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Business Owners Tell All: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Jamie Seeker
On The Seeker Solution Podcast, your host, Jamie Seeker encourages business owners to tell all! They'll share not only their expertise, but their stories and their purpose and what it takes to run a successful business. We cover a wide range of topics – the good and exciting, the challenges and sometimes the ugly. Experiences and lessons learned that our guests have faced along the way. We believe that every person has a unique message which can make a positive impact. We let our guests share on the subjects they’re well-known for. No matter the topic, you’ll be hearing real stories from real people. Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes is a project of Seeker Solution, featuring conversations with real business owners.
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- 2 days ago23 min
What Your Numbers Are Trying to Tell You
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, Rusty Fulling shares his journey from professional burnout to building a successful accounting and business management company that has served entrepreneurs for more than 25 years.After working excessive hours at a CPA firm and experiencing health problems that led to hospitalization, Rusty realized he needed a different approach to work and life. Encouraged by a colleague, he launched Fulling Management & Accounting in 2000 with just three clients. Remarkably, one of those original clients remains among the company's largest clients today.Throughout the conversation, Rusty explains how his company has navigated economic uncertainty by diversifying its client base while remaining selective about the people it serves. Rather than specializing in a single industry, Fulling Management & Accounting focuses on partnering with high-integrity business leaders who share its core values.Rusty also discusses how strong operational processes, accountability systems, and intentional leadership development have helped his company transition to a fully virtual workplace while maintaining a connected team culture.Beyond financial management, the conversation explores the importance of work-life boundaries, employee development, mentorship, and succession planning. Rusty shares his experiences supporting entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and Kenya, emphasizing that business success is ultimately about investing in people and creating a lasting impact.His central message is that financial reports should do more than document performance. They should help business owners understand their operations, make informed decisions, increase profitability, and build businesses that can thrive beyond their founders.Key Discussion Points1. From burnout to business ownershipRusty began his career at a CPA firm, where excessive working hours eventually contributed to serious health problems.Following hospitalization, a colleague encouraged him to consider starting his own business.He founded Fulling Management & Accounting in 2000 with three clients.One of those original clients has grown into one of his company's largest accounts.Key takeaway: Business ownership can create opportunities to establish healthier boundaries and build a company around personal priorities.2. Diversification as a business strategyRusty explains that his company initially considered specializing in particular industries but recognized the risks associated with industry consolidation and economic downturns.Instead, the company adopted a strategy of serving clients across multiple industries while maintaining consistent standards for client relationships.Diversification helped the company navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.Some clients performed exceptionally well while others struggled.The company also encourages clients to evaluate their dependence on individual customers or revenue streams.Key takeaway: Diversifying revenue sources can strengthen business resilience without sacrificing a clearly defined ideal client profile.3. Building a business around core valuesFulling Management & Accounting uses the acronym GRACE to communicate its core values.LetterCore ValueGGrowthRRepresent the ClientAAccountabilityCChampion AttitudeEEternal ImpactRusty explains that these values help guide relationships, expectations, and company culture.Some prospective clients have even determined that they would not be a good fit after reviewing the company's values, which Rusty considers a positive outcome.Key takeaway: Clearly defined values help businesses attract aligned clients and establish consistent expectations.4. Process management and accountability in a virtual workplaceFulling Management & Accounting transitioned to a fully virtual operation in 2020.Rusty emphasizes that remote operations require intentional systems to maintain accountability and communication.The company uses workflow management tools to monitor responsibilities and progress. It also reinforces desired behaviors through weekly staff recognition.Team members can recognize colleagues for exceptional contributions, and those acknowledgments are tracked throughout the year and rewarded with gift cards.Key takeaway: Effective process management combines operational systems with positive reinforcement and accountability.5. Maintaining a consistent mission while evolving operationsRusty recently rediscovered the company's original business plan from 2000 and noticed that its underlying mission and values remained remarkably consistent.The company's mission focuses on
- 1 weeks ago31 min
From Invisible to Irresistible: Building a Brand That Sells
