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This is Waste to Wealth, a podcast about turning your waste hauling business into a profitable, scalable, cash-flowing machine. And now, here's your host, Michael McCall.

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Welcome to Waste to Wealth. And I've got here Jimmy Rios. We're going to be talking about business. And he's an advisor. So Jimmy, welcome to the podcast. I'm glad to have you today. Oh, thanks, Michael. I appreciate ha- uh, you having me on your show.

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Yeah. Well, you've, it, you, it's good to have you here because I was looking at some of the th- things you've done, and you've been an advisor for a long time, so you work- Yeah. with a lot of different businesses and you've seen a lot of problems, so you probably- Yeah. have a lot of solutions to share, right? That's the idea. I mean, I, I try to really, um, become an advocate more than anything, you know, for the entrepreneur out there. Um, and I've seen it all in 25 years in business myself, right? I made, I've made a lot of mistakes in the j- in the, the juncture and, and the, voyage, I should say, of all the businesses that I've, that I've, uh, put together, uh, sold and lost, right?

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So there's always the good or the bad, you know, because, um, I've, I've had those debacles and, and those, those sad stories too. Yeah. But it's good to be able to learn from our mistakes. It's good to, to, um, find others that can help us in that trajectory so you're not having to feel like you have to do it alone. And that's the biggest error most business owners do, is try to take it on, all on themselves, and, uh, and not find help.

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Right. Yeah, it's a lonely journey, not because you are physically alone but because you try to relate to other people or, or share some of your challenges, and either people don't get it or they try to give you advice, and you get frustrated with bad advice. So, um- Well, remember, remember where, where we're coming from, right?

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We're coming from a plane of, um, of, of being an entrepreneur, which is totally different than just checking in and checking out of a job, right? When you're going- Right. to a place, you're, you're going in, you do your job, you're out, and that's it. Where as a business owner, we carry on a whole set, different set of, of criterium and, uh, responsibilities, and we're wearing that hat every day. Right. 7 days a week, 24/7, right?

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So it's a whole different, uh, it's a paradigm shift. And, and for those that don't understand it, um, you might not be able to understand it until you're in it, once you're in. My wife was one of those that didn't understand until she became an entrepreneur with me, and now she's most respectful for everything that we go through. Mm-hmm. Well, that's good to have someone so close to you that can understand what you're going through. So- Totally helps.

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Yeah, tell me about your business, and who are y- the primary people that you're helping out, and how you help them. So my business is, my primary business is as, uh, an advisor in, in the world of financial services, mainly, uh, budgeting, uh, financing, getting, getting funded, uh, structurization inside your business, taxation, um, a lot of the, the things that many business owners take for granted because, like, I c- I call it bootstrapping.

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Many business owners s- have an idea, uh, or they're, they, they have a trade, something they do, but they, they go out and they bootstrap themselves into starting a business. And they might do well to begin with, but then something always happens, and that's where they then, because of the, the something that happened, is where then they then come to our- us to get help, and where if they would have came to us originally, we could have put some stuff in place and built a blueprint to help them, um, maybe buffer some of that, uh, negativity that can come from being a business owner.

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And, and you just don't think like that as a, as a, as an entrepreneur. You think, "I, I, I know how to do this. I'm gonna go do it, and I don't want to work for somebody else, so go," right? And, and, and I was like that too. That, I'm empathetic to every entrepreneur out there because I've been that guy, and I made a lot of mistakes over 20 years to, to be able to look back and say, "Look, you don't have to make those same mistakes.

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Let me show you what you can do better, how you can do it, and how you can attain that." Because obviously one of the biggest problems people have is that, "Well, if I had the money" Well, yeah, if you had the money, but what if you do have the money, you just don't know where it's at? So we help you uncover, uh, those myths that you build in your mind. Oh, that's a really interesting thought. You might So business owners might have a- access to the money, they just don't know how to get it, kind of thing? They could Either that or they are such in disarray in their own personal and business, uh, um, acumen of not knowing where their money's going that once we reign it in and start identifying the weak spots of their budget, of their bank statements, of seeing where the money's going, we start, uh, we start finding that they do have money every month, and it's just allocated in so many different holes that it's like having a net that doesn't hold anything because it's got too many holes.

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You're never gonna save on that net because everything's flowing out. So we start patching the net, all of a sudden you start seeing an influx. Your job and your work, everything else is still doing the same or better, but now you're more controlled. There's, there's, the, this is, like, what I try to teach people is that you don't have or you haven't seen the visual of what's really happening in your life because you let it get away from you. So by putting it under the rug, that is getting bigger, your problem's getting bigger, and you don't know how to solve it.

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So we become, uh, problem solvers in finding solutions to help you see the light. And, and it takes on a form of its own in how we do it, and it's really, it's really a beautiful thing when we can help people start uncovering those things, because a lot of the problems people make in their mind- is in their minds. They, they really don't understand that the, every problem that's out there has a solution, it's just how do you go about finding the solution?

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And not every problem requires a monetary transaction.Mm. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious, uh, 'cause I wanna solve all these problems I have. Sure. I- Is there, like, a, like, a process you go through to identify- Oh, yeah. problem, solution? Totally.

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So, I mean, I use analogies a because it works really well for me in, in making people understand. If I started talking to you like, um, a finance major- Mm-hmm. I'm gonna lose you, right? Yeah. But if I tell you, you know, "If you are" You, you seem to be pretty fit, but if you were, like, overweight- I do work out. Yeah, yeah. If you were overweight and you're starting the year, you're like, "What do I gotta do to, to lose, um, 30 pounds in the next 6 months?" You're gonna go to the doctor and you're gonna get, you're gonna get a series of tests done.

