Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome to this episode of the Victory Show. If this is the first time you're joining us, I'm Rachel League with Bestseller By Design. Our founder, Travis Cody is the best selling author of 16 books and we've had the privilege of helping hundreds of business consultants, founders and entrepreneurs write and publish their own bestselling books as well. Through that journey, we discovered a fascinating pattern. Most businesses really struggle to break past the seven figure revenue mark. On this show, I sit down with some of the world's most successful CEOs, leaders and business owners to uncover the strategies they used to scale way past that mark so you can do the same. So get ready for some deep insights and actionable takeaways that you can implement in your life and business. Starting now. Today's guest is Paul Behrendt, an accomplished entrepreneur, technical strategist and IT veteran with over three decades of experience helping organizations navigate the ever evolving world of technology. Paul is the founder of netv Pro where he serves as a trusted technical reference and consultant to major customers across the United States. Through netv Pro, he helps clients develop cost effective strategies for storage, virtualization and security, focusing on VMware SAN solutions, backup and data lifecycle management and recovery planning. Earlier in his career, Paul held leadership and engineering roles at companies where he led infrastructure and transformations and implemented secure scalable systems. He also serves as the Tallahassee co leader of vmug, helping grow a community of professionals passionate about virtualization and enterprise it. Paul, welcome to the show.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Rachel, you've spent over three decades in it.
Tell us what first drew you to this field and what's kept you curious all these years?
[00:01:54] Speaker A: What drew me to the field was just the random nature of the IT industry. I don't mean by random, but I mean by is. It really intrigued me in it was ever changing, ever evolving. There was always something new and just interesting happening. So you know, I got my degree in electronics and I always told people I was like, I understand computers at the base level because it's just ones and zeros. So that's how I got started.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: And as you've moved through and seen all of the evolution in technology, is it the newness of the industry, is it you know, that original love for the ones and zeros and really understanding it at a foundational level, what has kept you interested all these years?
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it's a constant learning. I get bored with repetitive nature, but I really get intrigued by what's coming out, what's going on and how technology can help people. You Know, I always said it's just a tool to help people to make more successful and nothing more nowadays is exactly that. Information is AI. AI is, is another game changer, but it's just another tool to make us more successful, less. You know, people are talking about the dumbing down of our industry or society. You should say our industry is always excelling because we're the ones that are trying to keep everything running for everybody else. So it's a constantly learning and I just love that and using the technology that's coming out.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: So tell us about the early days of netbee Pro. What was the gap that you were trying to fill for your clients? What inspired foundation? What were you doing right before?
[00:03:36] Speaker A: So the big gap that I filled when I started NetFi Pro was the whole white glove, disaster recovery as a service. Because I was installing compelling sands across the nation and every customer that I installed it with either said, you know, we're, you know, most of the time they said we're going to buy a second unit and set up replication. And I heard it over and over. But you know, after a few years people weren't doing that. So I'm like, huh, sounds like there's a service here that needs to be filled. So that's how I started V Pro is as a disaster recovery, as a service company before it even was a term that people are using. I just didn't know what it was. I just, I just knew there was a need and that's how I started it.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Give us an example of what a potential client might face and why they would hire you.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: The biggest thing is repetitive. You know, I just told you, I don't like repetitive. But it is part of is like that thousand hour, you know, that 10,000 hours of expertise that you get by doing something over and over. We're very focused on that solution.
So that's what they get. A lot of companies, they have a couple IT people, they're doing 15 different things. They have no time to become the actual expert in disaster recovery and business continuity that companies need. So it really makes a lot of sense to hire us to come in, implement the solution for them and just hand over the keys so then they can continue on doing the work and know that their data is backed up recoverable. We doctor as a service, we do disaster recovery testing and nobody does disaster recovery testing because they're like, they barely have time to keep the systems up and running that they have. You know, it's like, hey, who wants to run a scenario of like, hey, what happens Everything's gone. Do we have time to do that test? No, no, we don't have time for that. We have these other projects, other things.
So it's just prioritization and time in the business.
You know, to me it makes a lot of sense and to a lot of our customers, obviously it does too because you know, they are coming to us for solutions.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Right. Sounds like they're coming to you when the disaster has already hit. So it feels like a nice to have until it becomes an acute need to have and then there you are to help solve that problem. Are there any industries in particular that you focus on?
