April 17, 2021

How2Exit Episode 3: Rudy Upshaw an executive level business banker and financial coach for over 25 years

How2Exit Episode 3: Rudy Upshaw an executive level business banker and financial coach for over 25 years

Ronald Skelton of How2Exit interviews Rudy Upshaw a 25-year veteran of the financial consulting and commercial banking world. Rudy is and has been the Vice President of commercial relationships at multiple banks. His insight into what it takes to work...

Ronald Skelton of How2Exit interviews Rudy Upshaw a 25-year veteran of the financial consulting and commercial banking world. Rudy is and has been the Vice President of commercial relationships at multiple banks. His insight into what it takes to work with banks and his knowledge of wealth creation is second to none. Join us to learn how your business and personal financials impact your ability to buy a business or sell it at its full potential.

Reach me to sell me your business, be on my podcast or just share some love:
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call our hotline and leave a message: 918-641-4150

Ronald P. Skelton - Host -

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Have suggestions, comments, or want to tell us about a business for sale,
call reach me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronskelton/

 

Transcript

Ronald Skelton  0:02  
All right, today I'm here with Rudy Upshaw. Rudy is a 25-year veteran, our 25 years plus veteran of the financial world in business loans, business, banking, and personal financial and business financial coaching. Thank you for being our guest today. So let's just go ahead and jump right into this. So yeah, so my first question is always in my guess no, that's always the first question is tell us a little bit about yourself, start anywhere you want to start. Some people don't start a way back to childhood. So people had some painful childhood stuff, right? But anywhere you want to start where you kind of who are you? What are you about? What do you stand for? Why should our audience be really interested in what you're up to?

Rudy Upshaw  0:47  
Yeah, absolutely. Ron, thanks for having me today on the podcast to share a little bit about my experience and background. And hopefully, I can add some value to folks that are looking at either purchasing, selling, or doing something with their business. So um, so my background, Ron, I, I'm actually from Arkansas. So I grew up in the northwest Arkansas area, and, gosh, what a great, yeah, I'm 52. And so growing up in Northwest Arkansas, with all the things that were happening from the 70s, the 80s, all you had the two big industries, of course, you have the Walmart presence in Northwest Arkansas, and then you have the presence of Tyson and the poultry processing aspect of it. So northwest Arkansas, a very young community. And so it's just a, it was a great time for me to grow up in that time period, with lots of activity, lots of business things happening in that season, Verona did grow up in a very poor environment, raised by a wonderful single mom, I don't really ever remember a time that my mom didn't have at least two jobs going on. At any given time, I had to have two siblings that grew up in the same household. And your mom was out of the picture quite a bit, she just had to work a whole lot. And so we were left to our own biases to some degree. And growing up in an environment like that very poor, we had a lot of food insecurity issues as well. And for much of my childhood, probably up into my late teens, though, really, the way that we got food was, I call it dumpster diving, we would go behind grocery stores, we've jumped dump in or jump in the dumpsters to get food product. And, you know, we would bring that home. And that's kind of what we lived on for much of our lives. And so given that whole scenario, I kind of grew up with a little bit of a fear mentality, a scarcity mentality. And through that whole process, though, it also gave me a really strong empathy for people that struggle with money, that maybe don't really have the skills haven't had the education, or just having flat out had the mentoring, to walk through financial situations, both with their personal life, but also with their business funds. And so I committed myself to really understanding how to manage money, how to manage it, well how to save, to be disciplined in, you know, not running into the shiny objects. And so out of that childhood experience, it really kind of set the tone for what I would do later on in life, in working with clients with their money, and giving them not just that guidance and the advice from a knowledge perspective, but also that encouragement and that support for Hey, you know what it's going to be okay, let's develop a plan, develop a strategy, let's stick to the strategy. And if we do that, things will work out in your goal setting that you want for yourself, your family, your business, so

Ronald Skelton  3:57  
that's awesome. I can relate to some of that I grew up in, I would say in poverty. We lived on a small farm of 20 acres. We, you know, if we didn't grow it, we had to hustle for it. My dad was a painter and remodeler. So I remember, like, we'd open Christmas presents, and then once we got all done, we eat our food. If somebody had a vacant house that we could go work on, we'd go work, my dad had the middle of mentality that, you know, you're either doing one or two things, you're making money or you're spending it. So you know, I always had that, you know, money is something you have to go out and work hard to earn. And my mom was, you know, a brilliant woman. Both my parents have passed away years ago, but my mom worked multiple jobs and everything from gas station attendant to wiring the nuclear harnesses, power centers for nuclear-powered submarines, at a company here in Tulsa, actually called this Nelson from marine products. So I was always around to hardworking people, but there was just, you know, you know, never enough I guess you would say we're always they were always you know, working for whatever they needed. So I learned that. So that same scarcity mentality I learned if my dad wanted to something new if you wanted to boat it was never new is like a used boat or something. We had to go paint on the houses that summer. So we could go get one, right. So I kind of had that everything's within reach if you work hard enough, so I can get that. So you

