Ep 21 The Unsilent Partner: A Journey Through Business Success with CFO Nate Echols
In this episode of Aqua Talks, we dive into the real-world impact of strong leadership in business with our guest, Nate Echols—a seasoned financial officer known for helping organizations turn the corner from deficit to profitability. Nate shares lessons from his own journey, emphasizing the importance of sticking to core business principles, even as technology and AI reshape the landscape. We talk about what it really takes to build a resilient team, the value of hiring the right people, and creating a culture where growth can thrive. Our conversation also touches on the world of government contracting, where Nate breaks down the critical role of strategic pricing and staying compliant with federal regulations. Packed with practical insights, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of marketing, leadership, and smart business strategy.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- 00:07 - Introduction to Aqua Talks
- 05:30 - Transitioning Perspectives: The Journey of a CFO
- 10:14 - Challenges in Leadership and Business Growth
- 26:57 - The Importance of Hiring in Business
- 33:36 - The Importance of Financials in Business Success
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Aqua Talks provides valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of modern marketing strategies.
- The podcast emphasizes the importance of fostering meaningful connections with audiences to ensure marketing success.
- Nathaniel Echols shares his extensive experience in transforming struggling businesses into profitable entities.
- The conversation underscores the critical role of accurate financial management within government contracting practices.
- Leadership is presented as a fundamental aspect of business success, necessitating clear communication and strategic vision.
- Nate Echols discusses the challenges of hiring suitable candidates, highlighting the need for genuine enthusiasm and expertise.
GUEST BIO:
Nathaniel H. Echols Jr. brings over 53 years of experience in accounting and management, rising from humble beginnings to the executive level. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he has excelled across both government contracting and commercial sectors, with deep expertise in project cost accounting, financial management, and operations.
Fluent in GAAP, FAR, and DCAA compliance, Nathaniel has built accounting systems, crafted pricing strategies, and led finance, contracts, and HR teams with a practical, hands-on leadership style. Known for his strong professional network and deep knowledge of budgeting, forecasting, and cash flow management, he continues to deliver lasting impact through strategic insight and effective communication.
SHOW LINKS:
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Aqua Talks, marketing strategies, audience engagement, destination marketing, government contracting, business transformation, actionable insights, financial leadership, CFO advice, pricing strategies, government contracts, marketing innovation, business growth, leadership development, marketing tactics, branding strategies, digital marketing, public relations, small business success, entrepreneurial advice
Transcript
Welcome to Aqua Talks where marketing meets bold game changing ideas.
Speaker A:Join your hosts, Larry Aldrich and Maddie Dudley as they explore the art and science of cutting through the noise, capturing attention and fostering meaningful connections with your audience.
Speaker A:Whether you're a destination marketer, government contractor, or simply passionate about the transformative power of marketing, Aqua Talks offers engaging discussions, fresh insights and actionable strategies designed to inspire and inform.
Speaker B:Hi and welcome back to Aqua Talks, the podcast where we dive into marketing.
Speaker B:Whether you're just getting started out or you are a marketing pro market.
Speaker B:My name is Maddie.
Speaker B:I am the PR director of Aqua and this is a Brensys technology powered podcast and I'm joined by my co host, Larry Aldrich.
Speaker C:Hello, my name's Larry Aldrich.
Speaker C:I'm the President CEO of Brensys Technology and Aqua Marketing and Communications.
Speaker C:Today we're joined with Nate Echols.
Speaker C:Nate is our financial officer with Brensis and Aqua.
Speaker C:Nate also has an interesting background story.
Speaker C:He has a history of working with businesses from a CFO standpoint, helping businesses go from in the red to in the black.
Speaker C:And we'll dig into a little bit with that deeper with Nate.
Speaker C:But to start off, Nate, introduce yourself.
Speaker D:I'm Nathaniel Echols Jr.
Speaker D:I have a master's degree in business science and also a bachelor's in business management.
Speaker D:I've also worked for 46 years in the career.
Speaker D:I've built it from scratch.
Speaker D:I work from payroll clerk to CFO vice president and several different companies.
Speaker D:Seen a lot of things and done a lot of things and really came to enjoy what I do.
Speaker D:And I like helping businesses, you know, go from wherever they are to wherever they want to be if we can get there with what we see.
Speaker C:Well, with that, Nate, you have.
Speaker C:I've known you for quite a few years.
Speaker C:You've been with me since the beginning of Brensis and you know, can't thank you enough.
Speaker C:We've worked, we've been through some ups and downs together.
