Empowering Small Businesses with Ken Cox, President of Rivercity Internet Group & InLink.com

Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show podcast, the podcast show where we unlock potential one dream at a time. Today we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.

Hey, what's up, my good people? Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show. I'm your boy CJ Moneyway. Today I'm joined by my man Ken Cox, a passionate advocate for small business and solo entrepreneurs. As the president of River City Internet Group and the visionary behind Nlink— I didn't say LinkedIn, I said Nlink.com— Ken has created a platform designed to give entrepreneurs the tools they need to streamline operations and scale their businesses without the costly per-user fees traditional software. We dive into how small businesses can leverage N-Link's office suite, CRM, and cloud storage to boost productivity and efficiency. Ken shares insight on common challenges faced by entrepreneurs, the importance of choosing the right tools for growth, and how technology is leveling the playing field for businesses of all sizes. And of course, we wrap things up with our quickfire round where Ken asks some 5 rapid fire questions with the first thing that comes to mind. Hey, what's up, kid, man? Welcome to the show, man.

How you doing, CJ?

All right, man, it's all good, all good, kid. Man, thank you for coming on, man. And like I say, man, wish you a speedy recovery, you know what I'm saying, in the name of Jesus. Hey, so, kid, man, start by telling us a little bit about your background and what led you to nlink.com.

So, you know, I was fortunate enough to acquire the name Nlink in like maybe '99 or 2000, I got into the internet game and we were buying companies and selling companies and doing all this stuff. So it's been, you know, we bought an internet service provider in '99 or 2000, got the name N-Link, and it's been sitting on the shelf for a really long time, not knowing what to do with it. I was running my other businesses and doing my other stuff, kind of living in this Fortune 500 world, right? But my passion has always been small business. Me and my wife own a small business. And we own and operate together, and it's a joy. As much as I do in corporate America, the stuff that I do as a small business owner really touches people's lives in a different way. And, you know, I've always wanted to bring something to market for that Main Street business owner, the solopreneur, you know, all those things, and, and really didn't have, you know, it wasn't affordable enough to bring it to them in a way that was meaningful and When AI hit the market a couple years ago, I went to, you know, I went back to school and learned everything I could about it, took all my knowledge of website hosting and building websites and funnels for people for the past 25 years, and we put together a package. We launched it under the Inlink.com name. That's Inlink.com. And really what I want to help people do is embrace what Inlink is in its whole It's an AI infrastructure for small business. Helps you take those, you know, what I call the front desk roles that you're hiring every time the school season starts or summer starts. You got to rehire, retrain, you know, all those things for those tasks and replace that role with an AI employee. I still hope that you hire those kids, but you hire them to manage your AI employees. And they're answering the phone and they're answering your Google reviews and they're helping you make content for your website, right? And they're doing all these things for your business, really letting you focus on building your business instead of hiring another front desk person so that you can do more with your customers or more with your marketing or, you know, working with your accountant and, you know, the stuff that you really should be doing in your business. And I'd say over the last 6 months to 8 months, It's good. You could put it in your business today and we're here to help you figure that out. And it's affordable, so much more affordable than even one full-time employee or even part-time employee, right? We're talking minimum wage now. You know, you could have 100 AI agents working for the price of 10 hours a week of a full-time, you know, of a part-time person. So it's time, it's here, and I'm super excited about it. Small business owners helped me with my life. As a young kid. I'm here to help other people today in my small business and in my— with N-Link, you know, I want to help those small businesses do the same thing that I get to do with mine.

Man, that sounds very, very interesting, and I'm definitely in for that. One thing I would like to ask you before I move on to the next question, you said that it's very affordable. Can we get some ballpark figures?

Yeah, so I mean, you can start with $97 a month But the value that we put into that $97 package, you get your whole CRM. And what I think is one of the most important things that every small business should have is a Yext account, something that does all the directory listings, make sure they show up on the maps, make sure that they are getting the right Google reviews, make sure that their profile is consistent across Google and Yahoo and City Pages. And, you know, there's like 50 of those things, right? We give Yext with every single one of our packages. So that that's consistent across the board. And then with that package, you can start playing with AI employees, but it's a pay-to-play.

Mm-hmm.

We have a $500 a month unlimited AI employee package. And if you show up to our Tuesday sessions, I give giant discounts on Tuesdays. We do a Tuesday session at 4:00 PM every Tuesday Central, where I just show you how to train your AI employees, what they can do, how to get them answering the phone for you, sending booking links out to your potential clients, sending schedules out to your potential clients, collecting data, maybe even filling out contracts for you and sending them off to customers. There's just, you know, the world is open now and you can do all kinds of really, really cool stuff and it's not that hard. And the price, you know, I've sold back office solutions for over $1 million.

