Unbankable with Alex Shvarts

I'm Alex Schwarz, the CEO and founder of Funkite. And for 10 years, I've worked with merchants and small business owners all across America. I launched this podcast to help you, the small business owner, move forward, succeed, and possibly learn from the mistakes that we've seen that can help you get to where you want to go. Today I have an amazing guest. Someone that I know personally who's got so many great ideas, very disciplined, very organized, knows how to accomplish tasks, knows how to manage teams, and I thought it would be great to have him join me to discuss what we do and help you small entrepreneurs more forward. Let me introduce Justin Solomon, the chief revenue officer of Funkai. Justin, welcome. Thank you for joining me on this new wonderful endeavor. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to uh you know to share some of uh our daily uh our daily tasks and some knowledge that we have. I believe could be helpful to the world and young merchants, old merchants, whoever. And you know when we say merchants, we mean business owners, right? That's a lot of times in the in in in the business funding space, people say merchants, but we mean business owners. I just Correct. And it's it doesn't necessarily even have to be business owners because there's a lot of um people that are just in sales or brokers or what you know who can come from all all walks of life that uh you know can benefit from wi you know wisdom in sales and other things that they you know that might be helpful to their everyday life. Wisdom in sales. I I like that. Tell me one piece of advice you ignored but w you wish you hadn't. When I first started in sales, which is a very very very long time ago, I wish I would have taken it more serious from the very beginning cuz it was always something I was naturally talented at and it was just came easy to me to do, you know, sales and phone sales. So, probably really I didn't, you know, I started when I was like 21. I don't think I really started learning this as a craft until I was like in my late 20s or early 30s till I really decided to like learn to be an expert at what I do. And it, you know, probably would have been more beneficial to, you know, learn that earlier on and take it a little more serious and hone it down. You said craft and you said experience, right? But but being good at sales is probably a a part of a person's DNA. Not everyone can do sales, right? And I think that good sales is about being natural, about not trying to choose the right words to let the conversation flow. Listening. Listening is quite important. And also being able to accept no from a customer, right? Correct. No is a big word. A lot of people can't deal with no. They hear no, they fall apart. They don't know how to get past that. How do you get past no? Well, if you can't accept no for an answer or you accept no for an answer, you shouldn't be in sales. Uh, that's for one. I mean, that's a good question. You, you know, you have to one experience. You have to just be, it's conditioning. It's like anything. You have to be conditioned to, you know, it's it's a it's a marathon, not a sprint. You have to be conditioned to uh, you know, like when you Well, I'll back up. The sale doesn't start until you hear the word no. That is like a cliche. There's a lot of cliches in sales, but that's one that's true. this the the sale doesn't start until you hear the word no. Other than that, you're just order taking, right? So, uh you have to start to if if something's too easy and there's no resistance, it's usually not a good sale or it's probably a lot more is wrong or you're not really getting out of the, you know, your the person that you're selling, you're not getting out all the objections. You're not getting to the root of what all the issues are. So, if you don't hear a no and a guy like, "Yeah, yeah, great, great. Sounds great." they either rushing off the phone or you know they're just they're not serious buyer. So let's let's talk about that just for a little bit for a few more for a minute quickly and then we'll move move on. You know a lot of people think that going to seminars and and watching all these shows are going to help them become better salespeople. Do you believe that going to these inspirational talk shows or these seminars where, you know, people that I've really never seen selling besides a seminar that they're selling is the right path for someone to learn how to be a good salesman? I mean, that's a that's a subjective question. Personally, I do not think that that's something that is going to make you a better is going to make you a great salesman or a salesman or something. Uh, can you can you get something out of it? probably it depends what I mean I'm sure like with anything you can get something or if if you're looking you can get something positive or that you can add into your you know into your arsenal of you know just your sales arsenal or your life arsenal I mean you can I do I think it's worth it probably not do you want to be emulating people that are not master salesman it's not something I would do but you know you can't knock somebody for something if they if somebody it's like uh if you can if it's something you can find posit positivity and it gives you confidence and it gives you then then I would think it's you know it could be good but it's not something personally that I would do or think is worth the money. Selling versus closing. It's a very very good question. Um so I'll just tell you I consider myself a master salesman. It's cocky. Yes, it's very cocky. But you can't not be a good salesman and not be confident and not think you're the best. You're going to get beat out every single time. So and I've been doing this long enough. Uh, that's just it. I get paid a lot of money to do it, right? And, uh, I have some tips that people pay me a lot of money for, so I think it'd be useful for whoever it is, whether it's, um, anybody in our industry, it could be a merchant, it could be whatever it is. First of all, I don't sell somebody. Selling somebody means I'm desperate and I have to I have I don't I don't want or need anything from you. You want what I have. It's a very different distinction and people need to understand that I don't sell, I attract. And that is the biggest thing that people don't get. You're never I when I speak to somebody I sound credible because I am credible. I'm credibly sounding because I'm credible. I'm I am not selling. I'm having a conversation with you. And it's almost never a buy or die situation. Okay? If something you ever heard the old say, if if if something's meant to be, you let it set it free and it's going to come back to you. That's how it should be. If you selling a product that one you believe in because you can't sell something really truly with conviction if you don't believe in it yourself. So you have to sell the salespeople as the boss. Your job is to sell the salespeople. If you're not selling the salespeople or they don't believe in what