You May be Making Decisions in the Dark - Jacques Santucci on Financially Preparing your Business for the Future

Speaker A: Foreign.

Speaker B: Welcome to the Enlightened Family Business podcast. I'm Chris Yonker, advisor Life Journey Sherpa and a guide to families who are ready to build their future from a deeper place in a world. We're most focused on structures, documents and money. We go further, we explore what really creates sustainable continuity, clear communication, inner awareness, family alignment and custom fit governance that evolves with your values and your vision.

Speaker A: Here we talk about the full spectrum,

Speaker B: strategy and spirit, leadership and legacy, conflict and connection, performance and well being. Because the future of your family business is not just about what you build. It's about how you live, love and lead together.

Speaker A: Let's begin. Jacques Santosci is a owner of Operator of a Copus, uh, consulting. Uh, they are a firm out uh, of Portland, Maine. Um, they work nationally. Um, and I, I met him through a client actually I was working with a client who had brought in their services and I was impressed with how they were helping my client navigate some of the changes and growth that the, the family was having. And I oftentimes see family businesses underutilizing the expertise of CFOs and also perhaps not preparing the rising generation as well as they should in regards to financial acumen. Uh, these are the conversations that uh, Jacques and I go through in regards to what's the difference in a controller, a bookkeeper, a cfo? When do you need to have a cfo? Why would you want to have a cfo? Um, what are the things that you should be looking at on a regular basis? What are the challenges that can, that you can learn about in advance when looking at financials and how to develop the rising generation to understand what uh, what the financials say and, and how to make decisions with these financials in the future. Um, so some great conversation here. Um, well worth listening to and let's get to the episode. Jacques, thank you for taking time uh, being here, um, but you're not far, you're only a little over an hour away from me here, uh, in New England. I, I do appreciate you um, taking time out and um, we actually, I'm not going to get into who they are, but we, we share a family business client and I was happy to, to, to meet you through them and I'm excited to talk about the work that you do through the lens of how families um, might think about how they run their businesses and the decisions they might make going in the future. So thank you.

Speaker C: Well, thanks for having me. Yes, indeed. It's great, great to be here with you and I know we have a Lot of things in common and I'm glad I can be here to share.

Speaker A: So let's start with a bit about you in relationship to uh. A little bit about me.

Speaker B: Bio.

Speaker A: What brought you uh, to where you are now? If we go back a little ways, uh I think everyone's journey is interesting and people like to hear a little bit about folks journey uh in the personal lives.

Speaker C: Yeah, no it's true. We all think that we know where we're going but our journeys are all different and changing all the time. So my name is Jackson Tucci and um, I'm the president of Opus Consulting, business management consulting firm. And as you may not think uh, based on my accent I am from France originally. And my journey actually took uh, different turns until I found my, my path. I guess I found my people uh, you know just to start with the end. I'm also the treasurer of the uh Institute for Family Owned Businesses. A great organization that um, promotes uh, good family business practices. But it all started on, on my side uh, you know after college. Went to college in France. Did a ah business management school and already was in business. But that doesn't come from a family orientation uh at all. My, My family is uh, not at all into business. I'm actually just the, the. The black duck of the family. The only one who went on business on my own. But I started at uh doing audit after college and that's when I realized the difference uh between businesses. The small medium size uh, uh big corporation and how they act differently and how they have different uh base for uh, decision making. Then uh. I went to work for Universal Picture. After this I went with the big companies right. And uh, uh you know the reporting, the, the the the diligence, the the all the controls that can be in a big thing is um. Most of them of course are really really well you know it's a. Old, a well old machine. And uh. Moved to the United States of uh. In late 1999. I was hired by a French English group when they bought a company here in Maine. And as you can imagine I didn't think I would be here working in Maine. Uh but it brought me a different perspective. The, the US entity was a uh, small uh, family owned business in the yacht charter industry. And uh, I was brought in as the cfo but also to turn around the company because the company was, was suffering. And I discovered a different level of, of uh. Connections of decision making. Different country too. So you know I was uh, very like you know four dimensions for sure. But really the Change happened. Um, well I'm going to pass. You know how not uh, easy it is to uh, immigrate to a different country and Visa and things like this, that's for another day. But um, you know I became the chief financial officer for a local company here in Maine that was a private lender, uh, with a line of credit and uh, offering loans, you know uh, to uh, to different companies. That's when I really realized what a small, medium sized business is and how connection is important, how diligence is important and how process is not always uh, in place. Uh, I implemented a uh, loan committee that was not there. And uh, uh when you start reviewing those companies, when you have to give half a million dollar, a million dollars for this or that, you realize some companies they have an idea but they are ah, not set for success. They not setting themselves up ah for success. And um, there again I was uh, there to also help that uh, lending company to get to its next level. Uh now 20 years ago, we're in 20, 26, 20 years ago. Looking back at ah, why I was hired, what I was doing, why I like, what I was doing. I realized what I like to do is fixing problems and um, um um what I like to do and what I'm hired for is finding solutions and put them in place. So started to go the route of professional services and offer my uh, advice, my thoughts on how a business can uh, uh, do better. And it takes different side, it takes different shapes. Um, so OPUS has been uh, in operation for now 17 years I think this week. And uh, we're a team of 15 and over the past 17, 20 years because of course I started a little bit of a different path and came back. It's been uh, always focused on what is the business problem and help people understand what their problems are and put words and numbers into it and then find a solution. And our uh, uh clients are uh, most of the time uh, uh privately owned, uh, small mid sized businesses, uh, a lot of uh, family owned businesses. Hence why I'm involved in the, in the institute of family owned businesses. And they all looking at one thing and that's what we bring to them. Clarity, clarity about uh, the future, how they can make better decision. And our lens is from a financial process, a financial reporting.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: All that with a French accent which makes it a lot better I think.

