Episode 31: Building Your Business To Sell W/ Steven Huskey

Welcome to the 31st episode of the Self-Employment Success Podcast. My guest on today’s podcast is Steven Huskey. Steven is the founder of Huskey Financial, an independent financial planning firm, as well as Blue Water Dental Advisors, another financial planning firm designed to help Dentists in all stages of their business. Steven is also the host of the Portfolio Pulse Podcast: The Money Podcast for Medical Professionals & Entrepreneurs. In this conversation, Steven shares how to build your business to sell, and how to treat your business as an asset. Steven shares the three options of how to exit or sell your business and how not choosing an option, is an option in and of itself. In this episode we talk a lot about scaling your business and how it is easier to 10x your business than 2x it. Seeing as how he and I work in the same industry, both serve business owners, and both graduated from College of Charleston (go Cougars) this was a really fun conversation, and it is chalk full of great nuggets for entrepreneurs in all stages of their business. So with that introduction I hope you enjoy this episode of the Self-Employment Success Podcast with Steven Huskey.

Portfolio Podcasts- Apple Podcasts

Huskeyfinancial.com

Bluewaterdentaladvisors.com/media

PeaceLink Financial Planning LLC

TRANSCRIPT

Leland Gross (00:01.002)

Alright, welcome Stephen Huskey to the Self-Employment Success Podcast.

Steven Huskey, CExP (00:05.121)

Appreciate you having me, man.

Leland Gross (00:06.602)

Of course, I'm excited for today's conversation, especially because you and I work in very similar worlds, so I think it's going to be a great conversation. But first, tell the listeners about yourself, who you are, what your business does, and kind of where it stands today.

Steven Huskey, CExP (00:21.665)

Sure. Stephen Husky, I am a financial advisor, certified exit planner. I have two financial practices. One is solo, Husky Financial. We cater to practices, physician practices, closely held businesses and physicians. And then I also have Blue Water Dental Advisors, where I have got a business partner, and we cater strictly to dental practice owners and helping them grow, protect, and exit on their terms.

Uh, I'm 35, I'm from Greenville, South Carolina, and I reside in Charleston, just above Charleston and Mount Pleasant went to college at Charleston. So if any fellow Cougars listening, go Cougars. And I've got, um,

Leland Gross (01:01.25)

I am also a fellow cougar, so go cougars.

Steven Huskey, CExP (01:03.433)

That's right, you are. I've got two young girls, five and two. I've got a loving wife of seven years and we have our third child on the way. So I'm excited.

Leland Gross (01:14.546)

Man, and that third child, that's new news. That is fresh. So you are busy. You do not have a slow life. You're not just sitting around twiddling your thumbs with two financial practices and a family. That's amazing.

Steven Huskey, CExP (01:28.193)

That's true. Yeah. And, and the fact that I'm almost finished with my CFP training, I know you're a CFP and how hard that is and time consuming. So I am ready to be done and, and have that apple bat soup at the end of my name. So.

Leland Gross (01:38.074)

can imagine. Yeah, I can imagine you're ready. I can definitely imagine your wife is ready. I feel like the last stretch before taking my CFP, it was like working long days coming home and studying long hours. And I mean, we're as a family, it takes a toll on the whole family. But it's worthwhile once you have once you have it, it's wonderful. But it is a grueling process for sure. So tell us how you got here. Like, how did you get to the place with

to financial planning practices and kind of where that journey has led, I guess from College of Charleston until now.

Steven Huskey, CExP (02:17.493)

You know, I got into finance right out of college. I got a psych degree from college Charleston and I realized that, well, after starting pre-dental in school and not making, uh, the, I guess the effort I needed to go to dental school. I had too much fun at college Charleston. And then I didn't want to study lab rats the rest of my life or do research. So I got a job as a bank teller, you know, to try to find my next gig. And I ended up really excelling at that. Really loved the personal connections I made there. Um, it was a

Leland Gross (02:32.811)

Thank you.

Steven Huskey, CExP (02:44.465)

larger corporate bank, we got bought out by California bank. And then the whole transition from it was Wachovia back then, and now it's then it turned into Wells Fargo. I was running my own branch by age 24. You know, I really excelled in that role and did that for about three years. And my last role at the bank was in private wealth management. So as a, as a private banker, dealing with high net worth individuals, helping them navigate the complexities of being a high net worth individual and, and all that comes with that and.

After earning my certifications to be an advisor, you know, the series seven, 66, life accident and health, all the things need to be comprehensive in your practice, I decided to kind of go out on my own. And that was really cultivated through the birth of my first daughter and just seeing, you know, how I needed to provide for her. I needed to protect her and give my family the life that they deserved. I figured that I could do that if I had more control over what I did day to day.