you're doing, your mission or your product, there's not a chance that you're going to run um a successful team. So one, you speak to somebody uh a potential client, a merchant, whatever it is. I don't care what industry you're in, you need to have control of the conversation. If you're not in control of the conversation, you're never going to get where you want because like I said, the idea is that you're trying to attract someone from A to Z. You can't push them there. Okay? I can, and I say this all the time, I consider myself I'm 47 years old. I'm an entrepreneur. I've owned many businesses. I'm the ideal customer. Maybe one day I'll get too old and I won't really, but I'm the customer. And I've always put myself in that position, right? What would I do if I feel like I'm being I can be have the real someone could be trying to sell me the cure to cancer and they might have it. If I feel like I'm being sold, conversation's over. It's never going to happen. I'm never going to allow that myself to entertain that. You can't sell. You know, I always equate it, which drives me freaking nuts. I think that this is the worst thing anyone can do. You walk into a store, I don't care what kind of store, clothing store, and as you walk in, the first thing they do is attack you. Are you looking for something in particular? What can I help you with? Man, it's such a turn. I feel like just turning around and leaving out 100%. I don't if I, you know, if I'm going to need that help, I'm going to ask you. I came in just to browse, right? I mean, I know you're trying to be nice and I and everybody's trying to make a sale in this world and everybody's pitching all day long, but just leave me alone and and don't attack someone. You know, people people overdo it, right? Like in sales, right? I I try to also have just a a conversation to understand is there a problem? What is the problem? And if it's a financial problem, because we're in a financial world, can I solve that problem in a way that's going to work for you and going to work for us, right? But until I know that there is a problem and I can solve it or you're ready to engage in that conversation, being all over that person is too much. Don't, you know, I walk into your store, can I help you? What are you looking for? Are you looking for something specific? Holy crap. Like, please. Just makes me want to leave. So don't bombard people. I mean a lot of sales people bombard. They feel like I I tell you another thing. Scripts, right? You know a lot of people in especially phone sales use scripts. So they go out they read you know a hundred different things they memorize them if you know um I don't think they work. I don't think that outlines. Now look, you can learn and if you want to call it a script about the product your company's offering, service you're offering cuz you need to know the key points to be, you know, you need to know what you're offering, right? But saying the same thing to different people is just going to get you one result, failure. Everybody's unique. Another thing I find that sales people just don't listen. They just talk da da da da da da da da. Right? I mean, listen, engage. I just much rather, you know, I walk into the store and say, somebody says, "Good afternoon. Thank you for coming in. Thank you for visiting our store." Right. Correct. Can I help you? What are you looking for? Anything specific? You know, sometime I just want to say, "Yeah, a little peace and quiet is the specity I'm losing him for." Right. I'll give you another example, right? Um, restaurants in a second. I I always find this funny, too. But I think good leaders of companies should teach their front-facing people just into being pleasant and saying hello in a nice way, right? As opposed to d what do you need? What are you looking for? Let's talk about restaurants, right? This one is always great. You know, the best saleserson in a restaurant is the waiter. Bottom line, I'm here, right? Mhm. And if if I ask a waiter, this is great. love this. What do you recommend? Now, first of all, you can kind of look at a person and you can most of the time tell you and I have different taste. I like seafood and you like steak, right? But that So, you sit down and you ask a waiter. I I actually don't ask a waiter anymore. Like, what do you recommend? They like the most expensive things. No, no, no. They're just going to give you half the [ __ ] on the menu. Well, for me, I really recommend the And the Branini is really great. Oh my god. And the grilled shrimp for an appetizer and this and this and this and this and this. The guy just recommended 30 different things to me. 30 things, right? Because he's programmed to do that in cuz he's not listening. He's not asking a question. So I'm a waiter and you say to me, you know, what do you recommend? I would ask just the following things. And depending on, you know, what we serve, you want fish or meat. Let's say we just serve fish or meat. Yeah. You want something soft or chewy. And how hungry are you? How hungry are you? That's the first question I'm going to ask. How hungry are you? Guy goes, you know, I'm super hungry. Oh my god. Then you got to go for this 960 porter house. Oh my god. That's all the guy wants to hear. One suggestion, one meal. This is what I want. Instead, the guy's going to go, "Well, you can try the fammen. You can try the sirloin." It's like they're trying to explain to you what a fellon and sirloin is. People know what the difference. They want you to choose one thing on the menu based on what you're going through. And so, that's the problem, right? That's the problem. Um, it's been always a problem with people. They don't listen. They don't ask the simple question. You know, forget about buying a car, man. you walk into that place, it's like you're being chased down, right? You know, still to this day, I guess it I think everybody hates buying a car. I think going to the dentist now is a much better experience than going to buy a car. Used to be like the opposite. So, like what what do you teach people cuz you know, you work with a lot of salespeople. What give me a tool that is important? Like a guy starts today in sales. The one thing I'm going to tell people is the most important thing is you need to listen and ask questions. You talk less. Let people tell you how to sell them. It's much easier cuz you're I'm if I speak to this guy, I speak to Alex and I ask him um you know I can just start people like to talk about themselves. You just get the guy. It's all about the questions you ask. And um I have a lot of frustration when I train people because they can, you know, spend 40 minutes with somebody on the phone and I can find out the thing in 10 seconds. It's just by it's all about asking the right questions and listening to the response. It's like almost like uh like it's like a like you're in a courtroom. It's like leading the witness. That's exactly what you're doing. You're leading them. You're asking questions that you know the answer how they're going to go to get them