21 Hats Podcast

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about how some 20 states are giving business owners a special workaround that helps them evade the federal cap on state and local taxes. If you live in one of these states and have a pass-through corporate structure, it could be worth a lot of money. They also talk about reports that businesses are budgeting to give their employees big raises next year and why industrial space in some places is now worth more than office space. Plus: the latest Consumer Price Index inflation report is not looking very transitory.

This week, in episode 87, Paul Downs, Dana White, and Laura Zander talk about the lessons they’ll take from 2021 and what they’re hoping to accomplish in 2022. Paul thinks he’s found an alternative sales channel that will lessen his dependency on Google. Laura, who built Jimmy Beans Wool on ecommerce, is planning a renewed emphasis on brick-and-mortar retail. And Dana White is working on building the team that will help her pursue her remarkable opportunities with franchising and the military. Plus, we talk about how comfortable the owners feel showing up at work in a brand new car.

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about how businesses that engage in digital marketing are adjusting to the new rules that make it harder to track customers. They also discuss how businesses are replacing employees with chatbots and what businesses should do while the vaccine mandate battle plays out in court. Plus: the SBA has $100 billion in disaster relief funds that are about to expire and it’s not too late to apply. What you need to know.

This week, in episode 86, instead of a conversation with our regulars, we talk to two people who walked away from promising careers to buy blue collar businesses. Long before search funds and sweaty startups became all the rage, Bob Schwartz left a Wall Street investment banking career to buy a chain of laundromats, SuperSuds, which operates in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. More recently, Mills Snell left a prominent private equity firm to buy a roofing contractor, Aqua Seal Manufacturing and Roofing, which is based in Columbia, South Carolina. In this conversation, Schwartz and Snell talk about what they were thinking, what they learned about buying a business, what they’ve learned about operating a business, and whether they’re looking for an exit.

This week, in episode 85, Paul Downs, Jay Goltz, and Laura Zander talk about the bonuses they plan to pay this year—and how their bonus plans and philosophies have evolved over time: Are the payments a reward for company performance? Are they a reward for personal performance? Are they supposed to motivate? Or are they just a thank you? Then the owners talk management, a discussion inspired by last week’s episode with Dana White about navigating the space between being a pushover and being a jerk. Plus: Are 360 reviews good management or are they kind of creepy?

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about why robot sales are setting records and how even small businesses are taking advantage of the opportunity. They also talk about the inflation spike and why electric vehicles will help—at least over the long-term. Plus: the government takes action on ransomware, and a fresh approach to paid time off.

This week, in episode 84, Dana White takes us along for the ride, sharing the remarkable opportunities and the daunting challenges she’s confronting simultaneously. In a one-on-one conversation, we catch Dana at an emotional moment. After a triumphant trip to Germany, where she expects to open salons on multiple military bases, she’s just returned to Detroit—only to learn that the team she’s counting on is showing serious cracks. Even as she’s signing contracts with the military, getting ready to roll out her franchising plan, and courting newfound investor interest in funding the development of her salon management software, those cracks have shaken Dana and left her questioning her approach as a CEO. Ultimately, she talks about those moments many entrepreneurs experience in the cold of night, when things aren’t going well, and they realize this is all on them. In those moments, Dana confesses, “I’m scared. And I feel alone.”

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about an entrepreneur who may have cracked the code on TikTok by simply telling the story of her business the way she would tell it to a friend—although Gene’s not really buying it. They also talk about the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate now that the rules have been released, some options for businesses trying to figure out health insurance, and whether—as the Wall Street Journal reported—entrepreneurs really are happier than other people.

This week, in episode 83, Paul Downs tells Jay Goltz and Laura Zander why he’s come to view Google as the Volcano God. He’s not sure what it will take to keep the Volcano God happy, but he’s obsessed with doing everything he can, because the consequences of failing would be so great. We also talk about Paul’s content marketing strategy, the pricing lessons that emerged from our recent attempt to monetize 21 Hats, and why Laura—even in the midst of the labor shortage—now has a waiting list of people hoping to work at her yarn manufacturer in Texas.

This week, Loren Feldman talks to John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, an advocacy group for entrepreneurs about the seemingly endless negotiations in the senate over what could be the Biden administration’s most important piece of legislation. What’s in the bill that would help business owners? Is there anything that would hurt? Is there anything not in the current version that should be? And will this ever end?