Business Lunch Podcast: "Turn Your Business Expenses into Hidden Profit Machines"

Host: Roland Frasier
Guest: Ryan Dice
Release Date: May 20, 2025

Introduction

In this episode of Business Lunch, host Roland Frasier engages in a dynamic conversation with Ryan Dice to explore innovative strategies for transforming business expenses into profit-generating assets. The discussion centers around their E2P (Expense to Profit) strategy, which seeks to convert traditional cost centers into lucrative profit centers.

Understanding the E2P Strategy

Roland Frasier opens the discussion by reflecting on a decade-long exploration of turning expenses into profits across their businesses. He recounts their initial venture with a copywriting agency, which laid the foundation for their E2P approach.

"[...] every dollar your business spends could be a dollar earned if you know how to flip the script."
— Roland Frasier [00:00]

Ryan Dice emphasizes the universal need for enhanced cash flow and improved margins, especially in the face of economic challenges like tariffs that compress profit margins across various industries.

"How do we take our expenses and turn them into profit? What better way to improve your cash flow and your margins than to take something that is on the expense area and make it profitable instead."
— Ryan Dice [02:35]

Key Strategies for Transforming Expenses to Profits

The core of the episode delves into specific strategies under the E2P umbrella:

1. Self-Liquidating Expenses:

   • Ryan Dice discusses the importance of making expense centers cover their own costs without additional revenue streams.
   • Example: Incorporating promotional content in customer service emails to generate additional income.

   "[...] just asking the question, how can I get this to pay for itself?"
   — Ryan Dice [02:35]

2. Group Buying:

   • Leveraging collective purchasing power to reduce costs.
   • Ryan shares an example from the candle supply industry, where partnering with smaller suppliers mitigates the impact of tariffs.

   "[...] maybe somebody's already written the book and they just need editing, or maybe they, you know, they've written it but it's not released and they want to have editing."
   — Ryan Dice [14:17]

3. Spin-Offs:

   • Creating independent business units from existing functions within a company.
   • Ryan reflects on their experience with a copywriting agency spin-off, highlighting both the potential and challenges.

   "We wound up selling that business and it was fine, it was a good result. But it was, I remember there was some sleepless, sleepless nights."
   — Ryan Dice [06:28]

Practical Examples and Case Studies

Roland and Ryan provide tangible examples to illustrate the E2P strategies:

• Content Agency from Overcapacity:

  • Turning surplus copywriting resources into a profitable service offering for external clients.

    "[...] we turned these cost center copywriters into profit center marketing consultants effectively."
    — Roland Frasier [04:36]

• Customer Service Monetization:

  • Adding promotional PS lines to customer support emails, significantly offsetting the costs of the customer care department.

    "It was just free money that came from asking the question."
    — Ryan Dice [10:35]

• AI Team Utilization:

  • Enhancing internal AI capabilities to create new service offerings, thereby generating additional revenue streams.

    "Our internal AI team that has helped us develop this for our own internal purposes. This is going to be a spin out as a separate business unit that these folks are going to essentially help drive."
    — Ryan Dice [19:07]

Mindset and Methodology

A significant portion of the discussion emphasizes the importance of adopting a mindset that consistently seeks to monetize existing expenses. Roland suggests leveraging tools like AI to identify opportunities and encourages business owners to analyze their financials meticulously.

"It's really a mindset and methodology combination. We're thinking about like at every level along the way asking the question how can I monetize this."
— Roland Frasier [11:51]

Ryan adds that beyond internal monetization, businesses should consider how their expense-related services can offer added value to clients, thereby creating new revenue streams.

"But to the extent that you're able to provide a higher level of service to your client because you have this tool, just ask the question, are we charging effectively for that?"
— Ryan Dice [15:00]

Real-World Success Stories

The hosts highlight success stories from major companies to underscore the effectiveness of the E2P approach:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS):

  • Initially a back-office expense, AWS became a highly profitable arm of Amazon by offering cloud services externally.

    "Jeff Bezos [...] created AWS, Amazon Web Services, which is an $80 billion company and for a long time was the only part of Amazon that was profitable."
    — Roland Frasier [19:27]

• Zappos Customer Service:

  • Turning exceptional customer service into a competitive advantage and a profit center.

    "Zappos did it with customer service."
    — Roland Frasier [20:11]

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Roland Frasier and Ryan Dice conclude the episode by reiterating the transformative potential of the E2P strategy. They encourage listeners to critically assess their business expenses and explore innovative ways to convert them into profit-generating assets.

"When you think about turning cost centers into profit levers, it's like a funnel of opportunities at every stage."
— Roland Frasier [09:27]

The discussion underscores that with the right mindset and strategic approach, businesses can unlock hidden profits within their existing structure, leading to enhanced cash flow and improved profit margins.

Notable Quotes:

• "Every dollar your business spends could be a dollar earned if you know how to flip the script."
  — Roland Frasier [00:00]

• "How do we take our expenses and turn them into profit?"
  — Ryan Dice [02:35]

• "We've done a good job for them. And so if you can't think of it yourself, maybe put an extensive description [...] into chat GPT or Gemini or Claude and say how could these expenses be turned into profits."
  — Roland Frasier [12:44]

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs and business owners seeking to optimize their financial strategies by transforming traditional expenses into substantial profit opportunities.