Hmm.

And, you know, I get to bring it now for $250 a month sometimes. That's really amazing.

Yeah, that sounds cool, man. Definitely gotta look into that. Hey, so, kid, man, let me ask you, what are some of the biggest challenges you see small business and solopreneurs facing today?

Front desk staff. You know, the problem I talked about, you know, school starts and I lose my front desk staff, they're going off, I got to retrain them. Or I get somebody in, I think they're great, and they don't show up, and then they file unemployment if they work 2 hours, right? All of those kind of managing that those daily tasks that need to be done and hiring them, the turnover rate, all those things. And it's not turnover rate because you're not a good boss or because you're hard to work with. It's just the nature of that front desk position, right? And it turns over fast and you got to retrain and constantly retrain. And then, you know, it gets complicated and it really can affect your business. If you've ever had, you know, an employee in your business that seems like they're doing good, but they're really taking a wrong turn in some places. And it can really hurt your business really bad. So I think replacing that with AI, I still hope you hire those kids and teach them how to do other parts of your business. But that front desk staff and managing your internet online persona and stuff is so important today. And you can do it with technology today in a way that you couldn't even 8 months ago.

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Yeah, I mean, that AI is something else. You have put something on my head the way that you— because, you know, like, I've talked to a few people now, you know, about AI, people that own AI companies and things of that nature. So you get certain things and different things from each one, man. But what you just said, like, you can use AI to be your front desk people, they can sign contracts, they could do this and that. Man, that's awesome. Gots to find out about that, 'cause that's very interesting, you know what I'm saying? So let me ask you, Ken, what makes nlink.com different from other business tools out there?

So we have a program where you can hire us for a year and we'll, we'll sit with you every month to kind of help you go through that. I'm not here as a one and done and get out the door, right? I've been hosting websites for companies across the globe for over 25 years, right? Our, my core is we own and operate our data center. We're privately held, which means I answer to myself and I answer to my board of advi— board of directors, the, the my, you know, my original financing partners.

Mm-hmm.

And we believe in the internet and we believe in small business and we wanna see it excel. We do not believe in the winner take most mentality that has been happening over the last, you know, 15 years in the internet and on Main Street. And when we started this business, I still remember I was working for another company and I was bartending on the nights and weekends to kind of make ends meet. I was young, I was 24 years old, and my predecessor Steve, my mentor, unfortunately he's passed away. And, you know, he was a great man. I remember he walked in the bar one night and he goes, we're gonna start a new company, Ken. I'm like, okay, what are we doing? He's like, I'm going to start a hosting company. And I was doing hosting for another company at the time. I'm like, okay, what's it about? He's like, we're going to create ourselves jobs that we don't have to answer to anybody that will feed our families for the rest of our lives, right? And he got to fulfill that dream and it fed him for the rest of his life. And unfortunately, he's no longer with us. But— and that's what I want to do now. And I want to help other people create jobs, do the stuff that they love to do, and, and make it easier for them and not pull the wool over their eyes, right? These marketing agents that come in and say, hey, we'll build you a funnel and we'll do this and we'll do that, you'll be rich tomorrow, give me $10,000. And it's just, it doesn't work, right? It's, they don't know your business, they don't know any of those things. So we really want to be your AI infrastructure and your partner for a long time, right? I'm not interested in a customer that's here tomorrow and get as much money out of them as possible and, and move on. I'm here to be here for— I hope I have a long life ahead of me still, right? And I want to help as many people and play with tech as much as I possibly can and do cool stuff on Main Street.

Man.

Outside of that, you know, I won't sell your data.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was just talking to a guy at work about that yesterday. Because he was asking me about, you know, how they had seen you saying like he had 19 viruses. And so he turned to me and asked me about it. I said, I don't know, man. I leave it alone. Because I was just reading the other day, was you got this big thing where the FBI, you know, have confirmed it that you— I forgot the name of it— newer malware or whatever, where they taking people information and then selling it, you know, saying in the dark market and all that type of stuff. So I appreciate you saying that. Like, look, I'm not trying to get over your information, is cool. And I like the whole concept of building a website and everything else that you talk about. Matter of fact, let me get into that right now. So how critical is a good CRM system for small businesses, and how does nlink.com make CRM more accessible?

You know, a CRM is pretty important for any business.

Mhm.

