How CSI Accounting Doubled Revenue by Educating Buyers [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 135]

This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy. 

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Brian Paulson

believe in yourself.

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Brian Paulson

Believe that you can

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Brian Paulson

make your business grow.

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Brian Paulson

some of them don't believe in themselves.

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Brian Paulson

don't think they could do it.

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Brian Paulson

You gotta roll the dice sometimes

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Brian Paulson

you believe in it and then you got you got to do it.

00:00:13:11 - 00:00:30:20

Bob Ruffolo

You're listening to the Endless Customers podcast, brought to you by the team at Impact. Endless Customers is the proven system to become the most known and trusted brand in your market. You want to start learning the principles of Endless Customers and how to implement them in your business. Pick up a copy of Endless Customers, the national bestseller.

00:00:30:20 - 00:00:52:13

Bob Ruffolo

Wherever books are sold. Ready to start implementing Endless Customers in your business? Talk to IMPACT about how our coaching program can help you implement Endless Customers to success. And if you want to experience Endless Customers in person, do not miss our upcoming conference! Endless Customers live in Chicago from March 30th through April 1st, 2026. Registration is now open. And now onto the show.

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Bob Ruffolo

Here's your host, Alex Winter.

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Alex Winter

Today's episode shows what happens when a company stops chasing every lead and starts educating buyers before the first sales call. I'm joined by Brian Paulson. He's the CEO of KCI Accounting and Payroll. Brian and his team were tired of prospects focused on quick fixes and low prices, so they changed their sales process by leaning into content and video to answer buyers questions upfront.

00:01:17:06 - 00:01:26:10

Alex Winter

By clearly showing what it's like to work with CAC and requiring prospects to do their homework. The team was able to attract better fit clients and have stronger sales conversations.

00:01:26:12 - 00:01:39:06

Alex Winter

In this episode, we break down how content reshaped CSI's sales process. Why being upfront about fit builds trust and the growth that followed. Let's not waste any more time and jump right in. Brian. Welcome to the show.

00:01:39:08 - 00:01:42:14

Brian Paulson

Well thank you Alex I'm glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

00:01:42:18 - 00:01:59:15

Alex Winter

Yes. No it's it's an honor. We're excited to be talking with you. We are big fans of CSI accounting and everything that you guys do. Not just with endless, endless customers journey you've been on, but in general as a business. And I think it's a great story to share. So let's get right into it. And I think the first question are a good place to start.

00:01:59:21 - 00:02:05:14

Alex Winter

Can you tell our audience a little bit about yourself and about CSI accounting to set the stage?

00:02:05:16 - 00:02:38:07

Brian Paulson

Yes. CSI Accounting and Payroll is, is a public accounting firm, just like it sounds. We do accounting and payroll for small businesses, and we also do their tax returns for the businesses and the owners of the businesses. I just celebrated my 30th year here. I, this was my first job out of college, and it was my only job interview after college, and I didn't think it would be, I, I, you know, got done with school, and I, I knew I wanted to work.

00:02:38:07 - 00:02:52:16

Brian Paulson

I thought I wanted to work at a small accounting firm. I didn't like the big the big four environment. And so I, you know, back in those days, you go through the classified ads, look at the job, look at all the jobs. There was no indeed to look at. Sure.

00:02:52:16 - 00:02:53:17

Alex Winter

Yep.

00:02:53:19 - 00:03:03:19

Brian Paulson

I answered one job ad. It was a very small ad. I interviewed at one company and it was small. And I thought, well, I'll do this for a couple of years, get something on the resume

00:03:03:19 - 00:03:11:19

Brian Paulson

then figure out what to do next. And but I had an opportunity about five years in, to acquire it. It was very small.

00:03:11:21 - 00:03:22:10

Brian Paulson

It was it was cheap and, and I've built that ever since. And so, now we have 35 employees, we have two locations,

00:03:22:10 - 00:03:33:02

Brian Paulson

and we have, clients all over the country. And, you know, it's probably 100 times bigger than it was when I, when I started here, but, just go.

