Decisions, Decisions

Jason · 00:00Welcome to episode 154 of The Numbers Game. I'm Jase, and I'm here with Nick and Marty. How are we going today, fellas?

Marty · 00:06Going well, Jase. Going well. Just, uh, given the market where it's at, we're just grinding. We're up early, trying to make the market happen. We're trying to turn this market, uh, The Numbers Game.

Marty · 00:17So all our efforts going into the start of 24. The results will be proven in the next few months, no doubt. So, Nick, how are you, my friend?

Marty · 00:32Hopefully, uh, I'm not popping as much to the audience because I get a bit excited and I tend to pop and, you know, we don't want listeners to have hearing, you know, issues, uh, based on listening to the numbers game. So, hopefully, I'm, uh, a lot smoother, Nick. Oh,

Nick · 00:47good. No, I'm very well, um, yeah, just to, just to lock in what you said.

Nick · 00:52Yeah, it's been a pretty busy start to the year. I'm pretty bullish about the property market this year. I think prices will, um, will stagnate a little

Nick · 01:00bit but there's plenty of activity, so Yeah, it's good to see this early. People are finally back, school holidays is over, uh, Australia Day's over, uh, so it's time for people to, to get real and sort their lives out, which is good for us.

Nick · 01:14How are you going,

Jason · 01:14Jase? Mate, I'm good, I'm good. It's um, always the way, isn't it? Like, it takes a little bit after Australia Day, we always say it. School goes back, things start to become normal again, clients return your phone calls, the emails start rolling in, so it does really feel like we're back on track, everything's ramped up and fired up, ready to go.

Jason · 01:31I am, I'm well, I'm well. Just, um, you know, the, the weather's been up and down over the last couple of weeks in Melbourne. There's the odd hot day here and there, but I, uh, went to just an upfront reminder for everyone out there to go and see your skin specialist. If you haven't had your skin cancer check, I, uh, have a.

Jason · 01:47Painful leg at the moment. I had to have an injection, like at the anaesthetic or whatever to kill the pain. And then the doctor was like, I'm just going to take this one. And on the spot, he just lanced my leg. I've got a big square hole in my leg and he sent it off for,

Jason · 02:00you know, the biopsy and the check or whatever.

Jason · 02:01He doesn't think there's anything to be alarmed about, but for some reason he wanted to cut a big hole in my leg. So I'm just sitting by the phone waiting to see if it rings or not. But if not, there is your reminder. It's. Summer in Melbourne or in Australia, um, go and get your skin check done. If you haven't had that done, there's your annual reminder from Jase.

Jason · 02:19Here we are.

Nick · 02:20Yeah. We just deliver all types of value

Marty · 02:22here. I tell you what, in the eighties, it used to be slip, slop, slap. Now it's slip, slop, slap, shade. And I think there's something else too. Now it's, it's too overwhelming, everything we've got to do. To protect ourselves from this sun, Jayce. So I hope it's all right.

Jason · 02:38I hope so too, mate. I hope so too. So anyway, we're here and we're talking decisions, decisions with the great man, Marty, leading us on this episode. So why don't we, uh, get things back on track and ignore, not ignore my skin check, but go out there and get your skin checked. But let's get back to what the numbers game is all about and check in on Marty and the markets.

Marty · 02:55What's going on? Well, I think your doctor's made a strong decision, Jayce, to

Marty · 03:00I think it's, uh, wise medical, uh, work there, but I always thought that, uh, you know, the quality of decisions you make in your life. Results in the quality life you have. Um, and I've always thought that circumstances happen in life and, you know, good, bad, and indifferent, but it's what you choose to focus on and the decisions you make out of the current circumstance that can really change the game in your favor.

Marty · 03:25And a lot of the times when we talk to clients, uh, very often. Uh, business owners in particularly, they're very entrepreneurial. They've got a lot of ideas and they want to advance, but they're not quite sure what decision next to take. And as professionals, we could certainly help give guidance around that with the expertise we have.

Marty · 03:46And I wanted to share an example today, um, with a client that I was working with and, and you can see how it sort of. It could become very confusing if they didn't have the advice and they were good enough to own a, well,

Marty · 04:00they didn't own a home outright. They had a mortgage on a home, but they had purchased a franchise and I won't go into names and stuff because that's privacy, but, um, They'd got a franchise for about, cost them about 450 grand, and it turned over revenue of around 600 and profited about a hundred grand.