Leland Gross (03:36.868)

Mm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (03:37.185)

And I, you know, the first year is as a financial advisor is extremely tough. It is rigorous. It's a lonely business. You're spending a lot of time and energy out there making brand new connections you didn't have before and trying to maintain some source of value with them and show them that, you know, your stuff. And I think the hardest part is really just trying to set enough appointments, because this is a, a job with the law of large numbers really helps you navigate.

you know, what you do. So if you meet with more people and you share exactly what you do and the value you can add, and then just getting enough yeses, I think is super important. So that's how I started Husky Financial. You know, COVID hit probably about a year and a half into my tenure as an FA. And I wanted to differentiate myself from the thousands of financial advisors that flocked LinkedIn and Facebook and all of that. So I came up with a brand, came up with really good social content, came up with educational periodicals and newsletters and just tried to flood.

the world with what I had to share.

Leland Gross (04:39.035)

Okay, so working as a bank teller, have a child. Pardon me is like I totally understand the like, I want to provide for my family and this is a way to do that, having more control. Taking the lead to being a financial advisor feels like the hardest thing you could do the year you have a kid. Mostly because like you said, it's so lonely and I think the benchmark studies say like...

Year one is just terrible. You're negative financially. It's just hard. Year two is basically just as hard, but you're just a little bit more aware of what it's going to feel like. And then year three is kind of when you say, oh, this is working. Like I can begin to see a light and then you kind of excel from there. So doing that all while having new children is hard. I know that because that's my story as well. I left my last firm and started

Leland Gross (05:32.386)

Good on you for that. So where did the second practice come in? Because we've got Husky Financial. Where did the Dental Financial, remind me the name of that practice. Blue Water Dental Advisors. When did that come into the mix? How new, I know it's relatively new, but how new is that?

Steven Huskey, CExP (05:42.997)

Bluewater Dental Advisors.

Steven Huskey, CExP (05:50.985)

It's about two years and it was just really an amalgamation of, you know, one of the, one of the senior advisors here just saw how hard I was working and I was bringing in quality prospects and I was following the, the process of, you know, not product pushing anything, but really taking people through a comprehensive holistic financial planning experience and the service that is provided the clients through that and, you know, through a lot of individual coaching and coaching that my agency provided for me.

and taking a lot of personality tests and figuring out that I'm kind of a utilitarian type of person, you know, very regimented, organized, but yet I have a higher calling and a higher purpose for doing what I do. I found that physicians really fit that particular niche. I wanted to work with those that were like me, those that I would like. And I feel like physicians are really good at that. So I was starting to see a lot of clientele coming in from the, from the medical sphere and my

Leland Gross (06:39.096)

Hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (06:48.337)

senior partner I was mentioning earlier, he's got a lot of dental clients already. Like he's got a few practices. He's been in the business planning arena for about 20 years. Right after I got my certified exit planning designation, which allows me to take a business owner from start to finish and maximizing their return. Whenever they do sell. Um, we kind of came up with a, an idea over a beer that it made sense to keep focusing on the medical sphere, but also look at dentists because they're highly overlooked in this financial planning arena.

They do not have as much business experience because they don't learn that stuff in college. They kind of come right out of school and they might develop their own practice. They might work as an associate for three or four years before they buy in. And they're kind of left out there to their own devices. So can they get really good, exciting advice on how to grow the practice and how to transition that to somebody else without some type of loss of control? And there's two or three dentists, dentist office down here in Charleston on every corner.

So just looking down the street, it just made total sense. And then we've since kind of gone national with the brand. And we've got clients in Utah, California, the Carolinas, Georgia, you know, all over. Even some folks in Western Virginia and Pennsylvania have reached out to us as well. But we just, we come out from a different angle. Like we've got really, really great content. We've got continuing education content that we push out all geared towards the three different doors of exit that a business owner can walk through.

Leland Gross (07:46.926)

See you in a minute.

Leland Gross (08:14.199)

Hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (08:14.293)

and showing the pros and cons of each and then how they can think a little bit differently, you know, create some paradigm shifts and they're thinking around how to exit. Not enough people are thinking about exit until they're right up on that day when they're burnt out and they're ready to get out. You really need good serious planning ahead of time to make sure you get the maximum value at sale. So that's kind of where that idea came from. And I learned a lot of lessons from creating Husky Financial where if you just look at the name Husky Financial Group, you have no idea what the heck it is that I do. And by

Leland Gross (08:26.207)

Mm-hmm

Leland Gross (08:40.807)

Mm-hmm

Steven Huskey, CExP (08:43.169)

Speaking to the market that I really wanted to educate, I felt like it made sense to put dental in there. You know, Blue Water Dental Advisors wasn't registered on the South Carolina Secretary of State website. So I kind of just went with that and hired a media firm to help us come up with really good branding.

