Hey hey, this is Shaun with the award-winning GoTennis! Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.
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And now let's get into our recent conversation with Greg Johnson.
Greg is the founder of My Profit Professionals, a financial advisory firm that works specifically
with small businesses who are great at what they do, but struggling with the financial side
of running a business.
Greg is a profit first certified advisor who has spent his career helping entrepreneurs
stop leaving money on the table, build systems that make profitability intentional and actually
keep what they earn.
Greg is also a vendor co-founder of the agency, which is the first native AI-agentic platform
specifically built for Racket Sports Professionals.
He brings his focus to the Racket Sports Business Owners, Teaching Pros and Facility Operators
who work hard but never seem to get ahead financially.
Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Who are you and why do we care?
Great.
Well, thanks.
Bobby, thanks for having me on.
First off, I am probably the least athletic person you've ever invited onto your podcast.
So we're already off to a great start there.
But professionally, I work with, primarily I work with business owners who are incredibly
talented and what they do, yet financially stressed despite working so hard.
You all know how to operate organization businesses, how incredibly hard, entrepreneur,
small business owners work and a lot of times there's so much stress around the financial
component and that's where we come in.
So what's really fascinating to me over the years is that the problem usually, it isn't
the effort, it isn't all the hard work we're putting in as small business owners.
It's really just the structure and the organization.
So most people never get how money should actually flow through a business.
So my company, my profit professionals, we help business owners build those systems that
make profitability intentional instead of accidental or an afterthought.
So it's the core of what we do.
Okay.
And how money should flow?
I have an answer.
In.
Money should flow in, right?
That's basically the way it should go.
In and not a straight out.
Exactly.
Money should flow in.
Why is this difficult, Greg?
So an interesting follow up, which is, all right, well, why is that a difficult concept?
Making money is hard for some people.
Easy for others.
But what you're saying is you're not just a CPA and other than your uniqueness on this
podcast of being on athletic, be uniqueness here is you're not just crunching the numbers.
You're actually an advisor to the business.
Yeah.
So, you know, sometimes the people who love what they do the most are the worst at charging
appropriately for it or bringing the revenue in.
So what you guys do, I mean, it's a passion right?
You're involved in a high-passion organization.
Everything around people are involved with racket sports because of the passion behind
it.
And so, you know, a lot of times you're susceptible.
You're vulnerable around, you know, there's guilt around how you price things.
There's worried about overdelivering.
There's undercharging.
You're constantly reinvesting everything into new equipment.
The best and the greatest.
And then there's burnout.
And so, yeah, so we're not, we don't just come in and retroactively help you look at your
numbers and or tell you what you're going to overtax.
We're a proactive group that's there to work with you to essentially not only bring the
revenue in, but keep the revenue, put profit first, and actually be able to drive that
money out of the business.
So, the statistic, they say 80 small business owners, entrepreneurs, earns either zero profit
or they're losing money in there in what they do.
And so, this system that we've developed and that we work with entrepreneurs and business
owner is there to help you drive the profit, but also keep it and be intentional about that.
It sounds like he's talking to every independent tennis coach ever.
I want to, do you have a couch in your office?
Sometimes I'm in line with the therapist, so we work, you know, doing work and hang on
together.
You gave me a beverage in a snack.
I mean, I could be there all afternoon.
So, I think a couch is appropriate.
I love it.
And I shot, got in the right industry here because God knows I got close to my phone.
Remember my watch and it's talking to me.
Oh, we need, this is something we desperately tied in.
We need guidance.
Well, and that makes me think, Bobby, not just, we pick on our friends, like the tennis people
and the rackets more people, those are our people, right?
So, we make fun of ourselves as we all can, right?
Because we are that.
But it also makes me think of the doctor who's really good at being a doctor and really
terrible at running a business.
And I don't know how many, there are probably examples in every industry of someone who's
really good at the thing, but not the business around the thing.
Is that, is that where you live, Greg?
Is that where if we connect you with all of our friends?
The guys, you're really good at doing the thing.
Let Greg help you with everything else.
Yeah, no, I mean, you hit the nail in the head, Sean, you know, a lot of people, they start
businesses for the freedom.
And accidentally, what they're not doing is accidentally create a job, right?
I think they can never mentally leave.
