Building a BOOMIN Business_ Smarter Systems, Bigger Profits, More Freedom with Kevin St John

n this episode of "Chat with Nat: Conversations That Count," host Natalie Kime welcomes Kevin Saint John, founder of Boomin Business Solutions, to discuss the realities of entrepreneurship. Together, they explore how small business owners can overcome overwhelm, boost profits, and reclaim their time by implementing smarter systems, focusing on profit over revenue, and building strategic partnerships. Kevin shares actionable strategies for scaling sustainably, empowering teams, and achieving work-life balance, while Natalie emphasizes the importance of financial clarity and intentional planning. Listeners are encouraged to audit their business systems and connect with Kevin for expert guidance.

What you'll hear:

• Entrepreneurship and small business challenges
• Strategies for business growth and increasing profits
• Importance of financial understanding and profit margins
• Transitioning from technician to CEO mindset
• Implementing systems and automation to reclaim time
• The role of strategic partnerships in expanding revenue
• Cost control and pricing strategies for profitability
• The significance of niching down and identifying ideal clients
• Leadership development and employee empowerment
• Holistic approaches to business success and personal fulfillment

Contact Kevin: https://boominbusinesssolutions.com/

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Transcript

Natalie Kime 00:00:00  Welcome to chat with Nat. Conversations that count. The podcast where real conversations meet real life. I'm your host Natalie Kime an entrepreneur, financial professional, caregiver, and an advocate for living fully. This show dives into the stories and strategies that shape who we are and how we thrive. You know, most entrepreneurs start their business to gain freedom, but somewhere along the way, the business starts running them. Today's guest helps flip that script. If you've ever felt buried under operations, stuck chasing clients, or unsure where your profits are really going. This episode will show you how to build a business that finally works for you. Of course, before I jump in and introduce our guests today, I've got our money tip of the week and it is to audit your automation. So what does that look like? I want you to look at every repetitive task you or your team do weekly, from onboarding to invoicing to follow ups and ask, can this be automated or delegated? Because a simple automation can save 5 to 10 hours a week.

Natalie Kime 00:01:15  If you value your time at, let's say, $100 an hour, that's 500 to $1000 in regained productivity every single week. The truth is, time is money and the right system is your secret raise. I want to jump in and introduce you guys now to our guest this week. Kevin Saint John is the founder of Boomin Business Solutions, where he helps small business owners uncover hidden opportunities and build smarter systems for sustainable growth. His mission to help entrepreneurial entrepreneurs make more money, reclaim their time, and reduce the stress that comes from trying to do it all. Kevin, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you here today.

Kevin Saint John 00:02:02  Hey, Nellie. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

Natalie Kime 00:02:04  Yes, I'm excited for this conversation. You know, I think especially since Covid, there's been a whole different level of people looking at entrepreneurship or taking a small business that maybe they had on the side to the next level, and being able to replace that 9 to 5 and create a legacy for their families.

Natalie Kime 00:02:25  And that's what you special in those specialize in, is those people who want to get to the next level, who want to streamline what they already have, but then really create something that leaves a mark on this world. Right? There's the legacy we leave behind for our families that's financial or whatever, the love, all of that kind of stuff. But there's the legacy we can leave on the world, too, and I think that's what's really special about what your company does is you help people create that impact. So I'm going to jump in just with our very first question, and let's just kind of talk about what you do.

Kevin Saint John 00:03:00  I'm good.

Natalie Kime 00:03:01  All right. So what exactly does booming business solutions do to help small business owners?

Kevin Saint John 00:03:08  Yeah. So we help small business owners get to the next level, just as you just mentioned. Help them get past those breakpoints. So we help them grow their revenue, their profits put systems in place to allow that business to run without them. At some point, we take them from being a technician to an entrepreneur or the worker to the CEO, and we help them do that with several different strategies.

Kevin Saint John 00:03:30  But essentially, like I said, we will take them or they'll take their business, and we like to uncover a hidden profits that that's already in their business. We focus on profits. Revenue is super important, right? I believe that, yeah, but revenue is sometimes we say feeds the ego and profit will feed your family. Right? It's what you're taking home every day. So we're trying to get those multipliers from eight, ten, 12% to 2030% and beyond. So really putting in their pocket and taking home more than they're paying out, so to speak. so that's, that's that's really where we help them do it and help them with, what business owners want leads, conversions, transactions. You know, that sales is really the backbone of a lot of businesses. And, you know, client making sure they're following up with clients, taking care of their clients, have good leadership in place if they have employees, a lot of stuff to be able to delegate some of those responsibilities that they are kind of taking on all at once.

Kevin Saint John 00:04:24  So we help them put systems in place that that assist with that.

Natalie Kime 00:04:28  I love that, you know, the fact that you pointed out that difference between revenue and profit. I'm a Shark Tank fan. and if any of y'all listening, watch Shark Tank, that's one of those are two of the questions they ask what your revenue. But then they say, are you making a profit? Right. Because people going in there, they're looking to scale their businesses. They're looking to do those things at like this crazy level with an amazing partner and whatever, but that's what matters. Not you can be. Your revenue could be huge, but you might not be actually making money.

Multiple Speakers 00:05:05  Right, exactly. Exactly.