Leland Gross (08:58.542)

That's awesome. Yeah, I wanna talk about the exit planning because one, I believe you're totally right. People don't think about it, or maybe they do, but they don't really work on it. It's like, yeah, one day I'll sell my business. Like that's the goal, but they're not actually building their business intentionally that way, leading up to it. And when I look at business cycle of the people that I've worked with and just my experience,

There's sort of three phases. There's the startup, we're just really focused on cashflow. We're just trying to cashflow positive, get this thing off the ground. And then you move into kind of focusing on profit and taxes. And that's kind of where most people live, the majority of their business career is like, how do I get as much profit? How do I maximize as much money paid to myself with the least amount of taxes? We're looking at P&Ls, P&L,

for the majority. And then you get to the end and there ends up being this transition, where as opposed to looking at your business as a year over year profit cash generating machine, you begin to view it as an asset. It's not producing money to that is the asset. It is the asset itself that I will then sell and it will become the greatest asset I've ever worked on and built and the most truly beneficial thing I've done.

from a financial standpoint. But oftentimes that flip from my business is a cashflow machine, is a tax machine, I'm just looking at expenses and profit every year, to this is an asset that I can build to sell. That transition comes often too late for most people. And so when you talk about that as an exit planner and you're walking business owners or practice owners through, hey,

This is what we need to think about. This is how we need to think about it. Here's the three doors, like you said. What are those? For listeners who are building businesses, ideally to sell one day, talk about that. Talk about how do you build a business to sell? Because it's really important, and often as we just get to the point where you want to sell it, it's like, all right, well, we should have been working on this for a while to craft it specifically to do that.

Steven Huskey, CExP (11:19.681)

Great question. I actually eat my own cooking quite a bit. All the financial advice I give to others, I do the same thing for myself and I show them my own balance sheet and I say, here is exactly what I have going on and I'm invested in the same stuff you are, I'm following my own lead. And so when we created Blue Water Dental Advisors and focusing on the exit piece, we started our business plan and our exit plan on the same day.

And so we've got a three year vision, five year vision, seven year, 15 year vision, and so our ultimate goal with this particular firm is to grow it to the point where another advisory firm sees the market share we have and wants to purchase us up. And so we've got our own solo practices we're still working on, but you know, these dentists are going to get a lot of education along the way and be taken well care of. So in the exit planning side, I think that most business owners don't

Leland Gross (11:44.974)

Mm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (12:13.389)

often to pay enough attention to that piece of it. And so you're used to this business providing every piece of income that your family sees and that your employees' families see as well. And so how do we basically make this business an asset that we can then realize the gain and then do a 180 degree switch and have all these assets now create the same lifestyle that I'm accustomed to? So.

Leland Gross (12:20.182)

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Leland Gross (12:40.913)

Mmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (12:41.569)

Coordination is what we call that. It's where the personal finances are just as important as the business finances. And if you're used to this $10 million business bringing you $350,000 a year that you pay yourself, but then you get seven and a half to $8 million at closing, if that, with having to pay back taxes on depreciation that you realized or capital gains. And of course there's the Obama tax, the Medicare tax you have to pay. How does this net check then create

that same amount of income for 20 to 25 years. It's really tough. And I think it's Lemra who says that 67% of business owners don't have an effective exit plan. And then that number is even higher for dentists. I think it's like over 70% have no idea how they're gonna get out. They think they wanna sell to an associate, but they're 60 years old and don't even have another, you know, practicing dentist in their office. So what's the best way to come up with that strategy? I hope, did that answer your question?

Leland Gross (13:15.099)

Mm.

Leland Gross (13:35.006)

Mmm.

Leland Gross (13:39.55)

Yeah, I did, or to an extent, so...

You mentioned earlier, like, here's the three doors. Is that like three separate options or ways you can do it? Or like, break that down a little bit.

Steven Huskey, CExP (13:47.897)

Oh, the three doors. Let me, let me mention that. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So the three different doors, three doors you have. Um, number one is you can build this business up and have an excellent crew of what we call key employee members or key employee group. We call it the keg and your job is to basically create an effective culture that people are excited to come to work every day.

Leland Gross (14:07.735)

Mm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (14:14.057)

your vision and values in the company as the business owner are the same for them and they are incentivized through growth strategies in your business and so you're directly, you know, you're directly giving them access to either equity in the business or you're giving them some type of deferred compensation or deferred promise to give them some large payment in the future usually tied to your exit So there's a lot of control issues with that, you know, once you start selling this business to a third

you know, to someone inside your business, like you lose control and you're relying upon this key employee group to generate the same amount of revenue that you did to pay you back, you know, especially if you do an installment sale. Like not a lot of these people have enough money to give you a $10 million check. So they got to finance it and they got to use revenue. So there's some pros and cons with that. The second door is you can sell to a third party, whether it's, again, I'm using a dental practice as an example, whether it's.

