Business Innovators Radio - Navigating the Entrepreneurial Landscape with Eduardo Medellin: From Startup to Success and Beyond

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

In this engaging episode of the Business Networking Influencers podcast, our host Marco Salinas sits down with Eduardo Medellin, a seasoned entrepreneur and respected business influencer, to discuss his remarkable journey and invaluable insights for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Eduardo, known for his expertise and integrity, opens up about his background, the evolution of his company, and the core principles that have guided his success.Eduardo shares his early experiences in college and his transformative transition to the entrepreneurial world, highlighting the growth and achievements of his company over the years. He delves into his long-term involvement with ITEX Barter Marketplace, shedding light on how this platform has provided support, referrals, and perks crucial for his business expansion.Listeners gain a wealth of knowledge as Eduardo elaborates on the services his company offers, which include accounting, tax strategies, financial analysis, and management support for small businesses. He emphasizes the importance of honesty, transparency, and providing clients with actionable financial insights and recommendations.Addressing common challenges faced by small business clients, Eduardo identifies cash flow as the primary hurdle and discusses practical solutions such as utilizing QuickBooks for tracking expenditures and payroll analysis. He candidly shares his personal experiences and the lessons he’s learned about prioritizing business growth, adapting to market changes, effective delegation, and securing financing.Eduardo also underscores the necessity of defining one’s niche, maintaining a balanced business cycle, and ensuring that a business can operate independently of its founder. His advice stresses the importance of surrounding oneself with positive influences both in business and personal life.Outside of work, Eduardo finds joy in playing racquetball and pickleball, spending time at his ranch, and traveling. He offers a glimpse into his personal life, including memorable travels to Dubai and San Sebastian, Spain, and reflects on his upbringing in Mexico City and Acapulco.Closing the interview, Marco praises Eduardo for his profound wisdom and impactful advice, making this episode a must-listen for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners seeking to navigate the complexities of the business world with confidence and insight.About Eduardo Medellin:Eduardo Medellin is a distinguished entrepreneur and business influencer with a rich background in accounting, tax strategies, and financial analysis. His career journey began after college, transitioning swiftly into entrepreneurship where he has successfully grown his company, Infinity Management. Eduardo has been a member of the ITEX Barter Marketplace since 2006, leveraging the platform for business support, referrals, and perks. His company specializes in providing comprehensive financial services to small businesses, focusing on honesty, transparency, and insightful recommendations to foster growth and effective management. A proponent of adaptive business strategies and efficient delegation, Eduardo offers invaluable guidance on tackling cash flow issues, prioritizing business needs over personal income, and maintaining operational independence. Outside his professional life, he enjoys playing racquetball and pickleball, spending time at his ranch, and traveling, with Dubai and San Sebastian, Spain, being among his favorite destinations. He grew up in Mexico City and Acapulco and brings a wealth of life experiences that enrich his professional and personal engagements. Eduardo’s wisdom and experience make him a treasured mentor in the business community.https://infinity-management.comAbout The Show Sponsor:This episode of“Business Networking Influencers” podcast is proudly sponsored by ITEX Barter Marketplace, a premier barter marketplace transforming the way businesses connect and trade. ITEX offers innovative solutions that enable businesses to leverage their goods and services, fostering growth and expanding opportunities within their networks. Through this partnership, we aim to explore effective networking strategies and showcase the impact of strategic partnerships in today’s business landscape.Visit https://itex.com/ to discover how ITEX is revolutionizing trade and empowering businesses to thrive.Business Networking Influencers https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/business-networking-influencers/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/navigating-the-entrepreneurial-landscape-with-eduardo-medellin-from-startup-to-success-and-beyond

Welcome to the Business Networking Influencers podcast, where connections become opportunities and relationships shaped success. Prepare to be inspired, informed, and empowered by the brightest minds in business networking. And now, your host, Tim Nifton. Welcome to the Business Networking Influeners podcast, sponsored by iTex Barter Marketplace. I'm thrilled to be here today with a remarkable, entrepreneur who has mastered the art of business networking and entrepreneurship. Joining me in the studio today, Mr. Eduardo Medellín of Infinity Management out of Dallas, Texas, a true influencer in the industry. Mr. Eduardo has built an impressive network and achieved

remarkable success, and today we're excited to dive into his insights, and his experiences. Before we begin, I want to extend a warm thank you to our podcast sponsor, ITEX barter Marketplace, and the ITX barter representative, Mr. Tim Nifton, who is normally the show host, but I am filling in for him today, and my name is Marco Salinas. But we thank ITEX barter marketplace for their support of this episode. And if you're looking to expand your business through innovative barter solutions, visit iTechs.com to learn more.

