Entrepreneur Intel

In this insightful episode, Wes speaks with Mario Lupia, an expert in operations and leadership, about the challenges faced by visionary entrepreneurs and how structured processes are essential for achieving their ambitious goals. The discussion centers around balancing visionary ideas with realistic operational strategies and the importance of having an experienced operator to transform vision into execution.

Takeaways:
  • Visionaries often have grand ideas but may struggle with practical execution, as they tend to focus more on the big picture and less on the step-by-step process required to achieve it.
  • Establishing a clear end goal is essential before creating strategies to achieve it. Without a defined outcome, the steps to get there may become disorganized or misguided.
  • Tools like the Vision Traction Organizer (VTO) from EOS are highly effective in aligning visionaries and operators by clearly documenting core values, long-term targets, and actionable plans. This alignment helps ensure that everyone is on the same page.
  • Operators play a crucial role in translating high-level goals into actionable steps, providing structure, timelines, and foresight to prevent potential setbacks. They serve as the bridge between vision and reality.
  • Effective operators ask tough questions and challenge assumptions to ensure realistic goal-setting and resource allocation. They don’t just accept ideas at face value but delve deeper to highlight gaps and foster better decision-making.
Quote of the Show:
“A visionary might see the end result, but it’s the operator who steps in and says, 'Here’s how we’re going to get there.'” - Mario Lupia

Links:
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-lupia-57a460/
  • Website: https://opfficiency.com/
Ways to Tune In:

Creators & Guests

Host
Wes Mathews
KC
Producer
Kyle Conover

What is Entrepreneur Intel?

Welcome to Entrepreneur Intel, a podcast where we discuss the most important strategies for success from amazing entrepreneurs. Host Wes Mathews sits down with business owners to learn about how they got started running their own business, what helped them succeed and the biggest lessons they learned along the way.

Be sure to catch new episodes every Thursday morning, and to make sure you never miss out on any insights, don’t forget to subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, You Tube or wherever you get your podcasts.

This show is sponsored by Stealth Consulting, your Fractional CMO. Stealth provides the roadmap and accountability to reach your business and marketing goals. Learn more at https://stealthconsulting.com/

EI - Mario Lupia
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Intro: [00:00:00] This is the unfiltered truth about entrepreneurship. Raw, no VS, no sugarcoating. Welcome to Entrepreneur Intel. I'm your host, Wes Matthews. Each episode, we'll learn from experienced founders and uncover the top 5 percent learnings that led to their success in all things personal, family, and business.

This show is sponsored by Stealth Consulting, delivering clear marketing strategies, ROI, and no surprises.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: I'm super excited to introduce today's guest. Uh, over 20 years of experience, uh, fractional executives in the areas of operations, accounting, technology, sales and marketing, and human resources. Uh, chief operating officer, founder at Opficiency, uh, introducing Mario Lupia. How you

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: I'm doing great, Wes. How are you?

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: I'm doing great.

I'm, I'm really excited to talk to you. I love that you have 20 years experience and [00:01:00] much everything that gives entrepreneurs a headache and a lot of visionaries, they don't really know what to do or where to turn to. So excited to dive into that. But I first have to ask you, you've been a fractional COO now for almost three years. What, uh, what's one of the most important lessons you've learned thus far?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: I would say for me, you know, transitioning from a chief operating officer of a, of one entity, to a fractional where you're working with two, three different types of entities at one time is, is organization, right? Because each entity that you work with at the same time, right, they want 100 percent of your help.

They want 100 percent of your attention, even though. Even though they understand you're working for them on a fractional basis, right? The word fractional goes out of the picture. So for them, you know, they want your time, they want your attention. And for me, I need to present that to each of my clients at the same time.

So even though I'm juggling two or three clients, you know, behind, behind the scenes, when I'm with them, I need to give [00:02:00] them a hundred percent of my attention. I need to be there a hundred percent of the time. So, Organization and being organized is probably the number one lesson that I've learned.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: No, it's really, it's really great. I, it's like a tightrope, right? I mean, a client, it's hard for them to understand fractional. And then you always have what's called right. Scope creep, call it whatever you have, right. Where then they want more time, but then you're like, Hey. You got to spend more money. And then they're

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: what's included.

So how do you, how do you, then as a, you come from being a full time, is it a full time

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: COO in an organization? Tell you now you're managing multiple

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: What, what are some tips and tricks for you that allows you to manage multiple? Because. dealing with different visionaries, different leadership teams, different styles of business.

How do you keep that organized?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Well, for me, it's, it's a lot of, uh, a lot of, uh, sticky notes on my desk. That's, that's the first thing I do, but, but, uh, realistically it's, it's right. It's getting, you know, when I [00:03:00] start an engagement, is understanding who I'm working with, what their, what their style is, what the management style is. So I know how to operate with them.

