Ep 14 - Unlocking Business Growth with Brent Taylor’s Fractional CFO Expertise

Brent Taylor: [: 00:00:00

They start hiring some people, and before you know it, they've got a decent sized company. Where I have seen kind of an unlock for companies, it's when they start taking some of those hats off their heads mm-hmm. And they start passing those around to others. Buying back some of their own [00:00:30] time. Um, to help grow the company and to be a leader.

Right.

ert insights to achieve your [: 00:00:45

[00:01:00] Now your hosts

Hutchinson and Eric Wymore. [: 00:01:15

And, uh, you know, we moved offices, [00:01:30] what was it, about six months ago and just so happened that we moved in, uh, to an office in the building right next door to, to Brent, and we've kind of reconnected. And, uh, so what Casey's CFO services does is a, is fractional CFO services, uh, to organizations and companies.

[: 00:01:45

Brent Taylor: Well, Jeb, thanks for having me on the podcast today. Excited to be here and to chat with you. Uh, so fractional CFO [00:02:15] market's been really interesting. So I started my firm about seven years ago. Before that, I had worked in kind of the corporate world, actually a mix of big four accounting and corporate world and great experiences.

lly married a small business [: 00:02:30

Like, that was fun. That was an impact that I really haven't felt, um, in my previous career. So I, I, I decided to kind of go off on that and at the time I didn't even know what it was called. I was just kind of calling it consulting. Yeah. Um, it had really, it made [00:03:00] it really interesting the first couple years 'cause I almost had to just educate business owners and, and, and even partners that this is kind of what we're doing and, and I'd say in the past two to three years.

y interesting just to watch. [: 00:03:15

I mean, it's a, it's a huge pool and most of them are out there just trying to, you know, they're grinding at working hard and. You know, they didn't realize you could have access to maybe an expert for, you know, yeah. A fraction of the price. Um, so it's been, it, it it's definitely [00:03:45] emerged a lot in the past Yeah.

Past two to three years for sure. Yeah,

and aren't set up for that, [: 00:04:00

And so if they can do that on a fractional basis. But I think another big point of, uh, clarification and differentiation is, you know, from a CFO versus an accountant, right? Like, I think there's, those are kind [00:04:15] of like synonymous terms, but you do really very different things. So can you give us maybe the difference there between what you do and what somebody's accountant does?

ooking backwards. It's taken [: 00:04:30

So we really focus on kind of the path forward and what does the next [00:04:45] 12 to 24 months look like, and do we need to set up financing? Do we bring need to bring in partners? What kind of hiring are we gonna have to do? While the accountants really kind of focused on. Hey, did we account for everything accurately?

m-hmm. And you know, when we [: 00:05:00

But that is a, that is a level that is needed. You have [00:05:15] to have your transactions and your financial reporting at least pointed in the right direction mm-hmm. To know, you know, where you're trending and, and maybe where do we need to double down on things or where do we need to kind of back off on things.

accountants kind of looking [: 00:05:30

Eric Wymore: Hey, hey, Brent. Are, are there certain industries that, that, that you're attracted to as far as your, your, your job

industry that are, they are [: 00:05:45

They're, I'm focused on this industry and this industry only. I'd say I'm more of a generalist. My, my, my company, we've, we've worked anywhere with real estate developers to, uh, you know, a gamut of service-based [00:06:00] companies, which is, you know, that's a broad swath of our economy, but, uh, not focused on a single industry.

you're smart with, with that [: 00:06:15

Ethan Hutcheson: Definitely. I had a, uh, I don't know if this is a good question or not, but do, do you ever work alongside an existing CFO in an organization and, and come along for project work or anything?

Or, or [: 00:06:30

Brent Taylor: Hey,

Ethan Hutcheson: it's a

s interesting when I, when I [: 00:06:45

They'll bring in a full-time CFO.

Eric Wymore: Um,

r people to a hundred people [: 00:07:00

But what I've also found over the past seven years is as a company's growing and that's really the companies that [00:07:15] make the most sense for us to work with. 'cause they're the ones bumping into complexities and they need that help. They need a full-time control, they need a really strong controller just to make sure all the ends in the outs and all the controls and everything are working properly and, and we [00:07:30] can come alongside that controller in that fractional CFO.

em to kind of make the leap. [: 00:07:45

Jeb Graham: that's a lot of growth in three years.

