¶ Evolution of a Small Business
Hey everybody , we're back again . It's another episode of Big Talk About .
Small .
Business . Did I say that ? Right , you're doing good man , I'm getting it down . You really are doing a great job . Thank you for guiding me and coaching me through that . You're welcome .
So I'm here in the studio today with my buddy , eric Howerton , and a very special guest , Very special , one of the greatest guys I know , an incredibly accomplished , motivated , driven , helpful professional in his field , and that's jeremy turley man , I feel honored .
I thought you were giving yourself an introduction now .
Now jeremy is a partner and is in charge of the northwest arkansas region for the payroll company . Got it ? Is that still your name ? Now ? You do so much more than that .
Man . I'm glad you asked , mark . That's a great , great point . We've gone through evolutions of business , like many other people have , so we started as the payroll company .
Yep .
And we rebranded several years later as the payroll company Paydays Made Easy , ah okay . As the payroll company Paydays Made Easy , ah okay . And then what happened is we expanded into KC and that was not doing it . They're known as loan sharks up there and the Paydays Made Easy was not a good tagline .
Yeah , that makes sense so we had to rebrand again Payday loans , Exactly payday loan sharks , and all that . So it was really interesting , as you expanded new markets all the times you have to change the brand possibly . So that's what happened to us . So then we rebranded as TPC more than payroll . So , that's where we're at today .
Okay , well , I know you do more than payroll . We're going to get into that in a minute . But yeah , it's interesting , the regional differences . We had this little case in my small business class about Cracker Barrel , which I think is the greatest concept ever created is they put them on highways , right ? Yep , people's sense of time is screwed up .
So they eat breakfast , lunch and dinner all day so they never have a dead time . And then they make you wait and while you're there , you buy sure , you paid for your meal in candy , yeah , on the way out , yeah , like bad , like lacy dresses for your grandkids or whatever , and it's just the greatest concept in the world .
But anyway , they put a cracker barrel in wisconsin and it did not work there . Nobody went there , and the reason was they didn't have fried cheese curds . So as they added that it's a regional thing , this was the Hudsonites , they expected to have cheese curds . So as they added that , then the Crocker Barrel in Wisconsin started doing well , sort of blowing up .
They probably put a billboard with a big old picture of cheese curds on it .
Yeah , there's why it starts showing up . It's like payday's made easy . We didn't you know we don't have all those exploitive payroll loan people here .
Right , so true , so true . But I love the cheese curds point . I've been up to a brewers game . Wisconsin and every gas station go to . They got cheese curds right , there's a known thing . So yeah , if you open a gas station , make sure you have cheese curds in wisconsin amen to that .
You know the cheese curds at Sonic aren't too bad . I don't know if you've ever had those .
I usually don't go places and get cheese curds .
That's right , you're healthy .
I mean cheese curds might be the worst thing that you could actually consume . What are the worst ? I mean fried cheese curds .
It's got three of the basic food groups . They're fry , cheese and salt . Oh yeah , oh yeah , you do need , we do need , more salt . Yes , I love cheese curds , love them . So , jeremy , though . Um , now you guys have been a really hot company . How many times have you been on the ink list now ?
eight , nine I'm counting six , six , okay six , on the Inc 5000 fastest growing companies , which , you're right , it's hard to do consistently , that's a very small percentage of companies ever make that kind of a record .
So how did you do it ? Tell us about the growth of the company and how you guys are doing what you're doing .
Man ? That's a great question , mark . It takes a team . As you know , it's not just a one-person deal . It takes a team all rowing together . So part of the strategy was opening up markets in Springfield , kansas City , little Rock , bentonville .
On top of that , just being able to offer just a really valuable service and product that people want and then being able to follow through with a service standpoint . I think that's a lot of things that have fallen off , especially with the large national providers . Some of them are outsourcing Third-party countries . They don't speak English very well .
Communication gaps are there . We've been very intentional about keeping we call them CSRs customer support reps local here in the US based . They speak English , they get to know their customers and something that's really been special for us is we hold on to our employees .
So our average tenure of our customer support reps is 7.5 years , which is unheard of for the industry .
It is . I mean , I've had . One thing I recommend to everybody is you get an outside payroll service . I don't care if you got one employee yourself , get an outside payroll service . I love that . They pick up the liability for making your payroll tax deposits and they know what the hell they're doing .
Bingo .
So always do that . I mean , even when I had a nanny working for me in the Boston area , I had an outside payroll company called Nanny Pay that I paid her through . But anyway , so I've had in my businesses . I had the usual suspects . Early on , it was ADP , they dominated . And then paychecks came along and ADP .
It was like every other week we had a different representative there to deal with . You never got the same person . And then paychecks came along and they were cheaper and they were better . And then , lo and behold , after a period of years paychecks got exactly like ADP . It was the same thing . It was constant change .
You call up , you got somebody different every time . They could never find your person to deal with your account , find your person to deal with your account whatever . And so I can see that if you guys can avoid some of that , that's got to be a key to your success . But it's more than that with you all .
Talk about some of the other services that you introduced along the way to capitalize on your good client relationships .
Yeah , I'm so glad you asked . So , like any good company , we've been able to evolve with time , with what our clients have wanted to have needed . So we started as just a payroll company , hence the name the Payroll Company . After that we added on time and attendance .
Surely , after time and attendance , we added on onboarding right to streamline the process for onboarding . So what's that mean exactly ? So what that means is like think , like when COVID came along , you had a lot more people working from home and a lot of small businesses still are addicted to paper , and so we got them off the paper process .
Make it a super easy electronic where they can onboard through their phones . You can onboard their template , oh , so , like all the forms and stuff you got to fill out . Yeah , so the I9 , w4 AR4EC , anything particular for that business ? Maybe you want to give them some swag . You know what size your company t-shirt . You have allergies .
Just capturing all that information the correct deposit information , all of that just capturing electronically to make it super streamlined . Or then that populates payroll time and attendance benefits , hr , and so just a single stop , single solution .
That's smart . So what about the HR services ? What are ?
those . So the HR services is a real differentiator for us , as we have the technology stack over here and alongside that we have an HR advisor , and so a lot of small businesses get caught not knowing how to operate in other states . Sure , Growing really fast , adding multiple locations , and they just don't know what they don't know Right .