Now, a fancy CRM isn't necessary, right? You can do this stuff on Google Sheets, right? Here's my customers, here they are, you know, these are the people I'm going to reach out to on a regular basis. But having it under one hood that can do outreach, can send emails, can do split testing on emails, right? We think as business owners that we can write a good email and send it out, but if you send it out to 500 people, the same message, it's not gonna hit the same with all 500 people. So the CRM, you can do stuff called split testing where, you know, it sends kind of slightly different language to different people and it kind of decides, oh, this person resonates more with this kind of message than the other kind of message. And with AI, We can do that in our CRM, right? We can say, "Hey, kind of change the language and do split testing, and the one that's more acceptable to the end users, start using that one more frequently." Keeping track of your potential leads and things like that is huge. Main Street America, if you've got a storefront, realistically, I think your Google reviews and being found on the maps is more important than having a CRM because you're dealing with a lot of people that walk in off the street, right? You're not winning business by your Facebook ads and stuff like that. They can help and you can— there's some strategies that you can really knock out of the park there. But I find most of those Main Street America businesses really just need to focus on the fundamentals. Get listed on your maps. When somebody does call in, that you have somebody answering the phone, you track that call and you make sure you reach out to them in the future, right? They might not be your fit today, but they might be a fit in a year from now. But if you don't reach out to them in a year, they're not going to remember you.

Yeah, that's cool, man. You sold me, Ken. I'm straight up, you know, especially because it's something that I'm looking for at this moment. I talked to you after, you know, afterwards, but you sold me on this, brother. Sounds very, very interesting. Let me ask you, man, traditional software often charge per-user fees that add up quickly. Why was it important for N-Link to offer unlimited users?

So I'm a software guy from a long, long way back, right? I've been working on a computer for more than most people can imagine, right? I've got this beard, honest. So—

Look good, by the way.

In our NLink Office product, you do have to pay per user because it takes resources for every single user. But when you're talking about a CRM, the difference between having 1 user and 2 users and 10 users costs me no different, right? So I want to be an advocate for the business owner, and I've sold software at per-user basis before, right? And what ends up happening is an employer has somebody that works with them for 2 or 3 years and they've got that user set up in the system and then they leave. Well, they don't wanna lose all that data and they can't really transfer to anybody else, but that data is important. It's underneath that user's account and they shouldn't have to cancel it because they're spending money on it. If they hire somebody new, I like fixed costs and I like economies of scale, right? And if you can find an economy of scale by not charging per user, You know, I want to help as many businesses as I can. I don't want to take as much money as I can, right? And I can do that profitably with where we're at, and I can live a happy, healthy life, and I can have a clear conscience, right? This is the difference between a tick and a database, a 1 or a 0, right? And it costs me no more to have a whole bunch of users. The infrastructure, the software is what costs me to host. So, you know, if 100 people are logging in or 1,000 people are logging in, my incremental cost is almost nothing.

Mm.

Yeah, I'll pass that savings on to you.

Yeah, I'm telling you, man, you dropping some nuggets on us, kid. You dropping some nuggets on us, man. So let me ask you, kid, nlink.com offers small email spreadsheets, document, and cloud storage all in one place. How does this all-in-one approach benefit business owners?

I'll go back to my predecessor Steve. He used to have a saying that he said, and I'm stealing it right from him, is If I'm doing business with you, I want one throat to choke. There's something wrong, I wanna know where to go, and I don't want no finger-pointing crap. Like, I don't wanna, oh, it's their fault, it's their fault. I wanna go to somebody, I wanna know that, hey, this is the right person to talk to. They're not gonna point their finger at somebody else. They might say, hey, I need a little bit of time to work with my engineers or something like that, but they're not gonna say, oh, it's not my fault, it's your fault, or it's this other piece of software, somebody else, right? And I think that's important when you're doing this kind of work and you're servicing customers. That they have one place to go and get the support that they need. I've never understood why people are afraid of technology. I've used it as a way to communicate with the world since I was a little kid. So I love it. It's been a savior for me. Without it, I'd be dead or in jail. So, you know, I want to help other people use it to better their business, help communicate with the world, and just do the stuff they like to do.

Yeah. Hey, and that's exactly what I want to do, man. I'm glad I met you today. So, Kev, man, let me ask you, man, for business owners who are hesitant to switch to a new platform, what advice would you give them?

Tread softly, right? You know, I'm not asking anybody to pull rip cords. We do free trials. Get in there, play with it, see if you like it. Do an onboarding call, kind of understand exactly what it is, how you want to implement it, what jobs that you can replace, what your current struggle is. We play small pieces at a time. And my biggest piece of advice is if you have any other employees or partners, everybody's gotta be on the same page. Trying to convince somebody that this is the right piece of software, this is the way that we're gonna go, and if you have parts of your team that are dragging their feet on it, either change the partner or don't move forward because it won't be successful anyway, right? Everybody's gotta be on the same page. Everybody's gotta be on board. And as leaders, it's our job to make sure that everybody gets on the same page and moves forward, right? And then we're— then we move together strong, and, and we, you know, we stop with conviction instead of tiptoeing and things, right? So, but first tiptoe, see if you like it, you know, is this going to help my business or not? And if it is, then move forward. If not, it's okay.