That's, that's pretty, yeah. Impressive story really. Yeah, it was

d everything was, um, it was [: 00:08:00

Jeb Graham: That's pretty cool. I will. Uh, so like for us, obviously in our client base, we have a lot of small business owners.

but like, what do you think, [: 00:08:15

Brent Taylor: I [00:08:30] guess one of the takeaways that I've had now, kind of in this, in this world that, that we've, that we get to, you know, have fun, uh, playing in, is when you get into a company, the, the business owner typically, or the founder, you know, they're wearing all the hats, so they're [00:08:45] doing everything and you know, they stumble on some success.

y start passing those around [: 00:09:00

Right? So sometimes I'll get in there and I'll just kind of understand like, what's the history? You know, what's your leadership team? Do you have a leadership team? You know, what are your [00:09:15] goals? And a lot of times it's interesting, business owners haven't even like really thought about what are their goals.

he bank. Right. So, yeah. So [: 00:09:30

It, it's really interesting too, like, I think [00:09:45] once a business owner sees, Hey, if I take some of these things off my plate and bring in smart people around me. Like, Hey, my business can grow, my life can get better. I mean, it's been fascinating to see how many business owners don't even have a financial advisor.

, and it's like, Hey, let's. [: 00:10:00

Yep. Because they're just grinding, so. Right. Sometimes it's [00:10:15] just kind of getting them to take a deep breath and to work on the business and not just in the business. Yep. And that's kind of a weird thing that I've found. It's almost like you're a little bit of a business coach mm-hmm. But you're, and you almost have to be to make sure that we're making good financial decisions on the journey.

Jeb Graham: Yep. [: 00:10:30

I've always said that, that one of my favorite types of clients to work with is the small business owner. And the reason is, is because there's so many ways that you can help [00:11:00] 'em from, you know, to your point on succession planning. Well, when they do a succession plan, they need to, they need to fund that, uh, either key man insurance or, or buy sell agreement.

ut ways to save them massive [: 00:11:15

And I think working with people like, like you, uh, [00:11:30] for us, uh, is, is a good thing to have or you're, you're a good thing to have in our back pocket when we're talking, uh, to our clients. Just because, you know, obviously our goal is for our clients to be able to grow their business. And I think having a CFO.

Uh, is probably a, a, a [: 00:11:45

Brent Taylor: and I, I think what I've, well, what we have, and that's not what I think what we've seen is you get to play quarterback a little bit for the business owner. So you gotta come in there, you gotta kind of unpeel everything.

hat's going on, where things [: 00:12:00

Mm-hmm. But also like, you know, to reward your employees and bring some benefits in that, you know, will help you recruit better people and get 'em to stay there as well. So it's almost playing quarterback at times to see. Where are they and [00:12:30] where could things get better? And then let's bring in the right people, um, to join this journey.

ndustry as a whole and maybe [: 00:12:45

Brent Taylor: Absolutely. So when I started this journey, I figured I would just be kind of solo guy, Brent out there trying to help companies. Um, and, you know, a few years have passed and now there's, there's a total of four of us. Um, so I'm surrounded by a number of strong women on my [00:13:15] team and, and, uh, they, they help me and, and our clients every day.

ebody that's stumbled upon a [: 00:13:30

A lot of times those companies don't really need a fractional CFO. They probably need a financial advisor. They need to get a tax CPA. [00:13:45] The companies that we work with, they're growing, they're bumping into complexities. And my experience has been once you start hitting about 10 people, um, those complexities start right.

it a hundred person company [: 00:14:00

Jeb Graham: Gotcha. That makes sense. That makes total sense.

ell, is there anything else, [: 00:14:15

Brent Taylor: I guess, you know, maybe to flip the question onto you guys, are there things that you've noticed with your business on our clients, you [00:14:30] know, in the past year or two that you're kinda like, yeah, this is, these are successful things for them to do, or services to bring in?

Is there anything that's just. I guess shining out to you guys. I

d to talk to you. So I would [: 00:14:45

It pretty much encompasses all businesses. So for the most part, yeah. Should have some sort of conversation with, with you or, or, or a team like yours. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Could you share a little bit

Eric Wymore: of how, what the process would be if they wanna engage?

h, absolutely. So, you know, [: 00:15:15

So, hey, what's going on? Tell me about your business. Tell me about your needs. Where, what are some of your challenges? Where are some of your opportunities? And we would kind of really use that as an opportunity to figure out. Is there, you know, could we be a value [00:15:30] and service to that, that business and, and if we both decided that, hey, this made a lot of sense, then figure out kind of our cadence.

let's look at what happened [: 00:15:45

We have some other clients that, you know, we're working on a, on a weekly basis. Mm-hmm. There's just enough going on that we have to, you know, have that cadence. So. It's a little bit tailored towards the [00:16:00] company and the season they're in. So it's not kind of a one size fits all. It's, it is really what's gonna help serve that company during their growth.

