Welcome And Episode Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Ready to get the inside scoop on equity funding? Tune in to TDJ Equity Funding Insiders Podcast for an in-depth look at what it takes to access financial capital and maximize your investments. Hear from experienced professionals, including bankers, underwriters, loan officers, and industry experts, as they share their unfiltered stories and valuable lessons on securing funds.

Introducing Kimberly Evans

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Hello everyone. We want to thank you all for coming in to our Giving Power to the Business Owner Webinar series. And today we have a special guest that have come in to us, Miss Kimberly Evans. Miss Kimberly Evans, Kimberly Nicole Evans, she is a transitionist that works with people, helping you to make that transition from an employee to probably your own business or from management upper to C-suite management. And she helps you to kind of work that process out. So we want to bring her in a day where she can talk to our business owners and a lot of our real estate investors. A lot of people are starting this journey for the first time, you know, and they don't really know what to do, and they're going with so much of what the internet says. So bringing somebody in that's a professional that can actually give them some guidance is something we want. But what she also is gonna do is also she's gonna do she's giving us a bonus. And the bonus is that, guys, she's gonna talk to us about raising capital. The stories we have had, have heard as loan brokers. So we are very, very happy to have her here to give us some great knowledge of what she has. So if you would, let's welcome her. I want to thank you so much for Miss Kimberly for being on our show today. Thank you, thank you. You know, Jackie, thank you so much for having me on the show. It is always such a blessing to be able to speak to fellow entrepreneurs and even those individuals who are contemplating entrepreneurship, right? Um, it is not the easiest decision and choice to make in life. And so I welcome the opportunity to be able to talk about my own experiences uh as well as some of the challenges that I had I have had. Exactly. And that's what we bring in. So let's start on that note since you have mentioned that. Let's give, if you would, could you tell our audience a little bit about you, what you're bringing to the table for us today?

From Family Business To Wall Street Banks

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, first of all, I I want to speak to the fact that uh I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My my father was a contractor. Um, my mother had a make-ready business or a house cleaning business, and she worked alongside my father in contracting and construction. He would basically get the houses built and she would come along, of course, and clean them, uh, clean them out. Uh, if you've never seen a home, and many of your your uh your clients, I know are real estate investors, so they know how a house can look when it's first built from the ground up and also after renters have left a home, right? To get it ready to be to be re-rented. Uh so that's what my my parents did. Uh so I grew up uh around uh individuals who work for themselves. Uh and as you would say, you you know, that we uh they ate whatever they they killed, so to speak, and you know, nothing to the all the vegans that are out there, right? Right. But uh I went from there, Jackie, to actually watching my parents struggle, you know, in and out of the business, especially being in Texas and construction back in the 70s and 80s. You have the oil embargo, the savings and loans, you know, went down, and and it was such a cyclical business. Um, and I watched them, they took care of us, but they they really did struggle. And my parents didn't go to college, so they didn't know anything about a peak and a trough and a recession. They just knew when things were good and when things weren't good, right? Right, and so that is actually what uh caused me to uh motivated me really after I went into the military to major in business and finance uh and banking. I went to the HBCU, Texas Southern, right there in Houston. And so it was important for me to be able to understand why it is that some businesses make it during certain periods of time and other businesses don't, right? What's that formula? Uh and so I went from there, Jackie, to uh working at at the banks. You know, I've worked for Wells Fargo, you know, P BVVA, PNC, you know, JP Morgan. So I've worked for the for the big banks, I've also been um a CFO uh as well. So I've been on both sides of the table when it comes to business. So I understand the pain points, not only just from having parents who are entrepreneurs, but also from being on the money side of it, in addition to now running my own businesses. Exactly. So that's what we bring in. We bring people that have that experience. So we're not just talking to someone that oh, took a class or a course, which you did in a way because it was the course of life, and you've learned some things, and so now you've been able to help not just like say you help you, but you help others, and that's why we brought you in because you do have that service where you can help and guide them. So I want again thank you for being here. I'm looking forward to this definitely for this show.

Equity Vs Debt: Plain-English Basics

SPEAKER_01 5:31

So, what I would like for us to start with, if it's we want to let's start talking about this dilute of capital. You and I have talked about it before, and like I said, it was something that was new for me for is the new terminology, and I know it's really great because we do debt. You know, when you come to me, you have to get a loan and go through the whole debt process, financials, and all that. I want people to understand what you do when it comes to raising capital, what that is, and how they deal with it. So we can start off with our first question. Um, starting with the basis. What exactly is equity dilutive capital? And why should founders or small business owners care about it? Yeah, and uh because capital, uh Jackie, is it's two parts, right? It is either debt or it's equity. And you will hear people hear people spinning a lot of fancy words, convertible debt, you know, dilutive, non-dilutive. It's debt or it's equity, right? And there's in-betweens, as we call it, hybrids, but it's debt or it's equity. And so when it comes to understanding capital, and I am an advocate for helping individuals to increase their understanding, because the more you understand, the more options that you know are available, the more control you have over how you navigate through your business. And businesses that are growing, as you know, they at some point have to either take on debt or they have to take on equity or both. And when people say, Oh, you know what? Uh dilutive meaning that someone comes in and for putting money in your company, they get a portion of the ownership, they get a piece of ownership. And I work, I've worked with companies that have gone public, right? Public companies like your Nikes of the world, your Amazons of the world, all the way down to small businesses where people just have their one barbecue, you know, food truck or what have you, and everything in between. And that has really been unique about my career because typically people will go one direction out of the or the other, they will either work with large corporations or they'll work with small businesses. Because of my love for wanting to understand and and the everything my parents went through, I wanted to know it all. So that is how I got educated when it comes to capital. And what I say to people is that you don't have to be a publicly traded company, right? And even then, when people hear names like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, right? Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg, who is over Facebook, but Meta, right? You can look this up yourself. I'm not even going to give you the percentages, but I tell people, ask Siri, go into your phone, Google, how much of Amazon does Jeff Bezos own? Ask Google how much of Meta does Mark Zuckerberg own. And you will be surprised at the percentage of the company that these mega billionaires actually own. They are not the full owners of these companies, although they started them up and they are the CEOs. So now let's come down a bit. And that's the part that I want people to get used to hearing that because I hear