And so the HR advisor can come along . They can build out handbooks , they can help them build comp studies If they're moving into a new market . How should we compensate our people ? They're going to help you with labor standpoints , with trainings .
Like understanding the Fair Labor Standards Act Exactly with trainings . Uh , we just like understanding the fair labor standards act exactly it's over time . And he , because he treated as a subcontractor exactly all of that , all the stuff that little companies violate all the time , exactly right or don't know about .
Yeah , they don't . They're not intentionally violating it . They don't know . They don't know until they get slapped on the wrist or they get a penalty , or osha shows up or the dol shows up . They don't know what they don't know .
Yeah , right , yeah I know in the architecture and engineering industry that I came out of , the average firm did not get an hr person until they had 75 or 100 employees , I believe that , and so you know it would be like a part-time role for the cfo or the business manager , who basically started out as a secretary , then became a bookkeeper , then became the
accounting manager and business manager for the firm and they pick up HR because nobody else there wants to do it and they don't know about it . I mean , it makes total sense .
I think a lot of it , too , is like you guys both have their own businesses . A lot of it rolls down to trust who can you trust ? And a lot of it comes down to confidentiality with pay . I know , mark , you love being an open book , which I really appreciate . You're open to being transparent with your team , but not everyone is .
Yeah , a lot of business owners like to hold it close to the chest yeah , I don't believe in sharing pay information , by the way , although I do know in some states now it's actually required . I think when you go to hire people , like new york places . Really , yes , you have to show the pay range of the high and the low .
Wow , that makes everybody happy when they find out you're at the low . Yeah Right , yeah so now . But yeah , I am open book , definitely , but not when it comes to pay .
Okay , okay , so just like that so that's yeah , but I think that , like for our audience sake , like if they're starting a new business , like to your point in the very beginning , hire , use a contractor to , like you know , tpc to take care of this payroll yes because it can . You can escalate really quick into some really bad scenarios .
And if you're trying to drive and start a business and then now the next thing , you know you get a letter from the state , you know you get the next day you come in and your doors are chained , padlocked , because you didn't make your payroll .
That's where that's where a lot of misery lies , man , man , I mean it could totally derail your investment , your time . I mean it depletes the morale in the company it does . If you have the state show up about anything , all the employees are like what the hell ? Embarrassing , we shouldn't work here . Yeah , we need to get out of here .
Start putting your job resume out . It's a pretty bad deal . So I mean you don't mess with that .
I think the thing too is , like you know , I've sent Jeremy to a number of small firms and they always come back to me and they say well , of course they love Jeremy because he's awesome . He's awesome .
Okay , you look at the guy , yeah .
I paid him off , he paid you off . Keep talking , he is . He's like the perfect human he is . But aside from that , no , they're always surprised at how affordable these HR , other services are that you guys provide . Just give people an idea . Like I know , every company's situation is different , but on a per-person basis .
Let's say I've got a 50-person firm and you guys are doing my payroll . If I want to add the HR under that , how much does that cost ?
So basically what you're looking at , if you're 50 employees , you can get our top tier package , which is all of our technology stack . So you're recruiting , applicant tracking , onboarding , hr , payroll , benefits administration and the HR advisor with the generalist for roughly $45 per employee per month .
Wow , Think about that . Did you say recruiting ? Yeah , Recruiting . So we're talking like $2,250 a month roughly in that case , if I did my math correctly . And you couldn't hire an HR person for $2,250 a month .
Do you guys know what the average HR ?
director is here , you know $100,000 at least .
Spot on , yeah , 76,000 plus benefits , plus . You've got to find the right person . They have to be the right culture , fit All of that .
Dude , if you don't get a good HR person , it'll take months to discover that number one , number two . You're gonna have a hell , hell of a freaking mess on your hands if it's not . I mean so you know , I've there . We worked with , uh , kathleen hoff and I don't know if y'all know kathleen . She's awesome . She is awesome like , she's a star .
She is an absolutely rock star . You're welcome , kathleen , share , like and post this post all over to your network . Kathleen but I mean she but she was phenomenal . She was key and pivotal to the success of our business by having a good HR person's director on the team . You know absolutely .
A lot of people don't know this about me , but you know I started out as an HR director .
In both . I know .
I know , when I was in undergrad school I was talking to my dad it was 1977 , and I was a damn wait a minute . Oh yeah , I know . I'm really fucking old , you can't just say that , yeah , and I
¶ Business Practices and HR Strategies
wasn't .
I was born in 1977 , by the way , I know I was old enough to be your daddy .
I've told you that . Are you my daddy ? Dad ? I wish I was . Oh , this thing got me Daddy , but anyway . So no , my dad was a real character . He was the equivalent of Don Draper in Mad Men . He was in the ad age of the business . He was just like Don Draper in most every single life he smoked , he drank . He told me ad executives died at age 57 .
He was prime average . That's where he got his jag . He had his jag . We had an architect design modern house built in 1949 . It was a clothes horse , everything . And then he had a midlife crisis in the late 60s , just like Don Draper was going through the whole bit . But anyway , I'm talking to him in 19 and he retired when he was 57 .
He said I've done what I don't like for the last 40 years . Henceforth I no longer work . I mean , I live to be 96 . Hell yeah so , but anyways , yeah , I was lucky . Um , there , chrissy worked out like I'm like you two guys , um , but uh , but anyway , um , no , I was talking to him and he's like well , how's school going ? And I said it's going good .
He goes . Now what's your major exactly ? I said management . He goes well , is there like a specialization in that ? And at the time you could specialize in either management , information systems , organization behavior , production , operations management or personnel management , as it was called at the time . And I told him I'm thinking about doing personnel .
He's like what ? Personnel managers are all assholes . He freaking , freaked out . He called my brother . He's like your brother is making a huge mistake . He went ballistic , wow . But anyway , to make a long story short , I didn't specialize in that . I specialized in organization behavior and then I got my MBA , which is finance , you know .