Natalie Kime 00:05:07  So when you have those conversations with people, what is that kind of look like? Because I think a lot of people maybe don't fully understand the difference. And so they think that there's more success. I shouldn't say success. There's more. well, I am going to say success there, having more success than maybe they really are.

Natalie Kime 00:05:26  When when you separate those two things and put measurements in place for both.

Multiple Speakers 00:05:32  Sure.

Kevin Saint John 00:05:33  It really comes down to leveraging your PNL, right? And, you know, things of that nature. Like what? And a lot of people think that, hey, I got to spend more money on ads or marketing or this or that. That's not necessarily the truth. Yes, we have to do some marketing, but there's no magic bullet or spending all of your your money on ads. There's a lot of things that we go into market dominating positions and making sure you have the right avatar and things of that nature. But, you know, just from, mis misunderstood pricing is a is a huge thing that we see with a lot of clients just how to price out their stuff. You know, you ask a lot of them, how are you pricing all my competitor prices this way. Well, what do you want to make? Do you want to make 35%. Do you want to make 40%? Do you really understand your pricing structure on how that works and how that delivers? you just mentioned about growth.

Kevin Saint John 00:06:16  There's growth and they're scaling. Right? So growth is you're growing growing. You're increasing your costs. You're increasing payroll. You're increasing all that stuff where scaling is increasing without increasing your costs. So there's two two kind of different strategies to that that I think are misunderstood as well. and making sure you're, you're coachable. So as far as, you know, coming in and saying, hey, let's take a look at your vendors. Let's say if we're working with an electrician, for example, right. They have all kinds of different vendors that they get supplies from and things like that. Are they overstock or do they have too much inventory? are they going over and negotiating their their vendors on a, you know, a yearly basis at a minimum. And I would take some work, but there's money right in that business that they're losing and money's going out the back door. So we're fixing those profit leaks. So you're auditing your current vendors and suppliers trying to get the best rates. You know, making sure you're you're you're checking your business insurances, making sure you're getting the best deal.

Kevin Saint John 00:07:14  I mean, insurance and insurance, you get the coverage. You get the coverage. I don't care if you're saving $100, right, $100. It's insurance. Right? Try to find, you know, where are you going? To save money and really leverage, you know that pnl to to whereas, hey, here's what I got in front of me. Here's how I can increase my profit without costing me any money. You know, when you run an ad, you cost money. We encourage joint venture partnerships, right? What that would have being as a landscaper, for example, instead of a landscape, are trying to do the pavers, do the irrigation, do the the the stonework or the complete rip outs. You're partnering with other companies and getting a 1,015% revenue share. That's you didn't spend any money for that lead. You're not stretching yourself out too thin. You're sticking with your expertise and you're getting a revenue share. Now, if you get five of those, that makes a significant impact.

Kevin Saint John 00:08:04  Rather than trying to do everything yourself and have all your crews and adding that extra stress. So this is just a couple of small things that we we really help them do. You know, packaging deals, you know, cross-selling and upselling all those things that, you know, from somebody taking a look outside, you know, can really help them with, as we always say, business owners are really good at what they do. An electrician or a plumber or chiropractor, whoever it might be. Yeah. But as they grow, you know, when you start running that business, you're dealing with taxes and payroll and all kinds of different compliance issues, HR that come along with it. That's a lot. people start a business for time, money, freedom, right? Yeah. So with that being said, what we see a lot of times is, I'm going to keep going back. Especially in the trades industry. They'll work for a company for for several years. They go out on their own and they get big really quick.

Kevin Saint John 00:08:56  They have families, friends, you know, they join networking groups, be nice chamber. So they get all this influx of business coming in, and then they're trying to do it all themselves. They're not hiring properly. They're not getting the right candidates. They're not screening the right people. And then they get stuck. They get stuck at those thresholds. Right. That's when you need to have these systems before you even start anything put into place. Do I have my CPA? Do I have my financial advisor? Do I have my payroll person? Do I have my bookkeeper? All that stuff that you got to let go of because, you know, I really start to ask, well, what are you worth, an hour? How much do you pay yourself? An hour. Right. And what is that going to cost you to do that? And then really try to back into the numbers and see what it's worth. so those are just all kinds of things that, that we can assist with and make sure that they have a strong foundation before they build the house.

Kevin Saint John 00:09:44  Right. Yeah. So making sure all those things are in place. many of them do. And you'd be surprised. Many of them don't. are you reviewing your panels every quarter, or are you just kind of put it in the the drawer and not look at it? Knowing your numbers is so critical. Your key performance indicators, all those things. Everything is measurable, right? Numbers don't lie. So like I said, we have systems and stuff that help with that. You know, no more missing leads and calls and automate. We set up automations, we set up all that stuff. So literally, a person go on vacation for a week or two and they can actually enjoy it, right? Not worrying about the business the whole time they're gone. So long winded answer a little bit, but kind of touched on what you were, what you're asking.

Natalie Kime 00:10:30  No, that was a perfect answer because I think you know exactly what we've already touched on. A couple of times. You get into business for yourself to create that time freedom.

Natalie Kime 00:10:40  But if you don't structure that business correctly, if you don't bring the right people in, if you don't let go of some of the responsibilities within your business as it's growing. It does the exact opposite. It sucks all your time at a completely different level than the old 9 to 5 used to write.

