IAM1940 – Founder Focuses on Helping Firms Recover Lost Revenue and Increase Cash Flow

Transcription:

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Dee Bowden Teaser 00:00

Everybody is in business to do one thing, which is make money. Let's be clear. That's the only reason you go into business is to make money, but money is also based on relationships. I understand that if you're a business owner, you don't want to mess up the relationship because you don't want to have to go ask the owner. Hey, can you pay my bill?

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 are in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:44

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO 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. 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 in what I like to call CB Nation architects, who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month we are focusing on finishing it out, fighting the good fight and closing out the job. I think just as important as it is to start something, it's even more important in how you conclude it or finish it out. So if you think of the different things that you can finish out, it'd be everything from a project, it can be from a day, it could also be from a business in and of itself and it can also of course be for the year. So when you think of finishing out, I want you to really think of these episodes, because what we're going to really focus on is the last question that we really ask which is defining what it means to be a CEO.

All the creative, innovative, and I think truly insightful questions that we received from this question is really what we want to highlight during the show. But, of course, we want you to enjoy the entire episode and think about how you're going to finish things out and how you're going to finish things out strongly. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcasts.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have the Dee Bowden of BCS Solutions. Dee, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Dee Bowden 02:17

Thank you. It is an honor to be here. This is an amazing day. I'm always excited to get to share my story and to tell the listeners about why I love talking about collections. Cashflow and most importantly, how does they solve it in your business?

So again, thank you for the opportunity to share this great message.

Gresham Harkless 02:34

No problem. Super excited to have you on because I think you have such a great message and it's something that's not talked about a lot. So I'm super excited to hop into the show and hear more from you. But I want to read a little bit more about Dee, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Dee, is the founder of BCS solutions. Dee, graduated from the Steve Harvey's Act Like a Success School of Business Acceleration in 2018. She focuses on helping companies and government agencies recover lost revenue and increased cash flow for services provided but not yet paid. Dee, has successfully collected over 50 million for several companies and government agencies in the past 10 years.

Street cred and podcast guests on the following shows guests on Sean Douglas's podcast Life Transformation Radio, Guests on Tamie Collines Markee Radio Show guests and on WJMs. Radio. NYC with Jamie Jams.

Dee, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Dee Bowden 03:29

I am so ready to speak to the community.

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Gresham Harkless 03:31

Let's do it.

Dee Bowden 03:33

And we say on my side of the street, let's get this party started.

Gresham Harkless 03:35

Let's get the party started. I'm all about that party. So I wanted to kick everything off and hear about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Dee Bowden 03:44

Sure. It's so funny every time I get to tell this story. It started like this, so about 10 years ago in my quest to change lives, I worked for a small company. It was an IT firm and it was a company actually. Okay, let me back it up and say, but we're from Boston. So don't hate. I know that you might have some fans that are like, Oh, Boston Patriots fans. Yes. I'm all that. So there you go. Let's just get that other person. Yes. I'm Boston Patriots fan. So don't boom. Just listen. You'll learn something from it. Seriously.

So ten years ago, I worked for a small company called Amherst technologies. I've been actually near Merrimack, New Hampshire right outside of Boston where I'm from. And I share the stories that people can understand, like what drives me to do what I do now. They were an IT firm and they had 8 million in sales on the books, but not 8 million in the bank. Let me say it again, 8 million with the sales, but the sales are not in the bank. I'm a collector by trade so I love to untangle people's financial revenue in their business. So 8 million. All these accounts and I'm sitting there part time going, this is a lot of money to not be in the bank.

So, I work on the accounts and I get 6 million dollars back in 60 days working part time.

Gresham Harkless 04:58

Wow.

Dee Bowden 04:59

Is phenomenal. Thank you. Thank you. That's from anybody who's listening. He's going, that's a lot of money. It is. But here's the thing as phenomenal as collecting six million in 60 days was what got me here is that two months before Christmas, the CEO called all of us downstairs and said, listen, thank you so much for your services, appreciate everything you've done. That's sales. That's how it's payable. That's how it's receivable and contracts.

This entire company is shutting down in 30 minutes. You've got 30 minutes to go upstairs and get your stuff.

Gresham Harkless 05:28

Oh, wow.

Dee Bowden 05:29

We're done. If you Google Amherst Technologies, Merrimack, New Hampshire, right now, you're going to find that logo. That is it.

Gresham Harkless 05:37

Wow.