Rudy Upshaw 5:19  
can I have just a little bit to let you finish your thought? So, you know, Iran kind of giving maybe some of your experience and your background, I've seen it too. It's so very easy for people in business or just in life, to let that scarcity mentality convert into a poverty mentality. Where I'm fearful of things, I don't think I can have things. So I, many times people resolve themselves to this as far as I'm going to get there, there's no other place to go, I'm, quote, unquote, stuck in this role in this position that I'm in. And that is an absolute lie. And the value that I give to the clients that I work with, is that that that aspect of you are not stuck, unless you allow yourself mentally, to be convinced that you are stuck. There's so many opportunities, I mean, we live in the land of opportunity. And so having those experiences that I've had, I'm sure on your side, too. Yes, there is hard work involved. But we don't have to be stuck in the place that we're in, there's so many resources are people that want to help us give us advice coaches, and give us that encouragement and that hope that we can pull ourselves out of that mental thinking of that poverty mentality. So I just want to add that as a little bit of an add. So

Ronald Skelton  6:45  
and I agree, I would never be where I'm at right now was on all the coaching and stuff I've taken on. You know, it's just part of my natural processes. When I hit a roadblock, I go, Okay, who can get me past this, and I go find a coach, or I think I think a lot of that has to do with this, what they refer to as like fight or flight, right? When you grow up in an in a, let's just say a stress situation, you get to choose, you know, a lot of people choose that that's just the way things are. And some of us choose to go, No, I'm going to tear a hole in this thing and change it and make a difference. And it's funny, as you know, I see a lot of people who face adversity, you know it from homeless to wealthiest stuff. And I think something there's something to be said for having that battle that you had to fight, there's when things get a little easier, and a little more comfortable, you still kind of have that fight in you. So but I would I'd hopefully really acknowledge you for what you're doing and coaching others and stuff. Because I have a team of coaches I've used and mentors I've used and I would be nowhere near where I'm at now. And nowhere I wouldn't be able to go where I'm going I'd have coaches now, I wouldn't be able to go where I'm going without the people I surround myself with so cool. So I guess one of the things we want to get into is we're here this is a how to exit it's about selling businesses, creating businesses that are sellable. And trying to maximize the value of something you've spent your life working on your 10 of your legacy, per se. What makes a business let's just jump right into it. What makes a business bankable like, you know, if somebody wanted to do what they call a leveraged buyout, and they wanted to use a, you know, a bank to back, you know, part of the purchase? What makes that work? Right?

Rudy Upshaw  8:38  
Yeah, that's a fantastic question. I get asked that on a regular basis. And my professional, you know, I guess day job, so to speak over the years. You know, there's a lot of facets to it, that the biggest facet is for it to be bankable, is the business profitable. Number one, just very, very basic, you know, is it making money. But taking that a step deeper? There, there are a lot of financial foundations that need to be in place. And I would submit to you you're on and you've been in this for a while. I wouldn't say the majority, but a high percentage of the clients that I work with on a daily basis, the owners and leaders of that company may not fully understand the components of their financials on like, what that looks like. And many times when I have clients that come to me and say, Hey, we're thinking about selling, what advice would you give me the first advice that I always give them is d the first question I ask is, do you understand your financial? Do you truly understand what's going on in the financials because when you go to a sales situation, typically they're going to not just work with a bank, but they're going to work with a CPA, a financial, someone that's very practiced in analyzing the financials of that business, not just for this current cycle that they're in financially, but they're going to review the last, you know, at least the last three years to look for trends to look for, you know, the sustainability of that company to make sure that that bottom line is that EBIT, da structure does that consistent over time? So the first place I always start is, do you really understand your financials? And I just kind of wait when I asked that question to see what the response is. Because typically, if they come to me at that point, especially from a cell perspective, or I'm sorry, from a financing perspective, to finance that transaction, if I don't have a really good feel that they truly understand their financial foundations for the company, then my advice is to have them engage with someone that can give them that guidance and direction, be it a business consultant coach, typically your banks are not going to be that part of that's going to give them that advice, the banks have the ability to provide that analysis work. But the banks, that's a line, many banks will not cross my fiduciary responsibility in making sure the bank because the banks, the banks are going to protect themselves, they're going to make sure that they from a risk perspective, they're mitigating the risk, and so that the point is not going to be necessarily the same viewpoint that a business seller or business purchaser is going to be wanting to come in with. So the first piece is, do they really understand the financials, and if they do understand the financials, they have a good analysis that's been done, then we'll always read on the banking side of things go through that there'll be a ton of questions that we'll walkthrough. And again, the basic premise is to make sure that we have a strong assurance that the financials are very sound and very good at the end of the day.