Multiple Speakers 00:11:01  So yeah.

Natalie Kime 00:11:02  I think those things are so important. You touched on a couple of things, and and I didn't really go into the background of how we met Kevin, but we, we met through a, a new mastermind group that we're a part of called the Moxie Tribe. So shout out to the Moxy tribe if any of them.

Multiple Speakers 00:11:18  Pop.

Natalie Kime 00:11:18  In to listen to this, but it is built to create those collaborations and to find those dynamic ways that through our businesses we already have, we can bring in more revenue streams. Right? Like they say, I don't know, a million people have probably said it. I don't know where it originally came from, but the idea that you you want to have seven streams of income, but you can actually when you structure it right, open up room for additional streams of income.

Natalie Kime 00:11:48  By those strategic partnerships and things like that coming through the business you already have, when you connect with the right people. And that's really, you know, what the Moxie Tribe is about. But how we got connected and we have these kind of calls where each of us from our area of expertise is sharing with the other. And you've touched on a couple important things in what you said when you talked about pricing. So there was a part of my career, my background is accounting and finance in corporate America for 20 years, but there was a few years there that I was that cost pricing specialist. I built cost and pricing systems for a couple of big corporations that I worked for. We were looking at what's margin. Now. I will tell you, both of the companies I did this where we're in the horticulture industry, the margins are very, very slim there. And if you don't control your costs, you will not be around very long. That's what it comes down to. But that really exists in every business.

Natalie Kime 00:12:51  If you're not controlling your cost, it's going to end up eating away at your ability to even maintain, let alone grow. Right. And then on top of that, when you think about pricing, you said, well, my competitor charges this. And I instantly thought of. But does your competitor give your customers or clients the value that you do? And so dialing in on your value proposition and how you can solve the pain points or help push growth forward through your company, is imperative because it's not always about I need to be cheaper than my competitor. I need to price according to what I offer, and then my value offer needs to incorporate that so that the price I charge is not where people get stuck. They're focused on what we can do when we partner together. Right?

Kevin Saint John 00:13:48  Absolutely. You nailed it. It's the value. Because you don't want to. If you if you drop in price and you're offering discount. Discounting kills all businesses, by the way. Discounting because they don't realize really what they're doing making double what they have to to make the same kind of profit.

Kevin Saint John 00:14:02  So you don't want to to your point, yes. Add value. What is your MDP? A market dominating position. Your unique selling proposition. Right. What do you value? What do you do better? Because at the end of the day, people want a solution. How are you going to help me? What is what are you going to do? And if you leave it right down to pricing, it's a pricing war. And a lot of times, you don't even want those clients who are shopping for the cheapest price, because those are going to give you the most work. So you really want to add that value, and you really want to hone in on who is my ideal client. Who can I help? You know, they have a they have a problem that they don't want in a solution that they that you have. So they want to make sure that hey, listen, you gotta get in the mind of your, your, your, your avatar's head. Like, what? What can I do? What are they thinking? What are they? It's not what I think you need or it's what they need.

Kevin Saint John 00:14:51  And like I said again, talking in their language. Like what? How do they talk? Not how you talk like it. You really can. We can focus in on that. And that's where going people waste so many marketing, so much marketing dollars because they're just huge in that, right? When you can really hone in on what you're looking for and how you can help a specific avatar or client, your ideal client, that's when you really can maximize your spending, maximize your office. So it doesn't come down to pricing. It comes down to, hey, here's what I do. Here's how I can help you. Here's the solution. And they're not looking for that. People will pay twice as much if they perceive, you know, four times a value. It just that's just how it is. It'll happen all day long. But you're you're Groupon people, your price shoppers. Those are the kind of the ones you really you know me personally don't not looking for.

Multiple Speakers 00:15:38  Yeah. No.

Multiple Speakers 00:15:39  And I think I.

Natalie Kime 00:15:40  Think that's important too, because when people start a business, right, we're grasping for all of the clients, right? We got bills to pay. We're grasping for all of the clients. But once you really once you get established, and especially when you're looking to grow, you've got to niche down into who am I? Yes, I might be able to help everyone, but the core of my business needs to be focused on this avatar, this ideal customer or client, and what their needs are. The rest can still exist because that's like the frosting on the cake, right? But your cake has to be solid. If you got a dry brick under a bunch of frosting and sprinkles, nobody's going to pay for that, right? So it's it's really focusing in on that. And I think that's the benefit of a business like yours. Is that because you focus on all those different components within a business to make sure everything is tightened down. There are systems in place.

Natalie Kime 00:16:41  Everything's running smoothly before you scale. You help people identify. Am I targeting that right? Avatar or ideal client? Do I need to make some adjustments in what I'm doing? But I think it also speaks to what you said, those those unique partnerships and things that you can help them to create. Because what if your, your ideal client does want A, B and C and you're the you're the expert at A and you do really good at B, but C's not your area. Well a lot of companies would probably just throw C in there so they could capture the client when there.

Multiple Speakers 00:17:19  Might.

Natalie Kime 00:17:20  Be somebody who's an expert at C that they could create a partnership with. Therefore they can add the value to their client. But that person who's an expert at C is doing it faster and less expensive than you because that's their primary focus, right?

Kevin Saint John 00:17:39  Correct 100. Yeah. 100%. Correct. And that's exactly what those joint venture partnerships are. So, so key. You know, you said it perfectly.

