SPEAKER_01 0:00

You know, developing relationships just like that is how I we advertise. It's word of mouth, it's helping one human being at a time that needs it.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

All right, welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter. Today I have one of Northern Colorado's best networkers. Thank you, Nima. Uh and uh best payroll uh person as well. Nima, welcome to the show. Appreciate you. Yeah, good to be here. Thanks for having me. Nima, when I first met you, uh I think you showed up to one of my event. I don't think you registered, you just showed up. Yeah and um you made an impression. So that you one, you're a tall guy, right? You see you you stand above the crowd. But also uh I'm at a lot of these events, and some people just kind of, you know, fade into the crowd or they work the room their own way. But every time I've seen you be in a room, uh you're making a presence known. You're you're I know a lot of people coming away feeling like, wow, that was a great connection. How do you how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

You know, um I think for me it's uh, you know, you want to do in business what comes naturally. And for me, that's connecting with people. And uh when I've been able to find something that I I really care about educating people on. And, you know, I care about um, you know, what what I do um every day in conversations. So um I've really worked hard at trying to convey that to people in in every meeting I have. You know, I have this rule where I just want to bring people value to everyone that I speak to, everyone's life that I touch in in some kind of small way. If I can bring some kind of value to that with a little education on payroll, what should be um, you know, the expectations for you as a business owner? You know, how can I connect you with resources that are gonna help you to save tax money, to understand basic service and what should be expected? Um, you know, those kind of conversations are conversations that a lot of the times accountants and CPAs don't have time for. And uh, you know, uh the people I love to help are small businesses because these kinds of conversations genuinely matter to whether they survive in the end or not.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

So well, you're very passionate about what you do. Um, where does that come from?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

You know, um, I was it it was a long, long time ago, but it had a profound effect on my life. I I actually um was state champion in interpretation of poetry and forensics many, many years ago in high school. Cool. And uh, and since that moment, I really just understood that public speaking and and being in front of people is something that just comes naturally and something that I can be passionate about. So um I think I bring that kind of energy um, you know, with everyone that I meet and and in everything that I do. And I try to, you know, instill passion about something that is very important to understand, but it, you know, can be very dull and boring. I mean, let's face it, payroll tax is not like the most exciting thing um, you know, on the surface for people to be talking about. But the exciting part for me is is that educational moment where they're like, aha. So this is how I really utilize payroll to help myself. And in fact, and a lot of times to save money rather than spend it on a payroll service. And and kind of going through those educational moments with with people, uh, you know, I get juiced, you know, with that kind of stuff. I really love to share my knowledge and and uh and I'm I'm an educator at heart, you know, I worked with criminal kids for many years and then lived in Korea as an educator for Samsung. Uh, did a lot of corporate training stuff. So uh I I found my passion now in educating people on the basics of payroll and and how to survive and and what are the things that really matter um when you're a business owner to really know about. And you know, you can put aside the rest, but what's the stuff that's gonna help you save money? What's that information that's gonna give you a basic foundation to not have to think about payroll as much as possible, actually, which is usually the goal of business owners.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Well, I see a lot of people use the big guys like ADP or some of these things. Uh, but you're a local company. Journey payroll is a local company. Tell us a little bit about Journey.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, so uh Journey Payroll and HR, uh, we were founded 15 years ago um above a sushi shop in Old Town Fort Collins. So we're homegrown. Um, in 15 years, we've really uh, you know, got the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics last year. Um we're a nationwide company now, and uh we're starting to get the recognition that I feel like we deserve. You know, we we achieve this kind of success of processing payroll in every state, you know, 2,300 different businesses trust us every time we process payroll. And it's because our business model is just so different. Like we're really standing shoulder to shoulder with business owners and really taking over the payroll tax liability completely and and doing so without, you know, upsetting them, you know, with with you know, we have a famous saying that there are no good surprises in payroll. Okay. So the goal is just not to surprise people, to be upfront and honest about what we can do and what we're gonna take responsibility for. And um, and I think following through with taking that responsibility. And sometimes that means that if you have a human on your team that made a mistake and there's a penalty, then you need to step up and pay for that. And that's part of you know the guarantee that we have with our clients. And, you know, we do this with no contracts, right? You you we do have a month-to-month. Obviously, we can't just shut everything off right away, but but we don't have these long-term commitments that these other payroll providers have. Um, and you know, we we don't need to do that. When you have a real partnership with someone, when you're genuinely being upfront and honest about what your capabilities are and what your role is and and what you can do to help them, um, all you got to do is just do that. You know, you you shouldn't have to have some kind of long-term contract where people are stuck with something that they don't want. So people could leave us at any time, but 98% of our clientele choose to stay, which is an unheard of retention rate with clientele. So we're super proud of that.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah. What do you think that it has been such a high level, Nima? I mean, is there uh I know a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, they they so focus on new clients, but retention and retaining their clients uh is one of the most powerful things you could do. Uh, what what advice would you have for somebody who needs to focus on retention?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

