Ep. 23 The Power of Automations: How Michael Greenberg is Revolutionizing Business Operations

Transcript

Andres Sanchez [00:00:00]:

Welcome to the Virtual Ventures podcast episode 23. I'm your host, Andres Sanchez, and today our guest is Michael Greenberg, a master at launching productized services, and a digital operations nerd with expertise in AI, global talent, automations, and systems. Michael's insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs. Get ready to be inspired as we explore digital entrepreneurship and operations with Michael Greenberg. Please help us continue to book top notch guests like as subscribing to our show. We appreciate the constant support and look forward to continue to bringing you all amazing episodes. Thank you.

Andres Sanchez [00:00:49]:

Michael, how are we doing today? Thanks for coming on the show.

Michael Greenberg [00:00:52]:

Doing excellent, Andre. How about yourself?

Andres Sanchez [00:00:54]:

Can't complain, live in here in Sunny, Miami, Florida. It's hot enough that I could probably cook if I stand outside long enough, but then again, That's what you get for living in these states.

Michael Greenberg [00:01:06]:

Yep. It's a it's pretty hot here in Saint Louis. I got all the windows shaded up right now.

Andres Sanchez [00:01:13]:

Yeah. It's probably maybe a good idea for me too. I've got my windows open. That might be why I'm sweating in my own house, but what are you gonna do?

Michael Greenberg [00:01:21]:

I've got three walls of windows in this office. And so I have if I don't close them all, even with them closed, this room is 5 degrees hotter than anywhere else in my

Andres Sanchez [00:01:32]:

I would have to say the same. So I I still shamelessly live at home with my parents and some reason, I got the hottest room in the house. Like you said, you walk out to the hallway, come back in, easily 5 degrees hotter in here than it is 2 feet outside the hallway. But are you gonna do? Not not that I'm give

Michael Greenberg [00:01:55]:

you a bunch of solutions if you wanna dig in. There's like there aren't that many things that cause that sort of bad heating arrangements inside of buildings, and they're all fixable with structural work.

Andres Sanchez [00:02:07]:

Alright. Maybe it's something we talk about post episode. Maybe, we we could talk about how you could fix my room and help me not sweat when I do. Because then I got these lights coming down. I'm like, oh, god. But the way that we run things here, we I love to just jump right in the things. Who is Michael tell us a little bit more about yourself, your journey, where you're at right now, what you're building, give us a base level, and we'll build off that.

Michael Greenberg [00:02:34]:

Yeah. Sounds good. So, I started my career about 10 ish years ago now. Went to a coding boot camp, dropped out of school. Joined a seed stage startup, raised a bit of money with them, helped them get to about 30 clients and an MVP. They decided to make a pivot. I decided to make a pivot as well, and, our pivots were not in the same direction. Started doing a bit of consulting briefly work for a venture, firm, not quite a studio, not quite in it, like, a venture capital group. It was a weird, like, combined family office kind of thing. Moved back to St. Louis, my hometown went to finish my degree, started a business on about 10 hours a week called call for content. Eventually, it grew 1 business line in that to, mid 6 figures. And then sold that business line a few years ago, worked with a guy by the name of, Jesse Pucci after that, helped him grow some of his new companies with his venture studio and then started started my first of, like, a batch of new companies, about a year ago now, and then started my second one about, 9, 10 months ago. Now it's been about 3, 4 months that I've codified our business into, more of a full venture, like a thesis in, hey, this is what our company does. These are the kinds of businesses we build. This is how we build them. This is how we grow them. And just started building out that thesis so we can take a more disciplined approach to, building product type services.

Andres Sanchez [00:04:15]:

Awesome. I mean, lots to unpack right there. 1, let's just start at the core. I mean, I've met you for about 5 minutes now. And I'd I'd be fairly confident that you have the growth sauce. Every single part of your career there, you said, I helped grow this. I helped grow that. I help them grow this.

Michael Greenberg [00:04:35]:

Oh, no. I'm an ops guy. I'm like a b plus marketer.

Andres Sanchez [00:04:40]:

So where so where would you say So you're an ops guy, B plus marketer. You you've been a a part of a lot of these great growth stories. What have you contributed to those is maybe a better question then.

Michael Greenberg [00:04:52]:

So I do technology enabled operations. I spent almost 7 years, specifically in content marketing and content operations. Like, and I owned my business during that time. So, like, I know how to generate leads in B2B. I can build a business in B2B. I can do anything when it comes to building like a professional, productized services, a B2B SaaS company. I can fill almost any role. But where I actually specialize is in, like, operational strategy and in the operations of those businesses. So, like, the mark, like, the businesses I run, we're not the best at marketing ourselves compared to our competitors. We're not the best at, when it comes to without the highest end product, we're not the lowest end product, but we guarantee a very high level of operations and we guarantee a very high level of service as a result, and that is our competitive advantage. We tell you what we're gonna give you, and then we give you that thing.