Myths About Raising Money

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it from especially small business owners all the time. Oh, I don't want to give up, you know, for money in my company. I know this person wants to invest in my restaurant and we can become a franchise, but I don't want to give up any control, right? I want us to understand that I some people, not everybody, some people would rather own 20%, which is right around where Zuckerberg and Bezos are, and be multi-billionaires than own a hundred percent of a company that's only worth a few hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars. You have a choice when you understand. And so today I want to break down the myths around dilutive capital that some nobody's coming in to try to take anything from you. No one is coming in to try to control your company unless you are doing a bad job running it, right? Some people need to fire themselves just because they're the founders. Yes, uh, but dilutive capital since simply means that in exchange for me investing in your growth, in exchange for me investing in the belief of your business, I do want a percentage of it. We all see this on Shark Tank shows that have been popularized, like Shark Tank, right? And so that's what dilutive capital is. Okay, so I know you kind of mentioned like myths, but let's talk about that a little bit. Uh, what are the biggest misconceptions you see about raising money? You know, doing that myth that goes with that, yeah, and and there are so many, but but the the top ones are if I simply just have a business plan or I simply just create a business and I get a few customers, I should be able to go out there and find someone who believes in my company and they will either invest millions and there's something about a million dollars that I don't know what that number is, I guess, because it's a nice, even, round number. But no matter what you ask any entrepreneur, just like, well, how much do you need a million? It's like, how did you come to where did you get that number from? Right? I guess it's just a comfortable number for them, right? But the myth, the biggest myth is that people believe that the investors have to be in love or as passionate about your company as they are. The investors are not in love with your company, the investors want a return on their investment. That's right, right? They you if the you may love your cookies or your cake or your barbecue recipe. What they want to know, who else likes your cookies and your cake and your barbecue recipe, right? And they don't want one or two people, they want in most cases, they ain't no, they don't want your wife and your uncle and your kids who all your family, your best friends, your southern laws, your frat brothers, you're right, yeah. All the people who don't want to offend you, so they just gonna you know tell you it's great and then spit it out, right? But you need hundreds of thousands of people when it comes to big investors, right? And sometimes it's just you just have to get the the first couple of hundred just to be able to prove that your idea has traction, that whether it's a product or a service, um, because I don't want people to think that everybody is gonna end up like Amazon. You don't have to end up like Amazon. Some of the most successful businesses in the US, those are sexy businesses because we all know their names, right? But small to medium enterprises drive growth in the United States, they hire the most people. Corporations are just big, but the majority of the people in this country are hired by uh small to medium enterprises, right? That's true, that's true. And so that is definitely a market out there that we need to kind of look at when we have our business, that you're in that small business, medium-sized business arena, but it doesn't mean you can't get the same thing the big ones, and that's what you're gonna talk about, which is just a proper way you have to go. So, with that said, with a small business, medium-sized business, um, when do you think is ready or not ready for them to do equity investments? What

When Are You Ready For Equity

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is that, what does that look like? I would say, um, and and I'm gonna speak in particular for for uh companies that are in between those though those eight that say that startup day zero, and let's say between zero and year five, you know, some in there from zero to five. Okay, sweet spots oftentimes are zero to three, but let's say zero to five. The best time to start looking for a potential equity investor is when you as a CEO have number one secured a team, right? And you're not a team of one, you have at least uh someone who could come alongside of you as a co-founder, you know, or COO, and you can give people titles and roles, right? And understanding uh a COO, and at a minimum, you have some type of financial partner, right? If not a full-term CFO, a fractional CFO, and if not a fractional CFO, a really good CPA. I didn't say bookkeeper, I said CPA, right? So the first thing, it's a difference. So the first thing is to secure a team, and one of the reasons why I say the first thing is to secure team, is because investors want to know that you can lead, they want to know that you are a leader as a CEO. And one of the ways that it's not written down on paper that investors can determine whether or not you are a leader if anybody is willing to follow you, exactly, and that makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. So, yeah, she is when you because you mentioned teams, but okay, can you tell me what some of the main people roles you should have when you start your team to that point? What would those what does that look like? Well, and you, right? You CEO, you need at least a financial person on the team or somebody who understands finances, and no bookkeeper. Now, let me stop. I'm sorry to break up right here, but I want to emphasize this to everybody. A bookkeeper is not adequate for this type of thing when you're dealing with investments and you deal with equity investments as well. You need a CPA or hire, like what you're saying. Okay, I just want to say that piece. Okay, go ahead. At a minimum, an accountant, right? Because a CPA is a person who can audit, right? But at a minimum, a person who is an accountant and not an IRS agent, right? These you have or bookkeeper. Um, and the reason that you need this is because there's a lot involved once you start parceling out equity in a company, right? Uh, so someone who really understands finances, uh, you need an operations person, right? And in today's world, you absolutely have to have someone on the team that understands technology, right? They don't well, you do right. Yeah, so if you put cybersecurity in that technology, you have to have that then. Or do I need to show that or no? Yeah, your technology person should have some knowledge of cybersecurity, right? And how to set your company up under cybersecurity with some cybersecurity, uh, compliance and risk management, but they should be someone who not not, and when I say technology, not just someone who can code, right? We could go any all of us go out and get probably find somebody online or that can code, but you need someone who has a technology operations and compliance background so that they can help you structure the company and build a company and build a framework because you cannot create a business in today's time without having some type of technical or technology component, right? Oh my god, so true. And I've created uh uh a uh what I call a modern viable business. I've actually trademarked it and it's registered, but a modern, yeah, it it's it's technology, but you have to have you have to have the ability to be able to pull data in real

