Eric Berman of Emb Solutions on Financial Freedom and Non-financial Metrics With Your Business

On this week’s episode, I interview Eric Berman of EMB Solutions, an accounting firm specifically working with business owners as a strategic partner offering them guidance and support to thrive from an exit point of view or just tactically helping them reduce the friction in their business.

What I love about this interview is Eric’s insights into:

How he integrates both financial and non-financial ideas to help people win in business
We also unpack Eric’s ideas on how to navigate the next 12-24 months as a business, and
His wisdom advice on investing outside of your business

Connect with Eric:
Website: https://www.emb.net.au/author/eric_berman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbermanemb

Show Notes:

00:00:00 – Intro

00:02:05 – Eric’s Background

00:04:58 – Metrics to look for when helping businesses during COVID-19

Q: Can you give everyone a bit of an overview of who you are and who you help?

Chartered Account
Spent ten years in the profession and tripled that time outside the profession as a CFO of public and private companies and in my own private consulting businesses.
Three revenue streams over the last 15 years: CFO outsource; exit strategies and business succession.
Leveraging off many years in the profession in the commercial arena to give advice to clients and to add value to businesses across all industries
Specific passion for helping businesses with exit strategies and business succession

Q: What are the key indicators that you’re looking for when you go in, in terms of trying to help a business?

In general terms, I look at the financial indicators such as liquidity and profitability.
Taking the pandemic into account, I will also look at what was the turnover pre-COVID? What is it now?
I will also try and gauge the non-financial indicators, which are more important than the financial indicators.
I’ll look at how the business entrepreneurs how faring and if their mind is strong.
Speak to some of their staff – see how they’re thinking, how many are left etc.
A business entity can thrive with the right mindset, with the right input and with the right professional skills around them.

Q: What non-financial indicators are you specifically looking for and where are the opportunities to shift on the mindset level?

When the cash flow is tight, and insecurity comes to the fore, many people lose hope while in fact, there may be hope.
They just need to follow the right recipe and use the right ingredients.
That’s where someone comes in and asks the hard questions to add value.
That’s also where non-financial skills come in – show entrepreneurs who are struggling that there is a way out.
Once that message gets across, it’s very rewarding.

Q: What do you see businesses doing well in terms of their overall holistic wealth creation strategy versus those who aren’t?

It goes way beyond financially doing well.
There’s no one size fits all – dependent on who is driving that company and who they surround themselves with in terms of the skills they require
They financially are doing well but when you ask non-financial questions, such as “show me your processes” or “how do you get your leads” you learn that the general business owner isn’t actually thinking about these questions.
So the inefficiencies start wearing away at the core of the business.
There are all these unseen non-financial factors that aren’t addressed and that’s where I come in to question anything worth questioning to add value and get better results.

Q: What are you witnessing with those entrepreneurs that do nothing other than building their retained earnings versus those that develop income streams outside their business?

Seen both types of entrepreneurs – they are both smart.
But, my personal view is that the better strategy is the entrepreneurs who engage the right people around them and don’t put all their eggs in one basket.
They use one platform to invest in other platforms.