IAM1903 – CEO Helps His Clients by Handling Their Back Office Compliance Globally

Transcription:

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Scott Smoler Teaser 00:00

We have what we call our six points of one, which is one team, one point of contact and one system, one platform, one process, one experience to just try and make that multi-country, especially multi-country solution is as seamless as possible.

Intro 00:16

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the IAMCEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:44

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the IAMCEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year, and we're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, and what I like to call the CB Nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focusing on operations. The systems will set you free. So think about systems, think about flow, sustainability, potentially working out in your morning routine, waking up early, e-commerce, and different business models. Think of the operations in the models that basically set up the foundation to allow the creativity within organizations, but also to make sure the trains are running on time and things are going as they should.

Now, this is extremely important because we often can turn to the sexy parts of business and forget about the operations and how important that is. So I really want to focus this month on this specific topic. So sit back and enjoy this special episode at the IAMCEO podcast.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the IAMCEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Scott Smoler of weConnect.

Scott, it's great to have you on the show.

Scott Smoler 02:02

Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 02:03

Yeah. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Scott so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing.

Scott is the CEO of weConnect the world's fastest growing privately owned global expansion and operations company. Scott has helped more than 1000 multinational companies expand globally with incorporation, accounting, tax, and HR services. Prior to weConnect, he held senior leadership positions at Tricor.

After 10 years of working in the accounting and payroll service industry, he set out to transform and innovate the industry. Scott has a passion for people and knows that the success of his business depends on happy clients and happy employees.

Scott, super excited to have you on again. Are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO community?

Scott Smoler 02:45

Yeah, I'm ready. Thanks. Great introduction.

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Gresham Harkless 02:47

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I love everything that you talked about, about happiness. I think that's one of the keys that we should have individually, but I love how that seems to be embedded into your company and everything that you're doing.

So I guess before we jumped into that, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Scott Smoler 03:03

Sure. Yeah. Thanks. So I'm originally from Connecticut, but I've now been living in Japan the past 14 years. When I came to Japan, I stumbled into the back-office compliance industry. And as you mentioned in the intro what that meant was at the time helping companies expand into the Japan market by taking care of their back office compliance, things like incorporation, accounting, payroll taxes so they could focus on growing their business. Over the course of about 10 years of my previous company, I went from entry-level working my way up through to becoming chief operating officer of the business, overseeing all the service delivery and internal operations.

Along the way, our Japan office was acquired twice by and joined a greater group company. I also had the experience to interact at the group level with other offices and doing various group initiatives. Along the way, you just start generating some pretty strong opinions about how to take the industry to the next level. And it got to the point where myself, along with about 40 of my colleagues just decided that the best way to do that would be to start our own company.

So about three-plus years ago, we started weConnect and here we are today. Things have never been better. Is this doing great? Couldn't be happy with the outcome.

Gresham Harkless 04:14

Nice. I absolutely appreciate that. I think it speaks to the true entrepreneurial spirit to be able to say, okay, we feel like we can create a better mousetrap, so to speak. So why don't we decide to do that?

And it sounds like you've had a wealth of experience as well, too with the merger and the companies you mentioned working in different positions as well, too, that I imagine that probably helped you to hit the ground running. You and your team.

Scott Smoler 04:35

Absolutely. I'm a big fan. I actually along the way did try to start my own app relating to online networking, just had this idea and dabbled with that. I learned a lot that in concept and reality, there's a big gap between those two.

So I think, definitely what worked well for me, and I recommend anyone is if you can first generate deep experience in a particular industry, especially one that you like, and really learn what works, what doesn't work, really prove your ideas. It's much easier to start a business after that same space.

Gresham Harkless 05:07

Yeah, absolutely. And I think all of that builds up into the experiences that you have. So it's hard to divorce the two. You want to have them both because it allows you to be set up for success.

Scott Smoler 05:16

Absolutely. And even with all of these competencies and components for success going and starting weConnect once I was in the driver's seat of my own business, I probably have learned more in the past 3 years than I did in the first 10 years.

And you're just thinking, how, I didn't have that wealth of experience before going into this and just start from again, that concept just incredibly challenging. I know people do it all the time and hats off to them, but definitely happy that I had that experience going and starting weConnect.

Gresham Harkless 05:42

I love how that has built a strong foundation for everything that you all are doing now. I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more about weConnect.

Can you take us through how you serve your clients and how you're making that impact in that thing in the universe?

