The Entrepreneur’s Journey with Jay Dotson

AI helps us generate these transcripts from the audio and sometimes it makes some funny mistakes.

Jay Dotson  00:00

The mindset is so critical. You’ve got to have not just the unwavering belief, but like that resilience to be like it is like getting kicked in the pants over and over again, day in day out, of an entrepreneur is like, super high highs and super low lows. And you’ve just got to somehow manage that. You’re going to get through all of it.

Joey Loss  00:33

Jay Dotson, thanks for coming on the podcast.

Jay Dotson  00:36

Yeah, man, happy to be here. Thanks for having me. For listeners who

Joey Loss  00:40

don’t know you, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and how you got to do what you’re doing right now? Yeah,

Jay Dotson  00:44

absolutely. So, yeah. My name is Jay Dotson. I am a partner in fractional CFO at our company called prosper CFO. I’ve been doing this for about a little over a year now, but I’ve got some industry experience leading a finance team, being part of the senior leadership team, as well as some experience in the franchise world. And so what our company does is we are a fractional CFO accounting and tax practice in Austin, Texas. We’ve got about 10 people on our team. I’ve got a great business partner, Cameron dykey, who’s one of my best friends, and so we’re having a lot of fun helping people understand their numbers so they can make better decisions and ultimately grow their companies to the next level.

Joey Loss  01:29

That’s awesome. We met just a month ago at a CFO conference, Michael King’s conference, down in Dallas, and we just happened to be grouped together in some breakout discussion. And I really enjoyed our conversation. Thought it’d be great if we could follow up, because I feel like everything about that conference, everything about this CFO space, which I’m fairly new to as well, but I’m having a great time. It’s just so important, and it’s completely flipped my thoughts about how businesses grow on its head. And so I was hoping that today we could talk about kind of the different stages of a business, the things you’ve learned, helping people figure out and navigate and, more importantly, recognize when they’re shifting from one phase to another. And what do we do to get out of our own way?

Jay Dotson  02:14

Yeah, that’s a big that’s a big, crucial part.

Joey Loss  02:17

Yeah, for sure. So let’s talk about the beginning of a business what are the traits that you commonly see in like, an early stage business owner, somebody who makes it through that phase? What makes them win?

Jay Dotson  02:29

Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think that no matter what you’re going or setting out to do, if you’ve got this big, bold ambition, man, you’ve got to have this, like, almost unwavering belief that this thing can be successful, right when it’s just you trying to come up with this vision and, you know, move that, you know, let’s say a stalled out car up a hill, because that’s what it feels like. You’ve got to have this unwavering belief that this thing can be a success, and that you’re going to really have to do some hard things to get over yourself to make sure that you can put yourself in the right position to hopefully make this thing successful. So I think that unwavering belief is for sure, Paramount. I think in the early stages, particularly if we were service business like ourselves, like networking is such a huge critical component, networking, prospecting, whatever you want to call it like that, is the Paramount thing at the survival stage of the business was for you to go out there and be able to get clients. I think next is like, kind of working towards a resilience for the ups and downs, like we are. You’ve got this big, bold ambition before you. I’ve already mentioned, it’s kind of like pushing a stalled out car up a hill, like it’s not going to be easy, and it always takes longer than you think it is. It takes more preparation, it takes more practice, and you’ve got to have this resilience about you that, you know, says, I’m not going to give up just because it got hard. I’m not going to give up just because I’ve heard no a number of times. And you’ve got to come with a resourcefulness to figure it out, to be able to say, no matter the I might have less cash that I’m than I hope to one day, have less help than I likely will one day, if this thing becomes a success with employees, etc, but you got to have this, you know, resourcefulness to figure it out, to be, you know, very, a very good steward of what you do have. But I’ve even gone down this trip, this, this route recently that I’ve called an asset inventory, and I’ve had a mentor, you know, tell me about it a number of years ago. It’s something that I’ve always kept, you know, in my back pocket when I feel like I’m trying to solve a hard problem. And what it is is that you you think of asset inventory, particularly in your world, where you look at it like a balance sheet, or like, what is your personal. Net Worth type of thing. And this is like, that kind of, but not really. This is more so, if not just like, What assets do you have in, you know, financial wealth, but more so, what access Do you have, right? Like you and I are both part of the the Michael King, you know, accelerator conference a month ago, like that gave me access to so many more people, to where you and I are sitting here today, right? What access who you might live in for us, Austin Texas, like, what is unique about Austin Texas that might not be true of other places, right? So, like all of these things you could catalog is, what do I have access to? What do I have at my disposal, disposal? Who do I have access to? Right? The types of people, the types of networks, if you know a ton of real estate, or, you know real estate agents, like, maybe it makes sense for you to do something serving the real estate world. I don’t know what it is for you, but I love being able to, when I when I have a hard problem, I look at what are all the things and who are all the people that I have access to, and then I start, you know, being resourceful with what what might pan out to be, you know, help me get to the next level of what I’m trying to accomplish. Absolutely.