Speaker A: Mhm. So from my experience family businesses over time they're growth directed and as time goes on they get larger and as you grow you end up with new challenges that you didn't have before, like you said, as you scale and grow. And I thought it'd be interesting to talk a little bit about the difference between a bookkeeper, a controller, a cfo. These different titles, things you hear about, um, and they all have a merit, they all have ah, a role to play. Um, but I find often that families that I've worked with who would benefit from a CFO don't have one or access to one. But I'm not sure they even in their head have really thought through these different layers of folks that can seat, can sit on a financial team and the value they can provide. Can we talk through those roles?

Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh, and interestingly over the past five, six years our fractional CFO services, ah, uh, have created a lot of uh, questions and clients are interested in. So that's something that I've been

Speaker A: um,

Speaker C: promoting to businesses is that the bookkeeper is not the person that's going to do the tax return. The controller might not be the person that is doing the bookkeeping or is doing all the advice that you need to grow the company. But overall it's, it's different titles for a process where the financial advisory team in house or outsourced is supposed to help the company make more money, be more efficient and continue to grow. So I hear a lot of time I have the advisory I need, my CPA is doing it and all of my friends are CPAs and they're great but they look at it from the lens of a tax return. I have all the advice I need sometimes, well at the end that's where the break is. Bookkeeper is day to day or more or less day to day. Data entry, entering uh, invoices to pay, uh, sending invoices to clients, collections, payables and uh, making sure that payroll is done and similar type of task. But usually analysis, usually reporting is not in that uh, uh, position. Uh, okay, next. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay, so with controller. So what's the difference between a controller and a bookkeeper then? So bookkeepers.

Speaker C: Yeah, I was about to say. So the controller is really there to help the bookkeeping, uh, task to be done, uh, better. That's where the analysis starts coming in. Right.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Making sure that the financial reports are done on time, that the books are closed, that uh, the payments to a loan are made, uh, looking at trends, uh, creating some reports, financial reports and bringing this to the management of the company. The CFO part, and that's usually what's missing is the strategy part of it. The CFO Is making sure that all this process is in place, it's compliant, uh, on the way to uh, all the compliance reports that needs to be done. But really the key part is making sure that somebody uh, is looking at the financials, somebody is looking at the cash flow. Uh, there's uh, a cash flow forecast, there's a budget in place, there's analysis compared to budget. If there's a need for uh, cash, uh, need to invest, need a loan, things like this the CFO is looking at what is needed, is vetting the assumptions and then start to work with the ownership on, you know, optimizing the financing and things like this. All this getting towards uh, you know, the tax preparation, which is a little bit of off on that path to grow the business. So bookkeeper, uh, to cfo, it's a, it's a uh, growth, it's a path to grow the company from a financial uh, perspective.

