Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast

EP.22 - Building Better Businesses: The Nperspective Approach with Russell Slappey

• Roy Richardson / Sean Murphy • Season 2 • Episode 22

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In this episode of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast, host Roy Richardson and co-host Sean Murphy sit down with Russell Slappey, Founder & CEO of Nperspective CFO & Strategic Services — a leader who has spent more than two decades helping companies gain clarity, confidence, and financial control. Russell shares his entrepreneurial journey, his leadership philosophy, and the lessons he learned from scaling one of Florida’s premier fractional CFO firms.

From early struggles and pivotal reinventions to navigating partnership challenges and embracing AI-driven transformation, Russell offers a transparent look into what it really takes to build a resilient, relationship‑driven advisory business. His story is equal parts grit, connection, and wisdom — and a reminder that persistence and people are the true differentiators

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

  • Why persistence powered Nperspective’s growth — How Russell pushed through early failures, partner challenges, and pivots to build a statewide firm. 
  • Why CEOs often seek financial help too late — The “pain of not knowing” and how leaders frequently misdiagnose their financial issues before calling a fractional CFO.
  • Why cash flow forecasting is the most critical metric — How forecasting exposes downturns early, improves decisions, and prevents crises—yet is missing in most SMBs.
  • What the first 90 days with a fractional CFO really deliver — Root‑cause diagnosis, improved accounting, clearer reporting, and smarter metrics.
  • How strong partner agreements prevent years of conflict — Russell’s lessons on roles, responsibilities, equity, and the cost of unclear expectations.
  • How AI is rapidly reshaping finance and operations — Why CEOs must adapt quickly and how AI is already boosting sales and efficiency for forward‑leaning companies.
  • Why relationships are a strategic advantage — How Russell’s deep network helps him solve client problems—financing, expertise, and insight—in hours, not weeks

Don't miss the opportunity to be inspired by Russell's story. Tune in now to hear about his incredible journey.

Connect with Russel Slappey

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Roy Richardson:

Hello, I'm Roy Richardson, and this is the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast. Welcome to another edition of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast. I'm your host, Roy Richardson, joined by my insightful co-host, and in this case, longtime friend of today's guest, Sean Murphy. Sean, great to always have you here as my wingman, my brother. Absolutely. Great to be here. Looking forward to this big time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This episode is brought to you by Aurora InfoTech, helping organizations stay secure, resilient, and future ready in today's digital world. Folks, today's guest is a powerhouse in the world of financial leadership, a founder who has spent the last two decades helping business owners bring clarity to their numbers, confidence to their decisions, and discipline to their growth. With over 20 years of experience across accounting, taxation, information systems, MA, and executive financial strategy, he has become the steady trusted voice behind the scenes for CEOs across Florida and the U.S. Now, Sean, I know you know this individual and you and him go way, way back. So I'm going to toss it over to you. And why don't you take us into this one?

Sean Murphy:

Excellent, excellent. Well, I think I've known Russell 20, like 20 and a half years, something like that. Right after he started in perspective, we um we started ACG Orlando, and so he and I kind of are kindred spirits in the way we approach business and life. And so I've enjoyed our guest so far, but this one here is something at another level. I've been looking forward to this one. A little bit about Russell. Um he's the founder and CEO of Im Perspective, CEO and Strategic Services, and a little bit of insight to that. It used to be just in perspective CFO services, and I had the pleasure of working with Russell for a couple of years after I left our former firm in Deloitte. And at that time, the strategic services was added on to it. And so we have started a bunch of things in this market gearing toward small and medium-sized businesses. But the firm was launched in 05. They deliver fractional interim CFO expertise to organizations and industries ranging from healthcare, uh, manufacturing and construction to SaaS real estate, insurance, and retail. Leaders turn to him when they need visibility, accountability, and financial partners who translate complexity into strategy and momentum. Beyond the boardroom, he's deeply engaged as a community leader, which I've been to some of the things, again, we've we go a long way back. I I suspect we talk on the phone a couple of times a month for the last 20-something years about different organizations that he's a part of, because most of them I'm a part of. And so there's probably like 10% of the things that he's involved with that I'm not. And so when it comes to the business stuff, though, we're we're involved with all of them together. And so we've been building those things for 20 plus years. He serves on the board of the OEP. He's a founder and past president of ACG Global, or ACG Orlando, I'm sorry. He's also a current board member, but also a founder of the ACG Florida, which is a statewide Capital Connect where 950 uh capital providers, folks uh advising capital firms were just here in Orlando back in November, and Russell is uh one of the founders of that with me, and he has stayed engaged all of those 20 years. I've come and gone over those 20 years, but he's stayed engaged. A couple of other organizations that he's involved with, TMA Turnaround Management Association, Grow Florida, been involved with them from the very onset and just stayed involved with these organizations for 20 years. And so he also, just to talk about how he gives back to the community on the on the non-business side, on the board, been an advisor at the Florida Hospital Foundation. He's been doing that for about 15 years. He also serves and contributes to the Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital Children's Hospital Board. He's been on that for about 15 years, and he's just a passionate supporter of entrepreneurs and has served on advisory boards for the Entrepreneur Center when it first came here, which is about 20 years ago. Same with the Small Development, Business Development Center again from the beginning. He doesn't get enough credit. And I've tried to get Florida Trend to list him as one of their top business leaders in the state because he is. He has been boots on the ground for 20, 20 plus years. And so he got honored by the Small Business Administration Administration, Southeast U.S. Financial Services Champion of the Year, recognizing his impact on small businesses and his commitment to economic growth. And behind all of that, he's a connector. He knows everybody. So it's like, hey, if you need to know somebody, you want to call Russell because he has the golden Rolodex. Um he's a dedicated father. I've been with him at the hospital where kids were sick. He has, you know, what, four kids. And every time I talk to him, he's talking about doing something with him. He's also a weekend boater and a man who believes in persistency, integrity, and never burning bridges, values that have shaped his journey, and the countless leaders he's helped along the way. So please join us in welcoming a financial strategist, a community builder, and a leader who has helped shape not only Central Florida, not only the state of Florida, but the Southeast business landscape, my good friend Russell Slapy.

Russell Slappey:

Russell, good to have you. Yeah, good to good lots of good words there. I appreciate it. It's been a long journey, but uh yeah, and some of those I've come and gone, some of those organizations I've been and you know departed and you know done a lot of things. So keep them busy.

Roy Richardson:

Awesome, awesome. Well, Russell, welcome. We're excited to dive into your story and you know, share, share your journey with with everyone out there.

Sean Murphy:

Good deal. Well, let's kick off with something light, man. Something I think that I know I get emails from you at 2 o'clock in the morning. I know you run hard. You're having business meetings at night at Crest until they close three and four times a week. So I want to do something light here. You're a social guy, you love the boat, you love your kids. What's the moment lately that's made you pause and really appreciate life?

Russell Slappey:

Well, the big one this year had to be uh becoming a grandfather. So my daughter, my oldest daughter, had a had a son. So that was definitely a kind of a winning moment, you know, when your kids, you know, they finally get to that pinnacle. You know, she got married, and you know, then now we're having a baby. So I'm a grandfather now. So I have to admit that, even though I still think I'm 25, I'm now a grandfather. Or to look like one too here, so with a beard.

Sean Murphy:

Hey, you said it, not me, man.

Russell Slappey:

I know. So Kaylee had a baby, yeah. That was definitely uh a defining moment as a parent and all the hard work you do, you know. And then again, I had another daughter go into a college. My second daughter went into college this year and just getting her up and running and you know, getting past those milestones, you know. So it it's it's been great. That's that's definitely a moment that made you appreciate life for sure.

Sean Murphy:

So in a lot of ways. Yeah. And Alexis, she's getting along well, uh, doing her thing in college now, huh?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, she's at she's at USF. Very cool. And she's doing good, you know, and getting up and running. She's making friends, you know. Yeah, so you know, and she's had some health issues, so it's been a big concern of ours. She had some serious health issues last year. So just getting her finishing senior high, getting up in the new college, the dorm room, meeting new friends, you know, you're in a a different environment than you used to, you're not at home anymore, but she seems really happy, and that's that's what it's all about right now. Very, very cool. Now she's starting to take more classes and get busier. So so yeah. It's going good. So awesome.

Roy Richardson:

Well, congrats on becoming a grandfather and and uh godspeed uh and certainly, you know, for your for your daughter that she continues on a good path of health. You know, one of the things that Sean mentioned was bulleting. What's the biggest business lesson you've learned on the water?

