Seth [00:00:14]:
You’re listening to Entrepreneur’s Enigma, a podcast about the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. Every week, your host, Seth Goldstein, interviews entrepreneurs from all walks of life about their entrepreneurial journeys. From store owners to fortune 500 CEOs, we all have stories to tell. So sit back and join us for the next 20 or so minutes while we explore the entrepreneurial world.

Seth [00:00:49]:
Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the entrepreneurs enigma podcast. I am as always your host, Seth. Today I have a good buddy of mine, Michael Bertone of SaaS Talent. He is the most dynamic recruiter tech advisor. He’s this dynamic. He’s a fun guy, very outgoing, very charismatic. He’s been doing this for a while.

Seth [00:01:14]:
He helped scale in a really good way. I’m gonna pull Michael up for Tony for this who are watching the watching the video that he helps teams scale.

Michael Bertoni [00:01:23]:
Right.

Seth [00:01:24]:
Mike’s known for his hand movements. So I always tease him about it because he talks with his hands. He’s all he’s sitting on his hands right now.

Michael Bertoni [00:01:30]:
Lot of hands. Lot of hand movements. Lot of gestures. Lot of Italian gestures. Absolutely.

Seth [00:01:36]:
Absolutely. Dynamic. So Mike is the CEO. He’s a visionary leader committed to driving transformative growth in the SaaS and tech sectors is secret sauce, a unique blend of deep domain expertise, proprietary methodologies, precise targeting abilities. I can’t talk today, all aiming to achieve exponential growth for his clients. We met back, well, it was like 8, 9 years ago. I had the fullytech.orgpodcastnetwork. He started the foliatech.co, the, with the predecessor to SaaS talent.

Michael Bertoni [00:02:10]:
Right.

Seth [00:02:11]:
And we’re like, we better meet these, we gotta meet each other so we don’t step on each other’s toes. Turns out they are completely different, became a good friend of mine. I mean, he he’s a wonderful dude and so much energy.

Michael Bertoni [00:02:22]:
Thanks, Seth. Thanks, Seth. So yeah.

Seth [00:02:24]:
I’m a fan. What can I say? What can I say? I’m a fan of Michael Bertone’s. So, Mike, how’s it going, buddy?

Michael Bertoni [00:02:29]:
It’s going great, man. It is going great. It’s great to be here. Yeah. So when we met, I had no idea. I I had no idea. Everybody on the phone here, everybody on this podcast, I was saying on the phone. So you have no idea.

Michael Bertoni [00:02:43]:
So what Seth and I, we were solopreneurs 9, 10 years ago. We we had no idea. We had no idea what we were doing. We still probably don’t really know what we’re doing.

Seth [00:02:51]:
We’re still flying we’re still building the plane while it while it’s flying, but we’re we’re a little bit more knowledgeable. We have more of the plane built.

Michael Bertoni [00:02:58]:
So we’re not falling now. Exactly. Exactly.

Seth [00:03:00]:
Over time, you know, Mike’s grown his recruiting and tech entrepreneur business. You do you you do a lot of near shore offshore recruiting for companies. So if you need someone in Latin America to help offset your team and help build out your team more. It’s I like love it because you’re not dealing with time zones. Like, you’re literally not if anything, you’re dealing with, like, one time zone over. It’s in Colombia one time zone over from us, I think.

Michael Bertoni [00:03:26]:
It is. It is. It’s same time zone. But that’s better than central.

Seth [00:03:30]:
Yeah. It’s better than what? Like, a weird time zone, like the Philippine or the Philippines is 12 exactly 12 difference. So that’s not that bad. But, like, sometimes when you deal with India, it’s a little bit harder because they’re sleeping when you’re awake, and it’s like, So near shore makes more sense. Mike’s the the king of near shore recruiting. He helps everyone do that. So so, Mike, how did you get into the recruiting space in the 1st place or even in the tech space? Have you always been a techie?

Michael Bertoni [00:03:56]:
Yeah. So I, first off, always worked with SaaS and tech companies. So first off, Seth, thanks for having me on your show. I really appreciate it. So my ICP, which again is your ideal client profile for everybody listening and need to figure that out, is an early and growth stage SaaS and tech company. Anybody from seed stage, pre seed, a round, b round, c round, SaaS and tech companies. So I always had an affinity for working with these companies. So I started working with these companies in 1999 when it was just more more tech companies.

