The Entrepreneurs Radio Show 093 Barry Moltz

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW

Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

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Episode 93: Barry Moltz

In this episode, Travis speaks with successful entrepreneur, renowned speaker, and best-selling

entrepreneur Barry Moltz. Barry's radio show and the multiple books he has written helped

thousands of entrepreneurs unlock their business potential. He also shares his wisdom through

speaking events and mentoring, and does all that he can to reach entrepreneurs and help them

achieve success in their business.

Travis and Barry discussed various topics such as Barry's top 5 things to focus on to help get

your business going. Being passionate in your business, letting go and allowing your employees

to do their work, keeping track of the important data in your business, focusing on the customer

and getting their feedback, and knowing when to stop and when to keep going are some of

Barry's tips that business owners can use. They also emphasized on the importance of getting

unbiased and truthful advice from mentors. These and so much more are what's in store for

listeners in today's episode of the Entrepreneur's Radio Show.

Unlocking Your Potential

Travis: Hey, it's Travis Lane Jenkins welcome to episode number 93 of the Entrepreneur's

Radio Show, a production of rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com. Today, I'm going to introduce

you to entrepreneur Barry Moltz. Barry is a business rock star that gets business owners

growing again by unlocking their long forgotten potential with decades of entrepreneurial

experience in his own business adventures as well as consulting countless other entrepreneurs.

Barry has discovered the formula to get stuck business owners unstuck and marching forward.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about Barry's top 5 things that you should focus on to

help get your business going. Now, one thing I want to cover with your before we get started is I

want you to listen, and I've mentioned this a couple of times at the risk of being redundant but I

think it's worth repeating. I want you to listen to each person that I interview in their journey to

success. The reason why I always ask how they found success is I want you to be able to

deconstruct the path of success for you. And you'll notice that each interview is different,

although you'll come to see that there's several common denominators for success with each

person. So, listen close and take what applies to you in your current situation. If something gets

by you, then just listen to the episode again. I assure you, this will help you fast track the

success of your business. Let the show become part of your private mastermind that helps you

find that next level of success. I believe strongly in the circle of five which basically means that

your income, your success, your everything becomes the average of the people that you spend

http://www.rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com/




the most time with, or the five most common people that you spend the time with, or the five

people that you spend most time with. I'm not saying that exactly right but you get the point.

Spend time with us, with me and the guest, and let's give you the tools that you need to ramp

your business up to the next level.

Also, be sure and hangout with us until the very end because as always I have some inspiration

with you. Although before we get started I want to remind you that you can take the interviews

with you on the go with your phone, with your iPod, or whatever, through either iTunes or

Stitcher. Now, Stitcher is a great resource for those that have the Android phone, and then of

course iTunes is more of an iPhone, or iPod solution. Just go to

rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com and click on the iTunes button or the Stitcher button on the

menu bar. And what it will do is it will take you directly to the show, instead of you trying to go to

each of those apps and search, which is not very easy at all. So, now that we've gotten all of

this out of the way, let's go ahead and get down to business. I'm excited to introduce you to

Barry. So, without further ado, welcome to the show Barry.

Barry: Thanks for having me.

Travis: Man, I'm excited to spend some time with you.

Barry: Glad to be here.

Travis: Yeah. Listen, do you mind giving us some of the back-story of how you transitioned into

where you are today and how you found your success?

Barry: Sure. Over the last 20 years I had 3 businesses. The first business I got kicked out of,

the second business, I went out of business, and then the third business I finally sold. And when

I sold that business and made some money, paid back the bank, the million dollars I owed them.

And I got my wife back. She said no more businesses for 10 more years. So, I just started to

write, and speak, and consult, and do my own radio show, and I've been doing that now for the

last 15 years.

Travis: So, what did you have to figure out? What did you get right the third time?

Barry: Well, I think what I got right the third time was really I had the right partner. Because I'm

a really big believer it's not what you do, it's really who you do it with, and it also happened to

help that this was 1999, the height of the internet bubble. So, people were buying pretty much

anything.





Travis: So, how does that correlate into the business when you say people are buying pretty

much anything? Are you talking about a product, or a business, or what?

Barry: No, I think that timing in business is everything. I'm very much into it. You got to work

hard but there's got to be luck and timing. We had an internet business and people found a lot

of value in internet businesses in 1999. And so therefore we're able to sell that business. Now,

that business today wouldn't be worth anything because it really was a mail order and online

catalog business. And today, Google and Yahoo! Bing take care of that.

Travis: Right. So what you're describing as far as the luck and timing is the business maturation

cycle. So you jumped in early into the cycle when it was extremely profitable. And that business

just wouldn't exist anymore now, right?

Barry: Right. We actually morphed it because we originally started in the early to mid 90's as a

mail order catalog business which had been around for-- these kind of businesses had been

around for a long time, except we're doing it with scientific and techno products where you just

couldn't go to a store or log on to the web at that point to buy a product you wanted. The only

retail software store was Egghead and they weren't about to sell a statistical software package.

