We recently connected with Zack Neeld and have shared our conversation below.

Zack, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job

I have been very fortunate to be a part of several start up businesses throughout my career. One that I look fondly on, albeit not a very successful venture, is a senior care software concept that I worked on with my brother in-law and close family friend. Our family friend was literally born into the senior care industry, taking over his family’s portfolio of senior communities and management company. Born was an idea of a software suite that focused on the residents’ well being and communicating that to their loved ones effectively.

The software was developed and we set out to sell it shortly after. Everyone we spoke to in our senior care circles repeatedly all told us the same thing: this is the greatest software to be developed for their sector since sliced bread. Sales call after sales call, we received the same “we love it, lets talk to the higher ups and schedule another call.” But those second calls never came to fruition.

And here is where we learned an important lesson: conduct market research outside of your personal circles of contacts.

Not many of your personal contacts are going to tell you your prized idea has issues. Market reception, aversion to change, lack of integrations can all be decision making show stoppers. Always study your target market to a T and never let only positive comments on your business or idea pollute your mind with false confidence. If you can not think of a single con to your new idea or business, you have not studied your operating space hard enough.

Zack, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I originally relocated to the Miami area from North Dakota when I was 3 years old. Talk about a scenery change!

Of course, we all know that “party vibe” that Miami has to offer and is known throughout the world, but few people know about the natural wonders Miami has to offer as well! And no, I’m not talking about the airboats and gators out west, I’m talking about the 280 parks that Miami-Dade provides for all of the residents and visitors of beautiful South Florida.

While attending the University of Florida, I was fortunate to work with the new owners of Get Up and Go Kayaking – Tampa Bay location, Amber and Bryon Buzzi. My wife and I stayed in contact with the Buzzi’s as they continued to develop and expand their kayak tours, bringing light to the wonders that the west coast of Florida has to answer. I continued to be intrigued about this kayak venture and studied the Get Up and Go Kayaking website to find there was a large hole in the map of locations: Miami.

I reached out last year to Bryon’s brother, Justin, who is the founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking, and inquired about the area. Miami was still waiting to be developed and if I could get the paperwork done: it could be mine. And this is how Get Up and Go Kayaking – Miami was born.

Get Up and Go Kayaking – Miami is proudly owned and managed by myself and Tiffany Pyke, a Miami native. Fast forward to the summer of 2022, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and all of the mangrove crabs are waiting for you to come to visit them.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

As people in the internet age, we have become inherently effective at detecting authenticity. Long gone are the days of just remembering someone’s daughter plays softball and always bringing it up when you see your team member. Engaging your team in deep conversation about their likes, dislikes, family, goals, and hobbies is key to maintaining a healthy relationship with your employees. People are motivated in different ways and as effective managers, we need to first identify the root of this motivation and understand it deeply, then further engage the employee to identify a clear pathway to fulfilling this motivation factor with the tasks at hand. This turns the relationship from a transactional one to a team effort in achieving what is both important to the employee and the business.

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.

One of my early ventures (and still operating) was a portfolio of rental properties. Being a self manager of these units, you become connected and involved with each one and the nuances of the homes. They almost become your children and often you find yourself reflecting on how your tenants also act like children! But it is important to know that just like a house, businesses have market value. No matter how long you’ve “raised” your rental house or business, you have to remember there’s a time to hold and there’s a time to sell.

My first home I bought after college was my baby, I worked on improvements on that house with my bare hands for many years. I moved away for better career opportunities but kept that house as a rental unit. 2021 was a big year for selling your home and getting top dollar. While my rental was making some positive cash flow, the amount of equity had nearly triple from what I had originally paid. But I was emotionally attached to the property and decided to continue to hold on and rent the unit. The AC failed shortly after my decision to renew the tenant’s lease, washing away over a year’s worth of rental earnings.

Never become too attached to your business or assets, everything has a price and just like the stock market- there’s good and bad times to sell.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://getupandgokayaking.com/locations/miami/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getupandgomiami/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getupandgomiami