From CPA, To M&A, To ETA, To A Senior Care Franchise: Tyler Seman’s Story

 

Tyler Seman shares how he transitioned from the world of finance and private equity-backed consolidator to building a mission-driven senior care business. Joining Dru Carpenito, he looks back on how this path took him through Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) before ultimately launching a Hallmark Homecare franchise. Tyler also gets candid about why he chose the senior care space, what surprised him most in his first year, and how he navigates the ramp-up phase as a first-time franchise owner.

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From CPA, To M&A, To ETA, To A Senior Care Franchise: Tyler Seman’s Story

Welcome to the Franchise Masters, the most randomly recorded show in the world. I’m trying to get better at it. My buddy, Tyler, is here to join us to talk about his journey with a franchise called Hallmark Homecare. He’s a grinder, he’s a hustler, but he has an interesting story. He came from the finance world. For a lot of reasons, he decided to get into his own business, which we’ll get into. Tyler, welcome, my friend. I’m very proud to have you here.

Thanks. I appreciate you.

You’re busy, so thank you for making time with me to do this.

Thanks, Dru.

Senior Care Franchisee Tyler Seman

I love to start with you and your story, your journey. Why the hell did you decide to do a 180 in your life and go from being on the track in the finance and accounting world to getting into your own business? Take us through that. What was that like?

In college, I was always gifted with numbers, and business was interesting to me. Accounting is the language of business, so becoming a CPA and pursuing public accounting made sense. I spent three years in public accounting at Plante Moran here in Southfield, Michigan. Around six months of that, I was in transaction advisory services, which is more like due diligence for M&A deals. I liked that space and then made the jump to M&A for a private equity-backed veterinary consolidator. The pitch to me from my boss, Evan, in my interview when I was going to that company was, “Tyler, we’re going to grow. In 3 to 5 years, we’re going to sell. You’re going to learn a bunch, and then you’re going to take those skills elsewhere.” I saw that trend happening.

Maybe two and a half years in, I was like, “We’re going to probably sell in the next year or so. What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” I’ve always been entrepreneurial. I would sell jerseys from China when I was fourteen, and flip tickets. Making money just made sense. I’ve got a cease and desist letter from Reebok saying they could sue me for $2 million when I was fourteen for selling big jerseys on eBay. I got banned from PayPal.

I was like, “I want to own my own business.” Being in the M&A space and seeing so many different sales and business development team members have different ways of going about selling, and all of them were successful, it was like, “I can pursue this.” I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in spreadsheets and PowerPoints. I had a good buddy named Mike who I worked with there at MVP. That’s the name of the company, Mission Veterinary Partners. He’s super entrepreneurial, and he plans on doing a search fund. The more I thought about it, I was like, “I want to open up my own business. It doesn’t have to be in accounting or finance.”

I looked at 30 different businesses over six months, from plastics manufacturing to coffee shops to kids’ soccer leagues, you name it. I came across you through The Wolf of Franchises Podcast. He would talk pretty badly about most brokers, but he brought you on. He’s like, “Dru is a pretty good guy.” I figured I had nothing to lose and ended up going to senior care, Hallmark Homecare, here in Oakland County. It’s a high-level overview.

You were talking before, you’re twelve months in?

Yeah. I came back from training on June 11th in 2024.

Did you give the search fund a go?

There are different types of search funds. You can either raise a bunch of money in capital from investors. I did more of a self-funded search, where you go out, look for a business, and try to purchase it. I was looking at BizBuySell here in Michigan. There’s also a company in Grand Rapids called Calder Capital, which is pretty big in the small and mid-size M&A world. They have their own website. They’re an investment banking company. They’ll broker deals as well, specifically for smaller businesses, anything ranging from $1 million in revenue to $10 million to $15 million in revenue. Contacting people, signing NDAs, and showing proof of fund statements outline that “I have the capital to put a down payment and would purchase the remaining portion with an SBA loan.” I was looking into it. For a lot of people, search funds are the hottest thing now.