You know, is it a person that, you know, needs my attention immediately when they, when they call, I get to pick up the phone or are they looking to work with me after hours or are they early morning people? Right. So I'll adjust my schedule throughout the day for that. Um, I also kind of carve out my day to know when to work with everyone.

So, you know, if I'm, uh, Especially if I'm wearing multiple hats, right? One organization I'm working with right now, I kind of wear three types of executive leadership. I'm kind of heading up their marketing. I'm heading up their operations and I'm also heading up their financial management part of it. Um, and when I say financial management, because there's a big difference, which we can touch on later between that, what I do as a CMO from a financial perspective versus a CFO.

Um, so in that case, I need to, you know, kind of, Carve out those, those three leadership roles and kind of, you know, [00:04:00] carve out the day. So for two hours in the morning, I'm going to work on marketing, you know, do some social media posts, do some LinkedIn. Then I'll spend two hours, you know, one to two hours on the financial management and, You know, work it from there.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: So, I mean, who do you typically work with? Are you working with enterprise level clients or is it mainly entrepreneurial focused clients? Or,

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: So what I found in, in so far in my fractional world and especially where I come from, I primarily come from working in a, in a startup world. So that's where my expertise always lies. Um, just understanding that working in a startup versus an enterprise company, right, two totally different animals, startup, you're wearing multiple hats, you're rolling up your sleeves, you're, you know, taking out the garbage, and then you're doing a P and L statement the next minute.

Um, so for me, it's primarily where I find where a fractional, uh, chief operating officer especially comes in is, is your small and mid sized [00:05:00] business. It's this, it's the startups, right. That are, don't have the financial, uh, matters to, to bring on top leadership, but obviously they definitely need the help, especially in operations to kind of lay, lay the found, uh, the basement and lay that foundation to build their company.

Um, and then it's secondary. It's that growth company. It's those guys that those people that are, you know, now in a growth mode, they need to bring on, maybe they didn't, they don't have any leadership or it's a single, usually a single entrepreneur, a single CEO, a CEO, that's, that's Kind of trying to juggle everything, but he also has tried to manage the vision and the growth of the company.

And at that time he starts getting over, they start getting overwhelmed. Um, and then lastly, for me, um, I find it's, uh, and it's becoming more and more, uh, of, of, of, of the topic it's, um, People that are starting to phase out of the companies, a lot of times, single entrepreneur, family run company, uh, [00:06:00] the owner, you know, is someone maybe in his 50s, 60s, wants to start phasing out of the company, maybe has children or family members.

That are coming up the ranks, but they're not yet fully ready to kind of take over the company. So I would come in and sit kind of in the middle. So I kind of let that own entrepreneur start phasing out. I kind of start taking over his responsibilities and helping train up the You know, the, the younger or less experienced people that are eventually going to take over the company.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: now, how do you, how do you find these visionaries or how do you find the entrepreneur that's like, you know, they're in a startup, they're in startup mode, they're wearing multiple hats, you've got to be able to penetrate them somehow as a fractional. And there's a lot of headwinds. First, the whole fractional word, I didn't even know about it until like 6 months ago when I started a fractional CMO company. Cause my first mind was like, how can anybody be effective, right, fractionally? Like, you gotta be here, you gotta feel it, you gotta buy into the

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Totally.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: But [00:07:00] then the reality is, as I started to think about it, like I've hired many leadership people in the past and I started telling people, they kind of only work fractionally anyway, think about it.

I mean, everybody now since COVID, it's, it's kids, it's this, I'm on the road, but like, how do you have that conversation or meet these visionaries where they're at, um, to even let them know like, Hey, this is a solution out there. To

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: probably the number one and best question. And it's probably the hardest part of, of it. Um, and I think for a lot of fractionals, you know, from, for myself, My career started in, in, in the sales world, right? I was a sales and dev guy, right? That's what I did for many years. I, you know, so, you know, for me, I have that kind of in my arsenal.

So I kind of understand how to sales, do cold calling and so forth, but there's a lot of fractionals that never were in a sales role, right? So it's even harder for themselves, but, you know, finding potential candidates is definitely the hardest, you know, referrals. That's probably the number one way [00:08:00] to get additional people.

But then, you know, that's just, like you said, the headwinds. That's just the start of the battle, right? Getting in there, first letting them It seems like everyone understands the concept that they kind of need help, but making them understand what you're going to do for them, how you're going to do it, how a fractional is different than a consultant.

Right. It's always a big question. Oh, so you're a consultant. Well, no. And you have to try to kind of understand them by taking them through the process of how you're kind of different from someone that's going to work on a temporary consulting basis and that you're really going to actually be, like you said, all in and part of the team.