from point A to point B. And it's an art form to be able to do that. And it's a skill. You need to be able to ask a question that you know the answer. and what they're going to get and move them down the road to what you you know to what you want. So you need to make sure that you have control of the client. You want to make make sure that they're really interested because you can be speaking to somebody all and take your whole day and ask them. You want to make sure that they're really interested and this is all you find this out by asking the right questions. You know, you need to make sure that you're speaking to the decision maker. But but there's a difference. Hold on one thought. It's one thing when you're on the phone with someone that you really need an you really need to know quickly because they're interested, right? What they're looking for, if they're looking for it, you need to get that answer so you're not wasting your time. But if someone someone has spent the time to walk into your store, you can do the same going on, right? But there's there's a reason why they're in that store. You can just ask the question. Same thing. Hey, what brings you in here today? Are you just browsing or or you do you you know are you do you looking to buy a jacket for yourself? I I disagree with that. I just I believe when someone walks into they already spend the time there's a lot of options. They walked in here something attracted them. I I think just saying good afternoon. Thank you for coming in. Let me know if I can help you with something. And let them go because if something is going to appeal to them, trust me, they're going to get your attention. But putting someone in a store, it's one thing when someone reaches out to you or you're on the phone for a spec, somebody's looking for a service product and they're already on the phone, it's different. You got to get to that answer. But if it's a brickandmortar business, retail store, somebody already chose to walk into your store. And you have to also take into account, you know, people just walk through stores and malls, right? Like how many times a day are you going to ask, "Hey, can I help you with something you're interested?" No, just let people be. Let them feel comfortable that they're welcomed. Once somebody feels welcomed, they're going to want to spend more time in that store as opposed to, you know, they're bombarded right away. What can I help you? What are you looking for? You know, there's a little bit of a So sales isn't, you know, the same for whether it's, you know, on the phone or in person or things like that. But, but I agree with you that you need to get to that answer. You need to let somebody speak, right? If you're dealing with a customer on the phone, you got to get cuz I've seen people spend two days on the phone and and accomplish nothing. Let's talk about the business funding industry. What surprised you most about business owners once you started in this industry? Probably how uneducated they are and how some of them are, you know, not great businessmen. I find some people to be, you know, sometimes you look at their their business and what they've accomplished and you speak to them, you're like, how did this happen? You know, there's a lot of that. So, I would I've found that there's a lot of naivity with it and people are just really clueless on a lot of things when it comes to financing and funding and money and making financial decisions that are that are, you know, behoove their business. I I'm was shocked about how many people I really speak to that don't know anything. And I would say it's like 90%. And but but that's not a bad thing. Look, um you know, everybody has a talent, right? And somebody can build a business because they're a great chef and they have a great restaurant. Somebody can be um a great mechanic and have a auto repair shop or a nail salon. That doesn't mean that they know how to balance Quickbooks or balance their budget. That's not what their passion and and and that's okay. Hey, there is help for that. You know, you get a good accountant. You you know, you you get people to help you. And but I think it's also about asking for that help. It's knowing. So, I go by three things. I know what I know. I know what I don't know. And I also understand that I don't even know what I don't know. There are things that don't even come to my mind that I don't know about. So I think for business owners, small business owners, it's important to recognize your strengths, your weaknesses, accept what you can't control and get help for it. There's so, you know, in today's world between social media, internet, you can find the answers to anything, right? It's so easy. You know, when I was growing up, it was very difficult probably when you were growing up also, right? So I I think that's good. Let me let me ask you this. There's one more part to that that everything you said is right until the person runs across someone who is unscrupulous or has different motives than myself or Funkai or a lot of other people in the finance industry and this is a big problem. So you naivity can come, you know, is fine and you have to know what you don't know. But if you're not, you know, if you're a very unlucky or you're not vetting the right people or you're not really understanding and tr, you know, that's something you can trust your gut. But this is what I see a lot is they're most of the time they're running into the the wrong person first. And I I use that line all the time like you're very lucky you got me because I'm honest and I don't sell, I attract. It's my I've always been like that. Well, you are very attractive. So that's uh says a few people, especially in Asia, but most people. But but good. That's a very good point you're on. And let's stay on that for a second. So you know, a lot of business owners are getting bombarded by phone calls from brokers trying to offer them funding, right? Three tips you can give a business owner on how to choose the right broker and work with the right broker. I mean, look, sometimes they'll call Funkite like it's we're a direct funer. We're not a broker. But often you have, you know, people that get to a funding company through a broker. Three ways, three top ways that a business owner or or things a business owner should look at to choose the right broker to work with. One, a simple Google check would be the first thing I would do. You can find a lot by checking Google and you can save yourself a lot of pain. Two, I would say make sure you're just not dealing with somebody that is really pushy. I if you have urgency is one thing. If you start this conversation where I need money by tomorrow because I if this XYZ doesn't get paid or I don't get this in my account, I'm in big trouble. if if you're not the one initiating this conversation like this and there it's the end of the you know uh you know it's the end of the world you have to do this right now today thing is usually there's usually red flags and you have to trust your gut uh the third