FINALLY, we have someone who’s really good with a calculator!
Ladies and Gents, please warmly welcome Bruce Nelson, the CFO of America’s Best Restaurants & DRYVER!!!!
Bruce and I first met in November 2020 (see the picture above) when I interviewed him for his book, Myth Magic & Math, for my Restaurant Experts Roundup Podcast.
From the first time we spoke, I knew he was a badass and thought, “That would be AWESOME to have a guy like that in my corner”, never considering a restaurant guy like him would leave the operations side of the biz to come to the marketing side.
For the past 15 years, Bruce has been at the helm of a restaurant group that’s grown from $15 million to $60 million. He had 800 employees and 80 managers. For the past few years, I’ve dreamed about hiring a CFO, and this past Spring, I realized it was three years TOO LATE! When I thought about what I’d want out of a CFO, it was a guy like Bruce. Someone who’s “been there, done that.” And I thought, “What if we could land someone from the restaurant business that could bring our clients perspective and the financial genius we need.”
And then, an email came in May from Bruce promoting his blog post of the week titled “Almost Paradise. It stopped me in my tracks because there’s a song by Stick Figure (CLICK HERE to listen) that I listen to all the time. It makes me think about where I’m going and what I hope to find Paradise.
I replied to the email with only a link to the song with no context. I have this strategy I use to get the attention of people. I’ll email stuff like a song or picture with no explanation to see if it will start a conversation. In this case, I had an end in mind. I had recently put on my goal board to hire our CFO by 12/31, and to do that, and I needed to start nurturing people like Bruce.
After a few exchanges, Bruce told me he was actively looking for the next step in his career.
I asked if he’d consider that next step being with a restaurant media and marketing company vs a restaurant group, and he replied, “Would it be fun, challenging, and rewarding?”
I recall chuckling and thinking, “Does he know who he’s talking to?”
FUN = HELL YEAH, we have a lot of fun EVERY DAY!
CHALLENGING = Hold my beer. You should see what I get my team into daily with my ideas!
REWARDING = Helping the hardest working people in America, restaurant owners, WIN! Hell yeah, it’s rewarding.
And with that, we set up a Zoom call, which led to us meeting in person a few weeks later and concluded with Bruce coming to town for a few days to meet the team.
And just like that, I had my CFO 6 months early!
The lesson I want you all to learn here is simple: USE DIGITAL MEDIA CORRECTLY!
Over the past four years, I’ve used my email and social media to keep Bruce’s attention. It all started with my intern Gabe (Meyers Media Now ) finding his book online and connecting on LinkedIn. The picture from 2020 of the LinkedIn message wasn’t from me; and it was from Gabe. He used my account to reach out to Bruce and many others :). That strategy also included making a connection with Bruce on all platforms.
Having Bruce on my podcast to discuss his book was a step, and the rest is history. Over the past four years, Bruce and I have had many conversations and got to know each other.
This plan was two-pronged. First, to make friends with the right people in the business. And second, to build a network of pros I know would love to be part of the journey.
So as you can see, marketing works!
Talk tomorrow,
MP
