EP.15 Pulled Apart In Spreadsheet Featuring: Kaz Kelly

Bob Roark: This is the Exit Series on Bob Rourke. This is for founders, brokers, attorneys, and valuation professionals, the people who are in the room when the deal closes or before, talking about what happens next. This is the conversation that nobody else is having. On this episode, we have Kaz Kelly. She’s the founder of Founder to Future Consulting, based in Las Vegas. Kaz built doggy daycare in Brisbane, Australia from nothing into one of the most successful operations of its kind in Australia, sold it in 2024, and now helps female founders exit on their own terms. Kaz, welcome. Tell us a bit about your work and who you serve.

Kaz Kelly: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I work with female founders predominantly in service based industries to help them Become one of the 1%. The statistics are terrifying for women in service-based industries. For female founders, we only make up 1% of successfully sold and exited. So we have a massive gap to bridge. So I’m here to try and help women in those service-based industries bridge that gap. And having done it, and I’m now one of the 1%, I feel I have valuable insight and can see where their gaps are.

Bob Roark: You know, it the one percent thing is frightening. W

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: why do you why do you think so?

Kaz Kelly: Look, I think it’s for a multitude of reasons. I think one, women make up a lot of small service based industries that we as a community take for granted. So I think we are not recognizing when doors are being shut. I I don’t think we’re as councils or you know, provinces we’re not watching that enough and taking statistics on when women are just walking out and locking doors. I think it’s about equity and how much we are at the tables for the big discussions on big deals. yeah, I I I think it’s a multitude of reasons. One of the main reasons that comes up noticeably is why women choose to lock their doors versus sell is around family commitments and childcare and burnout. So we have a lot of things to bridge that gap.

Bob Roark: Sobering for

Kaz Kelly: Mm.

Bob Roark: sure. Well, shifting gears. What did Doggy Daycare Brisbane look like the month you opened?

Kaz Kelly: Thanks to my good old dad who built the doggy daycare. He

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: kept saying there’s a loan somewhere that I have to repay, but I’ve left the country, so I figure I don’t need to worry about that anymore. what did it look like? So on my opening day, I had four dogs. Four dogs. I had no staff.

Bob Roark: Mm.

Kaz Kelly: I had got the business up and running in a month of quitting my corporate job. I work quickly. And it was a I was very excited being first, you know, first company. I thought this is just gonna be a hit. forgetting that when you work sixteen hour days by yourself in a warehouse, it can become very taxing very quickly. So my first day, four dogs.

Bob Roark: You so you left corporate world.

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: Did your corporate job prepare you for doggy daycare?

Kaz Kelly: So I well In some ways. So I have always worked with animals. I’m actually a former

Bob Roark: Yeah, I know.

Kaz Kelly: detector dog handler for Border Force. I’ve been an animal cruelty investigator for the RSPCA, so what you guys call the SPCA. So

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: I always have been drawn somehow to corporate things to do with animals. But I left a co my first corporate job that had nothing to do with animals, and I think it sort of it was a full circle to come back to animals. But of course there’s I believe that we should be taking everything. Every experience that we’ve had to help us with our strengths. Like I didn’t know that I could sell because I’d never been in a position like that. Went into business, I’m a salesperson and a very good one at it. But it was a skill that I would never have known I had. And I think that’s another part of being a founder,

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: is especially as we get towards an exit conversation, is you can feel like, well, what do I do now? Like, do I actually have skills? What do I know? Like, is anyone gonna hire me? And I and you know, like I’m in a new country, I I feel these things the same as someone getting ready to exit. It can be very daunting to be like, well, what are my skills from this?

Bob Roark: What year did you start?

Kaz Kelly: I started in twenty February twenty eighteen and sold in November twenty

Bob Roark: Okay.

Kaz Kelly: twenty four.

Bob Roark: That’s pretty quick. That’s pretty quick. So

Kaz Kelly: Very quick. Yes.

Bob Roark: when did it stop being a startup and really started to be the company that you shaped?

Kaz Kelly: Yes, well, we got to December of my first year and I thought I would have to declare bankruptcy. That’s how bad we were going. And I went to my best friend’s house and said, I think, you know, we’re gonna I’m gonna need a lawyer to get out of this lease and I’m I’m gonna need somewhere to live because I can’t pay rent. And luckily for me, two very bright individuals, we came up with

Bob Roark: The one

Kaz Kelly: a plan and within about four months of going back in twenty nineteen, we were starting to hit targets and give me a wage. and then yeah, we were off with no real looking back. So I I think it’s I think the first year is really tough and I had no backing. I’d used all my savings to go into this. so I would say a year and then I was like, yeah, I’ve got this. All good.

