How To Succeed From Scratch, Master Your Finances, And Leverage Visualization with Uros Loviscek - 090

In this episode, I'm joined by Uros Loviscek. Uros lives in Slovenia and is my first guest to be joining from Europe. He started his first business endeavor as a kidpreneur at the age of 5 (funny story there), growing up in a family business, leaving it, building his own thing, and then connecting both later on.

Now he is a successful business owner who helps business owners all around the world dial in their finances, business planning/strategy, taxes, and cash flow, becoming known as the MFCFO. 

He also has his new book Master of Finance: The Ultimate Playbook For Silky Smooth Story Of Your Business that just came out.

Inside The Episode:

• The business that Uros started at 5 years old (and what you can learn from it)
• How to network effectively as an introvert
• Why tough economic times are actually huge opportunities
• Exactly how Uros uses the power of visualization to make his biggest goals happen
• How to manage your cash flow in your business
• The most common money mistakes business owners make
• How dressing for success can lead you to real success

Connect with Uros

Instagram
Get His Book

Connect With Bradley

• Bradley's Instagram

Transcript

Bradley Roth: 0:32

Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Not Most People podcast. This is your host, Bradley, and this is the show for those allergic to mediocrity group think and following the status quo. And real quickly, before we get into today's episode, I just wanna remind you guys that the only thing I ask of you as a listener is to help me grow the show. I don't put in ads or anything like that, but I just ask that if you get value out of the show, if you learn something, if you're entertained, that you help me out just by subscribing and sharing the show with one person who you think. we'll get value out of it. If you wanna share it on social and stuff, that's always appreciated as well. Or leaving a review is also amazing. But that's really just my one ask. I want to get that outta the way. Whether you're list listening for the first time or you're a repeat listener it's just a value exchange. And so I really, really appreciate that. If you guys can just help me spread the message. And then for anything else, not most people beyond the podcast, which there's a lot going on right now. Make sure you check the show notes, all the links and all that good stuff is there. But that's it. We're gonna get right into today's episode. I have Eros, Lovis, joining and this one has been a long time coming, but OSA just wanna welcome you to the show,

Uros Loviscek: 1:51

Brett. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Bradley Roth: 1:53

Yeah, so, a little bit about Eros, for those of you listening. He lives in sve and is actually my first guest on the show to be joining us from Europe. And he started his first business endeavor as a kid preneur at the age of five. And that was selling dirt door to door. And I, I wanna we're gonna get into more of that story, which is an interesting one. But he grew up in the family business, which I believe was in the kind of financial tax accounting world. Left it, built his own thing and then came back later on and connected his previous experience with. More recent experience and now he is a successful business owner and he helps businesses all over the world dial in their finances, business planning, strategy, taxes and cash flow. And he's becoming known as the M F C F O O if any of you guys are familiar with Andy's, Andy Fels, M F C E O podcast. So I think that's one of the coolest branding things I've seen. And he also has a new book that just came out called Master of Finance, and he also helps individuals take their mindset and fitness to the next level. And let me tell you, he is absolutely shredded. So listen to what he has to say in that regard. And he's also an active member of the Utmost People Alliance has been since. From since since from the beginning. And we were fortunate to meet up with him and his family when me and my wife were traveling through Europe and we met up in Lu Bian, the capital of Slovenia this past October and had a great time. So, I'm really excited for this one, but I wanna get, I wanna start with that kind of first story, which at the age of 5, 6, 7, something like that, you started selling things for the first time by selling dirt door to door. And I wanna know, like, is that exactly what it sounds like?

Uros Loviscek: 3:47

Yeah, it's basically exactly as it sounds like it was. I, I remember pretty good it was a hot summer, summer, afternoon, and it's kinda like that thing when you don't know what to do. with yourself as a kid. And then you get that bright idea. And I got that, you know, that that plastic little kit, kit shovel, mm-hmm. from, from the garage. And I decided to dig a hole in our backyard about, let's say three feet wide and just something like that deep and what, what to do with that. I went into the house, got those little plastic bags that you usually use for free for, for freezing food, and I packed dirt in those bags, put it on my trolley, and I decided I'm gonna sell'em in my neighborhood. Like, branding it as a dirt for plants, So I, I went, I went on my way. Door to door, knocked ring a bell, whatever it is. And I was selling dirt for plants, usually. Of course, most of people bought it. Some people of course gave me money and let me keep my product. of course. Yeah, pro probably my unfair advantage at the moment was that I was a kid. Uhhuh. And people just, of course played along because tho those bags were, let's say for one pound or not even, not even there. And if you, if you think that it was hot summer night, that dirt was also pretty dry. So there was not nothing reasonable for you to do with that, with that package. But somehow I managed to, Sell all my inventory that, that afternoon. So I was able to enjoy some, some let, let's say income from debt. Mm-hmm. and went straight to the store and bought myself some ice cream

Bradley Roth: 6:03

So I think that's the natural thing to do. Yeah. At that age. But yeah. So that worked the first day. Did you try and do it again? Well,

Uros Loviscek: 6:12

yeah, there was ano another business adventure probably soon after that. There, there was a workshop right, right next door to us, to our house, and they, they were having a bunch of scraps of of copper and, okay. I, I picked, I picked, I picked up the those scraps and tried to do some. Elements, like some animals or whatever, whatever it was. From that, I basically, I, I did some art, let's say let's say art, Uhhuh, and re repeated the process. So put it on my, it was, it was a red, red trolley with yellow wheels. I remember that pretty clear. put everything on the trolley again and went door to door, just like the the, the time before. Mm. And again, some people bought it, some people just gave me money to get rid of me, But at the end, my trolley was empty. I got money, went to the store, bought ice cream. It's a win again, Yeah, there you go. So this is basically my first business

Bradley Roth: 7:27

endeavors. That's funny. So you kind of had that entrepreneurial mindset from the beginning and. Well, well, did your parents get mad that you dug up the yard at all? Yeah, of course.