Michael Bertoni [00:04:33]:
But in

Seth [00:04:34]:
Before the before the bubble burst.

Michael Bertoni [00:04:36]:
Exactly. Exactly. But in in 2,000 in 2,006, I focused my whole life on working with startups and tech startups. And then when I started my company almost 10 years ago, I was doing a lot of things. I was doing recruiting. I was doing lead generation, and I was doing software development. I was doing too much. So a few years ago, I really focused in on the recruiting aspects of business and getting people great talent in either United States or in Latin America.

Seth [00:05:08]:
Was you know, so he even niched down the recruiting to, you know, an area. Like, he didn’t say, I can get you anywhere anywhere in the world. You’re like US, Latin America, which is I think is a great idea to do. Because, you know, like I said, one time zone over versus 12, it’s it’s really smart.

Michael Bertoni [00:05:25]:
Yeah. No. That’s that was the focus. I mean, recruiting has always come pretty pretty easy to me and my my team. So I love hunting. I love lead generation. I’ve created this process for clients that I call hyper targeting, where we work with our client, we find new talent that moves the needle either in the United States or in Latin America. So right now, what’s working in the US is higher level people.

Michael Bertoni [00:05:54]:
So fractional people. People that are just hard to find, like you’re I’m having a lot of trouble finding this leader of sales, leader of marketing, leader of customer success, like these areas.

Seth [00:06:08]:
Yeah.

Michael Bertoni [00:06:08]:
And then what’s really working in Latin America right now is part time talent in AI, engineering, also in executive assistance. So we have an executive assistant service that we rolled out. And I’ve done about 10 of these in the last in the last 6, 7 months. It’s been really, really big where again, my ICP is a startup. Startups need help. You’re you should everybody needs to be thinking about executive assistant, and we provide We’re

Seth [00:06:38]:
gonna take a quick break, here from our sponsors and get right back to the show. Love it, man. Love it. And so have you always wanted to be entrepreneur or did you kinda trip and fall into being an entrepreneur? Or did you, like, catch a football? Because you are a football player from William and Mary. Won’t hold that against you.

Michael Bertoni [00:06:54]:
Right.

Seth [00:06:55]:
Because because I’m a Delaware I’m a Delaware grad, so, you know, I won’t hold that against you, but, you know, you are a well, you’re a linebacker, weren’t you?

Michael Bertoni [00:07:03]:
Well, I got recruited by Tubby Raymond. So I got offered a full ride from Delaware and William and Mary. I chose William and Mary. Sorry, Seth.

Seth [00:07:12]:
It’s okay. Offer to give you.

Michael Bertoni [00:07:14]:
Yeah. So I kind of stumbled into entrepreneurship. It was really weird for everybody again listening.

Seth [00:07:23]:
Yeah.

Michael Bertoni [00:07:24]:
This day and age right now, I think entrepreneurship is in your face. Right? A side hustle a side hustle is in your face.

Seth [00:07:32]:
Yeah.

Michael Bertoni [00:07:33]:
When I when I started my career back in 1999, it was get a job. Right? And so I got a job. I got involved in tech. I started getting involved in sales, and I was really doing well. But my attitude, my mindset from my parents, my parents my my dad had a job. Right? He got a job.

Seth [00:07:52]:
You get a job. You work 60 years. You get the you get the, gold watch.

Michael Bertoni [00:07:57]:
Right. Exactly. So I was I remember back in about probably 2010 is when so in 2010, that was, like, 14 years ago. I’m 50. Right? So I don’t know my math, but, like, so that’s, like, mid thirties. Basically, I didn’t really even think about starting my own business till my mid thirties. Right? And then once I got into it, I was like, alright. Let’s let’s get into this.

Michael Bertoni [00:08:26]:
Let’s figure it out. But, I mean, then I already had a family. I already had kids, things like that. So, again, everybody listening right now, if you wanna be an entrepreneur, just go after it. Right? Just do it. Yeah. Just get out there and do it because if you wait until you have a family and kids and all this stuff, you’re you’re gonna be complicated. It is.

Michael Bertoni [00:08:45]:
It gets complicated.

