Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Michael Burks Jr. . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dr. Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
it is kind of a crazy story actually. In the beginning, I was doing some one-on-one coaching for some more beginner stage entrepreneurs when the opportunity first was presented to me. I can never forget I am at a conference in San Deigo and one of the presenters was on stage speaking on scaling companies and the challenges he and his partner were facing at the current time. After listening to the presenter and jotting down some diligent notes, I figured out part of an answer to his issues. All I needed was a few more questions answered and I knew I had a solution for him and his company.
The moderator asked if anyone had any questions for the presenter and I saw that only one person stood up and lined up for the microphone. I thought to myself “this is my time to get the answers I need”. I rushed to the line and waited my turn. When It got time for me to ask my questions, I gave a short introduction to who I am and What I did, Then I gave my first question.
When he answered that one, it started an onslaught of counter questions for me. The back and forth went on for 2 minutes but out of respect to the audience, I interrupted the presenter to say that if he wants we can continue our discovery later, he agreed to do so.
Later, we sat down at the back of the conference center at a round table with him and his team who was there with him. And after 3 1/2 hours, I was able to devise a strategy to not only solve his challenge but decrease spending while increasing his revenue. When we finished our conversation he asked me if iI did this sort of thing full time. and I told him no I don’t. He said that I had a gift for unpacking business problems and devising clear and executable solutions for anyone that will listen. He then went on to ask me what I charge for my one on one coaching and I gave him what he described as an unacceptable amount (smile). He told me to send him an invoice for $5ooo and told me that this is my business model and that is my minimum price from here on out. I did nothing but nod my head, said yes sir, and sent my invoice.
A couple of days after that conference, I had a challenge of my own. How do I recreate what I did for that gentleman and make the process simple enough to do it as many times as I want? I knew a few things. I needed:
– Clear messaging on what it is I do
– A system to bring in clients and close a sale with them
– Efficient delivery system that did not include me in the entire process.
I quickly wrote out the framework on how I solved his challenge and made it the foundation of what my company does. For 90 days I used my time to educate myself on transitioning my coaching business to what I knew to be a consulting practice. I listed out all the things I would need to learn to quickly get started on day 90 days. I created a system to take clients from introduction to execution of solutions.
Once the system was finished, I started reaching out to my LinkedIn network and set up meetings until my calendar looked like a bunch of colors and shapes all bunched together. I took discovery calls back to back for the next 90 days and helped as many people as my time allowed.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Well, I am the founder and Chief Executive Advisor with Burks & Co. and I have worked for more than 10 years, serving as an advisor and strategist for a host of corporate, non-profits, government clients, and even. some Professional Athletes. i was named 2019’s Best Business Management Consultant in Dallas and featured in countless publications over the last decade such as Dallas Business Journal, Business Innovators, CBS, and FOX News, and even Voyage Dallas
I specialize in high-level consulting, accountability & support for COOs, VPs, GMs, and Presidents who run company-wide operations. I define the best practices and competitive advantages for their companies. This can include organizational development, process management, internal auditing, information technology, reputation management, and international business development. What separates me from other executive coaching or consulting firms is we work closely with our clients to build a customized and predictable strategy model for results. Working with Execuvisor means you are not just a client number in our logs but a close member of the Burks & Co. family and the firm takes its values straight from the founder. Family first!
My services are for elite professionals that want measurable, predictable outcomes. And as that professionals they understand that constantly taking the long view of their business is important and they are always looking to embrace disruptive, new, results-driven success models With me as your trusted partner, you can look forward to gaining refreshing, unbiased advice from someone who’s faced and overcome similar challenges and got results that:
Vertically Grow your businesses
Enhance your life’s culture
Magnify individual productivity
And overall takes businesses and their teams to the next level
Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.
I started my first consulting practice back in my sophomore year of college. One of my professors told me and a close partner of mine that with the knowledge we both possessed that we could start our own firm and make great money. After that conversation, we both sat down and created Futurity Technologies. We were an IT consulting firm specializing in data management for small businesses and non-profits. I was the operations guy and my partner was in the field handling client issues. I found us 3 clients over the next 45 days, two clients were nonprofit companies and one was a small business. All the companies needed someone to come in handle network infrastructure changes and client data management.
the partnership was a great setup until I found myself doing more and more of the work on both ends and my partner was highly focused on an IT career at a large firm rather than entrepreneurship and having our own. I wasn’t mad at him at no point, it was just the communication of what we both wanted was not clear and it affected the business. After several months of trying to do everything by myself and family challenges that required more and more of my time. I found myself a the end of my rope and had to dissolve Futurity and sell off my client base to a friend at another small firm. I sold the clients for roughly around .90 cents on the dollar, which turned out to be lost to 47k, I spent the next 60 days helping the new firm transition the new clients in.
The lesson I learned from that first frim is that one, you should always vet your partnerships. learn what each other’s desires and goals are. later after a short conversation with my partner, I found that he had no aspirations for entrepreneurship but to be a high-level executive for a big firm. He told me he joined in on our firm because of the excitement I had shown and the confidence in me. So if I can leave the readers with anything, it would be to learn who you are going into business with. make certain that they share the vision and are traveling in the same direction as you are.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I think the most effective way to build any business is by building relationships with who you want to serve. I two types of client lists that I use to develop my client base. I have one highly targeted list of people I would like to work with that grows monthly. I do the homework on their business and what I can personally do for them as a consultant. Then I have what I call a blanket list of companies that I am certain that our services can help.
The first list is built for me to build personal relationships with their CEO or COO. this is in an effort to build trust and obtain true insight into the challenges they face daily. Learning more about them, their challenges, and the direction they would like to go with their company, helps me build a strong case study to help them get the results they are looking for.
The blanket list is companies I know for sure are affected by the changing market and certain “universal challenges” most companies face in their industry. I build online relationships with them through targeted email marketing campaigns. These companies usually move into the targeted list as the CEO or COO becomes more communicative.
Both build relationships based off of how close my companies relationship is with them and helps me get an idea of what and how I can Help them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.michaelburksjr.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/michaelburksjr
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/michaelburksjr
- Twitter: twitter.com/michaelburksjr
- Youtube: youtube.com/michaelburksjr