Uros Loviscek: 7:41

of course, of course. They were, they were mad. They were certainly not happy about it but of course, after I explained what happened, what I, what I did, and,

Bradley Roth: 7:51

but they had to at least admire the initiative. Yeah, of course.

Uros Loviscek: 7:54

Of course. They, at the end they had a nice laugh. Mm-hmm. and that's what they, of course, there there was no consequences for me. I got away with it. Because I didn't just, I wasn't vandalizing, ary art. I, I kind of did something right.

Bradley Roth: 8:11

let's say. Yeah. Gotcha. That's funny. So, and your dad was, or he worked for himself? Yeah, of course.

Uros Loviscek: 8:18

That, that was a time when Yugoslavia fell apart. That was right after 1991. He was a bank employee before that. And also at the time, you couldn't own a company in this area. But af right after right, right after Slavia fell apart, you were able to register company. And right after that, my father quit, acquitted that bank job and opened a accounting firm. Gotcha. So ba basical, basically, he created a job for himself. Hmm. And this, this was kinda his entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial road. He wa he wasn't, I I don't think he intended to, to build a company like, like a proper company. He, he just built, built a business to support the family. Right. I remember back in the day, we had. One or two employees depends on, on, on the era. But he also also had very bad experience every single time. So at the end he decided just do it for, for himself to do it basically in, in with, with the family. Mm-hmm. So it'll remain a hundred percent fam family owned business. But at the end, I have some other other goals. Mm-hmm. in my, some other ideas in mind. So it'll develop in something much bigger than, than he intended in the first place. But yes, what, what I got from that is basically for, for the first part, different kind of thinking. I never wanted to, to work for someone. I never, I never even think. that I'm gonna go somewhere and find a job that works for someone else. Mm-hmm. that, that was kinda never in the books for me. Hmm. I feel like I was always looking, what, what, what can I do?

Bradley Roth: 10:24

Yeah. That's interesting because I feel like, I feel like that's more of a recent kind of common way of thinking, you know, like people who are just, you know, I'm gonna work for myself. But then also, especially I feel like, you know, I, I've lived in the US my whole life. Went to Europe last fall. Saw you there, was there for a couple months. But I noticed just kind of this real difference in mentality between like, you know, the US it's, you know, more money, bigger, like success is all about the bank account and big business and corporation, like all this, you know, this kind of like very driven mentality that's promoted. Whereas in Europe, you know, there's still some of that, but I feel like it's more. of like, you know, we don't, we don't have to be rich to be happy, and kind of almost more like relaxed in a sense. Do you notice that or did you ever feel, because I feel like you, that's almost like, yeah, I know you're involved with the RTE and that's how we connected and and I noticed you have that very almost like American mentality in a sense where it's like very driven, very like hustle, grind, wanna do big things, big vision and that kind of thing. Have you ever looked at it that way? Or have you had p trouble finding like-minded people like in your area?

Uros Loviscek: 11:46

Yeah, I would say for sure. I, I would say for sure it's, it's different in Europe. Mm-hmm. probably even more, let's say in eastern part of Europe, although Slovenia, it's not fully east, eastern, it's kind of in the

Bradley Roth: 11:58

middle. Yeah.

Uros Loviscek: 11:59

Yeah. But, but this, this is the part of Europe that. was under the communist block for, for decades. Mm-hmm. and it there is still kind of strong. That's there, there is strong social social pressure mm-hmm. where basically every government or country needs to cover everything that you basically need in your life. Like, like a job or health security, schooling and so on. Hmm. So, but basically there is some sort of, let's say that's entitlement. Hmm. So, so you, you, you should get that, you should get that, you should get that from the country. Now. Go, go out and create it for yourself and you will have what, what you want. You won't be dependent on anyone. Mm-hmm. and thi this is not so common mentality in. in this, this part of the world. Mm-hmm. also. Yeah. I, I was in college where was business oriented oriented, and most of my classmates were kids from the entrepreneurial families. So it was kind of different, but they what they, I noticed they all had basically spot in their company, so Right. They went to school just to get some knowledge to work in their family company. Further on of course, in my family, yes, my mom and dad intended for me to work in, in the company and of course to, to carry on the legacy. Mm-hmm. But working as a, as an accountant, I learned a bunch of things, but. I felt that wasn't my thing. Mm-hmm. it wasn't my thing. I can't, I can't just do it as a job for basically the rest of my life. Yeah. But I need to, I need to create something. And then at certain points I had, I had enough just went, went to the, that is kinda,

Bradley Roth: 14:10

So did you and your dad, were you kind of like butting heads? You had different visions of where you wanted to go with things? Kind

Uros Loviscek: 14:19

of, yeah. Yeah. Let's, let's say, so he was expecting bunch of things of me, but he never was, he was never willing to to. To let me go on with the business. Gotcha. Yeah. To to

Bradley Roth: 14:34

to, to let

Uros Loviscek: 14:35

make it your own. Yeah, yeah. To make, to make it my own in that, in that business. So I was always doing the same thing. Okay. I wanna progress. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you will. And then he was bugging me, why I'm not progressing. Okay. And this was just, yeah. It just said head to head. Yeah. And I wa I was, I really felt like I'm stuck in there. Mm-hmm. So, and also because of all that, family relations were kind of intense. Gotcha. And because of that, I decided, okay, I have enough. I went and registered my, my own business, eh, of course before, before that I did my tax advisor certificate. Hmm. So I went and registered a tax advisor's company. How old

Bradley Roth: 15:24

were you when you did that?

