Episode 42
E42: How to Scale Your Business to Exit Bigger and Faster with Greg Alexander
If you are a business owner, do you fall into one of these categories: a) Earning too little; b) working too much; or c) struggling to exit? Yes? Greg Alexander is your guy.
He is the founder of Collective 54, a company and a community that creates a great impact on brilliant founders who may need a piece of advice. Greg is not just doing the talking. He actually proved his expertise and knowledge on exiting a business big time when he sold his first company for $162 million.
In this episode, you’ll get to know how he was able to sell it for such great value as we discuss the following:
- The key difference between earning income and building wealth
- How intellectual capital can greatly increase your business’ value
- Three types of clients he’s providing services for
- How to make your business less founder-dependent
Still want to know more? Listen to the full episode to be in the know of the ins and outs of scaling your business.
Other Resources Mentioned:
More About Our Guest:
Greg Alexander is the founder of Collective 54, the first mastermind community dedicated exclusively to thriving professional services firms with big aspirations. Collective 54 helps members make more money, work less, and get to an exit bigger and faster. Members get access to a network of peers, proprietary content and benchmarking data, coaching, events, and software, all custom-built to serve the unique needs of boutique professional services firms.
Connect with Greg Alexander:
Connect with Erin and find the resources mentioned in this episode at hourlytoexit.com/podcast.
Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/
Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos
Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music
A Team Dklutr production
Transcript
Hello, ladies.
Speaker:Welcome to the Hourly to
Speaker:Exit podcast.
Speaker:I am very excited about today's guest,
Speaker:Greg Alexander, who I've been a big fan
Speaker:of since I first heard him on the
Speaker:Vito Sell Radio with John Warlow talking
Speaker:about his exit.
Speaker:So welcome Greg.
Speaker:I'm very thrilled to have
Speaker:you here.
Speaker:Well, it's a pleasure to be
Speaker:here and thanks for having me.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Will you introduce yourself to the
Speaker:audience please?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:My name is Greg Alexander.
Speaker:I am the founder of Collective 54.
Speaker:Collective 54 is a mastermind
Speaker:community dedicated to boutique
Speaker:professional services firms.
Speaker:And, we got about, I think it's
Speaker:300 members now.
Speaker:And what we really help them with is
Speaker:how to grow scale and someday exit
Speaker:their services firm, which I
Speaker:know, you are very passionate about.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And completing the entrepreneurial
Speaker:journey in services is a very
Speaker:nuanced thing.
Speaker:So that's what we're focused about
Speaker:and it's, it's wonderful to speak
Speaker:to y'all today.
Speaker:Wonderful.
Speaker:So there is a story behind the name
Speaker:Collective 50.
Speaker:Yeah, so the story is, so
Speaker:the number five, four is the North
Speaker:American industry classification code
Speaker:for professional services.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So within that, that is lawyers,
Speaker:accountants, consultants,
Speaker:marketing agencies, IT service
Speaker:providers, pretty much anyone who is
Speaker:marketing, selling, and delivering
Speaker:their expertise.
Speaker:And, it's the second biggest
Speaker:sector in the US economy, trailing
Speaker:only oil and gas.
Speaker:It's about, 2 trillion per year
Speaker:spent in this sector with a 5% organic
Speaker:growth rate, employs 10 million people.
Speaker:so we're very lucky to be in
Speaker:that sector.
Speaker:And that's the reason for the
Speaker:name, or I should say the 54.
Speaker:The reason for the collective
Speaker:is because that's what we are,
Speaker:we're a community or collective
Speaker:of business.
Speaker:That
Speaker:is fantastic.
Speaker:I did not realize that that sector was
Speaker:so large, and maybe it explains why I
Speaker:sometimes struggle, frankly, to define
Speaker:who I'm talking to because it is such a
Speaker:large group and very diverse group within
Speaker:that expertise based business group.
Speaker:So yeah, I find myself sometimes
Speaker:talking to the soloists and
Speaker:sometimes talking to the c e o
Speaker:and, That's back and forth, but a
Speaker:lot of the same issues among
Speaker:them.
