We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ronald Cross a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ronald, appreciate you joining us today. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?
In retrospect covid did not change my business model, covid was the conduit used to solidify the path I was on. Prior to covid and the shelter in place mandate I endeavored to launch a virtual services financial firm. Although Covid did not change my plans or model, I did have to adapt and evolve quickly.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
What is branding? There are a lot of ways to approach branding and/or marketing. What it seems to come down to is three things: 1.the value you add 2.customer service 3.and knowing what makes you different. After I answered those three fundamental I had to decide how I would go about the business of setting myself apart. I absolutely want anyone that does business with me to have a world class customer experience, so I decided to always start with education. An informed client will always result in a quality and lasting relationship.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
As an entrepreneur we often hear that most businesses fail within 5 years and that was likely accelerated by the effects of Covid 19. One of the most critical decisions I made was to streamline the business lines or services offered and master one or two things. Making the decision to focus on tax planning and tax resolution was vital in my continued success as a small business owner. One can find a lot of ways to approach financial services and at the end of the day I chose the need based business approach to continue to thrive and serve the community.
If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?
Having multiple revenue streams is vital to your survival as business entity and on the personal side as well. It’s not as complex as it seems at first glance. I will also say that all revenue streams are not created equal. One challenge I am having is pursuing new revenue streams while keeping the main thing the main thing. The philosophical approach is to keep it simple. For example, you can use a part of your business profits to invest in the stock market, bond market, or to buy cryptocurrency. I started simply by using profits to buy interest bearing investment vehicles that are safe, to create another revenue stream.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cfsequity.com
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rcrosscfs
- Twitter: @cfsequity