Creating A Clear Strategic Plan To Establish A Solid Foundation With Krishna Mohan

Let’s talk about the importance of strategies and foundation. You see great companies fail, and they think their marketing is a problem but what they don’t understand is their numbers. Companies may make topline money, but how good it is if you’re breeding on your taxes. If you don’t have a proper tax strategy, then no matter how much you build, you have a very weak foundation, you have so many leaks. We got to block that first. Krishna Mohan the president of Genius Visionary managing partner of Capital Street Investments LLP, Genius Business Credit and President of the Gifting Boutique discussed with Brett Swarts in this interview the detail on how to create a strategic and solid foundation in building your wealth and he also shared valuable insights and wisdom on how to grow your bottom line and also selling a business or real estate at the opportune time.

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Creating A Clear Strategic Plan To Establish A Solid Foundation With Krishna Mohan

I’m excited about our next guest. He is an entrepreneur, business coach, Speaker, number one best selling author, and has been seen on Fox TV and multiple media outlets. He’s the president of genius visionary managing partner of capital street investments LLP and president of the Gifting boutique and he has a wealth of knowledge to share with us when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, entrepreneurialism, growing your bottom line, and also selling your business or real estate at the opportune time. So that being said, Please welcome to the show, Krishna Mohan. Krishna, how are you?

Doing? Great, Brett, how are you doing today?

I’m doing great, great as well. Thank you so much for connecting with us. And by the way, you can find Krishna. He has a number of websites, geniusvisionaryinc.com, geniusbusinesscoach.com, geniusonlineacademy.com and geniusbusinesscredit.com. And he is out of the DC Maryland area on the east coast. And so thanks so much for joining us. And so Krishna, would you start with giving our listeners a little bit about your background and current focus?

Yeah, so my background is, I’m a business coach. I’ve been in entrepreneurship for a long time and come from a corporate background with a wealth of knowledge in sales, marketing, business development, management operations, and, you know, and then also helping small business owners succeed in there, you know, in their ideas in their game and taking their businesses to the next level. That’s my background. However, I’m also into real estate, into multifamily land investing. And then also, we have a few other creative strategies that we do in real estate. On the business consulting side, we help business owners on growth, primarily the revenue growth, take the company from point A to point B. And then we also have genius online Academy, which is a DIY business coaching platform that we developed, which will also help the small business owners to use that as a tool to build their business on their own. And then we also have a suite, which is called Virginia’s business finance suite, which helps business owners to build business credit based on aim and separate the business owner using his personal bitcoin collateral to raise capital. And we have a comprehensive program on that. So we have a solution for revenue, we have solutions for money, we help them to get funding and financing. And then we are also focused on acquisitions, especially during these times in the next three to five years, that would be our primary focus. We are seeing that as our app for our own exponential growth. So that’s a little bit about us. Yeah.

Excellent. Well, thanks for sharing that. And I’m curious, Krishna, I believe we’re all been given certain gifts in this life to bless others and help others. So I want you to back up when you were younger, you know, what was it maybe that gift made you feel like you were kind of given I call them God-given gifts to bless other people, once again, you are given and how do you use that to bless and help others today?

Yeah, so during my childhood, and during my upbringing, I always, you know, like helping people, I like talking to people I like listening to people trying to, you know, help them in any which way is just by that comes as a natural nature for me. However, I also realized that giving is the wave for growth, and the more you give the more you get. It goes back to the, you know, my spiritual belief systems. And then I also questioned everything that happens that isn’t me, why things happen the way they happen, why people succeed, why people fail, what makes somebody be successful in their life, right? Through that inquisitiveness, I keep on indicating and seeking answers. And that happened in my corporate experiences that happen everywhere and everything I do. And then through that process, I realized that I really gained a lot of knowledge. I gained a lot of answers through formal education, informal education, mentors, you know, testing things, taking risks, and getting those answers, and then realize that I have something to give back to offer. So I’m on a mission, I’m on a purpose to help a million small businesses, if I can, that’s my, that’s, that’s what I’m after. And I know, you know, 50% of businesses fail in two years. 85% fail in the next five years, 96% of businesses will never reach $1 million in their lifetime. I don’t like that statistic. I want to make it better. That’s my goal. That’s, that’s my purpose.

