The Ramsey Show - App - The Best Option Usually Isn't the Easiest One (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 1, 2020

Ken Coleman, Daniel Tardy, EntreLeadership Theme Hour Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. It's an Entree Leadership Theme Hour, meaning we're talking to businesses, business people, leaders, helping you with your business questions in the middle of the coronavirus shutdown, suppression,

whatever it is you're dealing with, with your business. We're here to help, to walk with you through this. We at Ramsey are walking through this as well. To help me do that, Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, host of the Ken Coleman Show, expert on careers and helping you get jobs and working in those areas. Author of the number one bestselling book, The Proximity Principle. Also from our Ramsey Operating Board, the Executive Vice President of Entrez Leadership, Daniel Tardy, is going to join us as well on the panel. So questions from you guys about business, small business,

you can talk about startup, you can talk about problems you got right now, you can talk about anything you want to talk about. We're here to walk you through it. We've been coaching thousands of businesses through this process. And of course, we've spent an unbelievable amount of emotional energy and intellectual energy trying to keep Ramsey running and afloat with our leadership team as well. We've kind of gone through some different phases in the marketplace and different businesses depend on which state they're in, which city they're in within a state are at different parts of the phases, aren't they, Daniel?

Well, Dave and Ken, I'll tell you where I'm at today. I actually feel really excited. I've been through all these emotions. I've been scared. I've been angry. I've been frustrated. And the reason today I sit here and I'm starting to really feel excited is I've been talking with a lot of small businesses who are going, hey, we're kind of getting back to work and

it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. And look, there's certainly some really rough situations, and we're not out of the woods yet with our overall economy and getting everything back online. But I think business owners, especially, you know, smaller business owners, you know, they're agile, and they're going, we're going to figure out how to get back quick and get after it. You know, they're not waiting for the big machine to start itself. They're in the trenches figuring out how to adapt and bob and weave. And so many of them are telling me inspiring stories of it's starting to work again. And so I'm

excited about where we're at. Well, I think it's proven again that the people that yell and scream and kick and flop around and talk about capitalism is evil and business people are evil. I can't tell you. I'm amazed. I mean, I knew the market that we were dealing with. I knew the small business market. I know the market. I'm one of them. I know how they feel about their teams and how much pride they take in their products

and how much they care. They're not just a bunch of greedy people trying to pull money off of other people. And the stories that are going to come out of this are business people that were heroes for their teams. I stopped at a local restaurant down here. The guy's got eight restaurants in the area under different brand names, and I've known him for a while. our restaurants in tennessee are starting to open up at 50 so i went sharon and i uh we're going to support them and we love that guy we love that restaurant and we want to go out to eat shut up so uh we went uh there they have a 50 capacity

and all so we go in and he's standing at the front and i've met him before so i was down there talking to him uh they have 500 employees and they waiters waitresses cooks bartenders whatever they kept them all on payroll out of their family's money wow that's pretty amazing yeah that's a hero right there i mean you don't but i mean you don't get that report when you hear all business people are evil no they're greedy they're just always taking advantage of somebody because really that is who small business is in america if you can not everybody could do that obviously that family was in a position financially to do that uh not everyone is uh we couldn't have done that uh odd infinitum here in forever you know we could we would have done it for a while but you know we got a thousand people on this payroll it would it takes a lot of money so there's an end to the mathematics

on the intent but um i just think i think that we're going to hear a lot of wonderful stories and um i don't know that uh business people keeping their businesses open and keeping these jobs intact will get the credit that say health care workers have gotten well no they're not going to make the headlines dave because the truth is, if you've got a business of 500 employees or less, you are the majority of the GDP. Over 50% of our GDP as a country comes from companies that are 500 employees and less. And I know the owners of those companies. And the way they think about their teams is these guys are a part of our family.

They're not employees. It's not transactional. These guys built this thing with us. And they are the salt of the earth kind of people that they're not even interested in making headlines. They're just interested in taking care of their team and their customers. Well, here's what we all know. Business people, specifically small business people, are problem solvers. That's what entrepreneurs do. They come up with a business because they see a problem. They go, that connects to me. I think there's a solution to that, and I'm going to provide it. And so our tremendous confidence, the three of us, is because we know that that's what small business is about. And so this is a big, giant problem, a global problem, but it's a big problem.