Ronald Skelton  11:47  
So one of the things I find is, a lot of the business is that I talk to, especially the brick and mortar companies, they actually didn't start off thinking they're gonna go out and start a business, they unless they bought it, right, a lot of these guys, what happened was, you know, they were good at something, somebody asked him to do it for them, they took that one on, and next thing, you know, they were doing another one, and you know, it kind of organically grew into a business. So all of a sudden, they have to do taxes. So they bring something into the fixture books the first time, and then they maintain their books or their financials, at the minimum standard of whatever their CPA needs to see, to get the, you know, to get the taxes done, right. And then a guy like me, or you come in there, and we, you know, unless if they've ever taken a bank loan, they had to clean some of that up, because they're gonna make someone will see certain things, but if they just do this, they organically over 30 years, you know, you can't just bring a business acquisitions guy like myself a bag of receipts, and, and some, you know, you know, things for it scribbled on notes and expect me to clean it up, right? The same way, you know, that you would they, they wouldn't do that to you. But some of the financials I've seen over the last, especially this last year, when people's businesses are distressed, and people are wanting to retire and not deal with it. Their financials were just not really given a deep thought. And it's just not to the industry standard. Do you see that a lot to where that is kind of, they're getting vide they're getting whatever the CPA needs to get their taxes done, but it's just not what you expect to see in a business.

Rudy Upshaw 13:14  
Yeah, wrong with that question. And it's a disservice, for Mark perspective to that business owner. When that occurs. I don't honestly have a rule of thumb, but I typically like to see if someone is even considering exiting out, they're looking forward. And there, they're thinking, hey, you know, in the next, honestly, the next five to 10 years, I would like to transition this business, either to family or to someone outside the company, you know, that that three to five-year timeframe is really, really critical for them to, if they don't have that experience or the expertise on the financial side, they've really got to work with someone like yourself, or a business code consultant to come in and take that time. It is a huge, huge sip, that takes time to turn to time to line up to the port that it's supposed to go into. And if that time has not really spit in that process, they have the opportunity to really short themselves quite a bit of money on the backend when they do that, because of all the repair work that needs to be done to get there. So if they wait too late in that process, you know, there's some opportunity for them to be ahead of the game if they can be on top of it. So, you know, some folks have asked me, you know, can I do this in 18 months? Can I do it in a year, it's like, well, you can but it's going to be a little bit painful. And if you're making transitions to you know, people that are very close to you, there's going to be some issues that may develop in relationships because of that very short timeframe that we're trying to get it fit in. And then Ron especially if we have some type of a life event, like a death in the family or something that occurs, where it's forced upon the next can or possibly even a spouse. That's a very uncomfortable situation to be in. So The more time that is there to be able to prepare for that, it's better plus, it's also, it's more cost-effective doing it that way. You know, if they're in a transition period that they're looking at maybe five years out, starting that process within, you know, three years of that actually occurring, it's going to save them a lot of money. Plus, they'll make more on the back end as well. So,

Ronald Skelton  15:23  
absolutely. Myself and every other acquisition investor that I know of looks at least three years, currently, financials, right. So you know, that's, that's key. And, you know, one of the things I've been finding if their financials are going straight I, I'm a, I come from the real estate world, and I always had the motto that you could be a real estate investor and still be, you know, morally sound and to treat people, right. So I had the rule of thumb, never steal the equity from little ladies, I do the same thing inside of a business, if you're fine, if you come to me and your financials are that messed up, I will buy the whole thing, you know, all by 60%, or 75%. And I'll leave some on the table. Because I can show you when I get done with your financials and get done with, you know, merging a few other small businesses with it and doing what my team does, you'll make more money on that 30%, they could give you for the 60 or 70%, I'm buying now because it's clean, and we've grown it some. So I give them the opportunity to participate on the backside, or I just tell them say, Look, I'm still interested, go clean up your financials a little bit. And we can move that number to where you what you thought you're going to get. So I'm a big fan of that. So one of the other questions I always ask is, you know, what's one common myth in your profession or in the financial institution that you wish just didn't exist? As far as, like just one myth, or one thing you come across in your coaching on a regular basis? I think I know, one that I, you know, I heard you say earlier, but what's the one thing you'd like? I wish this would just go away? It doesn't exist. It's not true.