00:03:33:04 - 00:03:43:19

Alex Winter

Wow, that's a that's a really great story. I didn't realize that you started there out of college and then you acquired it later. That's that's news to me. That's just an incredible journey. Thanks for sharing that.

00:03:43:21 - 00:04:01:02

Alex Winter

So can I ask before you embarked into your endless customer's journey, before you figured out endless customers, you read the book. They ask, you answer now endless customers what was going on beforehand. So what was like marketing, sales, customer acquisition? How did that look before you went on your journey?

00:04:01:04 - 00:04:26:08

Brian Paulson

Prior to 2007? I did it myself. I was wearing too many hats. I was trying to be an accountant and a bookkeeper and a sales salesperson and and the owner and, and then in 2007, I found another organization, called passbook and kind of got my head straight where I need to focus is the owner and sit in that chair and not in all those other chairs.

00:04:26:10 - 00:04:46:22

Brian Paulson

So I went from 2007 to 2020. I had a sales person that worked here and just won. And and his job was to bring on clients. And, and then sometimes we have a part time, part time telemarketer to help get leads. But, you know, that's what we have. We know we didn't have the same sales person for 13 years.

00:04:46:22 - 00:05:06:10

Brian Paulson

We had some turnover there. But but that was our model. And then Covid hit in 2020 and, the government went crazy and said, you got to have you got to work from home and you gotta do this. And, and I was thinking, well, we're, we're going to lose. We might lose customers. We might our business might shrink.

00:05:06:10 - 00:05:43:03

Brian Paulson

Because of all this. I got to do something to prevent it from shrinking. So, initially I reached out to a different company, from impact, and it was all about building a new sales and marketing department, and and then later, later, I got referred to impact to help to help finish that. And, and impact is the organization that, you know, created the business model that we have with, with the videographer and the content writer and the HubSpot website specialist.

00:05:43:05 - 00:06:08:03

Brian Paulson

And then we have two sales people, and all those people went through, impact training, but we did it, the investment started in 2020 when when other businesses weren't doing anything. I said we got to do something. And so that's when I started on this path. Read the book. They ask you answer in 2021.

00:06:08:05 - 00:06:32:09

Brian Paulson

And then in the summer of 21 and then I think signed up with you guys around the first of the year, 2022. And then, you know, like I said, we had already done some work on enlarging the sales and marketing team. We had some of the people in place, we finished that process with, impacts help and guidance and, and you guys, you guys helped me.

00:06:32:14 - 00:06:54:09

Brian Paulson

And in some cases, you help me with recruiting and hiring. You definitely helped with training. I couldn't have trained the people that I have. And and now we've got, we've got a solid, you know, those five people in our sales and marketing department, the two sales people, the HubSpot, HubSpot website person, the content writer and the videographer.

00:06:54:11 - 00:07:07:06

Brian Paulson

That's a group of five that, the last one, they've all been here at least three years. So we've had no turnover on that in the last three years. And I don't, I don't I hope not to. Yeah. Good. It's a good team.

00:07:07:12 - 00:07:26:23

Alex Winter

Yeah. It's it's a great team. And that's, that's really, interesting to hear because I feel like most accounting companies don't have an internal marketing team like that. So from, from your standpoint as the leader, you read the book, you got bought into the idea of implementing the system. Were you what was that like, trying to build out this team?

00:07:26:23 - 00:07:44:21

Alex Winter

Were you were you nervous or were you you had said that like you never done this before. This wasn't really your forte or like your your, like, area of expertise. And yet you've built out this great team and you're having great success with that. So what was that like for you as you were, as you were scaling and building this, this team together?