Russell Slappey:

Well, really, it's the inverse. You you want to get away. You you want, you know, we deal, I deal a lot, or our firm does, with a lot of headaches for business owners, financial headaches and stress and loans getting pulled, and can't cover payroll, and what am I gonna do? So the one thing you want to do is have a getaway moment, you know. So you have to have those times with your kids and yourself, and even when you're out there on the boat with your buddies, it's no longer work. It's just yeah, relationship building and connecting. So that's really it. You know, it's a it's a getaway moment to relax and bring your stress level down.

Roy Richardson:

And it's amazing how how and thanks for sharing that because we as business leaders we run very hard, as Sean likes to put it, and we often tend to forget that we need that time to really shut things off and and just be ourselves. So great great point there.

Sean Murphy:

Right, right, right. Well, listen, um I've I know you're on a lake, living on a lake and all of that stuff. I remember you were thinking about coming down south down here by me, and I know that's important to you, but I I want to take it back. And Deltona, not Deltona, but Delan, Stetson, you know, CPA track, Deloitte, being the the the youngest of four, and all of the other boys like you are CPAs, but they took a little bit of a different approach, and we're gonna talk about that. And when did you realize that you were wired to build something?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, that's interesting. You know, even before getting out of college, you know, looking back even in high school, I had an entrepreneurial itch. You know, I wanted to own a business, I wanted to make money. Me and my buddy in high school, his mom had a pawn shop, and we would find things to sell at the pawn shop just for the sake of you know, learning the trade, you know, if you will. Just to what can we do? You know, how do how do we buy a car? You know, because my parents weren't very well off with four boys and all four going to college, and we were all right behind each other. But they did their best and they did a great job. But you know, if you wanted something in my family, you earned it. So you want a car, you worked at Burger King when you were 15 years old, you know. So, and I did all that. I worked at Burger King, I worked at Wendixie, you know, did chores, cleaned houses, and I had one of the first cell phones for a car, one of them stupid handheld big car cell phones. Right, right, right. You remember we were talking about those, Roy? You remember?

Roy Richardson:

Required its own seatbelt.

Russell Slappey:

Oh, yeah, exactly. But uh you basically learned the lesson work hard, play hard, you know. So and I had that entrepreneurial itch as far back as early teen years, but I kind of followed my brother because you you get to kind of into high school, where am I gonna go? What should I do? You know, what I and you really don't know a lot of times how it's gonna play out. In fact, I was gonna be a pharmacist to start with, of all odd things. And I got into Stetson and I got my first D in a class and decided, well, that ain't gonna work. I'm not gonna be a part. So we I pivoted to follow my brother's footsteps. All three of my older brothers went into accounting, and it actually was a good fit. And it I took to it easy enough. And of course, that after college, you know, with Deloitte and took that experience and started the our fractional CFO firm, you know.

Sean Murphy:

Which was I really enjoy it. So which was um, I was talking to someone uh a few weeks ago, and they were like, Man, he started that. I was talking to a banker up in Alabama, and he's like, They've been a fractional CFO firm for 20 years? He's like, that was revolutionary. Yeah, because basically it's the gig economy, right? So you basically you're you're you're doing it for hire. Let me ask you this. What was the moment when in perspective went from an idea when you and Wayne said, We're gonna do this, and you put the conviction behind it to make it happen?

Russell Slappey:

Well, you know, for I started one firm with a couple of old uh cohorts out of Deloitte. Okay, and it really didn't work at first. They were they had different agendas, you know, I had, you know, a house, two new cars, a baby, it didn't work out. They really knew each other. So what I got kind of left in the outfield by myself, so to speak. And then I started almost off as a CPA firm and I started doing some audits and taxes because I knew how to do all that from the training of being with a couple regional firms in Deloitte and you know, got going, but then I always wanted to explore this fractional CFO thing. There was an old firm called Tatum CFO who used to be a hundred-pound gorilla, you know, all the way across the country. Yeah. And I just always aspired to always believe in, you know, aggregate yourself with people smarter than you, you know, more experienced than you. And in doing that, that of course led me down the fraction, the the you know, consulting CFO. Because you can't go any higher on the finance side than the level of the CFO as a responsibility at a company. So I slowly started networking, and I didn't know if I was going to be good at it, and I turned out to be pretty darn good at it. I'm a natural connector, and I used that strength and started getting clients. And the moment came when in Orlando I had four or five guys, we were just kind of doing a loose revenue sharing arrangement between each other. And I went to my now partner Wayne and said, you know, let's change the name. Let's make up a name. It can't be slappy financial anymore. Let's make it in perspective, you know, CFO. And where'd you get the name from? Well, actually, another partner of ours came up with the name. Okay. You know, it's always that challenge where there's a name is that's not being used, too, right? Company names out there. And you know, the in perspective, you know, get your business in perspective, you know, get your financial perspective. So that kind of rang well and we ran with it. And it was more that moment where we're gonna change the name, we're gonna form a new company. And what I did is me and I went to Wayne, I said, we're gonna pull our money and hire a full-time salesperson, and let's do this that way. You know, let's not just keep networking and connecting, but let's take it serious and deploy resources to start growing the firm. So back then, if if you remember, most of the CPA firms didn't have a business development officer. Right. But we were taking the new approach. And then over the years since then, they've been hiring our salespeople away from us every four or five years. So it's kind of funny how we kind of started that movement in Orlando of the business development for accounting, you know. Right. So yeah, that's that was probably the moment, you know, or this is becoming a real, you know, and then back then too, it was more about just Orlando. I had no vision of, you know, doing the whole Southeast like we do now. Right. You know, it was just I'm glad to get to this point. But as we grew, let's go open Tampa. We did an Orlando, let's get a team member and get Tampa going. And then Miami, and then, you know, now we're working on getting Atlanta in its, you know, starting point. So, and we're doing other things too now. We're adding other services. So, but that was probably the true point, you know, had bringing in an equity partner, forming a company, changing the name. This has got money coming into it, you know, it's got substance. What do we do next? We start a company, you know.

Roy Richardson:

So excellent. Amazing, amazing. So, Russell, when when you first started, were were there any particular industries that you honed in on and and you know, that was was your which was your your sweet spot?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, I I was uh back because of my you know previous work career, we did a lot of construction clients in Daytona Beach. So we got into construction pretty quick, manufacturing, you know, services. Right. You know, but as we grew and brought on more partners, like uh one of our partners had a big manufacturing background, or a couple of them, and then we picked up manufacturing clients. And then one of them, you know, big service companies, you know, and then you know, now we're doing healthcare, and we'll do almost any, we're pretty agnostic now. We'll do almost any industry. We've got so many partners. We've got about 20, you know, folks on the team working together now. So the typical Florida clients, though, are the manufacturers, the construction, the healthcare, the services. Yeah, we do some tech, unlike some fractional CFO firms, we don't do a lot of tech, we do a little bit of it. We're more the industrial side, if you will, the the good old Florida clients, you know, if you will.

Sean Murphy:

And you're not just dealing with small businesses, right? You're dealing with some significant sized companies.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, we some of our clients have been 600 million all the way up to a billion, you know. We we pride ourselves on being what I call the lower middle market, the sub 100. Right. But actually, we just had a conversation with my Miami business development officer the day where we're gonna start intentionally moving upscale with what's going on in the marketplace. You know, the the whole advent of AI and what's going on there. We have to we have to position ourselves to get ready for the all the changes, if you will.

Sean Murphy:

Yeah. Well, we we talked about, I want to, I want to stick here for a second because we talked about industries and things like that. And I really, you know, I know with the exception of probably two of your partners of the 12 or so that you have, oh, a high level. Just give give give me a little bit of g give the audience a little flavor of what your CFOs are are like. You're not just bookkeepers, you do have some controllers and bookkeeper types that that work for you, but you're talking about you know, an Al Anderson who ran a half billion dollar company as a CFO that's on your on your team and that's been with you for a decade now, you know, even Ed and his background with the right.