But anyway I did end up as an HR director early on in my career . In both firms I worked in I also got the marketing job because after they found out I was a good recruiter , I could sell , and then I got the marketing director job both times .
But I do think you're right that HR and I'm not trying to sit here and blast HR people , but there are a lot of incompetent ones out there and I find that they don't have the view as working for the company . Instead , they position themselves as the ombudsman for the poor , oppressed worker bees and they're there to represent them against the evil management .
I never had that view . I work for management . I want to have the best workforce , the best team we can have , and I also think part of it is the fact that all the liability aspects of HR means that the HR people a lot of times are delivering bad news to management .
You can't do that , you do that , you're going to get us in trouble and they don't want to hear it . So that's the other problem . They shoot the messenger . It kind of goes along with the role . People don't like them because they're telling them what they can't do .
It's a tough job man .
It's a hard job .
You're the mediator between the company and the team . And you're really the controller of the culture in a way you should be . You're the fang lines , you can see when shit's going bad .
I mean , that's what's good about good hr directors they can sense , when they sense some divisiveness or some right or some populous type of perspectives , which a lot of times you know management needs to be able to hear that , yeah , make the necessary changes to get the culture back on , or or or say no and get things realigned .
Yeah , that's's a good HR director can make that happen .
But yeah , I mean I think having it really organized with a company that is staying abreast of this stuff , you're going to get a higher quality knowledge base from that and you're going to be able to sort of institutionalize the process too , which means , if you do have turnover in the HR area or the business management area , at least the payroll , onboarding , all
the liability stuff is being taken care of and you're not going to lose that 100% . Because , again , just from my own experience , do you guys ever get involved in showing people how to write offer letters ?
Yeah , so that's one of the things that our HR team can assist you with . So offer letters , job advertisements Very valuable . All of that very , very valuable . It's just a lot of people don't know where to start .
Descriptions . Job descriptions , all that stuff , a little bit of market research .
All of that and we have some really cool AI tools . Yeah . So if you don't know , hey , I'm hiring an engineer , Yep , Engineer benefits . Check a few boxes and then the AI will write Nice , the job advertisement description for you , Tweak it and then from there you just push it out and we have integration of our 5 5,000 job boards .
So it can really stretch spider web effects to get more talent . There's so many people moving here from big cities just want to see a pace of life , want to live out more nature .
They're finding that here in Northwest . That's right . That's what I hear . It's a little early pace of life . This place is rocking and rolling .
For right now . I think we're going to see some changes in the next 48 months . You think so ? Oh dude ? Yeah , absolutely . What kind of changes . Well , I mean like we don't even know what it's like right now and the way it's going to be in two years . I mean the population is going to increase significantly .
Oh yeah , we're hitting , I mean it's going to we pretty significant .
Oh yeah , we're hitting it . I mean , it's going to we're blowing up ?
We're blowing up , yeah .
When you said change , I thought you were going to say like it's slowing down . No , god , no , I get out there on the freaking highway . It takes me an hour to drive up here from Fayetteville , which that's so true If there's no traffic . My wife driving her Macan Turbo , I , when I come and go Slower way of life .
I don't think that's going to be what's going to be around . Okay , yeah , he said slower way of life . Oh , did he say that ? Yeah ?
I don't know what he's talking about . Don't blame the mouth and board power . I don't know what he's talking about . This is the land of aspirational climbers these days . I guess what .
I was thinking is like coming from LA , New York you start the traffic .
Oh , yeah , yeah , They'll be in Osborne a few months for them , but then it's going to go right back to the woods .
I live like five minutes from downtown Fayetteville and my neighbors say it's not like it used to be . It takes me six minutes , Like I know the traffic , 30 seconds before I could turn . Good God , it's gone to hell .
One thing I wanted to point out , like to your point mark , like , like the like , I think what we're you know it's it's important to point out .
If a company needs an hr director which I'm sure there's some sort of threshold for that what your services can do is allow that director to be more ingrained from a you know , from a cultural standpoint , because there's so much to take care of in this life . Yeah , get all the paperwork , all the details , the processes .
I mean , once you can get on TPC to take care of all that type of stuff , now your director can stay ahead working with the manager , working with the team , interviewing , having conversations with them . And I'll tell you one thing too Like if you were were able to do the recruiting , job descriptions , all those meticulous details . Then the interviewee comes in .
That's what a good HR director does Absolutely Freaking awesome at that . She would I mean every single one of them , you know and just spend time with that candidate , because that is the most important thing you can do in a business .
It's the recruiting and making the team , building the team with the right people Building the team ?
Are they aligned to the values ? Yes , thank you . All that stuff , yeah , it's so critical . And then being able to deliver great candidates to upper level management yeah .
And then this you know like we had JS Bull in here when we were talking and he was saying he interviewed every single person when we brought on like 100 more people within like about an 18-month period . But every single person that was brought in that company he interviewed .
But that went through a series starting with the HR director to pull the candidates moving up and then getting to him , and so whenever he's interviewing , there should be highly qualified and folks coming on the team . Yeah , absolutely .
And that's part of where the value is right is we're creating the efficiencies behind the scenes . Yeah , and a charter editor can be more visionary , absolutely , and more involved with the hands-on yeah , and not pushing papers , pushing benefits .
Yep . Hey , this sounds like a freaking commercial for tpc , doesn't it ?
these guys should be sponsoring our show eric oh my gosh , what an idea , what a great idea well , hold on .
I'm glad you said something well . We don't take socks . Let me pay you guys off . These are tpc money .
Awesome man money sauce oh man , you have dollar signs , there's .
That's a smarty face .
There you go . He doesn't like being paid . Those are awesome .
I'll make sure I get some use out of them . Okay , did you see the little call to ?
action .
I get my foot in the door so we can knock your socks off .
Oh , man , that's awesome , there you go . That's awesome , good marketing man , well done .
Thank you , go . That's awesome . Good marketing man .
Well done . So I want to get back to Jeremy , though , for a minute here , because , jeremy , you've got an interesting story . Now , how did you get in this business ? What's your backstory ?
So my background I don't know how much time we have .
We've got plenty of time . Plenty of time , okay , a lot of people don't know how much time we had .