Bob Roark: I was I was thinking about the pivot from almost bankruptcy to catching a gear, right?

Kaz Kelly: Yeah.

Bob Roark: What was it, what was that pivotal point that these folks provided for you that you were able to execute on?

Kaz Kelly: Yes, we set up recurring billing. Simple. And I now talk to all my clients about this. And I there’s been a big push for service based industries to go into memberships and stuff. We’re seeing it with everyone, right? Our eyebrows, hair, wax lady. But I think when it comes to care and whether that’s care for humans or for animals, recurring Billing helps a routine. And if you’re classing yourself as an expert in your field, which after nearly twenty years in pet care I am and in animal welfare, I routine is big. So I’m talking about routine and yet I’m just letting people come whenever they wanted to. And that made no sense. So this idea of recurring billing actually fulfilled what my business’s philosophy was and connected it.

Bob Roark: You know, it’s I you know, I think about the quantity of people that are out there that are looking for that watershed piece of advice, you know, and you know, looking back, you know, I don’t know how you know if you don’t know. you know, I don’t know how you discover it. and we we talked before the show, you know, what made you leave Australia after the sale? And please share.

Kaz Kelly: Well, this is what you get when you marry an American. Is there’s always the risk that you end up in America. so so my husband is a CPA and we’re in Las Vegas, which everyone thinks is like the weirdest place on earth to end up, because he actually works for a gaming company. So my lead up to selling my business was part of a plan, which is rare in itself. I feel like and you would know this from talking to business owners too, we somehow one day think more on this, what comes next, and then all of a sudden we’re having these conversations with brokers or with our lawyers or accountants, and there’s been no real planning of that

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: conversation. It’s just started, and all of a sudden we’re now talking about an exit. So I was very lucky that it was a very well-planned out exit, and I would prefer that for most people.

Bob Roark: Y you know, for for you on the well planned exit, that’s not a common statement

Kaz Kelly: No.

Bob Roark: by many business owners. What was the genesis of you planning to be ready, exit ready?

Kaz Kelly: Luckily for me, I set up my business knowing I was always going to sell. I was never under any illusion that your business lives forever with you at the start of it. I I always knew that something would have to come next. I don’t have kids. I don’t have brothers and sisters who would have wanted to take it over. so a handover plan was never going to be an option. I originally like really wanted to grow and hopefully had, you know, partners come on, but the Australian environment is very difficult to do that sort of work in. So I made sure that my books were clean from basically as soon as I started making money in, you know, February 2019. My books were always clean. I had very limited personal things coming out of them. I made sure that I had policies and procedures. Like if I got hit by a bus, Bob, you should be able to pick up

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: my policy and procedure and check some dogs in. I made sure that my team had rosters for a month and people are shocked. sometimes at how organized the company was. But I but for me it was really important not just for selling but for if something happened to me that it could sort of tick along until things organize themselves.

Bob Roark: I I’m I’m thinking of the genesis of all the things you just said. I mean, not a common inventory skill set of business owners. Where did you come by the inventory of those skill sets? I don’t know.

Kaz Kelly: individual so I think that helps and I can see things through how I would want to be employed somewhere. And I’ve really learned, especially I started working very young. I have learned very early on how I liked to feel in a workplace. And I made very conscious decisions when I went into business of all the good managers I had and the skills that I enjoyed from them and all the bad managers I had and things I didn’t want to be. I I wanted a workplace where young women were safe, where they could learn. where they could be themselves, where they knew that they were empowered with information and that it wasn’t like, I’ve got to call Kaz again or does anyone know where XYZ is? I wanted this business to be able to run without me in it. And That’s few and far between in itself. I could leave for a month. I have. I’ve gone on holidays multiple times a year since you know, probably well, yeah, mid-2019 when I started having money. and pro proven over and over again that my business could cope and not just cope, function well.

Bob Roark: Okay. You know, f for you on on the notion to sell, did your husband’s job departure drive that or were you already getting there before that happened?