And, you know, coaches, trainers are very, very susceptible to that.
And so, a lot of it is partnering with us to come in to bring in that discipline, to break
out of that cycle.
And that's exactly what we do.
So, one thing I find fascinating is how, so how businesses behave financially.
So there's this idea, it's called Parkinson's Law.
So it's the concept that people will naturally expand to consume whatever resources are
available.
So, someone makes $50,000 a year.
They figure out how to spend that $50,000.
They make $500,000.
They're going to figure out how to spend that $500,000 to its natural human behavior.
Businesses behave exactly the same way.
And so, when someone goes out and starts a business, revenue starts coming in.
But somehow, it instantly disappears into expenses.
We need upgrades.
There's payroll.
We're going to expand.
We're going to buy new equipment.
There's those pesky, reoccurring subscriptions that are hitting every month.
There's new opportunities.
And so, you get caught in the cycle where even as you're growing revenue, if you're not
protecting the profit part, it's going to all escape.
And so, that's exactly what.
It's fighting that human nature element that we're all susceptible to.
And I love it.
I'm going to plug you into Bobby, and I might have to pay for it.
But I'm going to plug you into Bobby's business because he needs to at least make another $5
a month.
So, he can pay Pandora, so we don't have to listen to the commercial.
No, I did that.
I finally did it.
Yeah, there you go.
What do you mean?
Come on now.
That's what's happening.
Yes.
I was going to start just a monthly Venmo.
Like, seriously, I'll pay for it.
Bobby, it's like, "God's probably my premium."
So, I don't want to hear that anymore.
Okay, good.
I like that.
But, well, yeah, Bobby, you're right here because I feel like you're talking to me.
So, I'm like, okay, you're not making me feel good about myself.
And then we talk about it all the time.
It's a tough business to scale to begin with and then bring in all the liabilities that
you know, when there's only one and this might not be, you know, my favorite thing is the
little nuance is, you know, and we always say, "Show me how to make $5,000 more a year."
You know, and let's start small.
With me, I'm older, so you got to show me how to make $50,000 more a year because I need
to retire at some point in the near future.
But for the young guys, $5,000 a year, that's an IRA.
That for 20 years.
Okay.
You know, I think that's a great way to start.
And now, how do you overcome the egos?
Or as Sean likes to always give me a hard time about, he's the investment to say, "Okay,
this is an investment.
Yes, money's going to come out of your pocket initially, but the idea is you're going to,
you're getting more money in your pocket.
Is it worth, you know, where do you sell that?"
Yeah.
You know, I've always boiled that down to the essence of that on yourself.
You know, I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with clients that are in a great
position.
They have an opportunity in front of them and they analyzed it to death to the point that,
you know, and they're just, they're just scared to release the money or release, release
the mental thoughts really.
And what it is is always, well, I always boil up down to bed on yourself.
You know, you do something.
You got to cut through the ego.
You got to cut through the what-ifs and what-abouts and you just, just, just bed on it.
But, you know, you know, if you, if you, if you believe in yourself and what you're going
to, and what you think you can do, like you, you're not going to, nothing's going to happen
sitting there not, you know, just sitting there thinking about what if, what happens if this
happens, you know, sometimes you just got to pull, you just got to, you just got to release
it and, and get going.
I know that's maybe oversimplified.
It's, it's, and we've all faced those challenges where we're sitting there.
You know, do I do it?
Do I not do it?
And so I don't know that that, I think we were talking about me having a couch in my office
earlier and I think that gets more into that territory of, do I, do I bring a therapist
in to, to support that?
But no, at the bottom line is, right, we just, sometimes you just got to, you just got
to jump, like, you just got to jump, go ahead and do it.
And I think it's just, unfortunately, I think it's as simple as that, but hard to get through
that mental, that mental, uh, lolliput up sometimes.
Well, and more of a direct line to maybe I wonder what Bobby was asking, which is, how do
you get paid?
So if Bobby wants to hire you, let's, let's use the use case.
All right, Bobby is thinking, you know what?
I could use this service.
He's got to be money in the couch.
There's got to be money on the sides in the fringes, extra things.
You're going to tell me that if I pay you, okay, sorry, I'm using Bobby as an example, if
Bobby pays you at the end of that relationship, he's going to have more money than he does
now, is kind of the hard sell, right?