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:it's big.
Speaker:So therefore it's, hard to define,
Speaker:you know, and I have that problem
Speaker:sometimes as well.
Speaker:I mean, I might speak to somebody
Speaker:who's running a marketing agency and
Speaker:they'll say, what do I have in common
Speaker:with a law firm?
Speaker:And I'll say A lot more than, you know.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Like, you're in the service business,
Speaker:you're in the people business.
Speaker:you're marketing your expertise.
Speaker:the business model is the same.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:The domain is different.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:But the business model is the same.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you're collective if, a mastermind,
Speaker:like how are you different from
Speaker:other masterminds?
Speaker:We're different really in
Speaker:three ways.
Speaker:So first is the obvious way.
Speaker:We're only focused on a
Speaker:single industry.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:most mastermind communities, and I'm
Speaker:a member of some, I'm a member of Y
Speaker:P O Tiger 21, and they're wonderful
Speaker:organizations, but they're not focused
Speaker:on one industry.
Speaker:They have literally dozens of industries
Speaker:and our contention is, Industry
Speaker:context matters.
Speaker:So that's the first thing.
Speaker:The second thing is we're focused on
Speaker:the segment Within that industry.
Speaker:We refer to it as the boutique, and we
Speaker:define that based on number of employees.
Speaker:So you have to have more than 10, but
Speaker:fewer than 250.
Speaker:these are kind of post startup,
Speaker:but pre-ex exit, the analogy
Speaker:I use is that they're in their
Speaker:kind of awkward teenage years.
Speaker:they're not a kid anymore, but they're
Speaker:not an adult.
Speaker:So we're really focused on that.
Speaker:And then the third thing is we're
Speaker:laser focused on the founder
Speaker:or co-founder.
Speaker:Because a lot of what we do with
Speaker:our programming is around building
Speaker:wealth as opposed to generating
Speaker:an income.
Speaker:So I would say those are the three,
Speaker:primary differences.
Speaker:However, I do encourage everybody
Speaker:to be in as many communities
Speaker:as possible.
Speaker:The limitation there, of course,
Speaker:is how much time do you have to dedicate
Speaker:to these things?
Speaker:But I'm a big believer that
Speaker:learning from.
Speaker:Is the best way to learn.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You mentioned the difference
Speaker:between earning income and building
Speaker:wealth, which is sometimes hard
Speaker:for people to wrap their head around.
Speaker:Can you explain to the audience, like
Speaker:how you like to look at the difference
Speaker:between the two?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So I mean, in the context
Speaker:of a services firm, how do you
Speaker:earn an income?
Speaker:Well, you run a profitable business,
Speaker:which means you can charge enough
Speaker:for your service.
Speaker:And the cost to deliver the service
Speaker:can be maintained or reduced over
Speaker:time and you earn that spread.
Speaker:And that's the business model
Speaker:of services.
Speaker:However, not all revenue is the same.
Speaker:So the mental model shift is to
Speaker:get off the income statement and start
Speaker:thinking about the balance sheet.
Speaker:And that's where wealth
Speaker:is determined.
Speaker:You know, assets minus liabilities.
Speaker:And say to yourself, if somebody was
Speaker:to try to buy my firm, how would
Speaker:they place a value?
Speaker:For example, if you are running
Speaker:your firm and you basically are the
Speaker:firm as the founder, there's no wealth
Speaker:to be created there because God forbid
Speaker:something happened to you, the business
Speaker:would go away.
Speaker:However, if you built a real robust
Speaker:team, so much so that you as the
Speaker:founder, no longer sell work and no
Speaker:longer deliver work, the team does it.
Speaker:Then there's real wealth to
Speaker:be created there.
Speaker:In addition, you got to generate revenue
Speaker:from sources other than the billable.
Speaker:hour and you talk an awful lot about
Speaker:this, and I'm so pleased to meet you
Speaker:because we share that in common.
Speaker:these are assets of various kinds.
