Business Innovators Radio - Adam Marburger: From Paper Routes to Business Empire

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

In this episode Nina Hershberger talks with Adam Marburger, a serial entrepreneur who has built several successful companies including Ascent Dealer Services, Dental Protection Group, and Marburger Coaching and Development.Adam has an impressive background, starting his entrepreneurial journey at just 13 years old with 3 paper routes. He then went on to work in the restaurant and automotive industries before launching his own businesses. What’s most remarkable about Adam’s story is how he was able to turn personal tragedy into professional triumph.In 2019, Adam faced unimaginable losses – his stepfather had a stroke and passed away, his business partner took his own life, and Adam’s grandfather also passed away. On top of that, Adam and his wife of 13 years separated and divorced. Understandably, Adam found himself in a dark place, living in a spare bedroom at his grieving mother’s house.However, instead of staying stuck in that negative mindset, Adam had a pivotal moment where he looked in the mirror and realized “you’re the f-ing problem.” This mindset shift sparked Adam to make dramatic changes. He cut out toxic relationships, got healthy, and dove headfirst into his businesses. Over the next few years, Adam’s companies exploded with growth as he worked tirelessly, often putting in 18-hour days.Today, Adam’s businesses are thriving. Ascent Dealer Services is a dominant force in the insurance products market for car, RV, and marine dealerships. Adam attributes much of his success to his team – he’s built a culture of servant leaders who truly understand the retail automotive industry. Adam also shares how he’s leveraged social media to build his personal brand and attract new clients.This episode is a must-listen for any entrepreneur who has faced adversity. Adam’s story is a powerful reminder that failure and hardship can be the catalyst for immense growth, both personally and professionally. Listeners will walk away inspired to reframe their mindset, double down on their efforts, and pursue their dreams no matter what obstacles they may face.To learn more about Adam Marburger and his businesses, visit AdamMarburger.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook and LinkedIn.MegaBucks Radio with Nina Hershbergerhttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/megabucks-radio-with-nina-hershbergerSource: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/adam-marburger-from-paper-routes-to-business-empire

Welcome to Megabox Radio. Conversations with successful entrepreneurs, sharing their tips and strategies for success, real-world ideas that can put Megabox in your bank account. Here's your host, Nina Hirshberger. This is Nina Hirschberger. Welcome to today's show. I have a guest today that I know that you guys are all going to learn a lot from. I've already got my pen and pencil and paper all ready to go because when you get these kind of guests on, they're just magical. The things that I mean, I'm looking through his biography. And by the way, my guest today is Adam Marburger.

I pronounce that properly. Did I not, Adam? You said it perfect. Okay. You know, my name is Nina and oftentimes people will call me Nina and I'll answer to either one. But I really want to protect, you know, make sure that I'm saying it correct. But I'm looking at his biography, and oh, my goodness, everything that you've accomplished is astonishing. And so I'm all about learning.

I'm all about tips. I'm all about, you know, what's made a difference in your life. So welcome today, Adam, to today's show. I am so happy to be here. Thank you so much for the invite. So I'm not even going to go through your biography. We'll get into that, but I wanted to step back in time. Let's start out and give me a short background of who Adam is, where did you get started,

and a little bit about your background. Yeah, I'd love to share that. First of all, I'll make it clear. I'm a gigantic work in progress. Trying to figure life out every day, I feel like I love a little bit more. But going back in time, I lived in a very middle-class home and a small. town, Wood River, Illinois, about 20 minutes from St. Louis, Missouri. And I always had aspirations for business.

At 13 years old, I started out with a paper route. And I would get up in the morning at 5 a.m. I roll papers, wrap papers, deliver papers. And I learned salesmanship at a very young age because I had to collect the subscription once a month, and I was paid basically on tips. So I knew how to ask my clients, hey, did you receive your paper time every day. Was it wrapped even when it wasn't raining? I would ask those questions on purpose with intent. And then I would simply say, hey, listen, I work for tips and I ask you give with your

heart. If I brought you some value in a service and good service, you know, just give with your heart. And I was able to really collect substantial tips from my clients and I was able to reach out to the local newspaper and I asked for two additional routes. So I had three paper routes, not one. And I did until I was 16 years old, and I learned how to save money. I understood how to respect money, and I always learned, you know, from each experience, and I'll say that got me right into the restaurant industry, and then from the restaurant industry into the automotive industry at 18 years old, and that's what really took me into business was that.