Now without further ado, let's jump into today's episode of the Business Networking Influencers podcast. Mr. Eduardo Medellin, welcome to the show, my friend. Thank you. Thank you, Marco. Let's be here with you. It's actually our pleasure and our honor to have you.

And we were chatting just a little bit before we started and I learned some things about you. but really the objective of this podcast, Eduardo, is to learn a little bit more about you and your story. We especially like to feature entrepreneurs that have been around for some time, that have some experience and some knowledge,

you know, and also some wisdom as well, because when you've been in this world for, you know, 25 years as you have, probably 25 years plus, you know, your experiences are really unique and one of a kind. And I think that there's a lot of businesses that are business owners and entrepreneurs that can benefit from hearing and learning about your experiences. So with that being

said, I want to kind of take a little step back into time. Okay. You were telling me that you're living in Dallas, Texas right now, but you went to, you went to college here in San Antonio, where I live. But can you tell me a little bit about how your career got started? Sure. So I went to study in San Antonio. I got a double degree, accountant, accounting, and information assistance. So I'm a little bit more entrepreneur that your typical CPA, your typical tax preparer. So what I wanted to do, what I love to do is business. So I throughout the years, I've learned and now I have become a business coach. financial analyst, financial advisor. So my career started with five years in college, graduated with the double degree. And the reason for the double degree is because I love systems and I embrace technology. And that's the way of the future.

And I do understand processes. So a lot of the programming, so I did the programming back in my day when the screen was black and green. so just to date me a little bit. But, you know, that kind of creates a little bit of the empowerment of creating your own reports and those kind of things. So I went to three companies. I was moved to Mexico right after that. I spent three years in Mexico.

Then I came back and I worked for another two companies. And then in 2001, right, before September 11, I decided to open my company, which was not by any means the best decision, especially given the timing. But, you know, I threw it from zero. And now we're here, you know, 22, three years after. And we have eight employees. Most of them are advisors. We even have some programmers doing our own database, mining, and those kind of things.

and without enjoying my career through knowing businesses and allowing me to help them with their strategies. So my niche is small businesses. I do not do well in corporate America. I do not intend to sell in corporate America. I speak my mind. I do understand that people pay for services and I try to give them those services by being honest and transparent. and offer my opinion. So right now,

we offer more than just your typical appellate. We offer the accounting and tax strategies a given knowledge. And accounting has changed so much because of the automation, the systems being able to do a whole lot more. So now we're moving into more of the data intelligence to give me more insight into your business. And we actually have gotten it down to where I can, if you tell me what makes your business tick, I can tell you if you had a bad week last week or if you had a good week. So now we're building the systems where can give us information on the spot.

Why? So the pressures of the market and the way the economy is right now. And just how business have evolved, nowadays you have to be quicker on your feet. to manage your business. So we have transitioned to the end, advisors, more than accountants, and that was a challenge.

To be honest with you, sometimes my accountant part doesn't let me do a lot of the entrepreneur things that the other side of the brain wants me to. But it has been a good experience I had throughout the years many different clients.

I have gotten some plans from my techs. It has been a good platform for me, not only because he gives me the referrals and he exposes me to a different target market, but also you get some perks. I mean, you know, you are able to use that money, which is not the case in other barren systems. You get stuck and then there's nothing you can do,

but I've been able to use it a lot for traveling, which is nice. So it's the money that you don't have to put out when it's time to do a little vacation. That's right. So I do support ITX quite a bit. I've been on members since 2006, I believe. So it's been a little while, and I have had clients throughout the years with them. And really, they're just small businesses looking to make it happen. happen, I'm looking for a support team to get that all that administration and that accounting going.