Rudy Upshaw 16:54  
Yeah, I don't know if it's necessarily a myth. But I think it's the thinking of business owners, that whatever occurs in the business is independent from what occurs at home. And what I mean by that is, you know, just very, very simple things. You know, I, I work with business owners, that man, they've got incredible businesses, it's earning good money, it's very sustainable. But the business owner is not paying their personal bills on time. Right. And so, you know, the thinking is, well, you know, I don't have to worry about that I can, you know, but things slide a little bit won't affect the business. And it always does anything that happens that in the four walls of your house is going to trickle up into the business phase, be it financial, be it relational, I mean, just to be really transparent, right? If we're having a tough morning when leaving the house, and we have some things going on with kids, or there's a, you know, I'll just be really transparent marital issues happening. I don't care how you slice and dice, it all is going to funnel up, right? So so I say that from the perspective of when I coach a business client, and we get into some strategy discussions, I will always have a conversation about let's talk about what's going on at home. Let's talk about your personal credit, let's talk about, you know, are you budgeting yourself. And if I have clients that they're they are opposed, or they refuse to do any type of personal budgeting going on, I have a really challenging time fully engaging on the business side of things, because I've got to know holistically are they going to be okay? As I go through this process with them, because inevitably, everything that happens in the business is a result or an effect of things that are happening in the home environment too. So there are some coaches that they're okay with doing pretty much a scope-based approach to consulting on the business side, without really visiting about the personal things. I'm not one of those guys, I like talking about both sides of the equation. Because I don't want to give bad advice on the business piece unless I have a good understanding holistically of where things going because I could be getting advice strategically, that does not line up and it's going to cause harm to the home environment or vice versa. Right. So it plays in both aspects. So not necessarily a myth, but just some guidance from my perspective.

Ronald Skelton  19:32  
So inside of that, do you ever end up needing to coach both the business owner and their spouse like to bring their spouse on board with the home side because it's interesting, the reason I bring that up is if I'm buying a solopreneurs business, even if it's in an LLC, and it's a single-member LLC, I always want to have a little bit of discussion with the spouse right? And because you know, I know for you know, and I kind of joke around all the When somebody says, What are you going to do is I'm going to ask the boss, right. So I always check with things, it's just marital harmony to make sure that your, your significant others are on the same page with what's going on. So do you end up having to do that inside of this house,

Rudy Upshaw 20:13  
it's very important to what I'll say is I don't have to do it all the time. But if I am finding that there are some gaps on the personal side, that are significant that maybe the business owner has already identified, or if they haven't identified, I can see it coming and see where the landmine is at down the road. And we'll quickly engage in the conversation that you know what we can continue down this path, we do the by really feel like that, we need to bring your, your wife, your husband into the conversation because if we don't, there is an explosion, that's going to happen down the road. And I just want to make sure that I'm giving you the best guidance possible, rather than just continue to go down a path that I know is gonna cause them harm. That's been doing, anybody can do that. So I will do that on a regular basis and have,

Ronald Skelton  21:04  
so are our listeners we got listeners that are buying and selling businesses and that type of stuff. And then we've got listeners that are thinking about selling their business sometime in the future. And if they needed to, you know, they're hearing us, and they're hearing that the financials are really important to be either bankable, or to just get maximum value out of their business, what would be, you know, one place that they could start what's a good place for somebody a book to read, and know something to basically take them from, I just, I don't know, what I don't know, to, you know, being ready to be coached by a guy like you or present their business to a guy like me is there some resource that you'd like to point people to get them started?

