Arizona Business Podcast

Building Scalable Success: Systems, Branding, and the Future of Consulting

• Jared Orr

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I sit down with Josh Larson, founder of Delta Rev, to dive into what it really takes to build a scalable and efficient business. Josh shares his journey—from working with industry leaders like Grant Cardone to developing systems that drive real growth. We also discuss the power of personal branding, the changing landscape of business consulting, and practical strategies you can use to optimize your own operations. If you’re looking to level up your business or just want a fresh perspective on entrepreneurship, you’ll find plenty of actionable insights here. Be sure to connect with Josh on Instagram for more resources and his exclusive business calculator!

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All right, we are live. Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Arizona Business Podcast. My name is Jared and I'm on a mission to interview the best entrepreneurs in Arizona, and today's entrepreneur is no exception. To that, I've got Mr. Josh Larson, the founder of Delta Rev, and we're gonna talk about business and optimization and just how to be the most efficient business owner. You can possibly be,'cause that's essentially what Josh does. Am I mistaken, Josh? No, not at all. You are correct. And what a, what an honor and a welcome. The top entrepreneurs in Arizona. Love it. Oh yeah. There's a lot to choose from here in Arizona. Like a couple other, my inner, my guests I've had, you and I met at an Arizona Entrepreneurs event we did. Which I mean, look, if you wanna be in a room that is just. Filled with intellect and talent and just amazing vibes. Go to an Arizona entrepreneur's event because my gosh, those are just, they're incredible. I leave like I'm an extrovert, but like I leave those events. Just feeling amazing. Agreed. The people I talked to are just incredible, but yeah so yeah. No, really great that we could be on this. Be really great to have you on the show. I did want to ask you, I, I prefaced this a little bit before we started recording, but according to your Instagram bio, you are a Grant Cardone alumni. I am. The reason why I want to ask you about that is because I discovered Grant Cardone when I was in my early twenties. Okay. And a lot of his content is for guys in their early twenties. A hundred percent. And I was like, this guy's so amazing. I wanna be like Grant Cardone. And then I then after, I dunno, a handful of years, I'm like, this guy, I feel this guy's kind of a hack. I don't know. But here, hold on. There's more of the story here. But then in the last few years like obviously I've met a lot of people like you and others who. Either have worked with Grant, know him personally, or have done his courses like you. And, I don't know, man. I feel like my opinion on him has evolved. Again, like I don't necessarily view him as I never really saw him as like a scam artist, but I more of, I don't know, just like a poser or kind of a Sure. Alright, dude, calm down a bit, but I'd love to get your thoughts, like what was it like going through his university and what are your thoughts on the guy? Yeah, I will never talk poorly about somebody and Grant is definitely somebody I won't I have a lot of respect for him. If you listen to a lot of people that work with him, like even his partners, so this is something that his partner, Brandon Dawson, that's who I worked under his company, so Cardone Ventures is the brand that I actually worked under. If you listen to how people interact and first get to know'em, they're always like I don't know. Seems a little too hype, seems a little too, maybe, too much. And I never got that when I actually got to meet him. He is probably one of the most humble people you'll meet, and he would do anything for anyone. He will always say he acts the way he does to get attention because. In today's world, attention is like gold. So that's why. That's why you see what but he's also evolved as a businessman, like he got into real estate, now he's doing some consulting, 10 X Health, like his portfolio has expanded, which I think has expanded how he goes to market as well. Interesting. Okay. That, that really does make sense. I was actually thinking the other day about Ty Lopez, right? He's someone like Grant Cardone who has gotten a lot of internet hate and I feel like he, he does that intentionally because it gets people talking about him. Exactly. And I, and guys like Grant Ty Lopez, Andy Elliot, those guys, right? Like it's easy to point fingers or find their flaws or. Think that they're a hack like I did with Grant for a little bit. But at the end of the day, like these guys and these women that are just out there doing the work, they're doing the work they're doing the work they're doing so many things that the average person will never do. Nope. And to me that, that is worth respecting, for me, like I, okay, you're a person that's worth respecting'cause you are doing the work and. Who, who am I to judge how you've done it. You're way further ahead than I am financially and with success. Who am I to judge? Obviously like these people aren't perfect, but it, my, my view on success, my view on doing the work has changed and I'm no longer. I would say cynical of these people. It's you know what? They did the work. I respect that. I wanna learn from them. I may not, they may not be like the best role model for my children but it doesn't mean I can't at least