thing I would say is and personally for myself and I've trained a lot of people the and something that I like to emphasize is every single conversation does not have to be transactional and I find that to be something that's served me the best in sales and I have people and customers that always remember my name, always call me first. And trust me, because I'm I don't look at every and this this is just how I'm in life. I don't look at every single thing I do needs to be a source to make money or transactional. Um, and it's a natural thing for me and I try to teach it. But when you when you when you go into conversations where every single thing and every single inch of your day has to be something that you have to benefit from right then and there, it's like anything. Uh, what goes up fast comes down fast. And when you build when you build things with, you know, the right way, things might take a little bit longer, but now you're going to have people that trust you. And I I also say that if you're speaking to someone who's offering you something, give yourself a minute, two, three, five to replay in your mind what just happened during that conversation and make sure you understand what they are explaining to you. Especially when it comes to any kind of financing, you need to know what you're getting yourself into. It's easy to take money. Are you going to be able to pay it back, right? Um what are the terms? What happens if you miss a payment? What happens if you get into rough times? And and these are important questions that often business owners don't look at because you're right, they need to buy a new pizza oven by tomorrow or they're not going to be able to make pizza for their customers. they're in trouble, right? But there are options. There are alternatives. Don't think that the the guy on the phone is your last solution. It's probably your first solution. Okay. Thank you for that. So, what's the most uncomfortable conversation you had to have with a business owner? I know that you can handle it and I wouldn't have asked you questions that that I would think that you wouldn't have the answers to because you're very good at communicating and talking to people. So, give me the most uncomfortable conversation you had. Always uncomfortable when you have to tell somebody, especially far in the process, that they're not they're not getting funded. And unfortunately in our our industry, it's, you know, this is many times unsecured. It's not assetbacked. And when that happens, you have a lot of um, you know, there's just things that could happen at the 9th hour that are unforeseen. And it just is. And sometimes it's just it is, you know, there's it's out of your control or it's a lot a lot of times it's something they forgot to tell us or you know it's nobody's fault. It just happens. And when someone desperately needs money and I've been working on it for 2 days and you know then at the at the end of the the second day when they're going to be in a excuse my language they're going to be [ __ ] at when you you know when you know that they're in a very bad situ position and then you have to deliver the bad news that they're going to that you're not going to solve that problem for them. It really sucks. And the little emotion I do have when in in sales and business, it always sucks when you let someone down like that that is counting on you. So, I would say those are always the toughest conversations. I just want to say I really hope you're enjoying this conversation I'm having now and the Unbankable podcast. If you do, please click below and subscribe. Would really mean a lot. So, Justin, then I have another question. I've noticed a lot of business owners, it's an impulse, right? uh small business owners don't plan on when they need funding. They just hit a wall and I need funding today and then they go to scramble. And it's a whole different another topic about, you know, the G plan. I call it the G plan, the growth plan, right? You know, you've got the S plan, which is the staff plan. You've got the F plan, which is the funding plan, and the G is the the growth plan. And I kind of look at those. But and so I see a lot of uh business owners make this mistake when, you know, they're applying for funding because it's almost a knee-jerk reaction. Something happened. I got to go get funding now. So what is what would you say is the biggest mistake you've seen where business owners make when they are applying for funding? Because it's a it's an emotional reaction. I need funding now, right? A lot of times is what we see. What's the biggest mistake you've encountered that they make when they're, you know, in that position? The biggest mistake is is applying for funding when they're on their back foot and they need the money rather than um being prepared and getting it when they best qualify and it's being unprepared and bad planning opposed to an emergency, which does happen, but that is not the the I would say that's not the nexus of of our business funding. Our business funding helps the most people when it's when it's planned. So, when people are on their back foot and desperate and they're not well prepared, they make their they make they take shortcuts and they make mistakes and they're and they're never going to get as much or as good of a deal that they qualify for because they're not prepared. They don't have their financials in order. They don't have their uh their taxes filed. There's little things that you can do and have everything ready. Speed, the longer it goes on, the more things can happen. So, the things as they drag out, you have everything ready. You have everything ready to go and you plan it rather than having to need it. And when you're, it's like anything. It's when you're in a position of power when you are dictating the terms rather than you being on your back foot and having to do whatever the other, you know, funding company, the bank, what they're going to dictate because you're in more of a desperate situation. So I always tell people, don't be desperate. Plan out your needs much better and I think you'll have much better success. And and in case of emergency, which happens does happen. I I think that people need to be very clear. Don't sugarcoat it. I think uh business owners trying to get money because it is an emergency need to stress that hey I've got an emergency. I need money for this because funders, lenders, they need to know, right? Otherwise they think you're hiding something. So being transparent with a a funding capital provider is really really important for them to make that decision. Um that happens a lot and that's actually a very good point. I tell people I'm not your wife's attorney and I'm not the IRS. You can't lie to it's like lying to your doctor or your lawyer as a when when we're brokering deals this when you're a funding and you're underwriting is a different situation. But when you're being a broker and you're they you have to be they have to be honest with you and this is a lot of times what what just it's the