00:07:44:23 - 00:08:20:10

Brian Paulson

One thing I've learned over the years and decades, I've gotten better and better at hiring and and just recognizing the and not so much the skills because I couldn't train a videographer, but recognizing the type of person that I that I want on board. So I'll take a little credit for that. But, but otherwise, I, I don't mind taking risks, you know, engaging with the, with impact, engaging with the company I was using before that for the same purpose.

00:08:20:12 - 00:08:21:12

Brian Paulson

Huge investments

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Brian Paulson

I had to put money on the payroll before increased revenue came in, because I had to get these people hired and trained and up to speed. So huge investment. But I've always been a believer in investing and investing in my own business.

00:08:38:01 - 00:09:01:16

Brian Paulson

If you, all of us, almost all of us are happy to, to invest in the stock market will give we'll willingly give our money to a financial planner and say, here, make this grow. But a lot of business owners are hesitant to invest into their own business. I've never been that way. I, I mean, talk about legalized insider trading.

00:09:01:16 - 00:09:28:11

Brian Paulson

Who knows your own business better than you do? So I will always invest in my own business, and, and, and I'll always take risks to make it grow. And I used to tell my team we are going to follow every thing that impact tells us to do. We're going to do it because if it doesn't work, we don't want it to be because we didn't do something they said to do.

00:09:28:17 - 00:09:57:07

Brian Paulson

If it doesn't work, we want to be able to go back to them and said, hey, you guys said this and this and this, and it hasn't worked. Not that I wanted to do that, but because everything's worked fine. We haven't had to do that, but I do. I believe in investing into my own business. And then I believe in, outsourcing and hiring firms like impact to, to be, because they're the experts in the, in, in areas that I'm not an expert.

00:09:57:08 - 00:10:05:01

Brian Paulson

And following their advice in the areas that I don't know and that's what we've done. That's why I've always done that.

00:10:05:03 - 00:10:20:21

Alex Winter

I admire that very much. So and I think you make some I think you make some really great points. You people invest in the stock market, like you said and don't, and they're hesitant to invest in their own business and into themselves. And I've always found that fickle as well. I've always been puzzled by that. And it's a great point that you make.

00:10:20:21 - 00:10:42:10

Alex Winter

And I think to to to take that step it during Covid. Covid was a scary time, especially in the beginning. Nobody really knew what was going to happen and which way was up or down. And it sounds like you really double down on making an investment and focusing on like, this is an opportunity and we're going to we're going to push forward and we're not going to we're not going to like hold back basically.

00:10:42:12 - 00:10:50:10

Brian Paulson

Yep. Because, think of it this way. When the housing markets down by a house, totally. When the stock market tanks buy.

00:10:50:10 - 00:10:51:13

Alex Winter

Stock, buy stock. Yeah.

00:10:51:18 - 00:11:13:14

Brian Paulson

So many people do the opposite. So many people. Stock market tanks. Oh, Castle. Castle, you got to operate when you got to buy low. And so when, when Covid hit and other businesses weren't doing anything, it's like, I'm got to invest into mine because I don't want to be like the rest and watch my business shrink. So, I mean, the restaurants did it too.

00:11:13:14 - 00:11:42:21

Brian Paulson

They invested some money. They all of a sudden they made they made, carryout and delivery a a big deal. So I did the same thing in 2007 and 2008 when that recession hit. I started, I started my payroll department, during that recession. Just, I don't know, recessionary times are the times that you got to do stuff and you got to invest during those times so you can reap the benefits during during the boom times.

00:11:42:23 - 00:11:59:12

Alex Winter

That's really great advice for everybody out there watching and listening. You gotta hope you're paying attention because that's that's really sound advice. And it's so true. So can we. But before we get into the results, can you just talk to me a little bit about what were you doing before you hired on the sales, your sales team and your content?

00:11:59:14 - 00:12:08:17

Alex Winter

Manager? Your videographer? What did the content mix look like for KCI before before you started really implementing in this customer's.