Leland Gross (14:51.966)

Mmm.

Leland Gross (15:08.302)

Mm-hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (15:08.753)

Another successful dental practice in your area wants to buy up for market share and for cash flow Or you've got a dental service organization a dso that wants to come in and buy you To create that positive cash flow, which is not a bad idea because Dentists, uh, they have a 0.5 fail rate in the business world I think that number is just a little bit higher for physicians practices. So Not a whole lot of uh failure there But the problem is like a lot of these

Leland Gross (15:31.189)

Mmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (15:33.205)

folks are corporatized and they want to change the culture of your practice. They may or may not keep the folks you have on staff that may have been there for 20 years. So they kind of corporatize it. And you really have to incentivize your people to want to stay on because they're buying you for your culture and for your cashflow. And so that's the, that's the second option is a private equity firm or, you know, a smaller business wants to buy you up. And the third is you can just die at your desk, you know, or you could, you know, turn the lights off one day and never show back up again. So

Leland Gross (15:49.368)

Mm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (16:01.377)

Pro of that is it doesn't actually take a whole lot of planning, if any. But thirdly is your legacy is basically just wound up in that business and it's no longer there. It's no longer an asset.

Leland Gross (16:11.642)

One, if you're not making a choice, you are making a choice. Like, I realize like, if you don't choose door one or door two, you are choosing door three, like there's no door option. It's just one of them. Door number three, you're right, just doesn't protect your legacy. Doesn't leave a legacy. Um, it's yeah, the least desirable one. So I love that you are taking financial planning from a real like financial planning.

Steven Huskey, CExP (16:15.901)

Yeah. Thanks.

Steven Huskey, CExP (16:21.601)

Exactly. Yeah.

Leland Gross (16:41.098)

standpoint of like really holistically, really providing a lot of value. And I think, and I'm sure you feel this way, I think our industry, the financial planning industry, has really underserved a lot of people, especially business owners. I think we've fallen flat there, which business owners have some of the most complex situations and strategies required and can be given the most value, but we fall short.

Do you agree with that? What thoughts would you have on that specifically of like traditional financial advising, how that kind of has not served traditionally as well as it could? Because I see you doing it in a way that I would want to do it in the way that I work with my clients, which is much deeper, much more holistic, really kind of pulling in all areas and not just quote unquote pushing product like you had said earlier. So thank you for that.

Steven Huskey, CExP (17:35.733)

Yeah, you're exactly right. I mean, you know, I'll, um, I'll make it as simple as I can. Like accumulation planning. Like if, if I had a financial planner of my own and I met with them every year, it's pretty simple. Like how much are you going to save? What's the allocation you need to save into? And then what products are you using to make those savings actually grow? And other than that, you know, do you have enough protection? Do you have an estate plan? Do you have enough insurance? And that's pretty much it. So accumulation planning is pretty simple.

Leland Gross (18:05.066)

Mm-hmm

Steven Huskey, CExP (18:06.089)

Retirement income distribution planning is a whole nother beast. And it is much harder because there's a whole lot of other tax traps you have to consider. And so that's just like the second level of complexity. Those who are getting ready to retire or those who are retired, how can you really help them maximize their income and reduce what they pay to the IRS? Cause that silent partnership with uncle Sam's is pretty large in the grand scheme of things. And then even more complicated than that is your business planning. And so, you know, even business owners who've been in business, maybe

Leland Gross (18:26.327)

Mm-hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (18:34.085)

five or 10 years, they still need to be considering, okay, well, if I need, if I have this asset and I am the shareholder of all of these shares, you know, how do I maximize the value of this so that it's, it's appealing to somebody else if they wanted to buy it, it's a business, it's just an equity and no one can get the same amount of value in that equity than you can the business owner. So

Leland Gross (18:50.978)

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (18:59.045)

for those who are in business, you know, they're small business owners, you know, their allocation might not be an 80 20. It might be a 60 40, even at age 45 because their business is a big risk. And so a lot of folks don't really see it that way. They don't really understand it. They're just chugging along and you know, their heads buried down into the business and not often do they pull their head up and spend enough time working on the business. So I always encourage people like, Hey, go, go run an Airbnb somewhere for a week.

have your team run the business and just go strategize either with yourself or with a coach and talk about where you see this business, where it needs to go, you know, are the margins where they need to be, do you need to increase your, you know, increase your prices, keep up with the times. But even looking further than that is they don't have an actual strategy on how to unravel their equity shares to somebody else. You know, we hear about advisors coming in and talking about a 401k plan or.