Speaker A: Mhm. And like I found that there's a lot of value in having someone who can see your debt structure, someone who can think through, do we make this decision? How do we finance decision? Do we use cash, do we use line of credit? If and when and how. If we're um, maybe in a weird financial cycle right now, how do we navigate this? Having someone at the seat who understands the options, who's navigated the waters before and knows how to prevent problems can be pretty instrumental. Is that, would you say that's pretty accurate?

Speaker C: No, that's pretty accurate. You see, um, numbers are present. Present is already in the past, right? Whatever we're talking now, whatever expenses are being uh, incurred, it's already the past. The, the cash flow of the company is important. The profit of the company or the margins of the company is important. I think that's where the CFO role comes in, is looking at the future. Right. The past is the past. You use the past, use the present to make the decision for the future. But for most companies, right, June, July, sometimes even the whole summer season is already in past. Right. There's not much they can change because it's already in motion. The critical uh, part that uh, is needed is that um, what's happening at the end of the year? How are we going to uh, get better financing? Uh, do we need financing? Some clients come to us saying, hey, I'm out of cash, I need to get a uh, loan or I need to uh, borrow for this or that. Well, at the end it's more of a gut feeling than uh, uh, uh, potential decision based on fact. And then when you look into the fact, you realize, wait a second, there's all the ways to do it. There's uh, negotiation to be had. Maybe you don't need it, maybe you don't need as much. Um, so all this is a crucial part of the company decision making process.

Speaker A: How does a family know when it's time to start considering these type of resources? Like a CFO or a fractional cfo?

Speaker C: Yes, that, that's, that's a very good question. It feels like, well, my experience, family, uh, businesses have a lot of emotion and involved in and um, they tend not to want to share that financial function with a member outside of the family. And they tend to work on process that have been in place for two or three generations. We had a client, uh, that was talking to us about something that they put in place in the 80s and they haven't changed it. Um, so I think the time to start thinking about that CFO function is when the need for a new type of decision making is needed. You don't, you don't have um, control of your cash flow. Not control of the cash flow in the sense that cash uh, flow is up and down, but you don't even know. Sometimes companies are not sure. They look at the bank account and that's how they track the cash flow. Well, when that's the case and they don't have a three, four, six months, uh, forecast, it's time to have uh, a cfo. When cost of goods are going up and down and a lot of companies right now are suffering. Right. The staffing is hard. Staffing cost is hard, hard to predict. Uh, um, material cost is hard to predict. That's when you need the CFO and put a bunch of assumptions and, and look at the future. To me that's when a family owned business needs to look at uh, the, the time has come to change what has worked for a couple of generations. The time has come to change what happened for the past 10 years when something is not, uh, and control by the management.

Speaker A: Okay, um, let's talk about reporting in relationship to, you know, I, I find that you know, when you're navigating even like succession or let's just say you may have, in family businesses, you may have multiple shareholders.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker A: And some folks are wondering what is it that I might need to know and when I need to know it? And as you look at financial reporting and metrics, if I'm a shareholder, what are some of the financial metrics I should have a regular handle on on a regular basis and why?

