Intelligent investing- Investing in Your own Small Buisness with Dr. Jesse Saul

 In this episode Jesse Saul and Glenn Leest discuss what it takes to build a small business.

• The one thing small business owners wish they knew before they became an owner 
• Investing in People 
• The challenges behind growing a business
• The importance of building a strong team 
• The most rewarding thing of being a small business owner 

 Glenn Leest
  Senior Investment Adviser
  WT Wealth Management
 928-225-2474 Office
 813 North Beaver Street, Flagstaff, AZ
 86001 

Aspen Veterinary Clinic 
7861 US-89, Flagstaff, AZ 86004
928-526-2423
info@aspenvetflagstaff.com

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Transcript

Welcome to Intelligent Investing with Glenn Leest. I'm your host, Jeff Orvitz, and this week's another two-part series. This time investing in Your Own Small Business. And uh, Glenn, we've got a guest coming up here in just a second. Yeah. Who is a small business owner. You bet. Yeah. Dr. Jesse Saul. Is the owner of Aspen Veterinary Clinic.

Uh, Jesse. Hey, welcome to the program. How are you today? Doing great. Thanks for having me. Good. And, um, if you want to catch up on any of the past podcast, Glenn's got a lot of 'em now. Mm-hmm., I, I can't keep track. 70 something, 70 something. He adds a lot, uh, throughout the week as well. Uh, look up intelligent investing with Glenn Leest on your favorite podcast provider.

Plus, always contact Glenn at 9 2 8 2 2. 24 74 or email intelligent investing@wtwealthmanagement.com. But Glenn, we're doing this two-part series about investing in your own small business. I guess what, you're a small business owner. I'm a small business owner. Mm-hmm., what prompted you to do this? To do this series.

Uh, and, and why don't you talk, uh, uh, and introduce, um, Dr. Saul here as well. A little better than. Yeah, so I wanted to do a series on investing in your own small business, uh, frankly, because there's some things that I've done that have really helped my business and helped it grow and be successful. And I also wanted to showcase, uh, some other people that I know that have small businesses that have continued to thrive despite all the challenges that they've been facing.

So really, it's just an opportunity to share, um, Things that have worked for us and, uh, showcase, you know, businesses that have done well, maybe ask them, what have you done to continue to do well despite the pandemic challenges, workforce challenges, unique challenges to Flagstaff. Because Flagstaff is not like every other labor market.

We've got our own unique challenges and, and Jesse's the owner of Aspen Veterinarian Clinic over on 89 a right across from the, um, there's that., uh, fitness and pizza place. Yeah. Pizza Edge. It's, um, subway there. Thank you. Yeah, subway. And, uh, he's been doing that for a number of years. Um, I've taken all my pets to him for, you know, as long as I can remember and my family as well.

And, uh, we just have a great relationship with them. And so, I wanted to have him on the show today just to share his experience about being a small business owner. Cause he's about the same age as I am. I think you're actually a couple years younger than me, like maybe one year younger. Um, but who's count?

We're not younger. We're not going to talk about that. Yeah. So, um, yeah. So maybe Jesse, what prompted you to get into the veterinarian field and maybe tell us about, uh, your business today. Wow. Yeah. Um, I guess I knew like most vets that I was going to be a vet from the time I was a very small kid. Mm-hmm. , I remember in like third grade having to do some type of, you know, autobiography and, you know, writing in there.

I'm going to be a vet and. My mom saved that for me and everything I did starting pretty much in middle school on, has just been focused towards, you know, becoming a veterinarian, getting into vet school, and then, you know, my long-term goal was always to own. My own business, you know, mixed animal type of practice.

Because that's what I knew. I started volunteering, um, I think at 11, at a mixed animal practice in Colorado where I was, where I grew up in Canyon City, four Mile Vet Clinic. Mm-hmm. . And it was a family owned, you know, you know, dad was, you know, Don Le, you know, old, old guy and his two kids, Jeremy and, and Sarah Le both, you know, went to CSU and.

