Q 1. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans: EZ Screen Solutions is a nationwide full service pre-employment background screening company headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. We specialize in any employment screening need but also offer tenant screening as well. Our services typically help save the average company around 20% while not compromising quality of information, ease of use or turnaround time on completed reports. With US based customer service representatives to work with your every need from M-F 8am-5pm MST.
Q 2. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans: My name is Shea Talbot, I am the owner of EZ Screen Solutions, I am celebrating 10 years of being in the background check industry in July of this year and couldn’t be happier. I graduated with a Business and Journalism degree from Colorado State University and always knew I would try to open my own company. Milestone for EZ Screen, is that we’ll reach 2Mil in sales for the company by the end of 2019.
Q 3. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
Ans: I spent about 5.5 years growing a different background check company wearing different/all hats and found success. However, not being 100% in control of the company and not being able to make changes where I saw or thought we would see more efficiencies became an issue. After opening EZ Screen, we saw a great following for the services differences that we’re proud of.
Q 4. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: Advice I would give a new entrepreneur is that they should talk through their business’s problems with veteran business owners, ceo’s and executives to get other adverse perspectives from the outside on their particular industry. The insight can provide different ideas or let you know your doing the right thing. Additionally, I would say to work in that industry for as long as possible until you feel comfortable opening the company. If it is a completely new idea, work as hard as you can day and night!
Q 5. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Perseverance, Communication, Strategy
Q 6. How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: 7-9
Q 7. To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans: Success in sales, getting to decision makers and providing value with 3 main points; cost effectiveness, better or more quality information and providing the information faster and easier to interpret.
Qualities to attribute to sales success is patience, fearless, listen.
Q 8. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: Currently, we’ve not done any marketing thus far. Our biggest success stories have been from cold calls. We’re able to streamline companies hiring and background check processes to consolidate software and reduce time spent in different systems.
Q 9. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
Ans: Self funded.
Q 10. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Persistence and hard work every day. One foot in front of the other and keep truckin!
Q 11. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: EZ Screen a few million dollar business, 5280 Flying Club with 2-3 more planes, the restaurant sold or doing well (hopefully) and happily married!
Possibly a few more employees with EZ Screen to help facilitate the higher revenues from the success of Wired Mustang!!! ; )
Q 12. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans: Companies giving to veterans and cancer research.
Q 13. How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans: Having good/reliable/faithful employees that believe the mission statement is one of the most valuable parts to your business. As a single business owner, you could never service all of your clients by yourself. Being sure your employees ‘get it’ provides higher client retention because they will do every part of the job correctly. It’s been one of the main reasons we’ve been successful.
Q 14. How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
Ans: As long as it takes to have the data required to analyze success of the idea.
Q 15. What motivates you?
Ans: For background screening, helping our clients reduce time spent with the background check process. Finding efficiencies within our software to offer never before offered features to help provide our clients with information and transparency on their background check reports, allowing quicker qualification or disqualification of applicants and tracking features for ease of placing applicants.
Q 16. What are your ideals?
Ans: Moderation in all things. A United Nation. Christianity. Loyalty. Chivalry. Respect.
Q 17. How do you generate new ideas?
Ans: Attend conventions, speakers, networking events and investment opportunities.
Q 18. How do you define success?
Ans: Hitting goals that have been set. Providing purpose to our employees and clients. Doing the right thing every time. Gradual progress.
Q 19. How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: Providing great customer service with a product/service that supplies simplicity. Education to the client, having them believe you’re the expert. Providing value through teaching.
Q 20. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: Structuring my business around my life and how I live. Freedom, income, and the blind gable of ‘can you make this work?’.
Q 21. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans: Hiring my first employee and earning large accounts that I knew I could get.
Q 22. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans: The drive to push forward and keep working rather than do the work at a 5 or 7 out of 10 pace.
Q 23. What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Ans: Entrepreneurial, Community and Risk taking culture
Q 24. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans: Uphill
Q 25. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Ans: Understand how much technology and software development would change the world and business world.
Q 26. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans: It’s given me time back to spend with my family, enabling us to leave for vacations early or even plan vacations. It’s given my stepson a cool perspective of what I do and the flexibility I have. Hopefully it gives him confidence to do what he wants with his life.
Q 27. What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
Ans: My greatest fear is losing so much business we cannot keep the lights on. We continue to sell!
Q 28. How did you decide on the location for your business?
Ans: A lot of business is done in the DTC and we aligned ourselves with some other business professionals in the area for our internal success.
Q 29. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Funding, persistence, closing clients, client satisfaction/retention, repeat.
Q 30. If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
Ans: Jesus, I feel like he has all the answers.
Q 31. What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
Ans: Good to great.
Q 32. What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans: Not building stronger relationships with some of our clients, even if the relationships are not direct. Force the relationship as it will only retain the client.
Q 33. How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
Ans: Quality Assurance, double checking what we send out on our reports, extra set of eyes t make sure we’re reporting what we can within our legal rights.
Q 34. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans: Snowboarding, hike, spend time with family, travel, scuba dive, surf, spend time at my restaurant, spend time cleaning/making my planes look good so they rent out.
Q 35. What makes you happy?
Ans: Lots of things, family, travel, financial freedom, love
Q 36. What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Some wouldn’t consider it to be a sacrifice but living in a smaller home and in a non desired place in order to afford other things to get me to a place that I could afford to open my own company. Saving and not spending money when you want to or when friends are.
Q 37. If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Ans: Q: What keeps you up at night?
A: Losing my company and how to get better at earning business. Losing my financial freedom.
Company Detail:
Company : EZ Screen Solutions
Address : 5994 S. Holly St. #151
City : Greenwood Village
State : CO
Zip : 80111
Phone : 800-429-5303