Joey Loss  06:18

Yeah, the you touched on a lot of things that are really powerful there. So grit is definitely, I mean, I’m sure you’ve you felt it with Cameron over the last few years, you guys have had explosive growth in your first year, which is amazing, but I’m sure it’s not been without its incredible difficulties along the way. And I’m two years into, you know, running a registered investment advisory, and the stuff that’s hard is just stuff you can’t imagine. It’s it’s not the stuff that I’ve been doing for 10 years with clients. That’s my favorite part, and that might represent, like, 30% of what I get to experience by doing it this way. The other 70% is like getting kicked in the pants, like once a week, and it’s just something you can’t even imagine so, and you’re like, well, this, I guess this is where my time’s gone, yeah, and, and there’s and I think that’s why that unwavering belief you’re talking about is so important, because you have to want it badly enough, yeah, to to straddle again and take another Kick. It’s

Jay Dotson  07:21

just what it is or when it’s happening.

Joey Loss  07:24

And so, yeah, grit, you know, stage one, proving the concept of whatever it is you believe in and whatever you’re trying to build, is all about resilience and grit. I completely agree with that. And when I look at clients that have businesses that have been successful, every single time, I can see it, you know, they and it. There’s two parts to that one, you know, you talked about the asset inventory. You got to look at what you have, and if you do a good job of looking at what you have, which money is only a small piece of that, that’s right, you talked about networks, you talked about skill sets, you talked about, there’s so many things that play into that decision. And if you pick the right thing, that’s a perfect intersection of what you’re passionate about and what resources you have that make the problems you know you’re going to face a little bit easier. That’s right now you’re building something that you can really stick with. I know I introduced two parts, but there’s only one that was the one I ran too long and forgot. I love it. So let’s move on with that same thought, how do those traits play out when you hit stage two? Let’s say you’ve proven the concept. The business is flowing right now. You’ve got revenue, you’ve got these other things, the business owners finding themselves doing a lot of the value delivery, like the end value delivery, what needs to happen next and what kind of gets in the way.

Jay Dotson  08:42

Ah, man, I think, I mean, you kind of, you kind of nailed it on, just to go back for a second, like, the mindset is so critical, right? Like, you’ve got to have not just the unwavering belief, but like that resilience to be like it is, like getting kicked in the pants over and over again. Or, like, the role the mind or the, you know, every day in, day out of an entrepreneur is like, super high highs and super low lows. And you just got to somehow manage like that you’re going to get through, you know, all of it. Like, for me, I am addicted to the feeling of potential. Like, I love that feeling of like, Oh, we’re talking to this people and this and this seems all going well, which, which is really exciting for me. But then the lows can feel like, oh, man, am I really cut out for this? Am I How am I really good at this? Like, do people want this? Like, that, you can feel that, right, if we’re just being vulnerable, but you’ve got to be able to pull yourself up, you know, and be able to continue on, and really, you know, like you said, kind of at the tail end of that question is like to really get out of your own way and be able to move forward as a result. So say, you do get past that. How do these things. Just change over time and and how do you see them at your disposal? I think once you get past that survival stage, you know, understanding your numbers and being able to, like, prioritize cash over profit is such a critical thing, right? Like, you need to have a viable business that can scale, because at some point, if it’s just you, it’s just a job at the end of the day. But to really build a business, you have to make you know. You’ve got to make sure that all of your numbers actually make sense, the units of you going out and wanting clients, and the service that you’re providing, and the costs that are associated with providing that service that isn’t just you actually make sense. So that you can then begin to do this at scale. So I would say that for me is I’m biased as a fractional CFO. I think that is so, so critical. But then say that networking that we took from the top one, not just networking for clients now, but really starting to network for strategic partnerships, being able to leverage other people’s audiences, to be able to, you know, forward your brand and and and forward what you’re doing, and see where there are ways that that you can create Win Win partnerships, once you’ve started to figure out, you know, the operations of your business, and get to fine tune those Well, well, it’s a perfect opportunity For you to begin to leverage the audience of others and make sure that you can create Win Win partnerships that can help both companies win at the end of the day. So I know I may have not said this at the top of it, but that first stage of what also is so critical at that beginner stage, or the survival stage, is what I would call it, is to be able to take really, really good, like, really good care of your first handful of clients and, like, do all of the unscalable things initially, until you figure out all the operational, you know, kinks in the business, right? And that’s the flip of this. Is that once that’s done, once you’re starting to iron out, like, Hey, I know this is exactly how I want to, you know, help my clients. This is how I like to add value. Then it starts to make sense to move more towards those strategic partnerships that you could explore

