Ep 36: Family startup myAgeTechlab.com, part 1 - Inspiration

Upside/Downside is a podcast about value creation and the strategies finance and business leaders can use to grow profits and cash flow.  I'm your host, Matt Cooley. 

In the next several episodes, we share the challenges of starting a family side hustle, myAgeTechlab.com,  helping people live in their own homes longer through the use of age technology, or AgeTech for short.  

Driven by our own family experiences caring for loved ones as they age, can my teenage son, brothers and I apply sound principles of value creation to build a business that helps people while also turning a profit?

In this episode, we share our inspiration, skills we expect to learn, challenges ahead, and what to remember when the naysayers come knocking.

Dial in and join us here on Upside/Downside!

Thank you for listening and please visit Upside/Downside podcast and enter your email for my FREE list: "10 places to look for higher profits and cash flow right now!".

I wish you the best on your value creation journey and if you find yourself stuck or in need of advice, please reach out via the contact form at Upside/Downside podcast today!

Matt

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:02

Welcome back, everyone. This is Matt Cooley, host of Upside Downside, where we explore value creation and how the actions we take in business drive profits and cash flow. I'm a unit CFO for a large technology company and a nerd for value creation and how it impacts companies and everyday people. Speaking about impacts on people, the next several episodes of Upside Downside will be about a family business we're launching to help people age in place longer through the use of age technology or or Agetech for short. Like all families, we've experienced loved ones struggling as they get older. So we're creating an Agetech laboratory experience where customers can touch and learn about some very cool new technologies that can help them live longer and independently in their own homes. Each episode will cover a different aspect of starting the Agetech lab and we'll check in after launch how we're doing against our business expectations. Value creation will of course be a prime Well, thank you. Glad to be here. Glad to be here. Great to have you guys here on my podcast and to be collaborating with you on the AgeTech Lab. This is very cool. So let's jump right into it. We have some questions for each other. Who goes first?

SPEAKER_00: 1:32

Well, I'm the youngest, so the youngest sibling, I should say. So I feel I've earned the right to ask the first question, which is for Matt. Okay, Joel. What sparked your interest in AgeTech and further, what's your vision for this age tech lab? Well, I appreciate

SPEAKER_02: 1:54

that, youngest brother. So in terms of why, what sparked my interest, it really hit home for me when we watched mom deteriorate near the end of her life, and particularly how hard it was on our sister, who was mom's full-time caregiver. This is something that's repeated across families all over the country, all over the world, all the time. But that experience really made it hit home for me. And it's caused me to think about what can I do to make this a better experience for everybody. In terms of vision, I hope we all share this, but I think this is a great opportunity to bring new technologies that we've curated from the age tech market directly to people in a hands-on environment and to get them excited. And of course, because it's a business to ultimately sell stuff to our customers. So that's how I would answer that. And I appreciate you asking, Joel. I've got a question for Liam. Liam, you're on summer break from school. What new skills do you think you'll have by

SPEAKER_01: 3:09

the fall? I think by the fall and going back into school, I'll have learned how to start a small business and how to build a fully operational website for the customers that I hope we get. And also important skills in marketing, which I think is one of the biggest challenges out there right now. And making sure we have a business that creates revenue. So at the end of the day, we get paid. Okay. Uncle Ed, what do you think our biggest challenge will be creating the H-TECH Lab experience? Well, I think you hit the nail on the head, Liam, when you said marketing. That's one of the biggest challenges I think any business, when they first start out, has to try to contact their demographic, make them understand what you are trying to do in a manner so when they start thinking about whether they want to deal with your product or a service that you're offering, they have a clear idea of what they're going to get as far as your product's concerned, but also that them to understand as much as possible, that way word of mouth can travel through their friends, their families, this kind of thing, and then as a result, hopefully you wound up with more clientele than you've actually contacted yourself. So hopefully it works out like that, run like wildfire, and next thing you know, have too much business to deal with. Nobody could be upset about that. I love it. So I think that's the biggest challenge, one of the biggest challenges anyways. I guess With this all being said, you know, Joel, I guess I'd have to ask you, you ran your own business for a long time. Are there any tips that you might have for the rest of us or something that, you know, maybe we haven't thought about, you know, in all these years that we've been dealing with business and whatnot?

SPEAKER_00: 5:27

Well, glad you asked, Ed. Stick-to-itiveness, that's a huge one. you need to stick to to your goals. You already have the desire to do it. So that's not so much an issue. As a matter of fact, if anyone can spell stick-to-itiveness in under five seconds, you get 10 points.

SPEAKER_02: 5:56

That's our marketing program right there. As I said, hold on.

SPEAKER_00: 6:04

Ignore the negative and focus on the positive. That's huge. That's a life lesson right there, but certainly a business lesson. Sometimes you literally have to put your face, your hand in the face of naysayers and tell them to take a hike. That's for sure a big one. One that I struggled with for a while but overcame was you have to make daily tasks, your daily business tasks a habit and not a chore. paperwork, phone calls, et cetera, that type of thing.

SPEAKER_02: 6:44

That's a good

SPEAKER_00: 6:45

point. You just end up doing it without thinking, so your brain does not have time to protest.

SPEAKER_02: 6:56

Spoken through experience, I can tell that. There you go. Well, listen, guys, this is great, and this is obviously our kickoff of this endeavor, and it's wonderful to share all these thoughts with each other. We all have our daily lives. Are we ready for this journey? More than ready.

SPEAKER_01: 7:17

Yeah,

SPEAKER_02: 7:17

let's get it on. All right. This is great. Well, this is going to be an interesting journey, guys, and I'm looking forward to the collaboration. And to our listeners, thank you for being with us here on Upside Downside. And join us next time when we'll dig into the details of our business model. Be well, everyone.