DNA of Business Success: How to Start Your Own Business The Right Way | S7 E5

Steve Alessi:
So somebody could be listening and say, man, you're a hard nose. You know? You're just making it so hard for your kids. You need to take it a little bit easier. No. Because you're giving them a life lesson that's played out in every aspect of their life, which is gonna lead them to success. Hello. Welcome to another episode of the family business with the Alessis. I'm Steve Alessi, And you're joining us today because family is everybody's business and it just so happens.

Steve Alessi:
I am joined in the podcast studio today by, get this, he's a church member, He's a friend, and he's even a business colleague at this season of life. And that is Roger Quesada, who is here. And today, we're gonna really be talking about the business side of just business in general, not just the family business that Roger, as a entrepreneur and business owner, he has his family working for him, but also how to maybe build a business, start a business, how to take something that is an idea, turn it into, an actual business venture, and then how to start and then how to grow it to a real, large business that's gonna turn around and really help you. So I wanna thank him for being there. Now listen. If you think there's somebody that could benefit from this particular podcast right now, go ahead and send it to them before you get into the nuts and bolts. Because if it's about business, you're gonna find some great things that are gonna be beneficial. So, Roger, thanks for joining us today.

Roger Quesada:
Absolutely. My pleasure, pastor. Thank you for having me.

Steve Alessi:
Alright. Sound a little bit more excited.

Roger Quesada:
I am. I'm very excited to be here.

Steve Alessi:
Alright. I just want everybody to know if you're watching, I'm wearing a outfit that Roger actually bought for me over in Colombia.

Roger Quesada:
That's the right place to buy great great clothes, and you look good in it.

Steve Alessi:
Thank you very much. You did good. Appreciate you picking it up. You're a good man. How you doing?

Roger Quesada:
Doing great. Doing great.

Steve Alessi:
Alright.

Roger Quesada:
I had some, doctor's visits today, and those are never fun, but good report so far.

Steve Alessi:
Well, it goes along with the gray in your beard. That's what happens as we get older.

Roger Quesada:
But the the the team there said they would edit some of that out.

Steve Alessi:
They're gonna take care of that?

Roger Quesada:
I'll be about 20 years younger by the time we're done with this.

Steve Alessi:
And about £20 lighter. We're gonna look good when they get in there and edit all of this. Well, listen. We're we're in, a wonderful relationship together. It's great. Part of our church. When we started our church way back when in 1997, you were there on the front end, and, it was fun. I'll maybe tell a funny story towards the end to, keep it light.

Steve Alessi:
But, you were there at the beginning, and you've been a you and Barbie been a part of it, pretty much the whole time when your business endeavors took you out of town for a few years, but then you came back to South Florida, jumped right back in, and, and you're right along with us. So it's it's a good thing.

Roger Quesada:
It's been a great ride.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. It has. And, you and I are part of a group of guys on Monday. We call it our counseling session. And, that's where the the the Roger that everybody thought was antisocial just comes out. It's good.

Roger Quesada:
Well, the social Roger comes out.

Steve Alessi:
There you go.

Roger Quesada:
Yeah. He's only reserved for Monday.

Steve Alessi:
That's that's it. That's funny there. Alright, Roger. So, on the business side of things, I have a business. I work with my family. You have a business, and, your family works for you. Tell us a little about that.

Roger Quesada:
Well, my business is, it it it requires a lot of administrative and and recruiting. So, Kayla, my middle daughter, she works with me. She's been with me for a couple of years. She started as a recruiter, and now she manages all the recruiting department and all the HR functions. And so it's been great to see her grow in that respect, grow in her position, grow in her responsibility. And Joseph started really to kind of fill in and and have a part time job. He had a job that he didn't like. He came to work for me.

Roger Quesada:
I didn't like how he worked, so I sent him back to wherever he came from to work, and then he came back and and has done really good since then. He just recently finished his degree, so he's looking to go into into that field of gaming design and all that, but in the meantime, he continues to work. So it's been fun to see them grow, in their in this aspect of their life and working, in their career. Working for me probably has been the most challenging for them, and it'll probably be the most challenging job they've ever had.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
I'm I'm I'm of the belief that if you work in my company and you happen to have the last name that I carry

Steve Alessi:
Yep.

Roger Quesada:
You don't have any privileges, but you have the most responsibility.

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm.

Roger Quesada:
And so it's it's almost better for them not to work with me if they wanna Slack.

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm.