Andres Sanchez [00:05:53]:

So like you said, ops is where you really shine, but you can wear almost any hat within a business. When did you realize?

Andres Sanchez [00:06:00]:

Michael Greenberg [00:06:01]:

for 10 years. I've started, you know, half a dozen businesses. 3 of them have maybe worked. 4 if you count differently. So it, it's, I don't have a great hit rate, but, I'm doing good enough. Yeah.

Andres Sanchez [00:06:17]:

I mean, even, I mean, if you start at 10 and 4 hit, I think any venture capital firm would say you're you're you're killing it.

Michael Greenberg [00:06:26]:

I know. In adventure scale. Any venture capital firm would look at my wins and be like, oh, this guy hasn't done shit.

Andres Sanchez [00:06:32]:

Oh, I'm saying more from the perspective that, like, When you throw money into 20 companies, one wins, it's great. Like, 4 out of 10 is not a bad, it's it's not a bad, really, track record in business.

Michael Greenberg [00:06:44]:

I wanna be hitting, like, 70%.

Andres Sanchez [00:06:47]:

I mean, that would be amazing. Shit. I'm just gonna start lobbying you business ideas through the DMs and maybe you're interested in 1 and we go get a win because -- But that's what I

Michael Greenberg [00:06:56]:

do all the time. It gets annoying.

Andres Sanchez [00:06:59]:

That because, like, even I have your bio, like, right here, creators partner with me and launch profitable businesses, like, write first thing you read under your name. What what does that mean? Let's let's get some more detail behind that. Because now you've got me you've got my interest peaked.

Michael Greenberg [00:07:14]:

Yeah. I find distribution. Right? I do operations. I find distribution. So I find somebody who's got 50, a100, 250,000 in their audience, and they haven't monetized it as well as they could. And then we say, okay, this is your audience. This is who makes them up. Let's build a productized service. And then we build and, like, we launch the productized service to match their audience.

Andres Sanchez [00:07:40]:

And how do you go about, like, do people approach you? And that's typically how it works. Do you approach creators and and offer your services, both.

Michael Greenberg [00:07:48]:

Say the better partnerships come from, like, people I know. Okay. But, I'm not saying I've gotten none from, like, gold outreach. And we don't always, like, My business doesn't require me to find that partner, but that's most of the reason why I'm on Twitter is to find

Andres Sanchez [00:08:08]:

this part.

Michael Greenberg [00:08:09]:

Because one of those is worth, like, a 1,000,000 to me over the next 3 years.

Andres Sanchez [00:08:13]:

A 100%. It's the beautif beautiful thing about Twitter. It has there's opportunities everywhere, and you never know what's gonna be that next one. I mean, you've really gotten you you really got me interested here in this business model and Do you mind if I, like, throw out a hypothetical to get, like, your feedback so I can better understand?

Michael Greenberg [00:08:32]:

I'll be honest. It's like a shitty business model. It's It works, but it's not it's not like a super, exciting business, I'd say.

Andres Sanchez [00:08:41]:

Yeah. For here's an example. I've got a cousin who has 450,000 followers on TikTok, but has never launched his own product. He's got He's a good looking guy. What?

Michael Greenberg [00:08:52]:

On TikTok?

Andres Sanchez [00:08:54]:

On TikTok.

Michael Greenberg [00:08:55]:

Yeah. Okay. That's Does he have like a real platform off TikTok?

Andres Sanchez [00:09:01]:

He's got like 30,000 on Instagram. He's never done anything. Nope. So he's he's literally never. He's taken no steps into productizing anything that he's done with his platform.

Michael Greenberg [00:09:15]:

Right. Right. Okay. So this guy has not monetized his audience.

Andres Sanchez [00:09:18]:

0 monetization has he's a good looking guy. Put he played college football made some cool reels and made some cool TikToks and blew up and he posts at any given time and he'll get 10,000 views and he'll have fifty girls screaming in the comments, but he's never monetized anything. He's never put a product out. Like What does he put on? I mean, now at this point, he's got an audience, I would say, primarily seventeen to twenty five year old girls. And he's doing a lot of, like, traveling content. He's doing a lot of lifestyle content.

Michael Greenberg [00:09:56]:

To me.

Andres Sanchez [00:09:57]:

Okay. That's fair. So what are you then then?

Michael Greenberg [00:10:01]:

He's worthless to most people, though.

Andres Sanchez [00:10:03]:

So then, I guess, a good, I guess, a good, like, follow-up to that is What what are you looking for in a creative? Like, what makes them -- -- businesses. B2B. Got it. Got it. Got it.

Andres Sanchez [00:10:13]:

Michael Greenberg [00:10:13]:

B2C never have. Never will.

Andres Sanchez [00:10:16]:

Got it. So you're saying a creator, that could play in a b to b space is where it makes sense. Yeah. Or like a business that has, like, a good following on social.