So it's, it's, it's, um, probably the biggest challenge of coming in, you know, as a, as a fractional, I'm sure you have the same thing. We know in our heads exactly what we do, what we provide, and we see the advantages of, of coming in and what we can do for that particular company. Um, but you know, to can, to, to make them understand and really sell that and hit home, [00:09:00] it, it takes, it takes a process,

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: me, like there's this, there's this foundational process, right? Or like the first call it 30, 60, 90 days of just getting involved in the engagement. But I think visionaries, cause I am one, we're kind of lunatics. Cause it's like, Hey, I've already paid you your first, first month payment or consulting agreement.

Like, what have you done for me? You know, like, where are we making traction? So like, how do you, how do you set that up for success? Whether it's a startup or just a visionary of like, Hey, like, is there a timeframe of like, here's a checklist of all the things that we have to get done? Cause I know visionaries, visionaries

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: if I'm spending this, I got to get this, otherwise, you know, what are we doing?

How do you, how do you throttle that? How do you manage that?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. Well, you know, you have to, you have to lay it out from, from day one, right? You have to set expectations. Um, you know, I do that. Uh, with the, uh, I kind of have a business plan that I put in place. Once the evaluations, my evaluations are done, we sit down and we go into an engagement [00:10:00] mode. Right. I, I developed my own, uh, divisionary spreadsheet.

So I take division by division. I take anywhere from five to 10 points for each division of things that from an operational perspective should be, or are they being. Right. And then we do a checkbox of is it an immediate need, a short term need, or a long term need? So, for instance, let's take my evaluation of their HR department, right?

It's an entrepreneur. He's managing his HR team. He's managing HR. manager or using an outside company to handle that. Right. So come in. The first thing is, do you, do you have a company handbook? No. Right. Do you have any policy procedures? No. Right. Do you have a hiring process? No. Right. Okay. Those become short term immediate needs, right?

We have to get that under control. If you want to start hiring and growing the company, right, we need to get that under control first and foremost. Right. And that's kind of how, how I do it. And be able to [00:11:00] set those expectations as I engage. So we kind of lay out the plan and like, okay, great. Here's each division we're going to be working on.

Here's your short, mid range, and long term, uh, resources that we're going to be working on, and kind of gives them a good roadmap to understand where my focus is going to be. Um, the biggest trigger also is, especially for a Chief Operating Officer, especially from a fractional standpoint, right, is there's different fractional leaders that have different trust levels, right?

So, whether it be a CFO or a COO, uh, is going to have to also establish a very big trust factor, right? Because I'm going to be more privy to sensitive information, um, sensitive details that that entrepreneur or that CEO has to kind of give to me for me to do my job. And that becomes a challenge sometimes too.

Um, if they're a micromanager, it's not that they don't trust me as a person, right? But just relinquishing Hey, here's the bank accounts, right? Giving you access to, to all my, [00:12:00] to all my money, you know, it's, you know, sometimes they have to, you have to get, get through that, that trust factor.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: well, it's interesting you say that because I've been in situations myself with my team where client that we're engaging with, they might have a CFO full time they might have somebody that all of a sudden, like we come in as a fractional or you come in as a fractional COO and we're like so delicate with those first introductions and handoffs because people feel threatened, especially a COO.

Cause typically in an entrepreneurial run company, this, the COO is like second in command to the CEO. Right. And now everybody on the team's like, Oh, wait a minute. How much power does this fractional have? Right. How do I

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Correct.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Like, how do you manage that? Like what, you know, do you allocate time with the teams and make them feel at ease?

Or how do you engage the other, whether they're executives, leaders, or managers in the company, how do, how do you introduce yourself to that

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. So again, it's expectations. So if it's a, [00:13:00] uh, a CEO, right, the first thing I'm doing is letting him know that that's part of the plan is first and foremost, after. Uh, after I gauge with, with, with them and, and get, you know, that checkbox and get, you know, we move on to, do they have a leadership team, right?

If they have a leadership team, right, a CFO may have a CFO or someone else alongside him in a leadership role, right? That's the second level that I need to sit with them, make them feel very comfortable about what I'm going to do, what I'm going to bring in. And then lastly, yeah, the, the employees, right?

That is. It's getting engaged with them, getting engaged in a level. And usually I do that by letting them know that, you know, I'm not, I'm here to make change, but change has to be a group consensus, right? So before any changes are made, I'm going to meet with those team members. I'm going to understand their concerns.

I'm going to understand, you know, are they buying into the changes that are being made? Not only, not always do they, right. And sometimes changes have to be made even though everyone [00:14:00] doesn't sign on, but I try to get. As much consensus as possible and keep everybody involved in the process. So they don't look at me as a threat, but they look at me as a help.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: I love that. And I also think, um, for me, it's like, you want to make them champions of you. Or the fractional, because when that CEO visionary loses their mind at any

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: right, and they want to go in a

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: you want the team saying, Mario's the man,

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Come back to reality. Like he's a great guy.