 

They teach it in college now. That’s an interesting topic because somehow my name got thrown into that ETA community, and I wish it never had, no offense to the ETA folks out there. I’m just not a good resource for what they’re trying to achieve. What was it that created the shift for you to get away from the focus on buying an existing business, laying debt on it, still having enough cashflow to make good money, and trying to scale it, “roll it up,” and get into the franchise world, and the idea of opening a new franchise? What was it that shifted your perspective on that?

I’d say it is the limited number of companies here in the area that would have made sense to purchase, and also, to a certain degree, the lack of ops experience. Being able to understand a business is one thing. Being present in it and putting out fires is another thing. I’d say even another thing, capital. By starting with a franchise, I’m not putting as much capital down, and there doesn’t need to be immediate cash flow for me to be paying down as much of a loan.

For me, it was more so finding the right thing because whatever it is that I was planning on going into, obviously Hallmark, it’s going to be my first business venture, but I plan on being in it for a long time. If there’s an extra year or two of grinding and me getting to encompass and learn the whole business from every single aspect as opposed to, “You’re the owner of this business. Everything is coming at you,” hopefully, you can structure it where an owner will have to stay on for a 3 to 6 month period.

If you’re purchasing a business from someone and they’re looking to sell, pending what the reason is, how active are they going to be? There’s a risk with that. The owner might be so completely tied to the business that you risk losing a lot of clientele. For me, it was more of a right fit. Timing is important, but it was just like, “I’m going to see what’s out there. If it makes sense, I’m going to go for it.” I prayed about it a lot, too. My faith is a huge part of my life.

I appreciate you being candid about that. I do get worried with some of these guys and gals that are earlier in their career, and on paper, it’s like, “I want an HVAC, plumbing, electrical business. Those are the hot ones. I’m going to roll it up and sell it to private equity.” I’m like, “Have you ever managed people before?” They’re like, “Not yet.” I’m like, “You’re about to pay a lot of money, go into a lot of debt, and walk into a very fast-paced business. Nothing can prepare you for that if you haven’t managed a large team of people before.”

I get worried about some of these folks. On paper, I can see how ETA makes more sense. The realities don’t seem to be talked about as much as penciling it out on paper and playing in spreadsheets about the whole thing. Do you still stay in touch with folks in the search fund world, or did your buddy find a business?

He’s likely going to be pursuing it sometime soon. There are communities out there. I would listen to a podcast by a gentleman named Will Smith. I can’t remember what the name of the podcast is, but it’s all about buying existing businesses. I’ll still look on BizBuySell and just see what’s out there, but I don’t have time for that. It’s more so just being of interest to me. Business as a whole has always been something that I’ve gravitated towards, and I’ll check in from time to time, but I have my own priorities and responsibilities.

You do a good job of looking at a lot of different options, analyzing the pros and cons, and digging in. You seem like one of those guys. When you make up your mind, you’re laser-focused. “Let’s go. Let’s get it done.” I don’t know if you agree with that, but the first twelve months of any business are the “hard part.” You’ve benefited from your laser focus and just being willing to grit it, get into the weeds, and make it happen.

There are so many hats to wear and so many relationships to build. You can’t let things bother you for the most part. You are going to make mistakes. You learn from those. Struggle and suffering sharpen the skillset and tools that I have. I knew what I signed up for. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. For every success story that people see out there, there are probably 6 to 8 failed businesses. For me, it’s like, “I’m quitting my corporate America job,” where I was making $130,000 plus a year to go to completely zero, “I need to make some money and prove to myself that this is sustainable, and I can make a lot of money and run a business.” I had to hit the ground running.

What have you found are the things within yourself that are helping you drive the results in your business?

Communication is the most important thing. Everyone can say that. Let’s say I’ve had 25 to 30 lunch and learns where I sit down with a group of social workers at rehab facilities or hospitals. I’ll always ask them, “What does a good referral partner look like to you? How do they communicate?” Ninety-nine percent of the time, they’re like, “Tyler, when we pass on a referral, most agencies or companies don’t even let us know that they talk to the person.” That blows my mind. I overcommunicate. If they send someone to me, I respond within five minutes, “Thanks for sending my way.” I am going to give them a call shortly. “We’ll let you know how the conversation goes.”