Roger Quesada:
And so they don't.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
And and in that's in that respect, I think if whether they continue working with me forever or they go on, they're gonna be much better because because they've learned that good work ethic and responsibility is what they need to bring to work every day.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. Now what they don't know is, what we know, because I know you, is you say there's no privileges, but there are privileges. They just have to earn those privileges that working for their father in his company will give them, which is the biggest privilege is an opportunity. Right. We give them an opportunity to work for us, which they could work for others, but there's the privilege of picking up our DNA, which has produced a certain level of success in our field. So your kids do have a privilege. They're gonna just have to earn it to work and receive a paycheck from your company. Right.

Roger Quesada:
In that sense, they do. But in the sense of they're gonna get away with what we wouldn't allow others to get away with, that's there there is no, no familial privilege in that

Steve Alessi:
in that sense. Nobody else working for you has that privilege?

Roger Quesada:
Nobody does. And and and, quite frankly, they need to set the example. Yep. They need to be above, the standard that I that we set for everybody else because everybody's always gonna look at them and say, you know, they they're they're daddy's kids, so that you know? And I don't ever want them to be measured in any way by because they're related to me. I want them to be respected in their own right.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. Well, you came more or less. I mean, can we can we say it in a respectful way to your upbringing and so on? But you really came from nothing in the sense that nobody gave you something that you have today. Every bit of what you have today was something you work for.

Roger Quesada:
Yeah. I will say that I was given plenty of opportunities, and that is the only thing that I was given. I'm so grateful for it. As a matter of fact, the purpose the chief purpose of our company is to provide opportunities for people like me that really had didn't have the the goods Mhmm. To to make it and to others took a chance on me. They didn't give me they didn't hand me anything. They just allowed me to be the best version of me that I could, and they taught me. Mhmm.

Roger Quesada:
And I took every opportunity that I was given to do that. Other than that, I was never given anything. As a matter of fact, I had to work harder because I was limited in some sense Mhmm. Educationally and, you know, because of background and upbringing and such. Mhmm.

Steve Alessi:
And that's really what gives you that drive today to look at your kids and say, alright. Look. I started with more or less nothing, And you did. You didn't have the financial resources to to have what you have today. And by the way, how many employees are in on your more or less your payroll?

Roger Quesada:
Right now, we're over 500 employees.

Steve Alessi:
Alright. In,

Roger Quesada:
in about 7 states and 11 locations.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. So that that that's a lot of people that are depending on what you started. So you started with nothing. And that's what you wanna give your kids is that same opportunity to see that, alright, let's start from nothing. And the name does not is not something that's going to give you what you do not earn Right. Which is such a great life lesson. So somebody could be listening and say, man, you're a hard nose. You know? You're just making it so hard for your kids.

Steve Alessi:
You need to take it a little bit easier. No. Because you're giving them a life lesson that's played out in every aspect of their life, which is gonna lead them to success. So, it it's a great thing that you're able to do. Now does your wife work for you?

Roger Quesada:
I can't conquer all all things, pastor. She has in the past. Yeah. She's probably been the employee that's bought gotten fired from my company more than anybody else.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
She's indomitable when it comes to working for me.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. But, you know, that in itself, she that that's a unique position for her.

Roger Quesada:
Mhmm.

Steve Alessi:
I mean, I'm not she's not here, so you really can't we can't hear from her, but not that you're putting words in her mouth, but how does she manage that with your running your business and her the kids that are your offspring are working in your company? Because that's not that's not easy. They're gonna have problems with dad and the boss. How how does she navigate through that?

Roger Quesada:
Well, it it was it was I think it was tough for a minute in the beginning, but we really we really separated one from the other. Mhmm. When they're working for the company, they're employees of the company, and and the company is really its own entity. I have a responsibility to the company, and so they have a responsibility to the company as well. And so they you know, my my wife doesn't get involved. She doesn't pick sides. She doesn't try to influence me in any way, you know, over whatever decisions I have to make in regard to them. She supports, as a matter of fact, more than than anything.

Roger Quesada:
So she's, in in that sense, we're both, in the same page, very much aligned Yeah. When it comes to the kids and their work.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. You and I, as well as a couple other guys, we were feeling inspired to start something that, we'll be, sharing with our community, and that is, MLC, Metro Life Church Business Forum. Part of that it's gonna be a one day seminar that we put on business forum together. But part of that is we're fleshing out what we're gonna be sharing with those that are entrepreneurs, those that are running small businesses, big businesses, those that wanna start a business. One of the things we're gonna be talking about is the spouse relationship in running a business. I happen to work with my wife, and every day, we're pretty much together 247. That's not the case with everybody because most business owners, they leave their spouse, and then they have to deal with what happens. Because as a business owner, I know you've you've managed yourself really well at a place where you have certain liberties and freedoms.