Like I've noticed that. Cause what's interesting, like I'm a pure visionary. I love COOs or fractional COOs. Cause we're kind of like yin yang together. I know like just from my own experience, like I can, I can literally be going this direction and completely yank the company in

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: I used to do that.

I don't do that now, but just interesting. So like, that's a big part of what we do is we get buy in from the leadership team or other managers in the company just for that, for

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah, [00:15:00] you know, I mean,

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: And a lot of them, yeah,

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: no, I'm sorry. And then, you know, what I find also is because you're kind of an outsider, people actually open up to you, you know, I've had tons of, uh, people I work with, they'll, uh, they'll call me up or they'll be, and, and they're kind of, they, they start, I become the psychiatrist and they start venting to me because, you know, They don't look at me as a threat, right?

They don't look at me as, oh, he's going to go. And they, and it actually helps because it opens up another world that I'm able to bring back to that visionary and, and share that with, with them and with the hopes that they kind of have an open mind to understand that, hey, people aren't complaining, but this, this is.

This could be a problem. This is an issue with the company and something that should be addressed. So a lot of times, you're right. Once you get the buy in from the employees, um, and they start venting to you or they start telling you about the woes of the company, you kind of start championing their cause and they start looking you as a champion.

So yeah, perfect point.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Well, what [00:16:00] I love about, you know, the fractional world, like talking to a CEO or a visionary is to say. Like to your point, you're not an employee and employees are very costly. Right. And then once you bring an employee, they're kind of hard to get rid of, or you have this. So I think as a fractional, it's like, I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear.

Cause I think that employee employer relationship, there's still this like, yes, men mentality through managers, leadership, like whatever. I love the fractional side. It's like. exist. You know, I'm not your employee. I don't care. You know, you pay me on results, not to kiss your,

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Um, but that's awesome. Um, so, so from, uh, and then the vulnerability side, right? Like, Hey, I'm not here to threaten. I'm not on payroll. Like I'm here just to improve systems, process, people, technology, help grow the company. Um, I think

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. I think we get, you get, sometimes you do get into challenges, right? Because sometimes they're a little pushback, they're, they're a little resistant and. You [00:17:00] know, that's the conversation I have is like, guys, listen, I said, uh, what I tell a lot of these visionaries is you might not like everything I tell you, but understand everything I tell you is to help you in the company.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Yep. No, that's great. And now what's a, I mean, what's a typical engagement and what I'm trying to ask for is like the, you know, anybody that's listening that, that is a, has an entrepreneurial company. You know, I had an experience with a good friend of mine. I did a little fractional stuff for him. he, like, behind him was this huge wall. he wrote down all of his problems of the day, of the month, of

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Stuff that he just procrastinates, never gets to. And I kinda started laughing at him. Like, not to be rude, but I said, Dude, you're missing, like, the, the key thing here. He's like, what's that? I'm like, imagine you got rid of all these problems yourself, which you never will, because he's a pure visionary like me, I'm like, you're just going to create more and things are going to evolve and change.

Like the number one thing that needs to be on this wall is hire an [00:18:00] operator, like literally take all these issues and dump them on the operator and work through together to get this stuff done. But he goes, I cannot afford a COO. And I said, there's a fractional, like, how do you educate visionaries? Or like, how do we educate the world and entrepreneurs about This fractional, because I think there's still this, like, is it going to work?

Or, you know, what, what if, what if your vibe doesn't work or in three months, they feel like the time's wasted with the investment because things aren't, things aren't clicking. What do you do on your end to ensure it does?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: You know, listen, I did, there's been, there's been engagements that haven't worked, but I found for myself, it's, it's just the buy in wasn't there, right? It was the visionary that he just, either he didn't buy into the changes cause he felt that they didn't need to be done, even though the consensus was that it did.

Um, or he was so much of a control micromanager that he just wasn't [00:19:00] comfortable with. Just relinquishing the power to someone else. And, you know, we say the word power, but it's not really power, right? It's responsibilities, right? It's like, Hey, you're going to, I'm going to take all of this off of you, right?

You're going to manage, you're going to know that I kind of understand your vision, what your goals are. I'm going to take that and I'm going to manage the whole process so you can keep running and growing the company to the next level, right? And when that happens, it, you know, it's, but it really is magical, right?

It just works. It works so well. It works so well. Um, and then, but when you have those bumps, so you have that visionary that just doesn't let you, you know, I personally will not take on engagement if I don't. I'm not going to do it just because it's a paycheck, right, or do that. If it's someone that wants engagement, if someone's coming in and they want a particular operation style, you know, I'm not trained in EOS, understand it, but I'm not, right?