Same thing, I send an email after we chat and just say, “This is how the conversation went. Family is thinking about X, Y, and Z. There are a couple of uncertainties here. I am going to follow up next week, and I’ll keep you posted if anything progresses.” Communication is important. Putting yourself out there, you’ve got nothing to lose, honestly. I spread myself so far and wide, reaching out to so many different people. You never know how you could support someone in this industry in the future or vice versa. Especially early on, it’s like, “I’m trying to get referrals. What can I do for this person? Probably nothing at this moment in time.”

You asked them, and they told you, “When there’s a chance for us to work together, these are the things that are important to me.” Communication isn’t that hard to do. The relationship development is a buzzword that gets thrown around in business all the time. You took advantage of it. The best way to develop a relationship with somebody is to work together with a client and help them. One of the things that’s very important to the folks that refer you people is to know that their client is in good hands and they’re being taken care of. The only way for them to know that is for you to share that, communicate with them, and build their trust.

I’m thankful when people send me someone. It’s like, “I’m an extension of you.” It’s not that I’m hesitant, but if I’m going to say, “This person is a great person, and they’re a good resource,” they’re a reflection of me. I want to capitalize, wouldn’t be the right word, but more so continue to earn their trust, grow in that, show that I’m reliable, and care. That’s been a huge thing. I am just spreading myself far and wide. There are a lot of people in senior care. A lot of people are rushing to it. They see dollar signs because of the Baby Boomer generation. With that comes people with good intentions as well as people with not-so-good intentions. I am just doing the right thing. Serving God and taking care of the small things has been the big focus for me. Thankfully, it’s been going well so far.

For every success story, there are probably six to eight failed businesses. Share on X

The Purpose Of Serving Other People

What was it about the senior care world that stuck out to you, and why did you decide to get involved with it?

I’ve always served in my church community, and I love people, honestly. I was serving at a men’s group when you and I were chatting. I got far more joy talking about young men who are 20 to 25-year-olds, going through life and learning about college, relationships, or their faith life. I got far more excitement and joy out of serving others as opposed to being in spreadsheets and PowerPoints. There are stories on the Wall Street Journal and all these websites on a monthly basis talking about caregiver shortages and the struggles that companies and agencies are having when it comes to staffing and supporting families.

They talked about caregivers. Farmington Hills is an example here in Metro Detroit. “If the caregiver lives in Farmington Hills, one day, they’re going to get sent to Rochester. The next day is White Lake. The next day is Northville.” There’s no continuity of care there. The caregiver is getting paid $13 to $15 or maybe $16 an hour. It’s just not reliable. There’s a lot of burnout. The biggest thing for me is everyone has a desire to be seen, heard, and understood, whether they are a caregiver, son or daughter, mom or dad. I just have to love these people more, be open and honest, and get the caregiver some more money, which I do.

That’s a recipe for success. It was a no-brainer to me. What I do is meet people where they’re at in my faith life. Even as I was looking at Hallmark, my grandmother was in the hospital, and I was like, “I’m looking at Hallmark.” I called up 30 different private duty agencies, and 20 of the 30 companies before I could get a word out were like, “What hospital is your grandmother in? When is discharge? What are the hours you’re looking for? These are the prices. Can you afford them?” Twenty of thirty of you picked up the phone, and this is how you go about serving others. Five of you didn’t even pick up. The remaining five of you did a decent job. If you guys are able to pick up the phone, you’re in business. I’m going to do a lot better than you guys.

From a business standpoint, there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit, but it comes down to serving people. For me, it’s always, “Tell me a little bit about yourself, your mom, what happened, and what type of support you’re looking for.” It’s not until 20 or 15 minutes into the conversation that I’m like, “Do you mind if I share a little bit about myself, who we are, and how we provide support?” That’s what drew me to it. It’s all about people, earning people’s trust, and loving others. It very much aligned with what’s important to me.