Seth [00:08:48]:
Absolutely. Yeah. It gets complicated. I mean, I started my business when I was 28 and then yeah. And 32 had my my 11 year old, who’s now 11 year old. I didn’t have him even come out as an 11 year old. That’d been terrifying. But, I had I had my son and the rest is history, but, you know, being entrepreneur and being a family man and, you know, being a family person and all that stuff is tough.

Seth [00:09:15]:
Because you gotta balance the family life with the work ethic and all that. So I always tell people, if you can start being an entrepreneur, do it when you’re young. Honestly, live in your parents’ basement while you get something started.

Michael Bertoni [00:09:26]:
Sure.

Seth [00:09:26]:
Like, do it when you’re young. If you don’t, you can do it later. It’s not nothing wrong with doing it later. It’s just more complicated. Absolutely. And all that stuff. So being an entrepreneur, what’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur in your mind?

Michael Bertoni [00:09:43]:
Freedom. So you have a lot of freedom as an entrepreneur and creating your own thing. Right? So I I’m super, super into manifesting my destiny, and we’re all we’re all extremely powerful people. Like so even Seth. Even Seth is.

Seth [00:10:04]:
So we’re all Even me. Even me. Even me.

Michael Bertoni [00:10:07]:
We’re extremely powerful people. Everybody has the ability to create something. It’s amazing. Right? Create your own thing. You you come up with a plan. You come up with a pitch deck. You come up with a business plan. Don’t go crazy trying to write like a 10, 20 page business plan.

Michael Bertoni [00:10:25]:
Go out online and find a 1 3 page business plan. Right? Just write your ideas down. Get it out there because the best part is creating. The best part and if you’re gonna ask me next what’s the hardest thing, so if that’s if that’s if that’s the next question, I could tell you what’s

Seth [00:10:41]:
going on. What keeps what keeps you up at night? Exactly.

Michael Bertoni [00:10:43]:
So the other thing that’s really great is I’m I’m the rainmaker. Right? So you gotta Mhmm. One of the things if you’re a business owner that you have to be thinking about is what am I what’s my profile? Am I am I the rainmaker or am I the operations person? Right? That’s high level. Right? 2 things. You either you either making the sales or you’re doing the work. Right? Yes. 1 or the other. You’re you’re better at 1 or the other.

Michael Bertoni [00:11:10]:
So I love making the sales. Love seeing the vision of the thing. Right? Having the freedom. Portions. Yeah. Having the freedom. All those things are the best things.

Seth [00:11:21]:
Love it. And then what keeps you up at night? What you know, with besides your worrying about your kids and family and all that stuff, what business wise, what keeps you up at night?

Michael Bertoni [00:11:29]:
Again, everybody listening to this right now, most people that start businesses, they’re rainmaker type people. Right? Maybe they’re solopreneur type people, but you gotta figure out how to operate if you’re gonna scale.

Seth [00:11:45]:
If you

Michael Bertoni [00:11:45]:
if you wanna be a solopreneur your whole life, you can make good money being a solopreneur. You can make great money. You could, you know depending on how what skill set you have, you can make like 75, a 100, a $150 an hour, maybe more for long term projects. Right? You can make good money. That’s the thing that’s great about the United States. Right? You could put out a shingle. You could be a consultant. You could be a contractor.

Michael Bertoni [00:12:09]:
You could do that work. But if you’re trying to scale, how to operate and run your business, that’s what keeps me up at night.

Seth [00:12:19]:
Yeah.

Michael Bertoni [00:12:19]:
It’s hard. Right? It’s hard. Everything has operations. Sales has sales operations. Marketing has marketing operations. Right? Delivery has delivery operation. Like so everything has to be you have to figure out how to operate, how to scale. That’s what keeps me up.

Seth [00:12:35]:
Yes. I can believe that. And then worrying about your 2 girls, making sure that they’re growing and healthy and all that stuff is always always aware of, you know, our kids.

Michael Bertoni [00:12:44]:
Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s a great thing. So as an entrepreneur, you’re you’re kinda married to your business. Right? And you have great people around you, though, that are prioritizing you need to prioritize in your life. So I I have an amazing, girlfriend, Jen, that really is, you know, is my is another person that helps me in my business that I

Seth [00:13:06]:
That’s awesome.

Michael Bertoni [00:13:07]:
That really helps me a lot. And I love her.

Seth [00:13:09]:
Keeps you centered. Yeah.