And then we morphed it in the late 90's to come on to the internet to match the technology for

distribution.

Travis: Interesting. So now, what was the name of that company, the third company?

Barry: It's called SciTech.

Travis: SciTech. And do you disclose what you sold that for?

Barry: No, I don't.

Travis: Okay. But it was a large enough sum of money that it allowed you to not need to get a

job immediately, right?

Barry: Right. It really allowed me to go say, now what do I really want to do next, and what I

decided to do next was really speaking and writing. And of course any career like that does take

time to develop so we can become lucrative. But 5 years after I sold my business I had an angel

investment organization. And so I kind of got my hands involved with that. And then we closed

that after about 5 years, and that was from about 2000-2005.




Travis: So, you started the angel investing 5 years after or you closed it 5 years after?

Barry: No, right after. We ran it from 2000-2005.

Travis: So you got out of the angel-investing end of things?

Barry: Yeah, I did after about 5 years. One is I have a very short attention span and no one

really wanted to take over, and I didn't want lead anymore.

Travis: Oh, okay.

Barry: And I wanted to focus really more on writing and speaking.

Travis: So, the problem of the right brainer, right?

Barry: Yeah, exactly.

Travis: The highly creative. I had to learn left brain skills to ramp my business up to levels,

although later in life, I'm 48 now, my desire is to hire a left brainer, let him run all of that stuff.

Barry: Sure, if you can find him it's great.

Travis: And that sounds to me that's kind of like what you're talking about. Listen, if nobody's

going to manage this group of people I really don't want to be doing this, right?

Barry: Right, exactly. And again, I'm a really big believer in any kind of business, you got to

know when to hold them and when to fold them. So I think that's important.

Travis: One of the things I really like, are you the one that comes up with the title for all of your

books?

Barry: I do. I'd hailed from one of my mentors, Rieva Lesonsky and she really helps me a lot on

titles or headlines as they say.

Travis: Yeah. I love the titles. Your first book, You Need to be a Little Crazy: The Truth About

Starting and Growing Your Business, I love that.

Barry: Yeah, well it's funny because we had a big argument about it, and she said you need to

be crazy or you need to be a little crazy. And the publisher thought that unless we put a little in,




then people would get insulted. But as I go around the country the last 10 years talking about

that book it's kind of like, well, we don't need to be a little crazy, guess what, we need to be a lot

of crazy.

Travis: Right. Well, you know, the older I get and the more I look back at it, the more I realize

how crazy it was.

Barry: Yeah, for sure.

Travis: And so, I went out on my own, quit my job, and at 24 and was going to make my own

living. And that seemed like a risk but not that big of a deal. And looking back, the mountains

that I needed to traverse to get there. Business is kind of like mountain climbing, not that I'm a

mountain climber or anything, but I've climbed over hills and I think, "Oh, we're almost there. It's

just that one next hill over there."

Barry: Exactly.

Travis: You get down and you get on the next hill, "Oh no, wait a minute, it's two more hills

away." And that happens over, and over, and over.

Barry: As I describe it my next book, we always think that next customer, that next employee,

that next product we're going to come out with. That's really what's going to be the tipping point

for us. And I think if you talk to a lot of small business owners, there really isn't a tipping point,

it's a lot of small decisions with small progress to get to where you want to go.

Travis: Yeah, I'm jotting this down. I completely agree with you. It's a combination of taking

actions and then those actions coming together. And something that I've noticed about online

businesses is if I had to put a percentage to it, it's about 10 times harder to get it to take flight

and become successful, than an offline face-to-face business. And the reason why I say this,

and I want to share with you my thought, and then of course you can tell whether you agree and

think I'm crazy or not. So, my first business I knew very little. And we dialed it in very fast

because I knew how to sell. Now your customers or your prospects don't always tell you the

truth, right?

Barry: Of course.

Travis: Yeah, and so, I could dial in what I was getting wrong and what I was getting right by

their tonality, their inflections, their response, whether they got their wallet out, all of those




things. I can really dial it in. And it was an old school way of AB testing almost, it's much less

scientific. But I paid attention to those things and I could quickly dial things in and get what we

were doing successful in a very short period of time where you don't have that quick turnaround

or that interaction and everything online, or businesses that are trying to monetize things online.

Do you have any experience with that and do you agree with that?

Barry: I think that people think that it is easier but I agree with you, it really has its own

challenges because believe that creating a relationship with someone online is different than

you want to do it in person. But I also think that it does open up a tremendous amount of

opportunities. So, just like anything else, you got to find the pain that the customer has and the

people have the money to solve that, that's what it comes down to.

Travis: Right. So let me name all of your books and then we can dive in to any place that you

want to there. Again, I love the titles. So the second book is Bounce: Failure, Resiliency, and the

Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success, love it. Third book, Bam: Delivering Customer

Service in a Self-Service World, love it. Your fourth book, Small Town Rules: How Small

Businesses and Big Brands Can Profit in a Connected Economy shows how when every

customer can talk to every other customer it's like living in a small town. Your reputation is

everything! It's a long subtitle but it definitely makes sense.

