Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs

Movers & Shakers in Material Handling | Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs

From living room enterprise to a multi-million-dollar business, Quality Material Handling started out as a husband-and-wife-operated business founded on the principles of hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence. With a combined experience of over 32 years in the material handling industry, Hector and Brenda Pinto have built a reputation for supplying top-quality services, solutions, and products for every customer.
As a team, Hector and Brenda Pinto bring complementary skills to the table, which allows them to effectively manage all aspects of the business. Hector had extensive experience in closing sales, meeting delivery deadlines, establishing and managing customer relations, and performing installations; while Brenda brings her ability in team management, leadership, resilience and managing all QMH’s finances & legal matters that led them to their success today.
Over time, the dynamic duo has grown not only into a family-operated business, including their daughter and son, but has expanded into a team of over 50 employees. Together QMH is committed to delivering exceptional results leading to the satisfaction of every client.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Hector and Brenda’s employee-to-entrepreneur journey
The importance of a mindset of “we,” and valuing your employees
The power of ethics and hard work to accomplish anything
Setbacks Hector and Brenda have experienced over the course of their time in business
COVID-19, and the promise Hector and Brenda made to their employees
Hiring challenges Hector and Brenda have experienced post-pandemic
The pros and cons of being in business with family members, and how the Pintos main balance
Core values that guide the team at Quality Material Handling
How working with Blueprint CFO has impacted Hector, Brenda, and QMH as a whole
The power of commitment, tenacity, and being true to your word
About the Series. Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs is an interview series and podcast highlighting entrepreneurs and businesses that are going places by focusing on the future and developing a roadmap for success. Hosted by Jim Downes, founder of Blueprint CFO, a future focused fractional CFO & accounting services firm based in Southern California.
About Blueprint CFO. Blueprint CFO is a future focused fractional CFO and accounting services firm based in Orange County, California. Partnering with entrepreneurial companies to guide and support them on their road to success, Blueprint CFO equips clients with the Profitability Roadmap® they need to grow. Learn more at www.BlueprintCFO.com.

Landscaping Leadership from the Ground Up | Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs

Eric Fenmore is the owner of Garden Studio Design, a full-service landscape design/build firm located in Southern California. Eric grew up in Orange County and graduated from Foothill High School in Tustin in 1986, and continued on to study Economics at UCLA and the London School of Economics. After graduating college in 1990, he worked in a small family finance business until his father retired in 2000 and closed the business. From there, Eric went into banking, and his wife Chris started Garden Studio Design.
At the time, Garden Studio was a small, home-based landscape design-only business, but quickly the opportunity to grow into a landscape design-build business emerged, and the construction business started in 2001. From 2000 until 2004, Eric juggled his banking career with running Garden Studio. With the growth in the housing market in the early 2000s, Eric realized he could focus his efforts on Garden Studio, and resigned from banking in 2004. All went well until the housing crash of 2008. Garden Studio, still a young, inexperienced firm, was hit very hard by the Great Recession. By early 2008, Eric was back in banking and also running Garden Studio. He continued in the banking world until 2017, at which time he fully dedicated his time to Garden Studio’s growth.
Eric lives in Newport Beach with his wife Chris. They have three boys, Henry (25) and John (23) who both live in NYC and work in finance, and Shane (17), a junior in high school. They love to spend time with family, travel, cook and eat with friends and spend time with their two golden retrievers, Ted and Olive.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Eric’s career beginnings in the finance industry, and the origin story of Garden Studio Design
The impact of The Great Recession on Eric’s career and the design business
The two categories entrepreneurs tend to fall under when it comes to passion
Adaptability in business, and the twists and turns Eric has experienced with his company
The importance of valuing your time and focusing on high-value activities
Transparency as a company value, and whether California’s rainy winter impacted Garden Studio Design
Eric’s thoughts on the best and hardest parts of owning a business
Work-life balance and the importance of prioritizing personal growth
About the Series. Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs is an interview series and podcast highlighting entrepreneurs and businesses that are going places by focusing on the future and developing a roadmap for success. Hosted by Jim Downes, founder of Blueprint CFO, a future focused fractional CFO & accounting services firm based in Southern California.
About Blueprint CFO. Blueprint CFO is a future focused fractional CFO and accounting services firm based in Orange County, California. Partnering with entrepreneurial companies to guide and support them on their road to success, Blueprint CFO equips clients with the Profitability Roadmap® they need to grow. Learn more at www.BlueprintCFO.com.

Inside the Cosmetics C Suite | Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs

Gabriela and Fergus Hernandez are the co-founders of Bésame Cosmetics, a carefully curated line of cosmetic essentials inspired by style icons both famous and familial.
As a young girl, Gabriela would watch in complete wonder while her beloved grandmother applied makeup as part of her daily beauty ritual. From the swipe of a bold lip color to the dusting of rouge on a cheek, Gabriela loved how this small moment connected art to beauty, and grandmother to granddaughter.
After immigrating from Buenos Aires to the United States, Gabriela’s fascination for cosmetics grew into passion followed by expertise. She became a historian of makeup through the decades, studying photography and art direction at ArtCenter, where she met Fergus. The pair started a photo studio business together after graduation, and later co-founded Bésame Cosmetics.
Just like Gabriela’s experience watching her grandmother apply makeup decades ago, Bésame offers authentic connection across generations, so you can build looks that transcend time. As co-founder, Fergus shares that hearing what Bésame customers appreciate is hard to put a price on, and that customer feedback is what gets him up every day. He shares that his happy place is with Gabriela and their kids.
Topics discussed in this episode:• Gabriela and Fergus’s journey to launching Bésame Cosmetics, and where the inspiration came from• Rough spots the Bésame team has faced along their entrepreneurial journey• Changes Gabriela and Fergus have seen in the cosmetics industry over time, and the impact of the internet on the direct-to-consumer model• Being self-motivated as an entrepreneur, and the most difficult aspects of owning a business• The immeasurable joy of receiving impactful client feedback• Whether the economy (and looming recession) has impacted Bésame Cosmetics recently, and purchasing trends the co-founders have noticed• The cost of chaos, the risk of being tunnel-visioned as a passionate entrepreneur, and “not knowing what you don’t know”• The value of great accounting, and how working with Blueprint CFO has helped Gabriela and Fergus run their business better• What entrepreneurs should be looking out for along their journey, from the Bésame co-founders’ perspective
About the Series. Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs is an interview series and podcast highlighting entrepreneurs and businesses that are going places by focusing on the future and developing a roadmap for success. Hosted by Jim Downes, founder of Blueprint CFO, a future focused fractional CFO & accounting services firm based in Southern California.
About Blueprint CFO. Blueprint CFO is a future focused fractional CFO and accounting services firm based in Orange County, California. Partnering with entrepreneurial companies to guide and support them on their road to success, Blueprint CFO equips clients with the Profitability Roadmap® they need to grow. Learn more at www.BlueprintCFO.com.

The Business of Biking with Dustin Gyger | Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs

Today on Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs, Blueprint’s Jim Downes sits down with Dustin Gyger, an entrepreneur in the bike industry, to dive deep into Dustin’s entrepreneurial journey and leadership insights.
Dustin Gyger started his professional career in the television industry, working in business affairs for CW Network. After Dustin moved to the beach in 2005, Dustin discovered an opportunity for inexpensive, yet nicely designed, cruiser bikes. And the rest is history!
Soon after launching his company with his then-business-partner, the business quickly scaled to four retail locations in Southern California, selling over 50,000 cruiser bikes a year. When retail stores started struggling in 2015, Dustin purchased his business partner’s share of the company, and turned his attention to the direct-to-consumer online and wholesale aspects of the business.
Since 2015, Dustin has more than 6x the company’s revenue and expanded from cruisers into hybrid, comfort and electric bike offerings as well. 2023 marks Dustin’s eighteenth year of leading the company, with profitability every year. With extensive experience in direct-to-consumer retail, brick and mortar retail, digital marketing, fulfillment, logistics, product design and development, Dustin is a visionary leader who utilizes his creativity to stay ahead of the competition.
“The numbers help drive creativity in the right direction. With Blueprint, I’m able to think creatively about the segments and opportunities that are presented in the numbers.” – Dustin Gyger, Founder & CEO of sixthreezero
Topics discussed in this episode:• Dustin’s journey to founding sixthreezero, and what led him to start the business• Dustin’s thoughts on having a business partner when launching a new company, and his insights on decision-making in a 50/50 partnership• Rough spots Dustin has faced as a business leader through the years• The importance of diversifying your marketing channels• Best and worst parts of owning a business, from Dustin’s perspective• COVID-19’s impact on Dustin’s company, and his thoughts on an upcoming recession• Work-life balance, and how many hours a week Dustin typically works• Dustin’s top tips for blossoming entrepreneurs, and the importance of creating your own definition of success• How sixthreezero has benefited from working with Blueprint CFO
About the Series. Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs is an interview series and podcast highlighting entrepreneurs and businesses that are going places by focusing on the future and developing a roadmap for success. Hosted by Jim Downes, founder of Blueprint CFO, a future focused fractional CFO & accounting services firm based in Southern California.
About Blueprint CFO. Blueprint CFO is a future focused fractional CFO and accounting services firm based in Orange County, California. Partnering with entrepreneurial companies to guide and support them on their road to success, Blueprint CFO equips clients with the Profitability Roadmap® they need to grow. Learn more at www.BlueprintCFO.com.

Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs - Jim Downes Shares His Entrepreneurial Journey

Introducing Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs, an interview series and podcast highlighting entrepreneurs and businesses that are going places by focusing on the future and developing a roadmap for success.
Hosted by Jim Downes, founder of Blueprint CFO, a future focused fractional CFO & accounting services firm based in Southern California.
In this introductory solo episode, host Jim Downes of Blueprint CFO discusses:• the inspiration for the Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs interview series• Jim’s entrepreneurial journey to founding Blueprint CFO• key lessons Jim has learned over his many years in business• the work Blueprint CFO does in partnership with business leaders and entrepreneurs• what listeners can expect in future episodes of Blueprint CFO Presents: Future Focused Entrepreneurs
About Jim Downes. Jim Downes is the Founder of Blueprint CFO, a future focused fractional CFO and accounting services firm based in Southern California. Jim has served business owners and management teams for over twenty years as a veteran outsourced Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and financial advisor. A forward-looking strategist, Jim’s unremitting passion for working with business owners led him to open Blueprint CFO in 2019. At Blueprint CFO, Jim and his team leverage data to look to the future and help clients achieve their profitability goals. Jim was a nominee for the 2022 Orange County Business Journal CFO of the Year Awards. 
About Blueprint CFO. Blueprint CFO is a future focused fractional CFO and accounting services firm based in Orange County, California. Partnering with entrepreneurial companies to guide and support them on their road to success, Blueprint CFO equips clients with the Profitability Roadmap® they need to grow. Learn more at www.BlueprintCFO.com.