Joey Loss  12:09

absolutely, yeah, that early phase is definitely, you know, you’re You’re imagining things, you’re laying it out, you’re trying it out, and, you know, the end product is going to be valuable to the client, right? It’s almost like you’re focused more on like this doesn’t this process doesn’t feel like perfect yet, and that’s your time to figure that out. And then as you graduate to the next phase, you know all those traits we just talked about, the grit, the resilience, in some senses, like stubbornness that nobody can get through. You know, that’s what makes you win in phase one, and that’s exactly the kind of traits that make it problematic in phase two, because, 100% because the thing, especially in a service based industry, for listeners, I was talking about this with Maggie clockenga In my last episode, when you’re building something, whether it’s a service based business or construction business, you start on the ground, doing the thing, and then as time goes on, if you’re really building it, well, you have to be moving in the direction of becoming a CEO of a business that happens to be in the thing. And when people have such a tight white knuckle grip on the delivery of the thing, because they’re stubborn or because, you know, they spent all the time in the Batcave making it perfect, that’s exactly what can keep your business from being able to scale number one or number two running through staff or cash, because you just can’t match the human resources against the volume of the business that you have. And a lot of people get stuck in that valley trying to figure that out.

Jay Dotson  13:48

Yeah, no, I would absolutely agree with that. That’s that’s why they have the phrase out there, we’ll got you here. Won’t Get You There, right? So, and I can’t tell you how many businesses I’ve seen stall out at the $500,000 a year, or a million dollars a year, and not be able to scale to that next level is because you’re exactly right. They don’t, oftentimes, they don’t see themselves as the CEO of the business, and they are still very heavily involved in all of the delivery of whatever the end product is. And you know that’s, that’s a blessing and a curse, because you’re probably really good at your skill set, right? Like, that’s what’s taken you here, is that you are likely a craftsman, or somebody who is, who’s really gifted in whatever product or service you’re delivering, but now you need to take off that that DOER of mindset, exact, or that Doer hat all the time, or delivery hat, whatever it is, and be able to then see your business as you know that you are the CEO of that business and that you need to now make the strategic decisions to bring on, you know, and outsource some of those. Task that you had previously done. And so I couldn’t agree more. I think that’s a really critical step, and it’s funny

Joey Loss  15:07

the term, as you talk about that, I’m just thinking about how similar the CFO space is to the personal wealth space. Yeah, we’re talking about numbers, but in every case, on both sides, every one of these financial decisions is part an emotional one. It’s part of strategic one. They all play into a bigger picture with little goals strewn about. And so the CFO is probably better called like a chief resource officer, because I’m taking let’s take it back to that balance sheet you were talking about. If you look at that balance sheet on day one of stage one, you’re entering survival mode. It’s totally different than what it looks like as you enter stage two. And it’s so important to make that balance sheet, because if you look at it, you got to start negotiating which of these pieces can I make standard operating procedures for and start to hand off because I’m sick of doing them. That’s the easiest ones to get rid of. The harder ones to get rid of are the things that kind of land in the middle. They’re not the stuff you love to do, they’re not the stuff you hate to do, they’re the stuff you are mad about. But you really need to start handing off so that you can do more executive function. And I feel like a lot of CFO conversations revolve around that space. Yeah,

Jay Dotson  16:17

that’s exactly right. I think you nailed it there. Yeah. So, I mean, that is such a critical stage for somebody in that, you know, who’s trying to make it in that next step, let’s take bookkeeping, for example, right? Like so many people, either they’ll take the bookkeeping on themselves or they’ll outsource it, but just say, they take it on themselves, right, at a low state, you know, you’re in the middle of survival stage. You feel like you can’t really afford to outsource that component. But yet, like, your books aren’t giving you that critical insight that you need, right? And I wouldn’t propose that you should have a fractional CFO at a 200 or 300 400 really, even upwards of, like a million, is kind of where I would think that you would start to maybe need one a bookkeeper would be just fine. But let’s just say that you kept that to yourself, but you are constantly trying to, you know, go and do the thing that you needed to do. But at the at the end of the day, we’re struggling to understand your numbers. Because one, you feel like, Man, this bookkeeping stuff. I thought I had it together, but let’s be honest, I haven’t updated my books in a long time, and it’s not really giving me insight. And now I’m just managing my, you know, my my my situation, and my business based on my bank balance. And you’re not able to get those critical insights Well, I mean, how is that going to help you get to the next stage like you might be able to market yourself out of you might be able to get enough, you know, of the clients out of it. But once you start to knock on the door of trying to go to the next stage and needing it, I mean, you really need those insights to be able to help you scale to the next level. You can’t just chase revenue, because if we chase revenue at all costs, we’ll find at the end of the day that that cash might be slipping and trending in the wrong direction, and cash and profit, even revenue and cash, definitely different things. And it varies by business. You know how that actually plays out in your business? But, yeah, that’s what I would I would say is it’s a critical time for for, you know, you to not take on everything, but it’s kind of the mindset of the believe, there’s a book called who, not not how, and, you know, being able to, you know, outsource and not just try to figure out everything on your own, because your time is best spent getting back to what you do best to grow your business. That’s not always the admin task of your business, etc, 100%