Rudy Upshaw 21:47  
You know, there's a ton of resources out there, Ron, and I've read a lot of them, and they all have a different perspective of things. And it's so easy to overwhelm the overwhelmed. So my advice and guidance to them is, if they have a, and honestly, the bank has probably, it's not the first place, and it's probably one of the last places I would advise a business owner to go and have a conversation with, that's probably maybe tier two, maybe tier three, just advise the banker of kind of what may be coming down the pike. But again, you know, a bank's direction is really not to be that advisory fiduciary role for the client, but I would advise them to start with a trusted, probably a CPA that has some guides and experience. And again, there's a ton of CPAs out there to the CPAs do very, very good work. But a lot of the CPAs are very tech-centric, they're not really a strategic centric, you know, in many cases. So the, if they have a trusted CPA that they knows has some guidance in that area, you know, there's nothing wrong, there's no cost with having a consultation, to talk through a little bit that, but they should interview many of them. They should also interview many people like yourself, right, especially if in the real estate space, have some of that background, having those conversations, talking with some business coaches, business consultants, they need to interview several folks. And it's not necessarily as much about the information, the knowledge, because that's important. But it's also about having a fit, working with someone that understands and cares to understand their situation curious, understand their goals. And that can put a strategy in place, even if it means me bringing a partner like you into the conversation. You know, I may be the person who understands everything, but I don't have a specific expertise that they need. So I'll bring Iran and I'll bring a trusted CPA, I'll bring someone else into that conversation, to make sure that the team is really doing the best thing for the client. So that's probably my biggest advice. Again, there's a ton of books kind of literature out there. But I think the individual interaction with trusted people that would have their specific situation in mind, and bring those partners in to help them craft that, for me is what I've seen the most experience out of and the most value for the client. Once everything is wrapped up, they're able to take a step back and say, You know what, that was a very, very good experience because I had people surrounding me that cared about me and understood what my goals were. So that's my guidance and advice. It's really a very personal intimate situation with trusted advisors that come around that particular person.

Ronald Skelton  24:41  
Yeah, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. One of the first things I do alright, with any business owner, like I'm an interviewing marketing firms across the United States, we're doing them a marketing accelerator, an international marketing accelerator. It's actually what we named it international marketing accelerator, but I'm we're In a marketing firm, my first call with these guys is, can I work with you? And can you work with me? So we get to know each other build rapport, you and I did this, right? Like, I do that with a lot of people that I plan on interviewing when I was planning for this podcast, and I found some really interesting people, I just did these one to one get to know you, like, you know, who are you? What are you up to? And can we work together on something, and if it clicks, then, you know, like, I can do something with this guy, I want to help you move forward. In the same way with the business owners, you know, there's gotta be a report, there's got to be trust. And I don't care who you are, how much money you got if I don't like being on the phone with you. And I don't like being in your space. I'm not buying your business because I have to interact with you and trust you for a while after I buy, right? And I'm not going to have any of my I'm not even going to read if I don't like you and you're kind of a jerk or whatever. I wouldn't even refer you to the couple 100 Other mergers and acquisitions, investors that I know. Because I don't want them coming back to me and go, Why did you send that jerk to me that guy's so hard to work with, right? So there is something to that. And there are seven-point don't get discouraged if you're one of the jerks, right, there are 7.8 billion people on this planet, we're pushing 8 billion, somebody out there is going to like you, alright, somebody is going to click with you and want to help you out. So just because you don't click with me, or don't click with somebody else, that doesn't mean, you stop that means you go to eat those have to next consulting, they'll talk to the next guy until you can see eye to eye. Right. So

Rudy Upshaw 26:19  
So let me ask you a question. If you don't mind, I want to interview the Yeah, you are. That's all right. So he made a statement, or maybe just a little bit of a phrase in your, your conversation just now around that song trust. And so I'd love to ask you, at putting yourself on the other side of the desk being the client? What is what would trust look like, from that perspective, looking at you. And this is the reason I'm asking the question, I'll give you my viewpoint. But I want to hear from your

Ronald Skelton  26:54  
perspective. So trust from that perspective is I'm really my job is to listen to what they're up to in the world, what they're trying to achieve, and help them facilitate that. And I can't, I can't gain their trust, and they can't gain my trust, if all I'm in there to do is talk about my agenda, say by in the business, that I probably have more conversations with people where I don't end up being the guy that's gonna feel considered by in their business, then conversations I do or I am the guy. And it's because I just sat down and like, what are you up to? What are you trying to achieve? And if I'm not the right guy to get you to where you're going on this road of life, then I'm going to put you know, I'll connect you to somebody that is, right. A lot of these I've actually had a lot of you'll probably say to us a lot, two out of 10 people that call me they want to leave it to their employees, they don't know how to do it. And, you know, put this out to my listeners out there and stuff. I'm looking for an ESOP, employee stock option plan attorney, you can set them up because I get people to ask me how to do that. And I don't know it's not my space. And I just have to tell him, I don't know. But I'd like to real report with that. So as far as developing trust, it's just are we listening to us each other and helping each other? Create an agenda, an agenda that works as one together? Are we both pushing our own agenda? So if we're both pushing our own agenda, it's going to be hard to like trust is going to report to take a while, right? My job is just to hear you out, figure out what you're up to. And like, can I make something work? You know, somebody calls me and says, Hey, I've got a business for sale. I want a million dollars for it. I just don't blink an eye like cool. Let's see how we get you there. Yeah, I don't know your business well enough to tell you know, yet. Right. So you see how we can get you there. And