Leland Gross (19:28.472)

Hmm

Steven Huskey, CExP (19:54.465)

You know, what group benefits do you have? And it's a little bit different talking to business owners because they're so used to that. You kind of have to find your foot in the door somehow. So you find, okay, well, you might need some, you know, group insurance. Let me talk to you about that. But again, here's the whole bevy of menu items that I've got at my disposal that I can help you with. You know, which one is the most pressing to you right now? And usually it's all around cashflow or it's they paid too much in taxes last year or they had a...

Leland Gross (20:04.456)

Mm-hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (20:22.597)

you know, a resignation letter on their desk within the last year that really hurt them financially and put them in a spot. So those are three ways to kind of get in is like, all right, well, if you were to lose another person, which one's resignation letter would hurt the most and how do we reward incentivize and retain that person to stay on? How do we help you find more cashflow in the business that you can then continue to grow your own personal wealth outside of the business in, or how do we help you figure out a strategy that you can put in place to minimize what you pay uncle Sam today?

Leland Gross (20:29.137)

Mmm.

Leland Gross (20:51.116)

Mm. Yeah.

Steven Huskey, CExP (20:52.249)

And it's all product driven usually, but again, you have to follow that up with a really strong philosophy conversation.

Leland Gross (20:59.446)

Totally. I mean, every time I talk to an entrepreneur, yourself included as you're telling your story, nobody gets into business because they're excited about working late hours, figuring out how to pay themselves, figuring out how to pay others, figuring out how to pay taxes. It's this idea of freedom. If I can do this successfully on my own, I will have more freedom to foster the life that I want for myself, for my kids, for my family.

I can protect and provide better by doing it that way. But then we get into our business and we're just chugging along. And like you said, we're working in the business every day. We're not taking time to work on the business. We're not taking time to get actually outside of it to look at, like you said, which employees if they left would be really painful, would be a devastating hit to the business. What type of employees do I need to hire that if they then left would be devastating? What's

Where is it devastating that I don't have an employee? How do I need to build this thing as an entrepreneur to become my greatest asset? Because like you said, it's an equity. If I own a share of Apple, I am an owner of Apple. But right now, I'm also an owner of Peacelink Financial Planning. That's my biggest holding. That's my biggest business equity that I own. I want to foster that. And I have the most control to foster that as well. But if.

we're only working in our business all the time. We're not taking the time to work on it. We're gonna get into that rat race and then something's gonna happen, whether it's like you said, cashflow, taxes, employees, things like that, that side swipe us. And so I love what you're saying is so many financial advisors will go to a business owner and just talk about, hey, I'll set up your 401k, I'll set up a group benefit plan. And then that's all they do. They won't even really work with the employer. They're...

They use that as a way to then get the 401Ks of all the employees and kind of create an inroad, as opposed to saying like, sure, if that's what your business needs, wonderful. But let's talk about you and why you started this business and what your goals are with this business and what's actually going on in the business to figure out how do we, as a financial planner, my goal is to help you foster the best life possible. This is your biggest asset to do that. How do we do that?

Leland Gross (23:25.386)

And how do we get as much money out of that business as possible into your personal life, whether it be through taxes, through sale of the business, whatever it may be, to actually foster the life that you went into this business hoping to achieve, right? And so I feel like it's rare that I find someone who's doing that. And I think that's why the exit planning designation, along with the CFP for you, is going to be so powerful to be able to marry those two things.

Steven Huskey, CExP (23:38.537)

Exactly.

Leland Gross (23:54.534)

is going to provide so much value to those dentists and other business owners that you work with. I mean, that I think that's just spot on. Yeah, totally. And so for you, when it comes to like building a business that is primed to sell or like achieves the lie, what would you say is like one thing a business owner should

Steven Huskey, CExP (24:03.585)

Appreciate it.

Leland Gross (24:23.874)

think about. Like someone's listening to this podcast right now, you can give them, hey, if you're thinking about getting as much money out of this business or using this business to craft the life you want, what would you say is like, this is the gunpoint you should be thinking about? Or this is one nugget.

Steven Huskey, CExP (24:42.785)

That's a great question. I don't want to give the cliche advice as like, find your why or make sure that you're making smart financial decisions. How do we create positive ripple effects in not only our lives, but our employees and patients through clients' lives? I think one of the things that's really, really tough, and we were talking about this before we recorded, is how do you break through that ceiling whenever you're in a situation where

Leland Gross (25:09.186)

Hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (25:10.181)

you're so used to the habits you've been doing over the past five or 10 years to grow this business and your business has plateaued. How do you totally change your mindset in your mission statement as a business owner and your vision and values that more realign with the type of clientele that you'd like to go after? Because there's, you know, it's much easier. This is that Dan Sullivan book. It's much easier to 10 X your business than it is to continue on the two X path you've been on, you know, you're, you're putting in.