Joey Loss  18:43

and and energy is, like, business owners, energy is a huge component of that, right? Yeah, you can light knuckle it and do all this stuff. When I was making this podcast, one of my decisions was like, I have no idea if people are gonna listen to this. I love it. I love talking to people. May as well take them along for my, like, educational journey. But I had to decide, you know, is it worth paying a producer so that I can spend most of my time on the part that I really enjoy, instead of letting like, chopping up and producing and figuring out how to push it out to all platforms and pushing it onto my website? I don’t really know how to do that stuff. Yeah, I could probably figure it out. Is that how I should spend my time? No, it’s way better to pay somebody and get back to the revenue producing activities and taking care of great clients. You know, that’s what we do best. And

Jay Dotson  19:26

that also, I mean, just to take that out for a second, like that, that also carries over to so much of your personal life too, right? Like, yeah, I know some of the mindset stuff, especially for people who kind of, like, grew up and didn’t have everything right? Like, they had to work super hard, or they didn’t have the house cleaner at home, or they didn’t have the lawn maintenance people, and this, that and the other, that can be a hard mindset to be, like, now I’m going to shift to now pay for somebody to do those things, like, but like, what is your time worth? Especially when you have a family? Like, that’s such a critical thing. Know, for for me, prior to, like, starting this business, and how, you know, seeing, being able to see the, you know, some of the level of success that we’ve had is, I don’t want to pay for somebody else to do those things, but as I had kids, started this business and started to, like, see some of the success, like, you start to value your time differently, to where you’re not just, you know, if you’re gonna pay a handyman to come out to your house for, I don’t know, $80 to fix a garbage disposal. Like, what’s that time worth for you that you’re trying to figure out? Like, I need to learn how a garbage disposal work. It works. I need to figure out how to fix it. How do I troubleshoot it? And then, you know, here you are wasted an hour of your time and the you know, the before and after, of just knowing that it’s on your mind, dealing with it like, what is your time worth out there, and to stop doing the things that you’re not like that isn’t the biggest revenue generating thing or the biggest income producing thing for you, is to be growing your business. And so I’m just using the example at home. The example exists in your business, bookkeeping and all sorts of other stuff to the extent that you can afford outsourcing it. It absolutely makes sense so that you can get to the thing that is really going to help you scale to the next level.

Joey Loss  21:10

That was such an interesting segue for listeners. Episode One talks all about this money, this concept called Money scripts, and they’re just things that we all pick up uniquely, you know, as kids, watching our parents with money, doing chores, seeing what people spend money on or don’t spend money on, seeing whether people fight about money or don’t fight about money. All of these things imprint on our minds, our own relationship with money, and those carry into the businesses. And so, you know, as you step in, I mean, I think we can talk about it well as a perspective of the CFO who’s stepping into an existing business. You know, you notice the differences of every business owner. Everybody’s bringing their own story with money to the table. Some people are happy to spend money right away, right little, maybe too happy. And then others are, you know, it’s pulling teeth to get them to spend money. But if you can prove that, look, this is how much your time is worth, if we look at the rest of the picture, you can start to work on it, and that that helps free up more time for the for the bigger activities.

Jay Dotson  22:05

Yeah, no, I think you’re absolutely right. Everybody’s got a Money Story, right? Like whether you had it or didn’t have it, you know, you can be impacted in all sorts of different ways, especially when, when it goes to growing a business, and then even exacerbated when there’s other people involved, right? Like whether partnerships, etc, like you are bringing people into your your money, your money story. And so it is such a it’s such an emotional thing. It’s a taxing thing. I mean, I think I don’t know the stats, so I would, I don’t want to make up the stat, but correct me if I’m wrong. Or somebody Google out there, but I think it was like 50% of marriages that end in divorce are over, like, money issues, right? So, like, this is a highly, highly emotional thing. It comes with a lot of baggage. It comes with a lot of weight. And so when you get into business, I mean, similar things happen, and you talk about partnerships and all kinds of other stuff, but it is the, you know, kind of coming back to a little bit of what you described earlier is like, there is the right emotional decision, there’s the right financial decision, there’s the right strategy decision, and sometimes those things all line up and it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing, and you’re like, This is the way I must walk in it like, it’s very clear, and other times it’s not right, like, in other times it’s challenging because it might be the right financial decision, because logically, it makes sense, and the numbers add up to where you know the risk is mitigated by doing this and you get more money. It’s like, Well, that makes a lot of sense, but there’s a lot of emotional baggage that comes with that. Or the goals might be different for the business owner to head in a different direction, so having to be able to navigate not just the the current present one with you know, is this the right logical financial decision, but also, is this the right emotional financial decision? But like, what is the emotional baggage that is coming with money? And the topic of money, and what people have is their mindset of money? So I think that, yeah, you kind of nailed it. And that’s