It has lots of nuances in how it affects different people in different places. But here's what we know. Business people are going to take a shot at that. They don't wither. Leaders don't back down. They go, all right, I'm going to see if I can solve this problem i'm going to fight and we're seeing that here's what i'm telling you here's what i'm seeing i'm seeing the i'm tired of calling it the coronavirus crisis i stopped saying that on the show it's the coronavirus comeback and i think we're seeing it

and i think you're going to see dave as you said we don't want the coronavirus to come back i knew you were going to say that i knew you were going to say that i, as you said, I think there are giants. We don't want the coronavirus to come back. I knew you were going to say that. I knew you were going to say that. I knew what you meant. He did, too, but he just couldn't help himself. I know, but it's just a really bad phrase. I don't think so. You need a new one. I'll go along with you.

We'll do away with the crisis. But the comeback after the virus. I was making such a good point right before that. I know, and then we just lost it because you just butchered the words. I know. I've scared a bunch of people. It's an Entree Leadership Theme Hour. Ken Coleman, Daniel Tardy, and I are here to answer your questions.

If you're running a small business or you want to and you've got questions about it in general or the things to do during this coronavirus comeback. Thank you. It actually works. No, it doesn't. It doesn't work at all. Oh, man. has come back thank you it actually works no it doesn't it doesn't work at all oh man so hey uh daniel tardy and his team and i sat around and we said okay how during this time can we do something really different and special for businesses small businesses well if you didn't know we have an event called the entree leadership summit. It is typically three, four days long.

We've done it for, what, six years, Daniel? This format, six years, yeah. Yeah, and it's some of the top speakers and teachers in the leadership space in the world. They come. It is, I think, it's the premier leadership event in the United States today. We always say if we didn't build this event, it's the event we would go to, and it's because we build the one that we want to go to. That's exactly right.

We actually would apply it to ourselves. And it's like, if I could get anybody I wanted to get, who would I get? And that's who we go get. And it's pretty stinking incredible. So what we're going to do is something we've never done before. If you're a business owner, listen up. We want you to stay focused, and we want to keep your fuel tank full during this season, and information does that.

So we've hand-selected five of our top talks from the Entree Leadership Summit, including a talk I did on marketplace disruption, which is you're sitting square in the middle of. The talk was done before we were in the middle of this, obviously. Henry Cloud, Pat Lencioni, other people like that. What you need to do, it's free to watch, and I'll tell you more about it, but to RSVP and get the team guide, text the word UNLOCKED to 44222. That's UNLOCKED to 44222. For most of us, health care costs seem to increase every year, and saving money on health insurance feels more and more out of reach.

For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Cherise had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had a health scare involving one of their kids that was completely unexpected. With today's health care climate, this could have bankrupted them. But thanks to Christian health care ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of Christian Healthcare Ministries, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the original health cost sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity.

It's biblical, affordable, and it's shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Okay, so we're taking some of the videos from the Entree Leadership Summit that we have never made public before. We've never sold access to them. We've never given access to them. You simply had to be in that room to experience that teaching.

And we're making them available to you. We'll kick it off May the 7th with my talk on Marketplace Disruption. It's completely free. We're calling the event, it's a digital event, obviously, Entree Leadership Summit Unlocked. You get to hear from other incredible leaders like my friend Henry Cloud, Pat Lencioni, several others. So if you are a business owner or a team lead, make this a priority.

We're kicking it off May 7th. We will send you a guide to do takeaways and discussion with your team. All you've got to do is RSVP and block out the time. This is five of our top talks from Entrez Leadership, and each Thursday during the month of May, we're releasing them for you one at a time. We have never done this before. And that Marketplace Disruption talk, when you see it, I went back and looked at some of the stuff.

I cannot believe how prophetic it was. It's absolutely where we are right now. It's amazing. And what has happened inside this company? You are either being crushed by marketplace disruption, you are causing marketplace disruption, or you are riding the wave of it. There is no in-between. You are one of those three things.

I said that in that talk a year and a half ago, two years ago, whenever I did that talk. And that's exactly what's happening right now people have either pivoted and figured out ways to deliver their goods and services to homes to work around the gloves and the masks and still get business done uh digitally operate uh work with skeleton crews put out production at levels you've never put it out before uh you know it's a it's a marketplace disruption you're also as i said going to hear from other great leaders like henry cloud so again if you're a business owner a team lead make this a priority it's completely free five thursdays in a row we're going to make this available completely free world-class teaching that you would have paid three to ten thousand000 a ticket to be in that audience.