worst part of our job as as when we're in sales because when you're the PE when you're on when you are genuinely trying to help somebody and they're not being honest with you because they think that it's going to hurt their chances. um it makes the job way more difficult. Whereas in reality, you know, you can navigate it if someone's good at their job, we can get around almost anything. So when they're honest, but finding out at in the in the you know, at the last, you know, the 10 yard line or wherever thing, it makes everybody uncomfortable. Where if they would just be honest, say this is the situation I just took funding this and if the more honest they are, the better you can because people appreciate honesty and it's I find that to be a big big challenge in our industry with that. I agree. I I think uh again because you know people just sometimes have a a look telling somebody I'm in trouble is admitting something is wrong and and that's an emotional thing or feeling that people go through where I mean I have to admit I'm in trouble. People don't want to admit it's people don't admit to themselves they're in trouble. Why would it they admit to uh to others? All right, just some fun stuff, you know. Um, one tool you couldn't live without business-wise. Business-wise, Google. Google. Okay. I would struggle without Google. Yeah. I could live without the AI stuff, but Google I still I I probably couldn't live without my phone. I think I I I couldn't live without, you know, Yeah. Like I mean, I could live maybe without a Google for a day, but I I couldn't live without a phone. All right. One expense you regret? Kids. They're expensive. Uh, no. I mean, I don't have regrets on I try not to have many regrets in life. It's not I look forward, not backward. As an entrepreneur, it's an emotional roller coaster for me, right? Sometimes I don't know if I'm an employee or an employer. I don't know because during the day I am I think I'm an employee. I'm working. I'm doing a hundred different things. And I think running running the company is probably between 7:00 at night and 7 in the morning when everybody's gone, right? Because during the day, but but as an entrepreneur, you know, what is the toughest part of your day? What what really if if if something that man you wish you could change, you can't. And I know what you're going to say. It's commuting to work. No, but but beside what is the toughest part? Entrepreneurs don't commute like that now. But yeah, but you know like look, you have this drive. I know you well and you know you have this drive, you have this ambition, you're you're awesome and communicating with people, transparent, but there's got to be something that that you just can't control and it gets to you every single day. I mean, there's things that I have like this. I'm happy to share. It's a good question. You know like when I'm an entrepreneur or I tell you give advice to you it's you're not you're not an employee you're a slave to your company and that's that is a horrible feeling where and delegating and scaling are very hard things and as an entrepreneur it's very hard to let go of things and sometimes you think it's just easier just to do it and not and um than to delegate or you're going to spend more time and they're just going to [ __ ] it up or whatever it's or mess it up whatever it is going to be. So I think that probably as an entrepreneur that is the hardest thing you know you put in long hours are part of it. Like I've never been scared to work long hours or anything but when you're when you're relying on other people and you're spinning your wheels and you're not delegating is when you start to get into this very deep hole that's hard to get out of because you are only one person all the time. You're the one driving the ship. Um, and you know, you have to navigate rough seas. You have to navigate fires. I mean, that's what I do. That's 75% of my day is putting out fires. And I'm sure that's the same with you. So, if you're spending your whole day putting out fires, sometimes it's exhausting and it's hard then to reenter yourself and then try to do things that you need to forward the business and what's good for the business in the overall um big picture. And I find that to be extremely extremely difficult to to manage it. You know, it's emotional. You're tired. is already tired. If you're an entrepreneur, you're most likely already tired. So, when you're starting your days tired, tired before you wake up. That's what I'm saying. When you're starting your day tired, then you're dealing with 10 things you didn't know with 10 different levels of severity and you know, things that are just out of your control. And then you're dealing with this all day and then having to now all of a sudden snap your fingers and just get on with your day and try to be positive and move the move the whole business forward and you're the leader of your ship in your company and you need to maintain um positivity and you know leadership and it's very difficult I think to maintain all that when so if you like this conversation or you have some thoughts something that I could cover better or questions hey comment below definitely going I'd love to hear from you. The business funding industry has exploded right in the last 12 years since you know banks stopped well banks stopped a long time ago providing uh capital to to small businesses but this industry has exploded and so what I want to talk about is a career in business funding because there's so many young people now in this industry um all over the country so many opportunities in in different whether it's in sales or underwriting or operation ations. It's a booming growing industry, right? Gold rush. Gold. Almost a gold rush. That's a very good good way to say it. So, how would you what advice would you give to someone who might be interested in working in this industry? Um, should they who should they choose as the right company to work with? So my advice to a young person looking to get into this industry, whether it's in sales or some of the ancillary, you know, um support roles that can come or um you can make a lot of money and there's not a lot of industries that you can get into with no college degree with, uh you know, with very limited barriers. if you're basically have a pulse and you're alive and you can show up to work on time and you're you can get a job in in in business, you know, in revenue based financing. I mean, there is a low barrier to entry. So, which is good. Um, but I would say make sure that you work for you, you know, a company that is going to train you the correct way because at the end of the day, you might not make it. A lot of places don't pay salaries. They don't pay anything. So you you know the best thing you're going to get is an education and sometimes that education is learning what not to do but you want to try to position yourself the best you can to a company that is going to train you the right way and teach you the best way because I know that a lot of this stuff like