Speaker:sometimes they're protected assets
Speaker:and intellectual property, and
Speaker:you can generate royalties or
Speaker:licensing fees off of that, and that's
Speaker:a wonderful thing.
Speaker:Sometimes it's intellectual
Speaker:capital that might not be protected.
Speaker:However, you can monetize by charging
Speaker:a premium for your service because of
Speaker:some methodology or tool that comes
Speaker:along with the pair of hands.
Speaker:So those are the ways that wealth
Speaker:is created within the professional
Speaker:services segment.
Speaker:Yeah, you know, I'd like to say that
Speaker:I'm my own avatar that I have been,
Speaker:a soloist since 2006, I believe.
Speaker:And so someone asked me like, how
Speaker:long you've been in business, and I have
Speaker:to say, well, I've been on my own since
Speaker:2006, but I've been selling my time.
Speaker:I was selling my time for a good,
Speaker:10 years, without really thinking
Speaker:about, building a business.
Speaker:So I like to say I've been in
Speaker:business for three years, although
Speaker:I've been on my own since 2006 cuz
Speaker:I really was just selling my time and
Speaker:earning an income, not creating.
Speaker:Any assets and so to the point of
Speaker:creating assets and intellectual
Speaker:property.
Speaker:so when people are.
Speaker:Providing their services, they have
Speaker:their expertise.
Speaker:They are used to going out to
Speaker:get clients and fulfilling whatever
Speaker:the needs are for their clients.
Speaker:how do they make that shift to, okay,
Speaker:I'm going to start, thinking about,
Speaker:creating either methodologies around
Speaker:that or creating materials that are
Speaker:protected materials around that.
Speaker:cuz people get caught up with
Speaker:things like software and courses and
Speaker:books, you know, the big shiny.
Speaker:Intellectual property pieces,
Speaker:but there's so much more than that
Speaker:that helps create a well-run business.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, you know, I'll share a little bit
Speaker:about my story prior to Collective 54,
Speaker:because it might be a good illustration
Speaker:of that point that you just made.
Speaker:So I started a firm, a management
Speaker:consulting firm in 2006, and it
Speaker:was called Sales Benchmark Index
Speaker:or SBI for short.
Speaker:And I sold that business in 2017,
Speaker:and it was one of the larger exits.
Speaker:We sold it for 162 million.
Speaker:And the important thing to keep
Speaker:in mind there is we only had
Speaker:30 employees.
Speaker:So how do you sell a consulting firm
Speaker:with 30 people for 162 million?
Speaker:It's because we had these assets.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And the primary asset was what we
Speaker:called the revenue growth methodology.
Speaker:And it wasn't a software tool.
Speaker:it wasn't a training course.
Speaker:It was a consulting methodology.
Speaker:And it was used by our clients,
Speaker:which were largely software companies
Speaker:that had very large sales.
Speaker:And even a modest improvement in the
Speaker:productivity or effectiveness of
Speaker:10,000 salespeople could have a really
Speaker:large impact on their share price
Speaker:and their own profitability.
Speaker:And it was the methodology that
Speaker:they wanted.
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:with the methodology came people and we
Speaker:helped them get it implemented in their
Speaker:shop, but it was a methodology and
Speaker:what that allowed us to do is to do
Speaker:standardized work.
Speaker:So instead of going from shop
Speaker:to shop and every project is a custom
Speaker:project, that's a non-scalable
Speaker:business.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And when we went from shop to
Speaker:shop and we were starting with
Speaker:this methodology and then it was
Speaker:just a question of customizing it,
Speaker:maybe 20, 25% for that particular
Speaker:client situation that allowed for
Speaker:scalable work and how that shows up
Speaker:in the financials and therefore it
Speaker:creates wealth, is that when you have
Speaker:standardized work, you can hire really
Speaker:bright people maybe with not a ton of
Speaker:experience, but a lot of potential
Speaker:and teach them how to deliver
Speaker:for the client.
Speaker:So in that case, you're selling to
Speaker:the client something that's very, very
Speaker:valuable, but you can deliver that
Speaker:service with maybe less experienced
Speaker:people and therefore a less cost.