We got plenty of time . Plenty of time , okay . Okay , there's a lot of people I know , so my friends call me the white Kenyan .
¶ International Upbringing and Scholar Success
Yeah , so I grew up overseas in Kenya , africa , most of my adolescent life until I was 18 . Wow , so I grew up doing crazy things riding motorcycles , chasing giraffes , climbing the falls , almost falling off to my death , you know , like Lord of the Flies , just being crazy out there in Africa . It was such an amazing experience .
How did you ? How'd that happen ? How'd you grow up in Kenya ?
So my parents became missionaries when I was four . So I was born in Dallas , and when I was four they took me and my younger brother over to Kenya , africa and that's where I got to grow up . I didn't have much say on the option , but I'm looking back at it , oh , I super benefited from it .
I've been able to travel , been to over 22 countries , seen a lot of cultures , met a lot of people from really all over the world , and it's made me who I am today . I'm very , very appreciative of that my parents for doing that for me and having that opportunity to grow up in different cultures .
Yeah , appreciate it about that my parents , for doing that for me and having that opportunity to grow up in different cultures .
Yeah , I'm sure that has made you better able to deal with a wide range of people , for sure , for sure , and also too just you know , with them growing up . A lot of times we come back to the us every two or three years . We travel around the us and they would visit churches .
We have to get up on stage , we get stuck in people's homes asking for support and just sharing their story , and so I saw that in an early age , just having to interact with all kinds of different people , different age groups and all of that and a lot of times it's boring for me , but I mean again , it just made me who I am today .
I can talk to a lot of people and make connections pretty easily through a lot of that .
So how to be respectful towards any environment like you walk in any company . You know you kind of pick up on that and you fall right into a suit .
That's good well , just , you know just even little things like having empathy , I care , you know , being able to solve problems and get in there .
And so , going back to the story real fast though , uh , so I grew up in africa , turned 18 , had to get a higher education and I was really a goddang , but I got a full ride from Bill Gates so I could have gotten anywhere . How did Bill Gates discover you ? I could have gotten anywhere in the country . I called Uncle Bill . How did he discover you ?
I had to apply , fill out over 30 pages of applications , had all kinds of teachers , write me some great qualifications . I was involved in sports , had good grades , all of that , yep , but great qualifications , you know , I was involved in sports , had good grades , all of that yep , uh . But also a lot of people realize I'm a minority , so I'm 50 latino ?
you would never know , looking at me , no . So I played the african latino card . God love you .
And then this white guy shows this white guy shows up and they're like what that gets over , gets a full ride . I was one of two people in arkansas wow year . This was in 2001 , in 2001 . So still early on it was called the Bill Gates and Melinda Millennium Scholars Award .
¶ Cultural Transition and Career Path
So , it was super , super , just a rich blessing for me , because my parents had no money and was able to go to private school .
So where did you go when you came here , JBU ? I believe , wasn't it ?
Yes , I went to John Brown University and so people asked me why'd you go there ? Well , I actually sent a recruiter to my high school in Africa and out of the class of 92 kids , they got six of us .
No kidding , so JBU had some friends there that you went to JBU .
Yes , to have friends that I grew up with , just have that instant connection . You know it's hard , man . You go to college and then especially me Going to college , not having any family here .
Right , it's definitely very hard .
You know , you're a young adult , you're having to make All kinds of big decisions by yourself and you don't have . You can't just run home . See mom and dad .
Yeah .
And holidays , man , holidays were tough , you know Christmas it is Thanksgiving . It's too bad . If I'd have known you , we'd have had you over , man . I would have loved that Mark .
But you're such a self-centered person I didn't know the guy .
Well , I mean , you know , come on , he cares about other people .
He cares about me . No , I'm so flabbergasted .
We like having other people come over for holidays . I think it's nice if you can do it . I don't know if you do that , eric Well .
I mean I'm waiting for an invite , bro , I'm talking about people who don't have other people .
Okay , Anyway , Go on , Jeremy . So you were here . Was it strange ?
like coming from Africa and then suddenly living here where you had like Sonic and Burger King . It was super strange , I'll bet . Yeah , I think one of the best things my parents did for me is my junior year of high school . We lived in Pennsylvania , Okay , and so I came back , I got into school .
I was out on sports , got my driver's license , got my first job , okay , so I got my taste of what it was like life in America and I think that was a good foundation . Otherwise I could have just fallen off a cliff , because it's just been so different being in Africa compared to America .
So what did you get your education in there at JBU ?
So I started as international business . I just ended up being my forte . It's funny I'm in the payroll world but not very good with numbers . But anyways , started that got into digital media arts .
I'm very creative like you , like Mark , I know've seen your like creativity , yeah , and so that was a passion is coming up with a concept , seeing it through to completion , whether it's making music videos or movies , marketing , things like that yeah and then I had a business minor , so I graduated .
I'm like man well , debt free what I go do yeah , I did not want to move out to LA . I had a lot of friends out there like man , we're just doing the lights , doing microphone sound , it's not worth it .
And I really loved Northwest Arkansas and so I played rugby and I had friends on the rugby team that were showing me these commission checks for $15,000 , $20,000 . For a young college kid that had no money , he's like that's a lot of money . What were they selling ? That's life-changing . So they were selling homes .
This was in 04 , 05 , and the market was just smoking hot here in northwest Arkansas .
Yep .
I graduated in 05 , December , got my license in 06 , 07 , started practicing , and you guys know what happened the wheels on the bus started falling off , and so I mean I tried .
¶ Entrepreneurial Journey and Career Advancement
You were in real estate , then I was in real estate , residential . Yes , sir .
Residential , so I was in real estate . I remember taking people up to Bella Vista . Some of the smartphones were just coming out . I would get lost . I didn't know where I was going .
Oh yeah , we used to all get lost in Bella Vista . It it's crazy .
My broker would bring a couple , put them in my backseat . I get lost up there and I had one day to find these people a home because they were moving here for Walmart and I just failed and one lady started breaking down crying because I couldn't find the house , oh my God , and I got frustrated and so it was super stressful for a young kid .