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we really like the manufacturers because they're really focused on their business of building products and getting, you know, getting, you know, just in time, service, you know, and so we're there to make sure the technology behind their business is up and running and you know, the continuous improvement that we can provide and security. Because nowadays, you know, everything's connected but everything's accessible. So now, now you have people that want the tick tock, the technology that you have, you know, the personal, I want to say personal identifiable information, you know, that's part of it, but the, the industry secrets that your company is providing so that way your business can continue. So you have to keep your stuff private. And everybody's like, well, put it in the cloud, putting it up, it's a click away. We put a lot of stuff in the cloud, so we're called smart about the solution. But it's like, hey, we don't want to expose your information to any unwanted people and we set up security around that.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: What did your career path look like leading up to founding Net V Pro? That gave you the expertise that people seek out.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: So yeah, I worked for either a vendor or a customer on the enterprise level. What I mean by that is, you know, GE, Kimberly Clark, you know, these Fortune 500 type companies that are huge, you know, and that way I could dive in deep and be very specific about my knowledge, you know, especially in storage or VMware or, you know, just that particular time I was able to focus on getting certifications in Microsoft, getting certifications in VMware. Trying to be, you know, being that expert for these Fortune 500 companies makes sense.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: And as you continue to build and grow your team, tell me a little bit what that looked like. What did you start with and what does it look like today?
[00:08:08] Speaker A: So obviously I started with myself, but you know, I knew that part of being a real company is offloading and getting people that are much better than things that I'm at, you know, so initially know I got payroll off my, my job list. You know, it was like getting rid of the hats as fast as I could. You know, help desk, level one type support services, you know, somebody that could be repetitive and patient, you know, much more patient than I am. So you know, that's, that's one of the early hires. And from there, you know, it was how do we evangelize Netv Pro and get the word out? So, you know, I hired a chief explainer and he was able to get the word out about Nephi Pro and grow the business.
And a lot of businesses struggle at that level of trying to. When, when do we get that chief explainer that's not the business owner?
[00:09:06] Speaker B: How did you find the talent that you needed to fill out the areas that you identified that maybe weren't natural strengths of the pre existing team?
[00:09:15] Speaker A: So the good news is I was a natural networker and I hold on to people like, you know, my, you know, back in the day, you know, we had Rolodexes, you know, I never had a Rolodex but it was always LinkedIn. So I would just connect with people on LinkedIn and stay connected with them. And then when opportunity arose in that area, I already had people in my Rolodex ready to go that I wanted to bring on.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: And what were you able to share with them that convinced them that this new venture that you had launched was the right next step in their career? Because it sounds like getting the right people on your team early was critical to being able to scale.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, some were pizza and a beer, sitting down with them and just connecting with them as a human and you know, letting them know like, hey, this is, this is where we're going. This is where we want to be in five or 10 years, giving them the road plan for them and for the company so there's room for them to grow. So it's early on. We've always been a business that people seek us out and want to work for us, which is a really cool thing to have.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: That's awesome. Yeah. You know, sales and persuasion and people skills are I think an overlooked component of the founder journey. You don't have to necessarily be the chief sales officer, chief marketing officer, but the ability to bring people around you to get people on your side on your team in any capacity, I think is a really important part to setting the foundation. So once you had that initial team, what was the next step in scaling the business?
[00:10:57] Speaker A: So my next Step actually was part of my journey to become my first branch of, you know, we, we grew the business to, like you said, you know, the million dollar mark where people a lot of times stagnate. And we did, but then I relocated to Florida. My business is based out of Minnesota, actually, so we always say we're nationwide, as long as it's in. In Minnesota or Florida.
And from there I've been able to double the business because I relocated myself to a new territory and regrew the business. And having my chief explainer be able to hold on the storefront back in Minnesota is. Is a huge plus.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Have you grown your team beyond that, or is it systems that you put in place that are very scalable? I mean, do you think of this more as a tech business or a people business that helps people with their tech?
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's always been a people business that helps people with their tech. I mean, all of us technical people love technology, but we know at the end of the day, it's about the people that have that use it and need it.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: Have you ever had a bump in the road in trying to scale your business, and how did you overcome that?
[00:12:05] Speaker A: We've had several bumps in a road. I mean, you can. You can pick one. I mean, I think a lot of people had issues with COVID You know, we were ready for it, but not ready. And what I mean by that is we were already working from home, most of us, so we really didn't have an issue. And a lot of our customers were used to us, you know, being remote and doing 95% of our work remotely. You know, that part was we were ready. We were built. You know, there was no, hey, get us up and running remotely. Now, we didn't have a big influx like that, but what we did have, because like I said, we were a people business. We didn't have any recruit, you know, any way of getting new customers because we were always focused on having events, having people come to our office, you know, just educating and being in front of people. That created, you know, a lull of, you know, really a lull, you know, really. And it was rough. We quickly pivoted to online Zoom meetings, things like that, to educate as many people as we could. And it seems to be working. The good news is people are starting to come back and start to want to be off of Zoom and being real. And, you know, if it's valuable to them, they will show up, but if it's not valuable, they're not going to show up. You Know, and that's really what it comes down to is you got to bring the value. And we've always focused, you know, the business core values. One is bring value to our customers.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that process of articulating value to your potential customers. Because like you described earlier, it sounds like it's a, it feels to them like maybe more of a nice to have something that's not a top priority until it becomes an acute need. And so how do you convince them to bring you on before something bad happens? Or do you find yourself mostly doing the after issue recovery damage?