Barry: That's right. Well, I also have a fifth book that's coming out next month, it's called How to

Get Unstuck: 25 Ways to Get Your Business Growing Again. And the original title of that book,

and we've changed it because we got so concerned about it was-- It was supposed to be called

Why Your Business Sucks: 25 Ways to Get It Growing Again. But we decided to go with a little

common title.

Travis: I like Why Your Business Sucks.

Barry: Yeah, some of the folks that sponsor me weren't really crazy about the title. So that was

a concession to them buying some advanced copies.

Travis: People are funny, they don't want to be seen buying something like that.

Barry: Right, exactly. Buying a book that says, hey, my business sucks, right? We have to do it

like in a brown wrapper or something, kind of like 50 Shades of Grey.

Travis: Yeah, exactly. So, of your books, which is your most favorite?




Barry: Well, I think your first book really tells kind of your life story. In other words, a lot of

people say, "Well, you got your whole life to write your first book, and then 2 years to write your

second book." Each of the books was written for a specific time in my life and my experience.

So the first book was I want to go out there and I want to tell people the story that guess what,

starting a business Travis was not a get rich quick scheme. Remember, it was released in the

early 2000, people thought, "Hey, all I got to do is write a business plan. Someone's giving me a

million bucks." And I wanted to show people that hey, having your own business Travis is really

worthwhile. But guess what, it isn't easy. I did the second book after the crash, saying listen,

how do we have people bounce back? Because I was really upset by the idea that there was

always value in failure. People always say failure is so important, there's so much to learn. And

the idea in that book was failure just is for small business owners. Sometimes it's something

learned, sometimes there isn't Travis. But the idea is that you have to be okay with failure, have

a pity party, learn what you can. But let go, so you can take another action, so you can bounce

and get another chance at success. So, those were really the first two ones that I wrote. This

last book I wrote really is what I've been talking about is how business owners get unstuck.

Because I find, after someone's been in business for 3-5 years, they really do get stuck. The

business is not what they thought it was going to be and they can't move their business forward.

So I discussed 25 ways that people get stuck and what are the solutions for those are.

Travis: Interesting. So, I found, and I've been an entrepreneur for 24 years, and I've said this

before. I feel like being an entrepreneur is the best self-improvement program I've ever taken.

Barry: Cool. I like that.

Travis: Because it causes you to dig deep and try to overcome your weaknesses. I think what

you're talking about with failure that there's not always a lesson in failure. Sometimes failure

happens when you're doing everything right but it's just the wrong time or there's conditions that

are beyond your control that completely wipe you out, is that what you're saying?

Barry: Right. And you know, sometimes, again, people emphasize that failure's good, there's

always something learned, and I believe Travis, that keeps people stuck in a failure mode.

Learn what you can, have a pity party, but then let go, take another action so you can land in a

different place.

Travis: I agree with you. But I've had incredible levels of success, I've just never had the

wisdom or the foresight to sell it like you.

Barry: It's luck and timing.




Travis: But I was busy off celebrating and doing all of the stuff that comes with those trappings

during those periods of my life. But finding my purpose, finding who I am, and all of the

meaningful lessons have been learned in loss and failure. I will agree with you in one aspect of

that, I was useless to myself and everyone else. The longer I held on to that failure the longer I

let it own me. Is that what you're saying?

Barry: Absolutely. Again, I think sometimes there's something to learn, but sometimes we can't

learn what we need now, and sometimes it's just things. So for example, when my largest

customer was indicted by the government, what did I learn, I shouldn't do business with

criminals, right? There was really nothing to learn there right? Maybe we need to learn is that

guess what, you need to diversify to makes sure that one large customer can't wreck your

business. But mostly, 80% of business usually comes from 10 customers in most small

businesses.

Travis: Right. So basically, shit happens and some things--

Barry: Yeah, again, have a pity party, don't get stuck in that failure mode because we only talk

about our failure Travis after we've had success. No one wants to talk about their failure when

it's going on.

Travis: Yeah. I'm reflecting on everything that you're saying. I want to be present for this

conversation and I'm looking back and reflecting. I guess loss is an embarrassment until you

made it back, right?

Barry: Right, exactly.

Travis: And so--

Barry: And then the deeper, the worse it was, the better, right?

Travis: Yeah. Good point. That's the stuff that movies are made of, right?

Barry: Exactly.

Travis: So the majority of your knowledge has come from building these businesses. Now, I've

written quite a bit and not nearly as much as you. And I know that an incredible amount of depth

and perception comes with writing. How much deeper did your knowledge go on building




businesses once you went down this path of writing this book? Were you maybe at an 8 and this

writing took you to a 12. Does that make sense to you?