And, you know, I loved working. It was just something that, you know, a lot of people said that, hey, I have to go to work. I was always of the mindset. I get to go to work. that's a little bit about my story. We've got to stop right there because I know wonder I like you so much. I had a paper route. I had to collect every, you know, in fact, I think I had to collect every week,

and I had it all the way through high school, and even when we had our own children, both of them had a paper route, and our daughter was still getting tips after she'd gone to college. So congratulations. I love it. We are kindred spirits, so go ahead. Love it.

No, I think it's great. I learned so much from that. I mean, talk about, you know, here, I'm not going to say I'm not one of those people. Kids, and I've got kids, but kids today don't understand, you know, hard work. You know, I feel from a broad term, but, you know, working, starting at 13 years old and, you know, through high school. I mean, I don't know any other way. Yeah, yeah, our daughter started at age 10 on her paper route and all the way. And so if she was, if she was on, you know, went to camp or something, you know, mom and

Dad had to deliver papers, and she would tell us specific instructions. Now, this paper has to go right here on this side of the door or whatever. So, yeah, and you're right. Kids these days, you know, you probably don't want them out there doing paper house and stuff, but, yeah, they don't learn like we did. Agreed. Okay, so you went into the restaurant business, and then you've gone into the auto car dealership Is that what you said, car dealership business?

Yeah, so what happened was I was working for a restaurant, and the restaurant closed. And the owner of the restaurant pulled me to his office. His name is Gordon Carver. He says, hey, Adam, I got good news and bad news. I said, give me the bad. He says, we're closed in the restaurant. I was really upset because I loved cooking. It was just something I loved.

And he goes, but the good news is I'm taking you with me to my dealership. I said, for what? Because you're going to sell cars. I go, no way. I kind of made fun of them. You know, so I went to this dealership and I told the general manager I don't want to sell cars. So they put me back in the service department and I cleaned cars, detailed cars. You know, I helped, you know, run people around and I just did a little bit of odds and ends at the dealership.

And then I did that for about six months and then they worked on me enough to got, they got me into sales. And then I started selling cars and I fell in love with it. I really just loved that job dealing with people and helping people. And then I got into the finance role at age 22. I was a finance manager. And, you know, I did that until I was 37 years old. And then I retired from automotive in 2017. I was able to retire.

I walked away from my dealership and started my company to send dealer services. Okay. And so that was the first company who started. I think you got probably about five companies right now. So tell us about that company. So a send dealer services, what we do is we provide insurance products to car dealerships, RV, power sports, and marine dealerships. So we provide those insurance products, and then we train and mentor our dealerships

on how to sell those products at a very high level. And I'm very proud to say that we built a wonderful company, and I have the best culture, the best team on the planet. I'm so blessed. and we've really grown substantially over the last three years where, you know, we're partnering with major OEMs. We're working with some of the biggest dealer groups in the United States, and we've built some real relevance for ourselves with our servant-leading approach to how we train and coach. Okay, so let's go, you know, I mean, what makes you different? I bet you're not the only one that would sell insurance products to those niches.

So why your company, why you, what did you learn that made you different? That's a very easy, easy question to answer. So we are a dominant force in the marketplace because we understand retail automotive. All of our coaches are former dealers, former high-powered finance directors, and they've almost all graduated the NADA Academy. So our competitors are insurance executives that pretend they understand retail, but we're true retail experts. So when we go into dealerships, we get a level of respect that our competitors don't receive. So in other words, what you're doing is selling them products that they sell to their end customer.

And because they, so your people have been in the industry, in the dealership, owning it or working in it or whatever, there's that affinity to their business. Yes, you explain that perfectly, by the way. That's exactly what we do, and that's correct. How could we take that same thing that you've created in your particular industry? Because I always am very aware that the people listening to my podcast are business owners, most of them. But let's say they're a chiropractor. Let's say they're a dentist.

