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Going into business for yourself can be a rewarding endeavor, both financially and for your soul. Unfortunately, the reality is roughly 96% of businesses don’t make it past 10 years. Why is this? Profitability. They just aren’t profitable enough. Join WTR as we interview Thor Conklin, a profitability coach and host of Peak Performers Podcast. We discuss how to make your business more profitable, with great tactics. Sometimes the tactics can even apply to your personal life. If you want success in business and life, you must become profitable. This conversation could open the door to saving your business before it’s too late.Ingenious tactics to accumulate wealth, for people who see things differently.Thor Conklin[email protected]Peak Performer PodcastFaceBookLinkedInTwitter Read Full Transcript Transcript[[Post Kevin Dumont I've been seeing things differently the well fill for well over 10 years today I'm joined by a guest Thor Conklin Heath or how are you today.I'm doing well man thanks for having me on. Fantastic! Glad to have you here looks like the season is warming up finally, for us. I'm sure it's warmer Where You Are. It is. Atlanta, Georgia.Excellent! So Thor Conklin is an entrepreneur, maybe a serial entrepreneur. I don't know, should I say?Yeah, recovering serial. excellent profitability consultant host of his daily podcast Peak Performers Podcast.Thor would you mind sharing a little bit of your backstory for our listeners you know where you got started I kind of got to where you are what things,play shake your philosophies along the way.[and the first one I just got a filling and it was interesting becauseplay came to me and said hey would you set up your own company and manager portfolio is a private Equity Firm on a worldwide basis so is a great opportunity not many entrepreneurs got to get their start that way so I was very fortunate.I'm one of the things that I was focused on from the very beginning is the notion that profitability is really what drives an organization without profit she don't have the excess Capital needed to grow the business the higher the team that you need to,she's so often that I was going to get wrapped up in this ego of okay.I've got this one revenue and I'm buying a bunch of do dads and at the end of the month the end of the year there's really nothing left over so,really on a mission to help individuals North really understand finances,and that what it really means to drive a profit and then take that profit invest that and grow it.Right right so profitability that's where you're probably Consulting comes in right direct from what I know from talking with you 96% of businesses will fail within the first 10 years right and then.Really the big reason all that failure is lack of prophets so I'll before that do survive.[Maybe pay a little bit of a wage to the owner right shareholders below-market Valley returns so this sounds like this is the problem here right.[but if you're in the right Market in you're producing the right profits that's really what it's all about you. Sometimes I get a lot of flack on social media it's like all you know there's more to life than just Prophetsyes there is absolutely but when you have the profits you can do a lot more look at philanthropy.That doesn't happen unless somebody made a profit and had the cash then donate and do something great with it,this notion of you no profits are evil will I contend that no profits are evil you know and I really.Got wrapped up in this NN really what how this last business was bornWhatsApp of a disaster I had a manufacturing company was multimillion-dollar company dead industry to be in low marginswas just always a cash flow disaster and it finally got to the point where I was reaching $1000000cash loss in the business and I just said this is just insane it just got to get my ego out of this and sometimes you're just not in the right business,and the right segment so you can do everything right but you don't like today who out there wants to buy a taxi cab company.[right but go back 15 years in New York City you know the medallions that you had to buy that little license at you stuck on your tab actually even rivet it on to cancel.We're going for Millions.Times change markets change and you've got to be flexible and change with the same thing with investing you know some of the top names today.In 10 years are they still going to be around maybe yes maybe no but there are things Kodak right Investments.[Toys R Us Toys R Us there you go used to love going to that store you know my son was a little younger I'd bring him there and they just stats.You can't do that anymore get out of your head.The only reason of business is closed so profitability whether it's in a business or,personal is very very important what are the things that I do with my clients is I had them treat their home life and their family life or family budget,spending you know I don't like to talk about budgets I like to talk about spending plans you know nobody wants to be budgetedso what I prayed for my client has a spending plan I how much money is coming in to drop it until these buckets the mortgage the rent the credit card the kids snow food and clothing Etc.And then just spend whatever in that pocket in each week as you get paid $50 goes into the kids budget.[and it might be the kids keto food money order,when we track and we measure we keep track of what we're spending.You start to do something it's like last month we spent $400 going out to eat,I really want to go to Disney World this year next month instead of going out to eat we just take that money and put that into her vacation bucket and when it's all laid out there.It becomes a family project if you're married and you got older kids it's like come on,come on in let's sit down on a Sunday once a month and look at where we're spending money and where we actually want that money to move intoit's a great way to figure out what's coming in what's going on and where it's going out and you can direct and I encourage everything that comes in should be spentbecause there is a bucket there for investing as well.That investment pocket then gets spent or invest it into some sort of asset.Right right. So I agree we talked about that to hear a lot I will have troubles both having buckets to put your money in and it helps to separate.[hopefully we'll bring a return but there's a risk.And investigating on the side you have some guarantees there so you can't lose your money or the value of your money and then you can get into things separately to like attacks buckets. buckets. It helps to strategize a little bit like that too.When you're trying to think it's proved how you going to manage your money right we're all my clients the first thing that we do we take out the pot money.All right and what is not a reference to marijuana that is I want you to take out the prophets first compensation and take out the taxes.Once you remove those three things out of your business every single week what's leftovers the money to run the business but what are those businesses do.