Dee Bowden 05:37

I worked hard to recover that money and to be told, we're done. That was the start of a journey to figure out what are the financial disconnects? What happens in business that an executive has to make that decision to close the business down? I contend there are four things. There's something that happens in the sales transaction, accounts payable which is your invoices that are set to the vendor, accounts receivable is the money that comes in, and the contract. Most people can understand it like right now, there's a company called Payless Shoes. They made the announcement, they're closing.

The four things that impacted their closure, sales, Payless bought shoes from other vendors. They have not been able to pay the vendors for the shoes. They've been billed for the shoes, but they can't pay for the shoes. The contracts that they have with the shoes companies are now null and void. Same thing happened in the same company. And so my, I share that as an example to say, listen, what drives this conversation around cashflow is what happened to me personally. I've asked God to help me have to have platforms to talk about this and say, listen, I want you to crush it in your sales journey. Please do that.

Sell your widgets, sell your products, sell your service, sell your information, but don't forget the sale is not complete until the money's in the bank. That's how I got here.

Gresham Harkless 06:55

Yeah it's funny that you say that, 'cause I think a lot of times when you start a business, you think about making sure you have enough sales, make sure you have clients and things like that.

I wanted to drill a little bit deeper. I know you touched on it, but i wanted to hear a little bit more on like how clients work with you, what you go through and then also what you feel is like your secret sauce and what makes you unique.

Dee Bowden 07:15

How clients work with me in this is basically when a company acknowledges that they're having cash flow issues of basically that they've done, they've sold their services or products and they're realizing that 30 days out 60 days out, they haven't gotten paid a lot of times. It's hard for them to acknowledge that they need the help. But that's why I'm here. It's for you not to feel embarrassed if you haven't gotten paid in 60 days because I understand it. Listen, everybody is in business to do one thing, which is make money. Let's be clear. That's the only reason you go into business is to make money, but money is also based on relationships. I understand that if you're a business owner, you don't want to mess up the relationship because you don't want to have to go ask the owner, Hey, can you pay my bill?

But if you provided your product or service in good faith, then you should expect to get paid. And if you haven't gotten paid and you don't want to have a conversation, we can have a conversation and say, listen, bring me your accounts. Let's go over how many accounts are outstanding, how much money is outstanding, and where do you think the disconnects are. Do you think about something that happened in the sales transaction? You think you forgot to data entry information correctly and you submitted the wrong invoice? We can go and do what I call a deep dive and untangle one of the four areas that usually impact your money.

I can either give you a report and say here this is my audit. This is what I recommend, which is one or two. You can say, you know what, Dee? I really don't want to get on the phone with them. Do you mind? Then we go into contract and you hire these disclosures to go call and recover the money on your behalf.

Gresham Harkless 08:41

Okay. No, that definitely helps out a lot because, I know myself especially when I started, I didn't have like the systems or everything in place as far as like invoicing and things. But once I put that in, you start to see that, sometimes it does say 30, 60, 90 days before you get those payments. And if you're not aware of, if you don't even see it, then it's hard to even take those steps.

So it's great to hear that you're somebody that somebody can call on just to do one of those different three things that you outline where you can actually go on their behalf and do the phone calls or you can actually just help them in partnership to get that money back. I definitely appreciate you for doing that.

I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Dee Bowden 09:25

What makes me, okay, I'm sorry, say that question one more time please, make sure I got it.

Gresham Harkless 09:29

Yes, a CEO hack, something that makes you more effective and efficient. So it could be like an app, book or a habit that you have.

Dee Bowden 09:35

One of my habits that makes me effective is I take time every day just to express gratitude. I happen to be a believer. So one of my things is I have at least 30 minutes almost every morning where I just sit and I'm quiet. I'm either reading something, sometimes it's just meditation, sometimes it's just being still. The second thing I strive to do is I look to find ways to add value to others. Like part of me doing something different today is being able to share this story, but also giving people some nuggets so they can walk away and go, Okay, what did she say? Oh, yeah. The sales, the AP, the AR, this, but they're merely going to remember, Ooh, the sale is not complete until the money's in the bank.

They don't remember that. I said, they're going to remember that. Oh yeah. I made that sale. I look at it. I didn't, where's my money. So I started to add value every single day, but I most importantly make sure that I get my 30 minutes in quiet time with God. Then I also like to read. So I'm an avid reader. One of the favorite books I like to read are things by Joel Osteen. So right now I'm reading Next Level Thinking. And then because being an entrepreneur takes a lot, yu've got, mind, body, spirit, all of that. Then you also have to find people that you can connect with. So I thank you again for this opportunity to connect with your your audience because I need people to understand that, if you think about it, when you look at the entrepreneurial experience, it looks like, Oh my gosh, this is the easiest thing to do.