Kaz Kelly: No, it it definitely drove that for sure. And we and I will say this. I think for people it sounds like I was just like, okay, I’m going to sell. But I’ve now worked with so many founders on the journey of looking at other options that I think it’s important to note, it was not my first option. I looked at could I already had a manager in place, but could we potentially bring in two managers and I still own it from afar? Could I, you know, could they be relied upon of the things that still relied on me? it was not a first option. I really looked at lots of different ways that I could still have my business but still be present here, which I think is really important. And the answer was just there was no there was no option for that to be reality.

Bob Roark: Okay. No, I think you commented that having a broker, an attorney, or an accountant doesn’t mean you have the right person in your corner. How’d you arrive at that thought and who was missing during your sale?

Kaz Kelly: Me, I was missing. I needed a me. I I I think I this is something that I really I’m really passionate. It’s why I started founded a future consulting is we are told as business owners, and it’s something in us that when you get ready to sell or you’re thinking about it, well who do you call? Well, y you call a broker. And And you’ll probably tell your accountant so that they can, you know, get your tax organized and you’ll probably tell a lawyer because

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: you’re gonna need it. But they all have a role to play, and I find that in the mix of a sale, you become forgotten. Your broker, once a buyer is found, now sits in the middle of you two. They’re not on either side of you. They’re there to get this to the finish line. That’s their job. That’s how they make their money. No one is sitting with the seller going, Okay, you need to go run the business today. So I’m gonna do this due diligence list for you today. And I’m gonna get from A to F done today as a chunk. That group chat that we’re all in, you don’t need to be replying at 10 p.m. at night. It can wait till tomorrow. They don’t own your time. How are you feeling? Do you are you feeling a bit victimised right now while everyone’s asking for you things and making you feel like you haven’t had your shit together? You know like

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: there is any there is a protection for sellers that they are not getting from anyone out of those three people.

Bob Roark: There was a lot there. You know, and I do think that you know the deal fatigue thing we talked about prior to arrives at some point or they go, they want one more piece of information again. You know, and it would you like a blood sample? I mean, you know, is there anything else I could possibly give you? you know, f for you. Do you think along your journey that you were pretty much set up to be exit ready at any given point once you got it up and running with recurring revenue?

Kaz Kelly: Yes. Yeah, if I needed to sell, I could have sold at any stage.

Bob Roark: How did you did you own the building that your business was in? Okay.

Kaz Kelly: No, it was a lease. Yep. Yep.

Bob Roark: Yeah, you know, for for some folks, you know, I think that there’s, you know, there’s that, okay, do I sell the, you know, what do I do with the real estate? Is it part of the business or not part of the business? How do I structure? Is it part of my cash flow? So there’s a lot

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: of things I think in owning the building and so on. You know, post exit, how long did it take you to get grounded and start feeling like Whoever yourself was after running the business for that long.

Kaz Kelly: Yeah, I I think it took a while. I think you you ponder on the decisions that you made. I I

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: I think it ties into needing someone in your corner. Like I felt like as I had time to decompress, I was thinking, hang on a second, did I get pressured into that

Bob Roark: Yeah, we did not think.

Kaz Kelly: decision at that moment by the broker? I I I think you go over small moments that at the time you were getting bombarded about that they were really important where if maybe you had a given it twenty-four hours, forty-eight hours, it you might have had a different response. and then all the things that it sort of came to me when I started being asked by people to help them through a sale in Australia, that I was like, this is the stuff that came back. It was that people just need someone to go, can I Like it doesn’t matter if I take a day to do this, or is

Bob Roark: Yes.

Kaz Kelly: it something you could do and answer instead? And and I think that has really built what I offer to my clients. because I think the aftermath, and this is something that you spoke to me about before this interview, was who’s looking after you afterwards? And no one checked up on me.

Bob Roark: I I was thinking so being a listener and you go, okay, I’m kind of in that boat right now, and I’ve got this one particular instance I would really like to take the time to think about. So if you had an instance, what process or system or steps would you take to consider whatever it is that’s on your mind to arrive at what you would consider to be a a repeatable way to decide and make a decision? What would you do?