Rudy Upshaw 28:35  
yeah, I love that. It's, you know, the listening the being attentive to what the needs are. It's so easy for those of us that are interviewing a client. It's easy for me, I'll just say it that way to impart my opinion, my viewpoint into the conversation, to even offer maybe some solutions before I've heard everything out. And as a doing this for nearly 30 years. What I continue to learn, unfortunately, is I've got to keep my mouth shut more. And I've got to really understand and ask questions, to really dig into the role of why behind the why. Right. And typically, there's going to be several levels before you get to the root foundation of really what's the driver behind this right. And that that cannot be done very quickly. The other thing that I want to just to add to this trust conversation is I think it's important as someone that's working with businesses in this Buy, Sell conversation, to be able to have the freedom and I always tell my clients. Freedom is really important in our relationship. So you have the freedom to be very transparent, very honest with me, with many of my clients. Well, I would say probably with every one of my clients. I if I don't execute an NDA with And then in the mutual non-disclosure agreement, we had that conversation from someone who kind of said, You know what, we don't need to have anything documented. I know who you are, I know what your values are. Anything that we discuss in these four walls, it won't go anywhere. But I always provide an NDA on the front end for my clients, just so that we have a level set of the field, they understand that whatever conversations occur between us, it stays between us that gives them the absolute freedom, to openly share things, it also gives me the freedom to be very transparent, honest with them, if I say that they are doing something that is going to cause them harm, or even me harm in our relationship, I just say upfront, listen, you know what this is, this is your time, this is your engagement. But there's some things that I say that you need to stop. And here's why I recommend that you stop, or that you need to engage with. And so it's that transparency of information that I feel really helps that trust develop. And I'll just tell him flat out that if you go down this path, in some situations, I'm not going to be able to work with you going forward. And I've had many times when clients have come back, and maybe they have made that decision that I recommend they not make it. And it's again, it's their choice to do that. But they've come back say, You know what, I kind of wish that we would have had more discussions about that. Because I think I would have listened to you or you know what, thank you for telling me no, thank you for saying, Please don't do this. Because here's what occurred. So anyway, just one little bit more to that trust component. It's such a huge thing. Everyone talks about trust, right? I mean, everyone's website, everyone's marketing, you can trust us, we're trustable. You know what trust is not happening unless there have been experiences back to back to back that actually show what that trust is. So that I'm not a banker, or a coach that openly talks about integrity that openly talks about trust, no, all those core values, because at the end of the day, it's about experience. And so I just want to throw that out there.

Ronald Skelton  32:15  
Awesome. So in full disclosure, I'm having a little bit of technical difficulties. So I'm going to ask you another question and make you the center of the screen for a second while I fixed my, my technical interest. So how can our listeners connect with you? And then what one piece of advice would you consider most important? You know, if you're, like, looking to like, increase, let's just jump right into like lifestyle. So you've sold your business, you've got this money or whatever. What's the one financial advice you could give somebody if they're looking to, you know, maintain wealth, you know, increase wealth or even create a legacy?

Rudy Upshaw 32:53  
Oh, fantastic question. Thanks, Ron, for asking. Yeah, so I'm actually working with a client right now. And he sold a family-owned business, I think it was in the family, three generations. He actually sold it earlier than he intended. And I think there were some health issues that kind of prompted that. But he's sold earlier than 810, which again, goes back a little bit to our conversation about, you know, being ahead of that curve well, before any event does happen. But he ended up with quite a bit of money. And he's, he's asking those questions right now, what do I need to do with it. And so the first piece of advice that I would have for someone that has actually transacted that's actually sold, just sit, just sit on, don't change a thing. Continue the lifestyle that you're in, and go through that interview process with several folks to talk about the situation what's occurred. I mean, when I say several folks, I don't mean 20 people, I mean, a handful of folks that again, they that you trust that you have an experience with, and let them have that information so that they can be just processing it, giving you some thoughts and recommendations to consider. But don't make any decisions for probably at least six months to a year before you really make some firm hard decisions. If you can wait that long. You know, I've worked with so many clients that I've got another client that recently sold a fairly large piece of property. And this was a client that had not had a lot of experience with wealth with money. The amount was fairly large. And very shortly after a transaction, he already kind of had some ideas of things that he wanted to buy, he wanted to buy some toys and want to quickly and so there was a transition of this fun coming out of a fixed appreciable asset real estate, that that was being deployed into Very highly depreciable assets in a short period of time. And so the thinking of that process really got way out of line. And they burned through quite a bit of that cash early on. Not really spending much time thinking about the legacy component. How do we not just prepare for our children, but also doing some things from a legacy component that really made more value to them long term? So anyway, so just a little bit of thought and guidance on that. So it looks like we may have Ross lon, Ron. Looks like we are still live.