Let's say they own an auto repair. Is there any kind of thing that you learned through this process that they could then implement in their business? Absolutely. The most magical, and I say magical, the most magical thing that I learned building this company was the power of network and social media. You know, I don't care if you're a chiropractor, a dentist, a brain surgeon, or you own a car dealership, or hey, maybe, you know, you deliver papers. I don't know. But using social media to share your story and brand yourself, your personal brand is absolutely

everything in business. And I committed to branding myself seven years ago online, and the dividends that it's paying today are remarkable. So I tell people, and I coach people on this. I coach people, what you share in post today will not pay you today, but it will pay you tomorrow and it'll pay you tomorrow in 10x proportions. So I challenge everyone in business. Take a look at your social media strategies.

You know, what relevant are you sharing? And are you only trying to sell or are you trying to serve? And I say that because serving good quality information that's relevant that will help people is how you build an audience. And I see a lot of people always trying to sell, sell, sell. I mean, yeah, can that work? It can work, I think from a small scale standpoint. But if you want a long, if you're looking for a long-term play, social media, branding yourself,

sharing relevant content that's designed to help people grow, you will build a massive, massive company doing so. Okay, so tell me your definition of social media. Do you have favorite ones? Do you say, stay away from these? Where are you at? Well, that's a great question. And, you know, that's a tough one to answer. I would like to say that's an easy one to answer.

I think it depends on your market. Like what is your product and service? You know, some people knock it out of the park with TikTok. I don't. I'm not very good at it. My kids are. I'm not. You know, for me, my dominant force is on Facebook and LinkedIn.

I dominate on LinkedIn. I dominate on Facebook. I suck on Instagram. I suck on TikTok. However, Instagram works for some people, you know. So I don't want to count any of them out. I think there's a place for all of them, and I think it really depends on your product and service and your audience.

Okay. So some people will say, so your market with this particular company, and we talked to that you've got multiple ones, but I like we're focusing on this, because I think the principles apply with probably all that you're doing. But some people will say, well, my clients aren't on Facebook. I wouldn't have thought that your dealership people would have been on Facebook, but obviously they must be. LinkedIn made sense, but Facebook?

You'd be surprised. You would be surprised who's on Facebook. I mean, there is a lot of people on Facebook. Yeah, LinkedIn, everybody's there. But Facebook, you're really, you're sharing your story. People get to know you and your family and your hobbies. and your interest, they get to know your personality. You can connect on Facebook at a more intimate level than you can on LinkedIn.

And so Facebook is a very, very wonderful tool. I think it's the best tool in my personal opinion. Okay, so tell us what kind of things, and at the end of this, you know, we'll spell your last name so people could find you because I don't, I suppose you don't mind if they watch what you're actually doing. But tell me the kind of things that you do. post on Facebook? Well, I typically will post very positive information.

I will share anything that's relevant in the market. Like if I find an article about automotive that I think is an article that could be shared, I share that stuff. As a matter of fact, I even share some of my competitor stuff. If I have a competitor that's an ally of mine, I have no problem praising them and sharing their content, if they have some good content to share. You want to put business, and then you want to say, sprinkling some of your family too. I mean, I was just on a family vacation. I was posting

group pictures with me and my daughters. And, you know, it's good to show that you're human. And it's good to show some of your personal life online. You know, I share wins. I highlight teammates. If I've got a teammate that's doing something exceptional, you share them and you praise them and you promote them, you know, online, that's the type of stuff I like to post. Do you use one of the softwares that you can schedule your post out for the week or whatever? Yes and no. I do have a company that does some scheduled marketing for us. I mean, I'm a busy body and I organically post myself.

You know, I'm very thoughtful with some of my stuff. And so, you know, I do a combination of both and I recommend everyone do. Okay. All right. So you've hired a company that has it, but then you just naturally will post. What about LinkedIn? What do you do on LinkedIn? Very similar on LinkedIn.

Very similar approach on Facebook and LinkedIn. I definitely keep it about 90% business on LinkedIn, 10% personal. Where on Facebook, it might be about 60, 70% business and the rest personal. So the ratio on personal to business is a little bit different on LinkedIn than it is Facebook. Because LinkedIn, I'm sorry, LinkedIn is really truly a professional network. So I'm not blasting tons of personal stuff there, but you've got to sprinkle a little bit because you've got to get your audience and your clients to see the human side of you. Okay.