Russell Slappey:

It goes to how we interview the partners, actually, and and some things in the background. So when we started in perspective, there was a firm in town calling themselves CFO this or that. I won't mention their name, but the issue was they didn't really have CFO level talent. They were more controllers. And you see that in our space, the fractional CFO space. A lot of times what you're getting is a controller, not a CFO. So for the first 15 years of doing businesses, though, we only hired high-level CFOs. So we made that difference. We made a point of that. We are the higher-level firm. We do have real CFOs. And when we interview our talent coming in, there's some nuances there too, in that, you know, one of my first questions on an interview with a CFO individual coming in is do you need full time, full time cash flow? And if they say yes, well, you're not a fit for our firm, you need to go get a full time job. That's right. Consulting's up and down, but it's not really, that's not the why, though. The why is we don't want them needing We don't want them having to build clients to make money. A lot of our guys will just, I did I added value. There isn't a lot left here because of where you're at, or you need to grow a little bit and I'll come back. They're not worried about pay. Right. Unlike the controllers, they're true fractional controllers that really want to amp up their pay, but they're doing controller level duties and they get 60 hours a week. But our CFOs, they remind me all the time, I don't really need to work, Russell. You don't have to worry about working so hard, you know. So we try and keep everybody, you know, busy, nobody on the bench, and for the most part, and that's what we've been good at too as a firm, is everybody's not on the bench. Right. Where some of these firms, they just add people, you know, and we we kind of do one partner at a time, one new partner. Or do we need a like right now? We need a construction person in Miami, and then we'll wait, get them busy, and then we'll go looking for the next partner. And that also keeps the morale of the firm so good the way it is. So it's all about that reputation from the beginning where we stuck to our guns of having high-level CFOs, the right talent for what we were saying we did. You know? Got it. And then we started the fractional controller services about five years ago, and it's worked out really well.

Sean Murphy:

Patrick and Melissa, outstanding, outstanding people.

Russell Slappey:

And their goals are a little different. You know, they want to work hard, they want to be working 60 hours a week. Right, right, right, right. Great, and we came missing.

Sean Murphy:

So thanks for sharing that. I think that, you know, the our audience should know what it is that you do and who you have on your team. I think that, you know, we've been saying this for 10 years. I still don't know a competitor out there that brings the depth that you bring. And so with that being said, I'm gonna move on because now I'm sounding like I'm getting paid by you under the table. And you're not. Well, look, here's so I got another question for the CEOs that are listening to us. What pain drives someone to pick up the phone and call a fractional CFO firm like yourself or an individual that's a fractional CFO?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, I think it's the the pain of not knowing. You know, a lot of CEOs, and just like me, you run the business, you do your best, you weren't necessarily trained for that job, especially in the lower middle market. You're kind of learning as you go. Right. Well, most CEOs are either sales background or operations background, hardly ever finance. So for a long time, they can fake the finance in, you know, tell the banker what he wants to hear when he comes in, you know, pretend like he understands all the product margins and the mixes and where he's making money and where he's making profit, what his run rates are and all that. But at some point, he realizes he doesn't. Right. And really needs to get somebody in more senior finance-wise that can say, this is where you're making your money, here's where your challenges are, here's what strategic strategic planning-wise we should work on. And it it comes in different ways. Like the accounting department can't give him what he wants, or he can't get the cash flow where he wants, or, you know, I can't get the bank loan I want. Why is this not working for me? And some of those frustrations kind of cause the thought process of bringing us to the table. Because they've never had most of the clients in the lower middle market, have never had a real CFO-level person work for them. Right. That's even had a bookkeeper or something like that, right? Yeah, they they have people that call themselves CFOs, but they didn't come from big organizations and didn't really have that real talent that they're purportedly.

Sean Murphy:

Well, we had an incident like that where I know someone that that you went to work for that when they took over as a CEO, and it was a nice side, it was a couple of hundred million dollar company, and they basically had a glorified bookkeeper from what I understand, right? Um so we all had to come in there and do some cleanup and things like that. And so it's not just at the lower level, but let me ask you this true, true walk us through the first 90 days with a new client, and then tell us some of the changes that could take place pretty quickly.

Russell Slappey:

Well, there's always the perspective of the CEO, right? This is why I called you. I can't figure out can't use a scenario like I can't figure out why we're not cash flowing better. I don't understand, I need to get a better handle on cash flow. So the first 90 days, you're always going to have the main project, if you will, identified by the CEO because you want to show him we can get this under control, start showing you the light, you know, if you will, the the reason and the answer and help guide you. But also, as a fractional CFO firm, you need to understand you need to add value. So the minute you get into the firm and even listening to the CEO, when he's saying this is my main concern, we're usually saying, Well, that's coming, that's a symptom, that's not the problem. You know, and we can see through, because we've done this so much, that really there's other things going on that need to be fixed. And a lot of times they don't want to hear about it at first, but once we get our hands on working with the company, the people in the company, we start to show that value, the real root of the problem getting fixed as opposed to the symptom. You know, training somebody in accounting or guiding them or showing them what they didn't know or metrics they need and reporting. So it's it's it's being able to see the force for the trees, if you will, you're right. Right. That you can see the real problem is not necessarily what the CEO thinks it is, but you you gotta play along with that. So he's happy to get you in the door, but you gotta show them look, if you did these things, you really get the real problem handled. Better reporting, right people in the right seats, metrics, dashboards, you know, a strategic plan, get better working capital from the bank. You know, uh maybe you need to raise capital from investors, you're not taking the right approach, going to market, whatever it might be. So it's in the first 90 days, you got to make an impact. So you got to show value. And sometimes I do that with my connections, getting working capital real quick that they didn't know they could get, you know, getting somebody trained and happy, you know, that they have somebody in there to help them and have guidance that they never had before. There's always something, a connection or some kind of value that the CEO didn't bring to the table that we bring to the table.

Roy Richardson:

Right. Interesting. You know, you mentioned metrics several times there, Russell, and and I I I want to, you know, for for our listening audience here, when you parachute into a new company, what's the first financial metric or behavior you look at as to understand whether the business is healthy or in trouble?

Russell Slappey:

Well, the the one that's always the common theme is cash flow. You know, it's not necessarily a metric, if you will, quote unquote, like some people would call it, but it's a it's a a good read on how a company's doing. And you know, the biggest thing is most clients don't have a cash flow forecast, or if they do, it's a very rudimentary version of one. So they really don't have a forecast in place to be able to look ahead. So back in 24, for instance, with our client base, we knew things were coming to a slow because we had a cash flow forecast for all our clients going. We could see it was coming before it happened. And I started warning all the CEOs of my CEO peer groups, you better be careful, business is about to slow down. And they were arguing with me, going, Oh, we're fine, Russell sales will be fine. Yeah, well, three months later, they're all crying in their milk, going, Yeah, he was right, because we could see it in our multiple clients and our client base before it was even coming. Right. Or before it was there, you know. So cash flow is the big metric. If you can get a good beat on your cash flow and a good forecast that you can rely on, that's a huge, especially in the lower middle market, because clients don't have a lot of capital like the bigger clients.

Roy Richardson:

And you you provided the perfect segue here in my next question, which is you meant you talked about CEOs and and mindset, but if you could change just one behavior of mindset and CEOs to make your job easier and their business stronger, what would it be?

Russell Slappey:

That's a loaded question, right? Actually, you know, I'll give you an example. And I had a client who he didn't like compliance, he realizes there's two partners, and inevitably in a lot of a lot of businesses, there's more than one partner, whether it be a husband and wife, a partner, partner, a board and a and an owner, you know, there's always more than one leader, typically, one way or the other. The two of them, we need to get this better accounting under control. But, you know, they really they wanted to, but they didn't want to. You know, they they they don't want to deal with a headache, you know. And I slowly work my way in through several contacts in Orlando, and he didn't like compliance, they don't want to pay taxes often, and you just kind of have to show them the ropes. You lead the way, and there's a talent and art to that. But you know, but the awakening moment was just recently when that owner had to dig into all his personal expenses put into the PL and remove them to get to an EBITDA calculation to get ready to sell the business. Oh, he begins to understand what we've been telling him for the last four to five years at that point. He's like, now he's all excited. He's like, all this change, my company be worth more. So you begin to show them the light, and now they're they kind of get giddy about it. You know, they're like, let's clean up all this, let's get my EBITDA up, let's get my valuation higher. So it's probably if you reflect on that little story, it's probably spending more time with them about how to get ready for exit so that they see these things and get more involved, seeing the value of accounting and where it can actually bring them money. Right. If you will. So those exit conversations, getting prepared, and we do a lot of MA support, due diligence support, get clients ready for exit. I mean, probably 50% of the clients we're working on, you know, it's some form of that, whether it be immediate, they're getting ready to exit or in the next two to three to five years, you know?