Kevin Saint John 00:17:48  one of the things like, for example, you have a, you know, the JV parties, you have a florist, right? If you want to kind of figure out who sells kind of in the same, the same customer as me. Like, what are they looking for? What is the floor? How does a wedding go out? Right. You get the the chaplain or the minister or whoever. They get the flowers, you get the cake, you get the rain, you get all that stuff. So those are sequence of events that kind of happening. So how hard is it to, you know, people want to go to, let's say, the jeweler. Who do you recommend for this? Who do you recommend for that? I recommend XYZ. They can even make like a little booklet. And they're all going to that one person. And each one of those people are getting, you know, 15% revenue share for not doing anything. That's free advertising. But those partnerships, you add those up, let's say the average cost of, you know, flowers, $3,000 or whatever, you get a 10% revenue.

Kevin Saint John 00:18:36  300 bucks. You're telling me you can't refer. You know, a handful of those out a quarter or a month? That's just all. But what does that do? That's. That's not revenue. That's that's just. That's your profit that goes right into your pocket. Right. So those are the types of things that we try to, you know, kind of think outside the box and really hone in on those relationships that you just mentioned. that can be I mean, we're not talking pennies or, you know, we're talking significant, you know, cash flow, with the right partners in place.

Natalie Kime 00:19:04  Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, I'm going to go down to the old adage, stay in your lane, do what you're really good at. If you if your customers need something addition to that, how do you find that strategic partnership to provide it by not. And then you don't add no cost but you pull in those extra profits. That's I think that's brilliant. okay. So there's a ton of business coaches out there.

Natalie Kime 00:19:28  There's a ton of marketing agencies. There's a ton of people like, I'll refer to myself. One of the things that I am starting to do is a lot of my clients are business owners. Now, I do have business owners who are already established. They're making multiple six figures, maybe even seven figures, and there's very strategic things I do for them. But I also have a lot of entrepreneurs that are the hands on single person in their business, and they don't understand the numbers. And I my entire career has been around numbers. My happy place is an Excel spreadsheet with a whole bunch of complicated formulas in it, and for a long time people have asked me, will you will you be my business coach? Will you be my business coach? And my answer has always been, get your life in health license. I'll coach you in my business, and you can apply what you learn working with me where I focus my efforts to any business. But honestly, I'm not the business coach. That right.

Natalie Kime 00:20:33  And I know some great business coaches. I'm like, if that's really what you're looking for. Look, let let's plug you into one of these places. It's also been my way of saying, no, you know, I've never seen myself as the encompassing coach, so to speak. But what I've realized is they do need to understand their numbers better. And so a lot of those entrepreneurs, Kevin, they they don't have a formal PNL, they have a checking account like what people do in their regular lives. Right. And I'm always saying, you have got to have a budget for your life, and you can't just manage your finances personally by checking if you got money in the bank or not. There's got to be a plan. Every dollar has to be assigned a job, or at some point you're going to get yourself into trouble. It's the same thing in business. And so I am branching out to where I'm helping some people understand the basic components of their business finances and create some of those standard financial reports so that I can turn them over to somebody like yourself or whatever kind of business coach they need.

Natalie Kime 00:21:42  To really get them that strategic next level. I'm not the strategic next level, but I do think there's a place I can be that bridge to help them take the next step they want to take, without feeling so overwhelmed that they don't talk to anybody because they know they don't understand the numbers. So all of that being said, what's different? Or how is the approach at booming business solutions different than that traditional coach, that marketing agency? Me just helping somebody see, okay, here's your numbers. But guiding them through what that really means long term.

Kevin Saint John 00:22:21  Sure. That's a great question. So going back to what you said, it's an all encompassing right. And I partner with experts. Right. So kind of like you're the quarterback right. And kind of delegating certain things, running the plays and helping them out. So where a lot of coaches, unless I've had coaches, I've had people doing stuff and a lot of them give canned advice and not using any systems or metrics to measure it or whatever else they're saying, get, get this, get that, whatever.

Kevin Saint John 00:22:45  We use proprietary software called profit acceleration software. And it's if you're if you're a techie or whatever, it's got 490 million weighted algorithmic sequences that runs all your businesses. Your answers through our system with AI and everything else is very sophisticated. it's constantly updated on a daily basis, but it is very interactive. So, for example, when we bring on a new client, there's no cookie cutter response, right? It's going to be, where are you today? What is your. And some people don't even know this. You know, what's your gross profit margin. What's your net profit margin. What's your annual revenue. What is all that. So basically so we ask them a series of questions. And we start out in 12 key areas of the business okay I mean this 40 that we go into but there's 12 key areas that we start with and it's interactive software. They, you know, they they log in, they have their own stuff. They have an online academy, they have everything, but it's showing real numbers plugged into real scenarios.

Kevin Saint John 00:23:40  So when we're interviewing a prospect that is coming in, it's where they're at today, where they want to go, what they're leveraging today. And every single time we've had a conversation, it's the same response. I never thought of that. I had no idea. So what we do at the end of that 45 minutes or an hour, we put out a Taylor 17 page roadmap. And between us, you know, the human touch and the software, we take what is most important out of those 12 areas and prioritize it, set it up to implementation timelines. So whatever's most important in your business right now, what you need the most help, that's what we focus in on. And then we go from there. So they're going to they're going to be taught and of course they're going to be taught by my one of the Boomin team. We also work with a some world famous coaches that they do group sessions with. We then we do the 1 to 1 to help them implement it. So we have different types of coaching, but we don't just have like that can response or just give them some information, run into ChatGPT and say, hey, how do you do this? And you know, some people say, well, we have ChatGPT.