Speaker:The best example that I've seen of
Speaker:this, and maybe this could be inspiration
Speaker:for your audience, is Goldman Sachs.
Speaker:Everybody knows Goldman Sachs.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:They're one of the largest professional
Speaker:services firms in the world.
Speaker:And they have 40,000 employees, but
Speaker:only 400 partners.
Speaker:So there's 400 people keeping
Speaker:40,000 people busy.
Speaker:Now how can you do that?
Speaker:And 73% of their employee base are
Speaker:in their twenties.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:And people hear that and they say,
Speaker:are you kidding me?
Speaker:Like, Goldman Sachs is in every
Speaker:boardroom, in every company
Speaker:in the world.
Speaker:And you would think, cuz.
Speaker:So sometimes I hear from people,
Speaker:well, I can't hire junior inexpensive.
Speaker:Because the clients won't tolerate that.
Speaker:Well, that's not true.
Speaker:If you have intellectual
Speaker:property or your intellectual
Speaker:capital, they're not just buying
Speaker:the pair of hands, they're buying all
Speaker:the expertise that comes with that
Speaker:pair of hands.
Speaker:So it's, these models are
Speaker:out there.
Speaker:Goldman Sachs is one of many, and,
Speaker:that's what we all the smaller
Speaker:firms, all of us on this call, we
Speaker:should be shooting to replicate.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I like to say like instead of
Speaker:being an expert based business,
Speaker:be an expertise based business.
Speaker:Yeah, you're an extra based business
Speaker:then it's just, you and another, an
Speaker:expensive expert If you get more experts
Speaker:or you can have that expertise that can
Speaker:be, utilized and delivered by less
Speaker:expensive resources.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:So I love this what you have on
Speaker:your website, stop running Shin first
Speaker:into these, three common problems.
Speaker:Earning too little, working too
Speaker:much, struggling.
Speaker:The exit.
Speaker:I love the imagery of running
Speaker:Shin first.
Speaker:Cause we've all had the pain of, Running
Speaker:into something with our shins.
Speaker:when people come to Collective 54,
Speaker:are they struggling with something
Speaker:or are they just looking for
Speaker:community or both?
Speaker:why do they.
Speaker:It's a great question, and I
Speaker:would say that there's three types
Speaker:of people that come to Collective
Speaker:54 to answer this succinctly.
Speaker:So, and I would classify these
Speaker:kind of as three problems that
Speaker:they're focused on.
Speaker:So the first group is that group
Speaker:that's not making enough money.
Speaker:these tend to be smaller firms, maybe
Speaker:younger firms, and.
Speaker:What happens to them is they get to
Speaker:the point when they launch their firms.
Speaker:What they say to themselves is, my
Speaker:ambition is this.
Speaker:I want to be able to make a living
Speaker:and work for myself and not have to work
Speaker:for a corporation.
Speaker:And then they have the courage and they
Speaker:start their firms.
Speaker:They have a lot of respect for
Speaker:'em, and they get to that point.
Speaker:But then maybe two or three, four years
Speaker:into the journey, they say, okay,
Speaker:well my ambition has expanded.
Speaker:That's no longer enough and I want to
Speaker:earn an exceptional.
Speaker:And then they struggle with, how
Speaker:to go from just, billing out their
Speaker:time or maybe billing out the
Speaker:time of a couple of other people and
Speaker:growing enough to, have a substantial
Speaker:income coming in.
Speaker:So that's one group that comes
Speaker:in and we have a whole programming
Speaker:set associated with that, cuz
Speaker:our membership is tiered across
Speaker:these three tiers.
Speaker:The second use case, Somebody
Speaker:enters collective and they're
Speaker:past that point.
Speaker:They're making a great living, but
Speaker:they're working 70 hours a week and
Speaker:they're killing themselves.
Speaker:And their approach is largely brute
Speaker:force at that point.
Speaker:And they say, listen, I gotta get
Speaker:some scalability into this business.