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And they're gonna start telling you, you, you need to, "You need to start talking to a trainer," and the trainer's gonna give you a ser- series of, of things to do, right? And, and it's, and it's a plan in place to do it daily over a course of X number of months to get you to a goal, right? Mm-hmm.

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So, why is that any different with what I do? It's the same thing. It's just a different model. Yeah. Right? So, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do an analysis of where you're at with your business. I'm gonna start uncovering the pluses and the minuses, of what's good and what's bad, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I like to say, "I like to open the kimono and get really real with you right away," right?

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Because by identifying those aspects, then we can start really identifying, what is a plan of action for you? What is feasible- Mm-hmm. based on what you're telling me and showing me of your financials? How can we f- solve for this in a short period of time, Mm-hmm. I, I don't like to blow smoke up anybody's skirt when I say, "Look, it took you this long to get to where you're at on a pl- on a positive and on a negative." Um, don't expect miracles overnight.

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Right. But expect that if we put a plan together and you follow it, that you're gonna see results. And, and- Mm-hmm. and they might be subtle at first. But as we start compounding the, the differences daily, you're gonna see a huge difference year over year from not doing nothing, right? Right. And you're gonna do nothing, you're gonna keep doing nothing, and you're gonna keep going sometimes in a downward spiral until you bottom out.

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Mm-hmm. I, and I've seen that. I s- I've seen that plenty in my career. Yeah. So, so that's crazy that you, uh, you were able to help people with this. Whatever got you inspired to do that? Because it's, it's pretty challenging to move someone from, uh, uh, where they're at to a transformation. Like, what, what got you into this line- Well- of work in the first place? I'll tell you what it was. Um, inside of 25 years of a series of mistakes and choices that I made that got me very far into holes, right, that I got myself out of, but because I started finding help through different channels and I started modeling myself around what others were doing, right?

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So I was like, "Well, if it's happening to me, it's happening to others." Mm-hmm. "And if I can help myself through these problems, through the help of other advisors, experts, in different realms of fields, then why can't I put this together in a format to help other business owners that are going through a lot of the same things?" Yeah. Because just because I'm the doctor, right, doesn't mean that I might not have health problems myself, right?

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Right. And so as a doctor that has health problems, I need to go and, and procure the services of other experts in the field to help me right my wrongs. Mm-hmm. Somewhere along the, the line, I made bad choices. I made, I had bad habits. I did things that even though I technically and educationally got very good at getting my licenses and doing the things I needed to do in the world of finance, um, I also f- um, failed in a lot of areas. And so, being real with myself and looking in the mirror, saying, "Well, okay, how am I gonna fix this," right?

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Mm-hmm. That's what opened my eyes. And then once I started seeing the results in how I, I helped myself, then I started writing a book and doing things to help others based on my findings. And I say, "Well, if I could help myself as a walking, talking billboard to being able to build on success through compound changes daily," right, "why can't I do it in my health? Why can't I do it in my relationship?

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Why can't I do it in every facet of my life-" Mm-hmm. " to elevate?" And so, it's called iLevel to High Level because we all start at this level. It's challenging to get to a higher echelon if you don't know what that ever looks like, right? Mm. But if I can take you there one day at a time and I better your situation, your mind starts opening up to possibilities.

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I start showing you different angles of possibilities that you never thought were possible, but they are. They're attainable. And so now, you start connecting the dots and now you become more engaged in the process, and now you want more. Like, like, "Hey, tell me more. Hey, I wanna know how I can go to this and what I can do there." You know, and, and now we have a game, you know?

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We're- Yeah. Now we're playing together. Yeah. That sounds awesome. You, you said you, something about a book. Did you write a book, or are writing a book? It's on Amazon. It's called Decoding the Mystery of Business Credit. Ooh, business credit. Like borrowing?

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Like trying to get financed? So, so think about it this way. Everybody knows credit in the personal side, right? Yeah. You got a FICO score, you go buy a car, they pull your credit, you know. You know some of the rules inside of personal credit. Right. But did you know how to build business credit so you can take the liability off of your person, off of yourself, and get 10 times more money available to you in leverage under your business to be able to do more things?

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Mm-hmm. Right? To be able to grow exponentially. To be able to take away the barriers of entry when you say, "Well, I need marketing, but I don't have the money," or, "I need to hire another employee, but I don't have another $3,000 a month to pay them." Yeah. Well, what if we leveraged with our business credit that gives us Mm-hmm. It doesn't report to our personal credit, so we're always solid on the personal side when you need to buy a house or a car or anything of that nature.

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But your business, as its own entity, starts living as its own entity and doing the things it needs to do. So you can keep elevating. Well, that's really relevant for our, our, our audience because waste haulers are always buying equipment. They have trucks.

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Totally. They have dumpsters all the time. Always, "What's that next truck? How do I build my dream fleet?" Because everyone has a dream truck that they wanna get, or a- Yes. a series of trucks they wanna have. So, is that rel- that must be really relevant to waste haulers because- 100%. they ha- they have to buy equipment and- 100%. and vehicles.

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I of- So how would you- one of the areas- Yeah, how would someone go about building their bus- How would someone go about bus- building their business credit so that- Yeah. it is better? Well, the f- the first step I tell everybody, it doesn't matter what industry you're in, you need to know what your personal credit looks like first. Mm-hmm. We gotta, we gotta fix and, and make sure that your personal credit is as solid as possible. Because from there, we're gonna build business credit.