Barry: Yeah man, I think that when you have a chance to reflect on what's happened and not

just have to be tactical and respond every single day, I think that you can deepen your learning.

And that's why I always recommend people to take some time out every day, every single week,

every single year for you to reflect on what's going on. I think unfortunately, so many times,

technology pushed us to go faster, and faster, and faster, and we don't take time to actually sit

back and say, "Okay, now what have I just done and where do I really want to go?"

Travis: Yeah, that makes sense. And so, these books I guess are they just emblematic or

stages that you were at your life?

Barry: Well, it depends. Also, what was going on in society. So for example, after the crash in

the early 2000 I really wanted people to understand is guess what? You can come back. I wrote

the book on customer service because I really saw when social media came out that customer

service is really becoming the new marketing because reputation is everything and because

geography is no longer a factor when the only differentiating factors that we have for small

business is our reputation. And our reputation is carried by our prospects and customers. And

so that's truly why I wrote the customer service book and then small town rules. So, it really

depends on what I was facing, what people were telling me, and really what was going on. And I

had to get to number 5 because I needed a complete set.

Travis: Well, of course you got to have a complete set. I don't know if you realize this, but this is

a fire hose of information for some people, right? Or actually I think for a lot of business owners,

because they just haven't spent-- One of the common problems I find with business owners,

and you hit on it just a little bit here a minute ago is we're so busy being busy that we don't have

time to expand ourselves on these other topics here. And so, what you're talking about in the

flow sharing with us, is hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of hours of thought, and

contemplation, and writing, and all of this other stuff. And most people have not done that inner

work. Are you aware of this gigantic chasm here between what you're talking about and where

most people are?

Barry: Sure. I have the luxury to be able to get paid to go out and speak in front of audiences

every single week and meet small business owners. They tell some incredible stories that really

give me inspiration for my writing. So, it's an incredible advantage to meet all these people in

the United States and different countries around the world.




Travis: And so, does that give you a feel of how big that chasm is from what you're talking

about, because obviously you're a high-pace guy, so this stuff just flows from you.

Barry: Yeah, so for sure, and what I'm really hoping is that people pick one area that they can

improve on. I think too many times people read a book or listen to a podcast and say, "God,

here’s 5 changes I want to make." And I'm saying, "No, just don't do that." I call it striving for

minimal achievement which means let's focus on one thing at a time, change that, make an

improvement in that one thing and then move on to the next thing. You have more of a chance

to make a permanent change.

Travis: Right. So, building a successful business and scaling it is analogous to putting together

a desk that's got a 160 pieces. And where a lot of people go wrong and they just don't know is

they put the wrong piece in the wrong order. And that's a little bit of what you're talking about is,

yeah, you can improve these metrics over here, or you can take these things that Barry just

talked about. But right now you really need to get your website up first. Everybody's got a

unique situation, and there's so few people out there that focus on what the individual needs

rather than selling them what they have, right? Does this make sense?

Barry: Yeah, you got to really decide what's in the critical path of your success and choose a

couple of things to do this week, today, this month, whatever it is. Because we are a multi-

tasking society unfortunately, but I really do believe it reduces our productivity because we feel

busy but we don't get a lot of stuff done.

Travis: Yeah, without a doubt. There's 10,000 things going on. For me I like to insulate myself

in a place each day to where I'm uninterrupted. I love music but I don't turn the music on. It's

quiet, I'm writing, I whiteboard things out, I think things out. I spend a lot of time thinking on the

next steps in planning and strategizing rather than occupying myself with these 50 different

things. And I think that's one of the biggest problems with a lot of business owners that you just

touched on. Now I think that you should find, and I'd be interested to see if you agree with this. I

think you should find a mentor, someone you like, someone you trust, someone that has

achieved what you dream of and have them consult you. And it would be ideal even if they don't

have anything necessarily to sell you other than the consulting because they'll focus on more of

what you need rather than trying to sell you widget A, B, C, or D. What do you think of that?

Barry: Yeah, I think that's a critical point. If you go out and you talk to small business owners

they will tell you that the most important decision they've made that really contributes to their

success is finding a mentor. And one of the 25 reasons I mentioned that people get stuck is

because they don't ask for help. I'd been very fortunate, I write about it in the new book that I've




had several mentors. And they could be paid mentors, they could be unpaid mentors, but find

someone that you can talk to, they can relate to, they had been through similar things that you

are going to right now, a key step for yourself and your development.

Travis: Right. And so, what I see is a person may talk to a really good Google PPC guy and ask

his advice. Well, his advice is going to be Google PPC. And, it's like the old saying, a surgeon

wants to operate on it.

Barry: That was right.

Travis: A physician wants to talk to you about it, and the pharmacist wants to prescribe you

something. And it doesn't even have to be any maliciousness going on there, it's just that they're

recommending what they know.

Barry: That's the lens they see life through.

