com/ijb, It's Just Business. Your audience could download that buyer's guide. And it's a free gift that we're offering.

Russ Harlow  52:15

I think that's awesome. Thank you. And if you're not thinking about how you're going to get out of business, you probably should be so for no other reason. Go check this out. It's at tear the number one capital.com forward slash ij B. Thank you for being here, Tim. And I think our listeners for being here and spending some time with us. It was a great story. And there's a great advice here, Tim for business owners who are up at night worried about cashflow and worried about their financials. And I know small business owners, no other small business owners who have the same problem. Like share this episode with them. Get them to start doing the things they need to do moving forward. Remember, it's not personal. It's just business.