Kevin Saint John 00:24:41  The difference between that is the accountability piece. Now, are they going to do it? We're all human. Life happens. Yeah, it's making sure it's being implemented correctly, making sure that I partner with people such as yourself, such as bookkeepers, CPAs, payroll services, people like that that can help out and make their job easier. Going back to what you just said a couple of minutes ago, the experts ABC, they do see very, very well. That's what they get paid to do. Yep. Like, you know, we we figure out what are you worth an hour. So do you want to pay X company this much or do you want to cost yourself two hours of work. So you really kind of bring it in perspective back into the numbers and really give them a clear in, you know, visual format with graphs and bars and charts and all that. Great words, whatever they need. So it gives them a clear picture of where they need to go. Because a lot of times, you know, I'm guilty of it too.

Kevin Saint John 00:25:37  Shiny new objects in them. Right. Okay, well, this is going to be the magic without you. I mean, how many times are you scrolling through your phone? AD agencies. This. We're going to do this for you. We're going to do that for you. We guarantee you this. We can't. And you just got to understand you've got to stay in your lane. It's like a GPS when you're, you know, let's say you're going to, you know, from Florida to California, there's going to be roadblocks. There's going to be detours, there's going to be stuff. But you need to have that GPS to keep you on track. And it's so easy to veer off. That's where we come in. We help you stay on track. We help you avoid that shiny new object syndrome. Hey, where are we? What are. Where do you want to be? What is your exit strategy? What do you want to sell for? What multiplier do you want to sell for? These are things a lot of times they're not even thinking of or a lot.

Kevin Saint John 00:26:21  A lot of times where baby boomers are coming up right now, oh my, my kids are going to take the business. A lot of times they don't want the business. Yeah, or they're not capable of handling that legacy that they built. Right. So we're helping them in all those different areas. So it's it's going back to what you asked. It's all encompassing and all different areas of the business from digital marketing, marketing, pricing, selling. Like I said, upsell, cross-sell. There's all kinds of different areas that we go into, that we're able to help and really show clarity on where they need to go. So that's what we call a roadmap because it's very well defined. If you stick to it and you implement what we say, they're proven strategies. that's, that's that's kind of how we operate over here.

Natalie Kime 00:27:06  I love this, especially when I look at it from my my perspective. Right. In financial services, people are constantly throwing money at problems instead of fixing the process, which in the end actually saves the money.

Natalie Kime 00:27:21  So not only are they not throwing extra money at it, they're actually saving money because they fix the process. They streamline things. Kevin, you're so speaking my language like I'm listening to you, and I'm trying not to throw my arms up in the air and, like.

Multiple Speakers 00:27:34  Do backflips.

Natalie Kime 00:27:35  And stuff, because, number one, let me go back to what I wrote down. Number one. Yes, you focus on the numbers, but you talked about getting into the nitty gritty of all the different components that you have, a software that can do that, that can prioritize the tasks that need to be done to reach the goal that the client has, right? So it all comes down to what what gets measured multiplies. We cannot be the expert in every area of our business. So if you want to just be self-employed and have a job that you own, that's one thing. There's probably still improvements you could do there, to be honest. but if you want to own a business, if you want to create time, freedom, financial freedom, and leave a legacy, that's a different ballgame, you can't do that all on your own.

Natalie Kime 00:28:22  Every coach needs a coach. Every business owner needs other business owners that they can collaborate with, that they can ask questions from that they can get exposed to new ideas, new opportunities. But the other thing you said that got me super excited. Well, there are two more things. The next one was that you customize and tailor every plan for that specific client. That's one of the things I tell all my clients. I'm not putting you in any cookie cutter financial products. What are your goals? What is your timeline? What's the number one priority that's going to create? The third thing you said that I got so excited about your financial GPS. I need to know where you are today. Not from a place of judgment that you didn't get this right or that right or the other right. I need to know the starting point. And that's what you're doing in that initial consult or that initial evaluation meeting, finding out where they are today. and then you find out where they want to be in five years.

Natalie Kime 00:29:24  Ten years in 12 months, in six months, if there's something that they need to turn quickly, or you might be the one identifying, here's what you need to do in six months. That's going to create the result you want in 2 or 5 years. Right. So that GPS, I need to know where you are today, where you're trying to get to. And here's the magic of the GPS. It doesn't mean your journey is going to be perfect, but a GPS is programmed to recalibrate when you get off track.

Multiple Speakers 00:29:53  And go, or.

Natalie Kime 00:29:54  There's road construction you're not expecting on the way. Oh, detour. Sometimes we get detoured and it's beyond our control. If you have that detailed plan like you're talking about Kevin, it's a game changer because it can circle around. It can identify. Ooh, there was something here we got to focus on or something in the market has changed or something in the client. Perception has changed that we didn't. You can't plan for those things. How do we recalibrate and then get back on track with the ultimate goals? Right?