Well, Dave, I'll tell you the content. I don't want to spoil the surprise. I'm not going to tell you all the speakers. We're going to do a little Christmas morning special for you guys. But most of our speakers, when we contract with them and say, can you come speak at this event, they don't let us have that content for redistribution. And so it's been really cool because we've gone back and just asked. We said, hey, this is where our country is at right now.

Business people need this content. We're going to give it away free. And to a person, they've said, please use it. And so this isn't even a – you search YouTube, you're not going to find these lessons is what I'm getting at. They don't exist. We own them. Right. I mean, we can't do anything with them without their permission.

They own them. But we own them. Well, they can't do anything with them. They own the rights. We own the video. It's locked in the vault. Exactly. So we're unlocking the vault.

Entrez Leadership Summit unlocked. How do you get this? Text the word unlocked to 44222. That's unlocked to 44222. All right, let's go first to, what's his name? What? Oswey is with us. Okay, thanks. From Florida. Hey, Oswey, what's his name what osway is with us okay thanks uh from florida hey osway what's up hey dude good afternoon how are you guys doing great man how can we help

so um my wife and i um we for several months now we have started our fba and i'm not sure if you heard of fba which is fulfillment Fulfillment by Amazon. And it's basically you research a product and you ship it from another country, for example, China, and you package it, label it, put a UPC on it, ship it to Amazon, and then raise the price on Amazon so people can buy that through Amazon and have it shipped in the U.S., as opposed to shipping directly from China. And so we're kind of, my wife and I are kind of in a fork in the road. We're not sure what to do right now, which in regards to product research,

we had a product we were ready to go. And then all of a sudden this, you know, this whole thing with the coronavirus has affected the market as you said and so we're kind of not so much stuck but we're back on the drawing board as far as identifying a new product that can be able to meet people's needs in the market after this whole thing goes back to normal. Currently, my wife and I work for an airline. We work for JetBlue Airways, and that's what we're doing on the side as well, which is a small business. So, again, we're trying to identify should we go with a new product?

What was wrong with the other product? What did the coronavirus do to it? So the other product is a bundle that we had, and it's basically we're meeting the needs of other flight attendants or pilots. Oh, and they're not working. Correct. Okay. Correct.

Okay. So you need not only a different product, you need a different audience, right? That's correct. And we don't want to go ahead and price gouge a product simply because of the coronavirus uh we want to be able to meet the needs of people and help people uh by solving a problem that they may have how quick is turn time can you get something to market real fast that is that is uh germane to this particular problem we're all facing right now it's not price gouging it's serving okay yeah is there a product that you could get out i mean can you is there a turn time on this It's not price gouging. It's serving. Okay, yeah.

Is there a product that you could get out? I mean, is there a turn time on this that's really, really short? You know what? Right now, as I mentioned, we're on the drawing board, and we're trying to identify a product. I'm just curious. Oswego, how is the bundle doing? Had you actually launched that and begun to sell that? So we did our research to see if there are other individuals or other small businesses that are selling it through Amazon. And there's none like the one that we put together.

Did you launch it and is it selling? Yeah. It's not. We were about to place our order for inventory. So you still don't have proof of concept yet. Oswe, first of all, thank you for what you're doing and not just sitting there with your head in the sand and saying, we were flight attendants and now we're out of business and we can't do anything. You guys are figuring out how to hustle and I love the entrepreneur spirit. The thing I want to challenge is fulfillment by Amazon can be a great way to take the thing you're very excited about to the marketplace.

And it can also just be a cute way to make some money in a way that's not really that fulfilling. So I want you guys to start not with what's the best product, but what is your purpose? What are you guys really excited about? You mentioned earlier that you want to help people, serve people. I would start with what's in your heart before going to what's in our head in terms of what's the market opportunity. Yeah, I want to follow up to what Daniel said. I've got three questions for you that you can ask and answer, and it will pull from your heart. Who is it that

you most want to help? Think of the people, the customer. Who do you want to help? Then you think of the problem that they have or the need they have. All right, that's the problem you want to solve. The third question is, what's the problem you want to solve. The third question is what's the solution to their problem need? What solution do you want to provide? You do the homework on those three things, and you will pull out what Daniel's talking about from your heart. That's how you come up with a product that you're passionate about. And then lastly, be very wise about the country of origin of the products. I personally would be very nervous about a business model based on Chinese delivery because there is just so much political upheaval around this.