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They're gonna ping off of your personal credit just to see where you're at, not necessarily because you have to be a personal guarantor, even though many times we start off as a personal guarantor on that new debt. Yeah. But it's also a matter of what we call the 5 Cs of credit. And one of the Cs in that 5 Cs is character.

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So, if your personal credit is faltering, that says something about your character. Meaning, you're not a bad person because you made mistakes. Meaning that you haven't looked in the mirror yet to solve the problems on your personal side. And that's a character flaw that unfortunately, or fortunately, on the underwriting side of financing, we look at. We definitely look at. Mm-hmm.

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And so, as we build your business, it's gonna be parallel with how you run your personal life. Mm-hmm. So, one thing we do is we make sure that we, we fix both sides of the equation. How much better are you gonna run your business in, in, in waste management and hauling and doing what you're doing if you didn't have to worry about all the nuances that are happening in your personal life, right- Right. with finances, because we were able to solve for that on a parallel?

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So, as this is going up, this is going up, right? Mm-hmm. And so, we do that, um, very strategically. Because if you know what's going on, on the negative with your personal credit, it's gonna be a lot better when I can fix it and, and, and l- and show you how much better you're gonna be 3 to 6 months later with business credit based on our solutions, right? Mm-hmm. So, we start by doing that, is looking at, at your personal credit and fixing the problems there.

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I just had a client. He has, um, a business in Florida. And i- ironically, because he was trying to stay under the radar for so long, he basically only had 2 negative items on his credit and no other credit. So, there was no credit scores at all.

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And he- Oh, so he didn't have anything positive there? Yeah. Nothing. But, but the negatives didn't even, So I told him, "Look, you're actually in a very, you're actually in a better position than most because once I take off the 2 negative items, we can add 2 or 3 trade lines to your credit in 30 days, and now you have a 700-plus credit score." Oh, wow. And he goes, "What? I didn't know you could do that." Well, there's a lot of things people don't know.

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Mm-hmm. And he lived with his head under the sand for at least 10 years because, in this fashion, because he just didn't know.Yeah. Now, if someone has okay credit, is th- is that when they can make the transition to, to start buying things on business credit? Like, what, what's that transition look like?

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Well, yeah, so- Like, let's say they get above 700. And not to take anything away uh, in saying that you can't start building business credit even if your credit is bad on the personal side, because you can, right? The business has its own EIN number. Right. And you can start with, uh, secured trade lines that you put your own money as security or collateral- Mm-hmm. um, and that will report to the business bureaus, right?

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So you can do that with, uh, some different companies that I have that, that can help you do that, while we do the other side of the equation. And many times, I, I instruct and I l- guide people, especially in the service industries, um, and in construction and whatnot, to open accounts with, you know, companies that will lend them or give them what they call net 30 accounts. The net 30 accounts are just a way to get into business credit, where you have to pay that invoice within 30 days. But by doing so, the faster that you can pay that invoice, the higher your score goes.

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And it sets a precedent, because after a few months, now they start extending you out to 60, 90, 6 months, and now you start building on, on, on business credit. Yeah. And all you had to do was just show some, some, uh, some trajectory in payments so that you can build on credit, right?

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Credit history is just how do you handle your business? Well, if you have a net 30 account, you know you have to pay that inside of 30 days. Right. And the sooner that you pay it, then the higher the score goes. So it reports 10 days, 15 days, 20 days. That net, that net, if it's net 10, net 20, net 25, net 30, that's all gonna, um, factor into your score. So the sooner you pay it, right, the better it's gonna look on your credit. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

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The good thing is about business credit as opposed to personal credit is that n- with personal credit, to keep your scores high, you gotta stay under 30% of your limits, which- Okay. you know, limits how much you can really use. Right. But with business credit, you can do 100%, and it doesn't- So- affect it negatively. Yeah, so if someone has a milliondollar line of credit, and they use the whole thing, they're not in trouble for that, right?

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Not at all. Because they know that there's ebbs and flows in business, and it's meant for that. Right. I had somebody that said that they, they like to pay off their line of credit once a year, just get it down to 0 every single year at least. Um, I think that was just something they, they had in their head. But is there any, any truth to that, that it's good to pay your line down at least every so often?

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Well, the trajectory of paying off your line is good when you're in the mindset of getting increases- Mm-hmm. on that line, right? Because ultimately, when you get to a certain point, if you can show 6 months of continually paying down and paying off this line, you- Yeah. can call them and say, "I need, um, a $100,000 line increase," and they'll give it to you quickly- Mm-hmm. because you can show that trajectory.

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So if it's, if it's more for, for the, the strategy, then yes. Uh, otherwise, I mean, it's all about managing your costs, right, with interest and, you know, um, how you go about doing that. Um, I have clients that, uh, know when it reports, so that way, they'll pay a bunch, you know, the day before it's gonna report. And then the day after it reports, they, they rack it back up.

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So they're constantly And on paper, it's inconsequential because- Yeah. it still shows a zero balance or a very minimal balance. Right. And it shows they're paying, you know, 10, 15, $20,000 every month. Mm-hmm. All they're doing is just playing with the reporting dates. So that- Right. way they can still use their credit as needed, and they can get away with it.

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Yeah, I knew that you could do that for personal. I didn't really think about it on the business side of things. I don't even- Yeah, you can- know how to pull mine. with the personal all day long. I don't even- And it does, it's a hack. Mm-hmm. You know, it helps, it helps your credit, um, when you, when you can't do that. Right. Right? Being able to use, for example, uh, as a W-2 employee, your, your paycheck- Mm-hmm. and, and putting it on a, on a credit card, right, and paying that down, and then the next day using your card to pay off all your busine- all your debt or whatever.