Building The Right Early Team

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time, in addition to leveraging tools like AI, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity falls under underneath that having a modern viable business, even a small business, because so many people are getting ripped off uh because of cyber uh scams. And so start building that into your framework. You cannot start a business in today's time without having some technology platform or framework, and it's cheap. It's never been cheaper. It's so it's I should say it's not as expensive as people think, even when people hear the term CPA or an account. Oh, I can't afford that. You cannot not afford an accountant or a CPA. Yes, and the majority of these people are not engaged unless you don't have to pay them unless you engage them to do something. And there are so many tools online now whereby everyone from QuickBooks will offer you a CPA or an accountant as a part of your subscription. You can you don't have to pay a full-time person. Now you have online platforms, you pay an extra 20 bucks a month, you can have all the online conferences that you want. That's true, that's true, that's true, right? Yeah, so you're saying, like, so and let me say this too on that tag, and I know we talk on a little bit more, but this is what I was surprised at. We had a loan to actually close where the lender was looking for the compliance part, okay, we talked about. But what we were kind of shocked on, he wanted to know what is your security of protecting all your files, what does that look like? And we were kind of stuck. I was surprised they asked that, but they're now taking that consideration, like what you're saying, because you got so much uh which that ransom and and people coming in and all that. They actually want to say, okay, we're gonna invest in this business. How do I know you're gonna still be here and you cyber won't take you out? Because cyber is taking, you know, front, it is taking people out. So I think that's something you you mentioned, but I do want to emphasize it in this day and time. I think you are so correct that they need to have that because it costs a lot of money when you don't have it. Jaggy, I have a uh a client who's a small business owner that was taken for a hundred over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, right? Now, coming off the books of a small business owner, $150,000 is a lot of money to go out the door, right? Right, and this is why that conversation is so important. And lenders now are asking, what are your protocols? They sure are what do you just like you they ask for your you know, your SOP, your standard operating procedures? You need to have in your SOP cybersecurity, you need to have a plan, and individuals aren't realizing how sophisticated these companies are, because when you get taken, this is the part where the people don't understand. You were the one that was scammed. If it were the bank that got scammed, the bank would reimburse you. But when you get scammed and it has nothing to do with the bank, the bank cannot reimburse you. But if they have a loan out to you now, they are at risk, right? Because you just had 150 grand that went out the door, that was gonna probably use as payment on you know back towards their loan, right? Right. That is why companies now are asking up front, do you have this in place? Because they don't have any protection when you're scammed outside of their environment. Exactly, exactly. So we know now equity wise, and not just the banks, but like you said, investors,

Cybersecurity As A Funding Requirement

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they want to see that too, right? On the equity side, right? Yeah, investors, investors want and anyone who has money in your company, either as equity or debt, or wanting to know what is your what is your technology risk management. That's why I said when building that team now, it used to be you could just get away with a COO, you know, a fractional CFO in yourself. Yep, yep. You know, and now you have to have that technical person on the team that understands risk management, right? The side of the house. Okay, and that's something good we need to have. Now, let me ask you this this experience with the capital, that's with Beck Evans and Associate, right? Yeah, okay. So I want to make sure you guys that that's where she falls in, that's her company, the Beck Evanson Associate. But let's do this. Uh I you know, what have you seen, you know, for us working with Beck Evanson Associate, the top factors that make a company more attractive to investors are less likely to give up too much equity. Okay. Yeah, so here we here we go. Uh, we already talked about team. One of the other other areas where you must be able to have clean numbers, right? You have to be able to have clean numbers. Whether if you are a startup, you have to be able to prove out your projections. Um, and companies and investors know as soon as you put in your projections that you're gonna make $20 million your first year, $10 million your first year, they already know. Oh Lord, that is so true. They already know that you don't understand a sales cycle and you don't understand your business, and that you are not dealing with data, right? You're not looking at actual data, you're just pulling numbers out of the sky. And so that is the area after a team is being able to prove out your numbers. Now, when I said zero to five, so let's just say you're a three-year-old company, a four-year-old company, a five-year-old company. One of the areas that individuals also don't understand with investors, again, going back to having quality numbers, you cannot roll up on some investors with your QuickBooks files, right? There are different layers of financials. You have company prepared, you have what they call compiled statements, you have reviewed statements, and then at the top of the house, you have audited statements. At a minimum, when you're talking to any kind of investor, even when you're running projections, again, that's why it's important to have an accountant or someone on your team. So when you're presenting your numbers, whether you're an existing business or a startup, you can say, hey, my projections were ran by my accountant or looked over by my accountant. Or if you're an existing business, you can say, I have reviewed statements or compiled statements, which just simply means somebody else put an eye on your numbers. Exactly. So some type of third-party validation, right? About the quality of your numbers. And so after the team and the numbers, the next thing that you need to have in place, and this is important for any business, you must be able to have some type of proof that somebody wants your product or your service. And then the best way to do that is through sales. Have you actually had any sales? I know entrepreneurs that spend all kinds of time getting business cards printed, they spend all days, you know, spending five thousand dollars on a website, all this fancy stuff, but they haven't sold anything to anybody. So let me say that on our side, we call it account receivables. They ask for that account payables, which is your debt, but they really want to see your account receivables because what I told them, those are like um what you have coming in, then that's what you see. That that can be part of your projections as well. So you are so correct, that's what they're looking for from the bank. So on your side, you're saying that's the same thing your uh investor looking for, right? Yeah, and let me say the difference between an equity investor, right? Um I know on your on your bank side, uh, and and you you guys can talk about this more, but lenders have to be very careful about who they give money to because they expect to get that money back, right? And they can't give out bad loans because if they keep giving out bad loans, they don't have the ability to give good loans to good companies, right? Exactly. Which is why on the lender side, people are always so surprised at how many no's that they get, how many times they get turned down.