I absolutely love it. Yeah, thanks for connecting that. And it’s so true. The more you give, the more you receive. And the more you can help others do the same and succeed. So they can give more to it just creates so much more for everybody. Click To Tweet So I love that. Yeah. So let’s walk through a little bit about your fascination with real estate, with business coaching, with finance, with you know, with wealth, you know, when did you, you know, become, you know, focused and are fascinated with, you know, shifting from your own, let’s say freedom and success and wealth, Tim, to helping others do the same? What was that shift? Walk us through that journey? A little bit?

Yeah, so when I was back in 2008, I, we know what happened at the time, I realized a lot of people, you know, got into real estate and lost money, a lot of people became really wealthy during the time I saw both sides of the coin. And that’s when I realized that there’s something going on here that I really need to understand. So I really dug deep into that, you know, the real estate part of them, you know, the game. And that’s why I picked up interest in the financial system, understanding, you know, the economy, understanding the monetary system, understanding how the dollar, you know, works against other currencies, understanding inflation, how all these things are integrated to, you know, the interest rates, how all these things impact the real estate and everything. That’s how I pick my own interests. So that, you know, because I realized that, you know, it’s your job to take care of your wealth, it’s your job to take care of your family, it’s nobody’s job, you know, we expect others to give answers. But you know, we don’t get those answers. And, and that’s why we see companies failing, we see economists failing. Through that, I realized that real estate is definitely a great vehicle, it’s a long term game. And if you stick to your plan, you will get where you have to get but again, tax is one big thing. And then also, you always really need to have a clear end goal in mind. Everything is great and I realized it. But we always see people failing, and very few people making big money, when and then people who are doing it, they’re always doing well. And then many people who get into real estate in seeking that quick money. They don’t make it, they don’t get it. What’s the problem? I know, I do the same rehab, I get it, I do the same wholesale, I get into the same apartment building, but they don’t get they don’t know why they did that. That’s not working for them. Because they don’t have enough knowledge. They don’t study the market, they don’t understand taxes. They don’t understand finance, they don’t understand accounting. And if you don’t understand all of these things, no matter what deal, you talk about it, it can fail. Doesn’t make sense, because these things go hand in hand as we discussed, and You make topline money, how good it is, if you're breeding on your taxes, if you don't have a proper tax strategy, you know, then no matter how much you build upon that, you have a very weak foundation, you have so many leaks, he got… Click To Tweet, right. And then if you really do that very well, then you not only keep the money that you make, but you also compound what you really make. So all these things really excited me and I went to school too, to get a graduate degree in finance, but I come from a sales background. I did that on purpose because I challenged myself. You know this is the missing link. You know, you can be a great sea warrior. You know, you see great companies that they fail. They think their marketing is a problem. What they really don’t understand is their numbers. They really don’t understand how to read a cash flow statement. They don’t understand how to read an income statement. They really don’t understand how to read a balance sheet and that’s actually an accountant job that’s not the accountant job, that’s your job. It’s your business is your job you guide your accountant on, on how and how you need to strategize for the next year. If you can get to that level, then you will, you will be good in it in real estate, you will be very good in business too. So I think that’s one weakest link in the corporate world that I see. In the small business, it’s across the board. They don’t even acknowledge what’s really even important. They think it’s my CPS problem, my CPA will take care of my accounting. And my tax advisor will take care of my taxi. My Carnaval takes care of my paperwork. That’s absolutely not right. You have to take care of everything, and they help you to reach your goals

Love it, yes. So well said. So it’s really about understanding your numbers, right, having a clear exit plan. And looking at all the factors that make you successful, it’s not just making a big profit, it’s also being able to sell the right time, nowhere that you know, monetary policy or interest rates or taxation is, and then owning all of those things, you need to own that you’re you are your most, no one’s gonna care as much as you’re going to care right about your real estate, your business or your numbers, and he thinks someone else is going to care about it. That’s where you’re gonna fall. That’s where things are gonna leak out. So of course the accountants hire the guides, but you got to know at first you got to care more and not pass off the responsibility to somebody else. Is that a fair summary?

Yes, that’s exactly it is. Yeah. Absolutely.