Sure, sure. Now, can you give us just a real brief idea, Eduardo, of something that somebody could take advantage of through the ITEX marketplace that, you know, through your services? My services, you'll get, you know, just what I explained. You know, the accounting is given, the tax strategies again, you'll get a lot more support from our services. So if you're looking to grow your business and you are really thriving it, we can help you a lot. Because we give you a lot of opinions, a lot of ideas. And more than anything, we give you a picture of your business very often. And we also do the typical service where we provide financial statements.

To you, we found the financial statements are a little bit intimidating to some people. So that's why we have created other reports that are easier to understand. If you hire us, the first thing that you're going to find is that there are no ups and downs. We always work on a fee retainer. Never goes up, never goes down. Sometimes I've got to work more. Sometimes I'm going to work less. But the point is that we're going to be there to support you.

throughout. And we're going to be calling you on things that may need to change. And we're going to be very honest. And you may be spending too much. And we're going to say, you know, stop the spending and those kind of things. So by having us, you're really going to get a member of your management team. Very good stuff. So, Erwatha, what are some of the most common problems that your small business clients are dealing with and facing that you're able to assist them with? the number one and the one that people don't think that much is cash flow everything influences cash flow either your receivable was are high you're getting too many terms um you're you're not paying you're not asking for the terms on the

payables so catch flow is that you may have equipment that you decided to buy and now you can give back to the bank and get funds so like they all saying catch That's just came. So the number one problem, cash available when you need it. You have to have, you have to have liquid money, meaning not tied into anything. So you can grow. And that's the only way that you're going to grow. You're going to have to wait for payment.

So the number, the number one issue is cash flow, and it's the hardest for the business owner to articulate. Because they tend to say this and that and the other. with cash flow even says cost containment, right? That's reduction. So that's the main issue that we see. And second to that is I'm behind on taxes. So we need to get you out of trouble with the IRS and then we can move forward. Sure, sure.

Now, how specifically do you help them to solve the problem? Let's say, for example, of cash flow. Is this you implementing your systems and your processes to guide them? how does that work? Can you break that down a little bit? And it depends. I mean, if you, depending on the size of the company, you may be using some systems like QuickBooks. So we take the information from QuickBooks, we put it into our system, and then the system tells you, hey, this is we're finding that you're spending too much on this. You're wasting too much money on this. Your payroll is too high compared to the industry.

So those are the kind of takes how we work with them. But in reality, the tools are the tools, but we adapt to how the business is operating. So we don't change anything at the client's side. We are the ones that we adapt or we have the tools to what they have. And we also mentor a lot of the assistants or the administrative assistance or a lot of the people handling the administration how to do better on your job. Got it. Got it.

So let's kind of change direction just a little bit. I want to go more into kind of you and your story. Can you tell me about, you know, one of the things that I kind of like to focus on is that we live in this world right now where everything is very, you know, the Instagram, the Facebook, even LinkedIn, right? The majority of people are really like to put their best foot forward and they like to say, this is what I'm working on. and this is what I've been through. And it's all just been so rosy. Everything has just been so perfect. And I'm just, I'm so wealthy.

And there's been no setbacks. And I've got no struggles. And there's no adversity, you know. And it's just like very unrealistic that gets presented to the world. Right. And then you find out behind the scenes, everything's on fire back there. Now, maybe not, you know, all the time, right? But there's obviously a lot of things that entrepreneurs have to overcome.

