How To Grow Your Business and Succeed with Alan Pollock

Interview Transcription

ANGELO:
So if you’re just tuning in, you’re listening to the Team Lally Real Estate show home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Angelo and I’m Attilio, if you have any questions, you can reach us at 7999596 What’s that number 7999596 or on the web at Teamlally.com.

ATTILIO:
And that’s L A L L Y well if you guys didn’t already figure it out, I got my 15 year old son Angelo. Giovanni K Oh, Kalani Leonardo it, man when he goes to buy a house he’s gonna his hand is gonna like cramp up that’s on long signature. As typical of us local people, we always give our kids these long Hawaiian names. But anyway. So, our guest today came to Hawaii right after college as an advertising manager for Hawaiian Tropic Suntan Company. Two years later, he started an advertising agency, which became one of the largest at the time, but sold it in 1998 with big box stores coming to Hawaii. He was the VP of Marketing for 10 years for Time Warner Cable, which is now Spectrum, and is currently doing volunteer work for SCORE. Please welcome our guests, Alan Pollock. Hi, Alan. Hi. Hey, and am I pronouncing your last name correctly? Pollock. No, but

ALAN:
that’s okay. No. Pollock

ATTILIO:
Pollock. Now, Pollock. I don’t know if I’m remembering this correctly. That it sounds like a writer or an artist had that last name, too.

ALAN:
Yeah, there was a Jackson Pollock. Famous Artist. Yeah. Yeah.

ATTILIO:
And if you got one of those that are like $3 million, or whatever, if they’re sitting in exactly.

So, you know, the first of all, let’s give people some foundation or an understanding SCORE. Correct me if I’m wrong is an acronym. Can you help us out with what that acronym stands for? SCORE?

ALAN:
You know, I was, I was hoping you would ask me that. Because

ATTILIO:
then makeup was

ALAN:
one of the one of the letters are originally it was retired executives. Yeah. That was a part of SCORE. Excuse me. And that has changed. Now we have a lot of people who are mentors, volunteer mentors are all volunteers, who are not retired, who are in the workplace to want to give back to the community. But I even checked before this interview, did a little homework to see if I can find out what the acronym is. And no one seems to know it. I do know it was started in 1964. By the SBA, they launched it. It’s a federal it’s a federal program. Yeah.

ATTILIO:
Well, the most important thing, you know what it means? That’s what some that’s what these entrepreneurs who are struggling and, and trying to get their business off the ground. And then they book an appointment with someone like you with all your experience. And you know what, they yell out SCORE! There you go. Well, you know what, I had my handy assistant over here. He went to the the valuable knowledge source Google, and it says Service Corps of Retired Executives. Okay, Service Corps of Retired Executives. Yeah. And you’re right, it did say like, yeah, 1964. So, you know, my, my question for you. Is that for you. Yeah. I mean, I read your intro and stuff. And sounds like you and congratulations, you have great success. What was your compelling reason to want to participate? Because I’m going to imagine that this is not some high paying position. It’s volunteer.

ALAN:
It’s all volunteer. Yeah. Well, I’m retired. Yeah. And I believe in giving back to the community. Before I was at SCORE, I was a volunteer doses on the USS Missouri because I enjoy American history and did that for a little while, and then SCORE SCORE approached me, and I gave it a try, and I really did enjoy it. And I get a great deal of satisfaction, particularly when we have clients that come back to us and, and thank us, you know, because yeah, you know, at that business saying, There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Well, there really is. It really is, this is, this is such a great resource for the community. That were a lot of us volunteers are really enjoy what we do and we’re proud, proud to be a part of it.

ATTILIO:
Well, thank you so much for that because I don’t know who this quote came from. But you know, life is not a life is not made of the things that we get, but it’s made up of the things that we give so thank you for being a giver. Yeah, turning your turning back around reaching back to these entrepreneurs and helping pull them forward to be successful. How many you know, if you if we gotta you know, we know that with our with our talk radio, we have a lot of we know a lot of realtors listen to the show. And there are 1099 Self Employed entrepreneurs and we know that business owners listen to our show. Tell us why, you know what some of the benefits of these entrepreneurs wherever at in their phase of the business of working with SCORE?

ALAN:
Sure. Well, I would for me personally, about 50% of our clients are our new entrepreneurs are just starting out. They’re in business, anywhere from zero to one or two years. And then the other half are our small business people that that that need help. And some of the people, particularly the ones that have been in business for five, six years, you know, a lot of times they know the answer, but they just need someone to tell them it that they’re doing it right. Oftentimes, I have people that just want to bounce ideas off of me. And if you don’t have a partner in business, and it’s just your wife, or your next door neighbor, your buddy, that may not always be the best place to bounce ideas and concepts, as opposed to someone who’s been in the trenches before? Well, I really think that adds a nice perspective for them.