Kaz Kelly: I think there’s I like to get other people’s perspective because I think we can get caught up

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: in Am I just taking this like to heart like is this a heart thing, a head thing, or a gut thing? And sometimes

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: I think it’s about finding someone trusted to go, I just

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: need some clarity on this and I need I need boundaries set up with me and for me to give me that time. And I don’t know what experience you’ve had, but with all of the sales I’ve helped with, we end up in this WhatsApp group. All of us, and it can feel like a second job. It is all day, every day, exhausting. No one cares that you’re still running this business and bringing money in. While also trying to do all of these other things to think through this, you’re emotionally

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: tired. so I think it’s about finding out if you can set up boundaries so you have time and finding someone trusted to go, I just need to check in. Head, heart, gut, where do you

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: think it is?

Bob Roark: You know, thinking about the workload increase when you’re going through due diligence and You know, if looking back in your instance, what would you do different to give yourself the bandwidth to be dealing with the due diligence portion while the business was being run? What would you do?

Kaz Kelly: Hired help. I I would have hired a consultant, a succession planner. Yeah.

Bob Roark: Okay. Okay.

Kaz Kelly: I was struggling. And not because there were things that I didn’t know or have or you know could get. It was just it felt like everything that I had built was being pulled apart in this spreadsheet, right? And then also, I think too, if you’re an as entrepreneurs, we’re like, but we have an accountant too. Like, can you just contact them? Like, what like I don’t know where that is. I know we have it, but I don’t know where it is. I I I think it was just it was a mental overload,

Bob Roark: No.

Kaz Kelly: and I would have loved to have had someone beside me to be helping with that and be like, I’ve got like six staff members I’ve got to bring on and train this week. Can you go do the due diligence stuff for me? Here’s my computer.

Bob Roark: You know, unique to you but not unique to the owners that’s selling. You hear about the deal fatigue, you know, and how many

Kaz Kelly: Yeah.

Bob Roark: times how many times do you think in the course of getting ready to close the deal that it came close to failing the close?

Kaz Kelly: I’m for me I think three times. I had a client recently in December and she me she messaged me and said,

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: I’m out, Kaz. I don’t care what you have to do, but I don’t care anymore. Just pull the plug. Don’t call me until you’ve until whatever needs to happen, we either give up or I get money in a bank account. Don’t call me again. And I’m like, Okay, just Go for the day, turn off the phone, get a massage because she was it was just pulling everything out of her. And I’m like, it’s all good, girl. Like But this is how we feel. We feel like we’re being stripped of everything in a moment. Also where we’re emotionally connected to something.

Bob Roark: Yeah, th what is it the guys say? They’re telling you that your baby’s ugly. Truthfully.

Kaz Kelly: Correct. Correct. And then you’re like, Well you go do it. If you think you can do it, you go do it. You know, like it becomes a real personal attack. And this is where I think for my clients when I read their reviews, a lot of it is look kept me sane. You know? Kaz kept me sane. Kaz kept me

Bob Roark: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: on track and if it wasn’t for her, I would have locked the doors, walked away.

Bob Roark: Do you think you know you have a prospect that shows us wants to sell the business and you could frame the journey? Do you think that the pre-frame of what’s going on would change the the struggle going through the due diligence timeframe if you could say this is truly what’s gonna happen?

Kaz Kelly: Yes. And I don’t think we educate business owners at all about what an exit, handover, or stepping back looks like. I I don’t think anyone’s touching this as well as we should be. I I don’t think we are l learning as business owners what that looks like ’cause we’re too caught up in marketing gurus and a conference on AI. Like we’re investing these things in In things that of course are important for some pieces of time, but this is always gonna happen. This stage three is always gonna happen, and yet we are not educated about it at all. So, yes, I think education is powerful, I think it’s key. My first conversations with people

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: before they’ve even signed with me is this is what it’s gonna look like. You can do this alone, but this is what it’s gonna feel like, this is what it’s gonna look like, and these are the risks.

Bob Roark: If if you’d have had that consultant on board when you do did your exit you know, it would do you think that your exit price would have been better with the consultant on board?

Kaz Kelly: Yes. Yes. We were down to the wire when their lawyer said, Well, we’ve found something we’re not overly happy with with your council approval and we’re gonna wipe nearly three hundred thousand dollars off this deal. they didn’t. We I negoti but I negoti me. But this was really di like last minute, maybe a week out before settlement. You’re over it. You’re over it. You’re stressed. My husband w was already got a job flying. You know what what was I gonna do? Take the business off and start again? I don’t know, maybe, but I had no one to be like, is that a good idea?

Bob Roark: Yeah. Yeah. What did you miss about your busin you know, about the whole process that had nothing to do with the business? What’d you miss most?