Speaker:I've gotta get some repeatability.
Speaker:how do I do this?
Speaker:So we call that the working less group
Speaker:or the scale group to be funny with it.
Speaker:And we got a whole set of
Speaker:programming on that.
Speaker:And And then the third group are
Speaker:folks that wanna sell their business.
Speaker:And usually they've tried to sell
Speaker:it and they were unable to because
Speaker:maybe they have an unsellable business
Speaker:or they were able to sell it, but the
Speaker:purchase price of the terms weren't
Speaker:attractive to them.
Speaker:And they know what their issues
Speaker:are and they have to fix them.
Speaker:And they come to us and we try to help
Speaker:them kind of knock those warts off, so
Speaker:to speak, so they can go back out
Speaker:into the market and get a great exit.
Speaker:those are the three reasons why
Speaker:people come to.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Very nice.
Speaker:And so those who are struggling to
Speaker:exit, do you kind of like a pre-ex
Speaker:exit planning type?
Speaker:Or how do you work with
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:So maybe I should have started
Speaker:with this.
Speaker:our point of view is that the life
Speaker:cycle from launch to exit for a
Speaker:boutique pro serv firm is 15 years.
Speaker:This three stages grow, scale,
Speaker:exit, and there's about five years
Speaker:in each stage.
Speaker:So why does it take five years
Speaker:to exit your firm?
Speaker:Well, it doesn't, once your firm's
Speaker:ready to sell, that might take a year.
Speaker:But leading up to that, it's quite
Speaker:a bit of work.
Speaker:For example, a lot of these small
Speaker:firms have a lot of client and revenue
Speaker:concentration.
Speaker:maybe their top five clients are
Speaker:half their book of business, that's
Speaker:an unsellable business, right?
Speaker:So it's gonna take some time
Speaker:to diversify your revenue stream,
Speaker:or some of these business are
Speaker:founder-dependent.
Speaker:And yes, they can sell their firm, but
Speaker:the person that's buying 'em says, you
Speaker:gotta stick around after the sale.
Speaker:Well then what's the point?
Speaker:So then we help them develop a
Speaker:succession plan and replace themselves
Speaker:over time.
Speaker:Well, you don't just flick the
Speaker:switch on that.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Replacing a founder is a really hard
Speaker:thing to do because these founders are
Speaker:brilliant people.
Speaker:So ready for the exit is a big piece
Speaker:of what we focus on.
Speaker:The actual exit itself, there's
Speaker:investment bankers and m and
Speaker:a advisors, and they're really
Speaker:good at that.
Speaker:And that's not our area of e.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:All right, so going back to the
Speaker:diversifying their revenue stream by
Speaker:that, if they have too much client
Speaker:concentration, by that, do you
Speaker:mean getting more clients with the
Speaker:same business model or diversifying the
Speaker:way that they serve
Speaker:clients?
Speaker:Well, the inflection point is usually
Speaker:this, you get to a point where word of
Speaker:mouth and referrals is no longer
Speaker:sufficient, and you have to get good.
Speaker:Selling to people who don't know you.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Which usually means expanding outside
Speaker:of your own little circle of influence.
Speaker:And because up to this point
Speaker:the founder hasn't done that.
Speaker:There's a lot of concentration
Speaker:because it's concentrated in
Speaker:that founder's kind of personal
Speaker:network or their, personal reach.
Speaker:So this requires building a
Speaker:commercial sales and marketing engine.
Speaker:That can do this on a regular basis,
Speaker:like a real funnel.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Other people in the firm, can bring in
Speaker:work other than the founder and really
Speaker:expanding out.
Speaker:So it's a wonderful thing to have
Speaker:longstanding client relationships with,
Speaker:high quality fees.
Speaker:But if three or four clients are
Speaker:the whole show, one of two bad things
Speaker:happens and you're in real trouble.
Speaker:So you gotta, develop that next
Speaker:set of clients.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So that's how you diversify it.
Speaker:Gotcha.
Speaker:And the other thing I think certainly
Speaker:that solos will come up against is
Speaker:when you're fully.