Marty · 04:20And they were thinking about, well, what do I do? What do I do? Do I buy an investment property in this type of market or do I look to expand and buy another, another business? And it was really interesting. It all comes down to good questions. You know, where are you at? Where do you want to go? And, um, what's important to you were the three particular questions.

Marty · 04:41And, um, the answer to that question was I want to earn 250, 000 a year. So that was the main driver, uh, which makes sense. So buying an investment property. Probably wasn't going to get that person to that point. Um, as their next move now in

Marty · 05:00regards to purchasing the franchise, what they had done in the last six months was really optimize the revenues and the profitabilities in that franchise to the point where that hundred grand profit.

Marty · 05:12Was now worth 175, 000 in profit, plus their earnings, their wage they were taking went from 60, 000 to 100, 000. So they really had done some great work in optimizing that purchase, which is the most important thing to do when you buy a business is extracting the value that's available to you. And the question I asked him was, um, what upside do you think there's still in the current franchise?

Marty · 05:38Like how much, how much further can you go with this franchise? He said, probably only two or 3 percent and I go, okay, that's interesting. But the good thing about it was at 175, 000, all of a sudden he created virtually 300 grand value. So if you're looking at four times profit as the value of that business, now he

Marty · 06:00created an upside, not to mention whatever extra he took on the wage as well.

Marty · 06:04So for him to get to his target of his income. Really, he, he really had to look at potentially buying another franchise. Now I could pick that up very, very quickly in regards to just the numbers. And that would get him to closer to his goal of what he wanted to earn, which he could then. extend into another investment property at that time.

Marty · 06:27And I was just thinking to myself, this is the wonderful thing about business and even buying established businesses or a franchise, where can you create 300 grand worth of value in six months based off your own efforts? I mean, whereas he would have had to wait with the investment market of the market doing what it needed to do for him to get that upswing here, he could just take all his expertise and create 300 grand of profit and 300 grand of value and increase his income, um, in during that process.

Marty · 06:58So why wouldn't you

Marty · 07:00duplicate that on a similar type purchase yet again? And the good thing was he'd used his home as equity to buy that first franchise. So we had, um, this whole equity play in regards to utilizing the business and borrowing 50 percent of the existing, uh, business to purchase the next business outright.

Marty · 07:20We're 50 percent against the next franchise. So we could actually fund without touching his house again, fund that full business purchase on the next move. And then, you know, then we come to choice point in another 12 months, 18 months time, where if he does the right things again, he could have created 600 grand of value.

Marty · 07:39His income goes up to 200 grand plus all of a sudden, and he's in a great position to make that choice again. Where are you at? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What's the next decision? So instead of being confused and not taking any further action, we could really bring him into focus and with some great questioning, um,

Marty · 08:00show him what he could do.

Marty · 08:01You know, tell us what you want and we can show you how to get there based off our skill sets. So I thought, um, that was the It was exciting. And that's what I love about what we're able to do in our professions, that we can give relevant guidance to what the, you know, what the person wants to accomplish and achieve.

Marty · 08:18So yeah, that's the opening. What do you think about that, Jase?

Jason · 08:22Oh, mate, I love it. And, um, Decisions, decisions, like the title of the episode as we will come into it and go, well, how does someone come up with or get themselves into that position to then have to make those decisions and who do they know how to turn to?

Jason · 08:35So I love that these are the kinds of conversations you're having, but I wanted to throw back to you just off the top and say, I feel like asking these questions comes naturally to you. So it's one thing about making decisions, but for the person that, you know, is on the other side, how do you know?

Jason · 08:50What's the right question to ask? How do you kind of guide yourself when you're in these conversations, Marty? Yeah,

Marty · 08:55well, it's very much dependent on the goal. Like even if I have a personal goal,

Marty · 09:00it's where am I at? What, you know, and then I link it to where that goal is and what's the gap. And then creating a strategy plan on how to attain the goal.

Marty · 09:09So it's still always going to be very realistic and attainable, but you like it to be a stretch because you learn things along the way. So for me, with the questioning to a client, it's very similar. If I can ascertain where they want to go. And I can, I can talk to them about where they're at. Then I can quickly formulate a plan of attack on the steps to take to get there.

Marty · 09:31So, and try to simplify it to a point where it's very executable. So I don't want to overwhelm them. It's like, what is the fastest route towards attaining this goal? And given the other thing I look at is where's the skill set of the person at. So. Particularly with that circumstance, that person had given me evidence that they were able to take a franchise that was doing okay and optimize it within a short space of time.