ATTILIO:
Well, and then it’s, it’s, you know, I’ve been self employed for 18 years, as I jokingly and seriously say, I’m completely unemployable. I could never work for somebody else, because I’ve been self employed for so long. And I’m sure the same is true for you. But what what you know, and this is not, it’s more this model, a question for you. And we’ll get back to the SCORE questions. But for you, what did you you know, I was like, even entrepreneurs who have retired is what, and that’s a little check of success that you were able to actually retire from a business that you started, what would you say was the what was the key ingredients for you, your personality, or your character traits that allow that helped you be successful as an entrepreneur?

ALAN:
Yeah, that’s a good question. I think there were several, I think, most entrepreneurs, you have to be confident. And at the same time, you always have to look over your back, you know, because in business, there’s so many things that can go wrong. You can’t, you have to always be cautious. And so for me, the glass was both half full and half empty. And I think that was one of the things that got me successful. Another was, I was very fortunate that I found after my second year, third year in business, a partner who really complemented me. And so you know, one plus one equals three, it was just great having a good partner. And you know, a good partner is like having a good marriage. It’s it’s fantastic. It’s just that it’s the same time if you have a bad partner, it could be the worst thing in the world. Yeah. And at score we I have had people call me that are are in bad partnerships.

ATTILIO:
And do some counseling.

ALAN:
Yeah, yeah. So I’m part psychiatrist, or psychologist. Yeah. So I think that’s, that was a big thing. For me. Another thing I think, was timing, timing is everything. I started my business in the late 70s. And it was going really well for a very long time. And one of the best things I did was, was sell it, because I started seeing the big box stores coming in. Yeah. And I knew it was going to shrink the ad industry here in Hawaii. And it did, it was in the ad industry here is just a shell of what it was. So it’s also being a business person. Sometimes you need to know when it’s time to go. Yeah, when it’s time to sell it, you know? And especially again, we get calls from people who are in trouble. And, you know, do you keep feeding the dragon and put good money after bad or you amputate an arm to save the rest of the body? You know, it really tough decision.

ATTILIO:
Yeah. And it’s tough when you’re in the thick of it, because I’ve heard, you know, economists call that a sunk cost fallacy. And they say, if you will, we spent all this money already, we will also keep going. And now you got to maybe gotta help them make a decision to pull the plug or pivot into a new direction. What here’s a I mean, here’s a, from your perspective, as a as a SCORE, you know, executive helping these new business owners, what do you find is the number one challenge that these startup entrepreneurs having come to you with?

ALAN:
The number one challenge is that most people don’t do a business plan. They have this great idea. And they’re confident in their ability. And they borrowed some money, and they’re ready to go. And so 90% of the time, I have them do a business plan. And it’s really getting all of your ideas organized on paper. And one of the advantages of business plan is that it forces you to ask yourself a lot of questions. And then you put it in writing, you go, Oh, wait a minute, maybe this doesn’t work this way or there was another way of looking at it. So it’s a lot easier to make mistakes in writing, than to take it No a five year lease and open up a restaurant and realize, oops, I forgot about this, this and this. Yeah, you know?

ATTILIO:
And there’s Yeah, go ahead.

ALAN:
No, you’re saying you’re just depending on your business, there’s so many moving parts. And so a business plan will visit business planning. And at SCORE, we have templates. You know, if you don’t have your own business plan, we provide a template, we provide support to help you help you write the business plan. Yeah. And because, again, most entrepreneurs are, are good at what they do. And they’re real confident. But that’s sometimes where it stops. A lot of you don’t have any experience. And as you know, as a business owner, it’s tough. And my favorite line is, be careful what you ask for. You may get it, yeah, no, you may get it, or you will get it and then you gotta be careful. I mean, what’s one of the things that me personally, is that I never had a desire to have a big agency, and I’ll be real open with you. My firm grew much larger than I wanted it to. Wow. And I stopped having fun after about 12 or 13 years. Oh, wow. It Yeah, I mean, I was doing it for 20. Because I was making good money. And I wasn’t, I wasn’t unhappy. But I, I ended up being more working, being an HR employees and clients and being the middleman as opposed to having a small shop with seven or eight people. We had, like 25 people, you get to a certain level and the dynamics change. So you really have to know what you want in life. So

ATTILIO:
well, and will they say that an entrepreneur is somebody that’s not willing to work for somebody else, 40 hours a week, but you’re going to networking for yourself at 90 120 hours a week. And that that’s right, that kind of weed, that’s a good reality check initially on it. And then there’s a guy named Banner, Chuck, he’s like on the social media, he says, here’s the book, here’s the raw truth about entrepreneurship, you’re gonna have to work your face off initially. There’s no you know, no ifs, ands, or buts or ways around it. So

ALAN:
that’s exactly right. Yeah. The

ATTILIO:
so I mean, you kind of answered the other question is, you know, what’s your number one piece of advice? And it’s, it’s, it’s get a business plan put together, you know, out. And then in addition to that, what would be something else that you’d want these new entrepreneurs to know, Get? Get a business plan together? And then and then what else? Yeah.