All right. So that's one business growth tip. Do you have another? Is there anything else that you have learned as you've grown your businesses that that these kind, you know, the doctor, the whatever could learn from. You know, I've learned a lot. I mean, we could talk about the lessons that I've learned for the next seven hours. But, you know, the one key takeaway, this could be for young entrepreneurs is, you know,

failure is a good thing. You know, when I started, I used to get a little upset when I'd have a setback or I'd lose a deal or I did something wrong. But the reality is every time that happened, I was able to analyze, I was able to pivot. I was able to train. I was able to study. So I learned so much for my mistakes. And so now today I still make them, but I make them less frequently.

Okay. So I challenge people to understand that failure is an opportunity to grow and it's an opportunity to learn and try not to really hold grudges and beat yourself up and also your team and your staff. As they make mistakes, as long as it's not the same mistake over and over and over again. As they make a mistake, share your lesson with them and help them grow from it because the mistakes are what allow us to get to the good stuff. And I challenge people to celebrate plateaus instead of beating themselves stuff.

Because when you're in a plateau and a funk, you can really find out who you are. You can just really train and develop and grow to a level that you're not able to if you're winning all the time. So that's one of my biggest lessons I share with my people. Okay. You know, I'm a big proponent of newsletters. I love direct mail. I love direct response marketing. I love writing headlines and copies and all that.

Anything in that realm at all that you could share? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I'm doing a direct email campaign right now. I don't do a lot of direct mail. I've done some. I really target my list. And I do an email campaign followed up with a first. phone call followed up sometimes with a personal letter for myself.

Those things work because, you know, the technology that we have, you know who's opening your email and you can retarget them. And so, yeah, we've got a massive campaign that we're doing right now that's successful, actually. The open rate is very high. And so we have a big list of potential clients that we're going to be calling on over the next week. So here's what I heard you say.

first of all, you had a list, so many businesses don't even have a list. So you had a list that you probably developed over the years, and then you did a sequence. You happened to start with an email, but then you did a phone call, and then you did another. So there's a sequence to the whole process. Absolutely, there is. Is there timing between, and do you have any magical, you know, the email goes out, you see they open? You retarget, but you call them the next day or the next hour. Is there any kind of sequence there?

There is, and there's no, like, I don't even have the formula of success on this, because when it comes to marketing and advertising, it's really sometimes hard to quantify, like really what works, what doesn't work. What I'm finding is when we send the email blast, if there's no response via email, give it a couple of days, then pick up the phone. And then give a couple of days and pick up the phone again. Because picking up the phone, getting somebody on the phone is the most important thing because we're selling an appointment. We're never selling anything on the phone.

We're selling an appointment, right? And then if we don't have much luck, then I will sometimes write a personal letter, a personal note and send it directly to that decision maker. Hey, we've been trying to reach you. We sent you an email. We also made a phone call. We have something so valuable. I'm taking the time to write you this note that I really, really want to talk to you. I need 15 minutes of your time.

And sometimes that works too. So the sequence is just wait a few days. We don't want to be too spammy and too overbearing. Is this list going to a cold list or is it going to your warm list, your current customer list? Cold. These are the campaigned out in the cold, yes. Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

Yeah, because, I mean, just the fact that you wrote a handwritten note to them, I mean, nobody gets that stuff anymore. No, correct. A lot of junk. So you've obviously, I mean, if you've got, if nobody's opening, you know, you've missed something in the headline or the subject line or whatever. But if you do get an open rate, you're doing something right in the emails because, you know, that's getting less and less, you know, is all the spams. I mean, I get hundreds of emails a day, you know. So do you, are you using AI to help you do any of that? We're not using AI for that.

as we speak, but I want to make something, I want to make a key point here. Okay, this is important. Yeah, these campaigns, we get a leader to here and there. Conversions not great. Our conversion comes off social media. So we will post something, thought-provoking. I pay attention who engages. And then I re-entarget that engagement.