Marty · 09:59So why

Marty · 10:00wouldn't you duplicate something? And the, the other question I asked was, um, have you got the time to do that given you've got family commitments? Is that something you would entertain? And it was definitely a yes, because the other thing to take into account is, Yes, you want to earn more money and build your wealth, but at what cost on the other side?

Marty · 10:20And that's your time. And is that time available to be spent in that direction? So to me, that's the decision point around having a clear goal as to what I want to get to, where am I at? And what's the fastest process and most efficient process to get there. Um, and that's usually where you come to decision point as to what the right strategy is.

Marty · 10:41But yeah, decision is important. A lot of people sit in being unsure and confusion for a long, long time. So to have someone just work through that questioning and those questioning, you're right, Jace, that that's quite intuitive to me. Cause I'm sort of progress orientated. And I think that's.

Marty · 11:00That's what you, you have to be defensive and aggressive all at the same time.

Marty · 11:05So I always think you go take what you've done and use that as a compliment to where you're going, rather than it being too, like, if it's too far a stretch, it might break down pretty quickly. And the person's in a worse position. So I'm always looking at what are the attributes of the person and where have they displayed their ability to do well, and how do I shift that into a context that I know they can take the next step and, you know, duplicate a result.

Marty · 11:35Because sometimes you don't have to be smarter, you just have to do what you do well, um, and, and keep adding to the process. So that's, that's the really interesting thing about decisions rather than being just thrown into the water and saying, Hey, swim, good luck. Yeah.

Nick · 11:52I really like that Marty. Oh, you and I've had this conversation all the time around.

Nick · 11:57Yeah, you can never get a better

Nick · 12:00return on your time than in business, as long as you do business well. And I think, I love what you said there about the goals. What are you actually trying to achieve here? Because so many people think, Oh, I need to invest, I need to buy property, or I need to develop, or I I need to do that so I can create wealth.

Nick · 12:17Um, but where can you have the most impact is, is really important. And from a personal point of view, I did a small development, um, probably three years ago now, three, four years ago, and going through that process and looking at the money involved and the time taken, I've kind of sat back after it and thought, well, I probably won't do that again, or not.

Nick · 12:41Definitely in the medium term, because if I refocus that energy into business, I can actually get much more upside. And this particular client, obviously you've got to buy a, the right business and you're going to have the right skillset and make sure it's in line with your, um, your particular skills. But this particular client has created 300

Nick · 13:00grand in, in wealth or added 300 grand to the bottom line of that business in the space of 12 months.

Nick · 13:07Now they paid 450, 000 for that business. So, you know, besides the extra income they've created for themselves, they've also increased the value by 66 percent in one year. Now you tell me what, what asset you can buy unless you're, um, you're in a speccy stock, uh, which obviously holds a lot of risk, but you tell me.

Nick · 13:29What asset you can buy, um, that would do that. And all you've really done is invest your time. Obviously you've bought money, uh, you spent money on the business, but that was already getting you a return just from a little bit of hard work. You've created sort of 60 percent return on that capital in the first 12

Nick · 13:45months.

Marty · 13:46I love the fact that you're in control of that result, whereas the market doesn't always allow that. But you're in direct control of that result. It's pretty powerful, really powerful. And can I ask,

Nick · 13:56is it easy enough? Um, not sure if you want

Nick · 14:00to talk about the industry, cause it might give a few things away as far as who the client is, but is it easy enough for this client to replicate that by another franchise and build up

Marty · 14:09that way?

Marty · 14:09Yeah, time and time again. So I think, and, and the methodology is maybe a slightly underperforming franchise. And bringing a skillset, which is sort of an engineering skillset, um, to the table in regards to getting the optimization. So they're very high on detail. And very savvy on marketing. Um, and again, if they keep looking at that same sort of segment, which is available, that same sort of performance, which is available and optimized, it's already performing okay.

Marty · 14:45Cause the business is generating a profit. But they obviously can take it to the next level time and time again and keep building that value. And again, why I ask, why that's a good question, Nick, is, and the important question to ask is, have you got time and

Marty · 15:00energy to put towards this? Is this, is this, and what's important to you personally?

Marty · 15:04Because again, I've seen many a person over 20 years go for the money and go for creating value and cook their family. You know, because they haven't spent time there and they end up, you know, doing pretty well in the business, but end up with no one at home. So I always ask that question to say, you know, is this something that matches your lifestyle?