I'm not saying I'm mad at the Chinese. I'm not calling for a boycott. That's not what I'm saying. But you're going to see pushback on Chinese products from the customer base like never before. You may have delivery problems if President Trump and the Chinese get sideways again. You may have – there's just a lot of complications there. So whoever your country of origin is where the product is being developed, you need be very wise about that i'm not saying you can't use china i'm just saying it's fraught with danger right now from a business perspective not a it's not a moral statement i'm not making

a not waving the american flag i'm not even doing i mean i can do all of that if you want me to but but that's not the point the point of the me bringing this up is, you know, your stuff may get stuck on the water, dude. It may never get out of the container. And, you know, we had a couple of product lines that were out of China, and I've been rapidly moving out of there for multiple reasons, but mainly from a business perspective. And, you know, also I'm just kind of pissed at them. But anyway, aside from that that this is the day ramsey

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Try eMeals free for two full weeks. That's eMeals.com slash grocery. grocery it's an entree leadership theme hour all about small businesses there's one thing at ramsey that is universal through our whole company. We love small business people. Because we are small business people, and so we like ourselves. But, I mean, it's just what makes America tick. If you don't know, 54% of the gross domestic product, all goods and services produced in the United States, are produced by businesses that have 500 or less team members, small businesses by definition. So we love them.

And they come in all shapes, sizes, political bents, all kinds of different ways of doing it. And yet they all just are, they all are the best people. I just love hanging out with them. So we're hanging out with them today on this show. The phone number is 888-825-5225. On the panel, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, and host of The Ken Coleman Show.

Entree leadership executive vice president and operating board member, Daniel Tardy. Jared is on the line. Jared's in Canada. Hi, Jared. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve, sir.

How can we help? I'm trying to balance paying myself, save for retirement and paying off a mortgage, but also growing the business. My brother is graduating in June, and then he wants to go into business with me. And we'll need about $50,000 to $70,000 to do that. And I want to save for it, but we're also trying to pay off a mortgage and starting our investment portfolio. You need $50,000 to $70,000 for your brother to work for you?

Well, right now I have a business that is full-time for me. What type of business do you do? What is it? I do chicken farm cleanouts. So currently I have a big air compressor and a backpack blower that I clean the dust out with. I want to buy the tractors to do the pushouts with for the same existing customers I have who currently hire another company to do it. And you want to hire your brother to work with you?

Yes. And you're saying you need money to hire your brother? No, I need to buy the tractors. Oh, you're buying the tractors to get your brother online. He's going to put his brother's butt in a seat. I got it. Okay. Yeah.

So I have the customers already lined up for it. What's the cheapest tractor, the most used, the most worn-out tractor that'll get the job done? That's not $50,000 to $75,000. Well, that's the problem. I'm up in Canada, and used ones cost $20,000 to $30,000 for one with high hours. I've been looking down in the states at the auctions, and they go for $13,000 to $20,000. I'm going to need that, and I'm also going to need probably another $10,000 one. So I could easily get it done under $30,000 if I can find the right thing.

Well, that's what you do. Have you got the cash? I'd like to save up $50,000. I don't have the cash. That's what I'm trying to do. And your brother graduates when? In June. Okay. I don't have the cash. That's what I'm trying to say. And your brother graduates when? In June. Okay.

You didn't make it. No, I'm planning to starting September, October. I can keep them part-time until then. Oh, I see. Basically, how fast? Yeah, so how hard is it? Are you going to make enough to feed your family and spend $20,000 on equipment between now and September? Yes. Okay. What's the question then? enough to feed your family and spend 20 grand on equipment between now and september yes okay

what's the question then do i stop paying myself well here's what i think it sounds like you're saying it sounds like you're saying you have enough to do it but you're going to have to take your income personal income down for a minute to get the savings to bring your brother we stop putting the extra down on the mortgage yeah i'm fine with that for a season you take a few months because as long as the roi is going to come in the form of new customers new revenue you're going to be sitting here in a year with twice as much income and you're going to burn down the mortgage you know aggressively at that point i'm assuming you're going to spend 20 grand on equipment and in the following 12 months with that equipment because of of that equipment, make $50 to $100, right?

