In this podcast episode, Host, Alex Quin, sits down with Michelle Seiler Tucker to discuss how to build a strong and successful business. Michelle is a bestselling author and a leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses. She and Alex discuss common mistakes that businesses make, how to find your superpower, and the importance of always learning and adapting.
In this podcast episode, Host, Alex Quin, sits down with Michelle Seiler Tucker to discuss how to build a strong and successful business. Michelle is a bestselling author and a leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses.
She and Alex discuss common mistakes that businesses make, how to find your superpower, and the importance of always learning and adapting. They also talk about the importance of having the right people in your corner and how to make sure you're never too comfortable with where your business is at. This episode is packed with useful information for any business owner or entrepreneur.
1. Don't Have One Income Stream As A Business
The biggest mistake that people make is not having multiple income streams as a business. If you only have one source of income, and that dries up, then your whole business is at risk. The best way to protect yourself is to have multiple income streams so that if one dries up, you’ve got others to fall back on.
For example, during the pandemic, many restaurants had to shut down because people were not going out to eat. However, some restaurants with other income streams, such as delivery or take-out, could stay afloat.
2. Without People, A Business Won't Stay Afloat
A business is only as good as its people. If you don’t have good people working for you, then your business will eventually fail. It’s important to invest in your employees and make sure that they are happy and motivated.
3. Find Your Superpower And Focus On It
Everyone has a superpower, something that they’re really good at. Find your superpower and focus on it. Don’t try to be everything to everyone; just focus on what you do best.
4. Document Everything And Have A System In Place
If you want your business to run like a well-oiled machine, then you need to have a system in place for everything. Document everything so that anyone can do it, and have a system for every task, no matter how small.
Alex: (00:40) What's up, everyone? This is Alex Quinn, and you're listening to the Hustle Inspires Hustle podcast. On this week's episode, we have Michelle Seiler Tucker, finally back on here after so many tries.
Alex: (01:11) You're an extremely busy woman, so I appreciate your time. I love what you have going on with your business. I love your book.
Michelle: (01:30) I've been in this industry for about 22 years, and before I did M and A, I specialized in franchise sales, franchise consulting, and franchise development.
Alex: (04:04) So you've, you've pretty much compiled your 22 years of experience so far and put it into this book to help people currently running a business
Michelle: (04:22) That right? Yeah. Right. Yes. But here's the deal. You always wanna prepare your business to sell.
Alex: (06:43) So your specialty is to team up with business owners, scaling their business, preparing them for a potential exit, and pretty much handholding them through that whole process.
Alex: (06:53) Does your book, do you usually give your clients and or partners, however, you may refer to them, your book and, and your systems to read and, and go through before you guys even begin any type of work?
Michelle: (07:04) You know, that's a good question. So we have a couple of different methods. You know, we sell businesses that are ready to sell. We have a Road to Exit rich program, in which we do require them to read the book first. Mm-hmm.
Michelle: (07:34) It's my job to tell your baby's not as pretty as you think it is. And it’s nowhere we're close to what you think you want to get out of it.
Michelle: (08:34) And buyers don't give a “you know what” about what you need. Yeah. No, buyers only care about what the value means to them.
Alex: (08:44) Exactly. And what they need
Michelle: (10:16) If you build your business with the proper infrastructure, what we call the six Ps, and the first P in the six Ps is people. Mm-hmm. Okay. You don't build a company, you build people, and people build the company.
Michelle: (10:32) It's asking the who question, who opens the door? When is marketing, who handles quality control, manufacturing, distribution, legal, and accounting? And the list goes on and on.
Alex: (11:28) Also, like I get to see a lot of businesses, given that I work in a digital marketing agency, I operate budgets for all types of businesses. And you'd be surprised how many people don't have sales systems, processes, or customer journeys.
Michelle: (13:02) And the number one reason why 70% of businesses are going out of business is lack of aim. The aim is always to innovate, and market business owners become complacent.
Michelle: (14:32) Amazon did this in the eighties, and I said, we're in a book fulfillment business. And then they said, Hmm, what are our superpowers? What's our secret sauce? What do we do better than everybody else? And Amazon said We do fulfillment better than everybody else. That's our superpower. Right?
Michelle: (15:03) And that really catapulted Amazon to the very next level. And most business owners don't do that.
Michelle: (15:21) And the other most important thing is you have to have congruent revenue streams. You can't just have one way you get paid. That's why the restaurant hospitality industry was affected so much during this pandemic. Because how do restaurants get paid? People come in and eat or take food to go, Right?
Alex: (16:44) Definitely don't wanna put all your eggs in one basket. Sp for me, on the agency side, during the pandemic, it was crazy because many of our clients were restaurants and clubs. So you can imagine how that was; it was just an instant, like turning off the switch.
Alex: (20:07) The only fact is that you gotta wake up every day, have a positive attitude, work hard, don't screw people over, and just keep, keep your business moving, keep helping your clients out. Keep providing a good product or service that solves problems or, you know, creates solutions for people.
Michelle: (21:01) I don't like firing. I never, I don't really fire clients, you know, especially if they'll start listening. , the biggest reason for me to ever fire a client is cause you don't listen.
Alex: (21:30) It's good to be able to regroup cuz then when you find yourself backed up against the wall, like with your business or in a specific industry, it allows you to really maybe rethink your product service, your offer.
Michelle: (23:39) Amazon needs to keep its brand promise it's a two-day prime. Yeah. Yeah. And that's another thing is brand promise and brand integrity.
Michelle: (24:50) Subscription model is good, but you know what, how many clients do you really have paying you versus how much insurance are you doing? We have chiropractic clinics, so I can answer this really well.
Michelle: (25:36) Also, marketing companies, you know, we have a marketing company's got 2000 clients on a subscription model.
Alex: (25:43) That's a completely different model than my agency model. Yeah. I, I started off, like, when I first started the agency, I started off saying like, yes to everybody and just having a ton of clients, and then I slowly started phasing out towards only finding the right, like, a perfect client for me.
Alex: (26:03) But there's no right or wrong answer there. Right.
Alex: (26:47) So what do you think about, like, what do you say to the people that are just like in love married to their business? This is my life. There's no way I could survive without this. There's no way I could sell it. Like, what is your usual objection handle for that?
Michelle: (27:11) Right, though. I mean, I do; I say get a life because it's, you know, business owners will come to me all the time and say, it's my baby's my baby, and they got three small babies at home. I'm like, no, you babies are at home. Go home, hug them, kiss them, love them.
Michelle: (29:52) If you're not good at recruiting, if you're not good at training, management, leadership, then you need to get somebody that is human resource manager, CIO. You need to get somebody that has those skills that you don't possess. And let's face it, a lot of business owners are not always the best leaders.
Alex: (34:20) Hey, you're a total rock star, Michelle; thank you so much for sharing with us. Everyone listening; if you didn't get a chance to catch that, head over to hustle inspires hustle.com/podcast and find the episode, Michelle. Everything will be linked on the show notes.
Alex: (35:09) Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Hustle Inspires Hustle podcast. I'd appreciate it if you could share, leave, review, and subscribe to the show.
“Buyers don't give a “you know what” about what you need. Yeah. No, buyers only care about what the value means to them.” - Michelle Seiler Tucker
“If you're not good at recruiting, or if you're not good at training…..You need to get somebody that has those skills that you don't possess.” - Michelle Seiler Tucker
Hustle inspires hustle website
Alex Quin is a full-stack marketing expert and global keynote speaker. Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of UADV Marketing - a member of the Forbes Agency Council.