Michael Greenberg [00:10:25]:

Well, if you said he had, like, a 1,000,000 followers on TikTok, and he was getting a consistent, like, 50,000 or a 100,000 impressions for video. And instead of travel, he was in the pet niche, then I would launch a business with them.

Andres Sanchez [00:10:44]:

Got it.

Michael Greenberg [00:10:45]:

That's a value. That's an audience you can monetize, but the audience you described does not monetize

Andres Sanchez [00:10:51]:

Okay. At

Michael Greenberg [00:10:51]:

least not at a level that makes it interesting for somebody like me.

Andres Sanchez [00:10:55]:

Perfect. And, yeah, it's just My brain's always turning. So, like, now I'm just thinking of, like, how you do it, like, what you're looking for in from that. So I think that's a great That's just a good example for anybody listening, like, because I agree. Like, him and I have had so many conversations where I just when he was building the audience, I don't think it was for any type of monetization. It was just for fun. But now looking back, we'll talk and he'll be like, I wish I would have maybe realized what was happening and got into a niche or pivoted in a direction where it was more monetizable, more valuable to other people. Like, he gets great brand deals, but that's just about it. And it's not really, like, scalable, I would say. So maybe I think At this point, like, we're getting deep into this. What's a follow-up? Like, what's an example of a creator, a company that's come across your plate that you've come in and created productize their business.

Michael Greenberg [00:11:51]:

Yeah. So let's call it let's call it mid low tens of 1000. So, like, 20 to 30,000 audience size talks about business operations and acquisitions, Twitter, has an email list of 5000 follow 5000 audience. So 5000 on the email, 25,000 on Twitter. That guy can launch a 6 figure business. In B2B in under 90 days. We can hit, like, mid 6 figures. We can hit, like, 2, 300,000. A year.

Andres Sanchez [00:12:24]:

And, I mean, because anybody listening, like, I'm I'm sure we've got plenty of listeners. Most of my, like, content is guests from Twitter that most of my following is Twitter based. There's I'm sure there's some people sitting here with, like, oh, shit. I got 30,000 followers. I've got a decent newsletter I'm building. I'd love 6 figures. How do they go about approaching you? What does that process look

Michael Greenberg [00:12:46]:

like? Okay. Let's talk.

Andres Sanchez [00:12:50]:

And so yeah. So I guess numbers? Yeah. Going back to that example, you were just saying they've post business content. They've got that distribution. What product are you going to look to launch with them? Is it customizable? Is it rinse and repeat? Okay.

Michael Greenberg [00:13:08]:

Right. I wanna find a that's gonna maximize my value from that particular audience.

Andres Sanchez [00:13:13]:

Got it. And really -- -- like that,

Michael Greenberg [00:13:16]:

They're, okay, their business operations, their acquisitions so we can build some sort of operations business or solving a core operations function. Probably as a product's like an outsource service, or we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna launch, like, an outreach or a lead gen service or even just like, a, hey, we have a team of pro business advisors. And for a $100, you can submit any business you're thinking about buying, and we'll turn it around and give you, like, an audit and a swad analysis and some other things in 72 hours.

Andres Sanchez [00:13:55]:

Okay. And I guess since we're talking about these different businesses, like, I read 2 tweets from you. 1 said you wasted a full year looking to acquire a business. Had 2 on the plate. We're about to buy them and then didn't pull through. What was that experience? Like

Michael Greenberg [00:14:13]:

Kinda boring.

Andres Sanchez [00:14:15]:

Yeah. I mean and I I guess the let me frame that as a better question. Why were there no businesses that were attractive to you? What were you looking for that you couldn't find within these businesses that were coming across their table?

Michael Greenberg [00:14:28]:

It's a combination of valuation and derisking that just is impossible in acquiring a business, especially at the size range I was shopping at. Got it.

Andres Sanchez [00:14:35]:

And

Michael Greenberg [00:14:35]:

so it's at that with most of that range, it was normally cheaper to start the same business, and I could get it going in less time for less money.

Andres Sanchez [00:14:44]:

Got it. Another interesting one, which I think is will will lead to maybe a more fun conversation is only fans agency. Why did you pass on it?

Michael Greenberg [00:14:56]:

I didn't wanna own a vice business.

Andres Sanchez [00:14:58]:

Very fair answer. Looking back financially, would that have been vice aside a good financial play?

Michael Greenberg [00:15:06]:

Yeah. Obviously. It would have been a good financial play that.

Andres Sanchez [00:15:11]:

And then

Michael Greenberg [00:15:11]:

You gotta know your investment strategy.

Andres Sanchez [00:15:14]:

Yeah. I mean, it it's it's a good example. Like, I think a lot of people kinda get caught up in, like, the money hungry, like, which definitely doesn't seem like you, but a lot of people are just money hungry and constantly will dip their feet in anything, do anything, but it's it's nice to know that -- Well,

Michael Greenberg [00:15:31]:

we don't have money.