00:12:08:19 - 00:12:36:01

Brian Paulson

Well, like I said, we had we had a sales person that, who would bring clients in, on a slower a a slower than what we're seeing with new clients now. We had we had actually bought HubSpot in 2015, and we had worked with an external, agency, marketing agency. And we had they, they had they had been writing articles and blogs.

00:12:36:03 - 00:12:58:05

Brian Paulson

They but it wasn't it wasn't doing a lot for us. You know, we were for four years, 4 or 5 years into to HubSpot and, and then articles on our website. And it really I'm sure it was better than if we had done nothing. But we weren't seeing great results. We weren't seeing the results that that other company had promised us.

00:12:58:05 - 00:13:01:21

Brian Paulson

And we're not, you know, really not even close. And

00:13:01:23 - 00:13:11:14

Brian Paulson

I think, too, HubSpot is an excellent tool, but you have to use it and you have to know how to use it. And if you don't, it becomes a very expensive tool that isn't doing anything for your business, which can be frustrating.

00:13:11:14 - 00:13:28:04

Brian Paulson

So that's what we were using. We were using a more basic version of it because we were paying a lot less than we are now with HubSpot, but we were limited in what we could do. And then when we got with impact, you know, you guys said, well, you gotta you've got to buy all of what HubSpot sells.

00:13:28:06 - 00:13:49:14

Brian Paulson

And then you guys showed us how to use it, and you guys overhauled our website, actually created a new website for us, HubSpot website. And but yes, to get to your from before we, you know, we had some articles on the website. We did, we did we have we're not using a videographer in any way, shape or form, okay.

00:13:49:16 - 00:14:15:23

Brian Paulson

We had nothing going on with video. We had some going on with articles, but they for the most part were, no, I don't think any of them were written as well. As our current writer writes. She has, you know, she's been here several years now. So she has actually gone back and rewritten some of it. We've we've removed some of it, you know, some of it was good, you know, so but we've we've cleaned it up.

00:14:16:02 - 00:14:39:11

Alex Winter

Yeah. Trying to optimize it. That makes sense. So going from that to where you are now, what is the content mix look like and what's the team producing and how does that affect your your sales team? I mean, you know, we spoke with Ryan and Hunter. What's it like for them talking with prospects that are educated in that area, reading, reading your content, watching your videos and experiencing all the stuff that you're putting out into the world?

00:14:39:13 - 00:15:09:22

Brian Paulson

Well, they like it. It's it's what you guys call assignment selling. That's right. So we we have a lot of articles and videos on the website on YouTube and in places like that. But then Hunter and Ryan, the salespeople, when when a prospect is reaches out and says, hey, I've found you on YouTube or I found you, found you on your website, they they can choose certain articles, certain videos to say here, here, watch these, read these.

00:15:10:00 - 00:15:34:14

Brian Paulson

And then we'll schedule a and then we'll schedule a first meeting. Sometimes the prospects that find us have already, you know, we can tell what they're what they're doing on our website. So sometimes they have already, read a lot of things and watched a lot of things. Sometimes they have. Sometimes they've just poked around and submitted a form.

00:15:34:16 - 00:15:54:18

Brian Paulson

So. But I know they're using assignment selling. I know they I know they like that. It's a it's also a way to disqualifying, a prospective if a prospect reaches out and it's, it's for a service or it's a size of business that we don't work with. We can we do turn away business to and we help.

00:15:54:20 - 00:16:04:00

Brian Paulson

We help the, oftentimes help those people find the right, the right fit for what they need. Even even if it's not us.

00:16:04:02 - 00:16:24:16

Alex Winter

That's a huge piece. And I think that's something that a lot of business owners and sales teams don't discuss as often as they should. And I appreciate you saying that where you're looking for the right fit, because a lot of times sales sales folks are like, it's numbers just bring people in and we'll close them, but you end up wasting a lot of time and effort on people that aren't qualified or that aren't a good fit.