You sound like a Sandler sales ninja. Have you ever been through Sandler before?

I have no idea what that is.

It’s a sales training. I went through it many years ago. The whole sales training is just asking questions. They have a system and all this stuff. It’s amazing how powerful the right questions at the right time can be in business. It is not just sales, but it’s also in retaining good people to build your company with, and listening to what people are saying, because they’ll tell you what they want. You just have to listen and resist that urge to give them the pitch whenever you want to give them the pitch, but if you ask the right questions, you don’t have to give them a pitch. At the end of the day, they’ll ask you, “What do you do? How do you operate?” It’ll just come out of their mouth through the conversation.

There are companies that spend a lot of money training people and humans how to be good question askers. That’s how I got my wife. I was trained to ask questions. I saw her at a country Western cash-only bar in the bad part of Charlotte. I went up to her and started asking her questions. She blew me off, but I guess I was persistent enough to get her number. I called her after one of those Sandler sales training meetings when I was all pumped up, and I was like, “Do you want to go for coffee?” She was like, “No, but you can take me out to dinner.” I was like, “I like you. Let’s do it.” Here we are.

In business, there’s so much stuff out there, like podcasts. Everybody talks about it and has an opinion about it. You do a good job of boiling it down to the simple things that move the needle and not getting distracted with all the other stuff that is on your plate or comes at you during the day. As you’ve been growing your business, you mentioned to me offline that you’re at an inflection point where it’s time to bring on some help. What’s that decision like?

It is the most difficult decision I’m running into because I’ve spread myself far and wide in every single part of this business, from sourcing and vetting the caregivers, to sitting down with families, to going into rehab facilities and potential referral partners. I am juggling all of the responsibilities and wearing all the hats. There was a big LinkedIn personality, Nick Huber. He inspires me to open up a business that’s service-based and just a lot of sweat equity, work my butt off, and earn people’s trust. He had a post where he was like, “Hiring someone will never become comfortable because you’re taking on more expenses while not adding any immediate revenue.”

It’s a cost that you’re going to incur and you’re never going to be able to stomach it, but so long as you hire the right person, it’s going to bear so many fruits. It can free up your time. A big thing for me is I want to support others and make sure that even people on my team, or even the caregivers that we match with families, are taken care of and that they’re getting paid more. That to me is success. Surround yourself with good people, treat them well, and ensure that they’re taken care of and feel seen, heard, and understood. They take care of you on the flip side. I’m very much exploring it. I’ve got to figure out what type of role it’s going to be, but I’d rather do it earlier than later. I have my hands full. I need some support, and it’s not feasible for me to be a one-man show for however long.

Dealing With The Rising Trends

You’ve hit that point where you’re too busy, which is good, but your business is trending very well. You can see the trend line that’s starting to emerge. Just off the knee-jerk reaction or whatever’s been on the top of your mind, what do you think the position is going to look like?

I’d say a client liaison or might be more so a CSR, customer service rep, managing the families that we’re already supporting, plus taking on calls or even sitting down with families that might be interested in support or in using our services. “Would you be able to take on this meeting at 2:00 PM with this family in Novi? This is the background information on the type of support that they’re seeking.” They would have them sit in with me.

 

It’s simply asking questions, learning more about the family and what their day entails, and being that point of contact so that I can continue to be on the business development sales side, building new relationships and continuing to also strengthen the ones that I do have. That’s what I’m leaning towards. I’m going to talk to the franchise, and they should help me out with this.

Is the business development side what you enjoy doing?

Yes. I like being out there, seeing people, and just talking. More so, I like listening, but there are a lot of good people in this industry, especially a lot of social workers or placement agents whose loved one didn’t get the support that they needed, or they’re in the industry for the right reason. They want to make sure that people get the information they need to make the best decision for themselves. We’re human. We need a connection. That’s exactly what home care and senior care are.

That’s my favorite aspect. It’s the most draining as well because it’s physically, mentally, and can also be emotionally draining. That’s the biggest part of this for me. It’s out of sight, out of mind. There are a lot of people in companies that rely solely on digital advertising, or A Place for Mom, and lead gen. It is not something I’ve tapped into. With Hallmark and even in general, it’s like, “Be out, go build relationships, earn people’s trust, and show up.”