Speaker C:A lot of a long road, but it's been an enjoyable road and I continue to enjoy and it's getting much, much better and brighter.
Speaker C:I knew you're new as myself working with Aqua and Maddie.
Speaker C:She's a great host and a great person to work with.
Speaker C:So usually in this segment we go into talking about trends or hot topics, but we're going to divert a little bit and we want to hear something from you about what's really hot on your mind or tell us something intriguing.
Speaker D:Well, I guess you could say that I kind of look at all of the things that it required me to get to where I am.
Speaker D:And I'm looking back at the younger folks who are replacing us.
Speaker D:Most of their work can be done by the push of a button.
Speaker D:And that is kind of scary in a way, because fundamentally I hope we never get away from the fundamentals because they still work.
Speaker D:I can look at my own kids and say, oh my God, my life is going to be in their hands soon.
Speaker B:I don't think we're replacing me.
Speaker B:I think we're assisting the vision to live on.
Speaker C:Continuing the vision?
Speaker B:Yes, continuing it, Yeah, I guess.
Speaker D:Well, my first disappointment is that none of my daughters took a path in my footsteps.
Speaker D:I had three chances, so that's something I couldn't pass along to them.
Speaker D:It's hard to find a protege because no one wants to do the work that I do.
Speaker D:But it's rare to find people to do work like I do because it's time consuming.
Speaker D:But again, it's all about the science.
Speaker D:How to integrate all of the elements that go on with personnel and processing and what have you.
Speaker D:And it's all being taken away by AI.
Speaker D:That's what bothers me because AI has never been determined to be perfect.
Speaker D:It's like a human being.
Speaker D:It's not going to be perfect until a human being makes it perfect.
Speaker D:But we're imperfect, so how can that be?
Speaker D:That's what bothers me.
Speaker B:That's a good point.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So you've been a cfo, vice president, you've been with us with Brentz's since the beginning.
Speaker C:You helped create our pricing, you helped continue to create pricing on contracts.
Speaker C:You do the budgeting, you're a wizard with spreadsheets, and you wrote a book on a lot of what you've done.
Speaker C:Can you tell us a little bit about that book that you have out there?
Speaker D:Well, let me host it up here.
Speaker D:Here you go.
Speaker B:A silent partner, right?
Speaker D:Unsilent partner.
Speaker B:The unsilent partner.
Speaker D: is, this really came about in: Speaker D:So, so in that anger, that's what prompted me to write the book and change my future.
Speaker D:The, the idea that I was, I was going to be under this guy's rule of thumb.
Speaker D:Now, I'm also a veteran and I understand what the disciplines are, but he was going overboard and, and he deliberately did some things to me that I, I thought was uncalled for.
Speaker D:And because he was the owner, what else could I Do.
Speaker D:So I fought back in different ways, but then I said, well, why am I fighting?
Speaker D:Because I don't have to exist here if I don't want to be here.
Speaker D:And so because I went through this traumatic changeover and transition, so to speak, that prompted me to write the book.
Speaker D:In that book, I split myself into five people.
Speaker D:An owner, project manager, the marketing guy, the worker.
Speaker D:I put myself in all those places.
Speaker D:And through the venture, you'll see that the key to anybody's career is yourself.
Speaker D:You have to demonstrate to yourself that you can get to where you want to go by doing the things that need to be done.
Speaker D:And only you can identify those things that need to be done through help.
Speaker D:You can't do it alone.
Speaker D:You need, you need help.
Speaker D:And so up to that point, I really hadn't done a whole lot with my master's degree at that point, but, but what I got to do was to do a lot of other things.
Speaker D:And that prompted me to, to again, look at the perspective of how can I help instead of, you know, being, being cow.
Speaker D:You know, I, I guess you could say being, being knocked down, so to speak, from somebody who, who I knew couldn't hold my water.
Speaker D:So, so again, it's a, it's a, it's a step by step venture.
Speaker D:You know, like I said, I started out as a payroll clerk and ended up as a cfo, vice president in three different companies.
Speaker D:So, so each one of those kind of gives you a, a trail of climbing the ladder and then becoming an independent and running your own business.
Speaker D:You know, that, that's, that's the whole step with that.
Speaker D:And, and I haven't had a lot of success with it on the buy side, but I wrote it as a screenplay.
Speaker D:It's being recognized now, but I, I have to decide if I want to continue to invest in it.
Speaker D:It's been noted, it's been, it's been around.