Strategic Planning: Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.

Excellent. So what are the steps that if someone were to say, hey, Krishna, I need help with that, you know, what’s the first step to understanding their numbers or more so that understanding it, but taking that responsibility? How do you help somebody breakthrough, maybe some of those false beliefs, some of those challenges where they haven’t done before?

Yeah. So the way we do this with business owners is we sit with them and really, you know, try to understand why are they doing what they’re doing in the first place? Why are you into real estate? Why are you in the restaurant business? Why are you getting into hotel business? Right? We need to first understand that first. You know, is it just because you know, it is seen there is some big money here? Is it because you’re passionate about it? Or do you have an end goal in mind? In how long are you going to continue this business? And what’s your growth plan? And do you even have a plan? You know, what would be your ideal year for the next one year? What would be a year two, year three, year four? year five? When are you exiting? Do you know? Or what would it look like? Once you grow to that number? I want to grow my business to $20 million. Can you visualize what that will look like? How many employees would you have? What would be your financials? What would be your gross margins? What would be your net margins? What would be a net income? What kind of asset base do you have? You know, once you have that kind of projections in place, once you challenge these guys to think forward that long, then that comes that will force them to think man right now my tax is only $10,000, I did not realize I have to pay like half a million dollars my taxes, then what is your plan? You know, then it will force them to plan for that. And that will force them to say, hey, maybe I need to invest in this asset, maybe I need to, you know, do I understand my depreciation schedule, you know, you start thinking like this, then you start planning for that, then you become strategic about investing, then the investment will make sense. It’s not always the top line, in a law sense it can be your profit, if you understand it will be losses or losses, everything is a perspective if you look at numbers. From an accounting perspective, sometimes a loss can be to your advantage, sometimes gains can be to your disadvantage. But that’s a little advanced. But once the business owner gets to that level, then he has a lot of tools, then he is strong, then it’s not always about the top line, then it goes back to you know, his assets, then it goes back to his equity, then it goes back to debt. And then he starts looking at debt as a different instrument itself. You know, not like that as that like a negative debt. Why are the richest companies having the most debt? I asked these questions to the business, they didn’t get it. You know, why is this mostly just cash-rich companies having debt? Why should they have debt in the first place? You know, so yeah, I think yeah, that, I think that’s how I kind of question I kind of bring them to a place where they acknowledge, I need to consider this is very important for me. And if I have this kind of holistic view of the business, not just sales, not just product, not just idea, having good accounting practices in place, having a good financial understanding about your business, having a good tax strategy in place. We’ll put you in a position where you not only build your business but also potentially build generational wealth. You know, because everything ties up to everything else. And then even you can transition that business, that asset to someone else in to maybe to your legal here, or maybe sell in so then you’re under control, not necessarily the economy, you are under control, irrespective of what happens outside. And from them, you actually plan this next year. And that’s how I get into my engagement.

Excellent. So the more you own and are responsible for your business and your numbers and your planning and your vision and your exit plan, the more you’re in control, and the more you’re not on those fundamentals right, the more when COVID-19 or tax is new, you know, elections are, you’re out of control, right? Because is because you’re so dependent on or and or not so much dependent, it means that the word but you’re so focused on those things, that you’re missing the things that are right in front of you, right, so

you’re on a shaky foundation. That’s why the fear sets in, you have the fear, right? The fear is, what would happen to this election? When is this code in this 19 COVID-19 is going to end? You won’t have answers. Nobody knows. Everything is a speculation of what would happen if there is no next recession. Because you’re fearful. Now, you’re not taking actions that are important for your business. But if you are under control, then you take actions proactively, because you have a plan. And that’s where we are seeing a lot of business owners right now are struggling. Some other businesses are almost going out of business. Because they just focus on the top line, there is an opportunity, this is a way to make money, I will go and chase it. That’s just not the right way. In the end, Everybody wants money, but it's just the process of how you want it in a way that you can keep it that's the key. Click To Tweet

Excellent. So well said. So start with why. Why did you start the company in the big beginning? or Why did you invest in real estate in the beginning? What’s your passion behind that? What’s your long term goal? What’s your growth plan? Right? What’s the ideal plan in 135? Or 10 years? Can you visualize that and see that and then challenge them to think forward? Right, and bring them to a place where, where they acknowledge that they are ultimately responsible for all of their success, right? And it’s not within their control as soon as they have a plan. And if you’re not, you’re going to be on shaky Foundation, and you’re going to live in a state of fear, especially when challenges come, right. So it’s kind of like the adage of building you’re building the foundation on rock versus building it on the sand, right? or building it on the soil. That’s soft, that’s when the storms come, it can shift, you know, shake that away. But if you’re on rock doesn’t matter what storms come, it’s going to be strong. Is that a fair summary?