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But doing it around the reporting date so that way you never show that you're, um, over that limit. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, it, it makes a big difference when you go get a line increase- Yeah. and you can show that. And, and that's something that a lot of people just don't do. Mm-hmm. That sounds like something pretty simple that business owners overlook.

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Is there anything else- Totally. that, that business owners just totally miss that's pretty simple that they should be doing with their finances? Well, listen. I mean, uh, going to the basics here, right? How many business owners do we know that co-mingle their funds, right? Oh, yeah. They don't even have a business bank account. They don't track or have bookkeeping in place, right?

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Mm-hmm. I go back to the basics because there's so much power in understanding your books and knowing how to present to the banks properly, right? So if you have- Right. a way to meet with a bookkeeper or an advisor in that regard, um, to really showcase your financials the way they should.

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A big misconception in the world of finance and, and entrepreneurship is that I'm gonna, I'm a Schedule C, right, um, LLC employ- an LLC company that does my taxes with a Schedule C, and I write off everything to minimize, um, how much taxes I'm gonna pay, right? But at the end of the day, what you did was cut all your income, right, that you should be showing to show the strength of your business.

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So you work so hard to get all these clients and bring in money, but you can't show it because you're scared of paying the IRS. Right. What if we set you up with tax advisory side so your taxes are never the issue? You're always paying your taxes on time, projecting ahead, so that way you're always good with the IRS, but at the same time, your books are showing a profit that- Right. is gonna give you an X factor when we go to evaluate your business- Mm-hmm.

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to know how much your business is worth. Because as opposed to a house, which brick and mortar and you can, you can do an evaluation, know exactly what it's worth based on the sales of other homes, your business, even though it's in, in hauling waste, could be totally different than this guy over here based on the numbers. Right. You guys do the same amount of sales every year, but this guy over here, because he was structured best, can show that he makes $300,000 a year in sales. You, because you weren't structured best, did the same number in sales, but you were so scared of the IRS, you wrote 90% of your sales as expenses, and now you only show 50,000.

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Mm-hmm. Who is gonna get the loan? The $50,000 one or the $300,000 Yeah, that's- And businesses, same, same exact sales, it's just structurization. They didn't structure themselves properly. Yeah, that's true. Well, luckily in the equipment, equipment-based businesses, whenever you buy equipment, you can write it off immediately. So- Right. if you're growing, you, you should be able to stay away from the IRS for a while.

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Um, when you stop growing, that's when it catches up to you. So- Right. you always wanna keep growing, and there's a lot of challenges with juggling the tax side of things. Hmm. Well, and that's the thing is that you're gonna there's a lot of cash that flows in your business. Mm-hmm. And it's very easy to, to lose track of that, um, until it's too late.

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Then you meet with your CPA if you even have one, and they're like, "Ooh." You know? Right. "This is what it's gonna look like." And now you're reeling from the back end trying to do things under desperation. That's the last place you wanna do it in, is under desperation. Yeah, you wanna forecast, right? Think, think way ahead. Do your tax planning in Q2 and 3, not Q4. Yeah.

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100%. And that goes with, in line with, um, the projections of what you need to keep growing, right? So when you're talking about purchasing equipment and, and all these different things that go in that, there's a strategy. That's why I don't just have a CPA. I have a tax advisor and a bookkeeper, right? Yeah. So we have 3 players in, in the game of looking at numbers, right?

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Yeah. Because realistically, a CPA is really good understanding when to file your taxes, what, to stay in compliance, to not raise red flags, but they're not advisors per se, right? Right. They, so your tax advisor is looking out for your projections and for different things that they can put in place to help minimize the tax bite, but be able to help you keep growing, right? Because if you're ever gonna exit, and at some point we're all gonna exit, you know, we just don't know when- um, you wanna Well, it's true, right?

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We don't know when we're gonna expire. And, and if I do expire, then it goes to my wife, and then she has to figure out what to do. Well, I'd rather have her know that there's a, a 4X or a 3X factor for the value of my company based on my sales- Right. as opposed to having to almost give it away because I wasn't properly structured- Mm-hmm.

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and, and doing it right. Right. Yeah, that makes total sense. So, um, thinking about how we have a lot of listeners that are buying trucks, you can get, you can get into debt in good ways and bad ways. I imagine there's a right way to go about it, even if you can get the loan. Is there, is there a time where you Like, let's say you wanna buy a quarter million dollar truck, and you get approved for the, the purchase.

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Yeah. Is there a time where you'd wanna say, "I'm not ready to buy the truck"? Or- No. So- How do you figure that out?No, it's a great That's actually a very good question. Uh, one thing is try to hold off on any big purchases towards the end of the year. Right? So, if at all possible, make that, uh, expenditure at the end of the year, right? Mm-hmm. You know, there's section, there's Section 179 in the tax book to be able to, um, to get a- away with some of these things.

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There's just better tax planning if you do it that way, right? Right. I mean, at the- at the end of the day though, the business needs and- th- and the It- that dictates what you need and when, right? So- Mm-hmm. there's also a way to be able to get the stuff without, um, putting yourself at jeopardy, right, in terms of how you're doing things, right?

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One of the things that we do that's pretty, uh, innovative and effective is we build, uh, what's called aged, uh, shelf corporations that are businesses that are strictly used for funding purposes, and this way, we can set up the business as your B company, like your- your secondary company under your A company, which is the waste company- Yeah. and now you can borrow money from yourself.