Travis: Right. Whereas someone that has built a symbol, that proverbial desk at least once and

hopefully several times. They have a picture because as you get further down the road you

really start seeing things much more clearer on why you should have done this or why you

should have systemized your business. You've written all of these books that speak about

business and the many aspects of the business. What do you think are the top 5 things that

people should be focusing on in business?

Barry: Sure. I think one of the most important thing is you got to make sure that whatever you're

doing you've got passion for it. Because guess what, the thought of making money isn't to keep

you warm on those really, really cold days when everything seems hopeless, you got to have a

passion. The second thing is you got to find a group of people really to work with. We can't grow

a business without having a team and leveraging their time and expertise. And the 3rd thing

really is that you got to make sure you don't lose track of the financial statements and the cash

flow. Business is not about making a profit, it's really about increasing your cash flow. And I will

tell you Travis that when I sold my business in 1999, and I had an MBA from Northwestern

University mind you. I lost a million dollars in the sale of the company because I didn't

understand every single number on that balance sheet. And that's one of my personal missions,

that people have to be able to read their profit and loss statement, they balance sheet, their

cash flow statement. If they can't they got to find someone to help them.

Travis: Right, good point. How about, do you have a 4 and 5 that go with that?




Barry: Oh, I always have a 4 and 5. You got to make sure that you really do focus on the

customer, because in the end the customer is going to talk about you, right? Reputation is the

new marketing. If you don't have a good reputation through social media, through blog sites,

whatever it is, you're not going to be able to grow and expand your business. That's what I

would say that number 4 is. And I would say number 5, I would just think that you really have to

understand when you should really keep going and when you should quit. A lot of people don't

really want to quit but many times, I can't remember who said it, but, if you're digging yourself in

a hole the first thing you have to do is stop digging. You have to know when you should hold,

when you should fold them. Right? You have to know when it makes sense to keep going. Most

people think they can sell their way out of anything, but for a lot of businesses it makes more

sense to close it up and try to start something fresh. The person that knows that really has a gift.

Travis: Okay. So, I've jotted this down and you've done a great job of explaining them. But I

want to go back to make sure that we drive these home to everybody that's listening. And I want

to make sure that I've done a good job of taking notes here. So, you've got to have passion. Let

me give you an example and see what you're feeling is about this. My first business was home

improvements and I wasn't necessarily passionate about home improvements but I was

passionate about being the best and doing the best. Is that okay?

Barry: Yeah, I think you have to be passionate about some aspect of the business. So in my

last business when I sold scientific and technical software, I wasn't necessarily passionate

about the software but I was passionate about working with my partner in an industry that was

very, very fragmented and I was passionate about bringing that industry together. So there's got

to be some part of it that you really, really like. But I just don't believe that you can say, "Well, I

can work in cleaning and I also can work in fixing cars." I think you got to choose what aspect of

that business are you really passionate about.

Travis: Right. That completely makes sense, because I think a lot of people believe that you got

to be passionate about the business means it's got to be the hobby that you dream of you got to

turn it into a business. While that would be nice, that doesn't always work. So I found other

aspects of the business that I could be passionate about. And then I turned it into a game, and

everyone that the company focused on that and we had a good time, we laughed, we

challenged each other, and we were passionate about being the best in hitting certain goals.

And that made that business extremely fun for me while I worked in it.

Barry: Right. Which I didn't really understand is it's not what you're doing Travis, it's always who

you're doing it with.




Travis: Right.

Barry: That's really the key. And again, I was not that passionate about scientific and

technical software, but I really, as they say, grooved with the guy that I was working with.

Travis: Yeah, great point. Okay, so find a group. Does this mean a group, a staff, or does that

mean people that you bring in, teams, or what, or both?

Barry: I think you got to find, as they say, other lunatics like you. People that believe in you and

believe in what you're doing. This could be one person, two person, five person, depending on

what you're situation is. But what's really important is that somewhere along the line, and this

could have been number 5, you really have to go from a hub and spoke kind of organization

where every decision comes through you at the center of the wheel to something that's much

more hierarchical. That you have to let go of some piece of the business. I remember a

business back in the early 90's before there was the internet. I always wanted to open up the

mail for the company. Because I felt like if I opened the mail for the company then I really knew

exactly everything that was going on, because most things came through the mail back then. I

had to give that up when the company got to 10 or 20 people. It's just wasn't practical you'd

open up the mail anymore, right? And that was really tough. And I think you're only successful if

you let other people really do their jobs.

Travis: So, you call that letting go, right?

Barry: Yeah, you got to, you got to get to something that's much more hierarchical.

Travis: And I consider that systemizing. You systemize things and then let it go.

Barry: And that's an excellent point because if you think about it, why is McDonald's one of the

most successful franchise in the country? Is because they have a system. Your systems are

probably one of your most sustainable competitive advantages.