Speaker C: Yeah, there's several questions in your sentence here, right? What do you need to know? And also when do you need to know? So transparency, I think, is key. It is what it is, right? So budgeting, reporting, forecasting, uh, monthly reports, it's all about transparency. Everybody is roaring in the same direction. So when is it needed? Every month. Um, is the financial reporting, the KPIs, the metrics should be reviewed. So, um, when I worked at, uh, you know, much bigger companies, um, than, you know, like international companies, I should say, not much bigger, but international companies. You know, the books are closed within 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 days max, right? And, um, you've got a week, uh, monthly meeting, and you have 15, 20 minutes max, half hour to present. That's what a small business should do. But every month, give yourself 10 days, close the books, and then look at the reports. You know, financial, uh, income statement. What. What is my margin? You know, because, you know, a lot of businesses think about sales, sales, sales. Well, reads margin, margin, margin, right? Uh, and these days, more than ever, you have to focus on, on your profit. So what's my margin? And the fixed cost is fixed, more or less, right? So you, you can, you have to look at this so you can predict the future. What's my balance sheet? Every month you look at your balance sheet. Where am I on my collection, right? Is AR going up? Is that more than last last month or last a couple of months? Because if your sales are, uh, just plateauing and your AR is going up, then you have a problem. So you need to collect, right? In any way as the, where are my liabilities? And then you have all those other factors that, uh, outside of cash, of course, that are maybe not just financials, but they're part of the health of the company. What's my turnover on staff? Do m. I need to look at, uh, my staffing level or training levels, uh, uh, incidence reports, um, you know, quality control, uh, all those less financials but still metrics that the business should look at. Having a dashboard every month or reporting package within 10 days. Spend an hour in a room and look at those things. High levels, uh, this is what's happening. So then you know what the health of the company is and you can start making decision. And then at that point, it's a little bit just like all of us, you check on your own health on a regular basis. Am I sick? Am I in good mood? You know, everything's good. And then you don't want to, you don't want to wait too long. If you think that you've got something to go to the doctor. So I think, you know, the parallel might be odd a little bit, but a company is a little bit like uh, all of us, right? You, you got to take care of yourself, you got to take care of your body, you got to take care of your health. That has to happen, you know, in the Next, the first 10 days of the month through uh, a reporting package or reporting meeting and make decisions.

Speaker A: You mentioned how that the financials can give leading indicators of where things may be heading. What are warning signs that tell you a business might be heading for trouble before maybe an owner might recognize it?

Speaker C: Can depend on the company and the industry. But overall all companies have the same way of working. It's sales minus expenses. It's all the same, uh, the same process. Cash flow is number one, right? You got to look at cash flow and have a cash flow forecast. And if your forecast is off then you probably have something growing somewhere, right? And we usually recommend a three months, uh, or you know, uh, three months week by week forecast. And then you can assess every week and say okay, I'm in good shape or if something happened, you can't predict. The second part is to me it's not sales. It's like I said earlier, it's margin. So you can look at your cost of produce producing. Um, so the sooner you can see where you're heading, the better it is to avoid or uh, remedy ah, the, the, the issue. So we do turnarounds, we do uh, we help companies who go in, in bankruptcy, chapter 11, we do receiverships and uh, all those words are part of the same distressed asset. You know, um, um, um, tools, uh, or issues that we have tools to uh, work on. The sooner you can uh, see when the metrics are ah, off the better you can avoid future problem. Cash flow, look at it, it's going. And you have to be pragmatic, right? I think that's something we should talk about is being pragmatic. Ignoring a potential issue is not uh, a solution, uh, for family owned business. Sometimes there's uh, uh, a little bit of a, and I maybe offered it here but there's a bit of a shame to think oh I'm um, the third generation and things are not going like my family's expecting. And I don't know what to say, I don't know how to say it. I think that's the key is putting those things in place. And as soon as you see something that's going in the red, a little Bit then you have to pose and be pragmatic and look at the issues because the issues might just be market the issues might be easy to fix. Um, just have to uh, be realistic and pragmatic and then and uh, and put in place all the things that need to be done to remedy. And if there's no options then you know, it is what it is. But at least you've done everything you can to, to uh, remedy uh, or prevent it.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's um, that's really good. I think even like looking at things like for our top ten customers, um, what, you know, what's our profitability by our top 10 customers? What type of customer mix gives us the most profit? Do we. That is where the margins. Um, and then because also sometimes people like, it's good to know like well if over 25 year business comes from 1:1%, one customer, that could be an issue because there's a lot of risk tied to that. You know these, these types of things we can break down and have an understanding uh, in relationship to where profits are coming from, how and how can really add just things to elements around like strategic planning and you know, where, where is it that we want to double down and, or maybe we're other business vertical or we want to test a new market. Um, all of those things, you know, by having data and information. And I, I've come into some family systems and they can't answer questions because their data is months behind. And that's you know, to me, well actually not, not acceptable. And it's kind of a scary place to operate because you're like, you're working in a huge version of the past. Not only like are you looking in a rearview mirror, like you're looking way like in the smallest objects behind you.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker A: And there could be things that are off course that you don't even have a handle on right now.