Leland Gross (25:17.28)

Mmm

Leland Gross (25:37.503)

Mm-hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (25:41.659)

double the input for double the output. But if you find that there are a lot of different pathways to that 2X mindset, like I can get to this amount of revenue in this multitude of different ways, chances are you're gonna find your pathway there pretty quickly. But if you create these goals that are so out of your league or so out of your mindset currently, that there's maybe only one or two ways you can get there, everything else goes to the wayside. And you really can focus on, for instance,

Leland Gross (26:05.722)

Mm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (26:08.853)

This year, I'll probably do anywhere from 350 to 400,000 in revenue. But my goal in the next three years is to be at four to 5 million. And that just sounds crazy. But like, how do I exclude everything else that doesn't get me there and only focus on those two or three things that get me there? That's what I'm going to do. I have to change up my clientele base. I have to change up my employees. I have to change up, you know, the marketing that I'm doing, I'm going to do it. And so for those that are stuck or in a rut, that's what you need to do.

Leland Gross (26:16.298)

Hmm. Yeah.

Leland Gross (26:33.974)

Totally. I think that's really profound and it's also really hard. Like that's what we were talking about before we hit record is like, you know, in your business you have this really in quote unquote insane goal, but you're right. It just cuts out the fluff. And what you're saying at the 2x to 10x is there's so many ways you can get to 2x. It's not that hard to do that. And so you throw something at a wall, most of the walls are going to get you to 2x. But if your goal is to 10x, that's actually...

Steven Huskey, CExP (26:40.094)

Very hard.

Leland Gross (27:02.53)

much more difficult. There's only a few roads that are going to get you there. And so you're able to focus in on like, what is actually hyper efficient? What is actually profitable? What is actually going to help me build my business that way? And you cut out all the other 2X stuff. But it takes radical change. It takes uncomfortable change in your business. It takes uncomfortable change in yourself. Like I was doing a coaching day back in September and was working on this exercise.

And they were basically like right out, it was like a mental, like my, my head trash exercise. Like what's the stuff that I'm believing that is limiting? Like, ah, no one will ever, you know, pay me that fee or no one will ever. Like I'm, you know, all the imposter syndrome stuff. And at first I was like, I know this stuff. Like I've done imposter syndrome work, but then you start writing it out and you're like, Oh my gosh, wow. Okay. This like, the pen just starts flooding the page. And it's like, right. What's actually true about that? Very little.

Steven Huskey, CExP (27:46.506)

Hell yeah.

Leland Gross (28:00.83)

And so then I can actually get really focused on like, what's actually true and what do I actually want my business to go towards? Okay, here's the few things I need to do. They're scary things. They're hard things. But they're the things that are going to work. You know, I think like that's spot on of like, set your sights high. Like don't limit yourself based on just the head trash of like, well, this is just what I do. Or just like the.

you know, the river of life that monotony takes you down. Like, well, this is just how it's done.

Steven Huskey, CExP (28:35.409)

Well, yeah, going back to your point about creating more freedom and why you got into business in the first place is if you're, if you're continually doing those 60 to 80 to a hundred hour, you know, work weeks, then that's what you know. And that's you're swimming upstream to get to that same amount of revenue every year. And, you know, you're still the hunter out there looking for cases. You're not the hunt at any longer. And so if you want to be the hunt dead, how do you change your mindset so drastically to where you found enough who's to help you get the how?

Leland Gross (28:45.244)

Mm.

Leland Gross (28:56.544)

easy.

Steven Huskey, CExP (29:05.245)

accomplished. And if you don't need to do it yourself, if it's not your unique ability, you know, go find someone who can still help the clients that have made you who you are all along the way. They still get the service that they deserve, but then you're able to go and focus on finding, you know, the verticals that really fit your business. And often we're trying to be everything to everybody and work horizontally instead, but vertically is the way to go.

Leland Gross (29:06.399)

and

Leland Gross (29:26.574)

Totally. And I think something you've done, you haven't actually said this, but you've done it that I think is really integral into the like part of that vertical work is you aren't all things to all people. Like you do have a wide client base, but like this idea of dentists, like you know dentists, you're like, you know their fail rate, you know they're like business acumen, you know, you know dentists better than any other financial

this is a target market that I really like that kind of matches what excites me and the value I can provide. And you've delved into that. And that's one of those inroads to get to 10X is, I'm not working with just every person on the side of the road who can fog a mirror. I'm getting hyper-focused on this is the value that I provide and this is who I provide it to. And I think we've said it before on this podcast, but the saying like the riches are in the niches. Like,

part of getting clear about who I serve and how I serve helps because then you can provide a much deeper, more valuable experience, which then you can charge a premium fee for. And then those people, dentists know dentists. They go to dentist conferences and they're like, ah, I'm talking to a colleague who's also in my same boat. You should work with Stephen Husky because he's provided so much value for me and he only works with people like us.