Uros Loviscek: 15:26

This was two 16. So damnit I was I was 31. Yeah, I was 31. Gotcha. Okay. I was 31. But also that was not my, my first business endeavor. I had one company before we, we told my colleagues when we were doing a car care logistics company that again, came just when we were sitting at a coffee, what, what we can do and so on. And then we felt there is a tendency to that rich, rich people don't have time, don't, don't have nerves to deal with their cars. It's better to play golf or be in the business meeting or whatever, and we can take, take care of their cars. Okay. But again, as you, as you said, my picture was much bigger than that. Right. So instead of going straight to the business people to get their cars, I went to the companies. So at the moment I got huge tobacco company took to take care of their fleet. I got the main Toyota dealership for, for basically for Balkans to, so I was kinda, I was outsourced company for Lexus at the moment, at the time. Gotcha. But then the 2 0 8 came the big recession and mm-hmm. This was basically the full luxury service and every, everybody just canceled right away. Wow. So it went south really quick.

Bradley Roth: 17:09

Wow. So at 31 is when you went out and kind of on your own, within like after getting your tax Yeah. Certificate. Gotcha. And so then what was that progression like, starting from there? Like obviously you kind of had this experience, you'd seen what your dad did, but then you wanted to add your own flavor to it. Yeah.

Uros Loviscek: 17:29

Yeah. So I basically started with zero clients. What I did is, of course, I used what I had to write at that moment. That was Facebook. So I basically messaged all my friends that I started my business. So if anyone knows someone, if anyone needs anything of what I'm doing, just let, let me know I can help you. And yeah, it, it was one, one of my. colleagues responded that he wants to know more about taxes. Okay. And we, we started to, to like a little, we started like a little class on taxes because he had a company at the time. Mm-hmm. still, still has. And we started like a little tech school to understand what Texas are involved in the company and so on. And next step was, I, I knew I needed to go in front of people. I need to find group of people where I will be able to connect, where we will able to, to network. Mm-hmm. So I joined b and I that's American Franchise Networking Group. Yep. And I was basically the only tax advisor in the system in Slovenia. Gotcha. So I, I really had a huge advantage in the, in the, in the system. Basically. Every group has one of,

Bradley Roth: 19:10

of sort each kind of expertise.

Uros Loviscek: 19:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was basically the only one for whole Slovenia. Wow. And that, that was great. I, I was ev I was everywhere. Every, every, every meeting, every, every class that was outside, every conference I was everyone. Mm-hmm. And you, you, you have, you have to know that I'm basically huge introvert. I, I'm really huge introvert. I mm-hmm. basically, I, I'm the one who would normally stand in the corner with my cell phone and just not know what to do. Right. in so, so social meeting. So I just pushed myself out there. I'm normally kinda, I have to do everything like over the top. I, I won't say perfectionist, but I really need to

Bradley Roth: 20:00

like, when you do something, you right. Yeah. Go all in. Yeah.

Uros Loviscek: 20:03

Yeah. Like, like owing. And therefore, I al also dress like that. Hmm. Yeah. It, it was the time I, I didn't have much money. I, I went to Zara. I bought, I bought a suit that no one wanted so I got it for like 25 euros at, at the time. Mm-hmm. It, it was really nice. It was blue blue it, white spots really like extravagant, like flashy. Hmm. And I took, I took it to, to a tailor near nearby. I give him five more euros to, to tailor it, like to, to fit perfectly. Mm-hmm. and then I build the whole wardrobe around it. Like tie, pocket square tie holder. Mm-hmm. type in shoe socks, everything. Like, everything to a t for basically in general for 50, 50, 50 Euros, something like that. something there, Uhhuh. But I, I looked like a million bucks and everyone noticed me. Mm-hmm. So I, I wa I was walking around like a billboard, This was kind of, kind of my branding strategy. Every, everyone remembered me, whoever I talked to or remembered me next time who I am. Oh yeah. The guy with a suit and so on. So

Bradley Roth: 21:25

that's funny. That's that's like an important message, I think. Especially I feel like in that field too. Like you're expected to be very kind of put together and professional and that sort of thing. So that's an easy way. It's, it's funny, I do see a lot of introverts who tend to dress a little bit more like noticeably because, you know, maybe they're, they don't like to talk as much, but they still want to express themselves. They still want to connect with people and get noticed. And it's an easy, it's, you can almost bring people to you by your appearance versus having to go and speak. Like, did you find that more people started to approach you naturally?

