Ira: 0:04

Hello and welcome. I am Ira Gordon and, along with Stacee Santi, the host of The Accidental Entrepreneurs podcast. We each previously founded successful companies. Along the way, we became business owners and eventually sold those businesses despite us having no real background in business or ever even planning to become entrepreneurs. In other words, we did this all despite originally having no idea what we were doing or getting ourselves into. In each episode of this podcast, we will share stories and tips from our journey and we'll answer a randomly chosen question about our experience. Let's jump right into the show.

Stacee: 0:41

So, Ira, you just got back from VMX conference in Orlando the veterinary. What is the M and the X stand for now? I don't even know.

Ira: 0:49

I believe it as Medical Expo.

Stacee: 0:51

Oh yeah, that's right. You're formerly known as NAVC, which I can always tell who's old school when they call it NAVC.

Ira: 0:59

You know, I feel like that was one of the most successful rebrands I've ever seen. Like within the first year almost everybody was already calling it VMX and not referring to it as NAVC, and I don't think that usually happens.

Stacee: 1:14

No, look at.

Ira: 1:15

Twitter.

Stacee: 1:17

Yeah, look at Twitter. That's a good one. The other one is Western Veterinary Conference. Nobody, everyone calls it that. No one calls it the Viticus or whatever we're supposed to call it. Yeah, they did a really good job. You made a good point there. Well, what was it like? What's hot? What's happening?

Ira: 1:32

You know, the great thing was it was nice and warm down in Florida as opposed to snowing here at home. Got to see some really great people, had a nice talk about a topic I only actually know a little bit about, which is artificial intelligence in diagnostic imaging. But that was great and the rest of it was a big meeting with, you know, close to 30,000 people and the things that I have a lot of anxiety about usually.

Stacee: 2:03

How did you survive as an introvert?

Ira: 2:07

One day. I actually I never do this, but I actually was conscious of the fact that I was just getting tired and not feeling it and I just went back to my room, lay down, listened to music for like an hour and then tried to get back at it and I was. I was proud of myself. It's not something I've actually ever done before.

Stacee: 2:29

You took a moment.

Ira: 2:30

I did.

Stacee: 2:31

Yeah, that place is crazy and it's funny because I'm with you like an introvert too and the bar scene and all the people and all the noises and all the hype, like it's. It's like being at Disneyland a little bit. You have to be on and the walking is insane.

Ira: 2:51

I know everyone's always complaining about their steps, but there's a line in one of my favorite movies, clerks, which I believe says I hate crowds but I love gatherings.

Stacee: 3:08

Yeah, I have to go to bed early at those things because I'm kind of an introvert like you. I mean, I can be sort of an extrovert, but only if it's about something I like talking about, like animals. Otherwise I sort of go into my introvert state, all right. So the question today is what was it like when you got your first payout? So you've sold part or all of your company. You get this big check what was it like and what was the first thing you bought?

Ira: 3:55

All right. So for the most part, I'm not overly ostentatious with my spending, but I do have this, this thesis, that is, when something momentous happens, you should commemorate it with something that you'll keep for a long time, that reminds you of that thing that happened. It actually first started when my grandmother passed away many years ago and left me $600, and I use that to buy a guitar that I still have today that reminds me of her, and so that is something I've tried to do to recognize important events for a variety of reasons. So when we got our check for selling X prep, the thing that I bought which is super nerdy and cool is an ACDC Back in Black, limited edition in ball machine.

Stacee: 4:58

No, that's what you bought.

Ira: 5:00

It is a ridiculously stupid expense to take on, but, in the grand scheme of things, could be justified and was something that was like well, this should pretty much last forever as long as you take care of it. Theoretically, it's an expense that shouldn't become non-usable or depreciate so much in value that it's not worth anything anymore Not that it really matters. I don't plan to sell it, but that's what I got, and same thing. Whatever I Play the silver ball on that machine, it brings me great joy.

Stacee: 6:42

That's amazing. And do you remember how it felt when you saw that number in your bank account?

Ira: 6:51

It doesn't even really make sense.