say acknowledge that they've that they do good stuff. They do, they, they definitely put the work in and they are not embarrassed to make a fool out of themselves. And I think that's what the big different, the differentiator is because they can go to market and test so many different angles, so many different variations, and understand. What the buyer psychology is and then tap into what actually works and leverage that. That's another thing about the, these people, like every time a new social media app comes to market they are they jump on it. Whether it takes off or not. Just in case it does take off, they build a presence on every single, so I've noticed this with all these people. They build a presence on every single social media app. Yeah. They've got a team that is like helping'em do it, which is awesome. But that's another thing that, that makes them as successful as they are, is like they are just, they are everywhere where stuff is happening. Everywhere. Yeah, so everywhere. That's cool, man. That's cool that you were able to get that experience with Grant, but let's talk a little bit more about you, like what exactly are you doing right now? Now that you've worked alongside people like Grant Cardone you've seen a lot of success in your own life. What are you doing right now with the venture that you are building? Yeah, so great question. I've been involved in business for. Literally my entire life. So my father owned a business, multiple businesses, and I grew up with a manufacturer mindset, if that makes sense. So my dad owned multiple manufacturing companies, so being able to see how raw material gets brought into a final product sustainably and scalably their systems was like, like that was beat into me. Like forcefully, but just being there and seeing it, you can see, oh, hey, that makes sense. That's why that has to be there. That's why that person is there. And as I got more and more into the digital space, I noticed that the business owners that were succeeding versus those that were struggling, they had systems that were repeatable versus a lot of these smaller agencies or companies that are starting out will do everything they can to make. Some money, which makes sense, right? Yeah. But it's not repeatable. So they get stuck doing it over and over again until they have a process in place or somebody that can help clone what they're doing. So by learning that over the course of working with man, probably over a hundred people, and then diving into these bigger businesses, it's Hey, what really drives the business initially? And we're talking like. The first few million is that, that revenue cycle, how do you get a new customer in that doesn't know you, who then is willing to pay you, but not just once? Who's willing to stay with you and continue to pay you? That process is pretty integrate. It's a tough, it's a tough process to actually hone in and understand initially outta the gate.'cause you have so many different things you're focused on. What I noticed was those between one to 3 million, really, one to five. Those businesses, they have product market fit, but what's missing is, the next level, which is the scalability, bringing a team in underneath that they can take it and run. So what I do is I come in and I build those systems on the revenue side so they can hit go and have a automated system that's on the backend that allows them to go to market and know that every lead that comes through is gonna either be nurtured, responded to, or. Unsubscribe if they don't want anything, right? Like that's they're out, but there's no lead left behind until they, they close or they opt out and that's it. It's a system that ensures that everybody comes through and is provided value and can be serviced at the highest level. But beyond that, the first close is one thing, but the easiest close is a second, right? The second sales is much easier. How can you get them back in, keep them as a customer? And drive that lifetime value.'cause when you look at a business, the thing that drives the value is the predictability, the profitability, and whether there's systems in place. So if you can build all that from the front end, now you have a system that you can just repeat, repeat, and then continue that over and over again. Do you feel like systems thinking is becoming more common? Or am I personally just noticing it more? What are your thoughts on it? Because I've seen a lot of it recently, but again, that could just be me noticing it more now that I'm thinking about it. Yeah, it's a good question. I think in different industries it's becoming more and more pro prevalent. So like online digital businesses, I think people are being more aware of it because you have people like Michael Gerber with the E Myth that's, that has created a bunch of influencers that have come out and created. A lot of content and courses and coaching around that. So I mean like Dan Martel's and for instance, like he talks about the E Myth and his stuff and he's a huge proponent of systems. Buying back your time, all that. Cody Sanchez, same thing, talks about E myth with buying up these main street businesses and putting in a system that is replic that you can replicate over and over again. I think that is what we're seeing is. Times are just catching up, but you also see the overtake of digital business and PE and both of those essentially demand a system to be in place in order to survive. Especially with ai, yes, you need to implement ai and I honestly don't think businesses, regardless of the type