Scott Smoler 05:53

Yeah, absolutely. So weConnect, we make it as easy as possible for companies to expand their business into any country in the world by handling all of that back office compliance. So let's say, for example, garage, your business is booming in the US, you're seeing some opportunities in some global markets. You're looking at Japan. You're looking at Germany, maybe have some opportunities here and there to expand those markets and maybe hire some staff or engage in some local contracts. You're going to need some combination of incorporation payroll accounting and tax services.

And I imagine for you, if I told you, hey, you have to expand into Japan tomorrow. Yeah, that can sound a little scary, a little daunting. And so what we do is, you would come to weConnect we understand your situation. We advise you on exactly the kind of compliance solution you need in each of those countries, and we'd handle that for you so that you can then go and just focus on growing your business.

Gresham Harkless 06:43

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I think so many times we forget that not only is it those aspects, but it's also, it sounds like the experience and the breadth of knowledge that you all have that I imagine are really, really integral to being successful.

Scott Smoler 06:56

It's so critical and what everyone's situation is, even if it's just the slightest bit difference that does change. The compliance solution that you need in a particular country and every country has different regulation and it's just really complicated. It's very challenging.

So delivering this kind of solution is hard. That's where one of the big things that I felt very strongly about is if you're going to provide a consistent global solution that really needs to be built from the ground up and designed for global compliance. Whereas a lot of the existing solutions are really more independent local firms brought together and they're really more focusing on the local markets.

They do global stuff as a secondary focus. But that would give you a very fragmented solution if you were to engage with that kind of provider.

Gresham Harkless 07:41

Yeah, and a fragmented experience I imagine that it probably makes it a lot easier, a lot quicker to some degree, because you don't have to start from zero each time that you're having those experiences. If you would more fragmented experience.

Scott Smoler 07:53

With us, we have what we call our 6 points of 1, which is one team, one point of contact, one system, one platform, one process, one experience to just try and make that multi-country, especially multi-country solution is as seamless as possible.

Gresham Harkless 08:08

Nice. I absolutely love that. I think so many times as providers or service providers, or even if we have a platform or product, we sometimes forget on excellence is a lot of times making it simple for the end user for the client.

So I love those six points because it sounds like that simplicity, which allows at the end of the day, a lot of the clients to work in their zone of genius, work on what they're doing so that they know that they're in good hands.

Scott Smoler 08:31

That's right.

Gresham Harkless 08:32

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce? It could be for the organization, the business or a combination of both. But do you think those six points are what kind of sets you apart and make sure you unique?

Scott Smoler 08:42

That is and that going back into and it was like why couldn't you have done this at your previous company or another company? But really the strong belief that you need to build this design, the solution from the ground up as one company for everyone who joins that the company is joining with the goal of creating this global solution, everyone rowing in the same direction, all the processes designed around that versus that being a secondary thing you're trying to build on some separate existing infrastructure.

And so, that's, I would say as our secret sauce and everything that goes into that fresh start and one company approach. It's very hard to replicate because you can't rewind and the only way to do that is to start over and most companies aren't going to do that. And especially you have more and more private equity backed companies, and they're just trying to grow as quickly as possible exit. And that's always going to involve acquisition. That was his acquisition. And that's just not how you ultimately get the most consistent global solution.

Gresham Harkless 09:36

Yeah. And, one of the habits of highly effective people is beginning with the end in mind. So to understand, that you have that global first, it sounds like philosophy of the way that you try to build everything. It allows you to really start to drill down from there. Where, like you said, if you start to build it from more of a, I don't know if the right word is local, but not as global. Maybe it's a better way to say it.

You have that opportunity to adapt and to grow a lot more because you had that as a strong pillar at the very beginning.

Scott Smoler 10:00

That's right.

Gresham Harkless 10:01

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Scott Smoler 10:12

There's no particular app or book. But I am a great admirer of Elon Musk. So I would definitely recommend listening to any of his interviews. But I think maybe a really important habits that comes from him that I also employ is the idea of 1st principles thinking, which basically means that approaching problems by breaking it down to its fundamental principles and solving it from there versus relying on, preconceived assumptions or the way things are, that are supposed to be. And

So one example would be like a Japanese accountant. If you need accounting in Japan, you might think you need to hire a Japanese accountant, with Japanese accountants there's a labor shortage. They don't speak English very well. They're more like tax minded, not really processed in operations minded for like monthly accounting and stuff like that. So there's a lot of challenges, but if you break it down to okay, what are the tasks that need to get done? You might find that only like 10% of those tasks actually involve a unique Japanese component.