Well, easily, it'll triple my income. Okay. So you get your ROI very, very quickly. So what we're saying is, would you do this not in perpetuation as a philosophical thing, but would you do it for three months? In other words, cut your income way down for three months in order to buy this equipment. Dadgum right I would. I've done it my whole business life. Yeah, you're taking one step back to take five steps forward,

and that sounds like a good move. Now, you can't do that every other month. You do that like once a year and then go back to taking care of your family. But, I mean, if your family holds their breath for a little bit to get the business to another level that blesses the family more, then that's how Ramsey Solutions got where it is because we've grown with organic cash. We've never borrowed a dime, which means there's times that the Ramseys put some stuff on hold in order to drive Ramsey Solutions. And now Ramsey Solutions will do anything it wants for the Ramseys, can do anything it wants numbers-wise. And that's what you're up against there. So, yeah, the thing is, sometimes when we pose these questions, Ken,

it's almost like when somebody's taking a job, they feel like it's forever. Yeah. The flip side to this is, if he was not in a financial position where he could reduce his personal pay from the company, the answer would be, hey, tell your brother, be patient, buddy. We're going to do this, and I'm going to delay this six months so that I can save up the cash and not take a pay cut. And it's the point you're making. You know, look, there's something about the human condition where we want things to happen now, and that's normal. But the reality is that

he put some conditions on him. He's going to be able to do it, but he could have easily said, you know what, brother, just wait a little bit, and I'm going to save up. I'm not going to take anything backwards. I'm going to keep paying all my mortgage. He has two options here, but not everybody does. And so what you have to do is you got to say, look, what do I need to do in the short term, the sacrifice, the patience so that I can actually do what I would do in the long term. You don't ever want to jeopardize the long term on the immediate. Yeah, but this is great. He's put himself in a position to be his own bank. And so instead of going to the bank and borrowing the immediate. Yeah, but this is great. He's put himself in a position to be his own bank. And so instead of going to the bank and borrowing money to do this, you're funding out of your

lifestyle. You tighten your belt for a minute to invest in the business. There are times the business needs you to do that, but then you're going to pay yourself back because you're your own bank. Yeah. And Dave, you made a good point too. Go through the extra pain and the patience to get the tractor in the States for a whole lot less money. Don't just go for the easiest option.

Wait it out. Go for the lowest price so that you can actually bankroll it. Best deal is very seldom the easiest option. That's always right. That's right. And, Jared, one last thing on hiring your brother. You and your brother need to have a clear talk about how the roles are going to be. When you're at work, you're not brothers.

You're the boss, and he's the employee. You're the leader. He's the employee. And you treat him with the dignity you would treat anyone else. You don't use your big brother voice on him. And he doesn't use his whiny little brother voice on you. But to get, I want to take the day off. No, he treats you like he would any other employer and and so you need to have that very very clear because uh when people try to mix

their family roles into their business that's when people say don't hire family that it's not true if you hiring family is just fine working with family is just fine. Working with family is just fine. I've got family all in this business. But we're very, very careful about our roles. When we're at work, the Ramsey kids, Rachel Cruz here on the air calls me Dave, not even dad. And just to make sure her head's clear and everyone else's head is clear that she's treated and paid on the exact same scale as all the other personalities like Ken Coleman is paid. And so he gets paid what his job is worth, not because he's your brother. And he does work as if he were working for someone that was not his brother. Well, Dave, we teach this in family business.

There are three distinct roles, and you can be one of them or two of them or all of them. You can be a family member, you can be an owner, and you can be a team member. In Dave's case, you're all of those things. But just because you're a team member doesn't mean you get to act like an owner if you're not an owner. Or just because you're in the family

doesn't mean you get special treatment because if you're just an employee, you're an employee. And you really got to have those boundaries or otherwise that's the dysfunction that happens in family business that makes them crash and honestly jared i heard some of that in your language you were using you were acting like somehow it was your duty to hire your freaking brother it's not your duty it's his duty to be a man and get a job it's your duty if you want to work together that's cool that's fun but you are not obligated by blood to provide a job that you cannot afford

to provide. And so don't go do something stupid in the name of hiring your brother. And you haven't actually outlined anything, but there was a sense that you owed this, that this was an obligation in the way you were using your language. And that's what cued me up on this. So really good discussion and really good question. Thank you for joining us, Jared. Very much appreciate it. Family business is a wonderful thing, folks. We've done a lot of work on it, a lot of teaching on it, a lot of writing on it, and a lot of experience on it in the last 15, 20 years.