Sean Murphy:

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. You have helped so many leaders, man. I can I I just I know personal just the things that you've done. I I we talked, what, three weeks ago, and I was talking to you about a client of mine that I'm like, they really could use you. And you're like, why don't we just have Patrick go do some pro bono stuff for two to three weeks, just get to know them so that they can see the value that we add. Right. But you you've you're also very active on boards and in the community, as I stated earlier about ACG. You know, we put together ACG and TMA and the Grow Florida stuff. We're involved with that. Yes, there's some business applications, but we went in with the mindset if we can help the community, the community can help us. It's one of those things. You don't just run a firm, you serve chamber, ACG, hospital boards. What drive that level of community community leadership like that, Russell?

Russell Slappey:

I think it comes from just being a true entrepreneur. You know, I want to be making a difference for the community, which being an entrepreneur, yeah, you want to own a business, you want to run a business, but the same token, you want to help the others that are trying to do the same. And where that comes together is on these boards, you know, you're working in a community to help each other, which also, of course, supports your entrepreneurialism. So I think it's, and I'm a huge connector. So of course, you know, being on boards and being part of that feeds into the connectivity of others in the community. So it's really ties into the entrepreneurship, you know, and what you're doing at the community, helping others so that they can be business owners. Say that again? Helping others so they can be good business owners too.

Sean Murphy:

So and I and I and I would imagine that's how it that's shaped your perspective as a CEO of your firm as well. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah.

Russell Slappey:

It's you appreciate when people try and help you because you're doing the same the other way. You always can learn something. You learn the older you get, there's still things you don't know. You know? So it's always good to listen. And it goes back to that saying I said earlier. I always want to surround myself with people smarter than me. Right. And if you think about it, you can never stop doing that if that's your philosophy.

Sean Murphy:

Well, Alan's a lot smarter than you, just so you know.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah. I'm kidding, right? But I've got a connection for everything. So I'm the other way.

Sean Murphy:

Yes, you do. Yeah.

Roy Richardson:

I can't wait to hear about this one here. Roy, it's on the perfect segue here again, because you admire connectors like Dick Batchelor. What did you learn by watching him work a room with purpose?

Russell Slappey:

You know, what was interesting is I I had admired kind of people saying you need to meet Dick, you need to meet Dick, you know, you know, and I I kind of like, okay, who is this guy? And I started kind of watching from afar, and he was on the Florida Hospital Advent Children's Hospital board, and I got onto the board somehow. I don't even remember, it's been 15 years ago. Now I'm I just recently left that board, so just full disclosure.

Sean Murphy:

But they got tired of you, you've been on it for 15 years. It's like we need some fresh blood.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, well, they changed a lot. They brought in all new leadership, they wanted to represent the board. Actually, Dick left a few years ago, so they did it on purpose, which is good, they should, to your point. Yeah, new fresh blood. Yeah, and he was but he was on the board, so I I really joined the board to get to know him. And funny enough, by the time I got to know him, I was already kind of figured out I'm already doing what he's doing. That's right. But it kind of helped reassure I was heading somewhere, you know. So I can see myself as I maybe don't want to put pen to pencil anymore, helping clients with the financial side, just being that connector in the community to get people what they need or insight on where to go to get something done, a lot like he does.

Sean Murphy:

So Yeah, Dick, Dick, I love Dick. I love his wife, Andrea. We we were very involved with Shepherd's Hope years ago when we first launched that thing in Orlando. And so I got to know them and and we would run into them at Amor Amira's over on Sand Lake having dinner on Friday nights, my wife and I. But Dick wishes he had your Rollodex across the state, man. You got the Rolodex. And and listen, it ain't that much deeper than mine, just so you know.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, you're pretty good too.

Sean Murphy:

Hey, look, Russ, we compete on who got the bigger Rollodex.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah. That's what I compete on, that's for sure. But you know what? Having that Rollodex, Sean, clients don't get it until we get in there and I start helping them. I'm like, look, let me go make a phone call. That's right. That's right. I'm gonna get you a connection that can answer your question and show you how to bring value in an hour. And I just did that recently. This guy has a piece of property with an easement. You know, he's trying to do a tax ease in it. I call my boys in Atlanta. I'm like, where's the guru of easements in Atlanta? A couple phone calls, boom, boom. Right. We're on the phone with the tax attorney, and he's like, You're missing the whole point with this easement property. You could double your revenue if you did this. Right. And the client was just beside himself. He's like, Okay, start over. We've got to rethink the whole plan with this property. Amazing. But that's bringing value with a couple phone calls and connections that, you know, and he sees that now. He gets, you know, it's hard to explain to somebody when you're when they're interviewing you the kind of connectivity you have and and ability to do that. There was another client, just a little small example. You know, our law firm referred us to a client, and before I even got to the first interview, I had already closed his loan. Yeah. And I walked in to interview with him, and he's well, I'm really concerned we had a forbearance with the bank, and you know, we need these to get term sheets out. And I and I go, Well, I already closed the loan on the way here. And he's like, How the hell did you do that? I said, Well, my God everybody in town. I figured it was one or two of these brokers. I called one, that was it. And she said it was already done. So all you gotta do is sign it. I got two options for you. There you go. Boom. You know, so and then I said, That's not your problem to the guy. And he goes, Well, what do you mean that's not my problem? Because he he wasn't hearing himself with what his real business issue was. His real issue was his concentration of customers because he had one contract pony with the United States Army for healthcare staffing. The real issue was he better diversify before about a year and a half from that point he was gonna have his contract come to an end. That's the bigger concern. Got it. Sometimes helping them see what is the bigger concern, too, is important. So yeah.

Sean Murphy:

Yeah, nope. I totally get it. You know, I I remember a buddy of mine came to town as the CFO of a company, and I'm like, I gotta introduce you to Mr. Connector. And you know, that introduction led you to, you know, helping him in a huge way in multiple areas just because you're connecting, you're like, hey, you know, you you showed them some things and you introduced him to some people that made his life a lot easier. So I get it, man. I love it. You know, you know how I am, but Roy.

Roy Richardson:

No, I'm I mean, you know, from from day one, Sean, you you you told me when I first came here that you know I I need to meet Russell because he he is the man who knows everyone, right? So that's and here we are, right? So that's right. Let's let's talk uh about a tougher chapter you've been very open and and particularly with Sean about and you know you and him have talked offline some about you know tough seasons, particularly partner negotiations. What did those chapters teach you?

Russell Slappey:

Uh it's taught me a lot. I think you know, I just did a a meeting with uh Tom O'Neill and a group of uh business owners students, and one of the things we were talking about was operating agreements. A lot of clients don't take heed to their operating agreements and your agreement with your partners and how it's gonna work. Now, we actually did a lot of work on ours when we finally put one together with all three partners, you know, being equity partners, and there's a lot of you know rules and agreements in there about what if we don't get along and you know what happens if one of you dies, and does a wife come in, you know, all this buy, sell. Even having said that, it can be a very hard issue. And what I see more and more with clients, like just one the other day, you know, I'm sitting there talking, they got three owners, and the one owner's like, well, I just don't know if I did this fair, the arrangement between each other. And there's a book, Slices of the Pie, that you know, a buddy of mine had me read. You, you know, it's not always just about money going in, it's what are the roles and responsibilities? And you you really gotta do a better job of outlining that than most people realize when they start a company so that you don't get sideways with each other later. Because equity, you can't you don't just walk away from each other. It's like getting divorced when you have a partner. You gotta have what are you supposed to be doing, what am I supposed to be doing, and have a better understanding of that is worth gold before you go jumping in with somebody to run a business. Right. I think far too many of us don't stop and take our time putting that type of structure together the right way on the front end of starting a business. And it unfortunately comes back to haunt you, you know, and you gotta work through it.

Roy Richardson:

Interesting. And you know, I've I've I've I've seen I've seen both sides of that coin with with partners who've gone into business and and didn't have agreements in place. And and then and then of course like a marriage that went south and and things got f pretty, pretty nasty, and and then others were, you know, unfortunately one par partner passed and and there was turmoil with the family and Extremely successful private company just, you know, ended up shutting its doors because family and the living partner could not see eye to eye. So yeah, th those are those are uh extremely important points there. Happy to hear that, you know, in terms of what you've uh put into it with with your partners. And let me ask you, um, I mean, if you redesigned your equity structure from day one, what would change now that Russell is, you know, Russell 4.0 versus when he first started?

Russell Slappey:

Well, I think it goes back to what I said. You need to define roles and responsibilities and what you're getting for each one of those topics. Right. You need to be splitting fairly for the effort put in, you know. You can't if you don't lay out what you're supposed to be doing, kind of the metrics of the deal, then you can't measure it and appropriately treat each other the right way. If you if we had spent more time laying that out, I think it would have it would have made for a better partnership, much like it would for any company. Now, of course, you're gonna work through it one way or the other, but it sure would have made it a lot smoother along the path.