What Investors Really Look For

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Well, that's because that's a very small box that they have, but on the equity side, which is completely different, investors oftentimes will invest in 10 different companies, and they call them portfolio companies, with the belief that one of them will do well. I know that sounds a little different. That does, it sounds a little different, but they can actually have nine of their investments go bad on the on and bet on one or two going exceptionally well. Yes, equity investors understand that they will likely on the very front end have losses in terms of the companies that don't make it to the other side, so to speak, but they're okay with that level of risk because equity investors are individuals who put money in that they can afford to lose. Uh-huh. That's true. You're right. The bank really can't afford to lose their money. Or they can't afford to lose their money, right? Because if they're lenders, they're lending directly off their balance sheet. And banks are also people don't realize they're lending out your deposits. So that's my deposits, your grandma's deposits. Right. They can't afford to lose, like you said. But investors, that is a hundred percent their money, right? So whether it's coming through a private equity firm or venture capital, they they have individuals that will put in, which is why it's called private or it's called venture with VCs. They put their money in, and these are typically high net worth individuals. Um, there's a process that the that uh uh in order for people in order to be able to invest in um private equity, and I'm not talking about hard money lenders, right? You got people out there that will literally go in their bank account and lend you some money, but at 30% interest, right? Right, right. We're not talking hard money lenders, we're talking about certified lenders that are uh angel investors, private equity, venture capitalists, but they can afford to lose some of their money to hit it big. Excuse me. Okay, so that and like I said, so that makes a difference. You write in the debt side. So let me ask you this when most entrepreneurs think about funding their growth, what shift in mindset or education would you start with? Yeah, you know, and let's go back to some myths. What I have found being in finance for for many, many years, for many, many years. You alright over there? You go off camera if you need to. I can find it. I am so sorry. Sometimes our our liquids go down the wrong pipe. Okay, you keep going. Yeah, but I'll I'll keep going. Yeah, so uh, but I just want to make sure you're okay. So, what what people don't realize is that you cannot buy into all of this stuff that they have on the internet. I have seen some of the craziest things out there on social media whereby they're telling people all you need is an EIN and and um uh an LLC, and you can go out and and get investors and all these other things, and they're trying to get people to invest in trust and all of these type things. And I'm like, first of all, a trust will protect your assets. So, in order, before you go out and invest in a trust, you need to get some assets first, and then you can start working your way around the trust. But one of the main myths out there, Jackie, is that certain people are not able to get equity investments. Uh, and oftentimes that's they'll base that on your background where you may come from. You don't come from the right side of the track, so to speak. Uh, gender, they'll you know, base it on race or ethnicity, and none of those things are true uh in whole, right? There are slivers of truth to most things that people will say, depending upon what side of the table you're looking at it at. But for the most part, it's because people aren't prepared, and they aren't prepared because they haven't met someone like me, or they haven't met someone who is really versed on the side of equity to help them to understand the packaging that it has to come with. Just like on your debt side, there's a certain way that lenders, debtors want their information presented to them, right? And they call that loan packaging. It's the same way on the equity side. There's a certain way that equity investors want information presented to them because they're used to looking at it that way. And if you give it to them in a form that they're not used to looking at, they don't have time to sit there and go through your mess because guess what? There's a hundred people coming after you who also want that money. So they're not gonna waste their time trying to shuffle through all of your uh you know, uh uh stack of papers that you don't even have in a certain way. And and what is that certain way? Equity investors typically Want to see a deck, what they call