[Many think that the dollar is actually profit right it's not pretty sure that's a profit you've got it then pay all the expenses to run the business and then at the end of the monthif there's anything left it's like that goes to the ownerwe don't have any tax money we don't have a prophet money take those things out first run the business on what's left just reverse it flip it upside downthere you go so that's one strategy to helpmanage the profits of the business raining at home rename those profits taxes if you are an employee or having the taxes taken out of your paycheck but dropped into the shepherd the bucketsthe quick story when I was my daughter's now 24 when she was in high schoolI'm at that's great you know what job are you going to get just like no no I want you to buy it for me I said I thinkI may have confused you or your confused.Yes we're going to go to school you know this is not fair I'm like well I guess you were born into the wrong familyI said what I will do though I said you are student and that's really your number one priority what I will do though is I will.[they suck this is real world she said what what am I going to do I don't have a job.Pictures of babysitting and swim lessons and all that sort of thing in the car payment was $200 a month I said I'm going to give you a $200 a month job,and the job is at the end of the month you have to prepare a balance sheet and a profit and liability statement for me.And it's due on the 5th of the following month if I don't get it by V you don't get paid.[rice pot Bulldog price so she hated it cheapest about itand she didn't get paid or 200m like I need the $200 car payment or I repossess it real world againfast forward she hated the process but you know what,she started to understand where she was spending her money because she had line items every time she took his money and every time you spend money.[It was a great lesson to understand where the money's coming in from where you're spending the money and couple years later she turned around she said you know Dad that was one of the best lessons that you ever,as a young there you go excellent learn where it's coming from and she's going to be ready for.Yeah whatever face is her if she goes into business herself she's already understand it you being a profitability Consulting you already understand that you know a lot of business struggle with that so.[we all know that at the earlier we start doing this with compounding interest in everything in our investments the better off we are but you know sometimes to start to get that money that savings account or that savings percentage shop Hilltop in Michael withall my clients is to get them to 50% of what they're taking homeas savings and Investments and of course you just can't come right out of a block and save 50% so my clients that is unusualif you don't have any savings or Investments at this point is a credit when I called a 1% savings club and that is a month one,take 1% of what you take home put that into your investment of your savings bucket whichever you guys recommend.Next month make it 2% 3rd month 3% just increase it 1% every single month it is so easy to go from nothing,and to get that up to 15% 20% 25% bright harder after that right right.[and it's just 1% a month 1% one and then you look back and it's like you know what this really wasn't that difficult it's when we try to make these,significant changes that's what it could be that's a great value bomb right there yeah very nice extremely helpful is that 1% of the time.You're not going to really seal it that way it's it's it's like you know when you're cookingyou know you just turned up you know things in your budget.The bleeding right right exactly what you talked about that too I thought you going to stop the police first I'm so lit right nowhelp them with probability and wealth building.[[Investment or business mistakes that had Financial consequences to you in your lifetime.[[[[And you lose half of it and down to 50.You've got to make 100% return yes you're right you're right so powerful you can limit the downsideyou'll win on the upside exactly it's not the homeruns it's the strikeouts that kill usin exactly two and we talked about that a lot here will have troubles to avoiding the losses you have a lot more long run than you could just chasing razor return it's just like you.If you're golfing what's the club that more than likely is give me the one that's going to win it for you.[Yeah yeah those are the ones that put it out of bounds I don't think I've ever put a ball out of bounds on my putterI might have once when I was learning one or two in the lake but but.You swing for the fence is it goes out of bounds and now you just incurred a penalty stroke so what do you do.Did you take the safe shot out and just take your medicine.Or maybe a bogey or whatever.It just starts the compound itself.[how do you start taking a risk your approach cuz you want to make up for it cuz you said you were gaining whatever you're getting before now you got to double it.[[Do you have any lessons that you learned from interviewing them that you could share with our well that the rebels that might be useful for them it's interestingpractice is profitability salting I do business coaching in my Lane that I service are entrepreneurs that own their own business,they're making a half a million dollars a year or more in personal income so they're running a business between two starting at two or three million dollars.And then that I work with the large you know hundred-million-dollar organizations.The most successful clients over the years that I've worked with.Is there currently out there hitting those singles right there trying to figure out how to improve.They're always looking tracking measuring and adjusting their looking at their numbers weekly daily,they're on top of the numbers they know what's driving the processing know what's changing and the other thing is is that many.[If you go back centuries that real estate has always been a very popular wealth-building model price.If you're listening to this podcast in the United States and I'm not a real estate investment Guru by any chance I'm just I'm just telling you what I see.[for the capital gains is a game-changer yeah absolutely every time you exit a stock,right what are you doing you think Applegates the powder of a dry powder the investment opportunity assets that you have to reinvest.In real estate it doesn't work that way,digital Advantage is also from a depreciation,I stand here before you not as a failure in taking my own advice on this because I really didn't understand the power of real estate when I was younger.Over estate really diving into it and understanding it and how you can build wealth over decades.Don't avoid it look at it understand it study it become an expert in it for men to slim yeah it is a lot ofis a wealth of information I but I've done some I'm always do you know you tell if my people formers are always learning always I'm always learning am always expanding you know.I've always believed in that I've always done that my entire life and I.[Sir I know I'm an old guy you know how to go to the library to get information books that I read and now it's.He's going to phone logs everywhere these experts everywhere this forums there's podcast videos.[