It’s interesting that you’re leaning towards the op side, backfilling yourself on the operation side versus the sale side, because it’s probably one of two options. If you didn’t enjoy the business development as much, you could hire a salesperson. I’ve always thought it’s harder to hire a good salesperson than an ops person. Did you go through that thought process of thinking about a salesperson, or did you just know?

I did, but I’m the face of the business. I was the first Hallmark franchise here in Michigan. I’m marketing myself, quite frankly. Everyone is a marketer, whether they realize it or not, with the way that they speak, the way that they dress, the way that they talk, everything. That would be harder for me to teach someone. It’s also a far larger capital investment, too. You have to find the right person. I see a lot of people running to senior care and thinking like, “I’m just going to hire a bunch of people.” I’ve seen franchises, not Hallmark, but other new companies, pop up here in Michigan. I’ll see them on LinkedIn and just mentally track them and see if I see them at networking events.

There’s one in particular where they hired someone. The person was probably the rep for five months, and then they just let him go. This person stepped in to run the show. It’s just rough numbers. If you’re paying him $60,000 a year, plus some commissions, you basically spent $30,000, if not more, training and teaching him. You just got rid of him. Now, you’re starting in the business by yourself. That’s my biggest tip when it comes to Hallmark franchisees, the new ones that join. If they ask me to speak to them, I would recommend learning the facets of the business or learning what you enjoy doing, and then hiring people who can do what you don’t like doing. Hire for that position. I thought about sales, but it just doesn’t make sense at this moment.

Resurgence Of Senior Care

Every business has its nuances in terms of what it takes to bring in the revenue and get it cranking. For a business like Hallmark or any senior care business, it just doesn’t make sense to hire a salesperson. It’s super hard to pull that off. You’re looking for a needle in a haystack when it’s not that complicated to go and just do it yourself if you’re willing to go do it. If you’re not willing to go do it, go focus on a different business where customers come to you friendly, and whatever it may be. Not that any of it’s easy, but it is one of those nuances with the senior care business. Why do you think senior care is having a moment? It’s had a resurgence. It’s coming up in conversation a lot. What do you think that is all about?

It is the constant talk of Baby Boomers and a lot of people who have a lot of money saved up or a good chunk of change saved up, and need support. The world is so focused on making money and being busy. My generation, or even people ten years older than me, the 39 and 40-year-olds in this, generally speaking, both spouses, husband and wife, are working. They don’t have the time or ability to take care of their loved ones.

That leaves a gap in the market where a lot of people want to stay in their homes, or they even want to go into a senior care facility, but getting good-quality people to support them is difficult. It is the aging population and a lot of people who don’t have the skillset, desire, or willingness to help their loved ones, or even the time. It’s not their fault, but it’s a lot of work. It’s a full-time job. People quit their full-time jobs to take care of their loved ones. That’s a need.

It’s always interesting, too, when there’s economic headwinds blowing, whatever is going on in the economy. Somebody asked me this, and it was the first time I’ve ever heard this, looking at a business through the lens of a tariff-resistant business. Recession-resistant was always the buzzword, and for the first time, somebody was like, “A tariff-resistant business.” I’m like, “That’s a first, but I get it. I understand where that’s coming from.”

Sometimes, we get reminded when there’s stuff going on in the world. What are the underlying fundamentals of these businesses, and what drives the results? Obviously, with senior care, the tailwinds are very favorable for the demand that’s out there. It is not easy to go get and not easy to build a business within, but the fundamentals are strong in the category.

I’ll probably botch it, but 30,000 people will be turning 65 every single day in 2030, some stat like that. You can fact-check it.

Surround yourself with good people and treat them well. Make sure they are seen, heard, and understood so they will also take care of you. Share on X

Embracing A Purpose-Driven Mission

If you ChatGPT it, the tailwinds are good with all the demographic trends and everything. Have there been any super-surprising things that have popped up in the business? It could be good, bad, or anything that hits you between the eyes, and you’re like, “That was cool,” or “I didn’t think about that while I was doing my research.”