Yeah, it’s the first somebody. So I met an entrepreneur very recently, who had a very quick growth. He built his company, a technology company, you know, quickly made almost four to $5 million within one year, and he has a big tax bill. And he doesn’t understand access is not even prepared for this. He’s not even prepared for the growth. And he’s extremely uncomfortable to get to see his situation. If this is going to be my tax bill for this year. I cannot even imagine what would be for next year. The reason is, it’s already late for you to plan. And another thing here is you are in a dilemma right now, do I really like growth? Or is it better to be small and pay fewer taxes is confused right now? No, because it’s like that. So he is not prepared for this. He’s thinking that he’s overpaying taxes or something because you never had a plan in the first place. Now, he thinks about what would motivate me to grow my company if this is what is going to be my future. It’s unbelievable to see. that’s a good problem to have. But we have different problems. But it goes back to the same thing. If you don’t have a game plan. If you don’t have a track structure, if you don’t have a path for your, you know, real wealth, then you will be always busy. But somehow you won’t be rich and you don’t know why.

So well said. So, thank you for sharing. There’s so much wisdom there. And I encourage listeners to rewind five minutes and listen to all of that wisdom that Krishna just shared with us here. And so Krishna is curious what’s the biggest reward or the more the most rewarding part of what you do?

The most rewarding part of what I do is I help business owners to achieve their dream, you know, like it’s their dream is their baby that this business that they’re trying to build, and my approach and my style of working is result-oriented. So we take these people to the, you know, to the finish line, we don’t just coach or sell a program and walk away. We are with him. We want to be with them when they get the trophy. That’s what we do. And that’s the greatest reward, you know, I’m a part of their success. And, that’s the most rewarding part of it. And we handpick the right kind of, you know, business owners who have the attitude, willingness, focus, and commitment and are willing to take action. I mean, these things are needed for somebody, to really achieve something. And then we really work with them, and then help them along the way. And then we’re very selective in the process. And that’s the really, really rewarding, we almost become long term partners with our claims. Yeah,

Absolutely, love that. And that being said, we’re focused on capital gains tax solutions here on this podcast and different challenges that folks are facing. And so would you touch on a little bit of the frustration that you’ve seen with clients when it comes to exit planning? And one of the challenges with the strategies they use or not doing the pre-planning, right, not having the clarity? Would you attend 30, and you touched on that?

Yes, small business owners that we are right now working with around an under $5 million size kind of company. And most of these guys are working with the accountants who also do some kind of tax planning for them. I wouldn’t say that they’re really having a game plan for the exit. But, you know, I’m seeing a lot of businesses are willing to sell their business just because something happened in the economy. Right now, I’m not seeing the traffic with my customers, I don’t see this is going to continue for a long time. So I want to sell my business. But unfortunately, they don’t have a plan. What would you do once you get all this money? You know, what would you do after you sell the business? You know, so yeah, so I might, what I’m seeing in the small little business space is that they’re not prepared. I’m not seeing anybody even ready for that. On the real estate side? Yes. 1031 exchange is the only option that most of the investors that I see that they’re on, but, you know, meeting the deadline is not that easy, especially in this current environment right now. So I see there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the gap, a lot of awareness, I think somebody like you need to teach and bring that to awareness. And then there is a lot of room out there. And they would love to have this, you know, the strategies implemented in their business? Because it is their hard-earned money. And they really don’t know that, that they are available. What’s happening right now is that the next move is going to be their retirement. And how expensive would that be? If you do one wrong move at this time? You know, that’s the thing. And uh, today, I am, I am seeing many of them, you know, they want to retire. They don’t want to Happy haggle happy life because they have worked for the last 30 years. But right now, you know, if you don’t have a proper plan if you don’t have a proper exit, and you know, if you don’t have a way to keep the money, then that’s not a good case scenario, the alternative for you is to keep on working forever. With the hope that you know, one day I will have that million dollars in my kiddie that’s not happening. So that’s why they really are struggling without having an endgame in place. These are, you know, making good money, but really, what’s worse next, they don’t have answers, especially in the small business space.