Idolized him. It was just so cool. He never knew what you're going to see on any given day. Um, it worked out well. My mom was a healthcare provider, my dad was a teacher, and so, uh, being a veterinarian seemed to, to really fit for me. It's, you know, allows me the opportunity to, you know, to problem solve and, um, educate people so they can, you know, really make the best decisions on their, on their animals.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Well, if you, I mean, that was your passion, um, Jesse, as a, as a kid to become a, a veterinarian. But you think about, you probably didn't think about the business side of things, and I guess if, is there something you wish that someone had told you about being a small business owner before you actually became one?

Because, hey, I want to become a vet. But then there's all the other stuff that Glenn and I talk about every. So, uh, at this point in my career, I, I, I joke often that the easiest part of my job is being a vet. Um, it's, um, I had all of my training, you know, eight years of college and, you know, years of experience being a veterinarian, trying to be the best vet that I can be.

does not prepare one for being a small business owner. Mm-hmm. . And that is something, you know, one of my big regrets is if I could go back in time, um, I probably would've, you know, between undergrad and um, in medical school, I probably would've done an MBA or at Least geared myself up a little bit more towards business.

Uh, obviously the curriculum. With, you know, medical school. There is so much information regarding just the medical side that it's impossible to incorporate as much business into, you know, vet school as as necessary to, to help those of us vets that want to take on small businesses. Yeah, and I think that's Glenn, that's something that most people don't plan on.

I mean, the business side of. Of, of everything, of running, whatever your passion is, the field that you're in. Yeah. I wish, uh, you know, for me, I wish someone would've told me just the, the amount of work and commitment and sacrifice it takes and time that it takes to be successful. Um, I've seen some people get into small business and.

Think they're going to be millionaires in the first year, and it's like, wow, you probably won't make a profit until the year two or three, just if you're lucky. Yeah. Just being, yeah. If you're lucky, you really need to commit five, five years or more to a small business to really kind of see it through and cause the first three years you probably quit in your mind at Leest a couple times.

You know, a month you're like, why am I even doing this? I'm not making any money. Yeah. I, I like this type of work, but it's, it's so hard.  and, um, yeah, you need to also be willing to make that sacrifice. You said, you know, not making any profit the first couple years or any money, that's a big ask for a lot of people, um, to go six months, a year, two years with making very little money.

And that's challenging in today's world. I mean, you have to be extremely frugal. Uh, sometimes you have to have other sources of income that you pick up or you've saved a tremendous amount. So, I, I think that's just something that I most people don't understand about being a small business owner as you as the owner.

You usually don't make a lot in the first couple years, and if you do, you're one of the few. Um, it just takes a long time to really dial things in. Yeah. You've been through it. I've been through it. Where you work for a long time. I guess, Jesse, did you go through that where you're starting the business and you're like, oh man, this is taking a lot longer.

Maybe I'm paying employees first, or whoever rent first, whatever it was. . Um, I guess I was fortunate that I have that work ethic and it didn't bother me, but it's, you know, coming back to your original question, you know, if I had that crystal ball, what would've been, and it definitely is prioritizing my personal care because, you know, 60 to 80 hour weeks, you know, working, you know, seven days a week, week in, week out for, for years.

is not sustainable. Yeah. And yes, it's necessary, like Glenn said, for for building up the business, especially in the, you know, the, the infancy of that business. And it will ultimately pay off with that hard work, but it takes its toll. Mm-hmm.  and I wish I would've, you know, going back, I wish I would've prioritized more, more self.

Yeah. That's what can be a lot frustrating too for business owners when you become really successful and then sometimes the world looks and you say, look at all the success and let's tax that. That, and we've talked about that a lot, Glenn, and Yeah. But they don't recognize the years that sometimes you might have worked for nothing.

Mm-hmm.  and at even at a loss. Yeah. Sometimes people will criticize these CEOs like, oh my gosh, they get paid so much. Yeah. It's like, yeah, but. Half of 'em are having heart attacks in their forties. Yeah. And they never see their kids and their stress all the time. They don't sleep. And so, you're like, it all comes at a cost.