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, we sit down with Kyle Duford, branding expert, author, and founder of The Brand Company, to explore how strategic branding, effective processes, and strong leadership contribute to business success.With experience working for major brands including Dr. Martens, KEEN, Chrome Industries, and Speck, Kyle shares how his career evolved alongside the growth of e-commerce. From navigating early online retail challenges to developing sophisticated brand strategies, he explains why understanding customer behavior is just as important as building efficient business systems.Kyle discusses the importance of balancing structure with adaptability, using data and AI to understand brand performance, and hiring talented individuals who share a company's vision. He also shares his approach to building award-winning workplace cultures through trust, empathy, and empowering employees to take ownership of their responsibilities.Throughout the conversation, Kyle emphasizes that successful businesses are built on more than processes and performance metrics. They require meaningful customer relationships, strong teams, and leaders who genuinely care about the people they serve.When asked what it really takes to be a business owner, Kyle offers a powerful answer: belief in yourself.Key Discussion Points & Episode Notes1. From Corporate Brands to EntrepreneurshipKyle shares his professional journey through the early development of e-commerce, working with increasingly larger brands and discovering that bigger organizations often face the same fundamental operational challenges as smaller businesses.Worked with Speck, Chrome Industries, KEEN, and Dr. Martens.Helped navigate challenges involving online conversions, wholesale distribution, retail operations, and international website expansion.Learned that fixing foundational business problems often creates more value than simply introducing new technology.Transitioned into agency work to combine his corporate experience with a deeper understanding of branding.Key takeaway: Business growth requires identifying and addressing foundational problems, regardless of company size.2. Creating Processes That Adapt to ChangeKyle explains how he developed repeatable e-commerce processes during the early days of online retail, particularly around holiday promotions and omnichannel sales.Built playbooks for promotional timing, product launches, and seasonal campaigns.Navigated competition between online sales and physical retail locations.Learned to delegate specialized technical responsibilities rather than attempting to master every emerging technology.Shifted his focus toward protecting brand integrity, maintaining margins, and understanding customer psychology.Key takeaway: Effective process management requires knowing which systems to standardize, when to adapt, and what responsibilities to delegate.3. Why Emotional Connection Drives Brand LoyaltyKyle challenges the idea that branding is primarily about products or marketing campaigns.Using Apple as an example, he explains how successful brands create emotional connections through belonging, identity, creativity, and shared values.He also discusses how promotional strategies influence customer expectations. Brands that discount frequently can train customers to wait for sales, while brands that maintain consistent pricing can create different perceptions of value.Key takeaway: Customers often choose brands based on how those brands make them feel, not simply on product features or pricing.4. Combining Branding, Data, and AIKyle describes how he uses technology and research to better understand customer sentiment and predict brand momentum.His approach includes:Analyzing social media engagement, news coverage, partnerships, and marketing campaigns.Using AI and algorithms to identify patterns in public brand signals.Working with Inkblot Analytics to conduct real-time audience research.Combining historical performance data with customer feedback to inform future strategies.He explains that traditional brand measurements often reveal what happened in the past, while his approach aims to identify signals that may indicate future performance.Key takeaway: Combining quantitative data with qualitative customer insights can help businesses make more informed branding decisions.5. Building Teams Around a Shared VisionAs Kyle develops The Brand Company, he emphasizes the importance of surrounding himself with individuals who bring specialized expertise and understand the company's larger mission.He compares leadership to choosing a destination while allowing other
- 1 weeks ago31 min
From Invisible to Irresistible: Building a Brand That Sells
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, we sit down with Kyle Duford, branding expert, author, and founder of The Brand Company, to explore how strategic branding, effective processes, and strong leadership contribute to business success.With experience working for major brands including Dr. Martens, KEEN, Chrome Industries, and Speck, Kyle shares how his career evolved alongside the growth of e-commerce. From navigating early online retail challenges to developing sophisticated brand strategies, he explains why understanding customer behavior is just as important as building efficient business systems.Kyle discusses the importance of balancing structure with adaptability, using data and AI to understand brand performance, and hiring talented individuals who share a company's vision. He also shares his approach to building award-winning workplace cultures through trust, empathy, and empowering employees to take ownership of their responsibilities.Throughout the conversation, Kyle emphasizes that successful businesses are built on more than processes and performance metrics. They require meaningful customer relationships, strong teams, and leaders who genuinely care about the people they serve.When asked what it really takes to be a business owner, Kyle offers a powerful answer: belief in yourself.Key Discussion Points & Episode Notes1. From Corporate Brands to EntrepreneurshipKyle shares his professional journey through the early development of e-commerce, working with increasingly larger brands and discovering that bigger organizations often face the same fundamental operational challenges as smaller businesses.Worked with Speck, Chrome Industries, KEEN, and Dr. Martens.Helped navigate challenges involving online conversions, wholesale distribution, retail operations, and international website expansion.Learned that fixing foundational business problems often creates more value than simply introducing new technology.Transitioned into agency work to combine his corporate experience with a deeper understanding of branding.Key takeaway: Business growth requires identifying and addressing foundational problems, regardless of company size.2. Creating Processes That Adapt to ChangeKyle explains how he developed repeatable e-commerce processes during the early days of online retail, particularly around holiday promotions and omnichannel sales.Built playbooks for promotional timing, product launches, and seasonal campaigns.Navigated competition between online sales and physical retail locations.Learned to delegate specialized technical responsibilities rather than attempting to master every emerging technology.Shifted his focus toward protecting brand integrity, maintaining margins, and understanding customer psychology.Key takeaway: Effective process management requires knowing which systems to standardize, when to adapt, and what responsibilities to delegate.3. Why Emotional Connection Drives Brand LoyaltyKyle challenges the idea that branding is primarily about products or marketing campaigns.Using Apple as an example, he explains how successful brands create emotional connections through belonging, identity, creativity, and shared values.He also discusses how promotional strategies influence customer expectations. Brands that discount frequently can train customers to wait for sales, while brands that maintain consistent pricing can create different perceptions of value.Key takeaway: Customers often choose brands based on how those brands make them feel, not simply on product features or pricing.4. Combining Branding, Data, and AIKyle describes how he uses technology and research to better understand customer sentiment and predict brand momentum.His approach includes:Analyzing social media engagement, news coverage, partnerships, and marketing campaigns.Using AI and algorithms to identify patterns in public brand signals.Working with Inkblot Analytics to conduct real-time audience research.Combining historical performance data with customer feedback to inform future strategies.He explains that traditional brand measurements often reveal what happened in the past, while his approach aims to identify signals that may indicate future performance.Key takeaway: Combining quantitative data with qualitative customer insights can help businesses make more informed branding decisions.5. Building Teams Around a Shared VisionAs Kyle develops The Brand Company, he emphasizes the importance of surrounding himself with individuals who bring specialized expertise and understand the company's larger mission.He compares leadership to choosing a destination while allowing other
- 2 weeks ago27 min
From SEO to AI: Reinventing How Businesses Get Found
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, Dennis Kirwan shares his entrepreneurial journey from venture capital to co-founding Dymic Digital in 2013.Dennis discusses how the 2008 financial crisis forced him to rebuild his career after experiencing significant financial losses. His transition into digital marketing eventually led him to launch his own agency, motivated by the need to create a business that could adapt beyond traditional SEO.The conversation explores how artificial intelligence is transforming digital marketing, particularly the shift from traditional search engines toward AI-powered discovery platforms like ChatGPT.Dennis emphasizes that although AI can dramatically improve productivity, human expertise, critical thinking, and fact-checking remain essential. He explains why businesses should use AI to enhance their employees' capabilities rather than replace professional judgment.The discussion also examines continuous learning, hiring highly skilled professionals, sharing knowledge across teams, and adapting to rapidly changing industries.Dennis closes by reflecting on the resilience, determination, and willingness to evolve required to sustain a business over the long term.Key Discussion Points1. Entrepreneurship, setbacks, and starting overDennis describes beginning his career in financial services as a teenager, eventually raising capital for investment projects. After becoming overleveraged during the 2008 financial crisis, he experienced substantial financial setbacks.He later transitioned into digital marketing, helping an agency expand its international sales operations before co-founding Dymic Digital in 2013.2. The evolution from SEO to AI-driven search Dennis explains how traditional search behavior is shifting toward conversational AI platforms. He believes AI-driven discovery will continue transforming how businesses attract customers and build credibility.He also discusses how Dymic Digital began preparing for this transition several years ago.3. Continuous learning and knowledge sharingKeeping up with technology requires consistently researching developments, identifying credible industry experts, and learning from customer experiences.Dennis explains how his team researches different subjects and shares insights, allowing the organization to develop a broader understanding of emerging trends.4. Why AI still requires human expertise Dennis emphasizes that AI output depends heavily on the expertise of the person directing it.He uses website development and