Joey Loss  24:13

really critical. It is so critical. And so I’m gonna, I’m gonna rewind and kind of summarize with action steps that I heard. So we talked about where people get in there, get in their own way, and just how challenging the transition to stage two can be and what the perils are. Some of the action items I heard. Please fill these in once I list them, is retaking inventory of what’s now available to you, what’s on your balance sheet. And we’re not just talking about money, talking about resources, right? Where are the gaps in the balance sheet? That’s a good place to start, you know, because you might be feeling pain from a gap that was never a problem before, right? When you were just in the Bat Cave. So there’s one.

Jay Dotson  24:59

Yeah, no. It’s all it’s all really good. We’re talking about operationalizing your business, seeing yourself as the CEO, networking for strategic partnerships and outsourcing what doesn’t need to be you, what doesn’t need to be done by you, because your time is so, so valuable, and you don’t need to be doing all of the things that maybe you did when you were at the survival stage.

Joey Loss  25:25

Yeah. So outsourcing. Three, I would say, you know, as you take inventory the balance sheet do like kind of a business emotional forecast. Where do you want this thing to go now that you know more about it? Because that’s, that’s probably step one before even looking at the balance sheet. Yeah, you know, like in the personal planning process, there’s no point even looking at what is if we don’t know where you want to

Jay Dotson  25:48

go, right? No, absolutely that. That’s, I mean, that is paramount to everything else, right? And that’s, that’s where it kind of comes in with the goals alignment is, is absolutely the most important thing, because you can there’s lots of different ways that you can make money, right? Like, there’s no shortage of ways to make money in this world. There’s no shortage of ways to create more cash in your business. However, are they aligned with your goals? Are they aligned with where you want to go as a as a person, for your family? There are trade offs in every single thing that you do, and so making sure that those trade offs are actually in alignment with, you know, I’m willing to take on those trade offs because I know that that’s going to put me and my family in this position. But you know, maybe some other ones where it requires you to work. You’re certainly going to work a lot in the survival stage, but you know, long term, that that’s not, you’re not willing to give up the nights and weekends forever, like you actually want to create that time margin back in your life. Anyway, I’ll just say like all that kind of is, the first step in all of our CFO engagements that we work with people is to identify and cement these goals into a roadmap so that we can then create that clear strategy from where you are today to where you want to be. And like I said, there’s so many different ways that you can get there. Can we create the right strategy that is in alignment with what you’re trying to achieve personally, so that the business that you started was able to produce the life that you desired when you started? It Right?

Joey Loss  27:21

Yeah, yeah. Because the end game, I think at some point there’s a moment where you did it all for what you know, even if you build the next Apple, like, what is the thing you know? What are you doing for family, for, you know, from everybody’s thinking about retirement. But usually there’s some bigger, stronger thing than that, right? Let’s tap into that and start working our way backwards into a roadmap. And you know, whether you’re looking at the personal side or the business side, the annual calendar is kind of similar, right? It’s like, it’s a it’s an ongoing process that never stops. It’s not a one time gig, because everything changes. And so, you know, first we look at the goals second we look at cash flow. Are there pain points? So the things getting in the way of us starting to deploy capital in a way that’s going to take us towards the goals. If there are, then that’s what we focus on next. If there aren’t, then let’s just deploy that capital in the way that makes the most sense, in alignment with the goals. Constantly getting kicked in the pants, adapting. There’s always things going on. And then, of course, you have the big, bad bear of taxes. Yeah, you can attend all the time, so you got to always make room for that personal and business. And so that’s, that’s the marriage, right there, yeah,

Jay Dotson  28:32

man, even just hearing you go through how your approach is in, let’s say onboarding, but like how you started engagement to create the roadmap is very similar on the CFP side as it would be on the on the CFO side, while, while the tools and the some of the terminology and the language and such like that might be a little bit different, the process is very, very similar. We start with the goals. We then start with validating everything that’s going on the business, like, does your books actually even make sense? Are there the right controls in place so that you don’t have, you know, issues going on that could be cash leak or, you know, fraud happening your business, the automations that need to happen, like that, all happens at the books validation. Then you move to forecasting, like, what happens if nothing changes? Well, I’m sure it’s pretty similar to what does your retirement look right now? And how is what you are doing your current method of operation actually moving you towards your goals? Okay? And these are your goals. Okay, great. Now let’s identify the gap and what it’s going to take from where you are today to get to that point. Here are the five things that we’re going to do as a result that’s just going to be something that you know as part of the strategy that’s going to help you get there. And it’s the then time that you’re going to be doing it is the time investment to be able to see those things come to fruition. So that’s another big thing, is the patience. Actor in all of this? Yeah, yeah. And