Speaker D:I've been in, you know, book shows and whatnot, but I just haven't had the attention that, that I expected in the beginning because it was, you know, when I first started it out, it was, it was going, it was, it was doing great.
Speaker D:It was being noted, but it wasn't being bought.
Speaker B:That's where the marketing comes in, right?
Speaker D:That's where marketing comes in.
Speaker D:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Yeah, you need us.
Speaker D:And so now it's kind of like if I want to continue, I need a publisher, a publicist, you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker B:I feel like the hard part is over.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I mean, the book.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:Writing it was done.
Speaker B:Hard copy in your hand?
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker B:Okay, so tell us a little bit more about maybe some challenges that are tackled in the book or the plot line throughout.
Speaker B:I know you said you divide yourself into five different people.
Speaker B:Would love to just dive a little bit more into the book.
Speaker D:Well, generally when you're looking at leadership from an employee perspective, you're looking for someone to guide you.
Speaker D:And when the leadership decides that you can exist on your own, do whatever you need to have done and I'll get back to you.
Speaker D:You know, that's great for some people, but it's not great for everybody because again, you know, some people are stealth self starters and others aren't.
Speaker D:But if, and, and, and this is what I say, which is kind of, I don't know how it really exists today, a career ladder.
Speaker D:You also have, you, you have to decide, you know, like it's like being a doctor, how many, how many doctors do you have and how many disciplines are there?
Speaker D:And so, you know, I, I took this route because I didn't want to become a cpa.
Speaker D:I wanted to be more effective in a more freeway.
Speaker D:Because businesses on the whole operate the same, but they have their oddities, but their, their base operation is always the same.
Speaker D:Money in, money out.
Speaker D:And, and, but it's, it's a matter of getting, you know, the other players to also participate and look at this operation or business as a boat.
Speaker D:Everybody has an or, right?
Speaker D:And so we want to make sure that everybody understands that because if the boat sinks, we all go down.
Speaker D:And the buy in of any new idea, which is what the book is about, hey, let's do these things.
Speaker D:The marketeer wants to do all these things.
Speaker D:He has a chart that goes through the roof, he has a marketing strategy.
Speaker D:He's not revealing how he's getting business, those kind of things.
Speaker D:These are all the things that you find out that are really inside the inner workings of how you keep your business going.
Speaker D:And once you realize that some things are better than others, which may come into the idea that, well, not all business is good business, again, all these decision points that come along, you have to be prepared for on a whim sometimes, and sometimes you can think it out.
Speaker D:But again, it's a matter of, you don't want any buyer's remorse and you want to make sure that you're comfortable with what you have in front of you.
Speaker D:And that's all about leadership.
Speaker D:And again, I try to be the, the one who, who pulls on the shirt and say, well, you know, that's not Good.
Speaker D:You know, let's just try to do something else.
Speaker D:Well, let's think through that.
Speaker D:You know what?
Speaker D:And, and a lot of things is that when people listen to other people, you gotta, you got, you gotta take their, you know.
Speaker D:Yeah, I guess you have to place value on it.
Speaker D:You know, where are you getting any information from?
Speaker D:Is it relevant?
Speaker D:Is it something that's going to be in my favor?
Speaker D:Your favor is going to benefit me and you, those kind of things.
Speaker D:That's what leadership does in a nutshell for a progressive or an aggressive or up and coming business.
Speaker D:Because everybody wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves in the beginning.
Speaker D:You want to continue that going on.
Speaker D:I don't know how businesses are doing that after Covid, now that everybody's at home and those kind of things.
Speaker D:Because now you're not in proximity anymore.
Speaker D:Now you're in separate, separate places and you're not under observation, so to speak.
Speaker D:So I think from that perspective, for me, good, solid leadership builds a good business.
Speaker D:And so I try to give them the fortitude and the information that's necessary to keep them in the lead and disseminate the information to the people so that they know what's going on.
Speaker C:Yeah, leadership.
Speaker C:You've been helping me out with that a lot.
Speaker C:You give me a lot of information and sometimes I have to sit there and think about some of that information because it's a lot coming at once.
Speaker C:But you're doing a good job so far.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:And it's been very helpful.
Speaker C:A lot of your ideas were implemented.
Speaker C:Some of the, especially your spreadsheets, and I like to bring up spreadsheets because I'm horrible at spreadsheets and I'll start a spreadsheet and I'll send it over to Nate and he's like, yeah, I had to trash that and start it over again.
Speaker C:But with that, I mean, a lot of the businesses that you said, you take them from wherever to somewhere else.