Uros Loviscek: 22:06

Yeah, might, might be. Might be. Yeah. This, this, not basically the aspect I was thinking of, but Yes. Yeah, you might be right. You might

Bradley Roth: 22:16

be right. Yeah. Yeah. But e, either way they're gonna think of you differently. And that's something that for me, you know, growing up I was always like cause I went to an all. I went to like a private high school where you had to wear a shirt and tie every day and you know, I hated it being in high school and having to do that. And so I was kind of anti formality and, you know, be more casual. That was, that was my mentality. But then, and, and I did that for a while into my twenties and then at a certain point I kind of, you know, I, I got a, a nice suit and I started and I noticed that like, you know, people kind of, I dunno if I'd say they respect you more, but they kind of view you in a little bit of a different light when you're really put together and dressed up. And so I Did that become kind of your standard after that? Like you always dressed nice and wore, you know, fitted suits and that kind of thing?

Uros Loviscek: 23:11

Yeah, for sure. In professional environment, I, I tend to, Really well put together. Mm-hmm. now I'm in a position that I can't afford. Custom, custom tailor suit. I found a great tailor like the, that's traditional one. The older guy that's like, like in the, in Italian movies. So Yeah. It's per, it's, it's perfect. So you don't really need to spend much to look great. And especially I think in, in my, my field of expertise in financial sector, financial industry. You and when you are a younger person, you really need to be well put together. Otherwise no, no one would take you seriously. Mm-hmm. that's true. Because you're, you're com you're not dealing. I never wanted to deal with, with, with, let's say personal, personal tech. I wanted to go, I went, went straight to the companies. I wanted to deal with companies. Mm-hmm. which is a whole other level and Right. You, you need to look appropriate. Yeah. You, you, you can't come in there in jeans and San Polos. Of course, if you, if you are a personal trainer or Right. It dependent on, not it guy, you can, no problem. Mm-hmm. But again, if you wanna differentiate yourself from, from others to really make an impression on, on, on the, on the doorstep. Put yourself together. You don't really need much money to get a nice suit, tie shirt and really come, come on the first meeting and basically an all their socks off. Mm-hmm. because they will, they will. People will see, okay, if you can put yourself together like this, of course, you, you, you set, you set high standard that you have to meet later on with your service. Right. That if you put yourself together and look like a million bucks and then you sheet the service of course. Right. That, that, that's not gonna work. Right. But it's a foot in the door. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 25:25

Yeah. People associate, they say, okay, if he looks really well put together, like his fulfillment is probably Yeah. Really solid as well. Yeah. So, exactly. I think that's important. So from there you started dressing nice and you got in a b and I and you were kind of in a blue ocean in a sense where there you weren't competing with a lot of other tax specialists. Was that kind of your, your launch point?

Uros Loviscek: 25:49

Yeah, exactly. I got a lot of connections not just inside the B and I, but it drive me out out of that system. Mm-hmm. like, like it, it was like a network. So one, one tells another one, one person tells another. And just so in that, in that manner is like a snowball effect. Mm-hmm. and you start, start to get getting calls. You, you are getting in front of right people because every meeting in B and I says like that, you, you say you, you tell people what are you looking for? What company are you looking for? Or what type are right. Maybe exactly the company you want, and what do you want to do with them? And if there are, there is always about, let's say 20 to 30 people who someone might not know, someone who either works exactly at that company or has a neighbor that works in that company or whatever. Mm-hmm. So there is always a big chance to, to get to get introduced to what you want. But of course you have to know that like always in business, you have to know what you want, who you want to work with, and you basically have to narrow out your avatar of, of the client.

Bradley Roth: 27:08

Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, so you started getting some business and then how long was it before you went from having to buy those 25 euro suits to being like, okay, I'm actually, this is working, I'm making a, a solid, consistent income? Well,

Uros Loviscek: 27:26

this was about, let's say four years.

Bradley Roth: 27:30

Four years from about, it was about four years. Yeah. Gotcha. I think that's important. I, and I hear that three to five years as kind of a general range a lot of times from like starting to really getting something working. Yeah. But the problem is most people. You know, can't even work at something for three to five months or three to five weeks even before they give up and move on to the next thing, and that sort of thing. So like, were you ever close to giving up at any time? Or were you like, this is, I'm doing this no matter what? Well,

Uros Loviscek: 28:01

yeah, of course. Yeah. O oftentimes comes that moment. Okay. I, I just have enough. I want, I'm not doing that anymore. I wanna quit. Mm-hmm. and just gonna sit on the plane and go somewhere on the beach, be in Thailand for a few bucks a day and sit there on the beach. Yeah, of course, of course. But at the end of the day, or even before, you just have to remind yourself, why are you doing that? Bring, bring back your dreams. Sell your dreams to yourself again. Mm-hmm. And just pick your shit, pick your shit up and keep, keep going. Yeah. in business, you know, yourself, there is like 70% of business that you have to do that you don't like mm-hmm. that you just have to do. Yeah. Especially when, when you are growing business, when, when you have to do everything in that business for yourself before you, you gather people can hire out. Yeah, yeah. Before you gather some, some people, some different skills that can take some burden away from you.

Bradley Roth: 29:11

Yeah. I think that's an important lesson for people who are starting out in whatever it is they're doing. Like I, and I thought this too when I started that people think, oh, if something's your passion, like you're gonna love all of it. It's like, no. You just have to either love the end result enough to make all the rest of the, you know, crappy parts worth it, or you have to love just like one certain aspect of it enough to. Put up with the rest. You know, like all the, think about like a pro athlete, right? Like, they love, they love the games, they love competing, they love getting, you know, paid the big bucks. But, you know, they probably don't enjoy a lot of like the early morning workouts and film sessions and all the other behind the scenes stuff that comes with it. But they love kind of that one part of it, enough to do all the rest and for sure.