I wasn't making any money . Yeah , I'd show people homes . Wouldn't make them sign a , an agent , a letter to intend that you know that . Instead you go buy from other people and I just pulled my hair out . I was working 30 hours a week at copeland's just to pay my bills . Yeah , copeland's .
I forgot about that place it's a great place .
Yeah , it was good , yeah , it was good man probably restaurants , restaurant people out there . Man , bring some cajun food to northwest arkansas , I think you'd kill it .
Yeah , you would . I think you would . Well , we have in Fayetteville , you know , we've got Marty Schmidt's place .
It's like the only place , though it's Cafe Rue .
Orleans . That's it yeah .
But going back to that , so Copeland has taught me a lot . It taught me also how to deal with people and you know customers are yelling at you or upset or need their check . I think that's just a great learning place .
Eric was a server too . Oh really , oh yeah , I'm a huge advocate of any man that's been in the hospitality business , especially restaurant , where you're .
Both of my older girls did it and they were both very successful . I get it yeah . And my stepdaughter too . Yeah , she started out there in restaurants . Oh , yeah , she started out there in restaurants . Yeah , so I worked as a . Well , she started and she worked at um walk-ons . She worked . Yeah , that was about the third or fourth restaurant . Yeah .
The gig , but yeah , that's super cool .
But um anyway , much to her mom's chagrin , she did not like walk-ons .
That they were oh , yeah , yeah .
I'm sure Not happy about that At all , but anyway , so yeah , so you did that .
So Copeland's yes , real estate Doing that . At the same time , like man , I need something Right , something else . I had a buddy that was on real estate With his Cousin or friend Was starting a business Called Go Pickle . Oh yeah , you know Go Pickle , chris . Yeah , you know GoPickle Chris . Yeah , chris , yeah , yeah , absolutely so .
Chris was one of my first bosses .
I remember hearing about it . What was it I forgot ?
It was like before . It was kind of like the attempt of a digital phone book or Yelp , exactly right , that was . Yelp . Basically , that's right , it was before all that stuff . Yelp really became so popular , right ? Yeah , it really became so popular Right ?
yeah , it was very , very innovative . I thought it was really cool . Coming from my marketing background , I'm like man , I can run with this . So I was just going into restaurants and any kind of business and trying to sell it . My mom was so new . You know , people don't like change , they're not open to it . It's an additional expense for them .
So I had a hard time . They hired about 20 of us but it's commission only were you married then or you still ? I was still single . So , okay , you kind of like , yeah , I could get by , right , because I call his debt . Thanks , buddy , so thanks , local bill , yeah , uh .
But after that I was like man , I'm just , I'm burning , burning up here , I'm working super hard , I'm not making any money , barely paying my bills . I'm like I need something with a salary and benefits , and so I actually interviewed at signature bank .
Okay , um , that's just when they were getting started . Yeah , yeah , I need something with a salary and benefits , and so I actually interviewed at Signature Bank .
Okay , that's just when they were getting started . Yeah , yeah , 05 , 06 . Her name was Missy Ross , at the time ACAR director . Yeah , she had just filled a job for a commercial loan officer in training , but she interviewed me Somehow . She liked me . You would have done well with that , but she passed my resume on to the payroll company .
We just started working with them and so we're based out of Springfield , missouri . So they came down , interviewed me at the Fayetteville library and I accepted the job . I'm like hell . Yeah Salary , full benefits .
Accept the job at Signature . No , sorry at TPC , At TPC .
Signature filled the role that she passed my resume on to the payroll company . I got you Because they were looking for somebody down here .
You could have been my lending officer Because , gosh , I did so much business with Signature Still do . What a great bank man , they are , they're great , you never know , you never know . I know .
But they helped me out with .
TPC , the payroll company I started with . They were super small . They gave me a phone book , an office and a computer to go sell some payroll . Yeah . And that was really how I started . I didn't know what the hell I was doing . Yeah , I tried to network as much as possible . I'm thankful for a guy named Travis Fink .
He was a well-known business owner in Fayetteville . He got me into Rotary , he got me plugged in with some of his friends , okay , and I started networking .
I started reading all kinds of books as much as I could get in school , of hard knocks man , I just go knocking on doors , knocking on businesses , trying to sell on payroll timekeeping , and I really didn't sell a whole lot , um , but I wasn't scared either . I was scrappy .
Yeah , I got out and I got in front of people , I met people and just built relationships and then two years later we hired a gentleman named todd and so todd was a badass , so he was the number one sales of that , sales rep for , uh , adp . So he and adp is my big competitor , but he was the number one sales rep in the nation for adp , wow , wow .
And he's out of springfield , missouri , and so he went to high school with our owners and that's how they knew him and so you know , coming with us . And so he pretty much gave me the ADP playbook for sales and taught me , mentored me and that's what's allowed me to be so successful today is having him on board .
He helped take our company to the next level . So I'd say Todd Linton was a big influence . Going back to that first question of how we've been so successful , they had a lot of swag at adp .
I just have you done . Oh , they used to come see me all the time and bring me stuff well , it's not as cool as our swag .
No , I don't think it's as cool as this yeah , for god's sakes well , let me do some more swag too not even um .
So this todd , that's interesting . So todd taught you how to sell . Basically , it's what you're saying .
He taught me the process . You know , in adp , I mean , they're serious about it and they do the best of the best . So they went , he went to school for two weeks , uh , so he taught me how to sell , taught me the process and , yep , you know again . It's changed a lot since then and I'm still always open to learning .
That's what I love about this business . But then you , you're always learning .
There's always new functionality , there's new things coming down the pipe , there's new laws , new regs well , you see all these different businesses and you see , like , who's doing well and who isn't too , which has to be a great education , oh , yeah , absolutely right , you know , but so in in , now you , you really rose though , through .
So what year was that that that you started at tpc ?
started , oh , 708 okay so I go to math . Like I said , I've been there 18 years 18 years now .
Okay , so you rose and you became the number one salesperson there . Yeah , so .
I rose through the ranks , became consistently been the number one salesperson for a long time , which I'm very thankful for , and that's what keeps me there . I'm still able to thrive , provide for my family . I love meeting with new businesses , business owners and being around entrepreneurs . I mean , you guys have high energy .