of business that you have, especially if it's more like online digital tech, things like that, but like it's. In my opinion, it's hard to implement effective AI processes and AI agents without having systems in place first. Agreed. Okay. I've been in tech since 2018 and I have seen it happen multiple times where people will, or a company will implement a CRM or like a large, robust software platform without having those systems in place. And even though the platform itself is great, it fails. It fails. Oh yeah. That's your bread and butter, so you know that better than anybody. Yeah, whenever I talk to a company, my philosophy is before I automate anything, it's gotta be proven manually. If you just go in and you throw tech at something like ai, for instance, it's going to fail and. I can humbly say that because I've had that experience. When I started this business chat was brand new. Yep. And I'm like, all right, let's go in. Let's see if chat can literally build out my messaging for me and know my persona better than I do and build my offer. I'm like, let's give it a try and see what it does. And it flopped. There was nothing proven. So why would you throw that at something that doesn't understand human psych? And at the same thing with systems. Who are the players in a system? It's people. That's why it's gotta be proven and it can't just be thrown to technology that is, ran by zeros and ones. Yeah, for sure. So when you are consult, when you personally are consulting a business on implementing a CRM or implementing systems right? What are some key things that you look for in the business knowing that, okay this business is ready to start automating, to start systematizing things. What are some key traits of the business that, that stick out to you, that make you realize that? Yeah, good question. So I think number one is they're above a million. And the reason I say that is because if you're not above a million, yet, most likely you haven't really gotten product market fit. Meaning that most of your time should be focused on driving revenue, getting people in the door. And honestly, like for me right now, I would recommend like start with a spreadsheet. Track who you're talking to and get used to, hey, like the minutiae of this sucks, but let me figure out what the system is. Once that system works, and then it's hey. This person comes in, they go into my spreadsheet. I follow up three times. Okay, they closed. This person came in, I followed up 10 times. Okay? Then they closed. Now you can start to see how your persona functions, and you have the data to build out and go into A CRM and go, okay, on average it takes eight to 10 touch points to close. This person will build out the workflows for that. And the reason why I always recommend that step first is because. Then you have something proven and it's a lot easier when you throw technology at it. It's almost and I'm sure Jared, you've seen this, if you start with a campaign out of the gate without any messaging being, being proven, it's disastrous, right? It doesn't work. Same thing with a system, if you just throw something in it without it being proven, boom. So that's what I would say. Make sure you have a proven system already. The second thing I look for is. Fulfillment is there when somebody comes in, can there be fulfillment that actually manages more flow? Because once you put a CRM in place and you start to, to really automate that, like your business scales pretty fast. So is there that component on the back end that can sustain growth? Or do we need to start looking at, okay, how do we support this? When we go to market and bring in this system that's gonna scale it. So those are the two biggest things I look at is one, do they have product market fit already? And two, do they have a team that can handle additional people coming in and can they be trained to use the system? Yeah, that's great. And I, yeah I don't think I have much to add to that. I think that really is a great way to just look at business in general. Not only what are you bringing in on a monthly or annual basis, but like, how are you getting there, right? Whether it's low or high, higher than you want it to be, lower than you want it to be. Higher than you want it to be, but how are you getting to that point, right? What are you doing daily to make sure that customers are being taken care of? People are getting followed up with fulfillment's happening. Do, are you, do you have those systems in place already? And when it comes to systems thinking, I feel like a lot of people may have a misconception of what it really means to be a systems thinking individual or a systems thinking business. And I think Layla Hermo summed it up perfectly. She made a recent YouTube video. I'll link it in the description, but basically it's don't set goals, set systems. And she gave a great example. She said, let's say you have a goal to lose 50 pounds. The classic fitness example. Yep. Okay, that's a great goal, but what matters way more than manifesting that is putting processes in place daily, weekly, monthly, that will get you to that goal that matters way more. And also like I would even say i, and I understand that the book, seven Habits highly affected People. One of the, I think the second habit is begin with the end in mind, but I feel like with systems it's almost like it's good to not have that that, that end goal, because it's about what you do consistently. Like the, yes. I might be completely tripping over my words here, but basically what I'm trying to