Because you're a cost because you're an advisor and advisors cost money and expertise cost
money.
And your point is the money that it costs to pay you is well worth it because you're going
to see returns significantly more than that.
How do you make that sell?
Yeah, so we advise clients at all levels.
And so the first, we have a, we have a core product which is, which we can come in and do
essentially health assessment on your business, which is, which is a very nominal amount to
come in and work with us.
And we also work for clients that are, and so for as little as, you know, 20 bucks, you
can go out and buy the book called Profit First, which our system is all built off of.
And so there's a lot of business owners that have taken that book, read it and, and done
a DIY of implementing this system.
Where we come in is for business owners and entrepreneurs that want a little more accountability,
a little more hand holding through how do we set up?
How do we set up these systems and can you help hold us accountable?
And so to work with us, we can come in and actually help implement this system, put those,
put those into practice and work with you over a small amount of time to make sure you,
you get those training wheels off.
We have some clients that come and work with us for years.
They want, they want monthly accountability.
They want to meet with us monthly, make sure they're protecting that profit and that margin.
And that's those clients hands down say they, the ROI or return on their investment is the
fact that we're safeguarding.
We're protecting that profit.
They see that margin.
They can track the difference.
We helped them track the difference between when they started with us and what it looks
like over that journey because hands down, John, Bobby, like I don't, I, the only
reason that the only way I want to work with you is if I can return more value back to you,
then I'm charging you.
And so there's a variety of ways you can actually implement this system.
And so like I mentioned, like for as little as $20 all the way up to working with us on
a monthly basis is an option.
And it's really what's a right fit for you.
If you're one that can do it on your own, great.
I would encourage you to do that, but we're more for the, for somebody that's a little less
maybe financially savvy.
You know, they're really, really good, really passionate what they knew, but they need, they
see a little more support on the financial side.
And that's where more than likely we're going to, we're going to provide the return on
your investment.
Just being that accountability partner for you.
Obviously that makes sense to you.
It made sense.
And I mean, you got a good sales pitch.
And you had an audience that should be receptive because we say all the time you've got to step
out of your comfort zone in order to take the next level.
So I mean, you're going to use all our own words against us.
So like Saren says it, it basically comes down to the price.
You know, we're going to go and acknowledge and we need help.
Yes, we need help.
And for every level scaling, you know, as we always talk about on the show is the secret
sauce.
What do you, because we're so close.
What are we missing that somebody from the outside would look at it?
And I always, we always talk about it in the industry.
The industry goes in hires the last guy who was the head of brackets boards at Wilson,
instead of going to somebody who was the head at NASCAR.
Because you know, if you can sell something that's everybody knows is the left turn and still
making exciting, then you know, tennis should be a no brainer and yet tennis has a hard
time selling itself.
So and I think it's, it's probably a little too incestuous.
So there certainly is a great place to take the leap.
So it's going to come down to me as always is pricing.
Sure.
Yeah.
And you know, and one thing, obviously the clients that come in and work with us, we're
not out to to sell a Ferrari when, you know, when a Toyota Corolla will get the job done.
And so part of what we always recommend is coming in and doing a health assessment with
us.
We'll do kind of a right fit and make sure that whatever, whatever way you work with us,
there's going to be a return on that investment.
You're going to be able to see that.
We're going to trap that with you so that you know you're, you're seeing, you're seeing
that margin, but you're right.
There is, there's always going to be, you know, on the front end, there's always going
to be some hesitancy to move forward in any, anything we're doing, right?
And part of it is just, part of it is just acknowledging that I may not have the tool set to get
where I need to be financially or to turn this passion into something that's going to
actually be a viable income source for me.
And that's where we do come in and we can, we can, we can show you that we can show you
how you, how you're going to get to that mark and we'll be right there kind of signed
by side working with you.
We're not a platform, we're not an AI tool, we are a human, you know, we are humans that
are working with you side by side.
We're not, we're not tying you into an app and you know, leaving you be, we actually work
with you as, as a partner in your, in your debt or in what you're doing.
And I think that's kind of what sets us apart, especially in this day and age where AI is,
we're all getting bombardable with AI tools and systems and processes.