Speaker C:I just use the terminology from the red to the black.
Speaker C:But like you said, it could be from one place to wherever.
Speaker C:How have you helped companies in your past?
Speaker C:You say you've been VP at three of them, you've been CFOs, you've had quite a few different leadership positions.
Speaker C:But even when you were, let's say, off on your own, can you think of some of the ideas or some of the tactics you use to help businesses get better?
Speaker D:Well, well, like, like, like I was saying earlier is that you got to look at the resources that, that you had and And I'll give you an example.
Speaker D: I, I, I joined the company in: Speaker D:He didn't realize what he.
Speaker D:So I read the contract, went through it, and I said, do you realize that you have 50 positions that you're not filling on this contract?
Speaker D:And he said, well, yeah, I don't want to do those right now.
Speaker D:I said, but if you're struggling and this is your only resource, you got to go for it.
Speaker D:Well, reluctantly, he went for it.
Speaker D:And guess What?
Speaker D:We got 25 of those positions, just for asking, okay?
Speaker D:And the company grew.
Speaker D:In fact, that was my first vice presidency.
Speaker D:When the company grew, we took on some, I guess you could say an investor type.
Speaker D:He wanted to be a part of the business.
Speaker D:And so when he joined the company, he wanted to start a new wing of the company.
Speaker D:He wanted to go into mortgage finance, but we were auto scientists.
Speaker D:So the idea that he wanted to bring in something totally out of the bag into the company, I thought was preposterous.
Speaker D:But again, I don't own the company.
Speaker D:So when the business wasn't going great, I had to step in and track all of those cost that he was adding into the company and then had to put a halt to it.
Speaker D:And then when the, when the owner decided that he needed to really sit down and analyze what was going on, I had to tell him that we had no more resources to support this guy.
Speaker D:Now he was a cpa.
Speaker D:And so what was funny is that when he decided that he was going to continue the venture but not stay with the company, he asked me what we would charge him for in office.
Speaker D:And, and so I gave him the estimate.
Speaker D:And he said, my God, what.
Speaker D:Why is this so much?
Speaker D:I said, well, first of all, we're in Bethesda, Maryland, which is expensive.
Speaker D:Number two, you never understood our overhead strategy, overhead structure.
Speaker D:And number three, you have no idea of what it costs to run this business because you never asked, okay?
Speaker D:And so he looked at me as if I was a stranger.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:But again, I was the only one to stand up in the meeting and say, you got to get rid of this guy.
Speaker D:He's not bringing anything to the table.
Speaker D:He's an expense.
Speaker D:So when you can do that in front of an entrepreneur and their favorite people, and you're the only guy that can say that and stand up and do it and get action taken, because we got rid of him, and the business went on to flourish.
Speaker D:So, again, those are the kind of things that I grew to enjoy, so to speak.
Speaker D:Because again, when you have.
Speaker D:When you have the information and the numbers, there is no fight.
Speaker B:So how do you approach delicate situations with owners like that?
Speaker B:I mean, business owners, their business is essentially one of their children, if they have kids.
Speaker B:So how do you.
Speaker B:How do you approach that kind of situation with kid gloves?
Speaker D:At first, you know, you can't.
Speaker D:Let's put it like this, you can't do a doge.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:You're never going to learn anything that way.
Speaker D:The approach is, tell me the problem.
Speaker D:Let's see, how did this develop?
Speaker D:And that's when you find out there are certain things that there was misinformation.
Speaker D:I thought they were going to do this, but they didn't do that.
Speaker D:Now it's costing me twice as much.
Speaker D:What that tells me is that you didn't make a right decision to begin with, making timely decisions and having somebody to discuss them with who has some knowledge of what you are looking for.
Speaker D:Because there are all kind of people out here that do all kind of things.
Speaker D:And the first thing that I always recommend is that you talk to somebody who knows what's going on, because we can all fly by the seat of our pants.
Speaker D:But like I said, I learned a lot through this, and I've learned resiliency as the most prominent part of my demeanor now.
Speaker D:So, yeah, you can tell when you start to break things down and how the decision was made and why they're in a situation they're in.
Speaker D:You know, why.
Speaker B:A lot of listening, right?
Speaker D:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker D:And again, that's.
Speaker D:That's discipline.
Speaker D:It's just something that I taken on.
Speaker D:Well, my parents were also deaf, so.
Speaker D:So patience has always been something I've.
Speaker D:I've always had to work with.
Speaker D:And so I get.