Sean Murphy:

Yeah, yeah. Which is which is basically a f a skill set that you use on the CFO side, right?

Russell Slappey:

Definitely, because when I meet these clients that don't have those topics addressed, right, and you start seeing them struggle, a lot of times it does boil back to agreement with the partner, agreement with their salespeople, agreement with their project manager, whatever. They don't have those kind of roles, responsibilities, goals in place. Right. And that needs to be established and reworked a lot of times when we go into an organization. So that's right. Well, even if it's a hard issue, like their partner situation. That's right. You know, a business owner, you know, with two owners. So yeah. We actually spend a good build of time helping clients with that that topic because sometimes that's more the root of the problem versus the symptom, as what we were talking about earlier. They're they're thinking they want to work on this symptom. They're not seeing the root of the problem. The root of the problem is you have your partnership agreement set up right.

Sean Murphy:

Yeah, got it. Yeah. Absolutely. Totally get it and and appreciate what you're saying. You've said that persistence is your north north star. Where did you where do you get tested the most?

Russell Slappey:

It's hard. I mean, you have to get up every morning and say, I'm gonna go get another client. I'm gonna grow this thing. You know, we're in a really niche business, you know. Not every client needs us or thinks they do, until of course it gets to a breaking point in the cost. But it's, you know, we've grown to be the largest fractional server in Florida because I don't give up. You know, there's a lot of people that say, well, I'm gonna go do consulting and we'll be a competitor. And I'm like, good luck, you know, because it's not as easy as it looks, you know. You got it goes to the point of the percent persistence with the connectivity. I'm a huge connector because every connection I get is another opportunity to get another another deal, you know. So I don't give up on that. And even though it's frustrating with partners and client issues and workload and kids and night, you know, night, you know, got to be home for the kids on the weekends and at night. Right, you have to be persistent. And I I I learned to be persistent. It kind of goes back to my upbringing. My mom was a slave driver. You know, she we get up on Saturdays, we had to clean the house front to back, we all had chores. Right. You got to work to go earn, get your car. I mean, I was brought up that way, so there is no giving up. You get it done, you know.

Sean Murphy:

And listen, your mom, she probably just stopped working for you like two years ago, right? She's still working for me in her 80s.

Russell Slappey:

My personal checkbook and my nice consulting firm would be. She's what, 81, 82? 82. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And she still treats me like I'm 16, I swear to God.

Roy Richardson:

Hey, Russell, that they don't change.

Sean Murphy:

Yeah, apparently not. I I I remember I remember when she loaned you some money and you were like, Man, I got I I got I got a bill to play. There's no, hey, I'm loaning you a little bit about it. No, I gotta pay mama back. That's funny.

Russell Slappey:

You worked especially hard to get that one paid back.

Sean Murphy:

That's right. That's right, that's right. Well, listen, I I love, you know, I I did my podcast with Roy back in April, and mine was about persistency, right? That so you and I, we we've been kindred spirits from the moment we met each other at ACG. And and and this, I got a I got a Sean Murphy Russell story around don't burn bridges, but I'm I'm gonna love to hear what you have to say. Share with us a moment where don't burn bridges actually saved the day for you.

Russell Slappey:

That's a little bit harder one. I mean, I learned that. If you don't have one, I got one for you. Okay, why well I'll let me state this. I learned not to burn a bridge. You do once or twice in life, and you go, man, looking back on that, you know, there was a membership chair in an organization, and I was fighting to get who's now one of my biggest clients, and he was recommending the guy go with a full-time CFO. And I kind of intentionally sidestepped him in a in probably not in the best fashion. I could have done it a little more tactfully. Right. But I was trying to get to the point with a client that you do need a fractional CFO. You shouldn't be listening to this guy because he's not, you know, this or that. Those kind of things come back to haunt you in life because now that you know that membership chair was there for 10 more years, you know, on that organization. So I couldn't get into the organization. It's more learning lessons like that, where, you know, and you I don't I don't need but one or two lessons to learn. I shouldn't do that again. Right, right, right.

Sean Murphy:

Well, I I know this is your podcast, not mine, but I got to share with you again who you are and what I really, really appreciate about you. About eight years ago, you and I got into it, and boy, I was 38 hot. I was mad. I was cussing you up and down the street, and I told Al about it, and Al was like, Sean, you need to get over it. You need to call Russell and have a conversation with him, and and and just, you know, I'm gonna use the phrase man up just because I don't have a different one to use, but I mean it. Anyone can do it, a woman, a child, and I called you and you're like, man, I apologize to you for doing you what I did to you. And we've been down, and and I remember two, three years ago, I came to your partner meeting with a referral friend or a partner of mine when I was at the bank, and you were like, To your to the partners, you're like, Sean helped us get one of the largest clients in the history of our firm. And that's be and that's because I respect you because you say, hey man, I'm I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I I didn't I didn't know I did something wrong to you, and let's dap it up and keep it moving and keep building this, making this world a better place. So I really appreciate that about you. And yeah, so that's my Russell, don't burn the bridge, you know, situation there.

Russell Slappey:

Well, it makes sense. I get it. I mean, you don't you learn the older you get that you're gonna make mistakes, you're you're gonna piss people off sometimes, and you're kind of pushed when you're so persistent. So sometimes you get ahead of yourself and you gotta learn to come back a little bit, come ground yourself every now. Those conversations like I had with you then I were grounding myself again and realizing, you know, it's so many people have such a big ego about what they're doing. You have to understand that not everybody's gonna love everything you're doing or you know, all the time think you've made the right decision. Right. And as a CEO, you gotta get comfortable with that. You know, say I used to think, I'll never forget that. I used to think, well, I want everybody to love me, you know, because I'm a connector, but you realize in time that's not possible. There's always going to be differences, political, whatever, how you run a company versus how they see you should be doing it, or how you treated somebody versus this. But the best thing to do though is just make sure you're open to advice and be willing to be apologetic when you make a mistake, you know? Yep, yep, yep.

Roy Richardson:

I would say that's deep deeply missing in today's society.

Sean Murphy:

That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely. We just well, you and I had a conversation about that earlier today. And it's sad. It is really, really sad. But look, let's let's think let's shake some things up here with a couple of rapid fire questions. What's the most underrated uh KPI, Russell? Hmm.

Russell Slappey:

Most underrated KPI. Yeah. I still think it's cash flow. That is a major measure of a company and how they're doing and keeps you very safe if you respect it for what it is. And people don't do a cash flow. I shouldn't say that. Organizations don't have a good cash flow forecast in place. It's crippling their ability to see how the companies should be doing, could be doing, or are doing at the moment. If they spent more time on understanding how that works and forecasting in general, they would have a much better business. Because, you know, we can the good thing is I can do a lot of the forecasting in the head in my head for the firm, but I still have Ruth, our controller, build a forecast and look at it. So we can take during this hard times the last year and a half, we can take things to the edge, but by being able to cash flow forecasts and forecast, we can see how to get out of it as well if we got to reverse gears. So that is a very important metric that most people don't really have under their command when we go into an organization.

Roy Richardson:

And and keeping with the with the rapid fire here, biggest financial mistakes you still see, or mistake I should say you still see being made in 2026. As far as companies?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's one of them, not having a good cash flow forecast. But also, I see, you know, it's a shame. I see a lot of owners for lack of planning taking out MCA loans and becoming a cancer within the within the community, you know. I think one in every three clients that talk to us has some kind of MCA loan problem that we now have to help them negotiate out, or we have to get a you know, uh bankruptcy attorney involved. And it's it's challenging. You know, easy money is easy money for a reason. Right. The terms aren't good. That's why banks don't give them. They're unregulated, they're a mess, and it's gonna be a spiral for most people to take one of those loans. Right. But they can't stop themselves. Instead of making cost-cutting measures, they take a loan. And you know, oftentimes that's the wrong decision that creates their downfall.

Sean Murphy:

Right. That's a big one. Nope. I I do not like those loans, but but just just KPIs is um key performance indicators. And then the the next question that I have for you is one EOS tool every leader should adopt. And the EOS is the entrepreneur operational system or operating system, which is kind of a leadership system that companies, especially a lot of the companies that we deal with here in Orlando and throughout the state, are using to help grow the business. And they'll have key metrics like the KPIs. But tell us one of the tools that every leader should adopt from there.