I’d say good. There are a lot of people who didn’t start in senior care that have made their way here because they recognize that there is a gap. There are a lot of good people in the industry. The caregivers are amazing. I wasn’t surprised about that. Most of them have a desire to serve. This is their passion, and they are meeting them where they’re at. A lot of people, even entrepreneurs, are buying the franchises, whether it be Hallmark or any other senior care franchise. There are also placement agents or people who are in sales and marketing roles at independent and assisted living facilities, or whatever it might be. There are a lot of people who are good and purpose-driven.

On the exact flip side, there’s also still something that I should have been aware of. There is a lot of politics, too, when it comes to people, agendas, and companies. There is a lot of consolidation as well, which I shouldn’t be surprised about, seeing that I worked in a private equity-backed veterinary consolidator. It’s sad seeing the state of healthcare as a whole, and families not being given the resources that they need, or not being aware of them. It’s not the fault of social workers. They are so overwhelmed with so many families.

People are given a 48-hour notice that, “Your loved one is getting discharged on this day.” They can appeal it, but they might lose it. It’s like, “I have work tomorrow, and my mom is supposed to come home. How am I going to juggle all of this?” Before some Medicare and insurance acts, the stays were a lot longer, and you were probably in a far better physical health state prior to discharge. There are a lot of resources that are out there.

The biggest thing for me when it comes to families is, “I want to be a resource for you and give you the information you need to make the best decision for your loved one.” There are just so many moving parts. You don’t know until you’re in this situation. You’re going to do the first company you might Google. Those who are paying a lot for Google ads will be up there. Education, awareness, and information are needed and important for families.

The words that fell out of your mouth are important words for this type of business, such as “purpose-driven” and “to serve others.” Every business is a people business, but this is a people business that helps families, caregivers, and folks through social workers and your referral partners. It helps them help other people. If that doesn’t connect with you or resonate with you, this is not a business that you should get involved with.

My faith is the biggest part of my life. There’s a quote that I’ll think about. I don’t worry about the financial aspect. I trust God’s going to take care of me by serving others. Someone had said they were praying, and God was like, “You used to love Me, and now, you just work for Me.” I want to help people make a decision. This affects them and their loved ones. I don’t care about the money.

The money will come and go, but the type of care and the peace of mind that you’re going to get with someone, either supporting them or not supporting them, is far more important to me than me making X amount of money. I’d rather be able to sleep at night and know that this person was able to make the best decision for their mom, whether it was utilizing me or connecting them with someone else. A big thing for me is just to take stuff day by day, serve God, and just do what’s right.

Tyler’s Long-Term Plans

That’s serving you well. What are your long-term plans or vision for your business?

A part of me thinks about that, but a part of me also just doesn’t.

Just go make it happen.

It probably wasn’t until January that I realized that I owned a business. It hit me. I saw some people on Plante Moran, liking a post or something, and I’m like, “These guys are still at Plante Moran working in public accounting.” My six-year plan was like, “I’m going to stay in public accounting until I’m 29 or 30. I’ll make a manager. I’ll assess what I want to do from there with my career.” I left public accounting after three years. I worked in mergers and acquisitions for three years.

I own a matchmaking agency for homecare services. What I envisioned for myself is completely not what’s occurred. I could tell you financial goals that are feasible, but I also don’t care about them as much. I know what’s feasible out there. I know how big I can grow. I see that there’s a big market out there, but there are a lot of fires and work to put out each day. It’s like, “Let me do these things well,” and then before I know it, I’ll be there. Even in the first year, it’s like, ”It’s been a full year. Did I envision myself at this point?” It went by so quickly. It’s not worth my time to even assess it. Work hard. Serve others. Serve God. The rest will all fall into place, and I’m just going to do what I can.