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Yeah, we don't actually do a lot of after issue recovery damage because if you don't have your data backed up, you don't, I mean, you know, you should, you know, let's hope you have good insurance, you know, and can submit a claim. I mean, but that doesn't help your customers. You know, we're constantly trying to educate people going, okay, insurance is just not enough because you people are a click away from going to a new provider, Provider Solutions. And once they're gone, they're gone. They're not going to come back to you. You lose reputation. So yes, trying to explain value to people is extremely difficult, without a doubt. But storytelling is one way to do it. I mean, we tell them a story of, and what really happens is when it hits close to home, you know, if you, if you're in the. Okay, let's pick the latest one. One of our vendors actually got hit, Ingram Micro. Their payment process is down. They can't accept payments. So you know, it's like you, you think about it, it's like they are a middle man. Their job is to accept payments and get product out to us as customers. You know, and being down, you know, they're, they're losing customers and they're going to lose long term revenue. Not so you, you know, it's unfortunate but it, like I said, it, it doesn't hit home to the customer, to the person until it hits close enough to them, to them going, that could have been me. And that's when people will start going, okay, what's the value that we're bringing? Because we're trying to be ahead of that and, and keep them away from that oh moment.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Right, right. And to be able to continue to serve your ever growing portfolio of customers, what has the growth of your own internal team look like?
[00:15:57] Speaker A: Like I said, we have been traditionally sought after by applicants to come work for us. We've always, many times we look at growing People from within. So we bring them on, right on from, you know, college, go to school, wherever. We bring them on as interns, we show them the ropes, we show them what we do and then they go back to school or they, you know, or they graduate and then, you know, it's a two way street. You know, they a lot of times decide, I like the culture and I like the work that I did for Netflix. I'm gonna come work for you guys or vice versa. Yo. Hey, you, you were awesome. We're going to bring you on and, and keep you and grow you, you know, until you find your next opportunity that you feel that fits best for you. It's rare that we bring on a senior level person that's been somewhere else because it just doesn't work for us. You know, it's really, you know, it was one of those things, you know, we like to bring them on and grow them from within.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Right. It sounds like you have a winning playbook. And so teaching that early as opposed to having others come in with pre existing habits is part of the key to your success. Getting everybody on the same page with your, your ethos and strategies. When you look back over your career.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: Which accomplishments most meaningful? Yeah, I mean, I, I think, you know, I'm really close to where I was hoping to be in 15 years. So I guess the biggest accomplishment is, you know, I always think that the growth isn't fast enough for me, but when I turn around and look back at the growth and look back at where we're at and I'm like, this is awesome, this is great. So I think, you know, biggest accomplishment is, you know, getting like you said, that core team together. And we've been together for, I don't know, you know, more than 10 years. You know what I mean? I was like, okay, so now what is the next thing that we want to accomplish? And it's just like, you know, that's what we're after and that's what AI is all about to me is really taking us to the next level because it is here to stay and people that leverage it are going to get them, you know, grow the most.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Yeah, it sounds like keeping your eyes on the horizon, looking forward is part of the key of your scaling success and that you are aware of the newest technologies available and also thinking what comes next and that's enabled you to continue to build to this huge portfolio. And like you said, then when you do take a second to pause and look back, you're able to see everything that you've built, but not dwelling on the past more, just trying to continue to move forward. Has your definition of victory changed over the years for you?
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it has. It has changed. When I got into this, you know, obviously it was one of it is I was seeing a lot of my customers when I was at Compelling, making a lot of money, you know, So I exited the reseller and became my own partner, thinking I was gonna, you know, one get a big pocket of gold, big pail of gold, because that's what I was seeing was happening. But right when that happened, things transition and things changed. So I had to pivot, like, day one, and it was crazy. The good news is, you know, I just listened to customers, and then they. They gave me my business plan for me. But, yes, I was hoping for, like, a ton of revenue. But honestly, you know, now my goal is to spend. How do you say, you know, when talking point life balance is like, okay, I work for my family, and that's really what it is. And I'm happy where I'm at with the income I'm making. This is really the goal, and I'm happy.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: That's great to hear. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
[00:19:55] Speaker A: Yeah, and I actually knew this, but it's. It's like one of those things where you kind of keep forgetting is nobody cares. What I mean by that is nobody cares about what my journey is. Nobody cares. You know, it's like, but they care about how I can help them. And if you focus on helping them, then they will, in turn help you. So it's that relearning, like, hey, don't, don't. Don't try and tell somebody all about yourself. Find out how you can help them, and then the rest will just fall in place.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: An act of service.
Well, Paul, thank you so much for your time today. It was a fantastic conversation. Really enjoyed having you on the show.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Oh, thank you, Rachel. This was fantastic.