Yeah , I kind of feed off that because you have business problems that really need to be solved . So , whether they know it or not , so I'm knocking , knocking down their doors so what now ?
when did you become a partner over there at tpc ?
so it gave me a lofty goal . I think I was about seven or eight years in , okay , and so they wanted to retain me . I was getting called . You know , different people were trying to recruit me . I didn't tell them that , but you know they knew I was valuable and was doing real well for them .
So they gave me ownership opportunities and I'm buying in more right now actually more ownership , which is awesome Good ownership opportunities and I'm buying in more right now actually more ownership , which is awesome , good for you . Have different companies , uh , so a lot of people don't realize .
So we have the hr company , we have the payroll company of arkansas payroll company in missouri , right , and then we also have a merchant services company , okay , and so it's kind of just that's why it's tpc more than payroll , just because we do a lot more what merchant services we're talking like processing . Yeah , a lot of people don't realize that .
So we have a merchant services arm . Didn't know it's not very big , but it's growing . So that's something else we can do you know .
That's something that pisses me off , by the way , I agree Is the restaurants charging extra ? Yes , just last night , 3% . Yeah , just last night I went out to dinner at a place it's a nice place I go to and normally I don't even look at the bill . Truthfully , if I look at it , my wife's like don't stare at that bill , I'm supposed to just pay it .
Make sure you give them more than 20% Big tip . She always tells me that . So last night I looked at it . I'm like wait a minute , why is this ? Does it match what's here ? And then I see that 3% added for you know , you know , isn't that just part of the cost of doing business ?
That's what I feel . Yeah , that's how . I feel I mean , am I willing , as a as a business or accounts receiver , you know to pay 3% to either get the cash now or do I want to send an invoice and go through that for 30 days ? Yeah , exactly Like I'll pay 3% for it .
I was like I said , yeah , I agree , especially when you go to a nice steak place . Yeah , I know it's awesome .
Yeah , I got a $200 bill for two of us or whatever , and then they hit you for the kitchen and stuff .
Tips for the kitchen . It's a little roulette . You know what draws me absolutely freaking nuts , I mean . I don't want to . I get just infuriated . Nowadays . What's that ? Everywhere I go , everybody wants a freaking tip . Oh yes , oh , dude , you know , and for a number of months I was all yeah .
For a number of months I was like , you know , I'm embarrassed , I mean I'll give them a dollar . And then I started transitioning to being embarrassed when I didn't tip them . Now I'm actually proud to say nothing .
Yeah , and I look at them in the eyes when I put zero dollars Dude . I have gone to a gas station and gave them my credit card and got handed a slip that had a place for a tip . Sorry , I swear to you . At a service station , my HVAC guys send me a bill and it's got a place for a tip On the electronic bill on the HVAC . That's crazy .
What it screws up like if you go coming from the restaurant is that when I was working serving tables , I was making half of the minimum wage . The rest of my pay was based off tips . That's why I was encouraged to take care of people . What's happening now ?
Everybody wants a freaking tip and what everybody's doing is it's diluting the opportunity for the people that survive off tips and excel off tips . Yeah , they work for the tip . And I especially hate it whenever I order a coffee and they're like what would you like ? Okay , yeah , here .
If they even say that to you , yeah .
And then they turn the screen around and it's like how much would you like to leave A dollar , two dollars , two dollars A dollar , two dollars , two dollars A dollar ? Yeah , exactly 50% , yeah , and honestly most people like , and if you're with a client ordering something .
Yeah , what are you going to say ?
Zero , you have to like , it'll mean like you're going to be the jackass Like oh wait .
I do business with you , you don't chief and be like here as you did . I sign it now on those tablets . If they gave me a service , I'll tip them . If I didn't get any service , just a coffee , I'm not tipping you , I'll just write a smiley face and sign it .
Nice , but I will , man . If somebody actually shows up Now and greets me really well , oh yeah , acts like they're happy for me to come in and order a coffee I will tip them .
Makes a recommendation have a great day .
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¶ Workplace Strategies for Small Businesses
Years ago I was interested in buying a car wash that was for sale around here . And I yeah , because I like , cause you love washing cars , I do , I love . I know you cars when I was young , we used to do cleanups and charge a ridiculous amount of money . We were getting $200 for a detailed job in the night around 1980 . Okay , 1978 . Nobody got that .
That's amazing . But anyway , I love clean cars . But I looked at this car wash business so I was back home visiting my mom and in kirkwood , missouri , mom and dad , and there was a car wash at the end of their street I used to always go to . From the time I was got my driver's license at 16 , I had my 67bird .
I'd go down there and wash it every day and it's called Waterways and they always had good service . Well , I took my mom's Camry down there that had like 30,000 miles and was 20 years old to get it cleaned up for her when I was visiting her and I see this guy's a manager and I recognize this guy's been there for a million years . So I approached him .
I said you know , I'm looking into a car wash where I live currently and he asked me where it was and I said you know , I'm really curious . How do you guys have such great service ? Because they always had young people . They were always dressed alike and they were glad you were there . They would like fall all over themselves . They dried people .
They were always dressed alike and they were glad you were there . They would like fall all over themselves . They dried your car , they vacuumed it , they did everything there .
Okay , it wasn't like we have the air where you drive through and nobody does anything , yeah , unless you go to my buddy paul stag's place , um , where they do uh , splash , um car right yeah they , they do your interior there . But nobody did it . But anyway , he said well , I got a real simple two things I would advise you to do . I said what are those ?
Because , one , when you have a good person , hire all their friends , because good people hang out with other good people . That's good point . And he said the second thing is do not have a common tip jar , because if somebody gives you good service , they get the money . Yeah , yeah , it's true , it's true . I love that , and and so I anyway .
It may seem like a long story to get to the point , though , that what you guys are saying , you just spread it all out like peanut butter , like that .
Then it just becomes part of the expectation it does yeah , you don't have to do anything special that are actually working for that . Don't get rewarded for it yeah it . So then it demoralizes the whole entire mood , and now you go to every place that you go to now the lowest common denominator and everybody's just freaking miserable to be working .