Multiple Speakers 00:30:26  Yeah.

Kevin Saint John 00:30:26  Absolutely.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:27  Yeah.

Kevin Saint John 00:30:28  You just recapped that perfectly, but. Yes.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:30  Yeah. You got me so fired up. You got me fired saying like. Yes.

Kevin Saint John 00:30:34  So you understand it, and it's and it's and it's crucial to understand it, you know. I see these people, you know, in different networking groups and like, oh, I work 18 hours. I don't take a day off. I'm like, I feel bad for you. You know, it's not it's not like a badge of honor that you work and all that time it's like, so you have a job that owns you, and a lot of times your employees are making more money than you are.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:54  That's I.

Kevin Saint John 00:30:55  I know for me, anyway, that's not why I started a business. That's not why I started. I like to your point. You know, you want the time, money, the freedom to be able to have it operational, especially. Here's the thing. They're going to want to sell that business. Going back to that.

Kevin Saint John 00:31:08  Do you think it's somebody, an investor or somebody wants to come in and see a business where you're in there 12 or 15 hours a day and it can't run on its own and be sufficient? No. You want to see that person go away still continue to do well and better. So it's turnkey. They're coming into a profitable, well-run, well-established business, not the person that's doing the tech. You know, I call them the technicians doing all this stuff. But going from the technician to the CEO to really being, you know, and I heard from one of our tribe members, you know, the CEO, doesn't mean doesn't you might not be the best person for that. Yes. Somebody else. You have the idea, but maybe not the best person to be handling that. That's why corporations what do they do, big or corporations? They have CFO CEOs see that because they're better, but they have the vision. And then you help people put that vision into place. Now we're speaking on smaller scale, but still to the same point, right.

Kevin Saint John 00:32:02  Get people or get use your employees, you know, give them that empowerment. You know, have them, you know, solve those problems for you. Hey, listen, before you come to me with a problem so you have my phone starts ringing. Identify the problem, what would you do? And bring back three and tell me what you would do? Yeah, let them have that instead of running to you for every little thing of what's going on. And you'll be surprised, your phone will stop ringing. But it's being able to coach those people into leadership and giving them that excitement. You know, some people don't want anything to do with that, which is why the interview process is so important. You know, and having them interview somebody a few times, I don't care if they're a landscape or whatever. Then once because you're going to eventually see what that person is, you know. So I get into all that stuff later. But hiring, right, you know, paying them. Right.

Kevin Saint John 00:32:54  you know, it's really you know, we've seen the job market shifting right now. There's a lot of shifting going on in it. but there's a lot of different ways that we help people really create that structure, that it runs itself.

Multiple Speakers 00:33:08  Yeah.

Natalie Kime 00:33:09  And I think every business where you have employees, you do need the people that come every day and they just get to work and do their job.

Multiple Speakers 00:33:16  That's it.

Natalie Kime 00:33:17  But you need the people that can take things off your plate. And when you empower them, like you were just talking about Kevin, here's what happens. They don't just start coming to you with solutions. Hey, we're running to this, issue in our department, and here are a couple ideas. I have to fix it. They actually come to you and say, oh my gosh, because we streamlined this, I identified this additional opportunity that I think could exist through what we're already doing to bring in additional revenue, additional profit. You're going to have those people in your business actually opening new doors for your business because you've given them them that ability, that autonomy to not only do their job, but to also have their own vision for the company and bring that to the table.

Natalie Kime 00:34:06  So I think I think that's absolutely amazing. you know.

Multiple Speakers 00:34:12  We.

Natalie Kime 00:34:14  Well, let me start with this. When you talked about being able to take a week vacation and really being gone, I took two days this week. I have a girlfriend that hit a milestone birthday this year, and she planned a big trip and invited all her girlfriends to go out of the country. And for me, I'm not traveling out of the country this year with my parents and everything. I just felt like I'm traveling, but I'm I'm staying in the US. And so I told her though, look, why don't we do a little staycation? So I took her down to Waco, Texas. It's like a two hour drive from here in the DFW area. We went down there, we got a little Airbnb. We went to the same bookstore three times because she loves books. We went to a little, shopping place, Spice Village, down there, but I, I when I travel, I am not good at unplugging.

Natalie Kime 00:35:05  And part of that is something that's just in me. I always want to be thinking and doing, but I think that I always want to be thinking and doing comes from something subconsciously that's like, you need to be doing that, right? And so I'm starting to recognize I've got to really unplug. And so I was very strategic. There were only a couple of times a day I was picking up my phone and looking for urgent things I needed to respond to. But other than that, I was present, and I made a little, real that I posted on social media yesterday saying, man, this is what time freedom really is. To be able to unplug and know your business is still running. My team members are taking care of things. My partners who know I'm out of town can step in and fill in the gaps for me. And so that's an absolute game changer. I love that you touched on that aspect. And then the other thing I was thinking too is like, you know, when you're working with somebody coming in to buy your company, you're in there 50, 60, 80 hours a week, and they're like, here's what they're thinking.