Stacee: 6:55

I felt like calling Wells Fargo and letting him know there's been a massive error. Like somebody, I felt like maybe I was on one of those reality TV shows where they were going to say just kidding.

Ira: 7:08

You kind of have a sense that a big chunk of that money is ultimately going to be returned to Uncle Sam, but you don't know how much of that big chunk, and so that's a great source of anxiety, I suppose. And then you also have this burden of responsibility to say this is probably not going to happen like all the time, or maybe ever again, and so I probably want to do something with this that allows it to help me for the rest of my life, as opposed to for the next month or the next year, or even the next five or 10. You're way more practical than me.

Stacee: 7:43

I was more like check this out, we don't have to ever work again, we can buy a private jet, we can do this. And then Ellis says that's not that much money. We still have to be responsible people. It was crazy though, I did feel like I mean, it was really I think the word is unbelievable. I didn't believe that that happened. I didn't believe that that was true.

Ira: 8:20

You know you go through discussions while you're sort of in that process of selling a business and those numbers get sort of thrown back and forth and they, you know they hit you when that happens. But there's still like a sense of this isn't a short thing. There's lots of things that go wrong during the diligence stage of closing a deal and things change and nothing is certain. But when it finally sort of arrives, that's when it suddenly feels real for sure.

Stacee: 8:52

Yeah, it kind of seems like when you're in those final stages of negotiation. It seemed like monopoly money is how it feels, yeah.

Ira: 9:01

Yeah, because you actually can't think of it the way you think of regular money, because it's different. And you, the way you've been brought up to think about money and thought about it. Your entire career is mostly related to like, what do you need to live on, right, and then all of a sudden to have the opportunity of a windfall is not really money for you to live on, it's money for you to live off, I guess. Is that a statement?

Stacee: 9:35

Yeah, that's a good statement. Yeah, I know like I have a pretty good grasp on what a hundred bucks is like, what a thousand, 10,000, when you start getting up to a hundred thousand, like I kind of, and just it goes worse from there. Like it's like when you look at a crowd of people, I can't really tell you if there's, you know, 10,000 people there or 50,000 people, because once we're up at that level, I can't. I have no reference for comparison. You know, like I'm sure Taylor Swift is pretty good at knowing how big this audience is in those kind of numbers, but for a normal person.

Ira: 10:16

Yeah, Taylor Swift knows like oh yeah, I can handle thinking about tens of millions or hundreds of millions, but once you get to billions and tens of billions, I don't know. It's hard for me to wrap my head around that. I mean, I guess like we feel like that's out of touch and most people probably feel like what we're talking about is a little bit out of touch with most folks' realities.

Stacee: 10:34

Yeah for sure. Well, the first thing I went and bought and I had my eye on this for probably about five years was I wanted these blinds for my house that were controlled by an app and you could set the timer or set the app up to put the blinds up X minutes before after the sunrise and sunset. And I wanted these blinds for a long, long time. I had gone, I had looked at them, I had priced them, I knew what they were, I knew they were like what would you call it? Like just a total luxury item. But I just really wanted this for a long time.

Stacee: 11:21

So I got my check and I went down to this blinds place in my town and I told the ladies, like, can I help you? And I tell her I want to get these blinds for my entire house and I want the kind that are technology controlled. And I don't know if it's because I, how I looked, or I don't know what the reason was, but she just didn't want to sell me the blinds. She kept trying to talk me out of it. She's like well, you know, it's really not that hard to just pull the string and you'll save yourself a lot.

Ira: 11:58

Well, I was thinking.

Stacee: 11:59

Yeah, it's not that hard and you'll save yourself a ton of money, and I'm like, I'm familiar with what it's like to pull the string to blinds, but what I want is them all to go up at once and them all to go down at once, because I actually know that I don't go around and pull the string every morning and every evening and I don't know. I was annoyed that she didn't want to sell them to me, and I think she thought I was not familiar with the cost. It was a weird shopping experience, however, and then I got my blinds and I there you go.

Stacee: 12:36

I was gonna ask.

Ira: 12:37

Yep. I think they still bring you tremendous joy.