Speaker D:I guess I'm kind of turning that into something that I can continue to do.
Speaker D:You know, understanding that there are.
Speaker D:Whenever you come into situations, there's a reason why it's there.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker C:With a lot of GovCon, companies that watch our podcast and companies that want to sell services and products to the federal government without going too, too deep, and I know you can talk about this for a long time.
Speaker C:Why is pricing and pricing correctly extremely important in government contracts?
Speaker D:Well, first of all, you have to comply with the far.
Speaker D:The Federal Acquisitions regulations.
Speaker D:They're complex, but they're navigable, obviously, because there are millions of government contracts out there.
Speaker D:There's a method that the government employs that each government contractor must employ.
Speaker D:It's already established.
Speaker D:What the issues are, is that how do you categorize expenses?
Speaker D:That's the Big deal.
Speaker D:And so everything you do has to be applied somewhere.
Speaker D:Your hours, expenses, how you categorize expenses.
Speaker D:Do you have countable expenses or uncountable expenses?
Speaker D:That's a big difference between commercial and government work because the government is so rigid in the way that they want you to report.
Speaker D:That's why you get into the very, I could say into the weeds when you create a proposal.
Speaker D:Proposals are really complex from a standpoint of trying to come up with the price, as you say, because the price is made up of several different things.
Speaker D:Price.
Speaker D:The first thing is salary rate.
Speaker D:Then you have the overhead and GNA rates, which are operational costs.
Speaker D:And then you want to profit on top of that.
Speaker D:Now, if you're in a very complex situation where you have to borrow a lot of money, they have what they call a cost, a cost plus factor, because that's another fee that you're going to have to add into your cost because you're paying interest to borrow money to keep up with the expenditures that you have.
Speaker D:So again, in that situation, you are trying to always make sure that you understand what the contract is and what it's supposed to do for you.
Speaker D:Now, there are four type of contracts.
Speaker D:One cost plus fixed fee.
Speaker D:That's your most difficult because it requires a lot more discipline through the general ledger process.
Speaker D:There's fixed price, which is the easiest because you're only picking a price to produce a product.
Speaker D:Now the problem there is that you could lose your shirt on a fixed price contract.
Speaker D:Of course, then again, you could get a boat on a fixed price contract.
Speaker D:It depends on how you look at it.
Speaker D:And then there's the time and material.
Speaker D:Time and material are basically just the time that you're spending on the job and then any materials associated with that.
Speaker D:And then you have your cost plus award fee.
Speaker D:Generally what that is, it's like a cost plus, but you get your award fee at the end if you're successful in all your deliverables.
Speaker D:So because that those exist, the method of capture is encompassed in the way that the FAR is set up to oblige the government.
Speaker D:But it's done in such a way that it gives you insight to everything that you're doing as well.
Speaker D:And for me, that is essential.
Speaker D:And that's the point that I work from, from an audit and that standpoint of all of the data in one place for the entire organization.
Speaker D:Once you see that, you can go forward from there, because now you have everything that you have in order to make the decisions for the future at hand.
Speaker B:I know we've talked a lot about numbers and data, but something important that you mentioned to me earlier was hiring the right people for a company.
Speaker B:How do you approach that process?
Speaker D:Well, I'm going to start here.
Speaker D:In the last 20 years, in my interview process, I used to ask one question to every candidate, and none of them have been able to answer, and they want to be accountants.
Speaker D:So I thought that was very funny.
Speaker D:I even asked Joanne that question, and then she didn't get it right.
Speaker D:So the question is, what entry balances the balance sheet?
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:It's called net profit.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:That's the whole business.
Speaker D:That's why accountants are here.
Speaker D:Profit.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:You want to make sure.
Speaker D:So again, I think that I also had a woman that came in and I asked her, I said, how would you rate yourself on, you know, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets?
Speaker D:She said, oh, I'm a 10.
Speaker D:I said, oh, great.
Speaker D:You know, macro.
Speaker D:She said, what's that?
Speaker D:So, so again, I, I always look at interviewing people is let, Let them.
Speaker D:Who are they?
Speaker D:You know, what excites them?
Speaker D:How?
Speaker D:I mean, I, you know, some people can, can, can, you know, fake their way through things, but there are certain things that I think that are just inside you as an individual that can personify who you are doing an interview.
Speaker D:If you're enthusiastic about the work, it'll show.
Speaker D:If you're not enthusiastic and you just want a job, it'll show.
Speaker D:If you're not even interested, you know, that'll show.