Natalie Kime 00:36:03  Number one, I've got to work those hours. Or number two, I'm going to have to throw a whole bunch of extra money at this business once I buy it, to put processes in place that don't exist. So both of those can be huge turn offs. And in my mind it just related back to even in corporate America, you said sometimes your employees are making more money than you. I remember, I remember the day I got that salary job and I'm like, I have made it. I have a salary. It's over six figures a year. But I was in finance accounting, which means month end, quarter end, year end budget season, forecast season. Typically, I would work 50 to 60 hours a week. During those times of the year, it was often 70 to 80 hours a week. One time, Kevin, I sat down and calculated my hourly salary, and I think that was the moment the seed got planted, that someday I'm going to take control of my life, my time, and create my own business because I realized my employees were making significantly more than me because of the hours I was putting in.

Natalie Kime 00:37:12  And so, you know, even if you're somebody that's living in your wilderness, you're like, is there another side to this? There absolutely is creating that, that that business of your own, chasing that dream, following that vision or that direction you have. But when you're there, you've got to go through that same process in your own business, which is what you guys do to help business owners do so they can really live.

Multiple Speakers 00:37:39  Yeah.

Kevin Saint John 00:37:40  And it's such a, you know, it is such a rewarding thing to see that all the huge stressor, you know, get come off because business listen businesses you know if you're struggling a business you're struggling in all areas of life. And you know, they often say, you know, people will divorce two times over money than than love. Right. And, you know, one of the things to do is we're making sure that if we're working with both people, both, both the spouse or whatever just because you know it transitions. If you're having a bad day of the business, it's coming home.

Kevin Saint John 00:38:14  Sometimes you're not talking about it. So I think if you can streamline your business and you get that running smoothly, a lot of other things happen. But businesses are so, so stressful. And when somebody starts a business, sometimes they're like, oh man. I mean, they know it's going to be hard. They know it's going to be difficult. They know it's going to be whatever. But like I said in the beginning, when you really get into the nitty gritty and really are trying to run it and get it established and get those systems in place to make, you know, make it profitable, does it take time? Sure it does. Right. And does it take the right people? Absolutely. But another thing you said, everybody, I have a coach. Everybody needs a coach. This is because you know what? They see your blind spots. They see things that you don't see in your everyday dealings with the business. And that's perfectly normal. And I welcome that because I'm not seeing it.

Kevin Saint John 00:39:02  But if you can see it and you can make my life a lot easier, you can make me more profitable, by all means, let's work together. and you know, it's not a get rich quick scheme. It's not. It takes time. you know, but would you rather do it in 6 to 12 months or two, three, four years?

Multiple Speakers 00:39:22  Right.

Kevin Saint John 00:39:22  On your own. And the, you know, the trial, the errors. I mean, we worked a lot of businesses. We've done things. We've seen what works, what doesn't, what is a good investment, what is not a good investment where you should start and build up to that level. but again, it's it's all based on, like I said, where that person is in their journey today. We've dealt with start ups, we've dealt with, you know, multi-million dollar manufacturing firms. We've dealt with all different, you know, the the chiropractor, the massage therapists. So we've dealt with, you know, different people in different stages of where they are.

Kevin Saint John 00:39:58  but if they, you know, accept it and they're coachable. Right. And they and they take the advice and they implement what is being said, they see dramatic results in their in their day to day business. So it's a very rewarding. And, it's really awesome to see life changing money and get people to achieve their goals. It's, it's it's it's very rewarding for us.

Natalie Kime 00:40:20  I love that I think that you, you touched on something that I hope the listeners picked up on that I think really identifies how you're special and different. maybe compared to the average coach or the average business consultant out there. You said you work with the partner, the spouse you see beyond the business and how if they can't let go of the business, it's going to impact every other area of their life in a negative manner, even though they may have a healthy, thriving business. And there's not a lot of people that look beyond the business. My job is to get your business where you want it, but you're looking beyond that and you're saying, does the changes we're making to help this person in their business impact the other areas of their life in positive ways, and I think that's really special.

Natalie Kime 00:41:09  You know, when a business runs efficiently, you finally get to live the life that you built the business for, that vision you had of creating all of that. And and we can get so lost in that as business owners. because we're just grinding, we're just trying to make it happen. Right. And one of the things that, you know, my podcast is chat with that conversations that count, but is built on talking about the five pillars faith, family, finance, fitness and fun in that order. And what you just talked about to me screams those five F's, right? The opportunity to do all of the things, and to do them well. And there's there's no such thing as balance. But if you're focusing on each thing to give it what it needs, because there's times the business is going to need more, there's times that you're going to need to take more time for yourself and have more fun. Take that vacation and those kind of things. It creates harmony, and then you plug back into the business even better than you were.

Natalie Kime 00:42:09  That's one of the things that I like to think.

Kevin Saint John 00:42:12  No, you're absolutely correct and funny, Natalie, you say that is we also have different things that we incorporate to it the faith, the fitness of family, because you got to take care of yourself physically. You can have all the money in the world, but if you're not healthy and you can't enjoy it, what's the point? Get out of a good relationship. You know, build strong on faith what you believe in. But you kind of fill all those buckets and you're doing pretty good, right? Yeah. But, you know, if you have one that's completely empty, it's going to throw all the others off. So it's kind of a perfect balance of everything that we get into. But, but yes, I'm glad you brought that up. That was that's a really solid point.

Multiple Speakers 00:42:48  Yeah, I love it.

Natalie Kime 00:42:49  I think it really speaks to not just what the changes you talked about. Business owners will see from working with you in their business, but the things they're going to see that impacts their life in all different areas better.