No, it's not. Let's be clear. No, it's not. No, it's not. If you are an introvert, if you don't find it easy to talk to people, that's the challenge. If you don't like to sell, that's the challenge. If you don't like to do data entry, that's the challenge. If you don't like to collect your money, that's the challenge. If you don't do a contract, that's a challenge. Guess what? If you expect to be successful, you have to get uncomfortable with the things that you don't know, and it's okay if you don't know them, but then you gotta ask for help. So, part of what we're doing today is putting out there that, listen, if collecting your money from another company is a challenge, you can reach out to BCS Solutions and we can help you.

We can either do one or two things. We can either show you where the disconnects are or better yet, we can teach you how to do it better so you can actually do it better for the long term. Because I can fix it on the short end, but if I don't teach you how to understand where the problems are, then you'll be keep repeating them. My goal is to make sure that you can actually do this long term for yourself and not need help.

That's the goal.

Gresham Harkless 11:57

Nice. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget and you might have already touched on this and I know you've given us lots of nuggets. This is like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Dee Bowden 12:11

Oh, if I could go back in time, let's see. I would tell myself number one, don't lose your passion, don't lose your passion and don't lose the thing that makes you, you. So if for example what people may not know is there are two things. I love Ferris wheels this day. I love a Ferris wheel. You can get me out on a Ferris wheel. We can talk business all day and see this panoramic view of the water, but it also is a way to clear my brain.

Secondly, I love hot air balloon rides. And it's another thing. It's this high-level experience, but it helps you to see things past what's right in front of you. You get this panoramic view and you're like, Oh, wow. I can see this or I can see this and I would definitely say, you need to do some different things. So, you may not do Ferris wheels or hot air balloons, you might do zip lining. You might do something different. The point is that sometimes you have to get out of your own way. And you also have to get out of doing the routine.

I like the Ferris wheel because every time I go up in there, I get to see another way of how do I share. Which is a, how do I share this thing about collections and cash flow systems in a way that people can go, Oh it's not just out the dollar. But this is an important part of your business because you have to have those four components. You can expect to stay in business.

Gresham Harkless 13:32

Absolutely. I definitely appreciate that. You got to have that different perspective And just for the record, we are not on a Ferris wheel or hot air balloon. We are talking business. I appreciate that.

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 this show. So Dee, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Dee Bowden 13:56

Thank you for the question. Being a CEO to me means that number one, I'm a servant leader first. I'm not just in business to make money, but I'm in business to make a difference. Me being a CEO means I take the gifts, talents, and skills that God gave me and I'm looking for ways to add value every single day, whether it's doing podcasts like this, whether it's writing a book, whether it's hey Dee, you got 10 minutes? I got this issue.

Can I talk to you about this? And saying yes, and so it means being in service. Because the greatest of the greatest among us is in service first. That's what it means being a CEO. It means being in service first.

Gresham Harkless 14:31

Absolutely. I definitely appreciate you Dee, giving us a lot of golden nuggets. You've definitely been of tremendous service to us as entrepreneurs and business owners. I wanted to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you.

Dee Bowden 14:47

Thanks. One other thing I'd like to tell the readers is this if you are again struggling with the collections process and you're like, you know what, I really need help. Do me a favor, reach out to me here at that's www. bcsconsultinggrp. com. On the website, there's actually a free download right now called the 5 Successful Strategies to Collecting Your Money. It's the 5 Successful Strategies to Collecting Your Money, and it's my personal beliefs on how do you effectively collect your money. Because you have to understand that, number one, you've got to believe you can collect it.

You've got to know you can do this. You have to identify the small accounts. And then you also have to have a plan. My last thing and greatest thing is show gratitude. Like I said earlier, my secret sauce is gratitude. That's what's been life changing. And that's what people don't understand is that when you show gratitude, you'll be amazed when people just say, thank you. Have you never noticed that just when you say thank you, people are like, oh, hey, you watch people's whole countenance change. Cause you did something and you're like, hey, thanks. They don't expect it. That's what makes it different because in collections, it can be seen as being harsh and cruel and whatever.

I'm not trying, I'm working to change the conversation by telling people what my secret sauce is, which is gratitude.

Gresham Harkless 15:57

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I truly appreciate your time. I appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing. This is not collections. This is definitely just a podcast, but I thank you as just as well.

I'm definitely gracious for your time and we'll have all those links in the show notes as well, but I hope you have a great rest of the day, Dee.

Dee Bowden 16:13

You too. Thanks. Cheers.

Gresham Harkless 16:15

Cheers.

Outro 16:16

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO 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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