Andres Sanchez [00:15:32]:

Yeah. It's nice to know that you had like, that you wanted to stick to your guns too and, like, not sacrifice something

Andres Sanchez [00:15:39]:

-- --

Michael Greenberg [00:15:39]:

been winning at that point. It wasn't like I was

Andres Sanchez [00:15:42]:

Yeah.

Michael Greenberg [00:15:42]:

It wasn't my first step bet.

Andres Sanchez [00:15:44]:

Exactly. Yeah. It's a good way. It's a good that's a good point. Like, it wasn't your first step bet. It's not something you needed to go do. And It just didn't align with what you were doing.

Michael Greenberg [00:15:54]:

Right. If I had no business at that time, I probably would have bought that business. And I would have been like, okay. Now we're gonna do vice and then we're just gonna hammer vice and I would only own born businesses.

Andres Sanchez [00:16:05]:

That would be that would be a different Michael than the one I'm speaking to now.

Michael Greenberg [00:16:10]:

Yeah. I mean, that Michael would probably be living in South America.

Andres Sanchez [00:16:15]:

Yeah. I would, it would be would be Miami, South America, or, yeah, I think those are 2. Those are 2 options. No. No. My

Michael Greenberg [00:16:27]:

Yeah. That's, not my not my style.

Andres Sanchez [00:16:30]:

Not your cup of tea down here? No. People. Yeah. Well, born and raised here. The first thing I say is the people here suck. So not I'm I'm one of those people, but I think I'm I think I'm the I think I'm the good part. It is tough to deal with the individuals that you see here in Miami on a daily basis. And makes you a little bit of a home body. Like, it's funny when all my friends come into town, it's like, dude, where are we partying? What do you do? Like, what do you I'm like, I don't really do shit. Like, I stay home. I enjoy the pool. I enjoy the beach and I work. That's about it. But it's that that's Miami for you. It's tourist trap. Let's talk a little bit more about your automations I know that's like a big part of everything. One of the ones that caught my attention was that you made an automation to replace VA's virtual assistants. VAs are like

Andres Sanchez [00:17:25]:

-- --

Michael Greenberg [00:17:25]:

a lot of them.

Andres Sanchez [00:17:27]:

Okay. Let's let's let's dive deep. Like, let me talk about the VA 1 and then let's talk about maybe 1 or 2 of your favorite automations.

Michael Greenberg [00:17:34]:

No. I build dozens of automations that replaced VA's.

Andres Sanchez [00:17:39]:

Oh, got you. So not one in specific. Like, there's not one solution.

Michael Greenberg [00:17:44]:

No. We're just gonna have a general solution that solves for a general case. No. That's not how, like, things work. No.

Andres Sanchez [00:17:51]:

Yeah. I guess it's more complex.

Michael Greenberg [00:17:53]:

You have your VA do something, that thing is automatable.

Andres Sanchez [00:17:58]:

So I'd be coming to you with, like, hey, my VA does X Y Z, can you automate those 3 tasks for me? Could be completely different for every use case.

Michael Greenberg [00:18:08]:

Yeah.

Andres Sanchez [00:18:09]:

Got it. And, I mean, how, like, like, for example, I I would want a VA as the podcast continues to scale to do research for me to bring me notes for event for guests and things that's in a simple automation, I'm guessing.

Michael Greenberg [00:18:26]:

Yeah. I'd I would think so. Like, if

Andres Sanchez [00:18:29]:

And then

Michael Greenberg [00:18:30]:

asked, I'm gonna use automations to put together my briefs.

Andres Sanchez [00:18:33]:

And then, like, cost wise, like, VAs are not crazy expensive. What does it cost for me to go to you and just automize it or automate it, automize? Like, what's the kind of price difference on that? I'm sure you gotta be saving on the automation side.

Michael Greenberg [00:18:51]:

Well, you're saving the long run. Right?

Andres Sanchez [00:18:52]:

Like, the

Michael Greenberg [00:18:53]:

the co that you're asking 2 questions, really. One is how much does it cost to hire the people who have the skills to do this thing? The second one is how much does it cost to operate this thing?

Andres Sanchez [00:19:07]:

Got it. So what do people typically come to you with? I guess is is is something that's interesting to me. Like, what is, like, a pretty common use case that you'll see someone come in and say, hey. Can you automate this for me?

Michael Greenberg [00:19:20]:

Like, hey. We have this report we run every week. We have a VA. They spend 20 hours a week putting together these reports. And you automate this.

Andres Sanchez [00:19:30]:

Got it.

Michael Greenberg [00:19:32]:

And then they'll pay us, and we'll do that ten times for them in a month.

Andres Sanchez [00:19:37]:

Got it. So it's really just like it's really just you partnering with these businesses and kind of offering your services as I mean, maybe this is not the right way to say, but somewhat customizable to, like, what do you what do what are your automation goals? What are things that you could go in and automate do you, like, will you come and audit a business like that and say, hey. You can automate these 10 things and here's how to do it? Yeah. And it is that the core?