you know I I make a lot of money and I work for a big company I don't have a college degree and it all came from learning a sales and processes that I've learned when I was 21 years old 25 30 years ago literally that still apply today and I take the same format and structure and you can just plug and play everything else. So, the quicker you can learn that and learn from the right people, uh, the better you're going to be. Um, and I think it's, you know, do it. You have nothing to lose. You can make money. You know, this a big these are big tickets and you're, you know, you can you can really help people like anything. You know, you just want to make sure you're helping, not hurting people. And you can uh, you know, you can write your own you can write your own check. You know, that's the that's the thing. And there's not a lot of industries where you have complete control over your income and your life. There's there's not a lot. So, you know, I'm speaking on a lot of industry panels in the next month and the same question keeps coming up. What does the future look for our industry? I'm I'm trying to figure out what does the future look like? And and it's it it's it's so fast the way it's evolving. You know, I think what's the way that our industry is evolving every 6 months is like 5 years. It took 5 years before to get what's happening with 6 months now. You know, technology is incredible. Um people are smarter and better. There's more of a a recipe on how this should be done. Um and it's always a learning curve. You know, I learn something every single day. even you know after doing this for so long. So what do you what do you think man like how is this going to evolve now? What do you think happens to this industry as a whole? Um I'd say probably I don't know how many merchants or business owners do we speak to today that haven't heard of revenue-based finance? Not that many. So most of Main Street America knows about this type of you know capital access. Um, what do you think? How how how is this going to involve in your mind this this industry? It's a good question. I have a good answer for that actually. So, um, I used to my dad used to own a tire shop, right? I wanted to get back into years later into the tire business and I said, "Terrible idea." You know, it's all he knows. It's all he knew. He just, you know, wasn't getting his head around it. I'm like, you need to look at the people, the top people in whatever industry you're in. And specifically with the like the tire business thing, it was consolidated and the top companies were not making money. And that is a key thing to look at. This is, you know, so like for tire king, they're all consolidating. All the kicked out all the little guys, which is kind of what's happening in our industry has been a big consolidation. And the only people that are surviving are the really big ones are the ones that are thriving the most are the these these huge companies. And you have to look at the top what they're doing and and to give it a good idea of where this thing is going. And I think for our industry, I think that this is going all in the in the direction of embedded lending and super high technology. And I think that the days of these cowboys and these these just people that just destroy people's lives the way they they loan money and like to where our industry a lot of bad apples in the business and it's getting and it's completely filtering its way out because now you have such big companies like look we're in business funding we're not competing with like Square or Shopify or Amazon I mean let's be real it's not we are but we're not but that's all just data driven uh and that's where this going this is going at now like anything the big wigs and the CEOs of these huge banks realize how much money there is to be made and they're going to eventually knock the little guys out. I mean, I hate to say it, but it there'll always be a place, especially for companies that do the right thing and, you know, can, you know, make sure that you can pivot and, you know, you know, duck and weave as you things as things are going on, but you need to be, but it's easier. It's different for Shopify, right? So, you know, some people don't know about Shopify Capital and um so Shopify, you know, if you buy if you have a website on Shopify um and you process all your transactions through it, Shopify does the credit card processing through I think I think they do it through Stripe. So, it's really easy for Shopify because they have all the data already in their system. They see every transactions, all your sales, and they're able to give you funding based on those transactions. Right. when we're dealing with um merchants where we don't have access to that data, we need to get that data to be able to underwrite it and to be able to to make the an offer that's going to work. But um you know there is a part of this business that can be fully automated and and data driven. I I totally agree with you. But there is another part which what I really love about what we do at Funkite is that we're a boutique style funding company. We we speak to merchants, we engage in that conversation. Not everything is going to be, you know, data driven. So, in some ways, I agree with you that, you know, tech is going to try to take over a lot of this industry, but only if they have access to the numbers. If they don't have the numbers, they don't have access like Shopify does or into it or PayPal. I think that you're going to um I think that you're you're you're still going to have this kind of a hands-on approach because you still have to get the data somehow. You have to get the merchant to submit their financials, bank statements, whatever. I hate dealing with people and I know that my generation and younger do not like dealing with actual people. So maybe you're it's right. there's like an in between, but I personally if I can do anything without having to communicate with somebody on the phone or like that and I can do everything by email, text or electronically, I prefer that and you can still get the information. I think probably one of three top things that people really don't want to talk about. I mean, they don't want to talk to their doctor if they got bad, you know, blood work. um you know but forgetting the other two but one of them is definitely you know they don't want to talk to somebody saying I need money it's I mean asking for money has to be one of the hardest things to do right and you know people have certain options right like where do you get you know so certainly if you're in a startup stage you're very limited right you got to go to friends and family you got to you know it's the toughest thing is starting up right? You know, opening that restaurant. God, you know, I'm a great chef. Everybody loves the way I cooked. I've trained the 10 years at a Michelin star restaurant. I want to open up my own place. Where am I going to get the money for this, right? That's the tough part, right? Um the startup capital. But once you're already