Right. You know, stress. Um, definitely as a business owner can really weigh on you. And I think Jesse hit a huge point of just taking time for self-care as you. As you get through that first, you know, hurdle of initial workload and as you're developing your business and you're maybe more established is as an owner taking time for you because, uh, if you're burnt out, uh, your clients, your, your customers, your employees are not getting the be best version of you.

So, yeah. Um, which is why we have time to rest. We need that. Um, we're not robots. We can't go, you know, 24 7. We need time away to just recharge and, and frankly think about our business too. Yeah. Uh, sometimes when you're recharging. Is you have less epiphany, you go, wow, if I do it this way, that might actually be a little bit more efficient.

And because you're, when you're in the business day to day, you're just thinking about, you know, what the task is at hand. But working on your business is extremely valuable. Yeah. What do you, uh, what do you enjoy the most, Jesse? I mean, there, there's obviously downsides of running a small business, but, uh, when you're talking about being a small business owner, and especially in Northern Arizona and Flagstaff, I mean, what do you, what do you enjoy the most?

Tending to Glenn's chickens when he brings 'em. Do you handle chickens? Yeah. And, and his whole herd of cats. His whole herd. Yeah. He, he's one cat Shya. Crazy. Um, I, I think it's changed as I have, you know, progressed in my career. Um, you know, I really enjoy being a veterinarian and you know, every aspect of that.

You know, talking to the people, playing with the pets, you know, taking a problem, you know, doing the problem solving, figuring out what's actually wrong, fixing it, and then seeing the outcome, you know, a positive outcome. Um, and. I guess that aspect has changed because, you know, my, one of my core values is, you know, I want to be able to take care of as many animals as I possibly can, but, you know, you can't boil the ocean.

I can, you can only do so much yourself. So, I've had to, you know, bring on, um, you know, associates and you know, that, you know, the business grows, which is in general good. Um, but then it creates its own set of challenges. And so now I've realized, Teaching and, you know, training my new doctors and really focusing on the business and watching, you know, just like from a patient care standpoint, I like to, you know, break down a problem, you know, whatever it might be like, okay, we need to work on this revenue, or we need to work on, you know, this, this contract.

And you know, sitting down. Working it out and then watching how that, whatever change we made, how that affects the ultimate business. Okay. Alright. And Glenn likes to bring you we're, we talk about small businesses, we talk about, uh, last week we were talking about taxes. Mm-hmm. , I mean, a always a, a wealth of information up to in his seventies of shows now, uh, if you look up the podcast, intelligent Investing with Glenn.

Um, and, and I want you to do that. I also want you to call Glenn anytime for free, no obligation consultation, 9 2 8 2 2 5 24 74. And you can also send him a quick email intelligent investing@wtwealthmanagement.com. Let, let's talk more about, and we'll get into a little bit of taxes and, and, you know, the challenges of running businesses.

Uh, things that people oftentimes don't think about when they start this and follow their passions, I guess, I guess you'd say, uh, will continue with Dr. Jesse Saul. Back in just a few minutes.

You're listening to Intelligent Investing with Glenn LEAs. Give Glenn a call right now at (928) 225-2474. That's 9 2 8 2 2 5 24 74. More intelligent investing with Glenn LEAs when we come back.

You are listening to Intelligent Investing with Glenn Le. We're talking with Dr. Jesse Sal, who's the owner of Aspen Veterinary Clinic talking, uh, small businesses and investing in your own small business as well. I think we want to get into, The tax side a little bit here. Yeah. Tax and people. Yeah. Tax. Tax and people

Um, and we, we did hit on this, by the way, the last two shows, uh, with Bill Baker. I think that's an important one to listen back with. Mm-hmm.  as far as an overall year-end tax planning. Uh, but Glenn, we've talked a lot about this on, like I said, previous shows, um, things that a lot of small businesses. . And, um, there's one field that I think it's the profit margins Yeah.

That people overlook, look, you know, actually following your passion, but then you, you do have to make money at some point. Yeah. And, and making sure that you look at your tax situation and your employees is going to help with that equation. Okay. Uh, because taxes, if dialed improperly, can make the difference of your business being very profitable or just being somewhat profitable.

