The Lesson David Tobin Learned Running a 60-Person Firm He Couldn’t Scale: Manage for Profit

Kuvaus

David Tobin, founder and managing partner of TobinLeff, started with coupon books in college, built a B2B telemarketing firm that he scaled to 60 people and sold under pressure rather than on his terms, and then spent years piecing together what went wrong. That painful exit became the foundation for everything he built next: an MA advisory firm focused on marketing, technology, and professional services companies that has now guided more than 250 clients through valuations, acquisitions, and sales over 16 years. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: * College coupon books that sold for more than expected and nearly bought back a few years later * How a trade show accidentally launched a B2B telemarketing firm aimed at financial services companies * Why positioning financial advisors as exit planning specialists worked in the mid-90s before anyone had a name for it * The difference between increasing EBITDA and increasing your multiple — and why both matter * Why one plus one doesn’t equal three in a roll-up and what TobinLeff learned the hard way * Growth, margins, transferability, and client retention: the four value drivers buyers actually measure * Why 60 to 90 days of prep before going to market changes everything * Deal fatigue is real: what happens when a seller takes their eye off new business during the process * Why getting on a plane to meet a prospective client won an engagement that a Zoom call never would have * The difference between business brokers, MA advisors, and investment bankers — and why it matters 🌟 David’s Key Mentors: * His Father (Sydney Tobin): Named his first company after him; passed away when David was young and shaped his early drive * His Mother: Her line — experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want — stayed with him through his hardest exit * His Three Partner Colleagues (Former Marketing Agency Owners): Proved that good business sense built over years of ownership transfers directly to MA advisory work * The Buyers and Sellers He Observed Early On: Watching deal rooms before doing deals himself taught him what actually mattered in the process 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what business owners get wrong when they think about selling, why the most painful exit David had turned out to be the most useful, and what separates a firm that commands 7x from one that gets 4x. 🔗 Connect with David Tobin: Website: tobinleff.com 📤 Transcript Available: The Lesson David Tobin Learned Running a 60-Person Firm He Couldn’t Scale: Manage for Profit 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

The Numbers Never Lie: Elizabeth McKee on Bar Inventory, Overpouring, and Protecting Your Margins

🎙️ From Catfish Restaurant Server at 14 to Hospitality Inventory Consultant: Elizabeth McKee's Journey With Sculpture Hospitality Elizabeth McKee, franchise owner of Sculpture Hospitality of the Alabama Gulf Coast, shares her journey from waiting tables at a mom and pop catfish restaurant at 14 and never fully leaving the industry, through discovering inventory consulting as a side gig and watching it grow into her full-time business, to building a referral-driven practice along one of the fastest growing coastlines in the United States. Through candid stories about a 2025 that blindsided her after years of doubling her client base, the relief of learning her losses were economy-driven rather than performance-driven, and how volunteering at a panini cook-off reminded her exactly why she loves hospitality, Elizabeth reveals how accountability without blame is the real secret to helping bars and restaurants stop losing money they didn't even know was walking out the door. ✨ Key Insights You'll Learn: * Weekly inventory revealing losses most owners never knew existed * Overpouring as a training problem, not a theft problem * Bartenders earn more tips by pouring less per drink * Menu pricing drift when ingredient costs change but prices don't * Deliveries as a hidden and frequently overlooked source of loss * Third party accountability removing the owner from being the bad guy * Dead stock identification and how to move it before it costs you * A 2025 that reversed years of growth and what she learned from it * Volunteering with no skin in the game as the fastest path back to confidence * Sandler selling transforming her from feature pitcher to question asker * Alabama Gulf Coast as one of the fastest growing regions in the country * Frontline hospitality workers as the most underappreciated people in any business 🌟 Elizabeth's Key Mentors: * First Sculpture Hospitality Colleague: The employee who invited Elizabeth to ride along on an inventory job 20 years ago and gave her the first look at what would eventually become her full-time business * Brian Jackson (Sandler Sales Coach): Transformed her selling approach from feature-driven pitching to question-driven listening, which she credits with fundamentally changing how she serves clients * Bethany Brenlinger (University of Alabama, School of Hospitality and Sports Management): A connector and friend who runs frontline worker training programs along the Gulf Coast, sharing Elizabeth's passion for recognizing and supporting the people who make hospitality function * Clients Who Were Honest During Hard Times: The business owners who told her directly what was going wrong in their own operations gave her the data she needed to understand that her 2025 losses were economy-driven, not performance-driven, and that distinction mattered enormously * Husband: Named directly as the reason the whole operation works, handling the household and kids so Elizabeth can stay in the field 👉 Don't miss this conversation about why the numbers never lie, how accountability without blame changes the entire culture of a bar or restaurant, and what volunteering has to do with getting your confidence back after a hard year in business. 🔗 Connect with Elizabeth McKee: Company: Sculpture Hospitality of the Alabama Gulf Coast Website: sculpturehospitality.com 📄 Transcript Available: The Numbers Never Lie: Elizabeth McKee on Bar Inventory, Overpouring, and Protecting Your Margins 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📄 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line Website: addbackbenefits.com

7. heinä 202657 min

The Lesson David Tobin Learned Running a 60-Person Firm He Couldn’t Scale: Manage for Profit

Kuvaus

Kommentit

14 vrk ilmainen kokeilu

Kaikki jaksot