Someone says, I'm not going to say, yeah, I [00:20:00] can implement EOS. I'm just not because I just don't do that. So I'll kind of pass on the engagement.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Got it. No, it makes a lot of sense. So you have a lot of years experience, uh, being on the inside as a COO. Now you're a fractional, so you kind of a well rounded, I want to ask you, like, what do you see now? Like rub the crystal ball 2024. There's a lot going on in the economy. AI is the hot topic. Like, what do you see in terms of, you know, what's changing or like, is there some types of technology out there for efficiencies or like what you're used to in the, your past experience?

How do you see the future evolving with all this technology and AI and all these things that are, that are out there and available today?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah, I mean, the first thing is, is all the technology, especially AI, is, is, is amazing, but I think that, you know, people can't, it just gets overwhelming, right? Because every single day there's a new AI company, every single day there's a new technology company, there's a new app, there's a new software tool, [00:21:00] you know, a company that I'm actually engaging with right now.

They had a similar type of fractional, uh, operations person came in. Uh, he was more enterprise level, um, and he was implementing just a ton of different tools and softwares and, uh, Things and they're all efficient. They all provide efficiency. They all provide some kind of help. Um, but at the end of the day, um, it's an added cost to the company and it gets overwhelming, right?

So you have, you have Slack and we're doing teams and we're doing this, then we're doing this AI tool. And we have, you know, perfect example is, is that coming up working with in the last two months, note takers have become a big part of the team. I was on a video call the other day, there was six note takers.

There were more,

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: That's

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: there were more note takers than there were people on the call, right? And it's like, just, no, we don't need 9, 000 note takers. [00:22:00] Like, it's not, right, we're not, it's not the highest level of meetings, right? Let's have one note taker. Then people drop off. The note taker doesn't drop off. So, you know, I think that, um, You know, kind of understanding what tools are needed and implementing the right tools without overwhelming just because it's the hottest and newest and latest things.

Because you have to understand it, like AI is a perfect example, right? Everyone's like, AI, AI, AI. Okay, why are we using AI? Where does it help? For myself, you know, from a marketing perspective, right? Because I don't do what you do on a full time basis, right? So if I'm writing, helping write contact for a website or I'm doing a LinkedIn post, absolutely.

I'm going to use. The AI tools to help, but you have to understand that it's, you have to go through the process, right? You have to proofread it. You have to check it. You have to put it into your own language. So it's, you know, the tool is there, but there's a lot of extra steps that are involved in, in, in operating them.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah, I feel like as a [00:23:00] visionary, almost, almost related to like walking into Home Depot, like you could probably build an entire house by going in

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: and having all the tools and doing everything. But the reality is like, I'm not gonna walk, I'm not gonna use any of those tools properly. Um, I think what's super important, I think you hit on a little bit is just, Trying to accomplish, you know, like what's the end goal.

I think a lot of people get lost in that journey around what are you trying to do? I get all, people ask me all the time, how much should I invest here? What should I do here? And I'm like, I don't know, like, what do you

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: And they're like, well, what do you mean? I'm like, what's the, like, the three year target for the company?

Like what's top line revenue, bottom line revenue. You mentioned like, you don't, you, I love EOS. I'm all about

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah, it's great.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: I implemented that in my company because it's, it's simple and it's just a one plus

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Exactly.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: you know, and I always tell visionary entrepreneurs when they're like stuck, I'll take out the VTO, which in EOS is [00:24:00] called the vision traction organizer.

So it talks about your core values, your target market, three year pitcher, one year, all that stuff. And I guess everything on that document, it's just really hard. I think for a visionary to take all that information and put it down in paper, because once you put it in paper. It's like, here it is. This is what we're trying to accomplish. I'm like, once you get there, then a lot of fun can happen because now. I'll even tell a visionary, you need that before you start talking to an operator, because an operator needs to see that vision to say, can I make this a reality? Is this visionary, like way out to lunch? um, so how do you, how do you, what's your tempo with a, with an entrepreneurial group?

I mean, is it like a, Kind of like a level 10 meeting or a weekly meeting or like, how do you keep your engagements on track?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. So, you know, and, and you touched on a good point that, uh, touch on the well, that comes up a lot too, right. Is, is the visionary, you know, comes in, you know, had a, you know, got engaged with a visionary and, you know, he just had that list, right. I'm going to do this. We're going [00:25:00] to, we're, we're regional now we're going to go national.

We're going to open up eight offices. We, I want to be, you know, someone said to me, uh, you know, we want to be, uh, you know, a 40 million company and. And then you get engaged and this is, you know, kind of where it says I get engaged, right? And then you, now you've embedded with the company, right? You're really seeing the true pain points, right?

I fully understand it. And then you look at it and you realize that a lot of that visionary, what he wants, or they, he or she wants, right. Doesn't equate because to your point, they don't know what the end result is. So I'll ask, then I can start asking those difficult questions of, Hey, you told me this year, where do you want to be again in sales?