Kaz Kelly: You know what? that had nothing to do with the business. I actually wish I had someone with me for the tours. of the business. You know, like I felt I felt like me personally needed a bit of a hand holding to

Bob Roark: Yeah. Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: I don’t know, like just be with me, I think. I know that sounds really strange, but I just felt like I was what do I tell them? How much do I tell them? Do they like me? Like I was like more they’re not they’ve not gotta work with me, why do I care if they like me? Like i i yes i i that is

Bob Roark: Okay. so for the staff that you built and all of the folks that you had there created, you know, a a safe work environment, what happened to those folks after you left?

Kaz Kelly: So they all stayed on. I made a decision not to tell my staff that I was selling. So they found

Bob Roark: Mm-hmm.

Kaz Kelly: out at the end of due diligence in a team meeting with the new owner. they were all hired by her. They all stayed on. they all got a pay rise. She I think she knew coming in that what I had built with them and that she needed to keep them. So kudos to her for recognising that a good way to do that is to pay them all.

Bob Roark: That usually helps.

Kaz Kelly: Yeah. Yeah.

Bob Roark: You know, looking back at at it past just kind of the normal friction, what surprised you the most about how the sale felt?

Kaz Kelly: I felt bullied. And I I don’t know that I was expecting

Bob Roark: Might know.

Kaz Kelly: to feel bullied, especially from the buyer’s lawyers, as much as I was. and of course, this goes back to the conversation about meeting with a broker. You know, they told me everything I wanted to hear at coffee. They were super supportive, excited, interested, came and looked at the business, told me all the things I wanted to hear, organized some tours. And then as soon as we found the right one and I’d signed, you know, to go ahead with her, well, he couldn’t care less about me. And I would say, I’m I feel like I’m being bullied. I feel like no one’s on my side. I feel and I wasn’t expecting that to be the case. And she and I had no communication basically for the whole of due diligence. So that wasn’t encouraged. It was never brought up. I never heard from her, she never heard from me. you know, we had our due diligence chat and that was about it and it was very professional following the spreadsheet.

Bob Roark: Well that’s unfortunate, truly.

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: It doesn’t need to be that way. You know, you said there was a gap that nobody was filling, so you built a business to fill it. So what gap was it given your experience that you saw and when did you see it decide to fill that gap?

Kaz Kelly: So basically a month after selling, another female founder in my community reached out and said, Congrats on your sale. Can you help me with mine? And I was like, sure. Like, okay. And I went through that process with her and recognized all of those things that I had ruminated on. I was like, my gosh, I can actually change this for someone’s journey. I can look after them personally, professionally, make sure their reputation stays intact, that their clients and staff are protected, their legacy, all of these things I can actually help protect and get them to the end of the deal in a way that makes sense for them. And And so I had no need for a website or social media. I it was all word of mouth. I partnered with an amazing lawyer and she would send me work. I actually, weirdly enough, had a great broker who was like, yeah, we don’t do this stuff, Kaz, we know I think we need you. so that’s I did word of mouth and I just kept going and going and yeah, recognized that this this This needed to happen or otherwise I could see people just pulling the plug on deals.

Bob Roark: What do you think’s different about a woman selling a business that she built?

Kaz Kelly: Think we look, I think all entrepreneurs are somewhat emotionally attached to their business, but I think for women owning a business is a massive confidence boost, it is independence, it is usually your own money because it’s in a business, so you know no one else has access to this. I think the journey out of that is very different, and for especially what I hear from female founders is they’re doing it because their their family’s grown. There’s too much responsibility. They’re burnt out because they’re managing all of these different hats. so a lot of the time it is not a prepared sale or it’s not a sale because they’re focused on what’s next, it’s I actually just don’t I can’t do this anymore. So I think it’s it’s different somewhat for what I hear men say about selling for sure.

Bob Roark: You’ve written that the first conversation about selling shouldn’t be with the broker. Who should

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: it be with?

Kaz Kelly: Me. Should we with a success Obviously. Bob, thank you very much.

Bob Roark: Really?