You know, there's this famous saying, um, there is no sales training that works if you don't believe in what you're doing and the good that comes of it. Yeah, that's true. So I feel like that there's a lot of, you know, of this kind of false sales training out there that that's like you follow a script or you do something this way. But I mean, honestly, you just have to believe in what you do. And you have to really just follow through with what you say you're gonna do for people. And you have to treat people like human beings, not numbers. You know, uh what I do a lot of is myth busting in this industry, right? Where um it's okay to automate everything and do it yourself and and and not have a relationship. But payroll is one of those complex things that uh as you start to scale and grow, the the challenges become different. And it's really important to have someone in your corner when those challenges arise, someone you can call. And I'm I'm proud of the fact that we don't use, you know, the this typical business model where you call an 800 number and you get someone different every time and they they don't really know how to answer your questions and they open a quote unquote ticket for you or whatever it is. You know, we really don't have that kind of business model. Um, anyone that I'm lucky enough to serve, they can call my cell phone. But really, it's the designated payroll specialist, it's the implementation team. These are people that know them by name and never a number. And these are the kinds of relationships that we thrive on. You know, we we cut our teeth on just being that partner that they can trust. That look, we'll take care of the payroll side and you take care of making money for your business. And as long as we can confer on money stuff, because as a business owner, you don't want to be disconnected from the money, right? And payroll is about money. So we don't want to make assumptions with other people's money. That's another rule we have at Journey. We want to make sure that um that we are have open communication and we have clear expectations. And, you know, that's the difference. You know, that a lot of business models out there, they want to lock you in a contract. They want to, you know, outsource your relationship overseas. Um, they they don't want to really immediately be able to address a concern. And there's a need in the market for what Journey provides. We we're relationship driven. You know, we are a technology company, so we're able to process payroll with software that we create in-house. And that software is called Journey Central. Now, it took us a really long time to get there. Okay. It took us about 12 years uh to really develop the software to a point where all of our clientele can be moved over on our own payroll processing software. But that allows us to be more nimble than the than the big guys and also, you know, bring the value uh to what they receive because there's less people, uh less hands in the cookie jar, if you will, uh, because we own our own software and we do the relationship part and the customer service part and the payroll tax management part. So that's how we're we're able to kind of do the all-encompassing kind of service and and and focus on how that supports our relationships. And and we want it to support our relationships and never replace them. That's also one of our rules. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Well, I love that you bring up relationship like multiple times on every answer. I think uh and networking is a relationship uh strategy to build that. Have you always been into networking or is it something that you've just developed as you've been growing in your business?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Yeah, I think um, you know, the the founder of Journey uh noticed that that's really where my my talent lies is being able to communicate and get people excited about what a true payroll service can be like. And it I think it has to do with some with my background, but also because, you know, I I am passionate about education and helping people, but also I'm passionate about people themselves, right? Getting to know someone and figuring out how I can help them. You know, I think that what I love about your networking group, networking done right, is that the everyone comes to this group with the idea of how can I help the people in the group? And that's the sign of an elite networking group. You know, the lower level networking is more like, I'm here with my handout, who's gonna help me? And, you know, from from years ago, I always look for that in that in a networking group, right? Is I go there like, who can I help? Who needs an accountant they can trust? Who needs a bookkeeper? Of course, payroll uh guidance and education, who can I help with that that that might need it? And I think that that um that kind of elite networking level where you you look to to give value to the people that you meet. I I've had that philosophy for a long time and and really it works. Okay. You know, if you're if you're not a billion-dollar company like Nike and you want to advertise, help somebody. When you help somebody, that's the best form of advertising. If they're a good person, they're gonna keep you in mind whenever an opportunity arises to be like, you know what, Nima helped me and I wasn't even his client. You know, maybe I should I should have my best friend talk to him because, you know, he has payroll questions and one person at a time. Um, you know, developing relationships just like that is is how I we advertise. You know, we don't really do a lot of other kinds of advertising. It's word of mouth, it's helping one human being at a time that needs it.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Nema, I gotta, I gotta brag on you a little bit. Uh I recently sent you a referral and go into the thing about how the giving is is such a powerful thing. Um, a lot of people show up to networking to receive business, but I recently sent you a referral. Uh one, obviously, you're a company that I believe in and that I endorse, but I had somebody in the desk chair co-working space uh reach out to me and be like, hey, do you know somebody who does a good uh payroll? And I was like, absolutely, here's his name. Um and I wasn't sure he was gonna reach out to you or not, but I think he took care of him right away. Here is a text that I got from him after you did whatever you did says, Hey Andrew, Nima and his team were amazing. They did exactly what I needed to do, 11 out of 10, thank you. And then he offered to buy me a beer, like I did something, right? Like he was like, Oh my god, it's such a great connection. How can I buy you a beer? But you're talking about how being a giver or just helping somebody out and making that connection, how that levels up. Um, he was just so appreciative to me for that connection because he could have gone to the yellow pages or Google and and called anybody out there. But um, no, I just wanted to say I appreciate you taking care of my people. And um, from what I from what I hear, is that's not like a special thing, that's just something you do for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Um, I think it it's I'm it's a mindful action, you know. Um, again, it it's not just saying that every time I talk to someone, I try to help them. It's really doing it. Um, people know when um something is not genuine or or whether it is. And, you know, I I work for an amazing company, uh, um a man with vision, uh Kevin Welsh. And this man understands that it's about the long-term relationships here. If I can help someone in one moment, then there will be opportunities to, you know, earn their business later on. And the reason is because everyone needs payroll, whether they know it or not. And and to get not to get too much in the weeds, but really, even if you're a single owner business, an LLC sole proprietor, and and you're an S-corp, you have to have payroll to have a tax plan, in short. So whether somebody knows it or not, or whether they have the education or not to understand at that moment, when there is success in business, there needs to be payroll. Um, whether it's the business owner on the payroll in order to reduce taxable wage, um, whether it's organizing other employees and making sure that you're not bogged down with uploading W4s or or doing stuff manually like a lot of other companies uh make business owners do. Um, you know, we just want to make sure and be there and and and be helpful. And and when the time is right, there'll be a conversation available. And if the time's not right, that's okay. What can I do to help now?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Well, I can tell you love having conversations about payroll, but I think it's interesting because when I'm out like networking, we're talking about a lot of things and payroll very rarely comes up. Unless I'm talking with you, then it's like that's that. But how do you um but you're right. I mean, payroll is a part of every business. Um, it's just something that we don't talk about as much. So, um, how do you get other people to generate referrals for you since it's not a natural part of business to business? Like, I'm not just being like, hey, what do you do for your payroll? Because that's not something I would ask, uh, potentially.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