Strategic Planning: is worthless-unless there is first a strategic vission

Yeah, but part of it is being humble. And in a sense, being open to trusted advisors who have done the deals have closed them, and it can guide you along the way. So part of the beginning we talked about responsibility for your revenue and driving your business and doing that. But now when you go to exit the business or exit the real estate, right, you want to have professionals that have already done that and can guide you and walk you through that. I actually think of a deal store. We just closed in Georgia as a $7.6 million multifamily sale. And this gentleman lives in Northern California. He’s a baby boomer wanting to retire in 30 years, hundreds of real estate deals. And he was faced with overpaying for you know, four and a half five and a half cap marketplace in North Carolina for an apartment complex. And he’s going. I don’t like this deal. And I think the seller’s market. This is pre-COVID-19 and then COVID-19 hit and he goes I absolutely definitely don’t like this deal. I don’t want to take on all this debt, overpaid for this property just because it’s my 1031 but he was faced with 1.1 million in tax. So it wasn’t an easy decision. But it became easy for him to choose the deferred sales trust because he got out of all of his debt. He put all of the 3.1 million on the sidelines. He distinguishes the 4.5 million, it’s gone. And now he’s in a tax deferral state, he saved or deferred the 1.1 million. And he’s going, Brett, I’m just waiting for a deal to come up. And it could be six months from now, a year from now, in the meantime, he’s putting in hard money lending. He’s putting it into stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. And then he’ll put it back in all tax-deferred using what we do here with the deferred sales trust. But the point of all that is, he had a plan, he had studied this a year before this happened, right? Yes. And he had had it in his back pocket, and he wasn’t selling anything a year before he had it all set up, ready to go. And then he was still going through his 1031 didn’t work out. I mean, he went immediately to exit plan number two, which is Plan B, the deferred sales trust, which became his number one option, especially with COVID-19. And so how important is it to have a B, and maybe even a C exit plan in place, just in case something like COVID-19 happens?

Extremely important, you know, it’s just inevitable, you have to have a plan B, Plan C in place, otherwise? You have to question yourself, whether the deal doesn’t even make sense. You know, it’s not worth it. It’s not taking that kind of risk. If you don’t have Plan B and Plan C, you know, because you’re either over-leverage, or you think that you got into some, you know, wrong deal. Just because you don’t have a strategy in place.

It’s Yeah, knows, the emotions are so high, let’s say, you know, his name is Dave had he learned about our strategy, you know, two weeks before his exchange is going to fail. It’s so high, you’re not sure if you’re making the right decision, because you’re in an emotional state that’s blurred by all of the pressure of this tax, right, and this pressure of the sale. So I’ve also seen that I encourage a lot of our listeners who are looking at us for the first time to do before you even go into escrow or list your property, do your due diligence on your exit plan first, right? Yes, vet that out when you’re in an emotional state where you can just get it by itself. Now, once you have that in place, either it’s your plan A or plan B or whatever, Plan C, now move into selling and get the highest and best price? Yes. Right. And then just execute the business plan on A, B or C, right? Don’t try to make it all on one and this tight timeframe, and everyone’s rushing around, you’re going yeah, of course, you’re probably not making good decisions, right? Or clear decisions, right?

You’re not? You’re not because you’re coordinating with a lot of folks here, right? It’s just that things do not happen that fast. You know, it’s too short of a time. You know, yeah, it’s just, you will be left out with fewer options, you have to cut corners somewhere you lose? For sure.

Exactly. You only have so much bandwidth. So I think that’s why we dig into something there. So that being said, After building your net worth and helping countless clients and partners do the same, what’s the biggest, you know, secret one or two that you wish you would have known or you would have done earlier in your wealth-building career?