Stacee: 12:40

Oh yeah, every time they go up and every time they go down, I think of my sale, much like you think of yours, when you see ACDC pinball machine, like it's just something that's, it feels like the room is opening up for the day. I love it.

Ira: 12:59

I'm doing it. I can't say that I would have found similar inspiration and that sort of splurge, but I'm glad you did.

Stacee: 13:09

When did you start to think that it was going to be possible for you to be a millionaire?

Ira: 13:19

I remember when I was in veterinary school and sort of started to imagine, like my financial future and, like you know, how much I would need to earn, and did some of that modeling and I was young and dumb but I figured out that I would probably or we, I should say, like my wife and I, like we would need to earn about $5 million over the course of our career to be able to do the things we wanna do raise a family, put kids in the college, live in the type of place we wanna live, you know that type of stuff.

Ira: 13:56

And that didn't seem entirely unrealistic, based on sort of how much you could earn as a veterinary, oncologist and various other things I might do and she might do. Bye Jack, yeah, I do remember sort of thinking about that and that being a long time and a lot of work and not easy. And honestly, over time I've sort of looked at that number and it's gone up a little bit. It's relative to what I thought when I was 20 something, but certainly yet an event like the sale of the business, like at the very least, it pushes you way closer to that lifetime goal than you had before. So I sort of thought about it that way. That helps.

Stacee: 14:47

Yeah, I never had a lifetime goal. I pretty much am the kind of person I just sort of have. I go off a feeling, which is always smart Like if I feel my bank account's overdrawn it probably is. I have a funny story. So when I was first getting started I joined this group, which is where I met you, I think of that partners, and it's a group where a lot of people that support the veterinary industry get together a couple of times a year in network and stuff like that, and when you're a new member you get to go up in front of everyone and you get to do what they call the elevator speech, which I think was like five minutes, and you can do a little presentation.

Ira: 15:31

Long elevator.

Stacee: 15:32

Yeah, and then you get a little presentation on who you are and what your company is. And I was sitting at this table with you know, their tables aren't like those round ones with about eight people and I was sitting next to this guy who his name is Christopher I can't remember his last name, but he's a wealth management specialist. So, anyways, it was my turn and I went up there and I did my little show and I came and I sat back down and he looked at me and he goes you realize you're going to be a millionaire one day, don't you? And I'm like I thought he was joking, right, I thought he was just like being silly and I laughed. He's like no, I'm serious, Like you do realize that, don't you? Like he looked me straight in eye and said that and I'm like does he know something I don't know? You know.

Ira: 16:29

I did, sounds like he did.

Stacee: 16:31

He did, and I think about that and that statement he said to me and how this random stranger who I didn't know and didn't pay told and I wasn't related to said this. It kind of felt like inspiring.

Ira: 16:45

But don't you know that? You know you're an opinion leader and people come to you for advice and all those things. Don't you feel like you see that in people all the time that are at the beginning of something and you think to yourself, oh, like this person is going to make it big. But I actually don't know if this thing they're working on now is the thing that's going to do it, but I can tell that this person has the drive, the passion, the smarts and they're going to do that. And that must have been you back then, which is pretty cool.

Stacee: 17:16

Yeah, I kind of do see that. Like I see there's two people on my radar that I feel like have it, and one of them is Dr. Dani Rabwin with ReadyVetGo. Like she is, there's some about her and I feel like she's really got it. And the other one is this girl I met maybe two or three years ago, Nicole Clausen. She's a veterinary technician and does inventory management. Yeah, she's got it too. Like I didn't even know she was going to be building a company, but when I first met her she's just so bright, such a bright star. I felt really like, oh, she's going to be a millionaire. I wonder if she knows. I wonder if I should tell her, like Christopher told me, it's great.

Ira: 18:03

Dani actually is a classmate of mine. She is.

Stacee: 18:05

I love her very much.

Ira: 18:06

Yeah, I saw her at VMX this last week and had to spend a nice bit of time with her and I am extremely excited and proud of all the things that she's doing and working on and fully agree she's going to be an all star as, yeah, as are others, I think the other person that comes to mind I hate to put like pressure on people, but I think I think they can handle it.