Steve Alessi:
But there's there's been times when you were the first one out the door in the morning to be at the office, make sure things are happening, last one to get home after dark. How did how did Barbie manage through all

Roger Quesada:
those days? Yeah. Well, you know, it's I couldn't have done it without her support. And and what I mean by support is really not having to deal with everything that I was dealing in the front end with business and having to worry about my wife is home, and she's demanding the time, and she's, you know, calling me. And she she never did any she never put any pressure on me, from the home front so that I would be split or I wouldn't really I couldn't dedicate my full energy to what I was doing. And when you say leave the office in the morning and come back at night, that wasn't my case. Mine was leave the office Monday morning, come back a week or 2 later because I was traveling quite a bit. So it even put a a a separation in between us. And so navigating through all of that time, and that was it was a lot of years of that.

Roger Quesada:
Yeah. And it was tough, but here we are now, you know, I spend all my time at home. As a matter of fact, I wish I could travel a little bit more now just so that we can have the the, the separation, so we can miss each other a little bit, but we're in this in this season of life because she did her part Yeah. In supporting me, never, you know, never questioning what I was doing, never pulling me back, saying, don't do it, you know, why are you doing so much, and and all of that. She always just said, go do what you have to do, and she took care of the home front.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. I I I need your input on something here. We've got some people listening to us that they wanna start a business. Got some people that are in a small business and some that are running pretty major corporations. So let's just kinda tackle something on all three of those levels. First off, what should a person be thinking and doing if they want to start a business? They they're good at something. They have an idea. They have a concept.

Steve Alessi:
How do they then start?

Roger Quesada:
I think the best way to start is not to allow the excitement of the idea or the skill or or any of those things cloud the judgment of what running a business is. A great idea is not a business.

Steve Alessi:
It's a

Roger Quesada:
great idea. Yeah. A great product is not a business. It's a great product. A great skill set is not a business. It's a great skill set. A business is a total different animal, if you will. Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
So if you have any of these things, but you've never ran a business, the best thing to do is get together with people that run businesses, are successful, or have at least a a track record and ask a lot of questions. Because it might take you a year to get to that start of the business, but you're gonna have a heck of a lot better chance to be successful and not fail than if you start because of the excitement of the idea. And 3 months into it, you're feeling miserable because now you think your idea is bad. You're you're you're running out of money. Now you got no job, and and you're feeling like you are a failure. And so invest in the time to learn. Okay. I've got this great idea.

Roger Quesada:
Can this be a great business, and how do I get there?

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm. Tell me your concept of a business plan. If I wanna start a business, should I build a business plan?

Roger Quesada:
I think without a business plan, you're really it's the same thing. You're going into it with just the excitement. A business plan is just really putting down on paper everything that's gonna take to turn that idea or product or skill into something that is viable, something that can make a profit. Ultimately, that's what a business is forced, to turn a profit so that you can either reinvest in business or have a better life. So a business plan, it can be as complex as you want it to be, and usually those don't work very well because they're too difficult to implement.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
Or it can be simple but clear. But it'll give you a good road map as to, okay. I'm here. I wanna get over there. Here are the things that I need to do, and then you start adding or adapting or changing as you go by. But at least you have some clear markers Mhmm. Of where you wanna go. Well, as cool as chat,

Steve Alessi:
chat IPT is. Right? Is it chat IPT? Help me out.

Roger Quesada:
Chat GPT.

Steve Alessi:
GPT. Thank you very much. I guess that chat GPT can't write you a business plan. You're gonna need to find somebody that could also help you. And that's where a coach or even what we're trying to do with our MLC business forum, that that's what what's gonna be proved helpful. You you you gotta connect with people that are doing this. Correct?

Roger Quesada:
Yeah. I'll tell you a funny story. My first business, my first business was a blessing in what not to do in anything when it comes to business. And my business plan was written in the back of a napkin, sitting in the patio of my house with my then partner, and we just wrote, here's what we are going to do. Here's how we're gonna do it. Here's how much money what it's gonna take, and here's what we wanna accomplish. And you would think, well, that's not a business plan. If I hadn't had that business plan in Napkin, I wouldn't look at it every now and again and say, Am I on the right track, or am I not and I I added to it as I learned some things.