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We- we fund the B company and now you can basically borrow from your B company, um, X amount of money to buy your equipment and you can pay yourself back on that instead of an institution, right? Mm-hmm. There's a lot of pluses when you start setting yourself up with your own companies to fund yourself.

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The big companies in the world, um, have been doing this for years, right? Amazon- Yeah. and some of the big conglomerates, uh, borrow from themselves, right? And so, by doing this, um, you not only can write off the expense of buying a corporation, but now you have 2 corporations under your holdings company and- Right. there's a lot of benefits that go with that because now we can set you up with an S corp and pay yourself a salary, right?

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And now you don't have to worry about writing everything off. Um, there's different structures that we're setting up under your own business that are gonna- Mm-hmm. help facilitate and help you grow without you do You're still buying your trucks. You're not limited to having to do it at the end of the year. You can- you can borrow from yourself and charge yourself an interest rate that you wanna charge.

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And it's just thinking differently. It's- it's thinking outside the box- Yeah. because most don't think that way, so we do the thinking for you. Mm. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, y- y- you probably wanna I- if you have real estate, you keep that away from your equipment, right? Your operations and your real estate, completely different places. I wonder- Yeah. at what level, like if you When you first start out, that's a little complicated to have a lot of different structures, but- Sure. once you get some traction, get some sales, get a lot of assets, that's when you probably wanna split it up into different companies.

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When do you- You do. And you wanna And, but- that's why we talk like this, because many people do are so used to doing everything on their right? Right. Yeah. And I- I mean, I run at least 6 or 7 companies. Mm-hmm. And I wouldn't be on these podcasts if I was doing all the work on those companies, right? Right.

[29:03-29:33]

So delegation and being able to have the proper team players to do the things that I need them to do inside of those, i- inside of those verticals is instrumental, right? So why wouldn't you do the same thing with hiring and having the team members to help you with that side of it, right? Don't think Don't work harder, work smarter by implementing people. And you can do it in- in a fractional sense. You don't have to go out and hire $150,000 a year CFO, right?

[29:33-29:57]

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You can get fractional help to help you in different areas- Mm-hmm. and- and only pay for a few hours a month so that you can see these things in real time, not having to think, "Oh, I gotta hire a- a full-time bookkeeper, CPA, CFO," blah, blah, blah. Right. Yeah. You can do fractionals and do and get the same effect, uh, on a, on a miniscule schedule, right? Mm-hmm.

[29:57-30:19]

Yeah, and you can't afford that when you're e- e- at the earlier stages. Probably when you get to the 50 million in revenue, that's- that's when you can probably start affording, or maybe a little sooner, you can afford those people, uh- But imagine, but imagine having the benefits, uh, as if you h- did have those people in your fold, right? And not having to spend, um, as much money to still get those benefits.

[30:19-30:41]

Right. Yeah. Well, good. Is So when, um, so the- these are some of the services you offer, right? What are some of the services that you help your clients with? Oh, man. Um, we do everything from estate planning to life insurance, to, um- Mm-hmm. buying, uh, your, real estate, commercial and, and personal.

[30:41-31:12]

Um, we do the We have a credit repair company we own. Mm-hmm. So, we help you with your credit, business and personal. Um, I mean, you think of financial services i- in, in a solar system. Yeah. You have all the planets aligned to be able to help you in whatever faction and need that you have. Mm-hmm. So, when we do a needs analysis for you, and I start identifying different things, there Our advisory has a lot of different solutions for you through the experts that we guide you through.

[31:12-31:34]

So, when we start working with you, you, you might start with Jimmy, but you're probably gonna get, um, passed over to Adrian for taxes, or you might get, uh, Jeremy for insurance, or you might get Brian for something. You know, so we have different experts in different areas for you. Mm-hmm. So, this way, you're not feeling like you're just having to do one thing with one person.

[31:34-31:56]

We're gonna be able to, to assess and work with everything in due time, right? So, if money is an issue, then we're gonna take care of the money side through Rio's business funding, right? It's our funding, uh, vertical. If we need to get you some insurance, um, that, that client I was telling you about didn't have insurance for a long time, and he needed to have insurance. So, we were able to help him with that, you know?

[31:56-32:21]

Mm-hmm. So, a lot of different areas that we're able to help you with. Sounds like a lot of the back office, um, support. So, a lot of the- Totally. like, financial services. Great. Yeah. Love it. Well, um, I'm curious about business stories. Do you have any business stories that you, maybe with a customer or vendor or something like that, that just taught you something that you'll never forget in your journey? Yeah.

[32:21-32:51]

I mean, I've, I've had, uh, so many, uh, learning lessons, I think, over time. And, you know, one of them, um, you know, we, we, we pride ourselves in our I Love at a High Level program in being able to help individuals attain a lot of capital, right? Mm-hmm. Capital in the form of profits through investments. And it's good, you know, being able to get that type of profit. But if you don't know how to be good stewards of your money, you can also, uh, blow yourself up, right?

[32:52-33:22]

Right. And, uh, and one of the things we ended up having to do in our business is build an educational, um, format to be able to help people. Because if we give you too much money in a short period of time, it's like winning the lottery, and you're, you haven't been instructed on really how to go about spending that money properly, right? Mm-hmm. So, you know, we've had situations of clients that, unfortunately, you know, didn't do the things they needed to do on that end, and we learned from that.