Joey Loss  30:03

I think that’s why you know on both sides you gotta, you gotta enjoy the ride, man. It’s not just like, when people come and they’re like, oh, I want to retire in 10 years. And I can already tell, just from a few details, like it’s going to be tight. I already know that part of our work together is going to be what’s wrong with right now. Like, here’s a good example. I’ve spent a lot of time working with doctors and lawyers. They’re very high powered, high paid professions, and when they get to their mid 50s, you know, obviously they have senior roles, they’re making a lot of money, and they’re working their butts off, and they’re just obsessed with retirement. This is a gross generalization, but I noticed it happened and and so they come to me, and we start, and we’re talking about retirement, right? They’re like, just, what’s my number? What’s my number, what’s my number. And I’m like, that’s not really how it works, but we can find a number, you know, and start talking from there, but the real work is in what can we change so that the obsession with that moment goes down? Like, what is it about that moment that’s significant? It’s like, well, there’s this meadow of joy that just exists only after that. And the truth is, that’s not true. You know, there’s life is on the other side too. So what? What can we change? How can we play with how much you’re working or how much you’re doing this and that, to find a happier middle ground where, yeah, you’re going where you want to go, but you’re also not hating the ride and and almost every one of those cases, people fell back in love with what they did, if we just figured out a way for them to do it less, and then they got less attached for doing it. And and for those professions, especially, a huge part of their identity. 45 years into a career like that is wrapped up in the profession, there’s a depression that waits for them on the valley of leaving it behind overnight. And so a lot of them worked into their 70s, and they just enjoyed

Jay Dotson  31:54

it. Yeah, that’s that’s great, man. That’s awesome that you get to work with your clients like that to help uncover the real root problem that they might be experiencing. And for us, that’s we’re always talking with our clients about, right? Like there is an exit one day, right? Like we are building towards an exit. We try to get things aligned towards that exit, whether that’s in 10 months or 10 years or whatever. But so many people find that it’s not just the exit and the number, right, like it is, like that exit operationally, that helps them realize that, Oh, I really like this. It’s just a matter of, I didn’t like my relationship with it, right? And so that that’s really cool, though, how you get to work with your clients on that deep of a level, to really help them, you know, understand that they really do love what they they do, and it’s not an obsession, you know, just with a number. Like, to Yes, to finally retire. Like, I don’t know, maybe this my, uh, me, me being naive, but like, I don’t know if I ever really want to retire, like, if I’m honest, like, I just want to be able to, like, always be doing cool projects with people. I want to do them with. And so I could never imagine just being retired and not doing something. Always want to be investing in people and and and being around people. But for me, it’s, creating that time margin, like, if I was putting myself back in the shoes of your client, of what you were just talking about, like, It is that time margin, that freedom to be able to not just do what I want when I want to do it right, like, but to actually be able to pick and choose what projects and who I want to, you know, spend my time working with to build really cool things. I don’t know that everybody’s different, but anyway, I just thought that was really neat, man. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah,

Joey Loss  33:48

well, I love that you parlayed it back to business, because I think it’s the same. It’s really the same. Like the exit matters. We got to do it at some point. Lot of people don’t. They literally die and have never exited. That’s a disaster every time. So it is something that needs to be planned for. But, but, yeah, I think, you know, you got to enjoy the journey. And there’s just so much to discuss there. And every stage of life is different. Every stage of business is different, and there’s just so much to unpack. We’re all we’re all changing all the time. Yeah,

Jay Dotson  34:19

can we talk about the exit for a second? Though, I think it’d be like, what is really neat is as part of the exit, right? Like, even if you feel like, whether you’re exiting in two years or 20 years, let’s take the example for somebody who’s like, Oh no, I’m just operating in this and probably won’t exit for another 20 years. It’s like counterintuitive a little bit, but like, if you prepare for exit now, like one that just explodes your increases your valuation because you’re doing all of the things to get you out of the business, because a business is worth more when it doesn’t require. Or somebody to be doing everything, and it could be either semi absentee or absentee altogether. So but you end up finding out in that that you get the time margin back that you really love. And so it’s like the win, win. Even if you aren’t looking to sell right now, do the operational things to sell so that you can, you can have that mindset, so that you can then work yourself into a place to where you have that freedom, you have that flexibility, and your business is worth more today as a result. And you’re set up for whenever you want to have the option to sell. And maybe that that timeline gets pushed down from 20 years to 10 or to eight, you’ve done the work, you’ve created the time margin in your business, and it’s worth more today as a result, because of you’ve operationalized so much of it that it doesn’t require you every day to be doing all of the things that you might be doing.