Debt Lenders Vs Equity Investors

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just a presentation deck. Who are you? Right. What is it that you have? How do you plan to make money? And andor how are you already making money? And what is your ask? Right. And that is where most people going in for equity get the get they fall off on that part because they go in, like I said, asking for a million dollars, and you don't need a million dollars. Right. And you start to look like a novice in front of these people. And going back to what I said, investors not only are betting on your business, they must be confident that you can lead as a leader. And I've ran across small businesses, people that I thought had a great business model. I'm an investor that I would have invested in had they known their numbers. And when they when they got to the end of their deck and I started looking at those numbers, I said, okay, uh-uh, we can't do this because this person here is in a fantasy land. And you're not about to take my money and go and and uh run your fantasy through, right? Right, right, right. So uh investors want to see your what they call a capital, uh uh your capital structure, they call it a um your cap table. They want to know who else is already invested in that company, and do not lie to them. If your mother put in $500, they want to know who else put money into that company because it's a risk to them if they start investing in your company, and then two months, three months later, when you're making a bunch of money, people start coming out of the woodworks saying that they have 10% of your company and 15% of your company, and you promise them that and promise them that. So they have to have what they call a cap table, right? They want to know everyone who's put money into that company. In addition, they want you to have what they call a deal room. And a deal room is just simply an area where you have all of your documents loaded up into a file, it could be a Google Drive for all they care, but they just want one spot where they can go and look at your your incorporation documents, your EIN documents, your projections. They want one place that they can go to and look at all this stuff. And from there, it's it's pretty simple. And then you have what you call pitch competitions where people go out and pitch, or you work with companies like myself where we put you in front of an investment bank, and there are investment bankers out there that work specifically with small businesses, but it's a fee, you're gonna have to pay a fee towards them because they're gonna put together all of your packaging for you, right? And the reason that they charge you up front is because they know that most small and medium enterprises will not bring all the information that they're gonna need, so they spend a lot of time up front helping you package your deal, right? Right, so you can see it now. Let me say that with it, and I apologize for coughing. I did get stuck on my water, so but I'm okay. So this, and thanks for covering from you did a wonderful job. This is a question I have for you too. Talking just in that line that you said. When I did when we dealt with uh MA's, which is you know mergers and acquisitions, we have you know, some of our wealth managers kind of deal with that. So they come in and they do have investors, that's not our side. But I want to, I want, I guess, if you can talk on for it's being set up, that how people believe that they do a business plan that is good for an investor, an equity investor. So what's the major differences? I mean, you mentioned some, but I think having you is so important because you can tell them and we want them to definitely call you. But what should they what's the difference with that so people can understand they're not the same? Yeah, I and I agree, and I'm and that's a great question. You know, no one has actually ever asked me that question. They've never asked what's the difference.

Packaging Your Deal: Deck, Cap Table, Data Room

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Uh, but here are the differences with a business plan. You typically start off with an executive summary, right? And then you go from your executive summary into what your marketing is for your product or your service, then you do a SWOT analysis and you go to, you know, you do your go-to-market strategy, you put a divide in there about your team and all this other kind of stuff, right? And then at the end, you start putting financial data in. Well, with uh with investors, it's similar, however, right? They're less interested in um the summary, the executive summary part. Uh uh, whereas a business plan can be, I've seen business plans that were 20 and 30 pages. Uh, investors for the most part will limit you to 10 slides or less. Some of them will limit you to five. So you have to be able to explain without putting words on there and seven font, right? Right, right. What it is like it essentially your elevator speech. Who are you? Who are you serving, and how much money are you going to make, and how quickly are you going to make it? Right. That is what investors want to know. They do not care about all of the fluff and all of that other stuff that will typically go into a business plan. And you have to be able to talk to them. And normally, when you go in and talk to investors, uh, you don't have a whole hour. Most times they will give you sometimes five minutes to say what you gotta say. And if you're not saying the right words within those five minutes, they're out, they've checked out, they've already checked out. Um, and that's one of that's the major, major difference between investors. And remember when I said investors are willing to lose money, eight, if they have 10 investments, they're willing to lose money on eight. Well, that the the I guess you could say the the uh uh the the cons of going to an investor is that they have a very short attention span. Yeah, yeah, they have a very short attention span. So if you are not truly prepared and spent time with someone like myself or someone who can actually get you prepared to get in front of an investor, which is why you will hear people say, Oh, I went to 400 different investors, and all 400 of them said no. And what I say to people is, why didn't you get help at 50 or at 25? There you go. That's what I'm saying. 400 is a nice story to tell, but you didn't have to go to 400, and most people still don't even get get them all, they get less than what they were out there out there, you know, asking for. Uh ask for help up front. The the investor world is a relationship-driven world, and it is a personality-driven world, whereas in in lending on the on the uh the uh the uh non-dilutive side, right? Yeah, it's it's it fits in a box. If you at this level and that's it. If you can't flow, you're good. If you don't, okay, that's it, you out. But on the on the equity side, it is a relationship-driven market, right? And they have to like you, and it's easier for people to like you when they trust that you know what you're talking about, you come in with a strong team, and you have everything, like I said, in one place for them to when they do say, you know what, I want to know more, they want to know more right then. You can't go home and put your stuff together and come back the next day. You have to be able to say, here's the link to my deal room, here's the additional information, and I mean, and it's just that quick, or they have moved on to the next person, they have a very short attention span. And so that's why I think it's so important, and I'm glad you're here because that's what we kind of have seen, and and people have ran into they they want to do the equity side because we TDJ equity uh funding, but we don't do the equity part, it's equally just the part that they do today. So, what I'm finding out, um, when we come to people looking at raising money, like you said, like a lot of things, they don't get the proper help. Why are you going 10 times and you have never had a professional person come in or a company come in and help you put it together? Because one thing about it, you guys are worth your money because I know several comp several of my clients have used you guys before, and it saved them. And they said they've sold businesses before, they've had something, you know, different investments, but they say having someone to know about the deck and know how to put everything together and all of that, the time it saves, but more than that, you gotta have a great third eye when you bring a company in to help out because it's some things as a business owner, because I'm passionate, I'm connected to it, that I may think, oh, this is gonna be the main thing, and you're gonna be like, No, no, no, no, no, it's not, it's this because, like you said, investors wanna see are we selling to the massive or we sell it to your friends? So that's why I think you guys are really good and worth the money to bring you guys in. I mean, so how do you feel about that? And you think that's a better way to do it that way as well? Yeah, look, look, Jackie, this is what I say to folks all the time. I'm I'm not gonna