[33:22-33:52]

We learned to, to, um, to put different checks and balances to make sure that people were doing what they needed to do in the front of, you know, acquiring and attaining these assets and th- these monies, and then putting that money to work in the right channels so that you're not gonna put yourself in a disservice and blow yourself out of the water. Because then, then the easy thing is to say, "Well, you know, Jimmy never told me that I couldn't do that." Well, I can't tell you what to do or not to do.

[33:52-34:14]

I can advise you on what you should do, ultimately, you're gonna do it or not. So, we started really honing in on the, on that side of educating our clients better- Mm-hmm. Yeah. um, because as we do these reviews with you, you know, it's very easy to, to lose sight of the goal. If you made 10X on your money over the course of a year, you know, now you're sitting with this bucket of money, right?

[34:14-34:43]

Don't lose sight of the goals that we had put in place 6 months or 8 months ago and, and go blow it in Vegas. Don't do that. I bet a lot of people do that. They're like, "Wow, I got, I got a lot of money here. I'm gonna go have some fun. I'm gonna celebrate and party." But you- So- That's a- there's a misconception of what rich is, right? Mm-hmm. And I try to tell people, "Look, rich, the concept of being rich, can take on many forms." I've been rich as a broke person, right?

[34:44-35:15]

Mm-hmm. I've been I've, I've, I've had a lot of money. I've been e- extremely poor internally, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and so, we need to identify really what freedom is for you and what really do you want and what do you want to achieve? Because if you're just trying to use your ego to get to a certain place, um, for looks or for, you know, then eventually, you're gonna fail because it's the, it's misdirected, right? So, we need to align those things and those values and morals as well.

[35:15-35:47]

Um, regardless of what you believe, there's still a right and a wrong way to do things. And anybody who's in finance is, is gonna tell you the same thing, you know? Yeah. How, how you manage the flow. Shaquille O'Neal made millions and millions of dollars and he's the first one to tell you. He didn't become a millionaire because overnight, he just became a millionaire. He became a millionaire because he literally spent all his money and had to become a better steward of his money. So, he what He, he said, "It's not how much money you make, it's how you manage what you have coming in." Mm-hmm.

[35:47-36:16]

Right? So, he started investing and doing more with his money to be able to be where he's at because of his mistakes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, I, I think that's pretty true of anyone that has high income, is they don't, they don't learn how to keep it or manage it correctly, and then it, then it goes away as soon as the, the income flow ends, the waterfall ends. There should be a long list of- It's like, it's like an oasis. Yeah.Yeah. There should be a list of things that you tell your clients to do, and then a list of things, like don't do these things- Don't do, yeah.

[36:16-36:36]

like this is your, this is your don't do list. Yep. 'Cause that's just as important as what you should do, is what not to do. True. And I- I learned that- Well, and I do that- to a point when they're really gonna make a big purchase. I'm like, "Call me." Yeah. Before you buy- "Call me first." that next set of dumpsters, "Hey, we got a shipment of dumpsters coming in." Uh, "Is that a good idea?" Is it, is it the right- Yeah. time of year to buy dumpsters?

[36:36-36:59]

Exactly. Yeah. So, a lot of people do buy equipment just to save on taxes and that's not the only good reason to, to buy equipment. It, you really should buy it if you have an operational need and- Right. it's really hard to tell when it's time to, to make that purchase. So there's gotta be indicators that signal, "Okay, it's, it's time for me to, to do this." Um- Right.

[36:59-37:18]

One thing I like to use is capacity, you know, do Like, if it's dumpsters, are we running out of dumpsters on a regular basis? Are we going into a busy season? Have we ramped up marketing? Um- Right. Those are some indicators, but do you have any ways that are good signals for you to, to leverage- Yeah. purchases?

[37:18-37:46]

And we go back to the concepts of, of projections, right? If I see a, a line in my projections that month over month I'm, I'm seeing a growth pattern- Mm-hmm. well, ultimately in using your example is if I'm acquiring new accounts and, and things are starting to, to grow, right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit a capacity limit where I'm, I'm gonna need more, more dumpsters and more things to be able to handle the demand.

[37:46-38:10]

Right. Yeah, yeah. So, but many are so scared of getting into debt and not knowing, you know, when to jump in, like they're playing, like, hopscotch and not knowing when to jump in. Mm-hmm. And, and I'm, I'm of the type that if my numbers are looking positive and we are seeing demand for my services, then we need to invest in our company right away, right?

[38:10-38:28]

Yeah, yeah. Because the sooner I'm ahead of that game and cross that off my list, the faster I can now focus on getting those accounts and keep doing what we're doing on the growth model, right? Mm-hmm. So don't be afraid to take a jump or a leap into getting what you need for your business, right? Mm-hmm. Be very forthright.

[38:28-38:43]

Con- consult with your advisors and look at those numbers and, and make that jump, sometimes sooner than later because the, the last thing you want to do is, is go backwards because you weren't properly, uh, prepared for that demand. Right. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

[38:43-39:09]

Well, good. Well, it seems like you've learned a lot of things over the course of your career and over your, your business ventures. Did you get that wisdom from, from books and resources as well as your experiences? And if yes- Well, I mean, I, I'm an avid reader and I'm constantly on podcasts and listening- Mm-hmm. to others. Um, I, I'm, I drive a lot and I hear I'm always learning, put it that way, right?

[39:09-39:32]

Yeah. I've never, um, I, I, I've gone and attained different licenses in, in different realms to be able to, to do the things I do to be compensated and to do the thing, and to legally advise in different areas. But I always rely on others that know more than I do because I don't know it all, and I'll be the first to humbly say that. Mm-hmm. And so I, um, I believe that you need to be constantly learning.

