$ales to CEO

Idea to Ownership: How to Fund Your Business

In this episode, Jon Bartos and Diane Rosenkrantz tackle one of the biggest questions holding future owners back: “How do I actually afford a business?” The answer might surprise you. From overlooked funding paths to creative financing strategies, they reveal options that go far beyond traditional loans—many of which could put business ownership within reach sooner than you think.  If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, this conversation could be the push that turns possibility into action. Stop taking a commission check. Start signing the paychecks.   Memorable Quotes:  “Funding your new business is possible. Of all the people we work with, there’s almost no one we can’t finance to help them start their own business. My suggestion to everybody is take a look at your dreams, find out what you want to achieve. Don’t let financing be the thing that is stopping you from achieving your vision.” – Jon Bartos  About Diane Rosenkrantz has been working in the Finance and Consulting industry for over 25 years. She works with clients, brokers, lenders, and franchises throughout the county with the goal of providing the best funding option(s). Her specialty, as a Senior Consultant with Tenet Financial Group, is educating and helping clients on the ROBS (Rollover as a Business Start Up) option of accessing pre-tax retirement funds for a new or existing business. Her experiences with Mass Mutual Life Insurance in the Pension Department provided an excellent foundation for her knowledge of 401K and Profit Sharing Plans. Diane worked with their Sensitive Plan’s division and led her teams’ efforts in Plan administration, compliance, training, and customer service. Other positions held over the years include: Senior Account Executive in the publications industry and Senior Project Manager for a consulting firm that specialized in project management and customized software development in the health care industry. Diane has been a senior consultant with Tenet Financial Group since 2009. She has been training clients, franchise brokers and loan brokers on the ROBS Option for years and has been published in many leading magazines. Visit the Tenet Financial Group website [https://www.tenetfinancialgroup.com/] Connect with Diane on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-rosenkrantz-378449a/] Call or text Diane: (413) 354-4662 Email: Diane@tenetfinancialgroup.com   About Jon Bartos "Starting my own search firm in 1999 was both the most challenging and rewarding decision of my career. It gave me the freedom to build a business on my own terms, while still being present for my family, a balance that changed my life.  Today, as CEO of Dimensional Search, I’m proud to lead a platform that empowers entrepreneurs to experience that same freedom and success. With global resources, proven systems, and a network of like-minded owners, we provide the support you need to build, grow, and scale a thriving search firm."  — Jon Bartos, Chief Executive Officer, Dimensional Search [https://dimensionalsearch.com/franchise/] Chief Investment Officer, Starfish Partners Senior Partner, Sanford Rose Associates Senior Partner, Next Level Exchange Connect with Jon on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbartos/] Follow $ales to CEO on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/sales-to-ceo-podcast]

Choosing Your Pain with Rebecca Thornton

In this episode, Jon Bartos and Rebecca Thornton talk about the grit necessary to start a business from scratch – and the joy of getting to choose your pain points along the journey. From the thrill of betting on yourself to the freedom of working from anywhere – even international family trips – the level of choice in entrepreneurship changes everything. Stop taking a commission check. Start signing the paychecks.  Memorable Quotes: “I was at a crossroads… do I continue to work for somebody else and really grind it out for them to do really well or do I go out and do this on my own? I’ve built up a set of skills over the years, through start ups and through my experiences that I felt like I could bet on myself. And so that’s what I did.” – Rebecca Thornton About Rebecca Thornton is the founder of Expanded Talent Solutions, a boutique recruiting firm specializing in the medical device industry with a focus on vascular, cardiovascular, and interventional roles. Before launching her own business, Rebecca spent years in the field herself as a medical device rep, which gave her a firsthand understanding of what it actually takes to succeed in this space. A little over two years ago, she made the leap to build something of her own, bootstrapping Expanded Talent from the ground up with no outside funding and no safety net. What started as a one-woman operation has grown into a respected boutique firm placing clinical specialists, territory managers, and executive-level talent at some of the most innovative companies in medical device. Rebecca is passionate about the idea that a niche done well beats broad every time, and that deep relationships and genuine industry knowledge will always outperform volume-based recruiting. She is also a wife and mom who will tell you that leaving the corporate grind was one of the best decisions she ever made for her family. Building something of her own has come with its challenges, but it has also given her a presence and flexibility that a traditional career never could. Visit the Expanded Talent Solutions website [https://expandedtalent.com/] Connect with Becca on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccathornton/] About Jon Bartos "Starting my own search firm in 1999 was both the most challenging and rewarding decision of my career. It gave me the freedom to build a business on my own terms, while still being present for my family, a balance that changed my life.  Today, as CEO of Dimensional Search, I’m proud to lead a platform that empowers entrepreneurs to experience that same freedom and success. With global resources, proven systems, and a network of like-minded owners, we provide the support you need to build, grow, and scale a thriving search firm."  — Jon Bartos, Chief Executive Officer, Dimensional Search [https://dimensionalsearch.com/franchise/] Chief Investment Officer, Starfish Partners Senior Partner, Sanford Rose Associates Senior Partner, Next Level Exchange Connect with Jon on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbartos/] Follow $ales to CEO on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/sales-to-ceo-podcast]