00:16:24:21 - 00:16:37:12

Alex Winter

And it's it's not great for the sales team. It's not great for that potential prospect. So to really get ahead of it and use the same in selling is a great way to build trust. And then if it's not a good fit, you can be very open and honest about it and hopefully point them in the right direction.

00:16:37:12 - 00:16:41:03

Alex Winter

I really respect and love that you guys are doing that. I think it's great.

00:16:41:05 - 00:17:02:08

Brian Paulson

Yeah, and also, Hunter and Ryan know that, if even if they tried to to enroll, if they signed up a client, got some money down, tried to bring it in, myself or somebody else would, would say, no, this this doesn't work. So, you know, they know that they they know they they know the ideal client profile.

00:17:02:08 - 00:17:22:18

Brian Paulson

They know what, what fits and what doesn't. Hunter gets a lot of online reviews from people that he doesn't bring on board. Because they're happy that he is, honest with them and that he help the lady that he recommends. You should go to this kind of an accounting firm instead. They, you know, kind of thing.

00:17:22:18 - 00:17:34:03

Alex Winter

No kidding. So he's getting positive reviews, even though they're not customers like, they they might not have converted as a customer, but the experience is so good, they're still giving him a positive review if.

00:17:34:05 - 00:17:56:17

Brian Paulson

He gets Google reviews, from people like that because he he helps them, he probably asks them. He probably asks them for the review, but they're happy to do it because he tells them upfront, why? Our company and theirs isn't a good fit. And then he goes one further and says, you should work with this person instead.

00:17:56:19 - 00:18:15:04

Brian Paulson

A lot of it, a lot of it is, is where it's too small because, you know, we do monthly accounting for business clients, and if someone reaches out and they just need a personal tax return done and they don't own a business, we will refer them somewhere else. Or if they have a startup company that's too small, we will refer them somewhere else.

00:18:15:04 - 00:18:37:23

Brian Paulson

Or if they have a, there's, there's sometimes where they want us to do certain certain services, certain certain aspects of accounting that we don't do right where we from somewhere else. But we won't just we won't just dump them, you know, we'll try. We'll try to, to to help them find the solution they need.

00:18:37:23 - 00:18:59:10

Alex Winter

Right. Just because they don't fit your ideal customer profile doesn't mean that they're not worth your time, or that you can't still build trust or help help people in a meaningful way. That's really cool. So, so you'd mentioned earlier, about the coaching program and about working with impacts coaches and trainers. I'm curious how let me ask you this way, why was that so important for you as the leader of this business?

00:18:59:12 - 00:19:06:21

Alex Winter

To really get buy in and to get the team to be accountable and to make sure that they're implementing the system correctly.

00:19:06:23 - 00:19:38:18

Brian Paulson

Well, it was important to get buy in so that your staff is on board. But, as far as the training and coaching, I can help an accountant get up to speed, but, but I, I can't do that with a videographer. Or, or a content writer or the HubSpot website specialist. I can help a salesperson a little bit get up to speed, but, we work with Chris Dupre, and and that was much better sales coaching and training than I could have done.

00:19:38:20 - 00:19:57:21

Brian Paulson

I just, you know, I think I said it earlier, if, if, if I can't do it or if I choose not to do it, if I don't have time to do it, I want to hire someone that can. I want to hire hire someone that will be the best solution to get my team up to speed. Because there's, I couldn't, I couldn't get,

00:19:57:23 - 00:20:20:20

Brian Paulson

So I mentioned starting the payroll department back in 2008. I've never worked in the payroll department. I can't train if we hire a new payroll staff member. I can't train that person. So I think it's important for a business owner to recognize that he or she can't do it all and to, outsource what they can't do or enforce it.

00:20:20:20 - 00:20:42:04

Brian Paulson

You know, if they have a if they have another internal employee that can do, a for example, I have, I, you know, I have a payroll person that can treat another payroll person. So you know, I call that insourcing. You know, I'm not going to do it right. I need to stay in my seat as the owner and guide and guide and grow the company and not try to do it all.