in business and you have a little bit of a track record, the revenue based finance industry is awesome for you uh in that sense. Uh but still, you know, calling someone and saying, "Hey, I need money like you know, can you help me?" It's uh it's tough. It's tough, right? And so I think that's why a lot of people don't want to talk to anybody about money. But we listen, we've also been trained. We've been programmed for the last 25 years. Now I'm come from a different generation. When I used to go to the bank, I knew who my banker was. I'd say hello, how are you? And they know who I am. And banking was done on a personal level. whatever that banking was, even when it was, you know, just depositing your weekly paycheck, it didn't automatically hit your account back then, right? Um, but now banks have programmed us that when it comes to money, there's no one to talk to, right? You can't walk into a bank and the teller doesn't has nothing to tell you except, you know, do the transa. It's very transactional. Um, you got your ATMs that really take care of everything. um you call you know customer support and a lot of times it's not it's not even calls a lot of times a lot of times customer support now does even chat bots or whatever they are so we've been programmed not to discuss money with with real people with financial institutions right they will certainly call you if you're late with a payment you're definitely getting phone calls emails text messages And if you have great credit, right, you're going to get approved for any credit card you need. But it's when you don't have all of that and you need money now, that's a problem right now. Where do you go? So, um, so I think that people have been trained. Don't ask for money. There's no one to talk to. And I think that's a problem. That's wrong, right? Um, and that's what I I that's why we're unbankable because a lot of the people we deal with just can't go to a bank. they can't ask for help and that's why this this industry is flourishing because that it solves that very very important problem going back to something else we discussed you know but people have to be honest you know you're a business owner you need money you got an emergency you got a problem you have to tell it like it is because once the person you're working with on uh getting you the financing sees the clear picture they also know like there's there's options right is it you know revenue based finance is maybe you you can get an SBA. There's so many options for you, but people need to be the clear, you know, have a clear picture, right? It's like going to a doctor, right? You're not going to go to a doctor and say, "Something hurts." Well, where does it hurt? Uh, in my body. I mean, where in you you're going to be specific. You know, doc, my ankle is killing me. I'm in pain. How do I cure this? Well, the same thing. You know, look, I need money. I need to, you know, go build this in my business. I want to expand. I need new chairs or I have an opportunity to get to a second location. You got to be clear. You got to be transparent. You got to explain what the problem is so that the people you're working with can figure out if they can solve it for you. Right? So, when you're dealing with um with merchants, you know, I talk to business owners also every day. Um tell me if if you feel the same thing that sometimes they would just want to paint the most perfect picture, right? So, if you're a business owner and you're giving me the rosiest, most perfect picture, I'm going to be a little skeptical, right? Like, everything's so great, everything's so wonderful, what do you need money for, right? If you encountered situations where you're talking to a business owner and it's like they're reading off a script how great the world is for them. Yeah. Because that's uh training you said pro uh programming from their thinking like what that's what banks want to hear because banks will only lend to you if you're have everything is perfect. Bank is not giving you business funds if there is any hiccups. They have a low tolerance to risk. Right? So we've been trained if the bank thinks there's a wrinkle in my business. It's not going to want to give me money. And for us we're the opposite and we you know we take a chance. Right. I I agree. It's a lot there's a lot less. But but whatever you say when it comes to money, business, and finances is verifiable cuz there's bank statements. There's numbers to look at, right? So look, I like entrepre though. The bank statements don't tell all the story. I like entrepreneurs that are optimistic and most entrepreneurs are optimists, not pessimists. Right. Correct. They believe in what they're doing and it's going to work. In fact, I I I had a I had a conversation with an entrepreneur last night and he's launching 15 different it's in the uh consumer space, health products. He says, "I'm launching 15 products and if this product hits, if that product hits, this is going to be so great, so much money to be made." And I'm listening to this for like 22 minutes. And nowhere in that conversation did I hear this is how I'm going to make this product great. This is the plan how I'm going to roll these products out. What is the market share? I I didn't hear any of that. I just kept hearing, oh, it's a friend, right? We weren't talking about financing. Oh, I'm launching these 15 products and all I kept hearing, you know, if this product takes off, I'm going to make so much money. I didn't hear any of the plan. I just heard that. I heard the secret sauce. I I I heard No, no. It's a very This was a very candid opener conversation, but I heard the I heard the dream, but I didn't I didn't see the steps to get there. Details, right? And and I hear that a lot. You know, I see that a lot. People get people look at the which is great. You know, eventually you do want to see the win. Whatever you do, you want to win, right? And you know, because if people don't look for a win, what are they doing it for? If you're looking at the win, but you don't have all the plays for the touchdown, right? You know, if you're not passing at the right time or running, how are you going to get there? Right? So, when I speak to business owners, if I hear too much of the win, the win, the end, right? And I don't hear the steps to get there, I'm concerned. Here's the challenge you have because I know probably a lot of people you know personally in business they look up to you and they want you know they're asking you for advice. I get this all the time and it's a tight rope because I don't want to like [ __ ] on or I don't want to be negative on their idea and you know and be perceived as being like not supporting them when you ask questions like well how are you going to do this? this doesn't make sense or this isn't a good, you know, there's a there's a there is a tight rope to walk to where you want to still seem supportive and and also and understand that like, okay, so, you know, I want I want a lot of things, too, but where how are you going to get