[39:33-39:57]

Don't sit on your laurels. I mean, there's Do- don't get me wrong. I love having a good time. I'll, I'll, I'll kick back and watch a good movie here and there, but, but, and, and I'm not always on, on that mode of go, go, go. But I just, I'm saying that try to keep challenging yourself to learning and to be able to expand your horizons. The whole, everything we're talking about is expanding your, your mind a little bit- Yeah.

[39:57-40:29]

to solutions that you didn't think were possible. It doesn't matter what industry it is. I mean, I've talked to And I, we're industry agnostic, so every industry, it doesn't matter. You, you come to me and, and you tell me, "I'm in the cannabis field." I'm gonna talk to you about how we're gonna do it in your field. Right. And, and because a lot of the principles apply there too. It doesn't matter, right? It's just different set of rules and criterium and, and variables, but at the end of the day, it's, a lot of the back to basics things is talked about and, and achieved.

[40:29-40:56]

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, have you, have you read any books recently that maybe spark your, spark, you know, spark your memory for, uh- Um, one of the- that you recommend to people? Well, so I have my little library here. One of the books that I always talk about because it, it, it did a lot for me and it actually was the, the catalyst of our program, the iLevel to Hi-Level program.

[40:56-41:18]

Yes. And it's I don't know if you can see it. Probably not because of my background. There it is. Oh, yeah. The 10X Rule. The 10X Rule- Um- Grant Cardone. I have not read that one. Yeah. I know Grant Cardone. It's really go- It's really good. Now, you gotta understand, Grant Cardone has his own little world in, in, in what he does, right? But the concepts of the 10X Rule apply to anybody.

[41:18-41:43]

And, and, and when we talk about, you know, motivating yourself to 10X, 10X is a very big number, right? Right. Yeah. And when I do it in finance, you know, it's, it's astronomical what can be done. But what if we did that in a compound effect in everything that we do, right, in our lives? Not, not just in the money factor, because everybody's so prone to think of money as the only thing.

[41:43-42:12]

But if you start implementing the 10X factor in everything that you do, man, you start elevating your life. You start going from iLevel to Hi-Level very quickly, and you start doing things that you never thought were possible. So, it's a very instrumental thing to be able to start thinking like that and, and quit building these walls, these barriers around yourself because of your mentality. Tear those walls down and, and say, "How are we gonna go do it?" Right? Instead of, "Well, I can't do it." Right?

[42:12-42:41]

Those are just some of the things that I get from it. Well, tell me about 10X. What, what is some of the concepts from that book that you can use in, in real life? I mean, let's take, uh, health, right? I- it's a new year. Everybody's starting the new year and everyone's like- Everyone's going to the gym. "What happened 2023?" They're all working out. Yeah. Right? And then the, the 30th, or the beginning of February comes and the every day becomes once maybe a week, and then it just falls off, right?

[42:41-43:02]

Right. So, in The 10X Factor, we talk about how do we, how do we pu- implement different, um, attitudes and habits in our lives to make those changes, right? Mm-hmm. So, for me, for example, I had put a goal that I was gonna run a, uh, 5K by March 15th, right? Mm-hmm. Well, I've been out of shape for a long time, right?

[43:02-43:19]

I, I, I've, I had those times of going to the gym, not going to the gym, not I, I 10X'd myself and I said, "Okay, what can I do daily to get to my goal of March 15th?" Now, March 15th's gonna come in, in two and a half months, right? Right.

[43:19-43:49]

And every day since the 20, no, since the 30th of December, I started going out and tracking my, my running, right? Run, walk, run, walk. It was, started out with one minute, one minute, um, running and a minute and a half minute, uh, jogging or walking. So, it was like run, walk, run, walk. And, and, and I didn't run a mile. I didn't even run I ran half a mile the first day.

[43:49-44:12]

Yeah. And then the second day, it was like dot-60, and then, like, incrementally just adding just a hair of, on, on my distance. Today, on day 8, I, um So, to give you perspective, I, on the first day, it took me 28 minutes to do half a mile. Or, no, it took me 14 minutes. I was on a 28-minute pace.

[44:12-44:30]

Mm-hmm. Took me 14 minutes to do half a mile. That's horrible. That's a- Right? That's, that's, that's all right. Yeah. Gotta start somewhere, right? But, but listen to what happens. In 8 days, right, I finished a mile today and, and it was a fraction of the time, right? Wow. Now, my body starts adapting. I went and got shoes.

[44:30-44:50]

I got fitted for sh- for, for the right shoes, 'cause I had pain the, the first 2 days. I started adjusting and correcting, right? Now, I'm in the trajectory where I can say, "I finished the first mile." Mm-hmm. Now, the 5K is 3.1 miles, and I still have, you know, a, a ways to go. Well, who says I can't do a marathon in one year?

[44:50-45:15]

Right. If I can compound and 10X the numbers, right, and I do- Mm-hmm. a 5K in, in two and a half months, why can't I then do a 10K 2 months later and then double that? A marathon is 26.1 miles. Right. Right? Yeah. So, when we're talking about 10Xing, right, I'm 10Xing literally almost 3 miles, right, it's 30 miles, right?

[45:15-45:43]

Right. That's 10X, right? Yeah. So, I'm 10Xing in my life and different goals that I do. Mm-hmm. By being able to put those goals down, say, "How am I gonna 10X this," right? Whether the variable is, "I want to retire at 55 with X amount," and then take a hard look at where you're at today, what are you gonna need to do daily and monthly and yearly to hit your 10X, right? Yeah. So, start thinking in 10X models and you're gonna start making wonders, right? Mm-hmm. In everything that you do.

