We recently connected with Steven Eugene Kuhn and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Steven Eugene thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Success is seen to be elusive for many business owners who strive to be better, get the education, take the courses, gain experience, yet somehow we are always looking to the future for the next qualification or degree. This keeps us on our toes and at the same time makes it difficult to feel satisfied with what you have actually achieved.
In my experience, the most successful people had a few main factors that stood out for me, I will share the most important one with you right now.
The first thing that all successful people have in common is the certainty in their ability to navigate the world around them and deploy their talents in any given situation, regardless what happens.
Certainty is a very powerful thing, it allows you to let go of how you will do anything, it allows you to know that you will achieve what you set out to do. Gaining certainty in one self is possible to a degree through education and degrees, but true, powerful certainty in business comes through applied knowledge, in other words experience.
You can have all the degrees you wish and know nothing about applying the knowledge tangibly, this is why more and more people are foregoing getting a degree and moving to business ownership to create a solid future not dependent on an employer, this gives you massive experience.
I was in the military for 7+ years, when I got out I became an entrepreneur, then business owner, then multiple businesses, and now I own equity in a good amount of businesses because I applied my knowledge in helping them grow, scale and turn-the business around.
My suggestion is to seek the one person in your sphere who is where you want to be and ask them to mentor you, simply let them know that what you don’t know is what is holding you back, and keep asking until you find one who says yes.
I challenge you to stop reading right now and write a mail, text or message to these people and ask. Take imperfect action and create what you want in life and business. We are the creators, but action is required to tangibly create.
Once you are at the point where you feel confident in your abilities, it is then time to find your superpower in your true identity, not your title or position, in who you really are, but we can go into that another time.
There you go, get certain through experience and create a whole new outlook to be happy with where you are instead of always looking to the next achievement to make you feel better or more certain.
You got this!
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?
Steven Kuhn is a business advisor, author and speaker who has been hand-picked to consult with some of the most influential people in the world (rock stars, singers, actors, business leaders and politicians) about how build value and loyalty and develop strategies for increasing beneficial relationships and achieving true Quality of Life (QOL).
Steven hails from Pennsylvania USA and served in the U.S. Army from 1986 -1993 in Germany and one tour as a Sergeant in Iraq. Upon discharge from the military, Kuhn continued to live in Europe where he later became a best-selling author, a multi-country business turnaround leader, Political Consultant and completed his MBA at the prestigious Bradford University School of Business Management in Leeds, U.K.
Together with his co-author he wrote the book “Unleash Your Humble Alpha” which shows readers how to own their presence in life and become the epic leader they are meant to be.
The book is the basis for all they do to include the newest trademarked Paradigm Upgrade System and University Curriculum based on their book at Forbes School of Business and Technology as well as numerous other Universities.
Any advice for managing a team?
If your organization has flatlined, building an undeniable culture will help transform it. If you’re building a new organization, you can do this from the
very beginning and be leaps and bounds ahead of your competition.
Earlier in this book, we mentioned rearranging offices and routines for
organizations that had flatlined or needed a turnaround. Many people confuse
an organization’s physical space with its culture. Let’s first discuss structure and
culture. There’s a difference.
Structure is related to rearranging offices and routines. It addresses the
things you can move, see, and touch. This includes procedures and processes.
The structure of a company involves things you can change immediately.
Culture takes time to cultivate. It’s like a seedling that needs to grow into a
plant. You need to know if it needs direct or partial sunlight or what kind of
fertilizer it takes. You have to talk to it. The culture of a team never stops
changing. It’s a constant process, which means you have to continually focus on
it. You have to be attentive all the time, but you can’t do it on your own. This is
why you need to have empowered people in place.
Your company culture is an intangible that ultimately creates the most
significant return on investment for your company. It’s also the most
challenging investment to measure, but it’s the most important one to put in
place. Just remember, you can’t create an undeniable culture overnight, but you
can wreck it overnight. In fact, you can destroy it immediately.
Culture isn’t the tangible things you can see from the outside, it’s the sum
of intangible things within. The things we see on the outside are a by-product.
We frequently refer to tangible, external things as the byproduct of something
internal happening. It’s the same thing with culture. You can’t quite measure it
like you can other measurables in the business.
You’ve heard of companies that add ping-pong tables, coffee shops, and
massage parlors on their company grounds. Large organizations have done this
with some success, but it only goes so far if there is no “internal” change of
culture. They are simply putting a band-aid on a wound that will continually
appear. What you want to do is go to the root of the problem, and that’s the
culture.
Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses
How to acquire equity in a company with no money down and get paid for it.
Business is a funny thing, society has rules and traditions, when I received my MBA in 2005 I was sure this was the path to greatness, wealth and influence. It wasn’t. As a matter of fact, it turned out to be useless to me as an entrepreneur.