You know, I think that it's all about making sure that you provide value first. I think a lot of people are slow to trust and they realize that, well, you haven't helped me yet, so I'm not gonna help you. I would challenge that thinking. You should always be the first one to try and help someone. And maybe there will be something in for uh for later on for you, and maybe there won't. But doing that every interaction you have makes a real difference in the world. And and I'm not saving the world, but maybe I'm saving some small businesses out there, some headache and some some loss of money. And you know, I'm connecting people to other people that will help them with what their needs are, and and that puts me in the center of influence in some kind of way where um, you know, when you again, when you help someone, that's the best advertising in the world, man. I mean, that's the most organic, right kind of advertising that you can do is wow, that Nima, he he helped me. He connected me with a CPA when I couldn't call into any accounting firm. But, you know, Nima, he didn't ask about any payroll. He he just connected me with someone to help me. And and and, you know, that sticks with people. I and I think that if you, you know, you interact sometimes with people that are not necessarily, you know, the same ethics and they're not a good, a good person in the way that we would want. And and maybe they're they'll just like, oh, great, thanks, and they're gonna take it. But you know what? For every one person that does that, there's gonna be 10 good people you're gonna help that are gonna help you with your reputation and and and your business development in very unexpected ways. So, what I would say is you wanna be good at networking, find ways to help those in that networking group first. Yeah, be the first one to help.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Well, it it makes you a natural networker where it just feels like you do it with a level of ease and confidence that I don't see a lot of. Some people will avoid those networking events because they're like, Oh, I love to do what I do in business, but you put me in a front of a bunch of people and I just feel inauthentic. Um any tips for somebody who's trying to get into more networking, uh, get get yourself out there, talk about your business or or meet some good people, any things that you do naturally that you could pass on as good advice?