Business Plan Vs Investor Pitch

SPEAKER_01 39:12

care more about your success than you do, right? And some people, it's their pride, some people it's their mindset, right? Which also speaks to whether or not you want to do business with this person, and I and I'll expound on that. A lot of people are so prideful, they don't want to ask for help and they think that they got it, right? And then these are also the people who can who are quick to fall back on victimization. Oh, they didn't want my business because I'm too smart for them. Oh, they didn't want to be in my business because they're trying to steal my idea. Oh, they don't want to be in my business because I'm black. Oh, they don't want to be in my business because I'm short. Oh, they don't want to invest in my business because my hair is blonde, oh, they don't want to invest in my business because my teeth is white, right? They come up with all of these things other than you. It's you that's stopping you, right? And then you also have mindset, you have people, believe it or not, Jackie, who go into this process expecting to fail. They really don't want to take on the responsibility of what if it works? What if somebody actually says yes? And now you have to be able to perform. And there are people who are, I call them perpetual dreamers, they like to stay in their mind, and and if they could find other people to have a pity party with them, with why they can't get this and can't get that. Believe it or not, it's it's actually a true thing. I I've ran into people when I started in banking 20 something 25 years ago. I know people who are still walking around with the same business plan that they had when I met them when I was coming out of undergrad 25 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Wow, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

And they exist, and these are what they say. Some of the best ideas on this planet are in graveyards, those are the people who go to their grades with ideas, right? So, mindset has a lot to do with, and I say to I say to entrepreneurs all the time if you approach any process with an energy of I know it all, I know better than the banks, I know better than the stop again. That's okay, we're gonna keep rolling with this thing. All right, so we're gonna wait for her to kind of come back in. Everything's kind of going in and out, uh, just the internet period. So apologize for that. Yeah, no problem. Okay, yeah, these are people that I can spot them all away, but mindset has everything to do with you as an entrepreneur and you as a CEO, right? Do you are you coachable? Do you have the type of mindset where you can listen? Are you coachable? Are you just as good of a listener as you are a speaker? Right? Can you lead? And at the same time, can you follow someone else's direction? Because oftentimes when equity, uh when people put equity in your company, similar to what you see on Shark Tank, they want to also pour into you and open doors up for you so that they can help them kind of secure a return on their investment, right? So if you're that person, like I said, who who thinks you know everything, you know everything, but you ain't got no money, right? Then so investors know to stay away from you and mindset, whether your shoulders are slump when you go into the room, they can tell if you really are confident about yourself and what you're doing, or whether you got a peacock feathers behind you, you so proud, prideful that you're not gonna be able to listen right or take advice from someone. So your mindset around equity is a big difference. That stuff doesn't come up with lenders, but it comes up with investors, it is absolutely the they say the 10-ton elephant in the room is your mindset when you go into that marine, but you know, shock tank actually talked on that because they said it was a character. They said, Well, because I've seen them say, Hey, I'm looking at the character of you, you know, things of that nature. So it does. So this leads into like, I know you have a program, this bridge 40 uh method that actually deals with the mindset. So I want us to talk on that as well because that service is needed as well. Can you give us a little bit about that? Yeah, one of the companies that I own is actually seismic transform transformations, and that's S E I S M I C transformations, and you could go to seismic transformations.com. Uh, and I also have an app which is the ST360, it's just S T Seismic Transformations 360, uh, and it's downloadable on Android and also iOS for uh for iPhone. But I created a

Mindset, Coachability, And Leadership Signals

SPEAKER_01 43:58

program that is called the Bridge 40, and the Bridge 40 is all about helping uh um career professionals transition out of their careers as corporate professionals. I don't care whether you are VP, a managing director, a CEO, it is a different mindset coming out of a corporate world into entrepreneurship. It's the difference between being on the passenger side and then being the driver, being the co-pilot and the pilot. The co-pilot doesn't nearly have the kind of pressure that the pilot has. A passenger in a car, you just in the car. You may get asked to operate the the AC or the heat or to change the station, but you you ain't driving, right?