Yeah , and that's not what humanity is supposed to do .
We're supposed to work . It's true . Yeah , we should be happy .
You should be happy to work .
Yes , you should . The you should be happy . You should be happy to work . Yes you should . The other day I started watching the terrible movie I can't remember what it was called , but the guy who played Van Wilder , you know the old movie . He's got the cellular company now he advertises on TV .
I'm liking it . He's an actor . I'm liking it .
Anyway , it was about servers at a restaurant , and they were just had a horrible attitude . It was just I couldn't watch it after a while after the terrible things that were doing to the food , but uh , but anyway , so yeah .
So it's good , though , that you guys started in that in that um serving and that , probably , along with your other background of you know , having missionary parents in a third world country , taught you the whole mantra , I guess , or philosophy of service , and it's it's you've done very well as a result of it .
So what advice would you give to small business owners , aside from hiring you guys for your services ? That's a foregone conclusion , but you look at a lot of businesses out there . You see people succeed and you see people fail . What advice would you give the typical small business owner ?
That's a great question , mark , and a lot of businesses are so different . But I think , going back to what you're talking , man , higher people are smarter than you , that are friendlier than you , that I can tell when I walk into a business just in the first three seconds if this is a successful business or not . Do they have a grouch up , front door locked ?
What's the attitude ? I'll give you a quick story . Went to trick-or-treating . I like to dress up , so , uh , during halloween dressed up as anchorman .
A lot of fun with that mustache like yeah , it was polyester , but I walked polyester , ron Jeremy Ron . Burgundy Ron .
Burgundy .
Hey , hey , I'm kind of a big deal .
Bad sport coat maroon sport coat .
Yes , it's awesome . I got pictures . I'll show them to you .
Polly Esther yeah .
But I walked into over 20 businesses , Mark , and some of them are just so grouchy to even see you . I'm trying to brighten their day and bring them something Right . It's just a big turnoff , yeah , and I love it too .
And .
I see the CEO offices at the front or they have an open door policy versus stuck way in the back . I know I can get to them .
I was the first person and then I actually moved to the reception desk . For like the last six months I was at my company . Yeah six months .
I was at my company before I retired .
I love that I like being there right there , oh yeah .
Yeah , where you're open , I like , I like not having an office .
Yeah , I know , just roaming around , just roaming man . Oh yeah , I've done that too .
You take the . I mean like . To me it's like a . I have the most uncomfortable position in the you don't have a spot necessarily .
I love it . But now you go back to your point .
Outsource too right , and even if you have to use TPC but you get a payroll HR provider on the back end , because that's where a lot of theft can happen .
Right Because you might think you trust that person .
Internal theft yeah . They create that false payroll account and then just money's just rolling into their account . They find out 12 months later that your business is going to foreclosure and then we're going to come up with the money to pay the taxes .
We used to always do like a physical count of the payroll versus our account that we had of employees to make sure that was the same .
Yeah , that was so true , yeah , that's interesting but yeah , just , I mean just yeah , outsource , I mean trust , work with people you trust . You know , uh , but yeah , I think just , man , have a , just have an outgoing and just be willing to learn and grow and hire people that are willing to learn and grow as well and that are smarter than you .
And how do you all of that ?
do you hear like the employers you work with complain about their employees and say , well , nobody wants to work anymore ?
all the time , all the time . But it's not every employer right . It's , um , I think going back to your point with kathleen and vetting like you got to spend more time on the front end vetting your employees , because there's still those people , there's still special people that want to work and have a passion for what they're doing and are trainable ,
¶ Hiring Strategies and Personal Engagement
uh . But then there's other people that are grouches that just , no matter what job they do , negative Nancy's or whatever . You know what I mean . They're just not a good fit .
And you have to try to discover that in the interview process .
You need to move them out , yeah .
I mean , the best thing is never hired in the first place . You know what I mean . What would you say is I mean on that , what's a good way to kind of see that as an interviewer ? You know good way to kind of see that as an interviewer . You know you got people coming in for position . You might be interviewing 10 people over a couple of days .
How do you pick up on that grouch ?
man , I think taking them out of like getting out of the normal interview process . Let's go for a walk amen meet at a restaurant yes me for coffee . Like hey , how do they treat the barista ? How do they ?
treat the serverista . How do they treat the server ? My philosophy exactly . Do they tip ? When they buy a cup of coffee . Yeah , or do they put a smiley face on it ? There you go .
Right , no . But seriously Look him in the eyes and say no tip for you , like something like that Like no soup for you , no tip for you , absolutely no , no , no , absolutely not .
But no , you're right . I mean , then they let their guard down .
Yeah , this whole idea of structured interviews .
Yeah , it just doesn't work .
That stress people out . That's not the way you're going to find out what somebody's really all about . Yeah , I totally agree with that . I think a lot of companies are afraid to do that , though for some reason .
Yeah , yeah . And he doesn't have to be expensive . You just go on a walk , Say hey , let's just go on a walk and just talk to get to know him like a person . I did that for Eric .
Yeah , you did . Yeah , yeah , you judged me really hard whenever you hired me .
Yeah , well , I was looking at your vehicle . Yeah , that was terrible .
But you knew my bad vehicle knew that I had motivation was great and I left . Then Mark starts hammering me with questions via text message about five minutes after I left . I love it , but what I did was I pulled off on the side of the road and I answered them as fast as possible .
I was like I'm going to show this dude , I'm engaged .
Today we keep driving and answering .
Right , we've become better at multitasking .
I shouldn't say that Every day I'm like fearful I'm going to run into somebody . I know it's dangerous .
It's dangerous .
You shouldn't say that either . No , you shouldn't text and drive . It's a bad thing .
You should be using Siri , mark . Come on , I know .
I know it's true , but yeah , I agree with you , Jeremy , on that .
I think just just getting to know people , yeah , and taking the stress off of them . Well , I think a lot of times the mistakes are honestly .
If I mean I'll be the first to admit when I've hired poorly is because I don't , I don't value the time , that moment of okay , this is really an important decision because it's one of those things where you can kind of right , you have all this stuff going on as the entrepreneur , the business owner , I mean , it might seem more important to you know , to get
that proposal out , or whatever it might be , and then you interview somebody really quick and yeah , it sounds good , and you let somebody else in the company make the decision . But you've got to really stop . I mean honestly , if you stack it up , that's your most expensive decision .