Kaz Kelly: I I think it’s about speaking to some someone in exit and succession planning. Because there’s this other thing, right? Last no, two weeks ago, I had these consults set up. my and I give free consults to business owners. And all of them turned

Bob Roark: Well

Kaz Kelly: out to be a conversation not about selling, but about setting up a team so that they could step back. And s half of them came into that conversation with sale purely on the mind and we ended up somewhere different. The other half wanted to talk about that way of setting up. So I think it it’s we need some A broker’s there to sell. So they’re not going to give you advice on these other options for you. A business coach, a normal business coach, usually doesn’t have experience in succession planning. They’re there to see you grow and scale. So we need some we need some exit planners. We need some succession planners. out in the open. They need be part of education in business school. They need to be part of your networks so that you have options on the table and you can go away, think about it, we can audit your business, see what those options look like and then we make a plan.

Bob Roark: You know, from the founders that you’ve helped, you know, let’s say that you you talked to them a year ago and you talked to them then recently. What do

Kaz Kelly: Mm.

Bob Roark: they sound like versus when you first talk to them?

Kaz Kelly: They don’t sound as stressed. There’s less tears. we’ve usually opened if if I’ve done an order on your business a year ago because you want to get set up for sale, you have been given a plan to have this conversation now. So you’re coming back being like, Wow, I’ve accomplished a lot in a year. We have a business that now has different ways of upselling. I can show a buyer that they’ve got XYZ option to increase this. I have a manager in place. I’m taking days off. My salary is on the books. You know, just things that people don’t get round to. And I think it ties into this, we do not audit our businesses as operations enough. And I don’t want the first time that we’re looking at your business as a operation to be when you tell me that you’re ready to sell. Because what happens if I say to you, well, I need six months or a year and you go, Well, God I’m tapped out now. What do I what do we do with that?

Bob Roark: Yeah, I was I was thinking about the buyer’s eyes perspective. You know,

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: when when you know, they’ll look at your business and they see things that you’ll go, I don’t see myself. So for you, thinking about your buyer’s eyes perspective given the journey you’ve been on. What do you typically notice in some of these other businesses that’s glaring appoint apparent to you, but not to them?

Kaz Kelly: Yeah. Definitely the team and management. Most buyers do not want to walk in and have to work forty hours, forty plus hours in the business. They want managers in place. They also want a team that’s knowledgeable. They definitely are looking if you have policies, procedures, SOPs, the books. I being asked all the time, do they pay themselves a wage? And they’re going, do I pay myself a wage? Like just not a good look, not a good look on a tour. they’re the three top for me that I always come back to. I do on like I do all operational audits. I either go to businesses or it’s online. And these are the top three that consistently come up and need work nine times out of ten.

Bob Roark: Okay. let’s see. Where do folks find you so they can ask for your help?

Kaz Kelly: Well, you can come to Las Vegas and we can go for a

Bob Roark: Okay.

Kaz Kelly: cocktail at the local casino. two dollars. How can we go wrong? but you can find me on LinkedIn, Cas Kelly, and I’m also on Instagram for founder to future. but it’s with a two, so founder number two future. And I give, yeah, free consults, see where you and the business are at. before we do anything really, I always suggest that we do an operational audit. I think it’s really healthy for you

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: to know where your business is at so that you’re not just like, Cas Toby to do blah blah blah and I haven’t shown you that you actually need to do that. It’s I think it’s an important piece of business ownership that you know where the gaps are and that you can always sell when you want to and need to.

Bob Roark: Well, coming to a close, thinking about, you know, all the things that you know now, you know what do you think would be the most valuable thing that you know now that you knew before you handed over the keys for doggy daycare out of Brisbane? What would be the most pivotal thing that you now know?

Kaz Kelly: Now know that you don’t have to do everything

Bob Roark: Yeah.

Kaz Kelly: alone. I think that’s big. I think I I know that working in your community and building from your community will reap rewards for you.

Bob Roark: What

Kaz Kelly: And I think after co COVID People have forgotten that most service-based industries rely on our community and we’ve forgotten how to interact with them appropriately. But they rewarded me tenfold. I could couldn’t fault that. And and if that was one piece of advice for service-based industries while you’re on your journey is to connect in your community because they will always look after you if you do right by them.

Bob Roark: Well, on that piece of advice, Kaz, thank you so much. That’s the show.

Kaz Kelly: Okay.

Bob Roark: If someone came to mind while you were listening to this episode, send the episode to them. Subscribe

Kaz Kelly: Yes.

Bob Roark: wherever you listen. And see you next time. Cass, thanks so much.

Kaz Kelly: Thanks, Bob.

Bob Roark: You bet.