Michael Greenberg [00:20:05]:

What happens after the first thing. Right? We get in. We solve something, and then we're like, okay. What are the next 30 things we can solve?

Andres Sanchez [00:20:13]:

Mhmm. And and has that typically been been like the the traditional path for you? It's like, hey. Let me get in. I'll let me let me handle one use case. Let me tackle it, and you'll see the value after. And then we'll go through and start to pick apart what we can and can't fix for you.

Michael Greenberg [00:20:33]:

Yeah. Well, we do a month to month, like subscription retainer. So

Andres Sanchez [00:20:37]:

Okay.

Andres Sanchez [00:20:37]:

Michael Greenberg [00:20:37]:

they're buying weekly sprints from us with that, and they can pause and come back or, like, pause halfway through and save the sprints for later or whatever. But ultimately, they're just buying those sprints from us. And so when we run out of things, we can say, Hey, do you wanna keep saving more money, or do you wanna stop saving more money?

Andres Sanchez [00:20:57]:

That's, be hard pressed to find a company that would be saying I think I wanna spend more.

Michael Greenberg [00:21:05]:

Yeah. Exactly.

Andres Sanchez [00:21:09]:

So I mean, this is this is far more interesting than I would have expected the conversation to be if I had to be honest, not to say that I didn't think you were gonna be really interesting, but just the thought process behind all this, the way that you approach these businesses, like, I I actually really like the business model, because I think it's it's future proof. It's what businesses are gonna wanna do. And I think you're you're playing the trend too of this entrepreneurial, solopreneurship, everything that Twitter's got going on right now where people wanna go and operate these $1,000,000 businesses with two people. And You're you're kinda making that a no. I'm saying you're making that a possibility. Like, you could go work with one of those people, automate a lot of tasks and help them be a solo business, which I think is what's gonna continue to happen now over the next 10 years is we're gonna get a lot of these smaller shops They're gonna lean on someone like yourself and say, hey. Automate all of these tasks so we can operate as a bigger business with less head count.

Michael Greenberg [00:22:08]:

It might happen. I think it's less likely those kinds of guys will hire people like us. Our average customer has, like, or 5,000,000 a year in revenue. Okay. And the team is like 20.

Andres Sanchez [00:22:23]:

Got it.

Michael Greenberg [00:22:23]:

There's a certain level of repeatable work that you need inside of a business to make consistent automation eye value proposition. And that level of work generally requires bodies.

Andres Sanchez [00:22:35]:

Got it. Can you unpack that actually a little bit more for me? Like, the repeatable the repeatable actions, like, just give a little more context for someone listening who's interested.

Michael Greenberg [00:22:45]:

Sell open or sell info products or digital products because they have very low cost to service. But if you're like an agency or you're a midsized SaaS company and then you have tons of reports and marketing campaigns and all these other pieces that all need to funnel together and integrate with each other. And as the solopreneur doesn't have all those moving pieces in their business, and so the more moving pieces you have, the more complex the business more opportunity there is for the kind of leverage we provide people.

Andres Sanchez [00:23:22]:

Got it. And, like, I guess I would say what what what's next for this business? Is is is there more to add to it? Are you do you wanna grow it? The the automations business, like the where you come in and help.

Michael Greenberg [00:23:41]:

What's next does it all grow? Well, triple or quadruple the size of the team.

Andres Sanchez [00:23:47]:

And how big is the team now? If you have I'm not sure if you

Michael Greenberg [00:23:49]:

missed that. We've got 4, 3, or 4.

Andres Sanchez [00:23:53]:

Okay. I don't

Michael Greenberg [00:23:54]:

know if somebody started yet.

Andres Sanchez [00:23:56]:

Got it. And then And then

Michael Greenberg [00:23:58]:

we've got another bunch of contractors.

Andres Sanchez [00:24:02]:

Okay. Cool. And Something that's interesting for me, and I I hope it's interesting for people listening is as a as a CEO, what's it like hiring individuals for your team? What are you looking for in your in your team members, like, what stands out for what you're doing?

Michael Greenberg [00:24:17]:

So I only hire lead operators for the companies generally, right, I only high I'll hire at most, like, the first four people at a company. And by then, somebody else will be there to handle the hiring from there.

Andres Sanchez [00:24:32]:

Okay.

Michael Greenberg [00:24:34]:

But I really recruit those people. Generally. I'm not I don't generally do, like, open applications for that sort of role.

Andres Sanchez [00:24:42]:

Got it. And then Like, your company. Because when you're saying that, you're saying that you're helping the companies that you're partnered with hire people to fill these roles, or is that for the automation business we're talking about. Both. Both?

Michael Greenberg [00:24:59]:

Right. Because you call it an automation business, but it's not.

Andres Sanchez [00:25:02]:

Yeah. Maybe I'm please correct me if I'm saying, Ryan, I don't wanna be misrepresentate misrepresenting what it is.