Steven Huskey, CExP (30:24.766)

Yeah.

Steven Huskey, CExP (30:41.365)

That's exactly right.

Leland Gross (30:54.814)

Sometimes when we start businesses, we think, I just want to take anybody. I'm just trying to get this thing off the ground. And sometimes being really specific does have a slower takeoff, but the takeoff is then exponential, much quicker than the Edward Jones on the side of the road that will take anybody who can fog a mirror. You know?

Steven Huskey, CExP (31:18.258)

Well, yeah, it's like I use this analogy is like it's much it's much harder to shout into a crowded room because your message is going to just fall on deaf ears fall on deaf ears yet if you're one on one with somebody who is the exact person that you're looking for and you say something of value to them right away. They've number one probably never heard that message before. But then again, it makes you much more referable. You know, you're going after if you're going after everybody and anybody like they're like.

Leland Gross (31:26.731)

Hmm

Leland Gross (31:40.532)

Yeah.

Steven Huskey, CExP (31:44.277)

I don't know who you work with because you've got this guy, this guy, this guy, and we're in totally different industries and we all make different amounts of money. But if you're like, I work specifically with this person in this situation at this time in their lives, they're like, I know like six people who I can send your.

Leland Gross (31:50.711)

Mm-hmm.

Leland Gross (31:58.402)

Yeah, yeah, there's another financial advisor, I can't remember his name, but he works with optimologist business owners within five years of retiring or five years within selling your business. So it's like three layers deep. I work with optimologists who own their own business and who are within five years of selling. You're like, okay, if you're an optimologist who owns your own business and within five years of selling, you have a guy who like, knows you, knows you better than anybody else. Like

If that optimologist is listening to this podcast, don't come to me. Go to that guy because he's going to help you so much better than everybody else. Because like you said, he's yelling into a very not crowded room, but there are lots of people. He's done the math. He was like, there's 1,500 of those people in the country, maybe more. But he's like, I'm only trying to work with 50 to 100 of them, so I don't need all of them so I can get really clear on my messaging.

can get really clear on the value in providing those little sound bites and that's going to allow him to explode. And that's not just true for financial advisors, that's true of any marketplace really. Like if you can really get clear about who you serve, you can provide a really clear value proposition, you can speak your value and it's only going to blow up from there.

Steven Huskey, CExP (33:09.246)

any marketplace.

Steven Huskey, CExP (33:21.297)

Yeah, I just interviewed for my own podcast. Um, this, this physician, she's a pediatric dermatologist in Minneapolis. And she and three of the partners created a skincare line that was strictly dedicated to teenage boys, because all too often, you know, all the stuff you see on skincare is like, it's, it's girls who already have clear faces that are washing their face and splashing, you know, water all over the sink and, you know, they're, um,

Leland Gross (33:45.716)

Hahaha

Steven Huskey, CExP (33:49.985)

they're really happy, but you don't see many males on there. And so we already have an issue with mental health with young boys and it's usually because of their looks or they're getting made fun of or they're bullied. And if they can feel confident with this skincare that they're proud of showing in the locker room to their friends, you've got a really good message, a good pitch and a good value to that specific type of clientele. So it really is true, like the riches are in the niches no matter what business line you're in.

Leland Gross (33:53.66)

Hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (34:20.027)

If you can find that problem that ails a lot of people and you can find the specific solution to it, then you're gonna have a great business.

Leland Gross (34:28.717)

Totally. So for you, what's been the low point of your journey? From the bank till now, your journey of entrepreneurship or self-employment, like what's been the low point?

Steven Huskey, CExP (34:43.157)

The low point for me was probably seven to eight months into my financial advisor career, because I was like you mentioned, I was spending a lot more than I was bringing in, you know, I knew I was making an investment in myself, but my spouse, you know, she didn't think the same way I did, or I didn't communicate it well. Probably the second one. And, um, she took over the finances for about six months because she's looking at credit card statements, like, what is this? What is this? I'm like, well, I'm going to dinners and you know, networking events and.

Leland Gross (34:59.823)

Hehehe

Leland Gross (35:04.232)

Mm.

Leland Gross (35:09.516)

Ha ha ha.

Steven Huskey, CExP (35:10.313)

buying a vodka soda here sometimes I'm just drinking water because I know we can't afford it like here's what we have going on and like just the marital turmoil I guess that caused because it's very hard starting this business and I would encourage anybody who's not married doesn't have kids yet but once again in this business get in it now because it only gets harder the older you get in the more established your family life is so that was probably the lowest point and the second question was the highest point

Leland Gross (35:22.082)

Hmm

Leland Gross (35:27.699)

Mm-hmm

Leland Gross (35:31.255)

Mm-hmm.