Joey Loss  35:56

I mean, if you do all those things, you’re going to love your job again, too. You’re

Jay Dotson  35:59

going to love it, because then you get to work on your job. I mean, you get to work on your business, versus just actually, you know, doing all of the work in your business. And that is such a freeing place, when you can take, you know, the 30,000 foot view and be able to plan what is it going to take, you know, in order for my business to go to the next level in instituting those things versus just like, fighting fire to fighting fire to fighting fire, and this person screwed it up, and you gotta go fix it, and you gotta go, you know, that’s never a great relationship to have with your business. So that’s where we always encourage people, like, even if you’re not looking to exit, like, let’s set up all of the things that we can do to help you really create that time margin in your business to and as a result, I think you’ll see that you’ll you’ll love the business, and it’ll be worth a good bit more as a result that somebody else would be willing to pay for,

Joey Loss  36:50

for sure. And it puts them back. You know, they can go, they can spend. You keep talking about time margin. I love that phrasing. You can spend it how you want. You can go back in the laboratory and figure out new arms of business, or you can travel and enjoy your health, because that’s like a resource everybody forgets about. You know, once you hit your 50s, you hope you got 25 years of moving around and traveling with all this money if you’ve been working really hard, but you may not have it. Yeah? So you got, you got to create the margin. You got to create the space to do it. Yeah,

Jay Dotson  37:16

it’s a reality for all of us. So yeah, thankfully, I think we, you and I have got a little bit of time before 50, but we’ve, we’ve certainly got, it’s the ever present reality to to enjoy now, because you never promised tomorrow. So

Joey Loss  37:32

for sure, well, let’s, let’s talk about, as a last topic, let’s talk about our journeys doing all this stuff we’re talking about, which clearly we’re both, you know, passionate about it, navigating it ourselves, with young kids and family and and all of that. So can you tell me, you know, what has that been like for you from day one to where you guys are now? Yeah,

Jay Dotson  37:56

so I’ve got an awesome wife. I just she has been so sacrificial in this season as trying to grow a business. And so shout out to you, if you’re listening. Yeah, just so thankful for the sacrifice, because it is so hard in the survival stage where you have to, absolutely have to, you know, grind as it is, it takes a lot of grit, it’s a lot of sacrifice to actually be able to build the thing that you want to build, and to get this thing off the ground. And so it becomes easier over time, like once you start to get past that survival stage, and it requires a little bit less of you. But when it’s just you or you and a small team, like, it takes a whole lot. And so I think in terms of family, like, communication is probably the biggest thing, is that I wouldn’t be able to do like, my wife wouldn’t be so on board with everything if I was just, like, not telling her proactively, like, Hey, here’s what this is going to be like in this season. Like, I’m going to go to at least, you know, X amount of breakfast meetings to meet with people. So that’s going to mean that you’re going to be up with the kids earlier than I am. And I was just like, oh yeah, tomorrow I’m doing that, and the next day I’m doing this, and not, like, clearly communicating the expectations for, hey, this season is going to require a lot. Here’s what I need. Please tell me what you need so that we can make sure that we both agree to a plan that’s going to work, right? And so I found that to be really critical for me is to just have to be very, very proactive in my communication with my wife. And it always doesn’t work, like I’m not, not always the best at this the other day we like just a moment of vulnerability here, if you wanted to, you know, throw a throw your whole weekend off, as I’ve traveled every month for, like, the past three months, and I was about to travel again on that Monday, and I just threw out there to my wife. Hey, did I tell you about the July, you know, meeting that I need. To travel forward. She goes, You’re kidding. So I don’t always have it right, like you’re gonna, you’re gonna screw this up. But all that to say, I think that just over communicating, making sure the expectations are really clear, is is a really big point, and make sure, you know, for me, I’ve got two young boys who spend all day with their mom, and so by the time I get home, I’m I’m like, phone is is on the countertop, I’m not looking at it, and I’m giving like, two hours of, like, uninterrupted just play time and trying to be there for them. Because, you know, this is such a critical time for them, too, that I want to be known as a dad that was super present and loved his kids and that they felt that I was always there. So I don’t know that’s a little bit about, you know, trying to navigate, like, all the struggle of the survival stage with also, like, balancing the family life and all of the responsibilities that you have at home. Yeah, that’s