Russell Slappey:

Well, the biggest one I think, and it of course ties into what we do, is the accountability chart. You know, you got to develop your accountability, who's gonna be doing what, and what are their 90-day rocks, their 90-day goals, and you measure that. So accountability, of course, ties into accounting, but it's really that, you know, holding people accountable, making sure they're following down that path to get things done against what they said they were gonna do. That's really a core of EOS, if you will. It's one of the core traits of what they're teaching how to manage. You got to set up accountability roles and then monitor, you know, every 90 days we go back through and go through them again and so forth and so on. It's a routine. But that routine is what creates regiment and a smoother run business so that everybody knows where they're headed, you know, and working together.

Sean Murphy:

Real quick, how long does how long has EOS been in our marketplace here? Since the beginning of GrowFL or shortly thereafter?

Russell Slappey:

No, it's it's it was before that. Okay. But you didn't see it as much until old Chris White got involved with Grow FL and started pushing it, and then CO Nexus and some of these, it started proliferating, you know. So it was there a long time ago because the book was around. But I think in Florida it really hit around that time. Chris was one of the great implementers in Florida and really took it to another level.

Roy Richardson:

Got it. Awesome. And so for the boating enthusiasts out there, Russell, what's what's the favorite go-to place for for boating? For boating?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah. Okay. I love Fort Lauderdale right now. You know, I have a buddy down there, has a big boat, a couple boats. Just the the waterways down there, the environment, the restaurants on the water, the views on the water, and then you got the beach run on the other side. I mean, it's just gorgeous down there. Fort Lauderdale and Florida right now, Las Olas is probably the number one spot. That's right. Yes. It's it's insane. There's a new restaurant every month opening up on Los Solas. There, you know, it's it's really growing down there, and it and it that just makes it all the better. You know, I'm down there a lot because it's a central spot because when we go to Market in South Florida, I can go up or down, you know, down to Miami or up to West Palm. So I got a great spot I stay at on the beach. Got the hookup with the lady that runs the sales for the hotel. I I connect. I got some connection too. You know, I I know her boyfriend's a finance guy, you know, and he and she ends up running the hotel. Now I got a sweetheart deal at the hotel, so that's great.

Sean Murphy:

That's what's up. Well, look, let's um let's get a little reflective here. And right, take us a deep.

Roy Richardson:

Yeah. So, Russell, what's your leadership philosophy now versus when you first started?

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, that's a good one, actually. I think when I first started, I didn't know what the hell I was doing, quite frankly. You know, my job was really, you just kind of like a bull in a china shop, you know, like back to you know, me and Sean are talking about with persistence. I don't really care. I'm just gonna get a client, I'm gonna service them, I'm gonna make them happy, I'm gonna move on, get a partner, you know. You get a little more, I still have that persistence and do things quick, quick in the moment, make decisions, but you you kind of, you know, there's funny now. There's we were we had some initiatives to start a new sell side advisory arm, and you're trying to put together the right people, and and it's funny, you know, people are like, well, it's taking too long. Why is this taking so long? Right. And it was funny when they're asking me that, I felt like, what do you mean this is taking too long? But what was happening is you're putting more thought into the operating agreement and the structure of how this is going to be run, which is what we've been talking about. So it's it's changed me being more forward-looking and making sure all that's in place before we move forward, the roles, the goals, the responsibilities, the you know, do you have the right people, the legalese down, do you have the insurance set up? As opposed to let's just get this thing up and running and we'll deal with it as it falls. So you get more organizing on the front end, which of course gives you less headaches on the back end, like we were talking about. Nice. It's definitely changed me over the years.

Roy Richardson:

So I would say it's it's it's reminiscent of probably our youthful days in college where things were on the whim, and you know, you you worried about the danger after you jumped versus, you know, looking to see how you know what how how high is it that you're jumping, you know, what what's what's the height of the cliff you're jumping off? So well you learn from your lessons.

Russell Slappey:

That's the idea.

Roy Richardson:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you you mentioned earlier that, you know, you're now a granddad, and congrats on that. But how does being a dad and now a granddad shape the way you lead?

Russell Slappey:

I think, you know, you I'm a big provider, is another thing behind the scenes. You know, I got three ex-wives, four kids. My dad was a provider. My dad was a very quiet father. You know, he didn't say, hey, I love you. He didn't show emotion. He just worked. You know, he worked his butt off, he provided for us. And I think that's where I get that, if you will, for my father, where I'm a provider. You know, if you're gonna be in my environment, I'm gonna make sure. You know, I was telling my daughter, I was like, why are you worried about college? And she's like, Well, we can't afford this or that. I'm like, that's not your job to worry. I've spent how many years at running this business? 25. I've been through three divorces. You, I don't want you even thinking about money. That's not your job. That's my job. You know, I made it where you don't have to think about it. And you need, and it kind of hurt me a little bit, but it also made you realize sometimes you don't tell your kids certain things they need to hear. Yeah. That, you know, we got this under control. Even though I talk about money a lot, I'm gonna count on a finance guy. I talk about money all the time. You know, whether it be mine, my clients' issues, whatever. So I'm very open about business. And you gotta watch that because kids see what they see, and maybe they don't really get it, you know. But yeah, we got her settled, it's all worked out. But I think that persistence and providing is also how I run the business. You know, we make sure we take care of the people that work for us, right? We're gonna hustle to get them leads and deals so they don't sit on the bench. We're gonna we're gonna talk to them very openly about how we run the business. I don't hide anything from anybody. I tell people probably too much. And I used to think that a couple of my partners, like, well, you don't need to say all that. You know what? If you don't like that style, you shouldn't be working with me. Right. And you gotta learn that not everybody's a fit for you, like we were talking about earlier, you know? So I kind of all my information's on my sleeve and I share it with everybody. Right. I like I like it that way. So I enjoy my job better, I enjoy my company better, my family better when we we run it that way.

Sean Murphy:

Now, I am I'm floored that I don't see on, you know, we did the questions beforehand, and I'm floored that I don't see work hard, play hard with you. Because you play hard.

Russell Slappey:

And you work hard.

Sean Murphy:

I know you work hard. Like I said, I get emails, you know, two and three o'clock in the morning, and and sometimes you'd be wanting to talk.

Roy Richardson:

I'm like, man, I'm sleeping.

Sean Murphy:

I'm sleeping, man.

Russell Slappey:

As he's playing hard. Yeah. As he's playing hard, I'm like, man, I'm sleeping. Gotta plug this in or we're gonna lose the connection. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So what was your question, Sean? Because you know I work hard to play hard.

Sean Murphy:

I I I again I have an idea what it all is, and I love I I love who you are because you're that kind of guy. But what what keeps you grounded, man?

Russell Slappey:

I do work hard, play hard. The reason I played so hard is what's the point of working so hard if you can't play? Right. Right. Great, greatly. You uh, you know, you gotta if you're gonna do all this and you're gonna kill yourself, you want to enjoy it, right? Yeah. You know, my mom's always like, why don't you get a when I started the firm, she was always like, Why don't you get a real job? Why don't you, you know, go work for a big company like your brothers? And I'm like, what's the fun in that? I'll be in the same place every day, you know, it'd be boring for me. I got the offer to be the CFO Iowa twice, you know, because they were consulting client ours. And Wes Scovander was a CFO, and he looks at me and he's like, You don't want to take this is like the best job in Orlando for a CFO. I mean, literally, it was. Yeah. And he even told me I could keep my clients and keep my business that John would let me do, the owner would let me do whatever I want, you know, because he was in that position. I said, but you don't get it, Wes. I don't want to be at the same place every day. Right. It's not about the money, it's about the lifestyle. And I think that's what I like about this. I'm a very social guy, and in this business, I get to socialize all day long.

Sean Murphy:

All day long. Oh, I love it. That's that's funny.

Russell Slappey:

We make connections at night, day, morning, weekend, and you're and you're helping people, which is really important too. You know, just two connections. It doesn't have to always be on the finance side. It could be some they need an attorney to help them get out of this or that, you know, immigration attorney. I just had a friend, she's like, I don't know what to do about this, all these immigration headaches that are going on. And I made a couple phone calls and boom, I'll solve the problem. So work hard, play art, definitely, but it feeds together in that also you get away. If you're gonna run a business where you're dealing with everybody's headaches all day long, you better have a relief spot somewhere. And I do check out, you know. So I always tell clients, you can call me.