This is a significant. part of the entrepreneurial journey is overcoming the difficulties because this is not a nine to five job for us, right? There's long hours. There's big sacrifices. We're away from the family. You know, we're having to make payroll. We're having to deal with the IRS. We're having other type of creditor issue. You know, the list goes on, right? Can you talk just a little bit about, you know, about the last 25 years or so? Maybe some. some adversities that you had to overcome as an entrepreneur, and what did you learn from those? Well, and you're right. Being an entrepreneur is not an AC job. And not everybody's cut out to be

an entrepreneur, because you have to put yourself at last. You are the last one on the line. Even though you are making all the money, you're making all the sales, you think that you deserve everything. You don't. You get paid at the end of the story. So if you have five bucks, you have, five bucks and at the end of the story you only have one, you may want to just pay yourself 50 cents and leave the other 50 for the business because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So no, I was not successful from day one. I don't think anybody is. We have to understand that business is a cycle that is up and down. And really what the business environment has taught me is that you're trying to do the peaks and violates as short as possible.

not the peak to go very high, not the load to go very high. So you want to maintain a neutral kind of status. In order to do that, you have to recognize where you're good at and what you're not. And so first of all, obviously, I understand it was my case. I can tell you that, you know, I started my business right before September 11, which was about timing. I just barely got bookkeeping jobs for $10 an hour. But I had to. I had to.

That's all what's available. So you have to be able to say, what do I want to do? And I'll take everything right now, beginning, at the beginning, and everybody takes everything. But then you have to start creating your niche. Otherwise, you're not going to enjoy this part. And then one of the hardest thing, so that's one thing. So that's one thing. You have to understand that you don't know what's going to happen next week, next month, next time.

You just have to rely on your knowledge to be able to say, I'm steady, I'm maintaining, I understand what I'm doing, so I maintain my business. I think the second thing to overcome is you have to delegate. And that's the hardest part of me. Every guy that you want to hire, you want that guy to be like, you. And nobody's going to be like you. That's why he's an employee and you're an entrepreneur. So you have to realize that nobody's going to be as good as you. And nobody's going to give the 120% that you give to the company. So you have to understand that. And then you can start staffing. Once you start staffing, then you all understand what the business is about. Then

now after 25 years I can I can I read the benefit of that and say well maybe I don't need to work this for me and it took that challenge to overcome to say I need to make this happen because if

the job depends on the company depends on me I only have a job if the company doesn't depend on me then I have a company so and that's very true some people get lucky and they they expand their trade and they say, oh, no, I have a company.

No, because if you leave for a couple of days, your business doesn't generate anything. So it's not a business. So make sure that you get it to a business because it's not all the effort, all the working nights and days and overtime and Saturdays being away from your family, it's not going to plan out because you don't have a company. So having a company may mean. one guy or 10 guys, I don't know. But if the fact is that you can walk away from that office,

from that job side, from that store, all that in the, and you're still generating, then you have a business. Also, look for financing when you don't need it. Okay? Because people tend to give you a line of credit, but you won't need it. When you need it, everybody shouts away from talking to you. So staff correctly, delegate, staff correctly, know your stuff, know your niche, concentrate on your niche, and get funding before it's need. If you can do those things, then you're going to be okay.

But make sure that you start addressing those things and just keep at it. Because if you address those two things, the entrepreneur is always going to get up every day. the end and the out of the semantics in the New York. That's what makes us in entrepreneurs. Right. So if you're one of those, make the most out of it by really putting the basis together so you can create a business. This is absolute gold, these items that you're sharing. This is what I was talking about when I say that I love to interview people like yourself

that have been in this world for some time. Plus, on top of that, you're continually working with other small businesses. So you're kind of seeing their, you know, birds eye view of their world as well. And so, you know, if you're listening to this, you're watching this, you really need to take this advice very seriously. I mean, this is real true wisdom and gold right here from somebody who has seen it, somebody who has been in the trenches, you know, and has built something real and helped others to build and to, you know, strengthen their business as well. So thank you for sharing that in Wadado. These are extremely important and valuable points that you bring up that don't a lot of times get considered when people are just seeing the kind of dreamy entrepreneurial lifestyle because they want to see the end of the process. They don't want to spend a whole lot of time thinking about what they have to do to get there, which usually is not an easy or a simple task, right?