Michael Greenberg [00:25:07]:

It's like a quarter of what we do.

Andres Sanchez [00:25:10]:

Okay.

Michael Greenberg [00:25:11]:

It's a high ROI thing we do, but where are digital operations, architects, experts? So that means we do AI. We do automation. We do no code and low code. We are your adviser for building out an offshore team. We connect you with any part you're you need to hire or staff in any country. And we are the people who help you design the systems and processes in your business to manage and grow that remote team.

Andres Sanchez [00:25:44]:

Okay. So alright. I I'm I'm following you here. Apologies for for getting so caught up in the automations portion.

Michael Greenberg [00:25:53]:

Like, a million automation guys, because

Andres Sanchez [00:25:55]:

Yeah.

Andres Sanchez [00:25:55]:

Michael Greenberg [00:25:55]:

they all learn Zapier and, like -- Yep.

Andres Sanchez [00:25:57]:

Michael Greenberg [00:25:57]:

they're just trying to charge while they can.

Andres Sanchez [00:26:00]:

Yeah. So I I like that. I like that we did touch on that. The differentiation differentiating from just that use case. It just really piqued my interest, but You're basically coming in and standing up a a team for a company as almost like a consultant is maybe a a good way to to consider that.

Michael Greenberg [00:26:18]:

Managed service provider essentially -- Okay.

Andres Sanchez [00:26:20]:

Michael Greenberg [00:26:20]:

for everything related to this niche.

Andres Sanchez [00:26:25]:

Okay. Okay. I'm getting it. I'm a little slow today, but I'm I'm following you here. And, I mean, it it's It's it this is fun for me because, I mean, anybody listening, if if you're watching, like, this is a really engaging conversation I'm literally asking quite like I'm not even looking at my notes anymore. I'm just going off of my curiosity and what I'm initial thoughts after you say some of these things because This is not this is the first time I've I've talked with somebody who's doing this level of technical work. I'm typically had people who are The ones just building the solo per newer ship, the ones doing, but I I work in technology. So this is very interesting to me, just from a like, a a base level of, like, a business is growing. You can come in and help them begin to build out their technology practice and grow from that area with all of these different, kind of solutions. And then the automations, which we've been touching on is is just a piece of that bigger picture.

Michael Greenberg [00:27:28]:

Right. But it's also the easiest for people to like buy.

Andres Sanchez [00:27:32]:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not you mean, it's not hard to sell. Like, if you're telling me, I can stop having to pay somebody, get that service done, and realize after the cost of implementation and everything is paid, it's essentially free work almost for what I would be paying somebody a salary to continue to do. Seems like a no brainer if that's in the budget.

Michael Greenberg [00:27:56]:

Yeah. I think so. That's what I'm hoping.

Andres Sanchez [00:28:00]:

Yeah. And how and how many clients are you working with now from this perspective? Like, where where where are you all at from from in that area?

Michael Greenberg [00:28:10]:

We've, we've tripled our client base in the past 3 months.

Andres Sanchez [00:28:18]:

Wow. And what what can you attribute to that?

Michael Greenberg [00:28:21]:

By the end of this year.

Andres Sanchez [00:28:23]:

What can you attribute to, like, what why? Why are you tripling are more people understanding? Are you getting in front of more peep

Michael Greenberg [00:28:30]:

I have a reputation. I'm the guy, the automation guy's call because They don't know what they're doing.

Andres Sanchez [00:28:37]:

Okay.

Michael Greenberg [00:28:38]:

Right. We're, we are very often for companies that are on Twitter actively, We are the 2nd company they hire to do this job.

Andres Sanchez [00:28:49]:

Okay. So first first individuals failed, you come in and clean up the fire. I mean, that's that's not a bad. That's a great reputation to have. I mean, you're able to get shit done.

Michael Greenberg [00:29:02]:

Click a partner. We're, like, we're a vet that it consultant on ClickUp. So we're one of their low level channel partners.

Andres Sanchez [00:29:10]:

Okay.

Michael Greenberg [00:29:10]:

And that ads to maybe 1 or 2 clients a month for us.

Andres Sanchez [00:29:18]:

Nice. And and how'd you go about becoming a click up partner. I've seen the app a bunch of times. I've never played around with it or used it, but it it's something I'm familiar with.

Michael Greenberg [00:29:26]:

It's a long time click up user. I know the team I've been a subscriber of the company since they were well under a hundred people. I sold my last company because of the operation we built on up. I I could go on, but I've just been working with him for a long time.

Andres Sanchez [00:29:46]:

Got it. And and what is ClickUp for anybody listening? Like, That's that's curious. -- software. Project management.

Michael Greenberg [00:29:50]:

Productivity software. Yeah.

Andres Sanchez [00:29:52]:

Got it.

Michael Greenberg [00:29:54]:

It's like the more grown up version of Notion.

Andres Sanchez [00:29:57]:

Okay. Fair. Fair. I see on your bio, it says previously gateway x. What what was that?