Speaker C: Uh, uh, absolutely. We had the case, uh, we started just before COVID and then we ended up uh, being a fractional CFO for them for four or five years until we found a more permanent solution for them. They uh, it's a group, uh, family owned business, a group of seasonal uh, businesses new uh, England based. Right. So the season is from you know, um, um, Mayoral Day to Labor Day kind of thing. And um, they were closing their books and getting their reports uh, six weeks after the end of the month. So when you know, July is your highest month and you're looking at the numbers mid September, might as well not do it right. Because there's no decision you can make. And uh, the reports were not the same for each businesses and they were all related. So one of the things we did is remedy this, right? All the companies ended up being on the same platform, same chart of accounts, same reports closing within 10 days. So now July, right. You August 10th, you can start looking at the numbers. Actually in their case they could actually look sooner, although maybe not all entirely reconciled, but you get the trends, right. So now you can make decisions and you can affect. So let's say that the season is not going too well. Then you can work on your staffing, right. And you maybe save a, uh, few things or you save on, on buying things. Right. Because suddenly you realize I'm probably not going to need all those things. Um, that, that's, that's crucial.

Speaker A: M. Yeah. And the other thing I think can happen too, and I'm curious how you look at this is, is having clean information.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker A: I've seen so many times where folks give reports, look at numbers, make assumptions, and actually somewhere, somehow the financials are inaccurate and now you're using, you know, wrong data to make decisions. I mean how, how do you make sure the information you have is, you know, is, is clean.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: It goes back to earlier, what we're talking about, the bookkeeper versus Controller versus cfo. Mhm. Right. Uh, bookkeeper is data entry. Sometimes, uh, things are not entered properly, um, for lack of, uh, a lot of reason, uh, for lack of a lot of things. But uh, most of the time it's because of supervision. So the controller and the CFO are there to make sure that. Are there to make sure that the data is clean, that it's entered on the right time and if something is missing, can spot it. Right. Uh, sometimes you have to uh, enter something in advance as a, as a reserve of sort. Right. Because you know, you're going to pay something, you know, uh, in August for July type of things and you want to make sure it's reflected. Absolutely. It's diligence. It's uh. And I think that's what, that's what the success of companies is based on is you have a process. It's enda. Uh, most companies hopefully know what their product is. Right. Service or product. Uh, they have to know that uh, this is our business model, this is what we're doing. The financial part is as important as the product they're coming out that they selling. But that's also um, makes um, me think about something else. Now um, those reports are also helping making sure you're selling the right uh, products. So many times companies are keeping a product in their portfolio. Uh, that is irrelevant. Right.

Speaker B: But.

Speaker C: But they want to keep it. Oh, we were doing this. We've been doing this for 30 years. People are buying it. Well, three people are buying it. Right. But that's about it. I had a company, a uh, client, uh, years ago who was doing stamps, uh, you know the whole fashion, stamps received, paid and um, they were losing money on this but they wanted to keep it because they had uh, regular customers and I had you know, family owned businesses too. And I had to convince them that they should focus on the other um, products that they were selling that were making money that more people wanted to buy and reallocate the space, reallocate the tools, reallocate the capital and the staff to the products that were making profit. Not stamps. Right. So they ended up fees. You know, took me a while to convince them but they phased out and then they uh, that product and, and they actually realized afterwards that was the right decision because none of us are buying it now. Right. M. But in looking um, at the reports, looking at the numbers, having clean data. Ah. And being realistic through somebody who is usually a non family member can also help because then you have less emotion, less um, um respect for legacy. Well maybe not the right term but you know, having uh, a problem with legacy.

Speaker A: Speaking of legacy, let's talk about transition, succession and developing the rising generation. If you were going to implement you know, best practices and almost like a developmental plan for the rising generation in a family business. And we wanted to educate them maybe at a family council level or wherever that might be, what would be some of the things that we want to teach them and what are some of the best practices we'd want to get them involved with for. Yeah, as they. Because like this, this is um, a you know it's always a concern uh, for someone in succession.