And for a lot of business owners, it's. Area that maybe is, is somewhat foreign or their education or knowledge in is still developing. So having a person in that corner to help them to help develop help, making sure they're dialing things in for their, their specific situation. And maybe you're in a specific field that you can find a tax professional that really specializes in your field.

And I think that's even better because then they know your business inside and out and can say, hey. I understand how you operate, and you know, now we can dial in your tax situation, um, a little bit better because I am an expert in this particular field and know what we can and can't do and what's appropriate and what isn't.

Whereas if you just work with a person that maybe just does all sorts of businesses, you may not get the specialization. So that's one thing that I think is important. The other one is I talked about people, um, you know, people.  are vital to your business. Right. You know, you can't, if you want to go someplace fast and go alone, but if you want to go somewhere far, do it together.

Mm-hmm.  and you need people. And Jesse just hit on that. Um, and frankly, uh, employees leaving are unhappy. Employees. Having to get new people on and recruit people is an expensive process. It just is. And so, uh, much more than you might think. I mean, I think I saw one stat on the average, like minimum wage employee, how much it costs companies.

Astounding, uh, how much they have to go through. So, if you can invest in your people and keep your people happy, you get better work and it'll add to your bottom line as a business. So, I think investing in people is extremely important as a business owner. Well, Jesse, as have those.  items what? Taxes?

Planning, but also employment, employee side, hiring. I mean, has that been a bigger consumption of time and efforts than, than you ever thought it would be? Never. And how do you deal with it? Yeah. Never could have imagined. Yeah. The, the challenges behind, you know, growing, growing a business and everything associated with, with that, you know, it.

When, you know, the practice started, it was a one doctor practice and now it's a seven-doctor practice that's open seven days a week and, you know, have 40 support staff. And it's, it's challenging to find. Key employees and then, you know, the amount of time it takes to train them to be where they can really be proficient in all aspects of that business.

And, you know, coming back to, to Glenn's, you know, other point, building a strong team. That has been baptism by fire for me. I have had some serious challenges with, um, with CPA's, accountants, and, and the tax man. It's, uh, I'm very happy where I am right now, but I have been through the school of hard knocks to get where I am right now and took a while.

build that, build that strong team just to, you can't do it all yourself and you need to have people that know more about it than, than you do that are helping you, that are in your corner that you can reach out to and making sure that you're making the best decisions on the investment side. Jesse, when, because you, you hopefully want to be planning for your future as well and, and also investing in your current business right now.

I mean, what have you found the most beneficial? The thing that you know, I've been really focusing on this year is, investing in the team. We have done a ton of work into, you know, leadership training. Um, not, you know, not just technical training, but really focusing on all the soft skills, you know, bringing in, you know, I actually brought in a leadership consultant and, you know, we're doing a lot of, you know, Brene Brown, dare to lead, you know, working a lot with hospitality and Danny Myers.

And it's, it's just been unbelievable how positive the, the shift has been in our culture and productivity and just about every aspect of the business as we invest in our people, in our team, it's. It's just, just really neat to watch, to create a culture within the company. And I, you might be hearing more and more of that from businesses you, um, consult with and deal with.

Mm-hmm.  Glenn. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I've had a couple, uh, businesses that after they get through that first initial hump, that first couple, you know, year or two of, you know, say they've bought a business and there's a. Previous culture set and the business owner's like, yeah, that's not the culture we want to set. Yeah, sometimes it's a culture of apathy and just like, eh, whatever.

And you're like, no, we want to set a culture of excellence. And so, I've had a couple of small businesses that I've kind of helped brainstorm a couple of the ideas and then they go, hey, you know, that's an important thing. So, let's actually look at some resources. Just like Jesse was saying, is let's invest in our people.

Let's create a culture of excellence. You know, let's teach everyone how to be a leader. Um, and, and also learn how to follow too. That's something that, you know, I think people struggle with is before you can lead, you have to first learn how to follow. Um, one of my favorite quotes about people and, and culture is, uh, actually by j Papa John and, uh, Papa John says that we're not in the PE pizza business.

Um, we're in the. People business, right People. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I thought that was interesting because they're like, okay, yes, pizza is the main thing that we do, but it's a byproduct of the people. Because we don't have the right people on the right seat on the bus, then we're not going to do pizzas well at all.