Leland Gross (35:37.626)

Oh well no, just the lowest point.

Steven Huskey, CExP (35:39.177)

Oh, the lowest point. Yeah. So yeah, that was definitely, that was definitely it, man. Just like, you know, struggling and, and financially it's not, it's not fun. You know, we had a small town home, we had a baby at home and she's at home, you know, with the baby and I'm out gallivanting around, you know, it just wasn't.

Leland Gross (35:55.27)

I know. Yeah, I've heard over and over again and it's been my experience too. Like if you are going to start a business, you have to be in alignment with your spouse. Your spouse has to be in alignment because it's hard. Even if you are in alignment, even when you're in alignment, it's hard. And there's so many times you're right where it can feel like, well, I'm like, we have no money and you're always gone and we have a baby. And what's this like? It's.

There's a lot going on when you're starting a business. And so having a spouse who shares the vision, even if they're not in the business with you, they're for you. I mean, it's, yeah, I would say, piece of advice, do it before you're married or before you have kids. Or if you are married and you have kids, it's a family affair. Make sure everyone's on board.

Steven Huskey, CExP (36:38.513)

Yeah, I was, I was extremely lucky to have a very, very supportive wife who understood, you know, kind of what I was trying to build. And I really had to convince her with the pros and cons of leaving the bank and starting my own thing and like how it will be tough up front. But then she understood that, but I don't think she understood the financial and intricacies of how that was going to work.

Leland Gross (36:55.282)

Yeah, makes sense. What has surprised you the most about the journey of self-employment?

Steven Huskey, CExP (37:04.385)

I think what surprised me the most is being able to touch as many lives positively as I have. And obviously we get into this business for selfish reasons, but yet we also get in this business for altruistic reasons. And I think what really moves me now is finding folks that I can make a massive difference in and whether it's just telling them how to save more money and showing them automatic and systematic ways they can do that, but also helping them meet different professionals who they can.

Leland Gross (37:09.767)

Hmm

Steven Huskey, CExP (37:31.881)

build around like creating their own team of folks like having the right property and casualty agent who's not captive to just progressive or state farm. Even though those are great companies that can only position one thing to you, but also looking at getting their estate plan shored up and, and saying like, Hey, I've got a hard 60 days on this directive. You need to go have this conversation and start the paperwork like next week. Or else we probably shouldn't work together because you're not taking this advice seriously. Um,

Leland Gross (37:41.985)

Mm-hmm.

Steven Huskey, CExP (37:57.665)

And then business owners, you know, helping them get out of the rut that they're in and giving them advice that makes sense and counsel to change in their own mindset as a, as a business owner, you know, I think that's, those are the big aha moments for me is, is just like, wow, I've made a positive impact and when you make positive impacts like that, they want to share that with their friends and that's the, the biggest, greatest moment for me is when someone really gets it.

Leland Gross (38:21.226)

Mm. Yeah. I mean, again, you and I are in such similar fields that gets me excited because I've heard it said it sounds a little kitschy, but like we work with heartbeats, like we impact heartbeats, like not just our clients, but their kids, their families, their kids' kids, like we're creating generational waves. And when you look at that and you actually like run out the numbers, you're like, whoa, this is an exciting business. This is crazy. We're getting there.

Steven Huskey, CExP (38:45.225)

Yeah.

Leland Gross (38:48.862)

Okay, so this is a podcast about success. But if you pull anybody on the side of the road that were and ask them how to define success, that word means different things to different people. So for you, how do you define success and how will you know if or when you've achieved it?

Steven Huskey, CExP (39:11.406)

I never really loved school that much. I mean, obviously I went and I enjoyed friends and I was more of the social gregarious type of guy in school. Obviously I made decent grades, but what's really been successful for me is continuing that education long after I've gotten out of school. So getting certain designations, I think about it as it's only gonna make me, number one, more marketable to those that I'm trying to reach. And then secondly, I'm able to provide much more knowledge to those who need it.

For those that do all their finances themselves, kudos to you, because I don't know how you find the time or the will to do it. There's so much out there and like, I dedicate my life to this stuff and there's still so much to learn. Um, so what success for me is, is being able to always learn and to be able to read and soak in knowledge and then be able to share that with others and educate people and create different paradigm shifts and, uh, different ways of thinking that better someone's life for me. That's what's probably the most impactful.

Leland Gross (39:46.902)

No.

Leland Gross (39:52.297)

Mm.

Leland Gross (40:07.982)

It's amazing.

I love it. Well, Stephen, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I've loved this conversation.

Steven Huskey, CExP (40:16.949)

Me too, man. Appreciate you.