Where do you want to be? We went to 10 million. Okay, great. Right now we're 40 percent behind that mark, right? So you looking at getting to maybe about 5 or 6 million, right? How are you going to, what were in your mind or your vision? How are you going to get to 10 million? And a lot of times they don't have that answer.

They didn't [00:26:00] know, right. Cause they're just bringing up, they're bringing up goals, but they don't have. Process to get there. And again, that's where, that's where I kind of really hit home with them of, of my role and right. That's my goal, right? Is to understand your vision and to sit down and put a plan in place.

You know, a silly analogy to that is when I was a full time COO, we had a big call center, but we had big call centers. You know, 300 people call centers, and it was always a process to do anything, right? And, you know, one morning the CEO called me up, he said, uh, let's get pizza for the call center today.

Just call up now and get some pizza. And I said, we have 300 people in there, right? It's not a matter of calling the local pizzeria down the block and just ordering a couple of pizzas. Meeting, you know, it's a whole process, right? We have to order how they probably need 35 pizzas, which probably need to be ordered three days in advance.

We have to make sure the team is there to set up the tables to [00:27:00] serve the pizza and we need to be, you know, this is so they did the visionary, right? He's looking at the end. This is what I want. Let's do it. Right? And then I have to step in and say, okay, great. Here's the, we have to put a plan. Let me put the plan in place for you out how we're going to get from A to Z.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: That's a really good example. Cause as you're doing that, I mean, that, that's some, that's how my brain reacts, but like, sometimes that could be a negative, like, ordering pizza for 300 people might sound like a great, great thing to do, but if that's not a flawless

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right,

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: that might actually leave a, leave a negative

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: correct,

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: if 25 percent of the people don't get a piece of pizza or even better. really makes me mad as a visionary. I'm trying to like overcome this. It's some reason to say, oh, they didn't order the pizza I

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: right, right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: or, you know, all these things start to happen. So it's funny that, you know, COO can look at that and say, okay, like, how do we get this done flawlessly? How is this going to make sense?

That's the rub I think for the visionary and okay. How can you have the conversation and push back? Right. Cause anybody [00:28:00] else in the organization is going to say, yep, let's get pizza. Let's go. What a great idea. You're the smartest guy in the room. know, but somebody has got to be like, well, we'll pump the

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. I, you know, I said that one time, you know, one time I had, I worked a very long time, very close, you know, had a great experience for many years. What a CEO and, you know, for some reason it was like, I was like the, the, uh, the stepchild, right, I wasn't getting the love that everyone else was getting. And I used to sit there and say, I don't understand, you know, I'm, I'm just.

Right hand man. I've been in there every day. I got his back. I'm doing this, you know, and then one of the other leaders said to me one day, he said, you know what the realistic reason is, is because when we sit in that room, everyone's shaking their head. Yes. Right. To your point earlier, he said, but you're the guy that says no, he said, and no one wants to hear no.

So that's why, that's why you're not getting the love, even though you're, you're doing it for the right reasons. And he probably knows the right reasons. You know, no one here when seven [00:29:00] people are shaking their head. Yes. And you say, no, it's doesn't sit very well for you.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: No, that's funny. I, I totally get that. And you know, for me, it's like, how do you, what are some big red flags where you see a visionary entrepreneur where they're like ready now to have a conversation, because to your point, they need to be ready or they need to sort of understand what it's going to look like.

How do you set them up for the. Right. Or engagement to say, Hey, this is how it's going to work. Cause visionaries don't like to be told no. So it's a big change. You know, it's, it's a huge change from what they're used

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. I mean, you know, usually right off the bat, the first and foremost things, right. Is, is, is. Revenue, sales, profitability, right? So it all comes back to financials, right? So that's what I'm talking about earlier, right? That's why I think, you know, for myself, you know, being a CEO and also being an entrepreneurial CEO, I owned my own, own company, you know, [00:30:00] uh, is that, you know, you, the financials, you know, play a big role in this, right?

It's understanding like the revenue that's coming in, the profitability, right? And that's kind of where I show. the most value right off the bat, right? Because at the end of the day, right, I need to keep This owner in business, right? So, um, it's a lot harder story. You know, it's a different story, right? If the revenue's there, the growth's amazing, right?

We're growing 20, 30 percent year over year. Then it becomes, okay, I'm bringing you in to help me grow, right? I need. I need more manpower. We need more people. We need more processes in place. We need to get, you know, we're just, we're just on a roll, right? A lot of times for me, I find it's the opposite, right?

It's people that are struggling right there. They've come to the point now. They're like, they're, they're losing money. They're not profitable. Revenue isn't growing. Right. And they're kind of, They start getting stuck, right? What's, what's going on here, right? And a lot of times it's just operational efficiency, right?