ALAN:
Well, the biggest mistake that people make when they start a business is they’re always undercapitalized.

ATTILIO:
Yeah, not enough money. You have to

ALAN:
you have to expect in business, that that you may be working 3,4,5, even six months without making an income, make a what? Well, you’ll make an income, but you got to pay the bills and the lease and your attorney or this or that. And so you have to have more money than you think you need. And they always said these success stories. So I started with $25 in my pocket. Yeah, there are people that do that. Yeah, yeah. But there are so many businesses that go under because they’re undercapitalized. You know. And so my biggest advice is, you know, you want to have more money in the bank, than you need Yes, and all that you think you need, because there’s nothing worse than then having a bank that you can grow out of business. Yeah, you can grow a business. And go wonder even though the business is growing, because you’re undercapitalized. Yeah, you know, it’s all everything is Cat cashflow is like blood. Yeah. And if you need a transfusion, even though you’re growing, and you can’t get that transfusion, because no one’s gonna loan you money if you started business, but it’s your it’s your family, you know, banks not going to go fund. And, yeah,

ATTILIO:
they How does so how does it How does score recruit their members? The mentors you yourself?

ALAN:
Yeah. Well, what they do is, is it’s either word of mouth, or if someone who’s listening to the show right now, who wants to volunteer, you got to score.org Yeah, just send us an send us an email. And you know, one of the admin people at SCORE, probably usually at the at the local level, the local chapter will interview you. Yeah. And then they tell you what the parameters are. And then you just have to take a couple of tests. And the tests are more for you Integrity? Yes. In other words, you know, they there are certain hard and fast rules that you know, you’re not doing this so you can get leads, for example, you know, actually, I’m not on this radio show, some people will call me high side and you hear are more realistic? Yeah, yeah. So you have to take a and there’s simple tests. And if you fail, you just study it again and take it over again. And, and, you know, we have people, like for me, I had my own business, but we have people that are that hadn’t had their own business, because they’ve been like an HR for 25 years. Yeah. And they’re experts in HR, we have a couple of attorneys at SCORE. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Let’s go. When you when you go to SCORE, and you fill in for a mentor, you briefly typed what your problem is, then we have someone at score that will match you up with the right mentor.

strengths. Market. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

ATTILIO:
Well, I think, you know, we’ve only got a couple of minutes left. And it goes by so quick that I for sure, I want to have you on the show. Because, you know, most of the people we have on the you know, we talk about real estate for whole hour is boring. So I like having local entrepreneurs. And now I now that we have you, if you don’t mind, I want to have you on the show, again, a couple of times just to talk about what SCORE is because I think one people don’t even realize this there. And what’s the cost on that?

ALAN:
Cost is absolutely free. Like I said, that’s what it’s a federal, it’s a federal program, and doesn’t cost you anything. And I have people that call me regularly, and I respond to them and there’s no charge.

ATTILIO:
Yeah, you’re here to help. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks so much for being on the show. This time, the time went by so quick. I know we’re going to have you on the show is, is it okay, if we have you on the show again, to talk about SCORE?

ALAN:
Yeah, sure. And let me just plug one thing. Yeah. The website is score.org/hawaii. And besides mentoring, you have a wealth of resources there. And for example, you know, June 8, we’re doing a webinar on what if you should buy a franchise, June 14. So how to fight recession, with a market stimulus plan, June 22, how to launch your E commerce and start your online business. So we’re always playing webinars, some are are produced on the mainland federally, some are local.

ATTILIO:
And on July 5, are you completely crazy? You want to be self employed? No, no, I’m just kidding. That’s not a seminar. But, you know, I think what you’re doing is you’re helping the people. We’re thinking about it, you’re helping the people that are in it, and you’re helping increase the probability that they’re going to be successful. Why wouldn’t somebody want to get a hold of you all? So yeah. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. And we are going to have you on again, I really appreciate it. All right, my pleasure. Okay, take care. Well, hey, aloha.

Follow Us On Social Media