Speaker C: Yeah, it's uh, probably going to depend on family dynamics and industry. But overall, again there's a common path to the next generation. Um, they don't need the owner, but one of them is going to be the future manager, the future leader. Um, you know, I know there's different schools and um, some still privately owned family businesses put in place. Um, uh, a path. Right. For the future generation. The one I like is when the next generation is interested in joining the business then they have to let the family know and they have to get into uh, a path to understand all the aspects of the business over time so they can prove to the rest of the stakeholders or the rest of the family that they can take the reins of the family business. So some people may say, I'm interested, but at the end they can't or don't want to do it really. They may be feeling that they need to do it and some are really into it. And at that point they not only need to understand the product, whatever the business is in. So get on the line, get in the store, get in the truck and learn that part, um, but also get behind the reports, get behind the desk, get behind the computer to understand how you do sales and how you do your financials. You know, don't have to become an accountant, right? But you have to be able to see the, the, to understand the facts, see the trends, look at an income statement, a balance sheet, a cash flow, be able to go talk to a banker and understand what the banker is talking about, about, you know, uh, they, they debt covering, you know, ratios and, and uh, be able to go talk to a lawyer and understand what the, the, the major part of the agreements, uh, uh, are, uh, in something that's missing in all our schools, uh, high school and college is really business and accounting, uh, classes. I think somebody who's going to school as a musician should understand, uh, business and accounting don't have to become an accountant, but they should understand the concept of debit and credit and balancing a, uh, bank account and that, that works for all of us and uh, because that's what we have to do every day. Well, I think for a family, uh, the next generation of a family business that's, you know, uh, instead of, you know, business and accounting 101, it's probably 2, 201 or 301. Right? You got to go to the next level. So you can, you can, you can represent that, you understand, um, all the parts of what a business is and be able to tell your employees, I've got it, I understand. I can see the future and uh, I'll be there for you. You can represent to your family. I think I have a path there and I can work with you guys to continue the legacy. Right? And this is what we're going to do. And it may be to say, well, we're not going to do this anymore. Uh, although it's been done that way for five generations, we're not going to do it anymore because nobody needs it. But by the way, to continue to grow the business, to get there, to be a leader, it doesn't happen over time. Um, some people have it in them but still need to be cultivated. Uh, so again I think it's a path to success that has to be put in place by the family. Uh, so the people that are going uh, on this journey have all the tools they need to be successful.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's, that's good. So basically organizing and building, um, a process for them to get educated with an expectation that's a necessity, that you can read a P and L, A balance sheet. He understands accounts repayable, accounts receivable. You understand the difference between ah, you know, debt to income ratio and a cost of carrying inventory depending on the industry you're in. All these things that are really meaningful to understand because down the road if you're going to need to make decisions or weigh into decisions or understand how people are making decisions, it's helpful to know the landscape, uh, of where you are and what's happening and what could happen in the future.

Speaker C: In all my uh, jobs, uh, as CFO controller, I've always put uh, time in education. Right. I had uh, talking, you know, first, uh, 10 years of my career. Right. I uh, had supervisors or managers or you know, uh, they were sometimes well educated and you don't have to explain to them. They see, sometimes, you know, see it before you and sometimes you have somebody who just doesn't have it. I'll spend the time to explain to them, well, this is what that trend is. So then you have a conversation going. Right? And in our consulting, uh, practice it's the same thing. We have clients who come to us that we need to fix a lot of things in their financials and financial reporting and things in place. But we also have to educate them. And we've been part of startups too. We help startups get off the ground from a financial perspective. We've helped uh, uh, the owners, the entrepreneurs understand what they need to, and then what they, um, what they need to look at. Right. And uh, educate them because you don't want them to be ah, uh, specialized or very deep in everything, but they need to understand what the numbers are.

Speaker A: Yeah, this is really, really, really great. Great. Um, Jacques, where can we learn more about you and folks that are listening if they want to. You know Jake, because I know your firm does offer um, resources, um, even on the fractional side of things, which can be interesting. And for folks who don't know, um, a fractional CFO is a great opportunity to hire someone who might cost you $250,000 a year on payroll. Um, that type of talent, that type of background, that type of an experience and or Expertise, Expertise. Um, but you may not need that person 40 hours a week. So what if you can have that person oversee your controllers or bookkeepers and or anything along that line for a fraction of the cost and still get the full value? Is that a probably good way to position it?