So thank you very much for sharing that. Now, I'm curious, okay, with all of your experience and all of your success, what kind of challenges does a business like infinity management have to work to overcome at this point? 25 years later, one thing I know for sure with entrepreneurs and business owners, the problems don't just magically disappear. You know, there's always something that you're dealing with no matter where you are in the process. But what does that look like from a seasoned business such as yours? Well, and it's a key, what you mentioned. Our business used to be seasonal, and it is to a certain extent because of taxes, tax season. But really our services year-round because if you come in and you tell me, hey, I want you to do my taxes and I say, what's the purpose?

I mean, if I'm going to fill a form, I haven't given you the value that I should give you. So it's a year-round service where it helped you understand. And the strategies before it happens, not after that happens. So it's become more of a natural business instead of a cyclical business. Because I don't take just clients off the street just because they want to do the taxes. Do you really want to have a advisor behind this, then I can take you off. If not, then if you want me to throw out the form, there are some other people that can do it quicker and cheaper than me. But if you're looking for the advice, then I can feed this.

I can tell you, though, after 25 years, that the challenge that I have right now is how do I keep growing, keeping the same culture that I have so far? because after, you know, having 10 employees and adding another team, they're not all going to be talking to me. So how do I pass that culture to them? And to me, customer service is number one. If you're going to grow just to grow, it's not going to work. Because more than more likely is you're going to drop more projects than you're going to gain. So to me, that's a challenge.

And I'm actually working with somebody else, another advisor, to see how do we escalate this infinity management, but without losing the culture. Sure. And we don't become corporate. Yeah. And we still have the still in their mind, their entrepreneurship thinking and all that. Because if not, then there's no point. Then there is no similar identity management. It could be any other company.

So that's our challenge right now. So it's very important that you target different things at the same time. And that's one of the reasons for the data mining and those kind of things because that's the way of the future. If you cannot predict the numbers that you're going to see, then you don't know your business. meaning if I don't know that I'm going to sell $100,000 this month and I'm going to make this much and this much, I'm flying blind. So more and more we're trying to get to that. Just a quick thing that I wanted to get back to you on the social media. We're very big on social media.

I know a lot of accountants or not. But entrepreneurs should be. And really what the social media is becoming is a channel to communicate your ideas. So don't make it like you say. Don't make it rosy. Make it the way it is. And then you're starting to communicate with people in that sense. So if you have this on your mind today, go ahead and post it.

We do all our postings. We do generic postings. We do videos. I usually want Tuesdays. We do our video shootings and all that. And we just talk about the topics all the what people will be interested. But don't make it rosy. gives on it out there. Yeah. Be honest, be real, be transparent, right? All right. Beat yourself.

That's right. Now, you also, you also mentioned something that stood out to me, which is that you've been doing this for 25 years. You're an advisor to many businesses. However, you don't consider yourself to be some type of no-it-all in every single solitary category there is within the business. So you yourself have outsourced to others, to other advisors. to guide you, to lead you 25 years into your experience. And that I think is very much worth bringing up because, again, no matter how long we've been running these things, we still need help from other industry partners and industry niches that are, you know, that's all that they do all day long, right? So don't also pretend to think that you haven't all figured out. Be humble enough to say, that's not my area. And that's exactly what you did.

you were able to outsource the things that you needed help with to be able to continue to leverage and grow your business as well. All right. It's very true. And we do that with a lot of our clients. I said, hey, you know, they asked me a question. I said, you know, ask all the questions you want. And then they said, well, I heard this that maybe you can do it this way.

But what are we going to ask the question? Why don't we go and bring the expert? The expert is going to cost you $200, maybe an hour, $250 an hour. Those $250 are going to be the best one spent because it's going to guide you in the right direction. If now you're going to spend thousands trying to figure it out. So yes, I agree. And I bring a lot of other consultants to the table all the time. I said, look, you know, I think I heard about this, but let me ask the question.

And then I'll get back with you because you don't know what you don't know. That's right. It's exactly right. And the point of people are very important. Even if it's not your feel, you should listen to people because it's a different point of view. And no one is the answer. That's right. One is a combination, right?

A shape of gray. And small businesses, entrepreneur businesses are some kind of shape of gray. That's right. Was there ever a piece of advice that you, received in the journey that really, really, really stood out to you, Eduardo, that you can still think of to this day, whether it was recent or whether it was towards the beginning. What was some of the best advice you ever received in your journey? And I'm glad you asked that question because it still sticks to my mind.