Marty · 15:25Is this something where you can delegate effectively with managers in it and still generate that level of income for yourself and value? Um, and. Once I've recognized that that drive is okay, then it's, you know, okay, well, what's the next step? Let's, let's do it because a lot of times I've found like, you know, and I've certainly been in this situation myself in my early 30s is sometimes you can chase the money to the extent where everything else falls away.

Marty · 15:54And you've got to be really balanced in regards to, and I think people this day and age do this a

Marty · 16:00lot better than back in my day, um, in regards to enjoying that process of building value, um, across all areas of your life and your health and various different things.

Jason · 16:12I found it interesting, Marty, that, you know, for somebody less experienced as an advisor or maybe at the barbecue, when you, if somebody asked their mate this question, the initial response may have been, yeah, you should buy a property.

Jason · 16:23It's a great decision. You know, nobody ever loses money on property. So I think the other important thing I take away from this is asking the right person the right question. Or at least asking an advisor the question first so that you do have the opportunity to be questioned back about what decision you're making.

Jason · 16:40The flow of questions you went through to end up not just that this family wants to grow their wealth but they want to achieve an annual income of a certain amount means that while An initial quick decision to say, yes, buying property is a great idea, may grow their wealth in the long term, but they would have had to forego income per year, potentially to afford to buy

Jason · 17:00that property and service that property, which meant it was actually going against their goal of building disposable income year on year, rather

Marty · 17:07than the word wealth.

Marty · 17:08It would have placed them under stress. You're right. It wasn't, it wouldn't have been the right decision given that goal. So, uh, I think the, you know, that, that's what excites me about that because I think they're doing the right thing for what they want ultimately. So, you're right on point there. It's, um, totally agree with that.

Marty · 17:27Um, yeah, it's an interesting one. I just think like there's so many people that go, yeah, buy, buy property. Yeah. It always goes up 8%. Yeah. Negatively gear, get some tax benefits. And again, you've got to be more strategic to that. Where to buy, where are you going to get great value at the moment? Where's there going to be an upswing?

Marty · 17:46You know, where can you get a great yield? So you're not putting pressure on yourself. So you have to earn more in order to hold that property. Um, again, you can be much more specific on your decision making, not to say you're always going to get it

Marty · 18:00right, but you can be more specific. If you're going into something, get the right professional around you.

Marty · 18:05And go all in. So you have to make fewer decisions, but they're more quality decisions. And that's what I always think with, um, there was a great quote. I heard there'll always be another right or wrong decision. However, true leaders do their best to make the decision, right. Using intuition, science and execution.

Marty · 18:25So again, yeah. How many times do we say in hindsight, geez, I wish I had known that or bloody hell, why did I do that? A little bit more quality time coming to a strategy for your life, um, and getting the right people around you can make a significant difference when you compound that ability as opposed to going, yep, it'll be all right.

Marty · 18:46Just get into crypto, right?

Jason · 18:52So Marty, then I guess as well, what I mean, reading between the lines here, that's not what the episode's about, but if you're a business owner and looking at, you know, the

Jason · 19:00conversation, like Nick saying that, you know, sometimes the best returns you can get is by being, you know, working in the business and expanding your business and looking at those returns, you're looking now going.

Jason · 19:10If you're a business owner, your business is settled, you're going all right. Is this a time to start to look to how you can expand, scale, maybe acquire, start a second version of your business in a different location is now a good time for that. Would

Marty · 19:22you feel Marty? Yeah, yeah. I think it would. And I think the other question to ask is, um.

Marty · 19:28How else could you optimize revenues? Like the big thing is what's the potential of your business in what it does well. Like sometimes keeping the main thing, the main thing is very powerful. How do you do more of what you do well? And we're talking about that in the sales meeting this morning. Like, um, the, the, I mean, the decision point I want every one of our finance professionals to get to is if you want great referrals, you have to be referable.

Marty · 19:56You have to provide great value and what's your point of

Marty · 20:00difference like there are people that can get a better interest rate out there in the market. There's 19, 000 mortgage brokers out there, you know, they can come up with a solution for a client, but what they can't do is provide a simple strategy that could save them 180, 000 Yeah, simple strategies that work.