Michael Greenberg [00:30:04]:

Yeah. That was Jesse Pucci's venture studio here in Saint Louis. Work there when I was working with Jesse in the middle.

Andres Sanchez [00:30:13]:

Got it. I mean

Michael Greenberg [00:30:16]:

That's the only job I've had. So, you know, I mean

Andres Sanchez [00:30:19]:

Yeah. Yeah. You gotta throw it in. Gotta throw it in there. Pay your tributes. I mean, shit. You've got me super interested. Like, I'm gonna go back and do my homework on a lot of this stuff. How do I make money? So I I work in technology sales. I'll I'll share the company with you after the episode. No. No. I'm a I'm a full on account manager, in in tech sales.

Michael Greenberg [00:30:47]:

Okay. Like,

Andres Sanchez [00:30:49]:

Yeah. I'm so I work for one of the really big ones, but I work at one of their acquisitions, which is in their SaaS department. So you need

Michael Greenberg [00:30:57]:

B and B SaaS sales?

Andres Sanchez [00:30:58]:

Yep. Yep. Exactly. So that's why a a lot of this stuff resonates, like, with me on the structure, like, the value add, how to position it, like, where these businesses can get these services and all this good stuff. So it's definitely something so I I started 2 businesses in college. I was very successful and then COVID, derailed me. So I started right Yeah. It was so I sold sneakers, right, when I got into college as, like, something fun to do. And just to put some extra money in my pocket, turn that into 3 years of 6 figures in sales, selling anywhere from a 150 to 200 shoes a month. And it was So when COVID hit, the supply chain got really tight. Nike canned, like, 90% of their releases. Adidas parted ways with Yeezy and the the value.

Michael Greenberg [00:31:53]:

The volume to keep that business alive.

Andres Sanchez [00:31:57]:

Yeah. Just the value of sneakers. Like, there was I I could go into drops and cop 10 pairs of a shoe and flip each pair for $300 profit the next day. There's just not shoes coming out like that anymore. Like, Jordan ones are worth nothing. Like, those shoes have no value anymore. So it just wasn't financially, like, it didn't financially make sense. For me to keep putting time and effort into it. But was what got me into business? Which I mean, I had to I

Michael Greenberg [00:32:24]:

So then you started another business. Right?

Andres Sanchez [00:32:27]:

Parlayed that into Discord, built a community on Discord, got that discord up to, like, 68100 members. That company was doing 6 figures in sales a month. It was all around, sneaker bought rentals and how to use the software. So that business I I owned a huge portfolio of software that I would rent and make a 100% margins on. I also hired forty people who owned software as well, and would take commissions off of their rentals that I couldn't fulfill. And then I also ran a, like, coaching business where I would take on 5 mentors a month and teach you how to use the software. And, I mean, it was amazing. I was I was like 22 making more money than I needed to make. We get fast forward to COVID. My portfolio of software went from being valued at a $100 to $30 in 2 weeks. The average price of our rentals went down, like, 88% or something along those lines. So all the fees that I was getting got slashed completely. The overhead I had 9 employees in that business. The overhead became, like, a little out of control. It was a really big learning lesson for me from a business perspective to be a 100% honest from you. Because, I mean, I'm I'm 22, 23 thinking I'm not gonna work for anybody. Like, I'm out here crushing it. And reality hit pretty quickly. And looking back, there was lots of red flags that I I should have paid more attention to. I was investing everything back into the business without even me knowing that there was a clear path forward with COVID and with these potential issues. And everything that I thought was a possibility, like, in a negative way happened. But that I saw I I kinda took time off My buddy started a cigar company from the ground up at 22. And I've really just kind of enjoyed being a helpful, like, hand, advisor somebody to talk through. And then this was kind of my next jump in. My biggest regret from those businesses was I had so much attention around me when I was running those companies, but it was all through an alias. It was all through a discord alias. I capitalized nothing on building a personal brand whatsoever. Nobody even knew it was me. So I had thousands of people coming into my groups every month. I had I was working with hundreds of owners of other groups and communities and companies, and nobody knew was actually me. So when everything hit the fan, I actually got nothing from it other than knowledge. Like, I could have taken that audience and parlayed it into what was next for me. So I came to the realization. I'm not gonna make that mistake again. I enjoy talking to people. I enjoy networking. This is what I

Andres Sanchez [00:35:12]:

the mentorship part of all of

Andres Sanchez [00:35:13]:

that was my favorite part. It wasn't the it was it was the most profitable technically ROI wise, but It wasn't like the one that was turning the most money for me, but I always loved just connecting with people. So when I kinda sat back and I said, what's next for me? I I love my 9 to 5. I make a lot of money. But I it's not enough. Like, I need to be doing something else. This was, hey. I can build a personal brand, create content, put myself, force myself to get out there and then accomplish a lot of the things that I like selfishly just enjoy about the business community and world.