So sometimes it's just nice to have a human, a human, a human, a human coach there to coach
you just as you, you guys, you just said what you do, you're coaching your, your, your
your coaching individuals that are passionate about, about tennis, about racquet sports and,
and they want to get better at that.
And so I think it's that, that same philosophy applied as to what we do with our clients.
When we probably need more of that, one of the reasons we're talking to you is you and
your group, business group are involved in our product called the agency, which is launching
soon through the American Racket Sports Association.
And we're looking for that type of personal touch because from an AI perspective, crunching
the numbers is easy.
And from a tennis coach perspective, teaching the lesson is easy.
And running the business might be dealing with the membership that's going to be taught.
We go to our conferences and we do the things we're supposed to do and learn and do our continuing
education.
But how often do we show up to a seminar about how to handle the books and what does it mean?
And where we, where are we leaking funds and where we should compartmentalize certain
ideas of this needs to go there and this needs to go here.
And that's why we're excited to have you on and accounting is usually not a very exciting
conversation.
But when we can talk about the idea of bettering one's business and actually taking the doctor
and saying, Hey, Doc, you're a great doctor.
Thank you.
But you suck at running a business.
And I'm not picking on my oncologist from 20 years ago.
It's not a direct dig.
I promise.
But it was not a good experience.
You know, the business here isn't, you need somebody for that.
And I like Bobby's comment about, you know, the ego earlier.
It's okay.
One, you got two hurdles in my mind.
You've got to overcome the ego, which means you can't do everything, Mr. tennis coach.
I know you think you can, but you know what?
You also shouldn't focus on what you do.
Let somebody else handle the rest.
That's normal business.
That's how it should work.
But you also have Bobby.
How often do you think we're going to run into this?
The guys that aren't excited about sharing their books.
So you'd be able to open up the books and say, okay.
Like, what are you supposed to tell the truth with your accountant, your doctor and your lawyer?
Like there are three times you tell the truth, whatever it is.
What do we, times have changed?
What happened?
With the priest.
Right.
Sorry.
I forgot about the priest.
That's right.
I should remember that.
My wife mentioned that recently.
So opening the books also is that next question to be able to say, here's everything.
I've got to be vulnerable enough to share and say, here's what's going on.
And by the way, maybe there's a little bit of cash on the side, Bobby.
How often do we think that still happens in our industry?
Well, there's the cash drawer.
But I mean, there's a leeway there.
If we all accept that fact, that there's a little bit of leeway for a cash drawing.
They've taken out a way from us, too.
Anything more than 10 grand, they're going to hit you with it.
So the government figures it out eventually.
I mean, yeah.
Because of the government, we're getting rid of it.
So the government eventually takes all the loopholes away from you.
So, like I said, to me, sales pitch is great because it's everything we say to our clients.
And now you could just use it against us and say, yeah, you need the help and hope out
of the way.
This is going to be good for you.
And the other part, and we've talked about this, when you coach, I'd much rather do a drill.
And people say, well, more people, I'm like, no, there's another coach there.
If somebody's sharing the positives and the negatives, let's put it that way, of the particular
drill, it's easier.
You have somebody else who can take it for a second.
You have somebody else to bump off, you have your own audience.
I mean, we play music.
And that's part of these to keep the feedback limited.
So we've gone smart.
You can use that, right?
When you pitch tennis pros, play music.
It cuts down a lot of time.
Because they can't hear.
And you know, all the elements are there already to sit there and say, all right, now let's just
take, acknowledge it.
Like you said, put your ego aside.
It's going to be a fee.
And let's see where it goes.
And I would just think peace of mind alone would be, yes.
I'll need a pick up.
Human being, it would be worth the price.
And a lot of times, I think about the times I hired coaches, a lot of high notes for, it
is for that accountability and to make sure that I'm doing what I need to be doing.
And so not only do I get the benefit of when I hire a coach to bring somebody that has
an expertise in an area I'm trying to improve in, but they're also ensuring that I'm holding
myself to that.
And we're working together on that.
And a lot of times, what I've found specifically with this system, with the people I talk to
all the time, they're like, oh yeah, read the book.
And then I tried to do it.
And then I just, you know, I stopped doing it.