And so, I think just shaping the culture of excellence because you find out what people are good at and what they're not good at too. You don't want the, the numbers guy that's really good with numbers. But not so good with people working the front desk and vice versa. Maybe someone's really good with, you know, working with people and that's their special Yeah, we'll put 'em in a customer service role.

Um, they may not be good with managing the numbers or finances, so as you get to learn people, you want to make sure they're in the right area. And I've, I've even done that in my own team. There's different people that are really great with. You know, interacting with clients and setting appointments, but they're not investment advisors, so they play a role of just, you know, scheduling, you know, and, and coordinating.

And, uh, I do that role of, you know, talking to 'em about investments. All three of us are, are small business owners and a lot of people that are listening are either small business owners or maybe work for a small business or want to become a small business owner. And you've, we've kind of enumerated all the kind of challenges and it's, it's a very, very tough thing.

Um, I guess Glenn, I'll start with you. Even stating all those challenges and people here know it's going to be really tough to have a small business. I guess. Why, why do people do it? I mean, what's the most rewarding thing when, when you hear about all these things you have to deal with on a daily business?

Yeah. Uh, one of it is you actually get to be in the driver's seat. I think that's important is you have the ability to implement all of your best and brightest ideas, whereas maybe you've worked for a big company or other organization, we had some good ideas and they just fell in deaf ears. So being a small business owner, um, it's both a.

Blessing and a curse at the same time.  when you're the, you know, the, the captain of the ship, if you will. Um, so, but it can be very rewarding. It can be tough, but it can also be very rewarding, and you get to see the fruits of your labor, um, translate into a higher percentage of profits where I've worked jobs in the past and not knocking these jobs.

But no matter how great of a job I do, I didn't see. Any difference in my pay, you know, over years. And so, it kind of became discouraging. It's like, why, why do an excellent job if no one notices? No one cares, and I don't get compensated for it. I'll just do the minimum amount that's required to me. And that's not a good perspective, at Least for me.

I found that to be challenging. So being a small business owner, I, I really get paid better and, uh, you know, according to my, my excellence and my skills. So, I liked that part of it. What about, uh, you, Jesse? Similar or it's Yeah. Very, very similar. Yeah. I, I knew early on that it was going to be hard for me to work for anyone else.

I, uh, I don't like authority, and so I, I think I. That was the, the primary reason is I needed to be the one that was calling all the shots. And, um, not just like Glenn said, just, you know, I'm, I am a worker, and you know, I'm a doer and if, if I'm just going to work, work, work, you know, I want to make sure that. I'm going to benefit for all of that hard work.

Yeah. And you're in a driver's seat. Yeah. All right. I'd, I'd love you to call Glenn up, uh, have a conversation with him. 1 0 1 9 2 8 2 2 5 24 74. You can also email Intelligent investing@wtwealthmanagement.com. Uh, and Dr. Jesse. So, with us Aspen Veterinary Clinic, what's the best way for people to get in touch with.

Uh, phone number (928) 526-2423 or they can check out our website, uh, aspen vet flagstaff.com. Okay. And then where's your business located? We're, uh, 78 61 North Highway 89, you know, here in Flagstaff. Just out. Just north of, yeah, just north of all. Well, what we want to do is, I, I hope you all tune in next week because we're going to have part two of this.

I, I want to get into some of the things like the cost of labor, I think next week. Yeah. And, uh, wages are going up throughout the state and throughout northern Arizona, Flagstaff in particular, uh, plus more, uh, kind of insight onto running your own small business. So I hope you'll tune in for that. And plus, uh, follow Glenn by.

Subscribing to Intelligent Investing with Glenn Lease on all your favorite podcast providers. Just look that up and there's a wealth of information there and I hope you'll go do that. And uh, gentlemen, I appreciate it. We'll be back here next week with part two. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks. Take care.

The following has been paid programming brought to you by WT Wealth Management. Nothing we've discussed should be considered as investment advice. This conversation was for informational purposes only. Please do your own research and speak to an investment advisor, financial planner before making any investment decisions.