00:20:42:06 - 00:20:46:01

Brian Paulson

Especially the things that I can't do. And I fail miserably.

00:20:46:03 - 00:21:08:14

Alex Winter

Well, again, I admire that because that takes some self-awareness to to have that perspective. Right. And when you're business owner, you do wear a lot of hats, and there's only so many things that you can do before things start to slip into fall or outside of your area of expertise. So to have a coach or a trainer or somebody that can come in that can help, that is an expert in that specific niche or field or whatever, it really makes a big, a big difference.

00:21:08:19 - 00:21:19:10

Brian Paulson

So that's just I mean, if you're gonna if you're going to invest into hiring the person, invest a little more into making sure they get trained and up to speed properly. Yeah. You know.

00:21:19:15 - 00:21:38:07

Alex Winter

Yeah. Couldn't agree more. Well said. So my next question and this is this is a little bit more about like stats of the business. I'm just curious. So it was 2020. You realize you know the economy was where it was at. Covid was hitting you embarked on this endless customer journey. You've implemented all this stuff. You have this team built out.

00:21:38:09 - 00:21:50:20

Alex Winter

What what growth have you seen or like? Can you share some numbers with us as far as like, maybe some revenue numbers or, or just something to paint the picture for our listeners and our viewers out there about how it's impacted your business.

00:21:50:22 - 00:22:25:20

Brian Paulson

Yeah. So, we've grown. So I did one acquisition, two, I bought another firm, in 2023. So that's separate revenue then, then the kind of growth you get from your own internal sales and marketing. But, but even if, even if that acquisition hadn't been done, our revenue would be 2 to 2 and a half times higher than it was in 2021.

00:22:25:22 - 00:22:50:07

Brian Paulson

And that's, that's a good that's a, that's a really good number. That's a, and that's, that's from doing all the stuff with, the five person sales and marketing team instead of, oh, instead of a one person with a part time assistant and, right. And then and then focusing on the website and the YouTube and, and, you know, we went and here's another way to look at it, too.

00:22:50:09 - 00:23:16:03

Brian Paulson

We went, you know, in 2020, we were still we were still a company where, all of our, most of our leads were for new prospects, where people we had to chase, you know, we had to pursue, we had to make cold calls. We had to do networking events. We, you know, the sales person that I had had to we had to be chasing people.

00:23:16:05 - 00:23:37:06

Brian Paulson

And you know, now and even for the last couple of years, I know Hunter and Ryan still do some of that. You know, they have they have referral partners and and so on and so forth. But for the most part, all of our new prospects, they're chasing us. They're, they're they're finding us online. They're finding us on YouTube.

00:23:37:06 - 00:24:00:10

Brian Paulson

They're saying, I like what I see. We've got, some of the stuff that Marcus talked about at the last conference, like the, the pricing page and the, you know, all those those five things that, you know, we've got all of that or, set up so that we're very transparent with pricing. They can see they can see the pricing, they can see that we're not the cheapest, but they like what they see.

00:24:00:10 - 00:24:29:02

Brian Paulson

They like the transparency. So the majority of our, I always look at it when a new customer comes on board, I always look at the source. And, how did that cost? How did we get that on board? And it's almost always, inbound from somebody finding us online or YouTube. Other than the the other sources, referrals, because we have, you know, we have accountants that will get referrals and, and order and write referral.

00:24:29:02 - 00:24:49:19

Alex Winter

Sure, sure. Yeah. That's that's incredible to hear though. So you've at least to the business since starting your journey with it and less customers. Is that fair to say. Yep. Wow wow. Double the business. What business owner doesn't want to double down on their business. So Brian, going forward into 2026 and beyond what's the what's the future? Look like for CSI accounting.

00:24:49:19 - 00:24:53:01

Alex Winter

And where do you see it going as you move forward.