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

And so it is a different mindset, and I have based bridge 40 off of my own transition, right? Even though I was an entrepreneur in a in my prior past, my parents were entrepreneurs, I got indoctrinated, reindoctrinated into corporate. And coming out of corporate, although I had a you know a set of skills, I have an undergrad, an MBA, there were certain things that I had to relearn about being an entrepreneur and then operating in that entrepreneurial mindset, right? Uh, that every decision is on me, is not in even in a corporate world. You know, I was a division lead for you know largest bank in the in the US. But guess whose objectives I had to meet? I had to meet their objectives, exactly, right? Um, it doesn't matter how many, you know, how big your territory is, that's not your territory in your business. Whatever territory you're in, you got to cover that territory with your resources. I had I was covering a territory with the resources of one of the richest organizations in the country, so that's the difference. Even when I don't, even when people manage, well, I manage 500 people. You manage 500 people, those aren't your employees. You are an employee along with them of the firm that you work for. You may manage them, but they are not your employees. You're not responsible for their paycheck, you're not responsible for their 401k, you're not responsible for their insurance. And so, bridge 40 is a process that helps these career professionals who have all the skills in the world that want to move over into entrepreneurship, basically uh uh uh get yourself out of that corporate mindset and to bridge yourself over into entrepreneurship. Not, don't just jump in because I don't care how successful you were on the other side, most people get over here and they can't swim because again they show up with the wrong mindset. And and let me say that on this, and reason why you guys are good because you all have seen it. We've seen people that started like you start working, you were working at uh, let's say ATT, and then all of a sudden you said, I'm gonna go ahead and lay out lay my own fiber because I've been doing it for them so I can start my own company. Well, you come to us for lending. Let me tell you what we see. We see that you know how to lay fiber and you know how to actually sell it, but your books are jacked up, you know what I'm saying? They don't understand the administrative side of it. And then one guy even told me one time, he said, Well, you know, paperwork just not my thing. And you know, numbers are not my thing. Sweetheart, you own a business. What do you mean numbers is not your thing? So I believe they leave, like you said, from that career, and that you don't have to understand you don't have a downtown office to go talk to, you are a downtown office. So that's why I think you are what you have is so good, because people don't realize how important I think now more than ever, how much it is to have a transitional. I call you like transitional coach because everybody needs it. But let me ask you this what type of people, because I got my theory, should look at getting a transition coach as of now, because you know it is changed, the dynamics have changed. So you tell us who do you think? What do you think the type of people need a transition uh coach along with this? I I know, right? I use myself as an avatar. High performing people need a transition coach, right? High performing people, people who are used to winning, they're used to performing at a high degree of. Now, why do you say that? Why do you think they need it? And the reason that I say that is because they they are success ready, they really are. However, they don't know what they don't know, they don't know what they don't know. They have been so in the weeds of their own success and not understanding that your success was partly because of the organization that was backing you and supporting you to have that success. That is a tough thing to admit to yourself, man. That's a shocker to even find out like, uh oh, I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah, that's what it is. That is a tough thing for high-performing people to admit it because

The Bridge 40 Transition Method

SPEAKER_01 48:58

I I did this. I, you know, yeah, there was some of you in there, but you also had an organization that gave you all of your sales strategies, right? You also had an organization that when you needed support, they prop you up with a mentor. When you needed extra resources, they went to their budget and gave you those resources that help you build out your team, right? And so one of the things high-performing people is that they are uh they are they come they come out of their positions with their egos, and they don't realize and understand that you are the person that truly needs a transition coach because you already full of yourself. And when you get over into this other world where it's a shock, it was it's even for me, even knowing better, it is a shock to people to realize that just like you said, when something goes wrong, it's you, you and whoever you pick up the phone and call. You can't get on the phone and call your manager that's up from you and have them help you fix your problem, fix your agent.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

You so these individuals need a train, and that's who I work with. I mostly work with BPs. The majority of my clients, I shouldn't even say majority with BP, the majority of my clients are managing directors and existing uh CEOs who are going into other businesses. Believe it or not, I was surprised to see them showing up because it was Kim. I worked my butt off in this business. I basically created a new job for myself. And I'm, you know, I want to sell this business and go into another business, but I don't want to work the way that I'm working in my next business, the way that I am in this business. Can you help me make the mental transition? And I say to people all the time, this background that you see is my sunset here in Honolulu, Hawaii. I work maybe five hours a day, max, right? And that's managing three different businesses. And people ask me, how did you set it up that way? Because number one, that's the only mentality that I went in with. So everything was set up to be automated from the front end, like we were talking about. How do you set it up from the front end? And if you're in your business, how do you go back and do these things? But getting back to the equity side, you know, working on that mindset, I have cut customers, uh, clients that will come to me and say, Kim, I have money, I want to put in my business, but now I've had success on this side, but I want investors because when I go in and this time, I want to build out a whole new infrastructure, right? I want to do what you're doing, I want time freedom, I want location freedom. I don't want to have to come and work my business 13 hours a day. I did that when I was in corporate, right? Right. I want to do this next venture differently. And so, and for those people who are again for the bridge 40 that are coming out of corporate, I have clients now that are managing directors, and these were people that I knew when I was in corporate. They've gone through my program and they're looking at me like, Kim, this is the best thing that has ever, ever happened to me. It's a paradigm shift, it's a mindset shift. Right. And they directly say to me, I did not know I could live my life like this. I did not know that I can work six hours a day, five hours a day, and still maintain my lifestyle or greater, because now you actually have your peace of mind. We are creative beings. And when we're able to create, and it's a difference, and this is what I tell people all the time. And when they get into the program and they see it, it's it's until you see it, it's hard to explain. You don't realize how deep in the matrix you are, right? Someone pulls you out of the matrix. That success that you had, yes, you were the driver, but of your getting up every day, but you went and you drove somebody else's vehicle that was already put together, that was already built for success. So the momentum wasn't just you, the momentum was this huge conglomerate that gave you a business card and said, Hey, go out here and represent me. Now the business card has your company logo on it, it has your business on it. And if if it don't go forward, guess whose fault it is. Exactly, exactly, exactly. There ain't a thousand other managers who can pick up the ball and run with it. Just you, it's you, you worse, and you know something which you were talking. I thought about I'm I'm being aware, you tell me what you think that even people that have been in their business, uh running it for a while, they need transition coaching because you know what, they're still 10 years ago. Yeah, they don't realize what has changed, and the people have changed. How you dealt with your employees 10, 15 years ago, is not the same. So I see where even those that are existed now, if you've been in business for a long time, you should really consider that because it's still some type of transition, right? Yeah, and that was the other part of my clients. As I was building my business, and and as you know, Jackie, when you're building a business, you have an idea of who your clients are going to be. And then when you start really getting into your business and delivering your services and your products, and you start getting feedback from your clients, you start to understand that people are telling you what they need. You can think you know what they need, but when they start telling you what they what they need, the smart business owner will be agile in their company, right? I say again, I remind people all the time when Amazon first started, Amazon was a bookseller, they sold books. You used to be able to go to Amazon and get your books printed on demand. Now you could get anything under the sun. And Amazon had to grow into what it's doing today, but they started off selling books, right? Online and audible books, but uh uh even LinkedIn, which many of us on LinkedIn basically started off