[45:43-46:06]

That makes sense. Good. Well, I, I like that concept. So, just keep on building and put it It sounds like if you want that 10X output, you need to, you need to do s- a lot more input, maybe 10X the input to get to 10X the output. Totally. Oh, man. I would say even 100X the input. Effort is the one thingNo, a- and I'm real because it's so easy to not do the daily, right?

[46:06-46:24]

Right. The daily is hard. Mm-hmm. But it, but the, the not doing it daily compounds also. So, the longer I stay out of the game, the harder it's gonna be to get back in the game. Yep. So now, 8 days in, it was a lot easier for me to get to a mile. Mm-hmm. On the first day, I could barely ha- do a half a mile, right?

[46:24-46:45]

Right. So what happens over time is that you start building this tolerance and the strength. But it happens in your mind. It happens in so many areas of your life. Now, because I'm invested in my health, I'm eating better, right? I'm drinking water more, right? Yeah. I'm doing these, like, residual effects of one action.

[46:45-47:04]

And so now, I can't miss because my subconscious is telling me, "Why are you missing? It only took you 15 minutes or whatever today to run. Wh- g- get out there. You know, go do it." Right? Right. Like, and, and so it goes with anything that you do. This is just health, but it goes with anything.

[47:04-47:28]

If it's your business, if it's starting a business, go do it. Mm-hmm. What are you gonna do today to get there sooner than later, right? Go, go research how to get your EIN, how to, you know, open your bank account, how to get a website going. All these things that I teach can be done. Mm-hmm. And you don't need Uh, there's, you, we have the gift of, of AI and Google to help in the search.

[47:28-47:54]

I didn't have those tools when I was in my- Mm-hmm. 20s and 30s, you know, when we started out. Yeah. Yeah, this AI- That's why I made a lot of stupid mistakes. This AI tool is pretty nice. I, I like this age we're in, the AI age. It's, it did- It's not- It is a tool. It's not, it's not gonna do work for you. No, you still have to put the effort, I mean, in everything. People think, "Well, it's gonna replace you." Well, if you don't stay adept to things, it's gonna Ev- anybody can replace you, right?

[47:54-48:10]

Yeah. AI is a tool, um, but if you stay adept to everything and, and pivot, you're gonna be ahead of the curve and you become the person that they don't wanna replace, right? You just have to adapt to it. Make AI your f- your friend, not your foe. Mm-hmm.

[48:10-48:39]

Don't be scared to, uh, learn what AI can do in your life, um, even on a minuscule, uh, basis like asking it, uh, to give you, um, you know, a, a, a week's worth of, you know, uh, recipes so that you can eat right. Well, hey, that at least helps you stay on track with whatever that health goal was for that week, you know? Yeah. Yeah, that's a grand idea. I, I actually, um, subscribed to the, the business version of ChatGPT and I, I think I have a couple other ones.

[48:39-49:02]

Claude, I have Claude.AI. Yeah, so do I. They're pretty nice. So the Claude.AI, it can actually make computer programs which I, I've, I've done very little, but it's pretty fun. Have you tried making a computer program? I haven't. Quad, it's called Quad? Uh, Claude. S- Oh, Claude. C-L- C- A-U-D-E.ai? ......... I gotta check it out.

[49:02-49:19]

It's pretty fun. I gotta check it out because there's a lot of things that, you know, we talk about in our teams about, you know, making things better and, you know, um, and again, it's what you don't know, right? So we- Right. we procure the services of others, but what if there's a way that we could do it ourselves, right?

[49:19-49:40]

And, and, and find that, you know, anything that can help us, um, stay ahead of the curve, you know? Right. Exactly. Well, good. Well, how can people connect with you? What's the best way for them to get a hold of you? So I'm on YouTube, uh, @riosbusinessfunding. Mm-hmm. Um, on my website, riosbusinessfunding.com, and Rios Business Advisors.

[49:40-49:58]

If you Google eyelevel to HEY level- Yeah. you're gonna see a lot of our podcasts and a lot of the things that I teach and educate on, to learn about, um, how we can help you elevate yourself to the next level. Um, but yeah, we're here on all the, all the media channels, Facebook and Instagram.

[49:58-50:22]

Just look up, uh, Jimmy Rios or Rios Business Funding, Rios Business Advisors. Fantastic. Well, I'm connecting with you on LinkedIn and- Yes. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your stuff get put out there and, and following you. Definitely. Thanks, Jimmy. I love it, man. I appreciate you having me on your show. I think there's a lot of people that could use, um, you know, what we're talking about and definitely, if you guys ever have any questions, reach out.

[50:22-50:45]

The easiest thing is on those channels. Just, um, go ahead and, and, and text- Yeah. on there. We're always checking that and, and getting back to our clients that way. Text, and so what about comments on YouTube? Is that a good thing to do too? Yeah, the comments on YouTube, yep. Perfect. Exactly. All right. I'll start bothering you there. So- Awesome. Let's do it. I'll ask all my debt questions and financing questions. That's awesome. Oh, great. Awesome, Jimmy. Well, I gotta wrap it up.

[50:45-51:07]

So it was good talking to you. You have a wonderful day, okay? Take care. Take care. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of Waste to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you connect with us on social media and subscribe to the show wherever you consume podcasts. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and tell a friend about the show.

[51:07-51:11]

Until next time.