Speaker C: Yes, that's a very good way to position it. There's also another part too is having the right talents and the right um, service. So I noticed um, that sometimes companies understand that they need, they have a gap there. Right? There's a heaven uh, gap. I'm not controlling my cash flow. I don't understand my uh, my profit. My systems might not be the right one. But they don't know who to hire because they um, they're cabinet maker. Right. So they're great at building cabinets. But that part is going back to what I was talking about earlier is a little bit unknown to them. And so they're just going to go with the easy route and they hire the first person. That seems cool but that's not the right person. And so in our case because we fractional we at ah the service of our client, we come in by bringing credentials but also understanding of different industries and different type of companies. And if something is necessary or need to be added then we can bring those resources. For example if a company uh, needs a fractional cfo. But the major issue is lack of reporting, not closing in time and not the right system. They're using uh, very old uh desktop based uh software versus something that's connected with their sales generation things. Right. That's a different type of skills that a client that would need. Focus on cash flow and then refinancing line of credit. Right. With the same uh, reporting in the background. Two type of uh, uh talents, two type of need. That's where we come in because we can assess what's needed. And then we have different type of uh electrical uh products. Haven't found a better term but to me it's a product. Right. We uh, we, we come in with our way of looking at, at this type of services, put them in place and then if something else is needed then we can uh, supplement it. Uh, we, we a team of 15 uh, and growing. We've got clients uh all over New England and actually a bit beyond. And uh, we focus on bringing that uh, diligence into financial, reporting financial decisions and growth and then adapting to the type of businesses. A uh, business that's growing, a business that's uh, cash that has cash flow challenges. Then we adapt our scope depending on what the business needs.

Speaker A: Mhm. Great. And what, where can we, where can we go to to learn about your firm? Chuck, is it? What's the URL and anything else you want to.

Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for asking. Opus Consulting. And the website is opuscg.com um, uh, we based uh, in Maine but like I said we have uh, clients uh, all over New England and, and beyond New England and, and then we help all kind of uh, businesses. You know you go to our website and, and you'll see the, the how we present it. But we actually uh, look at ourselves as uh, expect expert guides for a uh, business journey. We all on the business journey and then uh, you know, it goes up and down, it's a path and we are the expert guides and uh, we want to uh, help uh our clients to uh, get the best out of their business. And um, so that's how our services uh, have been uh, created. You know, financial strategy, budgeting, uh, performance, uh, monitoring and overall it's really uh, optimizing the cash flow and managing the risk, mitigating the risk.

Speaker A: Well, thank you for being here. Uh, this is a great conversation and I know families uh, will definitely benefit that uh, later listening, uh, especially uh, I think the rising generation specifically so, but, but anyone and everyone, especially if you've been navigating the same way for a long time. And uh, and there's, there's, there's several families. I would fit that category too. So, so thank you.

Speaker C: Yeah. And we haven't, we haven't talked all uh, too much about you know, what, what's next. Right. What's next for the next and next generation and if um, if they need to make decisions about selling or, or changing hands, you know, and how, you know, that's something also we help uh, companies with, is bringing that, that pragmatism about what do they need and who are they as individuals and as a lead, as a, as a management team. Right. And how to help them continue. Uh, or how we can help them make the right decision, uh, for, for the entire family as far as exit or, or buying, selling things like this.

Speaker A: Thank you, thank you, that's excellent. Thanks again.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker B: Thanks for being here on the Enlightened Family Business podcast. If this conversation opens something for you, an insight, a challenge, a uh, next step. Don't let it slip by. Family businesses is one of the most complex and powerful vehicles for growth, both financial and personal. But only if you're willing to do the work on the systems and on ourselves. If you're ready to explore how custom governance, relational clarity and personal well being can help your family thrive across generations. Please visit chrisyonker.com or reach out directly. Additionally, we run a family Business executive forum about every six to eight weeks. You can get more information on this free webinar series@chrisyonker.com until next time, be well, lead with heart and stay connected

Speaker A: to what matters most.