00:24:53:03 - 00:25:15:08

Brian Paulson

The same, you know, full steam ahead. You know, like I said, we've got the sales and marketing team. They've all been in place at least three years, some of them a little longer than that. I don't see that changing. So it's a it's a it's a, well, a well-oiled machine. And so I, you know, obviously want to keep the I want to keep that that growth going.

00:25:15:11 - 00:25:38:00

Brian Paulson

The in the you know it does get it does get challenging the, you know the bigger a company gets the more attrition a company has. Attrition is losing customers. But it's, it's not losing customers for bad reasons. It's just the natural attrition. Somebody sells their business, they don't need you anymore. Somebody closes their doors. You know, we work with small businesses.

00:25:38:00 - 00:26:13:13

Brian Paulson

So, so the bigger a company gets, the more attrition you have to replace with, you know, your sales and marketing team has to replace more and more attrition. So, that's not a bad thing. It's just the thing so that, you know, that's a challenge going forward. But, but, you know, first to full steam ahead as far as continuing to grow the business, I wouldn't rule out, another acquisition, but I'm not chasing, you know, it would be of, it would be if someone came to me and said, hey, would you buy me out?

00:26:13:13 - 00:26:44:14

Brian Paulson

That's what happened in 2023 when I did that, when I did the acquisition, is somebody approached me at a business conference and said, hey, I want to sell my business. What do you think? So they started that. I wouldn't rule it out, but we're not chasing that. We're just focused on, internal growth, largely through the sales and marketing team, which is following the, they ask, you answer an endless customer.

00:26:44:16 - 00:26:48:11

Brian Paulson

Way of doing business, you know, whatever. You know, whatever you want to call it.

00:26:48:11 - 00:27:06:11

Alex Winter

Yeah, absolutely. And this customer system. Yeah, it's a great system. Yeah. That's great to hear you mention something to this. A perfect little segway here. My next question. You I see you at the conferences. Almost every conference that we have when we do an endless customers live. I see you in Chicago. I see you in Hartford. Why do you.

00:27:06:11 - 00:27:19:16

Alex Winter

And it's not just you. You bring your team with you. I always see it's usually the Ryan or Hunter or mix of your team there. Why do you come to the events and what value does that bring to your team? Because I see you so often and it's great to see you, but I'm curious why you keep coming back.

00:27:19:17 - 00:27:45:10

Brian Paulson

Yeah, yeah, there are good refreshers there. And when we have, we have found out like so for example, we'll come to a conference and then on the last day we'll usually go to lunch or something as a group before we go to the airport. And we have had like realization moments like, oh, we strayed, you know, we strayed off of of this stuff.

00:27:45:10 - 00:28:09:20

Brian Paulson

We gotta we gotta bring it back. We've been writing articles. You know, one example that came up was, we were writing articles about tax credits. Well, tax credits are fine, but that's not the kind of articles and videos that endless customer says to produce. So we're like, we got to get back to what they recommend.

00:28:09:20 - 00:28:22:02

Brian Paulson

So, you know, and then we had, I think it was last summer, we had a, like, firm wise, we had everybody, 35 employees, all on a virtual meeting with Ervin, even your guy event.

00:28:22:02 - 00:28:22:23

Brian Paulson

Yes, they.

00:28:23:03 - 00:28:45:14

Brian Paulson

Could do, like, you know, to do, like a reset just to make sure every, alignment day, they called it alignment day. It was like a three hour meeting and alignment day to just, you know, because, that's why that's why we go to the conferences. That's why we do the alignment days is because even though we like what endless customers is all about, we would stray off.

00:28:45:16 - 00:29:07:06

Brian Paulson

We would we would gradually stray from that and, and then scratch our heads and wonder why. Why? Maybe things aren't going quite as well and then. So. Yeah. And I like I like going to the conferences in person and bringing in the team as opposed to, like a virtual. If the conferences were virtual, we would still do them.