Roger Quesada:
Obviously, if I if I did it again, I and I did it again, I wouldn't have done it that way. But even something as simple as write it down and and have somebody else look at at it and give you, some good input Yeah. Because it helps in the end. And that business lasted 9 years, and, you know, recession and other things, me included

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm.

Roger Quesada:
Made a stop. Yeah. But, but it wouldn't have lasted a day Mhmm.

Steve Alessi:
If I

Roger Quesada:
hadn't had a at least a napkin

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. Business plan. Well, if you're gonna be a business owner, you you gotta get used of to the word no. I have found when I started our church, and it was as much as my wife and I started this together, it was a decision I made to leave where I was and then come over and start our church. At the time, I shared it with Mary. She's like, are you kidding me? We're finally happy here at this other place. What are you doing? I said, Mary, it's just time for us to go. I had a little garage back at my house, and I took a corner of that garage and built it out from my office because I I was always an office guy.

Steve Alessi:
I love going to the office. So I'd go out into the garage. Roger, I had building concepts that I diagrammed. I knew exactly how many ushers I wanted, how many greeters I wanted. I knew what kind of advertising I was gonna do. I knew from the music standpoint, because Mary was the musician, the worship leader at the time, I knew, on paper. It was written up how much how many instruments we needed, who would play those instruments, how many mics were needed, what kind of sound system was needed. I more or less knew that there was a budget that was gonna be required.

Steve Alessi:
In my line of work starting a church, I just knew on the front end, things had to be written down. Mhmm. You gotta take it from just an idea, and people have good ideas. But as we said recently, there's a difference between a good idea and a god idea. And if it's a god idea for you, then you're gonna go that extra step to making sure you write it down. Even Habakkuk talks about the vision, the plan. Write it down because you're gonna have to run with it, and one day it'll come to pass. You're gonna have to wait, it'll come to pass.

Steve Alessi:
But you gotta write it down. So for somebody that has an idea, an inclination, I wanna start a business, you you better write it down and see if it will pass the business plan test. If it doesn't and there's a no, then thank that person that is honest with you because you don't wanna be surrounded by people that just pat you on the back because they have a good idea and say go for it and have faith for it because that can cost you a lot of money and a lot of heartache, which then leads me to this. A lot going on politics right now is talking about the small business. The success of our economy lies in the lap of small businesses, but a small business shouldn't stay small forever. So I start a business. You start your business. You're small.

Steve Alessi:
What are you doing to grow that business?

Roger Quesada:
Well, let me let me first clarify what is, what a small business really is defining in economic terms is a company that has 500 or less employees. So Substantial. Yeah. So, I mean, I just I just recently passed the small business mark Mhmm. When I passed, you know, the 500 employee. But most small businesses really are 20 to 30 employees or less with an owner who is an operator. He's he or she is present and done in running that business. And that makes up about 85 to 89% of all businesses in the US.

Steve Alessi:
Say that again. Small business owner less than 20 or so employees.

Roger Quesada:
Businesses with 30 or less employees and a present owner that runs the day to day make up between 85 and 80 9% of all businesses in the US.

Steve Alessi:
That's correct.

Roger Quesada:
That is significant.

Steve Alessi:
Yes. It is.

Roger Quesada:
Our economy moves on the small business, on the entrepreneur. Large companies, we hear about them all the time because they have the budgets to be in every social network and and all over the news, but they don't make up the great majority of businesses in the US.

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm.

Roger Quesada:
Small business does. So our economy depends on the small business being successful. Yeah. And so the the idea is a small business has to have the greatest chance to succeed because, it makes the most impact. Mhmm. And that's what we wanna we wanna do is listen. We we probably that that statistic is probably true in this church. Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
And so how many of those entrepreneurs, businesses that are that fit in that statistic are struggling. And they may be struggling for many, many reasons. And it could be, you know, lack of cash, lack of planning, lack of people, lack of, of of of really a vision, and they shouldn't have to do it. Because I here's what I I learned in this in the the last 6 years of my life, that you can grow beyond your limited knowledge. Mhmm. I'd never thought I would be in this position with 5 or 6 years ago with what I knew 5 or 6 years ago. Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
I dreamed about it. Mhmm. But inside, I knew I'm not the guy that get us to get us there. I don't know enough. So what did you have to do?

Steve Alessi:
Yeah. So did you start to learn? Did you you you connected with people that then taught you some things that that then allowed you to grow what you have?