Speaker:occupy, like you can't do another
Speaker:hour of work.
Speaker:Like why would you do any business
Speaker:development?
Speaker:Like how do you even do that?
Speaker:And then you lose that client, then
Speaker:you're starting from scratch, to fill
Speaker:that slot again.
Speaker:And I think that is one of the main,
Speaker:pain point for a lot of people.
Speaker:So that's a tough one.
Speaker:something that you might enjoy
Speaker:and maybe your listeners, is that
Speaker:we have a tool on our website, which
Speaker:is collective54.com, and it's called
Speaker:the Firm Estimator.
Speaker:And it's a 10 question estimator
Speaker:and you can ask the questions
Speaker:and it tells you an estimate of
Speaker:what your firm might be worth.
Speaker:What made me think about that tool is
Speaker:something that you just brought up
Speaker:because two of the 10 questions have to
Speaker:do with that issue.
Speaker:One question is, do you as the
Speaker:founder of sell work, To answer that
Speaker:question is yes.
Speaker:Then your evaluation goes down.
Speaker:The second question is you as the
Speaker:founder, you delivering work.
Speaker:The answer that question is yes,
Speaker:your evaluation goes down.
Speaker:Now why is that?
Speaker:Well, you should have grown your firm
Speaker:to the point where you personally are
Speaker:not constrained.
Speaker:By what you just mentioned, I
Speaker:just literally can't take on any
Speaker:more capacity.
Speaker:You know, you've built a system
Speaker:underneath you that you can
Speaker:bring in more and more work and it
Speaker:can be serviced.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Because you have this proper capacity
Speaker:planning process, so you might play
Speaker:around with that tool a little bit.
Speaker:it's a fun tool to use.
Speaker:It takes 10 minutes and gets you
Speaker:thinking about those types of issues.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think what you've described is.
Speaker:Is commonly referred to as, being the c e
Speaker:o by working on your business and what,
Speaker:instead of working in your business
Speaker:and getting there.
Speaker:that's great.
Speaker:Thank you for that.
Speaker:So what are you seeing in 2023
Speaker:and beyond, like as we come out of
Speaker:the pandemic and, maybe people who
Speaker:were, just kind of making it as well
Speaker:as they can and now they're looking
Speaker:to grow, what was happening out?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, I have this wonderful study
Speaker:group called Collective 54,
Speaker:and I can tell you our members
Speaker:are thriving.
Speaker:they're doing extremely well.
Speaker:we do a, quarterly benchmarking
Speaker:survey and we collect financial,
Speaker:operational and human
Speaker:capital metrics.
Speaker:And I can tell you that our members
Speaker:are growing on average, about 25%,
Speaker:year over year.
Speaker:And when you double click on
Speaker:that and you say what's driving
Speaker:it, when economic conditions sour,
Speaker:it's really good for professional
Speaker:services firms, which is
Speaker:counterintuitive, but here's why.
Speaker:Large corporations start laying
Speaker:people off.
Speaker:However, the work still needs
Speaker:to get done.
Speaker:10,000 people leave a company, all
Speaker:that work's gotta land somewhere.
Speaker:So what they say to themselves is, okay,
Speaker:I'm gonna rent it instead of owning
Speaker:it, and they turn to professional
Speaker:services.
Speaker:To kind of have that variable
Speaker:workforce, and we're seeing that happen
Speaker:a lot right now.
Speaker:So a lot of our members are catching
Speaker:that work and they're thriving.
Speaker:They do have a different problem.
Speaker:The problem is finding enough
Speaker:talented employees to be able to
Speaker:do the work on a consistent basis.
Speaker:Unemployment's still in the threes.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:the labor market's really tight
Speaker:right now, but that's a good
Speaker:problem to have.
Speaker:I'd rather be supply constrained.
Speaker:Demand constraint.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's excellent.
Speaker:So unlike most of my clients,
Speaker:you are someone who's already been
Speaker:through an exit.