I love how you answered that question because that could be a rabbit hole, and probably get the spreadsheets back out. At the end of the day, you’re doing it the right way. Just get out there. Go make it happen. Go get a boatload of revenue. Work yourself to the bone. Once you have enough revenue coming in that you’re overwhelmed, then you can start to optimize for profitability or make the next move.

Staying in your job long enough will bear you fruits of success. Share on X

Until you’ve hit that point where you’re capped out, none of it matters. You can sit there and talk about it. You can sit there, spreadsheet it, vision board it, whatever you want to call it, but you’ve got to go make it happen. You are. If you just keep rinsing and repeating with that mindset, that’s a good way to go about it. You can get so caught up in the numbers, the targets, or the metrics. It’s the activity and what you do to make those numbers count that’s more important.

There was a potential franchisee that they had connected me with, and all they wanted to talk about on our 30-minute call was my pro forma income statement. Off the bat, I’m like, “Throw that out. Don’t worry about any of that. Go out and build relationships. Earn people’s trust.” “Tyler, we have one client projected for our first month and three for this month.” I’m like, “I didn’t get my first client until three or four months in. You’ve got to fake it until you make it. Just put yourself out there. You build. You learn. Anyone can make projections. Believe me, I worked in that world. You can make any business look like, ‘Best case scenario was great.’”

Things have to happen.

Every single thing needs to go right for you to make X, Y, and Z. That’s important for people to know before they open up a business franchise, whatever it might be.

It’s easy to play around with the spreadsheets, tweak them, and refine the assumptions. All the stuff behind the scenes that goes into making it happen is more important. How bullish are you in terms of your decision to do a 180 in your career long-term? Do you believe that the upside is going to be there for the reason that you did this?

I want to say yes. I have no idea what the alternative would have been. I left public accounting because I thought it was the most boring, mindless work. At the same time, I could also say that I see stories every single day of “There’s a shortage of accountants.” I’m like, “I wonder if I applied myself as hard as I have in this position to building a book of business and accounting. I probably could have crushed it,” which I 100% believe that I could have.

The work that I do is meaningful, with some of the emails that I’ve gotten from families and just the peace of mind, knowing that I’m doing work that’s self-sacrificial. It can make money and, God willing, provide a lot for my future family. I live in the present moment, and God has allowed me to make these decisions. I embrace them and embrace Him in them. I can’t think about “What if X, Y, and Z?” or “Where would I have gotten here?” This is the reality of the matter, and I’m happy with the decisions I made. I don’t think about that too much.

You’re on a good path. It sounds like you feel good about the path that you’re on.

I’m confident. I know I can do well in this industry, but there’s always that, “I could have just been in corporate America,” or “Maybe I should have just gone to law school and cranked.”

Don’t tell me you want to be an attorney. Come on, Tyler.

On the M&A side and corporate business, there’s a lot of opportunity there.

When you were looking at all the different options, both from buying an existing business standpoint and looking at franchises, did you ever do a deep dive on the idea of doing your own accounting business and using that to be the business that you focus on to grow?

Not as much. More so, as in my M&A role, accounting was completely out the window. The people that I was working alongside were far brighter than I, but they all had a finance degree. My CPA wasn’t even relevant. I wasn’t practicing any accounting whatsoever. It was more so financial modeling and communication skills. In my experience in public accounting, I found the work to be so boring and repetitive. More than half of my time in public accounting was during COVID in a remote environment. It’s like, “I see why people say this is boring.”

I was on the assurance and audit side. You generally go to the client’s building and talk to them. For me, it’s like, “I just don’t want to be in spreadsheets and PowerPoints.” Looking back, I probably wouldn’t have been that bad because I would also be building relationships as a business owner, but it is what it is. I still have my CPA. If I ever wanted to look into that, I’m sure I could build relationships.

 

The fact that you’re building your own business, in a way, it liberates your mind and gives you the confidence to look at things and through a different lens, too, to be like, “Maybe I spend the next 3 to 5 years crushing it with Hallmark,” and get that thing to a point where maybe you have a general manager that runs it. You can enjoy the flexibility that comes along with being a business owner and put the hard work into it to earn that.