For example, things you've done that weConnect is okay. If we can take that 90% and do that in Malaysia with a team that has deep excellence in global finance solutions from Intel's global finance shared service center and CPAs great English, great international mindset, and then integrate them with maybe a support individual in Japan that can help with some of the language challenges or some of the local tax points, that's just a more effective way of structuring things. But to do that, you have to first move the assumption that I need a Japanese accountant.

So that's just one example of, I think people will find that in their day to day life that they're actually unconsciously making a lot of assumptions about the way things are supposed to be. And that's something that if you can break away from that can be very powerful.

Gresham Harkless 11:48

Yeah, absolutely. You get that opportunity to rewrite the script, whether we're talking about you mentioned something on a day to day standpoint, hiring an accountant or even your internally within our business as well, too.

We have so many assumptions that we're not realizing, but I think if you can go through those exercises, it sounds like that's where that innovation comes from. So you start to realize that this isn't the way it always has to be, whether it's internally or in the industry or wherever you get to start to really trailblaze and make those huge innovation.

Scott Smoler 12:15

That's exactly right.

Gresham Harkless 12:15

Yeah. Awesome. I love that. And so I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. This could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self, or you might even tell your favorite client.

Scott Smoler 12:29

Yeah, so definitely, especially coming from a people business, but I think this applies to any businesses hiring the approach to hiring is so critical. I think that typically people go into hiring where maybe they urgently need to fill a role and it's easy to like project onto people what you want them to be or oversell them on the role just to get them in the door. When you're hiring someone is to be as brutally open and honest about the company, the culture, the vision, the role as possible.

Your main thing you're looking for first is the person that after you lay that on the table, the person says, oh, my God, that's exactly what I want. And then that's really the first major checkbox. And one actually great example is, and it applies also to 1st principles, but we were looking to hire this Japan support role for the accounting that I mentioned. This is a real situation and we're thinking that we need a Japanese accountant or someone with that kind of background to be in that support role. We just need one maybe to support like 20 people and we're doing all these interviews for Japanese accountants.

We explain the support role and they're all like. No, I'm not really interested. I want to do the work myself. I'm not interested in being a support role. I go through 10 people and they're all just laying it all out. And they're like, nah, nah. And another company may have tried to just sell someone on the role just to get them in the door because I just need this. Then we think do we really need an accountant? This isn't working and do we really need an account? Maybe this is really more of a communication role. So Let's find someone that just is really good at bilingual communication. Maybe some finance background, but it doesn't have to be an accountant.

And then the next interview we did, we laid the exact same thing out and that person's was like Oh my God, that's my job. And they joined and it's been fantastic. So it's just having that patience to do the hiring that way. I think it's critical.

Gresham Harkless 14:04

Yeah, I appreciate you so much for sharing that. I love how it ties into the hack and what we talked about as well, too, is because I think a lot of times we have to rewire sometimes even how we communicate things that we're looking for and really understand what are we hiring for? What is the solution we're trying to provide? I think once you start to look at things differently, not only does it help you to get that solution or that person or whatever that might look like, but it also helps to create a really impactful person in that position because they get that right fit.

They understand exactly what they're able to do and it hits the ground running. It sounds like a wall within the organization. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on the show.

So Scott, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Scott Smoler 14:45

Yeah, I think that let's say at a more smaller business, definitely setting a strong and inspiring vision for the company that people can get behind it. It makes having the goal of the business to be growing and profit 10% here on here is not motivating or interesting that you want to have a vision.

That's also more long term. Someone that's been working towards for a long time, which probably has some many milestones along the way. And then really just making sure that everyone's, rowing in the same direction, being that glue to the business making sure that all the key stakeholders, employees, customers, and shareholders are happy.

Yeah, just really ensuring alignment.

Gresham Harkless 15:22

Yeah, I love that alignment piece and just understanding how all the parts fit in. Truly appreciate that. Of course, appreciate your time even more creating some wins for us. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Scott Smoler 15:39

There's two quick things. I guess one is an inspirational takeaway, maybe there's no blueprint that someone can follow to success. I think that the key is everyone, if they just do in every moment, what they think is right and constantly self-reflect, you'll ultimately get to some level of success.

Everyone's story is different. Then on a personal plug, obviously, if anyone's looking to expand overseas, yeah, their business and needs compliance support that weConnect.co is our website and we're happy to support anybody.

Gresham Harkless 16:06

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. To make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well, too, so that everybody can follow up with you. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Scott Smoler 16:12

Great. Thanks a lot Gresh, appreciate it.

Outro 16:17

Thank you for listening to the IAMCEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. IAMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, subscribe and leave us a five-star rating.

Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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