there? Yeah. But you know what? I I've also learned one thing, right? You know, giving advice to friends who didn't ask for it exactly is like a recipe for burning a friendship, right? So when I'm listening to this guy and he's, you know, he's made a gazillions of dollars already in his mind that, you know, six out of the 15 products are going to be, you know, the best products in the world, you know, and then questioning all of that, I I just didn't feel it was my place right now. If he said, "Look, what do you think of my plan? Do you think the way I want to get cuz I look, I have so much knowledge. I've I've seen I've seen the script to this story from other people so many times, right? So I um sometimes when they don't ask I I just listen uh because you know friendship it's a little different right? So if if somebody who's not a friend said look I want to I have you know 15 products I think I'm going to do this. I'd say okay what's the plan? How are you going to get there? Let's start with one product. Why 15 right away? Why do you need to go with 15 different products right away when you don't even know if one of them is going to work? Why not start okay you know start with three? What's the plan? But you know, so um from a from someone who provides capital to small businesses, my point of view is if you're gonna sell me a dream, right, tell me how you're going to get there. Don't sell me just the end result. Because smart people, and I'm by far not the smartest person, smarter people than me are going to question, how are you going to get from here to there? And maybe you won't have all the steps. You won't have all the moves. You won't have all the plays, which is okay. But if we could see that you have some of the moves, some of the plays, maybe we can help you figure out the other ones. But at least, you know, a lot of people don't have a plan. They don't have a plan when they're doing this. They don't have a plan when [ __ ] hits the fan, right? You know what they say, hyperrowth. People do hyperrowth all the time. They, oh, you know what? One location worked well. Let me open another. Let me open a third. I'm going to keep opening. I'm going to give him You know how many people I've seen fail from hyperrowth? You know, not having a plan is a plan to fail. That's true, too. It's the truth. these old sales cliches and it's also um you know for me and and you and you know one of the things we we deal with every day um because people think it's glamorous being a founder being a CEO running your own business man you know one of my my biggest challenges in life is is time it's finding the time and that's why I'm saying during the day you're really an employee of your business at night when when the business is not operating, that's when you're a business owner and you can make, you know, the decisions that you need to make and and plan and and prioritize, but so how do you find time, man? How do you I know you're you're a big golfer. You love to golf, right? Um you know, I love my vinyl records. You know, I love listening to music. That's my you know, helps my my my my brain rejuvenate. But how do we find time, man? And and this is good advice for, you know, small business owners. They're doing the same thing we are, man. They're managing their small business, running that answer, I wouldn't be here right now. Isn't that I think that that's the that's the biggest problem we all have is time. How do we find time right now? Yeah. I think I think time is, you know, time is important and people think they have more time than they do. And if you don't prioritize time on your for yourself, you cannot be a very you cannot offer a lot for anybody. I don't care if it's your business owner, if it's for your family, it's for your kids, whatever it is. You have to prioritize time for yourself and recharging your your batteries. I know for me anyway. So, and I I have zero time. Zero. I force time to play golf, but other than a couple golf, you know, four hours twice on the weekend each, I have zero time for myself. So, you have to prioritize time. If not, you're going to burn out. And as a business, as a boss, a founder, um you know, you need to really really make sure that you keep your employees, especially your good employees, from have from getting burnt out because, you know, you can you might be burnt out and then you don't want everyone around you to be burnt out because then you're going to have a a burnt forest and you're not going to, you know, and it's it's easier said than done, but you know, burnout is a is a is something you got to watch. You have to prioritize, you know, the again, but the other but the other side of it, man, is um, you know, being a successful entrepreneur means sacrifice, right? Until you get to a point where you don't have to sacrifice. But we're not talking about not we're not talking about sacrifice. We're talking about putting yourself in the best position to forward your agenda. And as you as the leader of your whatever it is, whatever your business is, whatever your organization is, whether you like it or not, everyone looks up to you. You are the you're the captain of the ship. Okay, look at it in the captain terms. You're the captain of the ship. And um while yes, you have way less of a life and you have to, you know, you're making sacrifices, you also have the most to gain. And again you need to prioritize time for your health yourself because what it does is while you can look at it as oh it's sacrifice and you know this is what needs to get done to to forward this or you go watch these idiots in the seminars that tell you you need to work 60 hour you you have at the end of the day at the very end of the day everything you're doing is about being productive and it's about productivity. Me personally, I'm more I am more productive than every anybody out there in four hours than they are in eight. That's me. But productivity is what matters. It's what's coming out of the other end of the factory. And if and sometimes more hours doesn't spell more productivity. Yeah, I that's you know, I'd love to to hear from our our audience and and drop some comments. Let us know how do you make your day productive? I' I'd love to hear what people are doing about productivity. How do you find time if you don't find time? And how do you feel when you know you feel like you're out of time? And just the last question, as an entrepreneur and and a manager and and all the things that are you encompass, what would be a perfect way this day can end for you from the business side? At the end of the day, funding the deals, making money solves all the day's problems and it's the best deodorant for life is uh is funny. So, us funding a bunch of deals would is the answer to every one of the of my days. Thank you, Justin Solomon, for for sharing this time with me, your thoughts and wisdom and experiences. And thank you for joining Unbankable, the podcast for entrepreneurs who don't take no for an answer and who want to succeed and drive and uh do well. Thank you.