I retarget them with, hey, listen, I've been following you for a while now. I really appreciate this connection. If there's anything I could ever do for you, I just want you know I'm here. And then they may respond, you know what? I've been following you for a while. I could use some help in my finance department.

Hey, that's what I'm here for. Schedule immediately. So I pay attention, and then I retarget engagement. And I don't retarget engagement with anything salesy. I retarget that engagement with something personal. Because what we want to do online is we want to engage. We don't want to sell.

We want to engage. And then we engage to lead to an appointment. So going back to the social media thing, because we can talk direct mail all you want. It just doesn't work. What really works is social media engagement. That's what works. Well, what they know is there's a real person behind that email. There's a real person who has a real family, who has a real take real vacation.

It's not just a bot someplace. Correct. Let's segue into your really, really interesting book. You're the effing problem, and it's got amazing reviews online. Tell me when you wrote that, and what's that book about? I love to talk about that. This is very, this is special to me. So let's just take you real quick to 2019.

February, my stepfather had a stroke on a Friday, and he passed away on a Sunday. On April 1st, my business partner that I founded my company, a cent dealer services with, he took his own life and passed away on April Fool's Day. And then the next month, my grandfather, who was the patriarch of the family, passed away. And then the following month in June, me and my wife of 13 years separated and filed for divorce. I found myself living in a spare bedroom at my mother's house who had just lost her husband. She's grieving. I'm grieving.

I'm a mess. She's a mess. I was destructive. I was doing all of the things that I shouldn't be doing. I was partying, acting like a child, which in the moment looking back, I think I needed that. I think I needed it. But what it was, I was looking in the mirror one day. It was in August, 2019.

I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was sick of myself. I titled my book, you're the, I'm not going to use the curse word because I don't like to curse on podcast, but I basically told myself, you're the effing problem. Yeah, I looked in the mirror as I, you're the effing problem. It's you, brother. And so, you know, I got down on my knees. I thank God for forgiveness. And I made decisions that moment to be great.

I looked at who I was spending time with. What positive relationships were in my life. I decided to cut people out of my life that weren't bringing value. started getting real healthy, and I started a new mindset, and I decided to start writing a book. I wanted to share a lot of my pain and a lot of my setbacks and my story so I could help other people eliminate mistakes and understand that your better days are ahead of you. And so it was a mindset shift. I made personal decisions to better myself, and then what happened was magical.

Our companies, everything started growing. Everything started growing. And fast forward today, we've got some very successful companies. We've built some wonderful teams and we're making positive impacts in the community. We've got nonprofits, which you don't even know about on this. We've got nonprofit that I started that is just absolutely amazing. And all the businesses are healthy and, you know, got wonderful relationships in my life. And I'm better today than I've ever been.

And I'm still a work in progress, but I'm every day to step forward. So back in 2019, which is really not that. long ago, only like, you know, maybe four and a half years ago, you did have businesses. So you said your business partner committed suicide, but you did have a few businesses at that point? Oh, yeah. So I had Marburger Investment Group is a real estate company. I have a lot of single-family real estate.

And then I own A-2 investment with a partner. And that's a, that company has multi-family real estate. And then I own family martial arts. I'm a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. I own a Jiu-Jitsu Academy, you're St. Louis and Alton. So I have that business, and that business is thriving. And then I've got Marburger Coaching and Development. That company is where I do my personal development.

I own a DBA, the Growth Zone. I have a personal development group, my book sales, my speaking sales, my consulting sale, all that goes through Marburger Coaching Development. And then I own Dental Protection Group. It's an insurance brokerage firm that has products for the dental industry, and then a cent dealer service, that's the company. we've been talking about. So those are my companies.

I'm in love with all of them. You know, I don't play favorites all the time, but sometimes I play favorites. And my martial arts academy provides the least amount of income with the most amount of joy. I will point that out. Well, you know, so you had these businesses in 2019, but emotionally you were really drained and everything. But once you turned the corner and said, you were the business.

problem you looked at yourself in the mirror and you and you decided to change your mindset they they grew they didn't grow they exploded because of I sat literally depressed on my friend anne's couch and while everyone was out partying I was grinding I worked crazy psycho mode from that moment in August oh goodness for three years I'm talking insane psychotic work I didn't stop I worked Saturday, Sunday, I worked until midnight. I got up at 5 a.m. and I just grinded. I made the decision at 10X. I'll take a little page out of Grant Cardone.