In business school we are taught 3 or 4 ways to acquire a company, those include seller financing, venture capital and private equity. This puts acquisitions out of reach of most entrepreneurs due to the lack of exposure to the corporate finance world.
In this discussion I will show you why it may be better to save that money you may want to spend on a higher degree and rather invest in learning how to leverage knowledge, seller assets, IP and corporate bank accounts to acquire a company or equity in a company.
To make a distinction between growth and scaling it is important to note that most believe they are the same thing, they certainly aren’t. Growth is simply more revenue with increased base costs and scaling is more revenue with no increase in base costs.
As a turnaround consultant I spent the last 20+ years fixing problems in small, medium and large companies, I consulted megastars, political organizations, NASDAQ and PLC fortune 500 firms and entrepreneurs, it was a good gig but the constant search for new clients was getting old.
One client really wanted my services and I knew I could crush the growth for him but he could not afford me no matter how much value I offered. Since my ethos is to lead with value by focusing on the intention of solving problems, not the outcome, I dug deep into what I could do for him and it dawned on me I could offer him a lower fee and take equity, I only had to shed the light on the fact that giving me equity would give him peace of mind that I would perform because I had skin in the game, and for me it was a variable that I could control instead of the flat rate or profit share.
He agreed and paid me a monthly retainer, a commission on sales I generated through my 3rd party contacts and 10% equity. I was fairly happy. I went on to turn the company around, earn 3x my rate with the commission and exited for an amount that would have been close to 50% equity when we began.
I continued to do so in the next 1.5 years and gained equity in quite a few companies.
An example of a great deal is when I received 7.5% equity in an Austrian manufacturer who also paid me a 5-figure upfront fee for introductions to manufacturers, contractors and distributors in the USA and 3% commission on all sales through those contacts, not to mention a retainer for 3 months to set up the communication and structure the partnerships.
You are probably asking how I did this, or you may be saying “he is ripping these people off”. Let me explain how this works 95% of the time.
In my recently released book, co-authored by Lane Belone, titled “Unleash Your Humble Alpha” we discuss 5 core models which lead to complete ownership of your presence and how to unleash that epic leader already inside of you.
One method we use is probably the most powerful of the 5 models and it is called “creating Space” which I would like to explain as the catalyst for my business dealings.
Creating space is a simple concept: You show up wholly and fully for the person in front of you, whether a keynote, business meeting or partner, with one intention only: Adding value by solving problems. This begins with letting go of any and all expectations and focusing on the intention, we cannot control the outcome anyway so why bother, when we try to control the outcome, the person across from you feels it and the energy in the room is different, uncomfortable or off, this leads to a “selling” type of discussion where you try and get your point across and sell, classic sales procedures, so to say.
When one focuses on the intention of creating value by solving problems, harboring no expectations and not showing up with pre-conceived notions or cookie cutter solutions, the discussion is free of any wants or wishes, making the whole interaction effortless but also creates a space around the two parties that is conducive to creativity, often coming up with solutions and ideas that neither would have come up with on their own.
Here comes the reason why the company owners are keen to work in this manner. When you seek solutions, any solution, the client is relieved and sees a “way out” or “way forward”. Even more impactful is to find the problems and ensure you solve it regardless if it is you or another person’s solution, before you even discuss the deal structure or the “closing” of the deal.
Typically, I will depart a meeting with the statement: Give me a week and I will return with a solution”. Then I do my research, speak with my network and find at least 3 options and return with these solutions to the client.
They have an abundance of choice and they have an abundance of solutions, they are so satisfied, and often surprised at the ability to do so before and agreement is signed, that they are more than glad to listen to your offer, in the instance of the Austrian manufacturer I received an upfront fee for introductions of those who will solve the problem, an equity stake and commissions should sales be involved as well as the monthly retainer.
Obviously not everyone is a consultant or works in this way so let’s shift gears to acquiring companies you see as an opportunity to grow your business or wealth.
Looking at acquisitions as what they really are is key. Most have a proposed structure to acquire a business, go to a meeting with this structure in mind and try to fit the business into their ideal solution, not the seller’s solution, this is where most M&A professionals fail short or have issues.
Forget about the “I have to be business like” or “I have to be a big shot” sort of attitude, it is a turn off for a family owned or smaller business, even for larger companies, no one likes self-absorbed people or know it all’s.
Start with the vision of the seller, what is their issue for wanting to sell, what is their perceived problem, challenges and actual problem, usually a personal issue is the trigger.
When you speak to them, listen more than speaking, find their vision and run with it, go all in and forget what you think you know or any pre-conceived notions or cookie cutter solutions. You are simply there to realize their vision.
Some of you are saying “I can do that”, and you probably can or are doing this. However here comes the pivotal point. What now? Go away and set up the deal? Most will immediately find a deal structure and present an LOI to lock in the deal and then go out to “try” and accomplish the mission.