say is systems allows you to stay consistent and disciplined in any area of your life. And what would you, and I guess, okay, in that spirit, when people are putting systems in place, how do you approach their end goals, right? What they want to accomplish with the systems you're helping them create. It's a really great question. And before I answer that, I think there's also one more step to, like the systems is also what are your standards? Because you can have a system in place. Yeah. And you could know what to do daily, weekly, monthly, but if your standards are set that you're hitting them and there's literally no way that you're going and finishing your day without it. It's there's no excuses. You always hit those. That is, that's what's gonna set you apart. But when I look at a company, what I'm looking at in terms of like long term is that's more so looking at can this technology handle the scale, process-wise? Process is always going to evolve and change. That's what's beautiful about it, is it's not set in stone and that's why that's the thing that you have to have, you have your growth and your. Your kinda set mindset, right? Where you don't change, but one is always constantly evolving. Yeah. That's a system mindset. You have to have a growth mindset to be able to understand that things will constantly change because the business isn't going to be the same one year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now. And I sure hope you don't want it to be right, but that's what I look at is okay, this can sustain. Now where you're at today and where you wanna go in the next, let's say year, what needs to be true? So one, do you have visibility into what is going on? If not, we need to fix that. Two, do you know where your leads are going? Where they coming from? Who's following up with them? If not. Big issue, and then are they being nurtured? Like those are the top three things I'm looking at and I'm implementing immediately. Then we can get into the minutia of AI and automating all the different pipelines and all that good stuff. That kind of gets nerdy, but really it's hey, do they have the ability to do this? Yep. Yeah, AI is cool, but and, I, I've heard a lot of other things about. Work, you gotta learn how to work hard before you can work smart. You have to know how to make an income before you can make passive income. A lot of people try to jump the gun on these things, and I think they do. We're seeing that at a grandiose scale with ai. Yes. Oh, a hundred percent. And look, a AI is definitely something that we've never dealt with. As humans at a professional and personal level. So yes, like it does have incredible capabilities, but at the end of the day, you are the one that can control it. So if you don't have certain things dialed in with your business, personal life, whatever you're using it for that there's gonna be gaps always. And that's where, gaps are the biggest thing I see when working with companies, like you go into'em, and this is what I love when a company already has a CRM and it's ah, here we go. This is good. You've got that mindset. Then you go in and it's most of the time you work with these vendors and they, you just buy the platform. There's no support in implementing. I could name like five of them right now. That's why, Salesforce is massive because of how much it costs to, to pay for it. But then you have these other companies that are all consultants and that entire industry is based on. Once they take it in and they implement the system for them because it's just a, it's so big and so massive. Yeah. But I usually go in and there's gaps and it's crazy to me. And I'm sure Jared you'll align with this'cause you're very in tune with marketing and the whole process of a customer journey is when you have a leaky bucket. Leads are coming out of your funnel because there's no follow up, no one's, no one knows they're coming in and you throw more ads at it. It just creates more issues. And that's what I see with gaps, right? Is like when you don't have that, that filled it, it becomes in massive issue. Yeah. And that's what I look at too. To go back to your first question is I go through and I analyze if there's leaks and fill those right away. It's a quick fix and really it's like anybody can do it. And I have a calculator too that shows people like what's missing, where it's missing and how to fix it. And I'm happy to give that to your audience as well if they're interested. For sure. Is there a link to it? I can link it in the description. The best way to do it is just to go to my Instagram and DM me calculator and I'll send it your way right away. Okay, sweet. Yeah. So yeah, I will link the listeners here. I'm linking Josh's Instagram in the description. So you heard him go to his Instagram DM calculator. He'll send it right to you.

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Real quick in most home company you are bank selling these experts when it comes to you catch all the staff that you don't see a home Expert so like home. And the before become service working with them i had the show you can book home comme chaque support and the second sponsor is my friends over business which is business. Is un app you can l. Set up ten minutes no confusing tech headaches it is literally just so and simple you faster happy i and i friends use the app and they continue because of how simple. Te eighteen i this is hands down so get a free seven day with business within a few days you will wonder so check out show support f. Ok, back to the.