Episode Wrap-up And Closing Words

It could be that you built one business, and maybe like, “I understand how to build businesses. Now, I’ll do it with an accounting practice or whatever it may be.” Until you do your own business, it’s hard to get that confidence and know what it’s going to take and whatnot. I know you’re busy, and I appreciate you taking some time to chat. Any lasting thoughts for anybody that’s thinking about doing their own thing?

That’ll be the hardest thing you will ever do, probably. You’ll be discouraged. I have never been discouraged in my life. At 4 to 6 months in, I had put in so much work and wasn’t seeing the efforts, and then, thank God, eventually it popped off. It’s like, “Thank you, God. I can make some money,” especially if you’re making well over six figures. It’s difficult not to get that. I don’t think any mental preparation for it can put you into the actual state of being there and running your own business.

There’s always going to be doubts and uncertainty. Even as I’m doing well, I still question every single day, like, “Is this what I should have done?” I know that it’s sustainable and I can do it well, but doing it by myself is also one of the reasons. Being able to have a business partner or someone to vet with or go through it with is important. It’s a grind. It’s not easy. I guess I’ll quote Nick Huber. He said something along the lines of, “Business growth, as well as career growth, isn’t linear.” You have to stay in the industry long enough to be able to recognize what might be 3 to 5 years’ worth of growth in a one-year period. You bear that fruit by putting in all this work, and then eventually, you might make the right connection and sprout up there. Staying in it long enough to bear those fruits is important.

That’s where discipline kicks in. Even when I don’t want to get up, go out, network, and be like, “I went to some of these places, and these people have seen me a bunch. They said they’re going to refer to me, and then they don’t. I know that I can provide better support. I’m present. The person that you refer to doesn’t even show up here,” I’m still going to show up and just, “Maybe things will change. Tyler, there is one family that you could talk to.” There are plenty of days. I woke up, and it was like, “I don’t want to do this.” There is a great day. I was listening to music, and I was like, “I’m going to crush it. God, you’re going to hook it up. I’m going to do so well.” Ebbs and flows, and just grind.

You never know if you show up. There have been many times when you’re like, “I don’t want to have this meeting, this phone call, or whatever.” You make assumptions before you go into it. You walk out of it. You’re like, “That was amazing.” You forget the assumptions you made going in. You’re like, “This is great.” It pumps you up. You get all the juices flowing again and get the inspiration going to keep going at it. It is the long game. There’s no doubt about it.

Any small business franchise or non-franchise is a delayed gratification game with a nice upside potential if you earn it and put the work in to get there. If I had to make a bet, because it’s poker night, Tyler, in my life, I was getting the gambling mode on Thursdays. When you find the right person to fill the role that you’re thinking about, you’re going to go next level of growth. It’s a cost, but it’s also an investment of a few thousand bucks a month that’s going to free you up to go make a lot more money. You’ve got the bandwidth, focus, and some camaraderie, and you’re building. That’s a huge first step in the next phase of growth for your business.

It is trending very well. The thing that sucks about your first hire is if it doesn’t work out, it’s the biggest gut punch in the world. You have to expect it almost. It might not work out. You’re just like, “I just spent three months with this person. Looking back, I see all the signs. It was right there in front of my face, but I didn’t want to see it.” It’s another gut punch, but you just keep going. You get wiser and better at this whole thing.

Hopefully, that doesn’t happen to you because you’re a lot smarter than I am. I’ve made some of those decisions, and I’m more of an emotional decision maker. I’m just playing to see with you in case it doesn’t go as planned, but you’re a thoughtful guy. You’ll figure it out. You’ve got a good nose for people. I appreciate you joining and being candid and transparent with everybody. I enjoyed it.

Thanks, Dru. I love talking to you.

I’ll let you get back to it, my friend.

Sounds good. Later, Dru.

 

Important Links

• Hallmark Homecare
• Tyler Seman on LinkedIn
• The Wolf of Franchises Podcast
• BizBuySell
• Calder Capital
• Acquiring Minds – Episodes
• Nick Huber’s Website