Michael Greenberg [00:35:47]:

Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.

Andres Sanchez [00:35:49]:

Yeah. So

Michael Greenberg [00:35:50]:

If you wanna start a productized service sometime, give me a call. You just gotta sell.

Andres Sanchez [00:35:55]:

Yeah. No. I mean, that it's funny because now I've met a lot of, like, I never took Twitter serious. I didn't know Twitter, and I've met a lot of agency owners, people with high ticket products. And I'll meet with them, and they'll be like, Dude, are you interested in, like, selling stuff? Like, do you wanna take some calls?

Michael Greenberg [00:36:12]:

No. Well, that's the thing. Like, all these businesses Look, if you say, hey, I can sell, I can guarantee you a 6 figure business in under 18 months. I can guarantee you 6 figures in free cash flow in 2 to 3 years. And those are the guarantee numbers, so they're the long timelines. Right? The short timelines are we do that in like half or a quarter or less of the time. And that's -- And like

Andres Sanchez [00:36:40]:

-- --

Michael Greenberg [00:36:40]:

like, realistically, that's almost all internet businesses if you know how to, like, acquire customers.

Andres Sanchez [00:36:46]:

And so, I mean, because I agree. Like, I am interested in something. Like, I will I do plan to monetize this podcast. Like, that is my goal in the future. But You you you're saying those things, like, what what are the requirements? What are the capital requirements? Like, if I'm, like, right now, let let's go.

Michael Greenberg [00:37:04]:

So if

Andres Sanchez [00:37:04]:

I wanted to just go start a business right now with you, I mean, I could sell to anybody. Like, if I wanted to partner with you right now, What do I need to have built created? Or Nothing. Nothing.

Michael Greenberg [00:37:16]:

I will just I will give you a list of offers. I will say, hey, Andre. You sell these offers. You sell me a $100,000 through these offers, and we're gonna get you your own and you're gonna own half of that offer in addition to the commission that you already got on this other stuff.

Andres Sanchez [00:37:33]:

Alright. You you piqued my interest. It might be something I wanna talk about, like, off off air. Because I

Michael Greenberg [00:37:39]:

tons of buddies who do that sort of thing. That's how sales guys sort of get their first business going. Is they get a bank of products that they sell to the audience that they like to communicate with, and then they did just network and sell that product bank. Until they've got their revenue where then they can, build real businesses.

Andres Sanchez [00:37:58]:

Awesome. Well, I know we've, yeah, something we could dive into and and I'm I'm super interested. I know we've been kinda rambling on here. We're getting to that tail end of the episode. I ask the same question at the end of every episode to the guests, and it's, Michael, what are you excited about in the near future?

Michael Greenberg [00:38:19]:

AI video editing. I saw this to a Wundercraft the other day, or no, Wunderdynamics. Wundercraft was kind of a shitty, podcast app backed by 1 Y Combinator. Wender Dynamics, Wender Studio, is a very cool CGI tool that replaces, like, people in a video you take with CGI, and it does all the animation for you.

Andres Sanchez [00:38:45]:

Wow. Very cool. Okay. Very cool. That is I gotta look into that. I gotta I gotta look into that

Michael Greenberg [00:38:51]:

because that sounds amazing. .Com.

Andres Sanchez [00:38:53]:

Wonder Dynamics. Let me write that down, actually. Awesome. So

Andres Sanchez [00:38:58]:

So it -- -- working.

Michael Greenberg [00:39:00]:

AI mission to that. Sure essentially.

Andres Sanchez [00:39:04]:

Got it. Wonderful. Where can people find you? I mean, I'm sure people that are listening are super interested.

Michael Greenberg [00:39:11]:

Gentoftex. Anywhere online, that's my handle if I'm trying to be found. If I'm not, don't bother me.

Andres Sanchez [00:39:21]:

Well, right now, he says DMs are open. So if you are trying to find him now, I would do it now before it says DMs closed. If trying to not be found.

Michael Greenberg [00:39:29]:

Those mediums, I'm just gonna hire an assistant to read them for me.

Andres Sanchez [00:39:33]:

There you go. Dude, thank you so much. Like, I really appreciate it. This was a super interesting episode and really exciting. I can't wait to to stay connected and continue to see you on journey of, building these companies and and being part of these amazing things that you continue to create. So thank you so much. It has been an absolute pleasure.

Michael Greenberg [00:39:55]:

Yeah. Always fun. Seems like you're on the right path.

Andres Sanchez [00:40:00]:

Thank you. Yeah. And then all of Michael's information is gonna be listed in the down below. Make sure to go follow him, connect with him. And if anything you heard resonates with you, if you think anything you heard today, is useful for you as a business owner or as somebody in sales, reach out, give them a shout. You never know what's gonna happen. That's what these episodes are for. So thank you so much for sticking around with us. And then, Michael, again, thanks so much for coming on.

Michael Greenberg [00:40:26]:

Yeah. Thank you. Bye now.