Michael Bertoni [00:13:11]:
Yeah. So so you have your family. You you have your kids. The other thing that’s really hard about being not true is just keeping all the all the balls. Right? So there’s you you have so many balls that you’re juggling. Right? If you’re gonna focus on your business here’s the reality. If you’re gonna focus on your business, relationships will not be as focused on probably until you get the business going. So the people in your life have to understand that.

Michael Bertoni [00:13:39]:
Right? You have to communicate. Hey. I’m starting a business. It’s gonna be a little bit more challenging to start this business up. Right? So it is hard. Relationships are harder in general when you’re when you when you’re running a business.

Seth [00:13:53]:
It is. It is. So what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time? To carry with you? Yeah. It can be as woo woo as woo woo as you wanna get.

Michael Bertoni [00:14:06]:
Wow. That is a deep question, Seth. The the most important thing to carry with you. Right? So oh, gosh.

Seth [00:14:15]:
For me wait. I stumped Mike. Holy macaroni. For me.

Michael Bertoni [00:14:19]:
The most important thing to carry around with me personally is probably that passion. Right? I heard a quote yesterday. I I actually relistened to Steve Jobs when he talks at he did a talk to Stanford. You get up and morning. Yeah. You look in the mirror every morning and you say, do I really like what I’m doing right now? If you don’t really like what you’re doing for a a period of time, you need something probably needs to change.

Seth [00:14:53]:
Absolutely.

Michael Bertoni [00:14:54]:
So having that passion, but then being honest. Right? Just being honest with yourself in terms of what you’re doing in life. Right? What why why am I like, what I’ve learned when I turned 50 is what am I doing? Like, why are my what am I doing? Why am I doing this? What do I wanna create legacy wise? Like like, these things are super important that they don’t tell you about, so you don’t have to care if you’re listening to this right now and you’re, like, twenties or 30, who cares? Just get out there and just do it like Nike. But when you start to get

Seth [00:15:34]:
when you

Michael Bertoni [00:15:34]:
start to get a little older, you’re like, you know, what what am I doing here? Like, is this working? Yeah. Things like that.

Seth [00:15:41]:
Awesome. So, Mike, people can find you over at sasdashtalent.com. You’re on you’re on LinkedIn. You’re very prolific on LinkedIn. You know, Michael Bertone 33, which I think was your your uniform number.

Michael Bertoni [00:15:56]:
Yeah, baby. Right here.

Seth [00:15:57]:
There you go. Hey. Is that even got tattooed on his arm? You know, that’s that’s his number. And

Michael Bertoni [00:16:03]:
My number’s not 33.

Seth [00:16:04]:
So It wasn’t?

Michael Bertoni [00:16:06]:
Wait. It was. But that’s not my phone number. Like, my phone number isn’t

Seth [00:16:09]:
That’s not your phone number. That’s your number, though. I know. It’s like that’s No. Phone number. No. The number is 200 what was it? 2 what’s that what what’s that, song? 253-678 whatever the heck is.

Michael Bertoni [00:16:20]:
215-817-3295.

Seth [00:16:24]:
But No. You don’t think about your number. No. Oh, no. No. I don’t want to speak. Don’t do it. Don’t do it, bro.

Seth [00:16:30]:
I I we might love your phone calls. Give him a call. Hire him if you give him a call. Hire him to find you SaaS talent in Latin America America. Do all that good stuff. Because Mike’s the bee’s knees.

Michael Bertoni [00:16:42]:
Yeah. I mean, I if you know anyone listen to this right now. If you know anyone that needs to hire talent in the United States or Latin America and resembles a tech business, they are a SaaS company, they’re a tech company, some type of tech firm. Please reach out to me. Connect with me on LinkedIn. I’ve got over 25,000 LinkedIn followers, and I’m really trying to do some cool things on LinkedIn. So check me out, and I’d love love to connect.

Seth [00:17:11]:
He’s very friendly. He will not bite your head off. He’s a good guy. Absolutely. Alright, everyone. We will see everyone next week.

Seth [00:17:19]:
That was a great show. If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please consider giving us a review in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps us reach new listeners. If you like Entrepreneur’s Enigma, consider the other shows on the marketing podcast network at marketing podcast dot net.

Seth [00:17:54]:
Gold’s theme, I hope you have enjoyed this episode.