Uros Loviscek: 30:04

Yeah. I, I would say they at this point that you have to develop a really strong mission for yourself. Mm. So if your mission is to really help others, and you're, in my case, you're in the middle of writing long hour business plan and it's, I dunno, it's midnight or even past midnight, and you have to finish that project by tomorrow and you're tired and you really have enough. You just want to. These are the moments that you have enough and you want to quit to just go to math. Mm-hmm. But, and when you really want to develop that project, that customer, your clients will have something to do with, with, with your, with your product. That's you will really help your client develop their business. And you want to create something meaningful, meaningful. Mm-hmm. in that, in that project, that this, this is what basically drives you through everything. Yeah. In that case, of course, there are words you wanna have great, great things in, in your life. You wanna win, but for, for that moment, I think that mission is what drives you through difficult,

Bradley Roth: 31:20

Times. Yeah. Mission and having a clear vision. And I know that's something that you're big on, is the visualization. and you have actually kind of a cool story about something that you visualized. And then recently, I think like, I think it was the week after we met up or something in October. You Yeah. You got it. Yeah. C can you share that story?

Uros Loviscek: 31:42

Yeah, of course. And this, this was actually not the, the first thing, so the visualization really works. Of course you have to work for, for, for it too. Mm-hmm. But I had I had a car, alpha Romeo, Stevia, quality folio on my screensaver on my desktop for about two years. Basically from, from the moment that it came on the, what was launched on the market, it was a sick car and still is. Mm-hmm. and I deci at that moment, I decide I'm gonna have that car. I will have it. The, the, there, there was no question about it. Whether or not I will or not I will have it. Mm-hmm. and I didn't even bother how at, at the time, basically. I didn't bother how I'm gonna do that. I just started to visualize that. Mm. Every, every day, once or twice before I went to bed, I closed my eyes with my, with my gratitude round. I ended up with, I ended up with visualization, of course. Sometimes I was still biten down. I fall asleep a bit. Yeah. While doing that, but doing that consistently, I did that with my house before I had the car, before I had the house. I basically visualized both of those. Hmm. And I didn't, I didn't actually know how the house will look like, but, Somehow it's exactly as I imagined. Hmm. The house is, is exactly the same where my bathroom, because I always start from the beginning, from the beginning of the day. When you wake up, when you wake up in your, in your bath, get up, go to have a shower, get dressed and and so on. And I always imagine the whole, the whole morning ritual and path, how you get up and get, get, brush your teeth, get dressed and get, go out to your car. And this, this is the path I always do. And of course then driving to, to the office. Mm-hmm. this basically, let's say, let's say non-negotiable. I do it every day the same, in the same way. And I picture this house that is exactly the same that. I imagine it, I never saw it before, so it was really out of my mind. Basically created in my mind. But the car, of course, I, I, I've seen before and I put it there on the driveway that was waiting for me every morning when I, when I get out of my house. So, as you said, the last, last year in October, right? About a week after we met, I got it. I got it exactly the same, same color, same wheels, same calibers, same seats, really the same car. It was on my desktop in my vision everywhere. Hmm. I love that. So,

Bradley Roth: 34:53

yeah. Yeah. That's a cool story. Especially, I didn't know, I knew that you had it like as your desktop background. and saw it every day, but I didn't know the way that you visualize where you visualize yourself, like it actually just being a part of your normal life. Cuz I think that's something that, yeah, I've heard things like that, but not exactly like that because I think if you like what we remember or like we need emotion tied to it for it to be powerful. Right? Yeah. And so it's easier to have that emotion if you can, like, if you can think of it through a story or through memory. Whereas I think a lot of times when we visualize, we're just like sitting there and we visualize just this car just sitting there. But if we can visualize ourselves getting into it, turning it on, driving to where we wanna go, like it becomes so much clearer. So is that something that you kind of came up with on your own or did you hear that somewhere, that technique?

Uros Loviscek: 35:50

I'm not sure if I came up with that on my own. I, I know, I know in the past that Andy was talking about it in rte mm-hmm. that you really have to feel it, you really have to smell, you have to feel the materials and everything. Yeah. And I, I did that. I did that. I'm still doing that with, with two cars now. I, I have one other one is in the making and what especially helps you with, with that, that you go out and try the car if you, if you can mm-hmm. go to, to dealership, get, get the car for a test drive, just, just to get familiar with that. Mm-hmm. also, I also get the other car. I had had a chance to drive it a little bit to, to get familiar with that exactly how the door, how the door opens. Mm-hmm. if you, if you don't, if you can't do that, because of course with Lamborghini and Ferrari and so on, it's not that easy to get your hands on. So you can, you can search on YouTube. There's a bunch of videos on, on YouTube. On Instagram, exactly like p o v videos. Mm-hmm. people getting in the car, out the door opens how you sit in the car, how you feel, the steering wheel, how you turn it on. Of course, every car has different buttons, different commands, and if you find out where everything exactly for your car is, it's easier for you to imagine. And then you, you put that on your existing daily life. Mm-hmm. like your daily path to, to your office, because you are super familiar with it. You know exactly how it goes. And then you go in your mind from your house, ev every crossroad, every round roundabout, every red light. Especially if you, there's certain car that's really fast that you like on the red light, when it turns green, you, you press it, that throttle and just explode from, from standing still. And you try to get that feeling how, how it pushes you, the sound, the the rumble and everything. So when you, when you meditate and when visualize like this, you just get goosebumps when, when you do that because you are there already. Yeah. You get familiar with that environment.