Yeah, I think if I, were to start all over again, I think I would first focus on understanding the strategy, understanding, finance, accounting, how the numbers work, how to analyze deals, how to have the strategic long term plan, you know, wealth building, you know, tax-deferred strategies, and how to build generational wealth. I think I, if I knew all of these things in the first place, then, you know, then it would have been a whole different world altogether, right now. That’s the most important thing than anything else because gems are always there. It’s not about the tactic. How do I make money is not the only thing that you can always learn, that it's more about how can I keep your money you have every possible way that the money can be taken away from you Click To Tweet, you know, whether it is tax expenses, whatnot, you know, maintenance, all kinds of things can come into the picture, but I saw the people who really keep this wealth are really having almost like 100 years plan, you know, I saw people who plan that for and that’s why they’re always under control. They’re never in a rush, they’re always willing to walk away from any deal. You know, they kind of attractive deals to them. You know, they don’t try to time the market.

Because they always find a way to, you know, find a deal in any market. You know, it’s a completely different mindset. So yeah, but chasing things by pursuing the money by pursuing opportunities. I think, in my case, I wasted a lot of time. You don’t have to do that. You don’t really don’t have to do that. If your job is to understand the whole game, the game of money, how the wealthy really build their wealth, then they’re not selling it. They’re not chasing anything, things are coming to them. And then they have that, that financial base or foundation to be able to leverage those opportunities that come in the market all the time. So, if you don’t have that, then what happens is with whatever money that you have, you need to go and try to convince others to, you know, to buy that or to sell that. So then that becomes, you know, not a good case scenario, and then you’re always reacting, it’s a reacting approach. Normally, we try to go after opportunities, make some money, and then try to keep it again, that’s everything is more reactive. But If you are proactive, then you have a total strategy in place, the proper understanding of everything, and then you will be in a position to attract the deals, they're always there, it's just a matter of whether you can execute it or no Click To Tweet, and do you have a game plan to execute it, and then to get out of it at the right time? So thereby, you know, it would have been much different if I knew all of these things, you know, 20 years ago, but better late than never.

Absolutely, but better late than never, and so much wisdom there. Again, Krishna curette, his second book of those last three minutes. So rewind and watch and hear that again, that is so good, you know, being poised and ready by having a strong financial base, and having a plan in place, right, where you’re proactive, and you’re always under control. At that point, you start to attract deals versus being reactive. Right. And, having to sell or having to chase deals. So, well said that being said, Krishna, you’re ready for the lightning round? Yeah, I’m ready. All right. So what is the one book you’ve recommended or gifted the most in the past year?

Thinking Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, excellent book.

Give me mobile or digital resource you recommend for your business?

Favorite leadership, quote, or theme you try to live by?

Control your destiny else, someone else will by jack welch.

Love it. What are you curious about right now?

I’m not curious about opportunities, you know, businesses out there for sale? We are actively looking to acquire businesses, you know? Yeah.

Yep. How do you stay centered after all of your success, Krishna? And after all your coaching? And after all, all of the people you’ve helped? How do you stay centered in your values? And then how do you stay encouraged, to reach for new goals?

I think I’m grounded and centered because I try to have some, you know, time for meditation, and for my spiritual journey, that gives the source of connection to the source and that keeps me grounded and derives strength. So I don’t feel that I’m kind of weak. I always feel I’m strong because I’m connected to the source.

Excellent. And for our listeners who want to get in touch with you, Krishna, what’s the best way for them to connect with you again?

Yeah, the best way to reach out to me is my email which is Krishna@geniusbusinesscoach.com that is Krishna@geniusbusinesscoach.com. And they all also have something else for the audience. They can go to geniusbusinesscoach.com and download my book, which is going to be a complimentary book. 45 minutes break to buy Krishna. Oh, I find 10k for any business within 45 minutes. And then they can also go to geniusonlineacademy.com and sign up so they can get the bar business education’s business education series for free.

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About Krishna Mohan

Krishna Mohan has a deep grasp on the understanding of business through his extensive experience working in Manufacturing, Consumer Durables, Telecom, Information Technology, Energy and Data Center Industries. He is a highly successful Senior Business Leader who also has a background in, among many other things, Business Development, Sales Team Training and Management, Key Account Relationship Management and International Business.