home construction as examples of why AI-generated work still requires experienced professionals to evaluate quality, accuracy, and effectiveness.He also discusses the dangers of AI-generated misinformation, biased responses, and businesses relying too heavily on automation.5. Using AI to accelerate learning and productivity Dennis describes using AI for meeting documentation, organizational knowledge, and explaining complex information.He shares how he sometimes uses AI to answer questions from his six-year-old daughter in language she can understand.His larger point is that AI can become a learning tool when people ask it to explain concepts rather than simply provide answers.6. Hiring highly skilled professionals Dennis shares how Dymic Digital recruited an experienced SEO professional who previously worked for one of its vendors.He predicts that businesses will increasingly operate with smaller teams of highly skilled specialists rather than larger teams of entry-level employees.7. What it takes to be a business ownerDennis identifies grit, resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to continuously learn as essential entrepreneurial qualities.Drawing on his experience of financial success, loss, and rebuilding, he emphasizes that long-term business ownership requires the ability to withstand uncertainty and keep evolving.Memorable QuotesDirect quotes from Dennis Kirwan, with timestamps for editing and promotional clips.Recognizing AI's impact“This is gonna change everything.”Human expertise and AI“It's all about… who's at the helm.”Quality of AI output“Garbage in, garbage out, right?”Overreliance on AI“They're almost, like, outsourcing their thinking.”AI accuracy and credibility“It's a real huge brand risk.”AI as a learning tool“Advance and accelerate your own learning through the process.”Entrepreneurship“I think it takes a lot of moxie, a lot of grit.”Adaptability“You're not rigid, you're… you understand that, you know, it's evolve or die.”Entrepreneurial resilience“It's a strange comfort and chaos, I guess, for me.”<
- 3 weeks ago24 min
When Hustle Stops Working: Developing People Who Can Grow With the Business
Chris Jungjohann, Founder and CEO of Recess Creative in Cleveland, Ohio, shares how an early career in photography and design unexpectedly turned into 17 years of entrepreneurship. Growing up around his family’s restaurant gave him early exposure to business ownership, but he ultimately pursued art and design before realizing he wanted the creative freedom of a smaller agency combined with the opportunity to work with larger clients. That realization eventually led him to start Recess Creative from his basement. Pasted textToday, Chris has expanded beyond Recess Creative to build Buds & Pals, a video, photography, animation, and content studio, and Super Average. He explains that his ability to expand into additional businesses came largely from building a strong team at Recess, including employees who have stayed with the company for 10 to 15 years. One of his biggest leadership lessons has been learning to hire people who are better than he is at specific disciplines and then actually letting go. Pasted textLearning and development are deeply embedded in Chris’s approach to leadership. Recess encourages employees to pursue classes, tutorials, outside projects, freelance opportunities, and emerging tools such as AI. Rather than expecting every creative professional to develop in the same way, Chris recognizes that people bring different strengths and encourages continued learning both inside and outside the agency. Pasted textHis passion for development also comes from his experience teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art and community college. That same philosophy now appears in Recess Creative’s rolling internship program. Interns are treated as members of the professional team and given opportunities to participate in real brainstorming sessions, client projects, pitches, and presentations rather than being relegated to administrative work. Three former interns have become full time employees, including Recess Creative’s creative director, who began as an intern 11 years ago. Pasted text Pasted textChris also speaks candidly about the personal cost of entrepreneurship. During the early years, balancing young children, teaching, and building the agency forced him to make choices about where to invest his time. Today, part of his definition of success is being able to be present for his team when he is working and present as a father when he is home. Building the right team has been critical to making that possible. Pasted textUltimately, Chris says business ownership requires belief, hunger, passion, energy, continual learning, adaptability, and even a little bit of “delusion.” Owners have to believe they will find a way through difficult periods while remaining willing to learn and evolve as technology, their people, and the marketplace change. Pasted textKey Episode NotesThe accidental entrepreneur: Chris grew up around entrepreneurship through his family’s restaurant in Western New York, where his first jobs included bussing tables and washing dishes. He later studied photography and design, worked in education and agencies, and eventually realized he wanted to combine small agency culture, big client work, and creative freedom. Pasted textBuilding beyond yourself: One of Chris’s biggest lessons has been surrounding himself with talented people who share the vision. His growth as a leader required recognizing when someone else was better at something and giving that person the freedom to own it. Pasted textLearning cannot stop: Chris encourages formal and informal education, experimentation with AI, outside projects, freelance work, and personal brand development. Learning is not limited to company directed training. Pasted textInternships should provide