Bradley Roth: 38:22

Yeah. That's a, that's powerful, that technique and something that I've heard before, but I need to, that was, that was a good reminder for me and probably for everyone listening to really get specific cuz the brain does, is best able, or the mind, the, you know, soul, whatever you wanna call it, focuses best on the. Specificity things that are very specific versus just kind of general like, oh, I just want this car. Like there's a, that's a whole different level, taking a step by step detail by detail like that. And it's much easier for you to focus on one little thing versus like just pic picturing the whole car and like, just trying to kind of visualize it all at once, you know? So, so I love that. And then I remember, I remember when we met in Slovenia, we went out to dinner and you guys, you know, treated us to dinner and I, we were like, you know, you don't have to do that. And I remember you saying, it's my pleasure, because I remember those days when I couldn't even really afford dinner or like, you know, the 25 euro suit days. And so I know you said from there to like about four years is when you started making money, but I mean, like, you know that Alpha Romeo, that's not a a cheap car. And so how fast, like what was the timeline from kind of that start to. To now, you know, cuz I think people who are starting out, or maybe they're in the middle of it, you know, something like that seems so far away, you know, they or may seem like it's just never gonna happen. How, how long did you kind of like take, to go from one end of the spectrum to, you know, being able to get your, one of your dream cars?

Uros Loviscek: 40:03

Well, this was all together about six years. Okay. This was, this was, this was about six years. And, but I was also lucky enough in between meanwhile to, to buy, to bought my my first, my first house. Hmm. I was lucky enough to buy my, my first house at the moment by the time mm-hmm. basically right when Covid starts Gotcha. yeah. Right, right. At that time. But that, that was actually again, Very good, very good story That originated in bni One Connection led led to another. Mm-hmm. and I got, I got basically a mortgage broker that, that was working only with mortgages for, for personal houses? For family homes. Mm-hmm. and working for working on my mortgage. We were talking, we were meeting quite a, quite a lot talking what, what, what are you doing? What what are your visions? Okay. And at the, at that time, we basically created another partnership from, from data. Hmm. From the, from that meetings. And we started to build a partnership, partnership business. We expanded basically his current business to. to build to writing tenders for companies. Hmm. To, for applying for different loans. Mm-hmm. incentives that are given from the government for, for business development and so on. So we are developing that business quite well all this time. Hmm. So one, one thing led to another BA basically that, that, that, that business that en that encounter paid my, paid my house, or let's say still paying my house because I'm, I'm learning from that encounter so much that is basically covering all the costs that, that came into my life after that moment. Hmm. That's cool. So just everything goes one, one thing on top of, on top of another,

Bradley Roth: 42:20

yeah. Exponential growth. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. So I know people listening, a lot of them are entrepreneurs, a lot of them have their businesses, and I know most people who are in business, especially earlier on, you know, managing their cash flow, managing their taxes, like it can be a lot, a lot of mistakes to get made. There's obviously a big learning curve. And so you work with a lot of these different businesses and your book coming out, master of Finance, I'm sure it goes deeper into this, but what are some of the common things that you see most people, like either making mistakes with or that most people just don't know about that they need to know about? When did you start working with them?