That you'll make . You're absolutely right , man . I tell you , it's so true .
But people are so caught up in a rush I've got to have them now . I've got to have them now , so I fill the job .
I'm guilty of that Shit bad .
Another idea , too , that I've heard is have that person do a test . Give them a project , Give them a business problem to solve the big idea . Let them solve it and come in and present their case .
I'd like to take them over to the airport and see if , when they get on the moving walkway , if they stop instead of keep walking to get ahead , I'm not hiring them . That's right . As soon as they get on the moving walkway , they stop . You're dead .
It's because their legs are over the wall . That was your chance to get ahead .
I love it , I love that .
That's a good point , but I gotta hear what you're saying , though I'm a walker , yeah right , it's kind of like that , or drive with them somewhere , yeah yeah , if they drive like a pawpaw down .
You know they get in the left lane and go 55 on the highway . I'm not hiring them .
I tell you what it's actually when I'm thinking about this . It's , you know , if you take them to a coffee shop and you're just having you put them in a comfortable situation and you watch them , are they in the interview process and maybe you're . You're ordering the coffee and you look back and are they on their phone .
Yeah , that would be a really good way to determine if they're going to be engaged or not , because these gosh dang phones , man oh , it's such a problem absolutely destroying productivity .
But are they serious ?
yeah , I'll tell you one thing I don't do If somebody's ever and I don't know where I got this but if they're ever late for an interview with me . That was my philosophy .
Is that where I got that ?
Well , I don't know if that's where you got it Probably so , but there was some point like I don't even talk to him again one time and it turned out to be one of the best hires ever .
I I kid you not , I swore I would , and I'll tell you why . Yeah , I , I , I . If you were late , I wasn't gonna hire you at all yeah but this woman drove a fiat spider , oh , and they're so freaking unreliable . I was a car guy . I had several fiats . By that time I'd had like three of them .
It's's just like , oh , my car , you know , broke down like a mile from here and I took sympathy on her and she turned out to be the greatest hire I ever made . Nancy Ursery , yeah .
She was great .
She worked like a dog and was super productive . If they want to reschedule , there's no way had to get a new car .
Yeah , there's no way I'm going to hire you , because to me I guess part of my thing is , if you're hiring me , brother , I am like up five hours early preparing , getting dressed and I show up to your place an hour early and I'll sit in my car until it's like right at 10 minutes before then . I go walk him in and I'm happy about it .
I mean I'm ready .
You're calm . Yeah , you got your man ready , I'm sure together . Yes , I'm with you .
Because it's an important part for me to be part of your company .
I'm with you on that . Yeah , man .
I like that . I have a curse . Just growing up in Africa it's culturally acceptable to be late . One thing I do struggle with I need to get better at , but I was early today .
You do need to get better at it . No , he doesn't .
He does . Nobody should be late .
He was never late to anything I ever made . He wasn't late today . But I mean , like you should really practice on that , he's figured that one out .
Give the guy a break . I've grown , Eric . He wouldn't be as successful as he is if he hadn't figured that out , Because there'd be assholes like us that would say , no , we're not going to see this guy .
Yeah that's true .
Right , he's out . Yeah , he's out . No , he's in . Jeremy's in . I love it , jeremy and I . One time we had a group of people and we rode our bikes from Bentonville to .
Fayetteville . You did , yeah , bicycles , that was fun .
I had such a sore butt . Jeremy , though , was the leader . Okay yeah , he navigated all the shut-down trails in Bentonville . That was tough .
Now , he did want to stop and start drinking , however early in the day it's like , let's go to , but they weren't open .
Lunchtime Group hubs .
lunchtime at 10 o'clock that's right , I'll just get to see you on a bike it'd be great you did it right yeah I've got some endurance I can still do it .
You powered through , yeah but anyway , no , it's been great having you here jeremy if somebody wants to reach you . What is your contact information ?
I appreciate you asking . I can go to morethanpayrollcom or you can email me , jeremy at thepayrollcocom so that's jeremy at the t-h-e-payrollcocom and we're about to roll out a new website , I think next week , so I'm super pumped about that . So one thing , one plug I was going to give , is we're doing some free training webinars .
It's called tpc talks , and so you can go sign up there . It's free resources and if you're an HR professional , you actually get CE credits .
Yes .
It happens during lunch time , so that's beneficial .
It's called TPC Talks .
More than payrollcom . Nice man Outstanding . Well , it's been great having you here .
Well , thank you so much for the invitation . I mean , this is my first podcast .
You guys , it's too bad . I can't believe it's the first time , I mean , you've been on a podcast .
I mean you're famous around here , yeah really , I like to think I'm the best kept secret in Northwest Arkansas .
Everybody Indeed you are man . Everybody does , jeremy . I appreciate it , but no , it's been great having you here . Thank you . Next week we've got another big show coming up yeah we do ? Eric and I are going to be tackling some of the tough questions that deal with the meaning of life and success in business .
Yes , we're going to be reviewing some of the latest Mars rover photos for the found objects on the surface of Mars . No , I'm just kidding , I'm just kidding . We objects on the surface of Mars ? No , I'm just kidding , I'm just kidding , we're not going to do that , but it is interesting .
Have you seen , like some of the stuff that the Mars rover looks at no no . It's pretty interesting , pretty cool stuff . Yeah , are you going to be one of ?
Elon's first customers .
That goes on Mars for a while . Too many of those rockets blow up . They do . I'll pass on that .
He'll even admit and say like it's probably going to blow up and most likely it will blow up .
Yeah , I'm not going down to see the Titanic either . Okay , we could forget that I love it , but no , it's been great having you here and until next week . This has been another episode and , jeremy , we need you to join us All right , got it .
Another episode of Big Talk About Small Business . Thanks for tuning into this episode of Big Talk About Small Business . If you have any questions or ideas for upcoming shows , be sure to head over to our website , wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom and click on the ask the host button for the chance to have your questions answered on the show .
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