real experience: Recess Creative's philosophy is essentially “make art, not coffee.” Interns work on actual client projects and can participate in pitches and presentations. Chris sees the relationship as mutually beneficial because young professionals receive experience while the agency benefits from their fresh perspective and energy. Pasted text Pasted textFailure is part of development: Chris views failure as necessary to learning and success. Rather than protecting interns from meaningful work because they may fail, Recess gives them opportunities to participate in professional projects where their ideas may either be discarded or make it all the way to senior client decision makers. Pasted textDevelop leaders over time: Three former Recess interns are now full time employees. One progressed all the way to creative director after joining the company as an intern 11 years earlier. Chris’s own mentoring role has consequently changed because that creative director now develops newer members of the team. Pasted text Pasted textLead
- Oct 15, 202621 min
We Built It Bigger. Then We Built It Better
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, Victor Huynh, cofounder and CEO of Ready Artwork, shares what more than 22 years in business have taught him about learning, adapting, and staying relevant through constant change.Victor and his cofounder Emily started Ready Artwork almost accidentally. Both had full time jobs when freelance design projects began piling up. Eventually, they decided they were young enough to take the risk, make mistakes, and go back to traditional employment if the business failed. Pasted textTheir original business centered on graphic design, packaging, branding, and print. When the financial crisis brought business nearly to zero, they were forced to reinvent themselves. They recognized an opportunity between technology focused web companies that lacked design expertise and designers who lacked technical expertise. That became Ready Artwork’s next evolution. Over time, the company continued adding and removing services as the market changed until it found another sweet spot serving technical B2B and industrial companies. Pasted textThat pattern of reinvention became one of the central themes of the conversation. Victor describes Ready Artwork’s 22 year journey in one word: pivoting. Rather than viewing change as an interruption to business, he sees the ability to change as fundamental to surviving in business. Pasted textVictor also discusses the latest major disruption facing his industry: AI. He compares the current transition from traditional search to AI driven answers with the earlier transition from search engines such as Yahoo and AOL to Google. While the technology feels revolutionary, Victor believes businesses that have lived through previous digital shifts recognize a familiar pattern. The platform changes, customer behavior changes, and companies have to learn how to become relevant within the new environment. Pasted textThe conversation also explores how AI is changing talent and development inside agencies. Work that was previously outsourced can increasingly be completed with AI, which means Victor believes agencies must move toward higher level strategy and become even more human centered. Technology can handle more execution, but he sees human relationships, judgment, guidance, and communication as increasingly important differentiators. Pasted textVictor shares another important learning point from his partnership with Emily. Early in the company, they were both doing essentially the same creative work. Victor eventually made the difficult decision to step away from the creative work he loved and focus on sales and client relationships while Emily concentrated on creative and production. That division allowed each founder to develop a distinct role and helped accelerate the company's growth. Pasted textEven after decades in business, Victor continues having to challenge his own preferences. One example was remote work. Although both founders prefer working in the office, Victor realized the company needed to become more flexible. After trying hybrid work and finding that managing it created additional complexity, Ready Artwork moved toward remote work while maintaining office space for employees who want it. Pasted textVictor ultimately brings the conversation back to the lesson that has defined his entrepreneurial career: business owners have to embrace change. His answer to what it takes to be a business owner is simple: pivot, adapt, and recognize that refusing to change eventually means being left behind. Pasted textKey Episode NotesPrimary theme: Learning and DevelopmentStrong secondary themes: Adaptability, continuous learning, AI, business evolution, cofounder dynamics, specialization, changing workforce expectations, remote work, human connection.Victor’s business journey: Freelance graphic design → print and branding → financial crisis → websites → SEO → digital advertising → B2B industrial specialization → AI driven marketing evolution. Pasted textBiggest Learning and Development takeaway: Learning is not presented as formal training. Victor’s story demonstrates organizational learning through continuous experimentation, recognizing when something no longer works, developing new capabilities, abandoning services that are not a fit, and changing individual roles as the company evolves.Strongest founder lesson: Victor had to stop doing creative work he loved so that he and Emily could develop complementary roles. He moved toward sales, relationships, and company direction while Emily focused on creative, production, and strategy. Pasted textStrongest current business insight: AI may make lower level execution easier and cheaper, but Victor believes that increases the importance of
- Oct 8, 202637 min
Growth Creates Problems. Strategy Creates Scale.