Uros Loviscek: 43:07

Yeah, you see, this is basically the point why I decided to write a book because I was. Let's, let's say, fortunate enough to work in the industry where I was not just able to learn from my mistakes, but I was also learning from mistakes of other people. Mm-hmm. So from my clients. Yeah. From, from, from basically That's accounting firm on, yeah. So I had, I, I was lucky enough to have twen 20 years of experience of other people's issues behind me. Mm-hmm. And in all this all this time I learned that most entrepreneur most business owners, of course, they're masters of their craft, whether they're mechanics carpenter, whatever they do, they're masters of their craft. Mm-hmm. but business site of the business. is really not their strong suit, or they're not even putting much atten attention to it. Yeah. Especially but, but I, I don't mean to judge or there's nothing bad people that create their own job. They're not developing business, but they just create a job from Disrupt. Mm-hmm. Nothing wrong with that, but those people those business owners don't even have time to put attention to business aspect of their business. Right. They, and therefore they're lacking most of everything I put put in the book. The more the bus business develops, the more bus business owner can be detached from bus, from actual service or product, and more can be more focused on running a business itself. So this, this book is created like, like a, like a guide for startup or long, long-term business owner. Mm-hmm. It is not skilled in their back area. And what I learned is fir first of all they don't know they, they're not familiar with their cash flow. They're not familiar with their expenses. So Mo most of them, every, everybody knows what is the balance o on their bank account in the moment, because we all have those fancy apps on on our phone. And you can instantly know what, what your balance is. Most of the, most of the people know what their sales are for, let's say, previous month. Yep. Like roughly, but further from there. there is a challenge. What, what are expenses? What sort expenses did they have? What are fixed, fixed expenses? What are variable expenses? And with, with that in mind, we all try of course to grow our business to sell more and more and more. Mm-hmm. kind kinda strive for every business owner to sell more. But you have, you have to know there is a marginal cost. Basically that's a cost of additional unit and one, one huge order that you would be best fir first really happy about it. Okay. I are, we in a huge order now. My company's going to grow, but that huge order can basically bankrupt your business because you are not in position to process that order. Effectively. Mm-hmm. Because some, from, from a certain point you are you are with additional unit, you start to create a loss for yourself, not a profit. Hmm. So you have, you have to know that point. Yeah. And so this is something that's almost none of business owners, especially I'm talking about small businesses mm-hmm. are not aware. Hmm. If, if I, if I give you for, for instance about a year or two ago, encounter a business, it's, that was generating about 2 million in revenue. And they were struggling when Covid came. Of course, all, all the, the buyers dropped their, their orders. Mm-hmm. Whoever were, were, were, were still buying were nego renegotiating the prices. And they, they were basic, basically really going downhill. The company was struggling so much. They, they had 14 loans in that company. Wow. So on two on 2 million revenue, they had some million. Million and something in loans. Mm. And when we dig deeper in the, in the company, how, what's going on, actually, because they just weren't profitable. And what we find found out was that they had really, really expensive production. So expensive fixed costs. Fixed costs are something that you have to pay whether you produce or not. Right. And, They were operating at about 25% capacity. And of course, price per unit was so high they were not able to lower their prices or basically at, at the time they were selling just to just to cut their losses as much as possible. Mm-hmm. so the, the, the, the time, that was the only intent of their cells. So if you flip the script on, on that certain case, they ended up producing they, they ended up they ended up employing hundred percent of their production line. So they're ma they maxed out the production line and then find the buyer for, for the product, not the other way around. the first, the the first have ha had a buyer. Okay, we gonna produce the, the quantity that is ordered now, flip around, max out your production line, lower your cost per unit, and then you can even lower your price. Be more competitive, competitive on the market. You, you have much bigger margin if you keep the price and you just don't struggle. And then you find a B buyer for the quantity you produce, not the other way around. Mm-hmm. And this is how this company be, became profitable in the end.

Bradley Roth: 50:16

Huh. So it's sounds like step number one, which you've pr I've, everyone's probably heard this before, is know your numbers. right. So like, no. Exactly. Yeah. Beyond just your current balance or what your revenue was last month, you need to know how much is going to employees, payroll, you know, whatever other business expenses you have, education, supplies, whatever. And then you know, your sales, you know, sale. Like someone could do a million in sales and be zero profit or a million in sales and 90% profit You know what I mean? So it's, it's ex Exactly. Knowing those finer details. And so is that you come in and you help people just get it together in a sense, and get all those things dialed in. Exactly.

Uros Loviscek: 51:06

And what I, I usually do, I turn the things around. Mm-hmm. one thing that business owners usually, usually do is use their, their profit and loss and balance sheets from previous. Periods from, from last year or last quarter and so on. Mm-hmm. to navigate to, or to see where they are. So it, it just, the sa the same as driving a car. You're not driving the car looking at rear view mirror all the time. Of course you have to, you have to, you have to know what behind you, but you have to look forward. Mm-hmm. what's coming, what's in front of you. And therefore there are really, really few entrepreneurs that have forecasts. You use your, your, your past numbers to create a forecast. And then you see, you basically create a crystal war for crystal warfare. Crystal, crystal ball for yourself. And you, you see how your business is gonna behave next month in two months. Mm-hmm. in three months and so on. And if you, if you, with your projection, then with, with forecast, if you see a problem. in two, two or three months time, you ba you basically have one or two months to fix that problem. You can identify that and you can fix it in advance. So you never encounter that issue ever because you, you knew ahead of time that is gonna happen. Mm-hmm. and this is something that not, not most or very few

Bradley Roth: 52:42

utilize. Hmm. Yeah. I feel like if you ask a lot of people, you know, where's your business headed or what are you doing? They won't say like, well we're go, we're on the path to do this. They'll say, well, this is what we did in the past. Yeah. Yeah. So having that kind of forward thinking, being able to see into the future, and I think, you know, you're never gonna be able to predict it a hundred percent. You know, no one's, no one's fully accurate. Sure, sure. Right. But the fact that you're even thinking about it at least is gonna make you better prepared than the person who's not. Sure. Essentially, yeah.

Uros Loviscek: 53:17

We, I think we both agreed in January, 2020. No one, no one knew what's gonna happen in March. Mm-hmm. And you ju you just couldn't predict that. Right. And like every crisis brings tons of opportunities. Mm-hmm. and you didn't have to suffer at the time. But if the opportunity come and you don't have your forecast done properly, and you don't know what your number, what your numbers look like for future months, and you, you see opportunity, you have, let's say 1 million in cash a death moment on, on your, on your checking account. You need to act fast, of course, with the opportunity is like this. You have to act fast. You bring out that money, you maybe even sell your accounts receivables. To, to gather that money quicker. And if your company, if your company has let's say two or three months or even more terms on, on your invoices, means you gave all your money away for that opportunity. You sell, you, you sold all, all your accounts receivables together as much money as possible to seize the opportunity. And now you have, let's say two months or three months gap in cash flow coming in. And at that time you have taxes, you have salaries, you have bunch of vendors that you have to pay and so on. Yeah. So you were a great company. You saw that opportunity. You seized it, but you didn't know. how it's gonna play basically in your future. Hmm.