Yep. And,

our business owner clients. [: 00:16:15

In a business. I feel like that's always the last thing that people think about, right? And there's, you know, the chances of a business owner killing over and dying, [00:16:30] it probably doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen. And, uh, and I think like trying to get people to put that in as a priority in their business becomes difficult, right?

ess and the la the, the very [: 00:16:45

How, how do I insure for that risk? Um, so, or it [00:17:00] takes a job somewhere else or, or dies, right? Um, that's one of 'em. And then I think it's also the balance, you know, when we're working with, with small business owners, I. You know, say they put together a 401k retirement plan, or they're putting together a simple IRA, but let's just say it's a safe Harbor 401k [00:17:15] plan.

onna cost me? And what's the [: 00:17:30

Make this big profit sharing contribution and what value does that really have to me as the business owner, as well as the employees. And I think kind of trying to talk 'em through those balances, um, or those types of things [00:17:45] in, in retirement plans are things that we're talking to them a lot about. And uh, and there's no kind of right answer, I don't think, like, I've got one decent sized 401k that I can think of right now that every year talks about doing a profit sharing plan.

d of do the ANA or doing the [: 00:18:00

So, so those, those balances and kind of figuring out how to, how to solve that problem is something that we run into a lot, I think.

couple years have I, I, I'm [: 00:18:30

It's succession planning and it is this balance because it is, it's, it's the balance of what do I leave in the company, what do I [00:18:45] take out? What do I, mm-hmm. You know? Reward our employees with. So those are two big topics and I've, I've really seen those pop up. So again, that's why I've seen so much synergy between fraction CFOs and And financial advisors.

at want to think about those [: 00:19:00

Eric Wymore: Yeah, absolutely. I would. I would imagine As well as they're getting, or if they're getting closer and closer to wanting to liquidate their business or sell their business. Yeah. They want that numbers. To be propped up a bit. Yeah. As much as they can.

at is for us, something that [: 00:19:15

Right. When it comes [00:19:30] to like, we understand the transaction and we understand that once the transaction happens, that's. Good for the client, and it's good for us as our financial advisor, but when it really comes to like, what's this business worth? Uh, you know, what's, what's going on in that industry?

really not what we're set up [: 00:19:45

Brent Taylor: Yeah, we have. Yeah, actually, so we've had multiple companies that have, uh, been acquired over the years. Again, that's another success story for us, right. That's [00:20:00] you've built something that somebody else is willing to pay money for.

ody. I mean, you're building [: 00:20:15

Um, but you know, a lot of companies are, Hey, I'm, I'm focused on. How am I ensuring that I, my profitability levels match up with what I would maybe want to get someday from my [00:20:30] company? And so we'll analyze that at times. Like, what if you were to sell your company, what would you want? And then we will kind of re-engineer that to say, well, right now, based on what you're doing and multiples, you know, you're not there, but over the next two years, let's make a really heavy focus on these different [00:20:45] areas to get that EBITDA where it needs to be to potentially sell to a, a level that you'd be willing to sell it.

ap if you do want us in your [: 00:21:00

Jeb Graham: Mm-hmm. Yeah. But those, those are probably interesting conversations too. And that's like the ultimate, that's your ultimate like, uh, you know, hooray moment, right?

and yeah, that's what every, [: 00:21:15

You sell the business, you get the cash and you put your arms up, usually there's a process. Right. And it's an earnout and it takes a [00:21:30] while. Yeah. But it's still, it's kind of every business owner's dream and um, so that's cool that you get to work that closely with it. For sure.

this business and to support [: 00:21:45

So when you get to see these moments where, hey, they gonna sell, you know, that's, it is, it's exciting. So. Yep, for sure. Yeah.

and I really think, uh, that [: 00:22:00

Brent Taylor: Yeah. Jeb, Ethan, Eric, thank you so much for your time.

This was awesome today. Yes. We'll have to do it

Jeb Graham: again sometime and uh, maybe it'll be when, uh, we're working together on, on one of our clients one of these days here soon. So

Brent Taylor: there we [: 00:22:15

Jeb Graham: Yep. There we go. Awesome. Well thank you guys and this is Metcalf Money Moments Podcast.

Sign it off.

Voiceover: Thanks for tuning [: 00:22:30

Disclaimer: Jeb Graham, Ethan Hutchinson and Eric Wymore are registered representatives with and securities offered through LPL Financial Member FINRA SI PC Investment advice offered through W [00:23:00] CG Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisor, W CG Wealth Advisors and Metcalf Partners Wealth Management is AR separate entity entities from LPL Financial.

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