Eddie DeAngelis’s story is ultimately about learning through experience and becoming a different kind of leader as the business grows. He began more than 30 years ago selling imitation perfume and cologne in Northeast Philadelphia, eventually building retail and wholesale operations, spending nearly two decades in screen printing and embroidery, and later transitioning into commercial finance. Pasted textA major theme throughout the conversation was Eddie’s willingness to acknowledge what he did wrong for years. In his earlier businesses, he believed he needed to touch everything himself: every large sale, client relationship, order, and decision. Looking back, he believes his inability to delegate kept those companies from growing beyond roughly $2 million in revenue. Learning to build a team rather than remaining at the center of everything became one of his biggest leadership lessons. Pasted textLearning & Development NotesHiring is part of development. Eddie said his earlier approach was essentially to find someone quickly, hire them, put them to work, and expect them to learn as they went. QualiFi now treats hiring as an actual process, using multiple interviews, multiple perspectives, prepared questions, assessments, and post interview feedback. His lesson is that investing more time before hiring dramatically improves what happens afterward. Pasted textYou cannot develop motivation into someone who does not have it. Eddie admitted that he used to retain underperformers for 12, 18, or even 24 months because he believed he could eventually motivate them. One of his biggest lessons was recognizing that motivation has to come from within. Leaders can train, support, coach, and create opportunity, but the employee has to want it. Pasted textDevelopment does not stop after onboarding. QualiFi now provides six to eight weeks of structured training. Eddie and his daughter created the training manual, and they use interactive tools such as Kahoot to keep people engaged. After formal training ends, employees continue receiving significant management support. Eddie described having three sales managers supporting 19 sales representatives and still feeling that additional support could be valuable. Pasted textListening is part of leadership development. Eddie contrasted his current leadership style with the traditional CEO who dictates how everything should be done. He now sees tremendous value in listening to employees who are closest to customers, partners, and day to day operations. QualiFi intentionally tries to create a culture where everyone has a seat at the table and can challenge something that is not working. Pasted textCulture became real to him only after seeing a larger organization operate. Eddie said that five years earlier he would have considered culture little more than a buzzword. His experience after his prior brokerage was acquired exposed him to a larger corporate environment with departments, managers, systems, processes, and a deliberate focus on people. That experience heavily influenced how he later built QualiFi. Pasted textGreat people can materially change a small company. One of Eddie’s strongest observations was that just two excellent hires can change the trajectory of a small business. He has watched highly motivated employees and managers elevate not only performance but even his own energy and thinking as the owner. Conversely, two poor hires can pull the organization in the opposite direction. Pasted textAdditional Business LessonsEddie repeatedly connected people development to systems and processes. His philosophy today is to look at each component of the company almost as its own business. Hiring has a process. Onboarding has a process. Training has a process. The client journey has a process. He recommends mapping the customer's experience from the first point of contact through the final outcome and continuously improving each stage. Pasted textHe also emphasized client experience as a competitive advantage. One lesson he carried forward from former Nav Technologies CEO Greg Ott was to continually focus on the client experience. Eddie's takeaway was that when a company builds a great product, makes customers happy, improves its process, and gets incrementally better, financial results become a byproduct. Pasted textTechnology is another component of development and scale. QualiFi has used API integrations and other technology to turn processes that once required multiple people and 15 to 30 minutes into tasks that can now happen in roughly a minute. His point was not that technology replaces people, but that the right technology allows good people and good processes to perform significantly better. Pasted textSignature Question: What Does It Take to Be a Business Owner?Eddie’s answer centered on resilience.He connected his ability to navigate entrepreneuri
- Sep 3, 202638 min
Reverse the Process: Turning an Industry Problem Into a Business