Ira: 18:30

The other person that comes to mind is a technician named Alexander Contreras, and he has a product called Clip Trio and he just has this drive, personality, charisma, passion for what he's doing, and I know he's going to be successful. I am not sure if this product is going to be what gets him there, but he is really fantastic and it's just exciting to watch their journeys.

Stacee: 18:56

It is Wow. We're now going to share a favorite tip, trick, technology tool, inspirational quote with our listeners. What do you have for us today, Ira?

Ira: 19:19

I've got a book that relates to something we spoke about at the beginning, which is a book by someone named Susan Cain C-A-I-N, and it is "uiet the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking.

Stacee: 19:37

And that seems right up your alley.

Ira: 19:40

Somebody not surprisingly somebody recommended and gave me this book. They said you need this book, and they were right. It is really about this notion that introverts have tremendous advantages and skill sets that extroverts don't, and I've for most of my life, and probably still now, thought of my introversion as something between a weakness and or something that needs to be overcome at times, and so this was a helpful tool that allowed me to appreciate the fact that, yes, you sometimes do need to overcome your introversion to accomplish certain things, but in fact, it is, in many ways, a huge advantage and has skills and abilities that you have as an introvert that the others don't, so that made me feel good.

Stacee: 20:31

Ooh, I'll have to check that out.

Ira: 20:34

How about you Stacee?

Stacee: 20:36

My tip for this week is really some advice on how to manage your inbox, because there does come a point where you have over supply of emails that are coming in and it's really easy to get behind and you feel like you are beholden to Gmail all the all the hours of the day.

Stacee: 21:01

And one tip I have is to scan through all your emails, triage them and then all the ones you can't get to soon, within the day, Just push back a reply that says I got your email and I'll get back with you shortly. I think that's so important when you're starting a company, versus waiting until you have the proper time and the bandwidth to answer the email in the way you want to, Because then you're keeping people delayed. And one thing that's super important is to show you're very responsive and you're reliable and dependable, and so you don't have to answer all the emails, but you do need to respond to them every day and just say I got it and you know I'll be with you in just a bit, and people really like that. They remember that more than if you wait till you have this great response and they send it five days later.

Ira: 22:02

Well, I would agree. My old partner used to call these placeholder emails Right, and, as somebody that does a lot of email communication with a lot of people that I don't really yet know, it is definitely a turn off, a concern, when you don't hear back from them for 24, 48, 72 hours and you wonder did they get my email? Did they not care about my email? Are they going to respond? Should I send them a follow up note and if, and all it really takes is a relatively immediate thanks. So much for this email. I got it and I'm caught up with some other things, but I'm going to write back to you next week or whatever the time frame is, and all of that is overcome, and so I think that's great advice.

Stacee: 22:49

Even if you're a big deal like a CEO of a company, and you know, if you're, if you're a big deal in a company and you're trying to foster a culture of you know, inclusion and equality and you know, just have basically a nice culture. Even the CEO needs to do this.

Ira: 23:08

For sure. I have literally never had anybody write back and say why'd you send me an email that doesn't say anything, right Like that's never happened. I don't think it's ever going to happen, and so it's always appreciated. It doesn't take that much time. You can do it from your phone. You can set it up as an email signature that you tap it Like. You can really automate some of these things and and it makes a huge difference- oh, I never thought of that.

Stacee: 23:35

Setting up it up, setting it up as an email signature, that's clever. That's a good idea, all right. Well, it's time to spin the wheel and see what our question is for next time.

Ira: 23:45

All right, can't wait. Who did you hire first?

Stacee: 23:55

All right, I got a good one. Do you have a good one?

Ira: 23:58

I do.

Stacee: 23:59

Okay. Well, I'll see you next time and have a great rest of your week, you guys. Thanks for listening to the show today. If you want to learn more about my story or I restore it, be sure to check out episodes two and three. And if you are an accidental entrepreneur and would like to be a guest co-host on the show and spin the wheel, just message be a co-host, no spaces, to 1-833-463-9727 and tell us your story. See you next time.