One last question for you, and as we've been talking, I've thought about. The, the present and also the future of consultants, of business consultants like you. Right. I almost Do you feel and again, this is doing you a lot of favors by giving your opinion on this, but I am curious, do you think the days of hiring a McKinsey consultant are done and more businesses are gonna look to consultants like you who are creating content? Because like in, in the past or maybe right now, people they see, oh, McKinsey and Company, that's the brand I'm looking to. Whereas now the personal brand matters a lot more than the company you represent. So people like you, you're out there making content, you're giving great advice and value on social media. Do you think we're moving to, we're moving into a new phase where businesses will look to consultants more like you? Yeah. This is such a great question. I do. To a point, see where consultants like me are gonna be more sought after one because all my services are done for you. And I do have a done with you component so you actually know how your business is operating. You can take it over so you're not reliant on me. But the thing is, like with these big consultants, you're paying really hefty fees and most of those fees are getting you access to data. So a lot of people, and this is why I always harp on first party data with CRMs get that data in as much as you can.'cause like Apple, Amazon, they're paying billions of dollars just to get data. Just to have data.'cause you can make decisions and so much more with that. But data's becoming so prevalent now and so accessible that the databases that McKinsey and them have. Are gonna soon be easier to access, especially with ai. Like I saw a post the other day where literally you can spit out a report that you would get from a McKinsey analyst if you put in the right prompt within chat. GPT resources, sources, links, everything you need to like, make sure it's good done and, 15, 20 minutes. So I do, but I also see that there is gonna, there's always gonna be some sort of need for them. Big government projects, massive corporations that need that support, but for small, medium sized businesses, even private equity, like they're gonna be looking for people like us that can understand their business, work with them almost as a partner. I don't see McKenzie as a partner. I don't, I think they're just coming in to tell you what to do and hope that you take their advice. And honestly, you pay a lot of money for what they give you. I've never been a big fan of them if, I'm not sure if you've ever read like The Art of the Deal by Trump. But he just goes into how bad they are because they take forever. They take forever to get things done, and by the time they get you the product that they scoped out for you, you've already completed what you needed to complete. So that's a joke. But yeah, I think funny. Smaller consultants are more nimble. I've been at companies that have brought on outside consultants, not McKinsey, but outside consultants for certain things. So I've seen that in a way. I don't know how much good they did. No one's not insulted'em. I just, I don't know how much good they did just'cause I wasn't like part of that whole thing. But yeah I do think, I think it's really cool just how powerful personal branding has become Yes. For everybody. There's, there are I was talking to one of my very first interviews on this podcast. I was talking to a guy about a guy who was making millions as a pressure washer. And the reason why is'cause he would just document all of his jobs. And they'd be like, it's like there, there are these satisfying pressure washing videos. So he's making money with that. But he is also making money through the content and through his content he's getting more business. So he is making, it's just, it's incredible what Brandon can do for people these days. It really is. Yeah I love it. It's a game that's gotta be played. If you really wanna get out there and make a name for yourself, personal branding people just have more trust and respect for people versus big brands. Yep. I agree. People just, they Yeah, exactly. They trust you more. They know the kind of person that you are and the value that, that you share based on your social media. I think that's that's a good, that, that's a good thing about social media. Obviously we can say there's a lot of cons, but I think that from a business standpoint, that's a huge advantage that people have these days. Huge. Agreed. Yep. You can build no and trust before anybody interacts with you, which just takes down those barriers and makes it easier to have a conversation with somebody that's looking to get help with whatever you provide. Yeah, absolutely. Josh, thank you. Like I said, your Instagram is also sorry. Josh, thank you. Your Instagram is linked in the description. Like I said, hopefully by the time this episode is out, you'll also have a bit of a sales funnel going on made by yours, truly. Yes. So if that's out, I will link that description as well, but. Go to listeners, go to Instagram, check out Josh. Look at it, look at his the value that he shares. It's fantastic. Any other places people can find you, Josh, or any parting words from you? I really appreciate the time today, Jared. Instagram's probably the best place, but I'm also on LinkedIn, YouTube YouTube. I'll have some more in depth. Kind of workflows and stuff that people ever want to grab. Ideas on how I'm automating things, I'll be on there. So just more and more resources to bring value to the marketplace. One thing that I would leave with the listeners is no matter what you're doing with your business, I always think of how do you as the owner. Want to be in the business. The biggest thing is you end up starting a business for freedom, but it ends up becoming at a very expensive job. So always keep that in mind. Always strive for that freedom and remember that the systems that you put in place should buy back that time so you have more and more freedom in your day. Great advice, Josh. Thank you so much and best of luck with your success, man. Looking forward to following you and seeing all the great things that you do. Appreciate it, Jared. Great.