One of the first jobs that I told you, I went to Mexico, I had this manager that it was very, very tough. And I needed to get rid of somebody that worked for me. And he said, you have to let him go. You have to let him go. And every day I have them excuse. And he said this, every single moment that you are spending with that person that is bad, you're taking it from the good people. So you are rewarding the bad guys and not the good guys Get rid of the bad guys Spend your time with the good ones And this is business is business

So even today when I think about You know making changes in my staff I kind of say well I need to link towards the good guys So who are the good guys And then because if now you're wasting their time You're wasting their time Instead of making them better, you're trying to deal with the bad guy. So I still remember that.

And I can tell you, it was more even before I started my business. About 30 years ago, I heard that comment when I was 18 years old. Good stuff. Very, very good stuff. As we get close to winding down this episode, again, I really thank you for everything that you've shared, the information that you've brought to us today is just invaluable. But I want to also talk about not business stuff.

What does Eduardo Medellin do when you're not working? What does your downtime look like, your fun time, and who do you typically spend that with? So I do two things. Well, actually, three. I play. I used to play record ball, and I play, I play, I play, I play, I play, I play, I play, I play, I play, I play pickleball.

It's tough, man. I mean, I thought that that was just for all these. It's not. And it's very competitive. And now you have this red trans chicken and pickle, I think it's called, that provide those services and you can play and all this stuff. So I do that. Secondly, I have a little, not a ranch, but a lot of parcel, three acres,

and I spent it all time there. My wife loves butterflies. and she raises butterflies. So we do spend a lot of time there where you're moving the lawn, the big lawn, and we have a pawn and all the other stuff, and we just kind of hang out there with my wife and some friends. And the thirdly, which I do often nowadays, is I travel. I travel quite a bit. I do travel quite a bit in the United States.

I love it. I think we just thought to the All in the Walls. You know, we just recently came back from Savannah, Georgia. You said, well, why did you go there? Because I just said, hey, let's go there. Forest Com was there. So those kind of things.

So I'd like to travel quite a bit, and those are the other two things that I do. That's wonderful. Was there a place that you've traveled to in the last few years that really stands out to you, Yes, there are actually two places. One is Dubai. Oh, yeah. It's a great place, man. It's completely different, completely different. I mean, you would say we're in the first world country? No, this is exactly compared to Dubai. Wow. And then another place is called San Sebastian in Spain. It's in the northern part of Spain, which is beautiful. I usually go there every other year. what we use, we have a friend there that we use it as a stopover. So it's called San Sebastian. It's a beautiful place.

So those two, I highly recommend it. Those are just like total paradise places to get away, huh? Okay. Beautiful. And you're from originally? What part of Mexico City? I was born in Mexico City, but for people my age that remember, we moved to Acapulco, with Chacapuco used to be the canton of the day.

So remember the disco, disco balls? Yes. Oh, yeah. Well, I was there at that time in the 80s, 70s, 80s. So that was my type of play. So that's where I grew up. Wow. That is some cool stuff.

Again, Elwarul, thank you so much for your time today. You have a fascinating story, really cool business. business that you're running here, being able to have the opportunity and the blessing to, you know, help other business owners to get their, you know, their finances in order and get things structured and organizing and get that cash flow there as well to get the IRS off your back. And that's, that's, you probably sleep well at night, knowing that you help the businesses with these problems. Is that right? Yes. So thank you so much again. for sharing everything with us.

And I'm honored to be able to have the opportunity to spend some time with you and to interview you here today on the B&I podcast. So thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for inviting me. Anytime. Absolutely. All right. Well, that does it for another episode of the Business Networking Influencers podcast.

We will catch you here next time. Adios. Thank you for tuning in to the Business Networking Influencers podcast. We hope you gained valuable insights and strategies to elevate your business and networking game. Don't forget to subscribe for more episodes filled with expert advice and inspiration. Until next time, keep connecting, keep growing, and keep influencing.