Travis: Right. So, in systemizing things people used to bring everything to me. And when I

finally say, "Listen, you're not picking up on how I'm making my decisions. Let me write it down

for you. If this equals this, then do this, or if it equals that then do that. If it's over a $500

problem, then bring it to me, or whatever it may be." But it basically took me out of 90% of the

operations, and then over time I found a way to take me out of 99% of the operations, just by

systemizing and letting go. Okay, so going back to 3, keep track of the numbers. This is a




lesson that I learned the hard way. I focused on top line growth, right? And I've come to realize

that that's really a vanity number.

Barry: Right, absolutely.

Travis: And so we'd gather around and have a party over bumping sales by 15-20% or

whatever, and I come to realize that I needed to drive my business from the accounting

windshield of P and L's. Is that what you're talking about, keeping track of your numbers?

Barry: Yeah. I think one of the most important things you have to keep track of is really the cash

flow. At the beginning and then at the end of the month, do you have more cash or less?

Because let's face it, cash is what drives a business. Businesses go out of business because

they don't have enough cash. And in order to understand the cash flow statement, you’ve got to

be able to read the income statement, the profit and loss statement. And I will tell you, as I've

gone around the country, only about 75% of the people can read a P and L, about 25% can

read a balance sheet, and only 5% can read a cash flow statement. And that is what we're

talking about, If you look to the past you'll know what's going on in the future. Most people say,

"Well, I don't need to go look at those numbers, I know them intrinsically in my head." Guess

what, the numbers in your head are not the same things than actually what they are.

Travis: Right. Well, for me, I have those numbers reported every single day. I know sales, cash

flow, I know everything. And at the end of the day those numbers are sent out to me, and I

believe that every business should know this. You should know how many leads you took in,

how many qualified-- you should have a dashboard that's sent out to you on a daily basis. Do

you agree with that?

Barry: I agree. Again, you don't necessarily have to all singing and dancing to get started. Start

with 1 or 2 metrics that are really important for your business, and then go from there. I think

some people say, "Well, I can't really get started until I have everything perfect." Well no, you

start building incrementally.

Travis: Yeah, great point. Okay, so, focus on the customer. That's a simple statement that I

think is worth going deeper on that. What I view it as, and you can correct me is engineering an

incredible experience for your client all the way through. All the way at the beginning of

acquiring them to delivering the service all the way up to follow-up and ongoing relationships.

And everything is engineered around an experience that I would be proud of and that I would

expect if I went through the business and paid people for this. Is this what you're talking about?




Barry: Yeah, it's so funny because I think a lot of folks would say, yeah, we could bring in

customers. But they're so internally focused, they never really find out what customers are

thinking about. And too many people fall to the trick of, well, if we don't hear anything I guess it's

good news. Or we'll survey people and they'll tell us what they think. Well, guess what, that

doesn't work because the only people that answers surveys are the ones that are really happy,

the people who are really unhappy, or the people you pay for the answers, right? And so, you

got to constantly be outwardly focus, what does the customer really want, how is it shifting, are

we really meeting their needs, not just what we want to do.

Travis: And so, how do you feel like the best ways to do that are?

Barry: Well, I think one of the best ways to do that is through listening to what they're saying.

Give them many opportunities to give you feedback. Depending on your kind of business that

feedback may be through email, or calls, or text, or social media. Always be listening, always be

asking, and make sure that when you do make a contact you respond to it. Customers realize is

that you always can't fix the problem. But what they do really insist on is being listened to and

having some kind of empathy.

Travis: I have found that most customers are more impressed if you bobble something and then

respond immediately, show that you care, than a flawless experience.

Barry: Yeah, I wouldn't bobble things on purpose, right?

Travis: I know that it sounds crazy.

Barry: Yeah, because one of the problems is there's a lot of dissatisfied customers that you'll

never ever, ever hear from. I always tell the story, there's a franchise in Chicago called the

Great American Bagel. And I went over there and I bought a dozen bagels, and when I asked

them to slice them they said, "Well sure, that'll be an additional 5 cents each." And I was like,

"What, to slice them? I'm already paying you a dollar a bagel." I never complain to them and I

never went back, and I've told that story over a hundred times.

Travis: Right. Yeah, I completely agree with you. For me, when I'm delivering it, number 1, I

want everybody in the company to have skin in the game so I like to set a company up in a way

to where everyone is focused on the bottom line. And the bottom line is not just squeezing the

customer dry but making them happy and profitable. And so, if you're really focused on what

you're doing, you know when you bobble, right? And so, rather than waiting for someone to get




angry or pissed with you, own it. I'm even talking about it, if you're supposed to be there at 3

o'clock, then you're going to be there at 3:05, call. Let them know.

Barry: Right.

Travis: And it's those things that show, wow, these guys are on top of things. He's calling me to

tell me he's going to be 5 minutes late. Well, to respect thing, right? And it sets that standard.

Barry: I agree with that.

Travis: Okay. So, let's see. Okay, understand your client, another I'll focus on the customer, we

just did that one. Understand when to stop or when to keep going. I think when you're in the

thick of things duking it out, it's hard to know when to stop or when to keep going. Because

you've got your blood, sweat, tears, everything invested in this, all the more reason to have

somebody that you trust as a mentor that can tell you that more concisely. Isn't that normally

where to get that decision from?