Ronald Skelton  35:39  
There. Yeah, there we go. Sorry about that. I'll be full.

Rudy Upshaw 35:45  
Can you hear me now? Yes, sir.

Ronald Skelton  35:48  
Awesome. So in full disclosure, I didn't pay attention to my kids. I unplugged my iPad last night, and I got done the 2%. So I thought we could make it for 35 minutes. And I was like, I've got this giant. I don't even see it. But I've got the cool giant boom mic and everything else. I had to switch over to just the headset mic and we'll make it work.

Rudy Upshaw 36:09  
Nope. That's what happens when you get along when the guests are on. No, I'm

Ronald Skelton  36:13  
loving it. We're having a great conversation. Right. And so, you know, one thing I do want to make sure before we get even close to the end here is if somebody wants to reach out to you, what's the best way to contact your man?

Rudy Upshaw 36:29  
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you bet. Ron, thank you so much. So website is Rudy upshaw.com. That really is kind of the best access and to me. I'm also on social media on Facebook. Rudy Upshaw. If you just go on Facebook or LinkedIn, very active on LinkedIn, I put a lot of great content on LinkedIn to help business owners with some of those needs. Rudy Upshaw on LinkedIn so really simple, Rudy Upshaw.

Ronald Skelton  36:55  
It is fun content, too, I always see your stuff and you're always having a good time posting. And I'm a big, I'm a big fan of that, right. I mean, life's too short, to take everything overly serious, we got to have fun, we got to help each other out. And that's, that's how we move forward. So, you know, I always ask, this was one question that, you know, before we wrap up here is, who are the three most influential people that influenced where you're at now? Somebody else could take a look at to, like, you know, who, who influenced you in your life? And, you know, you'd like to put on the radar of our listeners.

Rudy Upshaw 37:34  
Oh, man, thanks. Thanks for asking. That is a great question. Um, so influential people from for, I guess? Well, I mean, first and foremost, I mean, I don't mean to be flip about this, but I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. And, you know, there's so many amazing things in the Bible from a business perspective, how to treat people how to work hard, how to follow your purpose, right, let your purpose drive you. And I put a post out just recently on Good Friday, and he just really struck me the example that Christ gave about being purpose-driven, right, and following that purpose, regardless of the consequence, regardless of the challenge that are in front of you. Um, I'll just say, you know, Jesus Christ is probably my number one, without question. You know, number two, you know, I really like the work of Grant Cardone, there are some things that you have to you know, kind of wade through with Grant, right, he's a very strong personality, and language isn't always the best. So you have to kind of wade through that. But, um, one of the books that I regularly listen to on Audible is 10x 10x role. And it's such a motivation for me, because, you know, as business owners as business leaders, when we go through our day, you know, we're we just have all kinds of challenges, right, like everyone does. But the Timex rule for me is like, you know, man, regardless of what's happening, keep driving, keep driving for that purpose, right for that guy, that principle that God has put on my heart, keep driving, don't let up, you know, do it in a very honorable, respectful, character-driven way, but keep driving. So I love that book. And then my last book, and I've got it behind my shoulder here. You know, Total Money Makeover, the Dave Dave Ramsey principles. You know, they're so simple. They're so straightforward. And when I have clients that say, when we sit down in a coaching environment, either business or personal financial, the question gets asked, gosh, you know, the things that we're talking about they're so simple, they're so easy. You know what, I don't really think that we need to engage I think I can do this on my own. And run I love when that question gets asked either from a business perspective or from a personal side usually comes from the business side, quite honestly, because these guys have been or these people have been in this business for For a long time, but when they asked me the question I said, You know what? That's fantastic. Let me ask you a question. Why after all these years, have you not done the principles done the things that we're talking about? And I'm sharing with you? And Rob, when I ask that question, it's I see their eyes like, you know, you're right, I totally get the reason that I haven't is because I just haven't been disciplined, or I haven't had someone to walk with the process. So I get it when we're going to engage. And we're going to engage right now, actually,