Natalie Kime 00:43:03  And listen, a positive life, a happy spouse, a healthy body. That's a whole different level of profitability in my in my book. It's not all about the dollars and cents. those are important, but you've got to be seeing that that profit or that improvement in those other areas as well.

Multiple Speakers 00:43:26  So absolutely.

Natalie Kime 00:43:28  I'm loving this conversation. I could we could make this episode like four hours long, Kevin.

Multiple Speakers 00:43:32  But we sure we won't. Yes.

Natalie Kime 00:43:34  one of the things I always ask my guests, because I am in the. I'm the finance lady, right? That's that's my core focus. My core business, is I always ask about a money story from your past that you can share. And I absolutely love yours. So will you share it with the listeners?

Multiple Speakers 00:43:51  Yeah, yeah.

Kevin Saint John 00:43:52  So way back when, when I was a a bag person at a grocery store, it was my first job. You know, I was actually 14 years old. Back then when I, when I did it and, I got my first paycheck.

Kevin Saint John 00:44:05  And what did I do? I spent it on stuff that I didn't need, of course. First paycheck. Oh, my gosh, I got money. It's bigger than my allowance. Not much, but it was bigger than my allowance either way when I was younger. but I spent it all, so I didn't have any money to go out with my friends or whatever. So what did I do? Ask dad. Hey, can I borrow some money? And he said, if you don't tell your money where to go, it'll disappear on you. So from that point on, that stuck with me. And from then on, I, made a habit of saving at least a little bit. First, I opened up the savings account, you know, got the little book at the time, and I got to see what I had the money, but I saved a little bit each time. And, it kind of shifted the way that I looked at money moving forward. so always save first, invest, spend.

Kevin Saint John 00:44:50  Right. Whatever's left over and I and you can talk to that all day, but that's kind of my, my story as a as a youth, so to speak.

Multiple Speakers 00:44:59  Yeah.

Natalie Kime 00:44:59  No, I love that story because that's really what I talk to with my clients. Like I said earlier, every dollar has to have a job in your personal budget, in your business budget, and there should be a line item for fun. There should be a line item for family, the vacation, the the holiday account where you're saving up so you can pay cash for Christmas, whatever it is.

Multiple Speakers 00:45:21  Yep.

Natalie Kime 00:45:21  Having fun is a line item on your budget to a lot of people think, oh, expense, expense, expense, expense. Okay, my budget's good. And then I have $1,000 a month. Well, if you didn't designate where that thousand dollars is going to go, it's going to find its own places to go. And at the end of the month, you're going to be getting a notice that your accounts overdrawn and you're like, what are you talking about? I should have $1,000 paydays.

Natalie Kime 00:45:42  Not till next week. Now what? So kudos to your dad for that advice because I think that's that's phenomenal advice.

Multiple Speakers 00:45:51  yeah.

Natalie Kime 00:45:52  Kevin, I want to wind our episode down by, you telling people how they can get in touch with you. what you offer for people to sit down, and learn more about how they could potentially partner with you?

Kevin Saint John 00:46:09  Yeah, absolutely. so you can go to my website. It's ww w b o m I n Business solutions.com. So there's three S's in there. So it's booming business solutions.com. You can call me (978) 868-4346. And for your listeners today, I had already spoke a little bit about the assessment that we do for an hour, seeing where they are today, knowing what their numbers are. And what we'll do is we'll, we'll give them a, a roadmap for them and they can have it work with it. At least they'll tell them where they are, where they want to go, and we'll do the, the free assessment for them.

Natalie Kime 00:46:46  Awesome. Thank you for that.

Natalie Kime 00:46:47  So, listeners, if you're a business owner out there and you're not even sure what the next step is, or if you want to scale, I would say reach out to Kevin because number one, like he said, his expertise is to see your blind spots, to show you opportunities. And maybe you feel like I'm doing everything I could. Scaling is off the table, but in reality, if they can find ways to automate things, systems to put in place that require actually less of your time scaling may actually be on the table. That's just a blind spot that you have. So I'm going to challenge all of you. Reach out to Kevin. Take advantage of that offer. Thank you, Kevin, for putting that out there. For my listeners, of course. Take advantage of that. Like, this is the chance to sit down with an expert and find out what does make sense for my business, and how could I utilize their expertise to help me get maybe even further than I thought I ever could in my business?

Multiple Speakers 00:47:49  So you guys.

Natalie Kime 00:47:51  If this if today's episode hit home, don't let that spark fade. Take an hour this week. Look at your business from the outside, your numbers, your systems, your time. Where can you get smarter instead of busier? And reach out to Kevin and his team, the website. His phone number will put those in the show notes so you can reference him there. And if you're ready to grow your business and your peace of mind, connect with boom and business solutions. You can always follow me at Natalie Kime on social media, and I'm going to be posting some clips of our episode today. A link to the episode next week when it drops. and I can always help you with more ways to build wealth, understand your numbers a little bit better, and then connect you with Kevin to take the next steps in your business as well. So if you'd like more of my content, please subscribe to chat with Nat on Substack. And until next time, take care of your five F's faith, family, finance, fitness, and fun.

Natalie Kime 00:48:49  Because the truth is, your wealth truly starts within.