And I think it's probably going to be my next book, actually, because I think there's a full book worth of material there on it. And it's just rich when it's done well. And it's one of the most toxic, horrible things when it's not. So Small Business Theme Hour, an Entree Leadership Theme Hour with Daniel Tardy and Ken Coleman on the panel. I am Dave Ramsey. We'll be back. Please hear me loud and clear.

The government is not going to bail you out of your student loans, at least not completely and not without a catch. What they're talking about only impacts federal, not private loans, and you need to take responsibility for what you owe and pay your debt down quicker. Right now, Splash Financial is offering their lowest rates ever. With lower rates and extra payments, you could just find yourself debt-free in the next five years. Visit SplashFinancial.com slash Ramsey to see if you qualify. It's an Entree Leadership Small Business Theme Hour. We have the Entree Leadership Summit coming up in Orlando.

It'll be our first live event since all the world closed up. It's exciting. And it'll be in July. And we have a handful of tickets left for that. If you'd like to come, it's going to be off the chain. Mike Rowe, among others. Quite a lineup. I mean, we had to postpone it from May, and I think all of our, Lou Holtz is coming and Lou's a prize. He's incredible. And so you need to check it out at entreleadership.com and look for tickets

coming up in July. In the meantime entree leadership summit is as i mentioned earlier one of the premier leadership events in the nation today we're very proud of it it's incredible i would attend it if i wasn't one of the speakers and wasn't already and i didn't own it uh and so what we've done is we got permission from some of our past speakers five different lessons and over the next five Thursdays beginning this coming Thursday May the 7th we're going to do a special completely free for you business folks completely free you can have your whole team watch it completely free did I mention it's completely free Ent You can have your whole team watch it completely free. Did I mention it's completely free? Entree Leadership Summit Unlocked. And so every Thursday, beginning May 7th, in May,

for the next five Thursdays, Entree Leadership Summit Unlocked. The first one will be a talk I did on marketplace disruption. Henry Cloud will be with us. Pat Lencioni will be with us on one of the lessons. Some other household names will be there, and you need to check it out. If you're a business owner or team lead, make this a priority. We'll send you a guide. You can do takeaways. You can do discussion. And you need to RSVP and block out the time to do that and get the team guide.

Text the word UNLOCKED to 44222. That's UNLOCKED to 44 222 that's unlocked to 44 222 up next is going to be ronda in tennessee hey ronda welcome to the dave ramsey show and entree leadership edition what's up hi dave thanks for taking my call and thank you to you for many years i'm completely debt-free. Good for you. Including my house. Way to go. And now I'm on to a new adventure. I'm actually trying to start a non-medical, non-emergency transportation business. And I have the license. It's been set up as an S-Corp.

I've been directed by someone that you know very well. So I'm very comfortable with that. My question today, though, is there's been several people telling me that I need to finance or take out an SBA loan, and you know what my answer to that is, no, no, and no. Do you know of any way that, I mean, thank God that I didn't go out and purchase four or five vehicles before the corona thing hit because we'd be sitting still right now. Yep. Because we all are anyway. Are there any grants that you know of that I could apply for? It is set up as a for-profit company.

Good. The reason that I'm doing this and I have the knowledge and the experience of dealing with transportation in Tennessee for people with disabilities because I have a disability and it's so restricted and I just got sick and tired and sick and tired of people having to live in one county work in one county and not be who they were created to be yeah amen good for you you know Rhonda what I love about your story and I already know you're going to make it because the thing that you're going after you have a personal experience that you're passionate about, and you had a problem that was frustrating for you with your disability, and you have compassion for the people that. From a funding standpoint, I would certainly research grants, but I think you can also just start with how much cash does it take to save up to get the first vehicle and then get some revenue coming in and then use that to fund to get the second vehicle.