My process is different. I will create a vision of where the company can go, what I can see in the future, incorporating the best solutions discussed with the owner and then map out a path and write it down.
Free of legal paragraphs, official offers, Head of Terms or an LOI. Why? Because the acceptance of the deal is key before I structure it, how I will do that exact deal is of no importance until it is accepted, so let go of the “rules” or the “way it is supposed to be done” and paint that picture, get buy in and ask them how they wish to proceed. Often this is enough to win not only trust but belief that you are their solution.
Then and only then you construct the deal. Most will say “well I don’t know which deal is best “and will use the classic structures of an LBO or a loan, asset leveraging or such, but it does not have to be this way.
What if I told you that using the companies bank account as a down payment is possible, yes, using their own money to buy their company. Do I have your attention?
The money belongs to the corporation, if they want to withdrawal the money before the sale they will pay upwards of 30% capital gains tax, if they agree to sell the company for $1 to me and I pay them as a consultant to stay on to help run the company (I perform no operational duties ever) they save %30 capital gains tax, see where this is going?
Here is an example: The company has $1M in the account and wants $1.5M for the company. I would negotiate to acquire the company for a dollar, pay them $500K as a down payment out of the corporate account, then agree a deferred payment plan for the other $1M over the next 2-5 years depending on the current and forecasted revenue.
Our team, who are all entrepreneurs working together to all get equity shares in the companies I or they bring to the table by deploying their own special talents to manage the deal, the closing and the after purchase operational/financial triage.
During the due diligence we typically identify a massive savings or revenue opportunity that we use to solidify the success of the deal.
Once we acquire the company we go to work, or rather the specialists do. First, we perform financial triage by deploying methods like payment holidays for the first 6 weeks with our creditors, we collect debts owed or offer interest free payments, we flip credit lines to long term loans, we reduce costs, maybe we secure the assets by invoicing them out to another LLC or SPV and lease them back or a myriad of other methods. These are just a few.
Do I know how to do any of that? Some but I am not interested in doing any of that, this is where the deal team comes is as I mentioned above. If you are an accountant and, on the team, you do this in every company we acquire, making you the absolute go-to for any company, same with operational or other specialties.
Let me give you an example of how critical it is to work in a team:
Recently I was close to closing on a deal for a compressed foam factory in the USA, it was losing 1.5M a year consistently for 9 years with 5 to 6 M revenue. Sounds horrible right? Well 51% is owned by a Japanese mega corporation who was basically inflating costs for and claiming the revenue out for the mother corporation.
The Japanese firm was considering shutting it down, this is where I came in and basically said “let us save the jobs” and you sell us the company for $1. They laughed at first.
We were at the final stages: We would acquire it for $1, assume the assets for 3M and the inventory for 1.5M, however we planned to defer the payments over 5 years and would start paying the debt first in 12 months. We also negotiated reduced rent on the property they own from 35K a month to 19.5K a month and much more like identifying that they have a 3-month backlog in orders because they are working at capacity, which simply means their prices are too low, an easy adjustment but wouldn’t kick in for another 3 to 4 months.
Then we were seeking to purchase the 90 Acres of property and immediately sell it to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and lease it back. This way we actually receive the value of the property and proposed ROI based on the rental agreement we sign, we would receive that in cash. This gives us a buffer for working capital or we could all pay ourselves a nice bonus if we wanted to, which we would not do.
This whole deal was done with general meetings, not much detail as to the specifics of contracts and agreements, the lawyers hated this but even they are human and have emotions and got in on the discussions. Only once we had discussed and more or less agreed on all what I wrote above, are we to structure the deal itself and all the legalities, for which we have another specialist who dose this for equity.
Upon closing we would have all drawn a salary for work completed and for work to be completed, nothing big but when one owns multiple companies it adds up.
Again, I have no operational role, only advising and problem solving, the management team stays in place and runs the company.
How is this possible? Because I work from the inside out. My identity is not one of the buyer, the M&A guy, the corporate guy, an investor or any other outside title. I am Steven, that’s it, everything I mentioned hinges on a personal relationship.
In our book “Unleash Your Humble Alpha” we go in-depth on how you can own your true identity and presence in life and be powerfully present in any situation private or professional, how not to use titles or positions as your identity and how to dominate any situation powerfully humble. You can grab the book on Audible, Kindle or paperback on Amazon.
I could go on and on, I love the creative possibilities in acquiring companies, there are actually 15 ways to acquire with no money down, it is like putting a puzzle together but instead of precut pieces, you get to cut the pieces, in other words you are not forcing pre-conceived beliefs or biases into the deal.
For now, let’s call it a wrap
Contact Info:
- Website: humblealpha.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveneugenekuhn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevenKuhnOfficial
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenekuhn/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/steveneugenekuhn
Image Credits
steven kuhn