Roger Quesada:
Absolutely. Well, the first couple of years, it was just grinding, working hard. Yeah. Just because I needed a paycheck, and I needed to to this thing needed to prove that it would work or it didn't. And so, thankfully, it did work, and and and I just had to work because that that was it. I mean, I was this company in January 1, 2019 was a one employee company, and that was me. And so, you know, you you talk to people today that know what I do and know of my company. They're like, man, that's a big company.

Roger Quesada:
Well, it wasn't a big company always. It was a one employee company

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
When it started, and it was like that for a few months until we got more and more and more. So what I did was that at some point, I knew that I couldn't work and and continue to grow at the pace that I was working. I didn't know how to grow beyond that, so I started seeking help. Yeah. I started seeking, advice from others who were bigger, who were, you know, further ahead, and, you know, they they they would give me good insight, but eventually let me down to meeting the the business coach who's been with me now for a little bit over 2 years. And that has really completely changed my whole outlook on the business, but more than anything on me, on my capabilities

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
Of who I can be. Yeah.

Steve Alessi:
So

Roger Quesada:
I used to say, I I have an exit plan from the company, and that's when I can reach this number because I know that's my limitation. Well, that that milepost has been moved several times since, and I don't think until, really, I get tired Mhmm. I don't think that milepost would ever stay because I now enjoy I've I've learned that I enjoy learning Yeah. Yeah. And growing.

Steve Alessi:
Well, with my line of work, the church only grows to the level of its leader. Mhmm. It's called the law of lid, John Maxwell's law of lid. You you just can't rise above your skill set, which then means, either if you're gonna grow the church, grow your business, either the leader has to grow or the leader has to change. And I was never going to change what I'm doing. This is my deal. So I I've always appreciated the leadership principles that come with growing the person before growing the organization. Yes.

Steve Alessi:
And I think when I look at just your life, I've known the person forever. What I've really learned to respect is how the person has grown in you, to now, and it's evident because now you see it with the organization that you have grown. Now along the way, as a small business owner, I've seen you tap into attorneys, for instance. Some small businesses that go into they don't have an attorney. They don't have somebody that they can call to handle some legal matters, but that's hugely important because now you're talking about agreements, contracts, leases. Could be business vehicles. It could be space. It could be contracts negotiation here.

Steve Alessi:
Things like that. You have to be willing as a business owner to say, alright. I've gotta have on my cash flow here enough resources to tap into professional services that I need. If I'm not willing to do that, Roger, I shouldn't be running a business.

Roger Quesada:
And that is so so true. Look. I could be driving a brand new Porsche, or I could be paying for my accountant and my attorney.

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm.

Roger Quesada:
And by paying for my accountant and my attorney, I'm gonna be able to buy 2 brand new Porsches. Yeah. And and that is the business equation. A lot of it is fear. I can't afford it. You know, I I hardly make enough now. I I started doing those things when I couldn't afford Yeah. Because I needed it.

Roger Quesada:
Yeah. In order to be able to afford better, I needed to invest, and it's not a cost. It's an investment. Had I not invested in in in the in the attorney, which actually taught me so much taught me so much, the the accountant. And now we've got 2 accounting firms because we have several businesses and some, you know, overseas. And I'm the the amount of resources that it takes to run all that, I need someone smart that can that can keep me out of trouble with not only the IRS in this country, but the IRS in another country. Yeah. Right? So be so if I save that money, number 1, is I would never grow in that sense.

Roger Quesada:
Number 2 is I could grow back, could grow wrong, and it come back and get me in the end. Mhmm. So for me, it was a okay. If I'm gonna invest in growing this business, I've gotta get the best resources available. Yeah. I can't skim on the most important things.

Steve Alessi:
Mhmm. That's where the mindset comes in from somebody that could be a good entrepreneur to being a real successful business owner. Because there's a lot of small there's a lot of entrepreneurs out there that have an idea and a concept. They they wanna try to pitch. They wanna try to build it and throw it out there, and it it may be good. But if they're not thinking in terms of a business owner, which, I want you to hit on just a second. If they're not thinking in terms of being a business owner, then they they put more or less do everything just themselves. And you limit your success when it's just about yourself.

Steve Alessi:
But one thing you mentioned a couple weeks ago, we were talk talking, and I think you're gonna be sharing this concept at our business forum. The difference between being the business and and owning the business, whereas the business, you're really an employee in your business. I hope I'm I'm laying it out

Roger Quesada:
right now.