Speaker:So usually I ask if they have a
Speaker:plan to exit their business someday.
Speaker:but you have a new business
Speaker:collective 54.
Speaker:What is your long-term plan
Speaker:for Collective 54?
Speaker:Yeah, so I'm very blessed that I sold
Speaker:my company and I was 47 years old.
Speaker:and I sold it for more money than I
Speaker:could ever imagine.
Speaker:So my motive is no longer financial.
Speaker:I read a very impactful book that
Speaker:was given to me by a mentor called
Speaker:Halftime, how to Move From Success
Speaker:to Significance.
Speaker:And what I learned by reading that book
Speaker:is that the second half of my life,
Speaker:I'm now 52 years old, I get more
Speaker:fulfillment out of making an impact
Speaker:on others than I do putting more zeros
Speaker:in the bank account.
Speaker:So I don't plan on selling
Speaker:collective 54.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Now, I may live to regret that
Speaker:statement down the road cuz some
Speaker:of my employees might want to sell
Speaker:down the road.
Speaker:But right now, we're only
Speaker:three years old.
Speaker:we launched in January of 2020
Speaker:I, I get so.
Speaker:Fulfillment out of being in the
Speaker:community and working with
Speaker:entrepreneurs.
Speaker:So my plan is we, we want to try to
Speaker:get to 5,000 members and we're at 300
Speaker:right now, so we got a long way to go.
Speaker:But, that would be a wonderful
Speaker:thing to accomplish because, I get
Speaker:to meet all these fascinating, brave,
Speaker:courageous founders that are trying to
Speaker:change their lives and I, coaching
Speaker:them and helping them, even in a
Speaker:small way is very,
Speaker:That's wonderful.
Speaker:I love to hear that.
Speaker:part of the mission with Hourly to Exit
Speaker:is to help people, create that wealth
Speaker:so that they have a legacy so that
Speaker:they can do have another half another
Speaker:chapter that is more impactful and
Speaker:more meaningful.
Speaker:one thing I would say to you, Aaron,
Speaker:is I know you're passionate about
Speaker:helping women and something
Speaker:that happened by accident, but
Speaker:I'm very proud of is that 41%
Speaker:of our membership is female.
Speaker:Oh, that's wonderful.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And, it wasn't intentional.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It just happened.
Speaker:And there's certain, industry segments
Speaker:that are dominated by females.
Speaker:For example, marketing agencies.
Speaker:there's some brilliant
Speaker:female leaders, entrepreneurs that
Speaker:are running these marketing agencies.
Speaker:I've learned a ton from them.
Speaker:HR consulting is also another great
Speaker:field where a lot of, females are in.
Speaker:I think it's great.
Speaker:I think, this field of professional
Speaker:services might not have some of
Speaker:the barriers that other fields do it.
Speaker:It still has some for sure, and I'm
Speaker:aware of that, but it's a little
Speaker:bit less of an old boys network.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:and that's been great, to have that
Speaker:level of diversity in the group.
Speaker:That's wonderful.
Speaker:So I know people will want to keep
Speaker:in touch with you and follow up.
Speaker:So where can people find.
Speaker:I'd say a couple things.
Speaker:So first obviously is collective
Speaker:50 four.com, and that's the
Speaker:number five four.
Speaker:And, we offer a newsletter you might
Speaker:subscribe to that.
Speaker:It comes out once a week.
Speaker:It delivers, three things in it.
Speaker:a blog on Mondays, a video on Wednesdays,
Speaker:and a chart of the week, which
Speaker:is benchmarking data on Friday.
Speaker:So you might check that.
Speaker:And then I am a published author.
Speaker:I, I have a book out called The
Speaker:Boutique, how to Start Scale and
Speaker:Sell a Professional Services Firm
Speaker:by yours truly, Greg Alexander.
Speaker:And you can find that on Amazon
Speaker:and that might be useful as well.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining
Speaker:us today.
Speaker:And all that information will
Speaker:be in the show notes so everyone
Speaker:can find you.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Greg.
Speaker:Okay, my pleasure.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