High Performers And The Ego Trap

SPEAKER_01 55:18

as a recruiting tool for recruiters, exactly, sure did. You're right, and now it's grown into a platform where you could take classes and connect with people and all this, you know, sell a sales engine and all these other things, right? But the uh man, my the majority of my clients are managing directors, VPs, the managing directors, and 30% of my clients are existing businesses, just like you said. They come to me and they're they're they're literally so I've had clients who have come to me in tears. They're you know, Kim, my health is going bad. I've gained 20 pounds, 30 pounds since starting this business, like you said, 10 years ago. Uh, you know, and and one of the main things, Jackie, that comes up time and time again is that many of them are wanting to not be in the business as much as they are. You know, they're still 60 hours, some of them 80 hours a week into their businesses. And they're like, him, I I can't maintain this. I've been doing this for 10 years. My blood pressure's up. I done went through a divorce. Some of them are working on their second divorce, right? Right, right. They come to me and they just say, I'm my I'm throwing my hands up in the air. I've and and the majority of referrals because people are saying, you know, I you would you help such and such. I don't even recognize him anymore. I saw my friend on the golf course and I was like, Man, what you know, what happened to you? You lost weight, you actually looking happy, you dating again, and you know, all this other kind of stuff. And they're like, Well, I went to this this coach, I went to this transition coach. And people who people, and I'll put it to you this way, Jackie. I got to the point where I just said, I don't care about, I was on my next promotion, you know, bonuses are good, life is good. I'm flying all over the country, right? And on somebody else's dime. And I just said, I I don't I can't do this anymore. I can't get on another plane, I don't want to go through another airport. Um, and my back was, you know, just I'm at the chiropractor, you know, every week. Right. And I just said, there has to be a better way to do this. And I found a mentor, right? I found a mentor and worked with a mentor for over a year. And it just uh and it's mindset. And unless you believe and you can see that things could be done a different way with someone who's like you, come from the same background, but they've been able to transition. And it's like, okay, if they could do it, and they've taught other people to do it, and there's other people, hundreds of other people, thousands of other people, why can't I do this? Right, and it just starts with the curiosity of the question, right? And that's what I say to most, and most of my clients come in skeptical. Oh, you you know, and they pay their money, they pay their money, but they don't expect to actually see a transformation or change, right? Right, I can see that. Yep. So that's what they have to see, yeah. But when they come out on the other end of this thing, they're just like, I I didn't I didn't believe where I am now was even possible. Because transition, that's what I'm saying, coaching helps. So let me ask you this before we get out. So what do you feel if someone is listening today feel stuck in a corporate autopilot with dreams of freedom with one what what's one of the seismic seismic say a word for me? Seismic transformation, seismic, uh, seismic uh step they can take this week to start moving toward entrepreneurship. The first step is to allow yourself to be curious. One of the things that we're taught as adults is to give up on our imagination, and we believe that that's just child's play. The first thing that you have to do is go back to being curious about what's possible and what's the potential of your life. If you're not even first open to the idea that your life can be different, you're not you're not even gonna be in step two to even accept any kind of change. Even the people that have come in, like I said, as skeptics, the one common thing that everyone who enters into my program is is that they have at least allowed themselves to imagine a different type of life and the possibility of it. Just curiosity. Right, right. Okay, so just start with that. Oh, that's so great. Well, we want to thank you so much for. Kimberly for being on our show today and being a part of our editions of the Giving Power to the Business Power Owner. Thank you so much. Um, is there anything you want to say? Because I want them to know how to get in contact with you. If you don't mind repeating that, how to get in touch with you, would you please let the people know that as well now? Sure. I'm a multi-company CEO. Um, if you

Redesigning Work For Time Freedom

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

want to talk about anything on the equity side, you can reach me at Beck Evans, and that's B-E-C-K E V as Invictoran S Limited L T D dot com, Beck Evans L T D dot com. And if you're ready to start taking that leap and even in business to move your business to the next level or move from corporate over to entrepreneurship, you can reach me at seismic transformations, and that's S-E-I-S-M-I-C transformations, T-R-A-N-S-O-S-O-S-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N-S.com, or you could just Google Kimberly Nicole Evans and all of my stuff will come up. And she is also finding on LinkedIn. That was it. I did it, and all her stuff comes up. That is so true. So we also have her, you guys, on our referral page at T Dj Equity L C dot net. She is one of our um uh uh main characters that's featured right now, so you all can click there and connect to her as well. So again, I want to thank her and thank you all for listening today. And I look forward to seeing you all on our next Giving Power to the Business Owner Webinar Series. You all take care. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

We hope you enjoyed this episode of TDJ Equity Funding Insiders Podcast. If you'd like to be a guest or get in touch with us, please visit our website at TDJ EquityLLC.net forward slash podcast or email us at podcast at TDJ Equity Funding Insiders.net. Until next time, take care.