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, Boris Zhukov, Co-Founder and CEO of LetYouKnow®, shares how his background in economics, statistics, and mathematics helped him build a marketplace designed to reverse the traditional buying process.Boris explains that his vision goes beyond simply making car buying more convenient. His goal is to shift transactional power toward consumers, allowing them to research the market, determine what they are willing to pay, and instantly discover whether a seller will accept their offer. Convenience and eliminating negotiation are benefits, but Boris repeatedly emphasizes that they are byproducts of the larger objective: empowering consumers to take control of transactions and save money.The conversation also explores the strategic challenge of getting dealerships to participate in a model that initially appears to compete with their existing sales. Boris explains that LetYouKnow was intentionally structured to provide incremental business rather than replace a dealer's normal sales channels. Dealers establish hidden pricing thresholds that operate automatically, allowing transactions to occur without manually reviewing individual bids. The platform also generates demand data from unsuccessful bids, which businesses can use to evaluate pricing and potential demand.One of the larger strategic themes of the episode is building for expansion from the beginning. Boris says LetYouKnow intentionally started with automotive because of its complexity. By solving for a difficult industry first, the company could create infrastructure capable of expanding into restaurants, hotels, storage, services, and potentially virtually any other industry without continually rebuilding the underlying system.Boris also discusses how the company's strategy has evolved since 2019. One significant lesson came from initially expecting dealerships to actively manage their pricing within the system. He eventually concluded that this was neither feasible nor desirable. Feedback from dealership owners, including some who became shareholders, pushed the company toward creating a hands-free, automated system instead.That feedback also revealed an opportunity Boris had not originally anticipated: the value of unsuccessful bids as demand data. Rather than seeing only completed transactions, businesses could potentially understand transactions they could have had at different price points and use that information to improve pricing decisions.The discussion ultimately moves from process management into leadership. Boris says one of the skills he had to develop was recognizing individual team members' strengths and weaknesses and positioning people accordingly. He credits much of LetYouKnow's evolution to surrounding himself with experienced business owners, shareholders, and advisors who could challenge assumptions and contribute practical expertise.When asked what it really takes to be a business owner, Boris identifies optimism, perseverance, hard work, honest evaluation of progress, and the willingness to keep solving difficult problems. Rather than viewing obstacles as evidence that something is going wrong, he argues that genuinely difficult problems can be evidence that a company has reached the frontier where meaningful innovation happens.Key Episode NotesCore theme: Process Management / StrategyMajor discussion points:Boris's economics, mathematics, and statistics background became foundational to building LetYouKnow's marketplace and matching methodology.His motivation is not simply eliminating an unpleasant dealership experience. He wants consumers to control transactions and get better deals instantly.LetYouKnow's model is designed so businesses establish hidden thresholds rather than manually accepting or rejecting individual bids.Boris views the platform as a source of incremental business, rather than a replacement for a company's existing sales process.Missed bids create valuable demand data by showing businesses transactions that potentially could have occurred at other prices.The long-term vision extends beyond automotive into restaurants, services, hospitality, storage, nonprofits, and other industries.Boris uses opportunity cost as a framework for strategic decision-making and expansion.Starting with automotive was intentional because solving for a complicated industry created infrastructure that could later support simpler industries.A major operational pivot was moving away from expecting dealerships to continually manage their own pricing toward creating a largely hands-free system.Dealer and sha
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About Business Owners Tell All
On The Seeker Solution Podcast, your host, Jamie Seeker encourages business owners to tell all! They'll share not only their expertise, but their stories and their purpose and what it takes to run a successful business. We cover a wide range of topics – the good and exciting, the challenges and sometimes the ugly. Experiences and lessons learned that our guests have faced along the way. We believe that every person has a unique message which can make a positive impact. We let our guests share on the subjects they’re well-known for. No matter the topic, you’ll be hearing real stories from real people. Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes is a project of Seeker Solution, featuring conversations with real business owners.
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