Sean Murphy:

I don't want to hear that nonsense about you checking out because you're still you're still texting. You might be you might be doing what you do, but you're still texting. So don't sit there and say you checked completely out. Nah.

Russell Slappey:

I tell clients you can call me two o'clock in the morning. And the way that my my communication works, it's if I answer that phone, that means I'm up and I'm willing to talk to you. If not, just leave a voicemail. Call you back in the morning. I don't really care.

Sean Murphy:

If you want to call me at 1 o'clock in the morning, go ahead. I get a phone call about what was it, two months ago? Man, I'm in I'm in Nevada in the middle of the desert at Burning Man. I'm like, why are you calling me then? Like, go enjoy yourself, man. I got work to do. Well, I got this client issue I need to talk to you about. Oh, okay. All right, got it. So listen, you know, we've been doing what we do for a long time, and you know, the spark could be diminishing. I know for me, it's not. Tell me about a client transformation that still gives you goosebumps, you know, a deal that you've done that you're like, man, you know, it still gets you fired up.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, I got a couple of, I got some great stories. I mean, FBI involvement, IRS, you know, messes going on, bank messes going on. Right. You know, I got one client, I won't say who, just for sake of, but he's, you know, he's probably my you know most fun client, you know, at night, and also the most challenging one. You know, when we first started working together, everybody's like, oh, you gotta work with this guy, you gotta work with this guy. He's got this big booming lab business, you know. And I'm like, all right, and you know, me and him were ballers out on the scene and social scene, and and I got to know him, but when I went to work with him, and he'd admit this too, you know, it wasn't the same relationship. He was very, he had this big uh, you know, analysis personality when it came to work. And I'm one of these, let's make a decision and move on. Right. So he really started bumping heads right out of the gate. And he's like, Well, I don't know what I'm getting out of this. And I'm like, Well, you're not listening, you know, you can't get out of it unless you invest a little bit. We need to hire a controller. And I didn't want to scare him, so I called it accounting manager. You know, I we won't spend quite as much out of the gate. And we had no accounting whatsoever in the grand scheme of things for a $25 million business. Well, we parted ways. You know, I walked in his office one morning, I said, Here's your check back. And he said, Well, what do you give me a check for? I said, Look, you know everybody in this town, I know everybody in this town. I don't, I'm not gonna have you walk around saying I didn't do something for you if you disagree with what's been done. And he said, No, no, no, let's agree to disagree. Jumped forward six months later, he goes, I hired that lady you told me to hire is the best thing I ever did. And I said, Okay, does that mean you're gonna hire me back? And he didn't at first. Four years later, long story short, since we're gonna make it shorter, his partner called to get financing and stuff and said, Hey, Slappy, come do your magic. I need you to get the bank happy so we can get this loan. And I said, Well, if he's in this with you, it's not gonna happen because I already know his financials. And sure enough, a month later, he was in it. And I'm like, I can't, I warned you, you need to get all this cleaned up and under control, you know, and partially to go get financing because he had all these labs that he paid cash for. He could have financed it all and had so much more money in his coffers. Well, about a week goes by and he calls me one day and he's like, Slappy, what are you doing? I need you back. He goes, I finally understood what you said four years ago, and we need to get it, we need to get it done. So now we're great, you know, client relationship. You know, I even told him I said I might stop doing client delivery. I'm gonna start doing more of the sales and growing the firm with intention and start scaling the company. And he goes, Well, you're not leaving me. I don't care what you do, but you're staying in, you're staying on my account. So we've been a great now, it's seamless. You know, he trusts me, I trust him, I know what he's doing. He knows, you know, we we watch each other, we still see each other on the social scene all the time. And that is what keeps you going. When you have those types of relationships where you help the client immensely in some ways, you know, added value here, there, and there, and they respect what you did and and still can hang out with you too on the social scene so that you're friends, but you're also partners. Right. But I never take that relationship past the point, and there's a reason for that because he's gotta respect that I'm still his finance guy.

Roy Richardson:

Yep, yep, yep.

Russell Slappey:

I won't become your buddy, you know, every night or you know, go on trips with you to some degree. You gotta remember I'm your head finance guy. I gotta keep a little bit of distance so you have that respect for what I'm doing for you.

Sean Murphy:

So tell us an audience, three pieces of advice that you want every CEO to hear right now.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, that's a hard one. Uh not a hard one, but there's a lot of advice. You know, some of the themes we talked about. Get your forecasting in place. There are so many reasons, not just to understand the business better, to get ready for selling your company, to be prepared planning-wise, you know, when you go into a sales process, there's a reason you should be doing forecasting before that. That's a big one, right? Starting the business off right, you know, with the right operating, the right roles of responsibilities, accountability within your organization. Uh, we talked about that. And I think another one, the theme of our conversation, you should still step back and have fun. Right. You got to remember the company is a vehicle for what to get you somewhere, success, however you want to call it. But at the end of the day, if you step back and realize, you know, I went through three divorces and partially the first one or two was because I worked so damn hard. I'm a workahawk. And you're not at home, and you're always on the road, and you're just, you know, I was in love with my business. So you gotta remember to make time outside of your business. Right. I enjoy my business much more today because I make plenty of time outside it, believe it or not. Yeah. I do it on a social scene, but I do that for a reason because now I enjoy what I'm doing the next day because I've had that time away, if you will.

Sean Murphy:

Well, I I don't want to let the cat out of the hat or the bag, but I heard about a big trip coming up. Our our good friend Eric told me about this nice trip y'all got coming up, and I'm like, that it sounds like that sounds like the trip, man. I love it. So we're going anyway. Yeah, we're gonna go to Egypt. Yeah, that not not just to Egypt, but the tour that you're gonna get.

Russell Slappey:

It's like the head of antiquities with us. We get to go behind the scenes and check out everything differently than everybody else. It's gonna be really cool.

Sean Murphy:

Yeah, nice. Well, so so so real quick, I know we started late than than we had anticipated, and I don't want to take a lot of your time. I know you got you got you got stuff to get done, but someone's in crisis, cash tightening at team stress. What's a 48-hour plan look like?

Russell Slappey:

Well, you know what somebody said to me one day, another consultant, he was a COO consultant. And he said, Russell, you're interesting. I've never seen somebody be so not stressed over the situation. And I look back at him and I say, Well, this ain't nothing. I've got three ex-wives and four kids.

Sean Murphy:

And I and listen, I admit as well, man. That's a stressful situation. Yeah. And look, you got you got a 20, like what, Kaylee is like 26, 27, maybe 30? He's 32. Yeah. And then you got Siri, who's like 10.

Russell Slappey:

11, yeah. Yeah.

Sean Murphy:

You know what I mean?

Russell Slappey:

I got quite the spread. You got the spread. What that does though is really help you be in a time of crisis. You don't get stressed. You you can see, look, these are the things we need to do. We've been there, done that before. The bank might pull your loan. If they pull your loan, don't worry, we'll renegotiate terms. It's showing that you're not stressed in that situation, and we can handle whatever comes at us, really. You know, having the experience of been in the situation with other clients helps you understand what's going to happen when the proverbial crap hits the fan, you know. And nope, we're not going to do this. We're going to not pay this, and it's going to create this kind of windfall of other things that are going to happen that might not be that good, but you have to go through that in order to get to your result that we're looking for, you know, or we got to do it this way so that we can shorten the pain and get to fixing that, you know, fixing the problem. So it's it's that experience of doing consulting with multiple clients in crisis situations where you command, this is what we need to do, calm down, we got it under control, this is what's going to happen. And you can give examples of other clients that have been in the same spot and and help them through it and guide them. Awesome. And at the same time, not be stressed because they're stressed to death a lot of times. Right. By showing you're not stressed, you don't push that even further on their side. You know?

Roy Richardson:

Awesome. Well, we're we're round, we're rounding near the top here. Got a couple more questions and then we're we're we're uh we're done. Just, you know, out of curiosity, and then this has been such a you know an information-laden session, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and journey. And I'm sure there are CEOs out there, you know, who are probably saying, you know, where can I start tomorrow morning to gain more clarity? Where should they?

Russell Slappey:

Well, I mean, most of them don't have good reporting and KPIs and metrics, and that's the problem. They don't really run their business by looking at the financials. They run it, you know, what are our sales today? You know, we got sales goals in place, but we don't know what our cash flow is, what our profitability by service line, by product line, by margin. You know, they're they're not digging into the financial side of the business, which if they learn more on that side would help them guide to be a more healthy business going forward. And sometimes they get to that because they an incident happens where the bank calls their loan, or the bank says we're not going to give you more funding, or you know, the economy changes and things get tight. They really should be doing that proactively as opposed to reactively. And unfortunately, a lot of COs do it reactively, you know, as opposed to trying to learn as to understand it better when they're not in need of it, say, you know, being, you know, so it's that's a big one.