Side Hustle to Success with Dave Rieth

In this episode, Jon Bartos and Dave Rieth talk about the journey from starting an executive search side hustle while working at an extremely demanding sales position to creating a legacy of success in not one, but two thriving family businesses. Stop taking a commission check. Start signing the paychecks. Mentioned in this episode: To listen to Chris Rosenthal’s episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589438/episodes/18554972 [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589438/episodes/18554972] To learn more about The Entrepreneur’s Source: https://entrepreneurssource.com/ [https://entrepreneurssource.com/]   Memorable Quotes: “You kind of find a balance of either feeling really good about what you’re doing or making a lot of money and this was an industry [executive search] where I don’t have to pick one. They just both keep going up.” – Dave Rieth  "In this business, there are ways to slot in different personalities into your business as an entrepreneur and you don’t want carbon copies of the same person over and over in your organization – you want that variety. Your responsibility is to identify how do you set them up to succeed based on what you’ve learned from their personality and their skills.” – Dave Rieth About Dave Rieth is the President of Supply Career, a Cleveland, Ohio-based recruiting firm specializing in connecting talent within the home-services and industrial sectors, as well as Blue Recruit, which specializes in talent for aviation, aerospace and defense. With a background rooted in business development, team development and workforce growth, Dave has built his career around helping companies solve one of their toughest challenges, finding and keeping exceptional people. Visit the Supply Career [https://supplycareer.com/] website Visit Blue Recruit [https://recruit.blue/about/] Connect with Dave on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-rieth/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-rieth/]    About Jon Bartos "Starting my own search firm in 1999 was both the most challenging and rewarding decision of my career. It gave me the freedom to build a business on my own terms, while still being present for my family, a balance that changed my life.  Today, as CEO of Dimensional Search, I’m proud to lead a platform that empowers entrepreneurs to experience that same freedom and success. With global resources, proven systems, and a network of like-minded owners, we provide the support you need to build, grow, and scale a thriving search firm."  — Jon Bartos, Chief Executive Officer, Dimensional Search [https://dimensionalsearch.com/franchise/] Chief Investment Officer, Starfish Partners Senior Partner, Sanford Rose Associates Senior Partner, Next Level Exchange Connect with Jon on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbartos/] Follow $ales to CEO on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/sales-to-ceo-podcast]

Sales to Doing What You Love with Chris Rosenthal

In this episode, Jon interviews Chris Rosenthal, President of Square Set Metals Recruiting, LLC, on the transition from a career in financial sales to owning an executive search business.  According to Chris, "Nothing is better than being your own boss, working your butt off, and reaping the benefits as a result." Quotable moments: “A lot of the sales skills that I learned in my sales career, I could easily translate into owning, starting and successfully building my own company. That’s what Sales to CEO is all about and I’m excited to be on this journey with you.” – Jon Bartos  “You never feel that you’re fully compensated for what you’re worth until you have your own business.” – Chris Rosenthal “Recruit in something that you love, not in something that you know.” – Chris Rosenthal “You can eat the lemons or you can make lemonade…you can always find a reason why not to succeed… there’s no reason you can’t succeed in this country with what’s afforded us.” “Sales professionals have unique traits, skill sets, and experiences that help them be successful in running their own business.” – Jon Bartos About About Chris Rosenthal and Square Set Metals Recruiting, LLC: Chris had a long history of incredible success in selling to the Financial Services industry where he was at the top of his game.  He then used those incredible selling skills to transfer to starting his own business – Square Set Metals. Visit the Square Set Metals Recruiting, LLC website [https://squaresetmetals.com/?doing_wp_cron=1701424499.4864139556884765625000] Connect with Chris on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdrosenthal/] About Jon Bartos "Starting my own search firm in 1999 was both the most challenging and rewarding decision of my career. It gave me the freedom to build a business on my own terms, while still being present for my family, a balance that changed my life.  Today, as CEO of Dimensional Search, I’m proud to lead a platform that empowers entrepreneurs to experience that same freedom and success. With global resources, proven systems, and a network of like-minded owners, we provide the support you need to build, grow, and scale a thriving search firm."  — Jon Bartos, Chief Executive Officer, Dimensional Search [https://dimensionalsearch.com/franchise/] Chief Investment Officer, Starfish Partners Senior Partner, Sanford Rose Associates Senior Partner, Next Level Exchange Connect with Jon on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbartos/] Follow $ales to CEO on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/sales-to-ceo-podcast]