Joey Loss  41:02

That’s so great. The for listeners who want to hear, like, my full story of that, you can hear it from me and my wife in episode two. Oh, that’s so cool. We talk about the whole, I was like, if I’m gonna have a podcast or I’m asking people to be authentic, I feel like I gotta for sure, so it’s not just my version. She can call me out, right? And so we dig into it there. But yeah, I love how just the importance of intention is so crucial. And the truth is, I know just from how you talked about potential, like, that is a thing that doesn’t turn off. I have that too, and it’s like, you gotta decide, like, next two hours, it’s done. I’m not doing it. I’m not looking at it. Everything will be there tomorrow. Yep, you know, it’s critical, yeah, you

Jay Dotson  41:47

got to do it. I mean that there, you’ve got to be able to communicate. And I think when just the expectations around, like, when I think about, you know, I’ve carved out the time lot the time blocks, right? Like I talked about the five to seven is, like, that’s a non negotiable for me, that, I mean once in a while, like, if absolutely necessary, okay, I’m trying to communicate that early as as early as I know, but like, that is a non negotiable for me, that, like, I’m trying to get that intentional time with my with my kids, like, and then for the morning time. Like, I know that I’m going to get up with them in the morning, right? So, like, what does that look like when I have all the other things that I need to do? Like, I’ve got to be prepping documents for my my meeting that’s going to be happening tomorrow. And like, that looks like you just, you know, grinding, if, like, grinding it out and making sure that you’re able to, like, get all that work done, while also keeping your non negotiables in place, right? So, you know, it’s, it’s hard, but, like, even there are times where I hate that my wife has to go to sleep alone while I go and, like, work in the office, you know, in the guest bedroom for until midnight. But that’s what it takes at times in the survival stage, and then making sure that you’re working on yourself too. Like, for me, I set it a goal recently, like past three months, to really start focusing on my health and exercising and working out. So the only time margin allowed for me was, like, at 430 in the morning. So it’s like, Well, Frank, my goals are worth more than my present pain and my present lack of sleep, and I’m just going to start living that reality now. And so, you know, I just decided one day and that was it. So you’ve got to be able to to work on yourself, make sure you keep your commitments to your family, because that is absolutely the most critical part of it’s all. Why we’re doing this right is for the future. You know that future dream for your family and being able to be there for them both in financially and present, you know, in person and, you know, being there. So yeah,

Joey Loss  44:08

it sounds like you’re on that Jocko willing plan.

Jay Dotson  44:10

I’m trying, man, I’m trying. You know, I don’t know if I’ll ever be as militant, but certainly trying to be more disciplined in my life, where I feel like I had lacked in in seasons past, I’ve said, No more. I gotta, I gotta be the new person. So I don’t want the same person that I am today to be who I am in 12 months from now. So So Jay,

Joey Loss  44:32

how can people connect with you or follow you and see what you’re working on?

Jay Dotson  44:36

Yeah, so my company is called prosper CFO, and like I said at the top, we do CFO advisory, accounting and tax. So our website is prospercfo.com you can find me on LinkedIn as well. We’ve also got a resource that’s available to your audience who are business owners. It’s called The Seven sources. Of cash.com, the number seven sources of cash.com and what that is, is, if we were to ask most business owners, or many business owners, how do you increase cash in your business, the obvious answers that would come to mind would be, let’s go get more clients, or let’s reduce our expenses. And while that is true, and that’s actually only two ways to increase cash in your business. There are really seven ways that you increase cash in your business. And so we’ve what we’ve got at seven sources of cash.com. Is a calculator. It’s a Google sheet that we’ve built. All you got to do is put in your email, and what that’ll allow you to do is you’ll make a copy of that, and you’ll be able to stress test your business. You’ll put in about seven, seven or eight different inputs about your business, and be able to determine what is the you know, if you were to make a 1% increase to your price, what does that mean to your profit, as well as your cash flow and your valuation at the end of the day? So it goes through all seven different sources. And I think it would be really helpful for you to really understand where are the biggest opportunities in my business. What am I missing currently, and how can I start to move towards creating more cash in my business so that I can scale to the next level?

Joey Loss  46:18

Well, Jay, this has been a pleasure. I’ve learned a lot, and thanks for coming on, man, I really appreciate your time. Yeah, thanks

Jay Dotson  46:24

for having me.

Joey Loss  46:31

Thanks for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show and share the episode with friends or family that may find a conversation helpful or interesting. Show Notes and episode transcripts are available on my website at flow financial.com/podcast, I want to give a special thanks to Bo delicens for the music explorer and to the podcast man for producing the show. We’ll see you next time

Disclaimer  46:55

The Wealth Unplugged Podcast is sponsored by Flow Financial, Joey’s Registered Investment Advisory offering Financial Planning and Investment Management services to clients across the United States. The opinions voiced in this material are for general informational purposes only, and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual security to determine which investments may be appropriate for you consult your financial advisor prior to investing. This information is not intended to be a substitute for individualized tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor regarding your specific situation.