00:29:07:06 - 00:29:11:06

Brian Paulson

But I like the in-person, meeting approach.

00:29:11:06 - 00:29:27:06

Alex Winter

Yeah. Me too. Being in person is is great. And there's there's an energy when you're there. And there's also so many different industries that you can get some. It's almost like an incubator. You get some really cool ideas and different perspectives that might help you and your business and your content. So it's definitely a fun, a fun event for sure.

00:29:27:08 - 00:29:44:00

Alex Winter

And I'm happy to hear you did Alignment Day. It's endless. Customers seem simple in theory, but when you're when you're implementing it day over day, it's a lot content to produce, and it's important to stick to the plan and stay accountable. And it's that's why having an alignment day going to the events, it does help you kind of stay on track.

00:29:44:00 - 00:30:00:21

Alex Winter

So I love hearing that. All right. Last question for you, Ryan. What would you say for our audience, people listening and watching that are business owners or business leaders that maybe just read the book for the first time, or maybe they haven't even heard of endless customers. What would you say to them, as they're watching this right now?

00:30:00:23 - 00:30:18:05

Brian Paulson

Well, when I read the book I read, they ask, you answer, and I thought, you know, this is really good. And I referred it to a friend of mine, Matt Patrick, and he read it, and he jumped in with you guys before I did, and but I was. But I was thinking about it. I was like, I gotta do this.

00:30:18:05 - 00:30:43:06

Brian Paulson

This know you heard me from the book, you know, basically. Okay. And then the. Yeah, the endless customers, you know, kind of tweaked it a little bit, but it's basically the same, the same approach. I just read it and, and and said this, this makes so much sense. I want to do this. And so then I reached out to, the impact.

00:30:43:06 - 00:30:58:09

Brian Paulson

And you guys did, you guys did the same as selling on me. I had I had to watch hours worth of videos before, before you really talked to me. And so I did that, and, and then I decided to make the investment, so I.

00:30:58:10 - 00:31:25:14

Brian Paulson

Guess what I'd say to others is if. If the book Grahams here, if you love, if you like the the system and think it's the the way of the way of the future, don't hesitate to invest in your own business. Because just like we talked about earlier with if you're willing to invest into other people's companies, invest into your own, believe in yourself.

00:31:25:14 - 00:31:48:12

Brian Paulson

Believe that you can that you can make it. You can make your business grow. I've often thought that at best, a business owner that's that's too scared to invest into their own business. Some of them, some of them don't believe in themselves. They they don't. They don't think they could. They don't think they could do it.

00:31:48:14 - 00:32:01:06

Brian Paulson

But I couldn't either. I try to do it all, but you gotta you gotta outsource. You gotta roll the dice sometimes and you gotta, you know, if you if you believe in it and then you got you got to do it.

00:32:01:08 - 00:32:05:05

Alex Winter

You gotta do it. And you gotta believe in yourself. That's that's number one. Yeah,

00:32:05:07 - 00:32:17:19

Alex Winter

Well said. Well, you clearly have done an excellent job implementing endless customers with your business. And it's it's paid off. And I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show and to share your story with everybody today.

00:32:17:21 - 00:32:23:11

Brian Paulson

Again, thanks for having me. How will I know when I can watch it? Like, when will it be? Will it be broadcast?

00:32:23:16 - 00:32:35:03

Alex Winter

Will be coming out very soon in the next couple of weeks. And for everybody out there watching, listening, stay tuned. Because we're also going to be talking to Brian sales team in the near future here as well. So Brian, thank you for your time and thank you for being on the show.

00:32:35:05 - 00:32:37:07

Brian Paulson

All right. You're welcome. Have a good day.

00:32:37:07 - 00:32:43:05

Alex Winter

All right. You too. And for what? They're watching and listening. This is endless customers. I'm your host, Alex Winter. We will see you on the next episode.