Barry: Yeah. I think that you need to have some kind of outside view of things and people that

really aren't afraid to tell you exactly what it is. I think sometimes when people have success,

they end up hiring yes people that work for them. And when you're trying to get advice from

someone who depends on you for their livelihood, you got to believe all that advice isn't

necessarily going to be, shall we say, impartial.

Travis: Right. And this isn't just another conversation to validate the need for a mentor. But I've

done that mistake when I scaled my construction business the first time to a gigantic size. I

ended up being surrounded by yes men, and I completely lost my equilibrium.

Barry: Yeah.

Travis: As crazy as it sounds it gets to where you can't even tell which way is up.

Barry: Yeah, absolutely.

Travis: And so, hopefully a mentor is somebody-- they're not relying on paying their house note

to advice you.




Barry: Right. Listen, when I go out and I do consulting for people I'm saying, "I'm going to tell

you the truth because you're paying me, but guess what, my livelihood isn't depending on you

keeping me or not."

Travis: Right.

Barry: So I think that works out pretty well.

Travis: Yeah, and it's worth overstating here because I want everybody to get that message

that you need somebody that's going to tell you the hard truth, and some of it hurts. But you

need to hear it. You'd rather get your feelings hurt a little and avoid driving off the cliff than the

reverse. And so, getting somebody that can pay attention to what's going on and can give you

the hard truth is well worth it. So consider that whenever you're thinking about having someone

advise you.

Barry: And remember, it doesn't mean that their point of view is right; it's just their point of view.

I really believe that you should necessarily adopt whatever someone else says, but take it as a

different data point from them, and maybe some several other people, so at least it broadens

your view of what's going on.

Travis: Yeah. And I've kind of moved away from some rigid beliefs from 10 years ago to more

of kind of a framework mentality. I think for me a framework is just something that gives-- if we

threw a blanket over, it could be magazine rack another, and it's just given some structure to

this. And it's not hard, rigid lines that everybody's got to follow because they really need to be,

I'm going to make up a word here, uniquefied for you and your business, and who you're

serving, where you're located, and all those other things. Rather than hard, fast truths that

everybody's got to follow to a very rigid level, right?

Barry: Let's be realistic. There's a Zen saying that goes, there is no truth outside yourself.

Everybody has their own truth, you just have to decide what truth is yours, whatever you want to

call it.

Travis: Right. Excellent point. So listen, we're moving through this so quickly here and we're

covering so many great things. What do you say we segue into the lightning round real quick.

Barry: Sure, of course.




Travis: Cool. So what book or program made an impact on you related to business that you'd

recommend and why?

Barry: The recent book that I read from last year is a book by Dana Ardi, it's called Fall of the

Alphas. And what I like about this book was it talks about how management styles really have

changed. There used to be that traditional alpha style where the boss would tell you exactly

what to do, they would threaten you if you didn't do it. And it was very autocratic in nature. And

now it really works, especially among small business is what she talks about is more of a beta

style, that people manage through collaboration now, not through threats and the more

traditional alpha style. So I think there's a lot to learn. And in fact Travis, women actually do it

better than men do. So, there's a lot to learn there.

Travis: Right. And now, who did you say the author was of that.

Barry: It was Dana Ardi.

Travis: That sounds fascinating, I'm going to check that out. Okay. So, what's one of your

favorite tools or pieces of technology that you've recently discovered, if any, that you'd

recommend to other business owners and why?

Barry: I think this ability to integrate social media feeds into your email is amazing. There's a lot

of gadgets out there that can integrate Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Twitter into your email, or you

can do it with Outlook too. So when I had get an Outlook email from someone, and I didn't even

know who they are. I see their picture from LinkedIn or from Facebook, and I can see their most

recent post. I believe this helps further a relationship with people rather than just getting a blind

email from somebody you have no contacts for. So I think that's an incredible opportunity for

most people doing business through email.

Travis: Interesting. And so, are you talking about just email as a tool, or are you talking about a

specific tool?

Barry: No, I'm talking about these add-ins to email right now. You can get add-ins for Outlook or

for Gmail that actually give you the ability to link in from a specific email address to match it with

their profile on LinkedIn or Facebook. And I think that's an incredible advantage.

Travis: Interesting, okay. I guess I'm not familiar with that. Is there a specific tool that you use

that for?

http://amzn.to/1n0y8Ke






Barry: Sure. So for Gmail there's always different gadgets. You can just go on their gadget add-

ins. And for Outlook, there's a specific thing that you can turn on in order to make that happen.

I'd just do a simple search, it should work out okay for you?

Travis: Does anybody use Outlook anymore?

Barry: I use Outlook 365.

Travis: I figured you were going to say that.