It's because there wasn't that accountability in that structure there to keep it going for
them.
And a lot of times that's one of the most crucial things that we find to make this successful.
And that keeps my wife in business that idea because people need, she's a Pilates instructor
by trade and fitness.
And these people can do Pilates on their own.
It is possible, but they want someone to say, I will see you at 430, log in, be there.
And you need somebody to do that.
I don't think, I mean, I don't want to say don't go by the book, but I don't think that's
going to have much change because there's plenty of DIY books out there that say, here's
how you do it.
I've read a lot of them.
And I spend a couple of days all excited about it.
And then I don't do it anymore.
I download it in half recently to do walking Tai Chi.
You're like, all right, I'm going to do some Tai Chi walking.
I don't know.
I made it like 20 days out of the 30 that I was supposed to do it and then moved on to
the next thing.
So having somebody hold you accountable, as Bobby said, it's peace of mind and know that
there's an expert.
It isn't just you figuring it out.
It isn't just going out of your way to learn something new.
I like getting out of your comfort zone.
But when there's an expert who's affordable, just, just use it.
And I just think that's right.
And maybe we just need some, we need some actual, I don't want to say case study, but we
need some, some success stories, right?
So we'll have to hook you up with Bobby and see where we can get back going because not
not in the same Bobby specifically needs it in this case.
I know we use him as the example.
But to see that go, I wonder what I'm missing.
I wonder what I could be doing better.
Looking around, we joke with Bobby all the time, raise prices and trying to figure out where
should we be in the market?
But we're not necessarily experts in that.
We're experts in racquet sports.
We're experts in teaching tennis lessons and making members feel good about their day.
We have an expertise, but it isn't the other side very often.
And that's where you come in.
That's why I'm excited to talk to you today because I think this is a good fit for our
industry to have some advice and have some opportunity to connect our people.
And it doesn't have to be just tennis coaches, of course.
We use the other examples.
Plenty of audience we have here on the go tennis podcast that anybody can work with you if
they need to.
So that's why we wanted to bring you on and talk to you.
Give us your company name, contact information.
Tell us about you.
I hope people can reach you.
I'll put it all in the show notes, but go ahead and tell us now.
Yeah.
Well, you can check us out at myprofitprofessionals.com.
You can reach out directly to me at Greg@myprofitprofessionals.com.
Would love to hear from you.
If you're at all, if you have any kind of stress around what's going on financially in your
business and how things are working or you just want to learn more, we would love to
get on a quick call and learn more about you and your business and what you've got going
on and how we may be able to help you or work together.
So yeah, thank you so much, Sean and Bobby.
Thanks for having me on and definitely, definitely can see how this all kind of ties in.
We're all kind of all in this coaching realm.
We're all kind of work.
At the end of the day, we're all just there kind of helping each other get better and
better at different disciplines and so we're just one cog in the wheel, but happy to be kind
of a part of everything you've got going on right.
Fantastic.
Bobby, final thought.
It's great.
I said, I think all small businesses need extra resources.
That's where they fail.
You know, it's either financial or expertise.
If you can accomplish expertise and be then around with financial, then it shouldn't
be a question, right?
Like I said, I can make the sales pitch issues in our own words that we use on the court.
Do you listen to what you just said?
Now apply it stupid.
There's a reason why with tennis coaches, we didn't do well in accounting.
Let the guy in accounting do did well in accounting.
You're accounting.
You know, it's the front restaurant, back restaurants.
So yeah, it's no brainer.
So it's certainly good.
Now, I don't know if it's worth your time to say, oh, you made these guys made it extra
$5,000.
I don't know what moves your needle, but I definitely think the industry certainly needs
to listen to this.
Great.
Yeah, I agree.
We're cropping that part out, Bobby.
That's the perfect pitch right there.
We're using that one.
Let's go.
Well, Greg, we appreciate your time.
Thank you so much for being here.
We will put all the links and everything in the show notes and make sure everybody has access
to what they need and they can reach out to you and we will make sure they know how to
do that.
So thank you for being a part of the agency and the American Raga Sports Association
and joining us on the GoTonus podcast.
Greg, I appreciate it.
Thank you, Bobby, as always.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks, James.
Greg, have a great week.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me on.
Well, there you have it.
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support.
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