Marty · 20:17You need to be out in front of your clients showing it and demonstrating the value and showing the future value of working with you. So it's not the bank or the loan that's the benefit. It's the you as the product. We can provide an ecosystem of credibility in regards to our marketing and attracting people towards us, but at the end of the day, it's the individual to display their value and put that client in a better position for meeting them and putting them in a better position today and in the future and working with them for the next 1, 3, 5 and 10 years.

Marty · 20:53But you've got to earn that, right? So it's, you know, if you want to be better, uh, Then the mass market, you have to

Marty · 21:00demonstrate that value. Otherwise, you know, otherwise you're susceptible. And again, that's a decision point as a professional. You got to get to, do I be like everyone else in the majority of the market?

Marty · 21:12Or do I demonstrate something better that it almost makes it impossible for the person not to want to utilize you because the value you've brought to the table. So it's it's very powerful. Now with that. That brings upside of people going, you've got to talk to this professional. This professional is a point of difference.

Marty · 21:32You've got to, you know, friends, referral sources, you know, that, and then that expands the opportunity in regards to generating. More wealth for the business, more opportunities within the business that hindsight goes back into the business as well to make it even better again. So it's like, yeah, that they're the sort of things, decision points that individuals need to make and businesses need to make to go.

Marty · 21:56Yeah. Because sometimes you can go way too left all of a sudden and go, I have to find

Marty · 22:00it somewhere else. But you got to ask the question, what can I optimize with what we do really well? How do I make that even better? To be able to get a better result ultimately. So that's the sort of thing I'd ask in the business in your own business is to say, what optimization could you bring to the table that extends value beyond the general generalized competition in order for you to get that upscale approach without having to reinvent the whole wheel and potentially causing disruption as well.

Marty · 22:29Good to explore, but tell you what, there might be a simple path that could be a big benefit. Well, I think in

Nick · 22:35this client's, um, situation, there's also a proven formula, right? Correct. So they've gone into a business that was, I guess, performing okay, not understanding the industry, but, you know, they've more than, they've, they've doubled, they've doubled the profit pretty much, um, and added, as I said, 66 percent of the value in 12 months.

Nick · 22:53So whatever this group is doing, they're doing it well. Um, and if it's a franchise model, then there's obviously other

Nick · 23:00franchises available. So rinse and repeat. And as, as you said, you do it well. So just, just continue to, to,

Marty · 23:06to replicate. So great salespeople do that. As you know, Nick, it's like rinse and repeat.

Marty · 23:12If you do something well and you're of great value and you, you know, you put client in great position, do it again, do it again. Yeah, it's um. Yeah, do what works and do more of it, um, rather than get too distracted. So Marty, I dare

Jason · 23:25say there's potentially some listeners to our show out there. And then even our listeners might be thinking of their friends who may be in a position like this as well.

Jason · 23:33Can they contact you? Is this the place they should start for a conversation? Because Marty, look, I love the way your brain thinks. I love the questions you asked. And I know that a passion of yours is to help business owners get to that next goal. So is it logical for anyone who this. It's a sparked interest too.

Jason · 23:48They should contact the great man, Marty V. You cool with that?

Marty · 23:50Absolutely. Always happy to help and, uh, guide in the right direction. And, uh, no questions, a silly question if you want to ask it. So, uh, I've heard

Marty · 24:00most of them, but hey, entertain me, give me a new one.

Jason · 24:03Well guys, if you need to reach out to Marty V, the great man can be found on LinkedIn or just go and check out innovate.

Jason · 24:09com. au, I N O V A Y T. com. au and you'll find the great man, Marty. I know many of the clients of Future Advisory that we've referred over that way have just come back raving about the insights, the questions, the care and detail that Marty and the team at Innovate go into in, you know, trying to work out where they want to get to and how to get them there.

Jason · 24:29So I appreciate your time on that one, Marty, and I'm sure our listeners will get some epic value from that. Well,

Marty · 24:330 4 3 9 0 0 2 1 9 9. Pretty simple. Just give me a call. I'm ready for action. So look forward to helping out.

Jason · 24:43Absolutely. Love your work, Marty. This has been another episode of The Numbers Game.

Jason · 24:47I was looking at our reviews the other day. It's been a little while since I've given a shout out to the audience as well. So if you can jump on. Spotify, jump on Apple or wherever you get in your podcast and feel free to leave us a review, obviously five

Jason · 25:00star cause we're here and we love giving value to you guys.

Jason · 25:02And we'd love that you tune in every week whenever we launch new seasons and new apps. So thank you for listening and until next

Marty · 25:08time, keep building game over. ---