Which is my old reason I started the [00:31:00] company, right? Is a lot of times, you know, a lot of times people will say, well, regardless, you're, you're just a, you're, you're a fixed cost, your overhead costs. That's what a COO is, right? Operational costs to the bottom line. And I'm like, You have to reverse engineer it, right?

I get it. The salesperson's the quarterback of the team, right? He's making the touchdown throws. He's bringing the money. If I come in and I negotiate a contract, right? I sit down with a vendor and I just saved the company 30 percent on a contract negotiation, right? I just saved the company 50, 000. Well, that's 50, 000 that goes back to the bottom line, right?

So look at it that, you know, it's, it's, it's a reverse engineering. I'm kind of, I personally, I look at it as I'm a salesperson from a different, different perspective, but you know, I'm, I'm ultimately generating that revenue in some, some, a different, different capacity, but ultimately that's what I'm doing.

So I, I don't look at operations people's, the chief operating offices, especially, you know, being a, just a, [00:32:00] a fixed costs, um, on, on, on the P& L.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: You bring up a good point. You have a lot of a sales experience too. And I would imagine like most visionary entrepreneurs, like it's founder led sales, right. To a certain point in your experience, how do you, do you combat that? Or what's the smoothest handoff in your experience around, all right. At some point, the founder has to get out of the way or pass that torch. know, what's your experience there?

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Oh, you know, the, the, you know, sales, it has to be an ultimate sales process, right? It's it's, and that's, that's the hardest. That's the hardest thing for me to sell to an entrepreneur, right? Is you need to bring in sales people, right? And is there going to be a cost involved? Absolutely. But you know, sales people, sales is the heart and soul of your company.

They're going to generate the revenue. They're going to bring it in. You know, maybe you're here to bring in some high level opportunities. That's fantastic. If you have some great relationships, you know, but even those relationships have to [00:33:00] be nurtured, right? So bringing in a sales team, uh, I love bringing in two levels.

I love bringing in someone in a, in a sales, a senior level. That's industry related. That's going to kind of hit the ground running, right? Show value right off the bat. Um, generate a good compensation package to try to woo them into the company and have them make some, some impact right off the bat. Um, and then, you know, bringing in some junior level, right?

People that are gonna, they're just going to be that guerrilla marketing. They're going to get on the phones. They need a little training again, having an operations person in place, right? Kind of takes that off of the visionary because as a visionary, you don't want to sit there and start training a salesperson on, right?

What the company does, the product does, right? But I kind of take that off. I'll take that on as a responsibility. Um, and someone that's going to, you know, pound the phone, make those calls, generate those, those interests, um, and, [00:34:00] you know, start building a, a good sales team around there and back to your point about before with tools.

A CRM is, is just a really important part of that sales process. Just having something, a tool in place where you can manage your prospecting, you can manage your prospects, you can manage your marketing to those prospects, um, I think is extremely important.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: It's mind blowing to me how many businesses don't have a CRM,

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Amazing amount of pumping that don't have it, you know?

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: but if you have a company that's like, Hey, they're founder led, they're, they're doing okay. They want to bring you in, they need help on the sales side. what is that process? I mean, are you talking about like a junior level salesperson, like it, like, and they call it like an SDR, somebody who's setting appointments for that more senior person. Like, how, how do you, how do you see that relationship

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. So, you know, that's interesting, right? So I'm sure the, the, I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this. The, the number one [00:35:00] single message I get on LinkedIn every single day, I get messaged two to three times a day. Are someone's going to help me. Brightwood Sales, right? They're going to help me, they're going to generate prospects.

It's, I've never in my life saw so many companies out there, both onshore and offshore, right? Uh, I've, I've engaged once or twice with them, two persons had little success with it, right? So it is a, it's a very good question, right? Do you go with some of these, uh, kind of virtual, uh, companies that are just out there just trying to do appointment setting?

Or do you actually hire someone on a junior level? College recent college graduates, someone that just, you know, wants to be in sales has that sales ability, right? Good talker, you know, going to put the time in going to make the phone calls going to learn the process, right? And and have someone in place as they.

Cause they're going to need help, right? They're going to bring in the small sales, but they're going to, they're going to land a couple of whales or a couple of big fish, and they can need [00:36:00] someone to help them rail them in. So whether it be the visionary or be myself, someone on a management level, that's going to, going to manage the process and manage that person, uh, as opposed to bringing in someone that's right, senior experience, right there in their own, they're in their own world.

They're, they don't really need much help. They're just going to go out there and just. You know, hopefully bring in, be successful and bring in some, some good clients to the company.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: What's interesting is I see that, know, it's 2024. I kind of got started entrepreneurial world in 2009, where the phone, right? iPhone just came out. The phone was like used a lot. I see now that people just want to avoid the phone at all costs. I see myself doing it. Like if I get random numbers, not out of my contact list, like I'm not answering the phone. I probably get a hundred messages a day on LinkedIn, on all these people that are going to completely change my life. I've still yet to find like one good company, honestly, like that can actually do what they say they're going to do. Like whether it's [00:37:00] set appointments, like it's just, I don't know if these companies just think like they want to get a couple grand and that's it.