Bradley Roth: 55:15

I mean that's, I mean now I'm like, I'm going through the numbers of my own stuff in in my head, you know, gives, gives me things to think about. But is there, is there any kind of one last like piece of advice related to that, that you would leave people with in terms of like kind of business finance and tax strategy and all that? Yeah, I

Uros Loviscek: 55:36

would say, I would say that every business owner should know their numbers for, for at least two months. Two months in the past and two months in the front. So as much as possible, and of course they need, they need to break, break down their current financial situation. what are they selling and how much does that cost? Mm-hmm. what, what, what are the what are the costs, fixed costs, variable costs. And this is basically the only way how to identify where, where you are

Bradley Roth: 56:14

at. Mm-hmm. Hmm. And then I think another thing too, and I know you've, you've dealt with this, is companies that want to get acquired, right? They have to, yeah. Have all of these things in line. And so a lot of people will kind of survive and, you know, grow but not know these things. And then someone comes to, you know, might be interested in an acquisition or a merger or something like that, and they don't have it together. And that, you know, they may miss out on that kind of opportunity. Have you seen that happen? Yeah,

Uros Loviscek: 56:48

of course, of course. Mm-hmm. that, that, that happens. But usually, the, the this positions usually business owners sell because they have to mm-hmm. and of course they this PO position they sell under price. Right. So they, they don't get as much as they could for, for the business if they would do certain things to prepare for that, of course. Mm-hmm. I don't think, I don't think that you can really prepare for that, that someone will trying to buy your business. Right. Unless you are intentionally doing that for the whole time, you are intentional with your numbers, with everything, and you are basic in every single moment you are in a position to, to sell your company.

Bradley Roth: 57:38

Mm-hmm. gotcha. Well, there's a lot of lot of gold there, I think for. especially small businesses, you know, I think these bigger businesses that ha they have CFOs, they have these kinds of things in place, that, and regulations and all that. But for the small business owner, this stuff's super important. I know my, my handle on all my stuff could be, could always be better and, and more organized. So maybe maybe I'll be giving you a call here at some point in the future. But yeah, make sure you guys, if you wanna know more, I know he is, got all of the details in his, in his new book, master of Finance, and I know that you're a listener of the show, so I know you have an idea of what questions coming next. And it's the question that I ask everyone who comes on the show. And that is, what is your definition of not most people?

Uros Loviscek: 58:29

Well, my definition of not most people is for, for certainly exactly what it, it says you think differently, you're just. Wired differently. And so I, I would say if you, if you are not, most people, most people don't understand you when you, when you start talking about your vision or what you wanted to do mm-hmm. and you, you're just not settled for or average. Yep. That's spot on and Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I, I would say that's it. I would say that's it. You're, you're just wired differently.

Bradley Roth: 59:19

Yeah. Or you think differently. Like that's, you know, I created most people and, and the first thing that I think of is not most people they think differently. You know? So you nailed it. And and so I know people listening are like, okay, where can I, you know, maybe, I know you have a book which will be listening to show notes and. So other than that, people might be wondering like, where can I find you on social media? What else do you have going on? And so, you know, what, what would you tell people for that

Uros Loviscek: 59:47

Yeah. For social media, I'm on Instagram. It's euros. It's the line underneath. Underline is the D D M F C F O Euros, underline dm, F C F O. All

Bradley Roth: 1:00:02

right. Do you have it? So Instagram's the best place to reach you for sure. Okay, cool. So I will have that linked in the show notes and then you know, is there, is there any last kind of parting thoughts that you wanna leave the audience?

Uros Loviscek: 1:00:16

What I would like to say is this is the time we all know, all know economy is kind of in the cringe, and now more than ever, it is important to have your numbers in check. Mm-hmm. I'm, I'm not saying if, if you, if you can, that you need to go out and find an expert dive, dive in, learn the, learn the skill if you need get a, get a book in a, in a book book. Book was created just for that because as Brad said, bigger companies has having CFOs to do that. And this book can serve you li like a c, like a CFO for you to, to guide you in your, in your business. And now it's really important to have your numbers in check to, so you can, can adapt for a certain situation accordingly and prosper to these tax because as, as we said, there are tons of opportunities in times, in times of crisis, and you, you want to come out on top of it.

Bradley Roth: 1:01:18

Yep. A hundred percent. Most people right now, things are not looking great ec economically, they tend to kind of shrink back, slow down, hit the brakes. Whereas the people who really take advantage right now who press on the gas, like there's gonna be opportunities now more than ever, less competition now more than ever. And so, you know, I'd, I'd definitely listen to what he's saying and you know, go check out Master of Finance on Amazon. And with that I also like to thank you so much for coming on the show today. I know it was a long time coming and, and glad we made it happen.

Uros Loviscek: 1:01:57

Brett, thank you. I really appreciate that. It was great talking to you. You're a great host and it's my honor to be

Bradley Roth: 1:02:03

here. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much. And guys, again, make sure you check out what Eros has going on and as always, if you enjoyed the show, share it with that one person and then also leave a review. I know a lot of you guys listen and haven't left reviews. I'm gonna call you out kind of right now and so make sure you please go do that. And then again, we got the Not Most People Alliance, all kinds of other cool stuff, events coming up and all that will be in the show notes. So that's it. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you in the next one. And always remember, don't be most people.