Speaker D:So, yeah, so.
Speaker D:So first of all, I want to find out how interested they are in the, in the career itself, because I want to see people grow.
Speaker D:And so when, when, when I'm training people, I like to see them come back to me and ask me good questions because I've.
Speaker D:I've led them to a point to where they can now go off on their own and start making other mistakes.
Speaker D:But again, it's all about fitting in.
Speaker D:I think you only really need to ask about five or six questions to an individual, I think, in order to gauge their interest.
Speaker D:I've always worked like that because it's always the second and third interviews where I get a lot deeper.
Speaker D:I never hire on the spot.
Speaker D:I don't care what the situation is.
Speaker D:Even when I was in a bankruptcy situation, I was the controller in a bankruptcy situation and I had to hire an assistant.
Speaker D:I hired an auditor from the government because he was desperate and I was desperate.
Speaker D:But what I found out is that he only could work backwards.
Speaker D:He couldn't work forward.
Speaker D:I mean, who the thunk you're an auditor.
Speaker D:So, so yeah, you know, it's, it's, there's a lot of people out there, you know, you know, not everybody's a good fit.
Speaker D:It's, it's, it's even tougher now, I guess, because, you know, people, you know, AI can write their resume, you know, but, but again, you have to kind of, kind of get a sense of who they are.
Speaker D:Why are they here?
Speaker D:Basically, why are you here?
Speaker D:I kind of find that approach more soothing from a soothing standpoint, to say, yes, that person will get to the next step or not.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker C:Speaking of, I know you'll be retiring for what, the fourth time at the end of this year.
Speaker C:So we, you know, I can't let it go.
Speaker D:I can't let it go.
Speaker C:We'll have some, we'll have some big shoes to fill, but you'll be the one interviewing them three or four times.
Speaker C:So, you know, before we let you go.
Speaker C:First off, thank you.
Speaker C:Secondly, you know, Nate has, has a book out there and again, it's.
Speaker B:The title is the Unsilent Partner.
Speaker D:The Unsilent Partner and Unsilent Partner.
Speaker D:Unsilent Partner.
Speaker C:Nate and I, again, we've worked together.
Speaker C:We've met through a mutual business partner.
Speaker C:Actually.
Speaker C:I got in this industry through a small woman owned small business years ago and the owner of that business worked with Nate in the past and introduced me to Nate and told Nate about the venture that I was starting, which was Brentz's Technology llc.
Speaker C:And Nate was with us.
Speaker C:Nate was with me from the beginning.
Speaker C:He helped me win my first contract.
Speaker C:He helped Brensys put their pricing together.
Speaker C:He continued to help Brentsis with their financials or budgeting.
Speaker C:He helped see Brensis become a profitable company.
Speaker C:He was part of doing all of the research on the financials when we looked at Aqua Marketing and Communications.
Speaker C:So he was a big part of that, that research and who we are today, becoming the organization that we are.
Speaker C:So thank you, Nate, for being a part of that.
Speaker C:And you've definitely helped our business get to where it is today.
Speaker C:I could definitely see how you helped other businesses in the past get to where they needed to be and beyond.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker C:We usually take this portion to go into.
Speaker C:Give us, giving us a success story.
Speaker C:But I just gave you a success story.
Speaker D:That was.
Speaker B:Your testimonial.
Speaker C:Yeah, that was.
Speaker C:That you were just a great part of.
Speaker C:So we enjoy having you as long as we can continue to work with you.
Speaker C:Any other business.
Speaker C:I know you're retiring but any other business out there.
Speaker C:Gotta find you a Nate.
Speaker C:Definitely find you a Nate.
Speaker C:Your financials are really important when you're starting up and you're getting out there.
Speaker C:Your financials, your pricing is extremely important.
Speaker C:So you gotta find your innate and with that we can close here.
Speaker B:Thanks again Nate for coming on the call.
Speaker D:I appreciate it.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:If you are interested.
Speaker B:You too.
Speaker B:If you're interested in learning more about Aqua or Nate or Brensis, please go to aquatacs.com we have all of our socials listed there too.
Speaker B:Thanks again for listening or watching.
Speaker A:You've been listening to Aqua Talks where marketing innovation takes center stage with bold ideas and actionable insights ready to take your strategies to the next level.
Speaker A:Visit aquatalks.com to book your free consultation and explore resources that empower you to thrive in today's fast paced marketing world.
Speaker A:Until next time, stay bold, stay inspired, stay imaginative.