Ronald Skelton  40:33  
it's interesting, part of that has to do with accountability, right? Part of the coaching is, I've made a commitment to another human being are going to have something done by a particular date, as a matter of My Word, by God, I'm getting it done. Right. So having a coach or having a mentor that says, here's what you do next, and you go, Okay, I'll do that. You know, you don't want to disappoint that guy. Number one, you're paying them. But number two, it's another human being. And if you value their time, you know, and want to move the next step, you're going to get that done. So I get that, right. So we're coming, we're coming up to our time here. And I want to, you know, hit a couple of points real quick is, first of all, I want to remind everybody how to reach out to you. And then I always this one of my favorite questions is that there's two questions always in with and, like, we've asked a bunch of questions. We've talked a lot about a lot of different things. What questions should have asked you? Right? What did I miss? Or is there a question out there that, like, I should have asked, you said that our listeners would know, so that business owners would know, so that families that want to create a legacy? And, you know, financial? well being, you know, what questions should I ask that would address that?

Rudy Upshaw 41:41  
Yeah, fabulous question. And I'm glad you asked it, I hadn't really thought about it until the present. The question that you probably should have asked me is, as a business owner? Well, let me rephrase it differently. I guess my last piece of advice is as a business owner, as a business leader, relationships are key. And in as we've gotten so tech-heavy, where, you know, we're relying on technology for communication, text messages, you name it, it's all out there, right? That really is not what starts a relationship and what continuous relationship and you got to be intentional with that you got to talk to people, you got to be very intentional to engage with understanding who the person is, what their drivers are in develop that relationship. I mean, it's so interesting, my space in the commercial banking industry. There's so much of a play for FinTech, right fintechs coming in there want to try to take over the business environment. And they are making some headway, especially in the lower-tier small business space. But what FinTech will never ever do well, is that relationship where the banker, the consultant, the coach can anticipate, be proactive, and be working many times, you know, 510 miles down the road for a client, on what that strategy is for them because of that relationship. And it's really about caring about the other person. So my biggest piece of advice for anyone looking at doing anything from a business or financial perspective is to establish a right relationship and interview lots of folks. So, whatever that's worth throwing.

Ronald Skelton  43:32  
Alright, that sounds great. Um, the last question is always going to be what can the listeners or the audience do for you? Or is there anything out there that you need for your business that the audience could connect you to, you know, connect you with? Or just what can the audience do when they connect with you that would bring value to your world?

Rudy Upshaw 43:52  
Oh, well, thanks, Ron. Great question. So engagement, you know, I do consultations I console people on the banking side commercial banking side, I console on the coaching side console to if there's ever a question where someone is listening to your podcast on either and I know you do this on your you're a consultation guide, right? And so if there's anyone that has just a question, or a thought, or what if they need to consult, you know, spend the time engage and say, Hey, listen, Ron, I've got this issue that's popped up. Do you mind if we spend, you know, 30 minutes visiting on it, 15 minutes visiting on it, you're always going to answer yes. Consultations are the key to people breaking through those ceilings that they get stuck with getting unstuck. And so it's the consultation piece. I do them all the time. And Ron, so to give you a little bit of a point of reference, so I consult with people begin at 8am in the morning, and I go until nine o'clock at night, and I do Saturdays, I do a nine to two. And I, that is my total availability to visit with folks. So and I think you're very simple. You have very broad timeframes to make it convenient for people. What want to get amazed with is when people don't go to that consultation process to see if there's even a fit. And many times they come to you or they come to me. And I'm glad they do no question that many times it's an emergency situation, it's that we're in dire straits. We're about to lose a home, we're about to lose, you know, the business, you know, what do we need to do? And we'll, we'll definitely work with them. But man, if they can consult on the front end, my Consultations are free. I don't charge anything for that time. If we do engage, it's a good strategy. And then we go down the next steps, but man console, call me to call you to engage. It's all about engagement, brother.

Ronald Skelton  45:48  
All right. So thank you. And thank you for being on the show. One more time. Tell us, tell everybody how they get ahold of you.

Rudy Upshaw 45:54  
Absolute Rudy upshaw.com with the upshot.com

Ronald Skelton  45:57  
Look at it, your website's really well done. And I appreciate your time, and we're gonna end this here. So thank everybody for listening, and have a great day.

Rudy Upshaw 46:08  
Great job. Thanks, Ron.