Grant Cardone is a great center. But I 10Xed everything in my life. And so now, four and a half years later, I mean, you know, somebody could say, how in the world does he manage all those balls? Now, do you have a much, you know, more of a lifestyle, a calmer life, or are you still grinding it? Great question. I'm trying to slow down. But right now I have to speed up so I can slow down.

Because right now, my dental protection group, I mean, we're doing international deals right now. That company is just blowing up. I am close to hiring somebody to send dealer services to kind of take my place. Nobody's ever going to take my place. But to kind of take my place so I can step back. That company has me traveling. Or dental protection group does not have me traveling. Every pitch, every presentation is done via Zoom, where Ascent dealer services, I've got to get on a plane a lot.

And so filling this role of national sales manager at Ascent is going to allow me to step back a little bit. Yes, I do have a lot of companies, but let me make this clear. I have a lot of amazing people. I have a lot of amazing people that are better than me in certain areas that are helping run these businesses. So I don't have to be working in the business. I'm working on the business, most of these companies. So I've been blessed to have really wonderful people. So the goal is to work less and be around my daughters more.

So how, you know, what's your tip on finding good people? I mean, I have a lot of, you know, business friends who just say, I can't find anybody. Nobody wants to work anymore. Yeah, it's hard. It's all about culture to me, though. For me, it's culture. If you don't fit our culture, if you don't have a servant leading heart, if you don't want to help people, you know, you're not going to fit.

And so what I've adopted is before anybody comes into any of my organizations, the whole team has to meet them. You know, I will do the first few interviews where I think I think I know what I have and then I turn it over to let the team interview where I'm not present because I don't want to influence anybody's thoughts. So I then have the team interview and then I take client feedback from the team. And then if we feel we'll move forward, I'll do final interviews to make decisions from there. But it's a culture thing.

Finding good people, I don't have a solution. I mean, if I had a magic wand, I really would love to share it with you all. But I just don't have a, I wish I could tell you how to find great people. I think it organically happens to. Some of my best people have organically drawn to me. They've come to me, whether it's social media or a referral from somebody. but really going out and having a headhunter or putting ads on Indeed or whatever that is, I struggle with finding good people.

That's a struggle. I think everybody struggles with that. Yeah. Well, Adam, I am looking at the clock, and it's always never my friend. But I bet you there's going to be people to listen to this who really want to watch what you do, I think is probably the best thing. So is it best for them to go on Facebook and look for you? Do you accept everybody's friend request?

Yeah, so the best way to find me is on social media. Right now I'm maxed out on the friendless because they only let you have 5,000 friends. But I sometimes will purge and clean that up and I'll have people in my box that I will bring in. But everybody can follow me on Facebook. There's probably hundreds of profiles because so many people, these scammers take my profile. So I'm the one with the blue checkmark. Adam Marburger on Facebook, M-A-R-B-B-U-R-G, It's got a blue checkmark.

That's the one to follow me on. And then on Instagram, it's Adam P. Marburger. And then LinkedIn is a wonderful place. I love connected with like-minded business people on LinkedIn. And you can find me just Adam Marburger. And that's the best way to find me. And for those are really, I mean, you can go on to Amazon and buy your book as well. I encourage everybody to do that.

Yeah, and Adamarberger.com. Adamarberger.com will be a site. It's in reconstruction phase right now, but you can still find me there. And the next month or so it will be completely redone. You can find every one of my businesses there, my books, speaking opportunities, but Adamarmerger.com is a good hub for people to follow. Perfect. Well, Adam, thank you.

Thank you so much for being on today's call. I love it when I get to meet really smart, successful business owners like you. I always warn. And so I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you're busy. pleasure to be on today's podcast yeah my pleasure it was a great time great time speaking with you today it was it was an honor and a privilege well thank you so until next time this is nina hersberger saying go out and make it a great day thank you for listening to megabucks radio with nina hersberger

to learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or to listen to past episodes visit megabucks Radio.com