Barry: I can use it anywhere. And I have to tell you, the transition from XP to Windows 8 was

surprisingly easy, and Microsoft doesn't pay me to say that.

Travis: I always joke with people about Outlook. I used to use Outlook but I quit using it 6-7

years ago. I just thought it was something that kind of went by the way side there.

Barry: Nope, still works really well. I've been using it for a lot of years and all the stuff's still

there. No I use the online version.

Travis: Cool. So what famous quote would best summarize your belief or your attitude in

business. It really doesn't need to be famous, but a quote that represents your beliefs.

Barry: I use this quote, and really above the dedication of my new book, and it's one from

Robert Frost, which is "The only way out is through." And I really believe for small business

owners. Times will get tough. You'll get stuck in the mud. But with perseverance you can get

through. And once you get through there always is something else on the other side because

you're in a different place.

Travis: I like that because in my experience I hate living with fear. And there's times where I've

had to overcome different issues with fear. Now, I don't struggle with fear as much as several

other people that I know. But everytime the answer to the struggle with fear was to hit it head on

and go through it.

Barry: Yeah, exactly. A lot of people in our society say, "You shouldn't have fear, you shouldn't

be afraid." I say, you got to be afraid. One of the best Dale Carnegie classes I've ever took was

one on speaking, and they said, "Listen, we're never going to make those butterflies in your

stomach going away, we're just going to teach them to fly in formation."




Travis: Right.

Barry: And I thought that one really made a lot of sense. I tell people, "Go ahead, it's okay to be

afraid, realize you're afraid, and go do it anyways." I'm afraid a lot, but I try to go forward and get

to the other side, and I think that's really important. Now, I have a second favorite quote if I can

mention that Travis.

Travis: Yeah.

Barry: Now, that's my favorite quote for the year. My favorite quote of all time is "Love every

one, trust a few, and paddle your own canoe." And I love that quote because I think we should,

in general, give people the benefit of the doubt because very few people in business, your

personal life, you really should take into your inner circle, you should trust. But in the end, you

really have to paddle your own canoe. It's up to you to make sure you're successful and happy

in your life, not anybody else.

Travis: Words of wisdom. Definitely words of someone that got several years of experience.

Because the longer you live the more you realize that, that is a complete truism.

Barry: Absolutely.

Travis: Excellent. Man, you are brilliant, and a lot of fun Barry. I've thoroughly enjoyed this

conversation. I could go on for hours with you. There's just so many different things to talk with

you about. How does everybody connect with you?

Barry: Well, people can go to my website which is www.barrymoltz.com, or on all the popular

social media. My ID is just Barry Moltz, and we'd love to connect with you.

End of Interview

Travis: Excellent. Thank you very much for that. Listen, I want to remind you that you can find

all the links to the show notes and everything. If you go to rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com I've

placed the links to everything that Barry suggested. And there's just kind of a brief summary of

the show notes there. So, that will help you fast-forward, or if you want to reach out and connect

with Barry, all the links are right there.

http://www.barrymoltz.com/





Now, before I close the show today I want to remind you that building a profitable business is

really a series of formulas. And as you apply those formulas, your business your profits become

very predictable and you start building long-term wealth. This is what moves you into a position

to help others, which I believe is part of our responsibility as entrepreneurs. If you haven't

reached that level of consistency yet with your business and you'd like to learn how it's done,

we've put together a free program called the Business Breakthrough Sweepstakes where we

focus on teaching some of the formulas in a simple step-by-step format so that you can

customize it to your own business. This is what I've used to build several tiny local companies to

multi-million dollar businesses. Also, to add a little fun and excitement to the program, if you join

the sweepstakes and stay engaged you'll have a chance to win $73,000 in cash and prizes,

where I'll personally mentor you and your business. Plus, you'll have a chance to win my

personal Lamborghini. For more information go to rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com and click

on the sweepstakes promotion. And that basically covers it.

One of the things I was thinking is instead of sharing my quote with you for the day like I

normally do, I want to go down another path. I want to tell you something that I think you

probably may not hear very often, and that is keep up the hard work, what you're doing as an

entrepreneur matters more than you may realize. No matter where you are in your journey, even

if you're just starting out what you’re doing matters on so many levels. I know this could be a

lonely venture at times because more often than not you're surrounded by people that you love,

although they don't truly get the blood, sweat, and tears that you've put in to your business. To

build it, to dream it, to execute it to all those things. So I just want to give you a word of

encouragement to hang in there, you really are an inspiration to those around you, as well as

future entrepreneurs. And for some crazy reason, very few people ever recognize that so I just

wanted to recognize that for you. That's basically all I have to say for this episode. This is Travis

Lane Jenkins signing off for now. To your incredible success, take care my friend.





How We Can Help You

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Travis Lane Jenkins

Business Mentor-Turn Around Specialist

Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show

“Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your

Business"

http://www.rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com/biz-accelerator

http://theentrepreneursradioshow.com/

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

The Entrepreneurs Radio Show 093 Barry Moltz