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah, anytime you have an opportunity to speak, and a lot of people call it like an elevator pitch or a commercial that you do in these networking events, I would say, you know, stay focused on what is the good part of your job that you love and what kind of value does that bring to people? And I would say don't focus on anything else because that value, that passion, it's gonna come through, even if you're not great at public speaking or you feel hesitant with networking. What people respond to is someone genuinely trying to help. And you're gonna have some people with their walls up who don't believe you, but you do that every single time you have a chance, people will start believing your intentions. And, you know, that's how reputations get spread. And look, it might not be as fast as, hey, I got um, you know, close the deal, there's a sales training kind of style, but it's more, it's more valuable long term. You know, it's it's the long game, right? If your real sales, in my opinion, is the long game, you're not here for short-term gain. It it doesn't work that way. Um, it's relationships, it's long term, it's helping generations or or family trees. Everyone has a business. And because Nima did right by me, I'm gonna introduce my brother, I'm gonna introduce my cousins who are also struggling with some of the same things I was struggling with. And I think that, you know, if you're have hesitant to go to networking groups, fit feel can you vibe with the people there? You know, are are they willing to help you? Okay, in the way that I'm saying that that'll give you a good indication of whether maybe you should try a different one or or whether um or whether you'll, you know, just keep searching around until you find that right, that right group that that speaks to you where you feel like you can vibe.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Yeah. Well, I, you know, I got a whole business that's about uh networking done right or business done right. And as a payroll company, you have a unique insight into some of the companies in northern Colorado that are that are doing it the right way. And anybody you want to highlight or shout out that uh maybe clients that you've worked with or referral partners that you've collaborated with that you feel really do it at a at a high level.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Um I think Brian Lamb is a good example. Um I I would also say that um there's many different people that I meet, um, mostly in your networking groups that I feel like are elite. Um, you know, I agreed to do this podcast because I go to a lot of networking and networking done right is truly the top-notch networking environment that I want to be in. Um I usually feel like educationals are a waste of time in other groups, but I really take something very valuable and essential from your educationals. And I interact with people in these groups, and they have the same kind of mentality I have, which is not very common, which is again, what can I do to help you? And sometimes in a meeting with them, they'll say that before I will, which is shocking. I mean, that goes to show you how elite um, you know, the environment is. And uh, and you know, there again, not all networking groups are created equally. There's no um like one brand. Like, I don't know. I like your networking groups, Andrew, you know, like I think networking done right has an amazing taste in my mouth right now. Okay. But it's people again, it's not like an institution that I believe in. And uh, and I feel like, you know, it's it's easy to believe in you, man.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Well, who are you looking to network with? Uh, you know, we got a we got a plaque, we have a lot of small business owners from Northern Colorado checking this out. I know when we've talked, uh, a lot of other financial professionals or CPAs, accounting people, but uh, who would you want to connect with?

SPEAKER_01 20:22

So I think that my the closest partners that I have um are business consultants in some kind of way. Sure. Okay, so uh that's a pretty wide umbrella. Um it can be CPA firms, uh, it can be just accountants in general, uh, bookkeepers, uh, people in the benefit space are are really good partners for me. Um people in retirement that do financial planning. Um a lot of the times uh payroll conversations can come up there. Um, you know, people in the workmen's comp field, uh, you know, individuals that um are really consultants with business strategy in any kind of way. If you're a elite business coach, um it's it would probably be good for us to talk because again, like I talk to somebody and payroll is one component of how I can help them. You know, a lot of the times they're not ready for a payroll conversation because you know, their their CPA or accountant is unstable. They're they're looking for one. And especially in Colorado where it's hard to find a good CPA and accounting firm. Um, so a lot of the times I'm going to give them what they need in the moment and just be patient. There's no rush. When the time is right, a payroll conversation will come up because otherwise there is no way to save money really as a business owner, um, especially when you start to scale. So um, so yeah, I mean, those are those are some of the main ones. Uh, people that do uh search engine optimization, you know, people who are any anyone who's elite in their field and does consulting in some kind of way for businesses are amazing partnerships for me. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Well, I would love to have. uh either more people needing a better payroll solution uh to contact you or like the people that you just uh listed out if they wanted to set up a one-to-one. Uh what's the best way for people to get a hold of you or contact you?

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Yeah. So for me it's just my cell phone number. All right. This is what makes our company, you know, we're a nationwide payroll company, but we love to have that relationship feel. So please call my cell phone, 720-261-9499. And I'd love to chat with you. And my email is Amazon Nancy I Amazon Mother A. So that's Nima and then Amazon Mother, so Nima M at journeypayroll.com can shoot me a line that way too and would love to to chit chat and talk to anyone out there that has payroll questions. I I'm happy to help you out.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Well Nima thanks so much for coming on the show. Really appreciate your energy your enthusiasm and your passion and um yeah I can't wait to see us continue to grow and network. And also I'm gonna cash in that beer uh from there. So appreciate uh appreciate the assist on uh making me look super good on that referral.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Oh it's easy man it's easy if you help people thanks man appreciate you sending my way and and keeping me top of mind you're awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Right on thanks thanks brother hey all thanks for watching I love networking and building relationships with other northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in northern Colorado I would love to have you attend one of our next events uh go in the podcast description there's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule and maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well thanks