And then just do that over and over. Like that's the business model. If that's the business model, they're probably doing

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: um, I've yet to find anything that actually works, but how do you see like that, you know, with the environment changing like that? I mean, my kids have iPhones. They don't call out.

It's Snapchat. that's all they use is Snapchat. And like, they're only communicating with people that are within their sphere in TikTok and they get all their ideas on what they want from TikTok.

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah,

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Like, how does that apply to like the old school? I, I call it old school, which is. the phone, the traditional things that get busy.

I see that in a massive

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: it's so true. And, you know, especially now more, you know, more so in the coming, uh, that I've engaged with recently, right. Because you have remote workforces. Right. A lot of times, to your point, it goes to their cell phone versus where it's, you know, old days, right? It's, it's going [00:38:00] into a main number. It's going to an IVR, right?

At least you're getting routed to the right person or direct to the right person. And nowadays that doesn't exist, that whole phone routing system, right? It's going, most people are working off of their cell phones. And I agree. I, I'm the same. I get tons of phone calls. If it's something I don't recognize, usually not, not answering it.

Um, And there, so, uh, that's, that's a really good question that I don't know if I have a great answer for, I think where it comes to play is, is more of what you're an expert at, right? Is, is starting to build real good, strong, multi level marketing approaches, right? Try to reach those candidates, try to engage with them in some way, shape or form, whether it be through, uh, a drip email campaign, which again, still another issue, right?

Cause of the amount of emails that come in. But, um, You know, the multi level marketing approach, I think, at least, right? I do a drip email campaign. I've done a LinkedIn post. Now you've seen my LinkedIn post. You [00:39:00] saw an email from me. Uh, and maybe some other resources that all of a sudden, you know, you've seen me at a trade show, uh, and all of a sudden, hopefully the resin, it starts resonating of like, Oh, I need to find out more about this company.

Or at least when you reach out to them, Hey, I'm from so and so. And it's like, Oh yeah, I, I've been seeing your LinkedIn posts or I got an email from you. And, uh, it's, it's, it becomes a good challenge that I don't think I have. I don't have a solid answer. When you have the answer, let me know. I don't, I don't have it myself yet.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Still figuring

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: You're right.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: I rack my brain as a visionary on that a lot. Um, so how can people get ahold of you? Right? I mean, there's a lot of visionaries out there that are kind of whirlwinds in their mind that have to take the first step. My assumption is you just have that first kind of conversation with them to kind of see where they're at.

But what's the easiest way to get in contact with you to talk about, uh, what

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Yeah. So, right. You know, so I have a profile on LinkedIn, right? Because, you know, I [00:40:00] try to get on there, try to get my message across pretty, pretty daily on, on kind of what I provide or what I can provide my website, which is efficiency. com, uh, you get some more information on there, but. You know, just reaching out to me.

Let's, let's jump on a call. I'd love to, uh, speak to you, let you know, kind of understand what your needs are, what you're looking for, you know, how someone in a fractional role like myself can come in and help, help the visionary, help your, help you help your company, whether it be growth needs, whether it be cost saving needs, um, whatever you're looking for, you know, where, We're pretty versatile in offering different types of solutions depending on what the company, um, company's needs are.

Um, you know, and for myself and for the viewers out there, you know, what I like to do is we offer a 100 percent free evaluation. Uh, we go through a, uh, a five step operational process. Uh, growth and efficiency kind of process, which we do. It's [00:41:00] all free of charge and no cost to have those conversations. Um, and then even once we kind of agree on engagement, typically our engagements, we like to do a 60 to 90 day to start simply because it takes that long to get the process going.

Uh, but you know, there's no commitment, no contracts, no long term contracts. Um, you know, we, we, we grow with you. So we start out at a certain level of engagement. And if that level either increases or decreases, totally on board to reduce or increase that engagement level. Um, you know, and then also, you know, like to offer today, name one, you know, we're offering, uh, We'll offer, we'd love to offer 5 percent off of our first month's retainer for anyone that we ultimately engage with, uh, um, with you guys.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Cool. Well, hey, Mario, I really appreciate it. Uh, keep helping those visionaries. We, we need it. Uh, keep, keep fighting. So thanks so much for coming on. I really appreciate it.

mario-lupia_2_08-20-2024_093424: Thank you, Wes. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me [00:42:00] on.

wesley-j--mathews_56_08-20-2024_093424: Thanks, Mario.

Outro: This has been another episode of Entrepreneur Intel. Thank you for joining us. For show notes or other episodes, please visit us at entrepreneurintel. com. Until next time.