Chris Alessi:
It's working

Roger Quesada:
in the business versus working on the business. Okay. And and and that is that has been the, for me, the most satisfactory transition of the last couple of years is that I was so in in in the business that there was a lot of things that I was missing because I can only see in so many directions, and the business is 360, and I can only see in front of me. Yeah. So there's all these activity and all these things happening that are around me that I was missing that was costing me money, costing me time, and and it was, you know, creating a negative effect. So that's when I really started investing in bringing in the resource, the right people, and believe me, it was hard sometimes to have to look at somebody and say, you wanna make more than me? Yeah. And I had to do that several times. Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
Write a an employee of the company a bigger check than what I was making. Yeah. But believe me, it was well worth it. It's been well worth it every single time because that allowed me to step further away from the doing and start looking at the whole business and started seeing where the holes were. And as I was plugging in the holes, I was keeping resources in the house that allowed me to pay for those experts that I'll be bringing in.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
And so now I have a bird's eye view of my business, and I can see not only what's going on in the business, but what's going on in the industry that I can move my business towards. Mhmm. And the things that are coming out, that makes my business better. So it's it's I'm no longer working as much in the business as I am working on my business. Big difference. Yeah.

Steve Alessi:
Well, the other thought, and we're gonna hit this in the business form, is when you look at your, production that your business is bringing to you, and you treat everything that the business brings in like it's your own as opposed to then setting yourself up in the business, pulling a paycheck off off of it, but letting that business grow. And then down the road, you take, of course, profits from it. But being able to separate yourself from all the resources that come into the business so that you see that, wait a minute. You're not the business. The business is the business.

Roger Quesada:
And that is so tempting. It is so tempting for for anyone that, especially if the if the be if the business or their skill set or their services do well. Yeah. Because it's you know, all of a sudden, now you've got this this this this cash coming in, this you know, you're you're you're getting more money if you do well, and that's really where the most dangerous is, not when you don't have. But when you start seeing it and you forget that you have to feed the beast. You have to give back, invest in the entity that provided that so that it is health healthy. Right? And so it's hard. For instance, you know, one of the things that I did, and I'm so thankful that, I I thought this way when I started my my now business.

Roger Quesada:
I was a a an executive on a a large company, and I had to make a hard decision that I I was gonna cut my living expenses in half so that I can pay myself a menial salary Yeah. At least for the first two years of my business so that my business would take everything that it ever made, take it back Yeah. And feed itself and grow. Mhmm. And it was hard. Yeah. Just think about anybody. Think about cutting your Nope.

Roger Quesada:
Your expenses in half.

Steve Alessi:
Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
Right? How hard it is. Because we live almost pay paycheck to paycheck. Yeah. And I did that, and every dollar kept feeding the monster back in. And I remember the 1st year I took out I think I I said this story before. I took out high interest loans to to to make payrolls, and it was like, you know, almost getting it from here to pay it here and paying the interest. And that 1st year was a a death race to the end. Yeah.

Roger Quesada:
And I remember writing the last loan check on December 31st, paying off the sync the last loan, and that year, my interest payments on all that money were were well over 25%. Think about that. Jeez. 25% of all the money that I went with just went back to paying interest. But I knew that if I took any money out for any personal expenses, for any kind of living, improvements Yep. That business would not survive.

Steve Alessi:
Survive. Well, we could go on and on. We've already been over 30 minutes talking in this little podcast booth right here, which is why we need that one day MLC business form, and we'll be getting more information out there for those that are entrepreneurs, those that, wanna start a business, those that are operating businesses at all levels. We wanna be a a resource to them because they're a great community of people, and this country and our the city and our church, church community could really benefit as they are elevated and succeed. So that's another episode of our family business with the Alessis. It's been great to have Roger Quesada. Roger q in the house with us today. And if you have been encouraged by this episode and you know there's others that are out there that'd be interested, share this with them and then keep your ears and eyes open to the one day MLC Business Forum that's coming your way.

Chris Alessi:
You've just enjoyed another episode of the family business podcast with Violetsis, and we can't thank you enough for being a part of our podience today. Now that you've learned more about us, here's how you can join in in the family business. 1st, make sure you're following our podcast right now and download this episode so you can hear it at any time. 2nd, think of someone you know that might need or enjoy this episode and share it with them. You'll be helping them and helping us to spread the word about the family business. 3rd, go to a lessefamilybusiness.com and tap the ask the Alesses button. This is really cool. You could use it to record a voice mail comment or question, and we can add your voice to our conversations.

Chris Alessi:
Finally, while you're on our page, tap the reviews tab, and you'll see a link to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We love reading your reviews, and we might even share them on the show. Thanks again for joining us, and we'll see you next time at the family business with the Alessis because family is everybody's business.