Sean Murphy:

Very good. Very, very good. Well, listen, I, you know, I've always been a huge fan of Imperspective. It's the one firm that, you know, it is a Florida firm, and it stands for everything that we have worked on for the last 20 years in this town. Because, you know, 20 years ago, we had no infrastructure supporting small businesses, middle market businesses in this town, in this state. You know, ACG Florida Florida is new. All of the ACG chat chapters are new, TMA is new. Florida Venture Forum's been around a while, but it was basically dormant. Um, GROFL is new, the the Disney Entrepreneurs Center, that's new. The SPD SP. Yeah, all of that stuff is when we started and we put this stuff in place. But tell me where you want to take in perspective next. I know AI and you and Eric are working uh around AI and it's changing everything. And how are you preparing your clients for that shift? And then finally, what legacy matters most to you? So there's three questions there.

Russell Slappey:

Let me address the one, the AI. AI is changing everything faster than what people realize. And everybody keeps hearing that, but it is Eric reminds me all the time. He sends me clips of they just laid off 5,000 people here and you know, there, and you know, McKinsey's doing this and that. And we have to embrace this change, just like people had to embrace the internet, and at first they didn't want to, you know, and look at the change it brought about. So it's it's a new venture for in perspective in that I'm gonna have to partner with development firms that are in the technology side of things, and I'm working on that. So it's rolling out this year, here shortly, starting with a kind of an AI evaluation with CEOs, and hopefully they'll bite onto that. And that'll allow us to dig deeper to show them these are things AI can do to help your organization and even quick fixes, not necessarily expensive fixes. This is more about quick and dirty. You know, we've got a roofing client that he's amazingly doing better than all the other roofing clients right now. And and if you really look at why, he's using AI in his complete sales and marketing process. Right. You know, he's he's using every tool he can use that he can find related to AI, and it's making his sales better, his marketing better, cheaper, faster. He's winning, you know. So I think it's something we have to embrace. We were gonna start a sell side advisory, and I kind of had to pivot because I got to figure out how to get involved with AI. It's coming even faster. Now, for me, the legacy is ties into some of this, is having a holistic firm. I'm actually helping another individual start a, you know, a fractional COO firm, chief operating officer. Right. You know, we we work with the fractional HR firms, you know, sales organizations, fractional. I think holistically, what we want to do, and that's why I'm so want to get into AI, I want to get into sales side advisory, we're doing the recruiting. It's more about let's take you from when we met you as an organization client and be able to add value in different ways, whether it's our firm or some of our friend firms, if you will, our partner. Yeah. And we get we get you from your valuation here today to a much larger valuation before you get ready to retire. And explain to the clients that these are the things you got to do along the path to get there, you know, and not just explaining, but helping them through connections, partner firms, right? Whatever it takes. The legacy for me will be you know, we're looking in Atlanta, it's been a rough year and a half. We'll we'll get there eventually, you know, it's gonna happen. And then we'll go to Dallas, and then we'll go to Raleigh. I don't really see myself retiring, so I don't I'm not sure the h what the hell I would do if I retired. Right quick. So the firm allows me to stay engaged. I can always work one l one day less a week, you know, or something like that. But the legacy, you know, some people want to sell the company. I don't know in this case if we will one day. It might be we just sit on the board. Right if we could get all these services going where we're helping entrepreneurs and helping companies go from A to B to C and exit. I don't think it's such a bad thing to sit on a board and just let the company run underneath you and enjoy it, you know, and still make those connections for all those entrepreneurs, you know, and pop in every now and then, you know. So this year we're gonna start interviewing our old clients and past clients, and I can't wait to kind of do that and get the vibe of how that feels. You know, some of them I haven't talked to in five years, and then all of a sudden let's go see what they're doing now, you know. So that'll be the legacy, Sean.

Sean Murphy:

Is really Dick has to be pushing, you know, 80, and I and I say that just because not because he looks it, but just because I know his history. And he's still connecting. I I Dick and I had coffee two years ago. And and he was sharp as, you know, he is, you know, it's like, okay, Dick, I got you, man. So anyway.

Russell Slappey:

Yeah, I think that's the legacy, and just and you know, you do this all for a reason. I'm a provider. I want my kids to be well off, you know, and that'll come as a result of making all that happen too. You know? Yeah, always having security, you know.

Roy Richardson:

You've been great at providing the perfect segues here, and and you you you've led me into my next question here because you were just speaking about boards and maybe sitting on a board, etc. And so, you know, one question that that I like to ask, and we like to ask our our guests is you know, if you could create a personal dream board of advisors, anyone from any era, who would you choose and why? And what roles would each person play in guiding you in the next chapter of End Perspective or Russell Slappy?

Russell Slappey:

Well, I think the first, you know, group of advisors would be my peer group. You know, I was I've been involved with the organization called FNACA. Now I jumped out of there too. You know, that's Sean's point, you should move around and try different things, you know, and a board should be rotated every now and then too. But I was in for a period of four to five years, this FNACA organization, which is really all the owners of the true fractional CFO firms around the country. I mean, if I had to pick my board, I'd pick all those owners because they've already been there, done that. They've dealt with all the challenges I'm dealing with, they've already been through it, they know how to structure compensation, how to structure partners coming in, how to get ready for retirement, how to get ready to sell the company. And they know my type of company because that's what they have, you know. So that would be my ultimate board, if you will, you know, because it it ties so tight into what we do and how we do it. Because they're very similar to our firm, a lot of them, you know. It doesn't have to be some, you know, I I don't see it being like a Bill Gates or something like that. I don't I'd rather have the the team of people that have been there done that in what I do, if you will.

Roy Richardson:

Nice. Nice. Nice. Well, that that's uh the perfect segue, I would say, again, into transitioning to the home run here. Sean, take us home.

Sean Murphy:

Excellent, excellent. Well, Russell, man, I really appreciate and thank you for the time today. You've been my dog for for 20 plus years, man. We've built these organizations and sent each other clients and stuff like that. And I, yeah, you know, I you I've been to the hospital when babies are born and just all kinds of crazy stuff, man. It's inspiring, you know. Encourage you to continue to do what you're doing. You are making the the world a better place. And business, in my opinion, small and medium sized businesses are the the foundation of our country and and of our state. And so thank You again for that and for sharing your story.

Russell Slappey:

No, I I appreciate it, Sean. And this goes back to you know, me and you working together whatever eight years ago, and now you know you know you're starting your loan brokering business, and now me and Sean get to work together on that level. It's kind of great getting to help you over there too. So it's all about the relationships you build and then what you do with them. So definitely.

Roy Richardson:

Yeah. And and Russell, once again, you know, uh as Sean said, thank you for joining us today. Your journey is an incredible example of what persistence, service, and leadership looks like in action from building end perspective CFO and strategic services into a trusted partner for companies across so many industries to the countless hours you've invested in our business community with Sean and others through board's mentorship and your advocacy for small business, you've left a real mark on Central Florida and beyond. And I think what stood out the most is what you've done. You've done all of this with humility, uh and you know, integrity, and a genuine desire to help people succeed. And your story reminds leaders that clarity is power, relationships matter, and consistencies win. And and you know, we're grateful you shared your insights, your lessons, and your journey with us today. Congratulations on everything you've accomplished so far and for becoming a grandfather. And here's the impact you're going to continue to make in the years ahead. Thank you again for being here.

Sean Murphy:

Thank you guys. Yeah, and to our listeners, which I'm sure most of you all are a part of Russell's 50,000 email distribution list. Thank you for joining us. And be sure to subscribe, follow, and share this episode. Until next time, stay curious, stay driven, and keep leading with purpose.

Roy Richardson:

Hi, I'm Roy Richardson, host of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast. Are you a business owner or a leader of a successful business? If yes, we'd love to have you as a guest on our program. Our goal is simple: we provide a platform for leaders to share their experiences to benefit others. We want to hear your story, how you got started, the challenges you faced along the way, and your passion today. If this sounds like you're you know someone who fits these criteria, then be sure to get in touch with us by visiting our website linked in the episode description below. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and click the notification bell to be notified when our next episode goes live. Or if you'd rather listen to us during your car rides, you can also follow us on your favorite audio channel using your podcatcher. Thanks again, and remember, keep crushing it.