And, you know, if you're an entrepreneur, you're probably dreaming about a fleet of vehicles and drivers and scaling this thing up. You can baby step your way into that just like you baby stepped your way out of debt. And so I want to give you permission to go slow enough that you can, you know, get the proof of concept going with one vehicle. And maybe you're driving and then you kind of get the model figured out and then you start to scale it from there. But you don't need five vehicles right now to get this thing going. Yeah, Rhonda, because you're going to make some mistakes with your first one. And that's what Daniel means by proof of concept i have never launched a single product or service that was exactly the same a year later after i launched it it always

changes because what you think it's going to be it's not exactly that you go oh i should have done that oh that should have that handle on that oh that should be blue instead of green oh that should be and there's all you know what the name of that sucks we got to change the name i mean we're we're always iterating changing things uh and i and all of us are and the biggest mistakes i ever made was i thought that because i dreamed it up in my head that's the way it was going to turn out smart vestor pros are on their fifth name since i started okay just to give you an idea for lots of reasons but i mean we they've been albs elps they've been everything in the world but they're smart investor pros now and so you know that that's a point so whatever vehicle you buy after you haul some people around a little bit you're gonna go oh that ramp needs to be done a different way oh that door opens the wrong way oh

that thing's too high i've got to have it height adjusted i don't know what it is you're going to learn things every time you change vehicles and so to buy five of them wrong is a bad idea just buy one of them wrong and get get out there and get going and let that thing earn you some money now you are in and i would do it the exactly way daniel's talking about but you are in a space with the disability issue that you're serving that there probably is some grant money maybe i don't know and just i would poke around i don't know where to tell you to find it uh but i you you're in uh that community you know something about that community and so i would scratch around and see if i can find money but i wouldn't wait on that to get going that's right and i would also because she knows the

community so well ronda you know who's serving folks. So let's look at your zip code and surrounding zip codes and what are the government, local government, state services that are serving this group of folks. And you begin to dive into what could some possible subsidizing be to where you can take care of that ideal customer and somebody else is helping them pay for your service as well so you don't necessarily need a grant to begin to serve that ideal customer but again what an awesome thing when the purpose of a business is an extension of the owner's passion that i mean that she's got that going for guys and it's going to work because that's going to be the heartbeat of that business she had a problem and she had to solve her own problem that's right and she realized other people have the exact same problem and it's something i care about because

it's got your heart wrapped up in it because it's something you really struggled with and you know uh in a sense ramsey solutions was born that way uh because it was you know we had a problem i went broke because i was stupid and didn't know how to handle money and so i thought would be a good idea to not be stupid anymore. Maybe some other people did that. Oh, wait a minute, it's everybody. And so the whole thing has grown up out of that. Ken, your whole thing, the way you ended up part of this team and the way you got into broadcasting set you up to coach people in careers.

And so it's not an accident that a thought leader in an area a business leader in an area it is born out of a need that's right look to your past and where you've had challenges or even pain many times you will find that purpose in your work because you have overcome it and you understand what it takes to come through that and then you you want to pass that on. I mean, the story should tell your story is what we're saying. You know, my granddad started a small business. My dad owns that business now in West Texas. I mean, it's the reason I love everything we do at Ramsey, but what I love and what gets me out of bed every day is helping small business owners win because it's in my story. And so we ask all the time when we're talking with business owners, what is my purpose? What's my mission statement?

How do I craft one of those? That's the wrong question. You're not trying to craft a mission statement. You're trying to look at what are you really passionate about based on your story? What problem do you want to solve in the marketplace? You'll figure out your mission statement from there. A little hard to have a mission statement before you have a mission. Yeah, that's right.

And you really ought to know what the flip gets you out of bed in the morning, what it is that you cannot. You know, I was telling a group of influencers we were training here, you know, what is the thing you cannot not do? And that's what you need to be doing. Daniel Tardy, Ken Coleman, thanks for hanging out for an Entree Leadership Theme Hour. If you want to be part of the Entree Leadership Summit Unlocked, it's completely free. Begins next Thursday. Text the word UNLOCKED to 44222. UNLOCKED to 44222. In the middle of these uncertain times, Ramsey Solutions wants to give you some hope.

For the very first time ever, we're giving you Financial Peace University free for 14 days. Go to DaveRamsey.com so you can watch from home.