Yeah.

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I feel you, but I like that saying you said too. I thought about this movie Drumline, say one band, one sound. When you move in one band, one sound, everything goes smooth. So Ken, man, as we get ready to wrap this up, what's next for Nlink.com? Are there any exciting updates or new features on the horizon?

Yeah, so I mean, we've launched 300 new features this year already. The package that we're working on right now is our affiliate program. I'm hoping to have it out by April. Maybe mid-April, May at the latest, to where if you want a side gig and you want to earn 20% commission recurring on the deals that, you know, you promote for us, then we can be your partner. And, you know, it's another way that we plan on lowering our costs. If I don't have to have sales reps, if I can have the world selling a product for us and get commissions and do those things, then that's a beautiful world as well. So, you know, affiliate program is what we're working on right now to make sure that, you know, I'm so excited about the world we're living in in '25, man. This solo entrepreneurship and small businesses that can literally live a life how they want to live it without the old school, "Why weren't you here at 7:00, 7:02? We're cutting your pay 15—" That shit's gone, man. It's got to die. We got to find a different way to live. And I love it. And I want to help as many people do that dream as possible.

Man, and I feel you on that too. I really do. Hey, so Ken, man, as we getting ready to wrap this up, man, I got to go into my quickfire round with you, man. You ready? I'm ready. All right, man, here we go, kid. What's the most important tech tool every entrepreneur should have?

Most important tech tool every entrepreneur should have? Accounting software. You don't want to do that stuff on your own. I don't sell accounting software. You got to have a good accounting software package. I don't like doing it. It's the last thing I do every year. I don't want to do it. So, you know, good accounting software I think is really important.

Oh, you heard it right here. He said accounting software for any small business. He don't like to do it, but accounting software, that's what we gonna get next. Biggest mistake small businesses make when choosing software.

When choosing software, listening to the sales rep and not doing your testing. Trust, just blind trust, right? Oh, this is gonna change my business. Jumping in too quickly.

And not having full buy-in from your team. Okay. One book or resource you recommend to business owners? Who Moved My Cheese. Who Moved My Cheese. That's a good one. Simple, simple and plain, uh. Hey, so what's the best piece of advice you've ever received from your mentor? It'll be okay. Mm, that's a good one. Simple as that. It's gonna be all right. Don't worry about it. I want to get, like you say, he said, I want to go to the person that can help. It seemed like he was a real cool, laid-back, hey, let's get things done type of person, man. Yeah. Hey, so Ken, one more question, man. One word to describe the future of small business tech.

One word to describe the future of small business tech. Oh man, one word. That's challenging, brother. Oh boy. That's what it's for, kid. Open, open, open, open for business. Like, sky's the limit.

Mm, sky's the limit. Sky's the limit with AI. I'm telling you right now, Ken got some stuff up his sleeve. Hey, oh, that's what I wanted to say, Ken. When you get your affiliate program, you know, podcast, man, that's one of the best things out there for affiliate programs, man. Holla at your boy. Hey, so, uh, so, man, what a valuable conversation with Ken Cox, man. His insights on Streamlining business operations and making technology more acceptable for entrepreneurs proved that the right tools can truly transform your success. If this episode resonated with you, be sure to check out nlink.com to see how all-in-one business suits can support your growth. Hey Ken, before we leave, man, where can we find you at, man, on social media? And where can we, uh, get to this link? Well, we just type in nlink.com. We'll find the business.

If you want to know more about me personally, just go to kencox.com.. And you can see my shenanigans and my weird thought processes and all kinds of stuff. I try to share as much as I can. You know, I think business is personal, right? Yeah. I hate the line of it's not personal. It's business, man. This is what we do every day. It is personal.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. People gotta know you, you know what I'm saying? I think we learned a lot about you that you're a man of your word and you get down there in the trenches with the people and they trying to screw everybody around, man, and help them out. I appreciate you. For even doing what you doing, man. And as always, if you love this episode, subscribe, rate, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listening to your favorite podcast. Your feedback helps us continue bringing powerful conversations to the table. And don't forget, we got some big things coming up with G Outta State's Capital. Stay tuned for more details on Planting Seeds with CJ and follow @CJ Moneyway on all platforms for updates. Until next time, keep building, keep innovating, and keep making an impact. See you on the next episode. This your boy CJ Moneyway. Hey, with the AI wears over here, Ken Cox. Hey Ken, before we leave, man, I gotta see that hat, man. I, I gotta see that hat. What? Oh, okay, okay. I want a blue one, bro. I want that. I want that. I am— I'll see you.

Hey, I got the red one there.

That's why I kept saying I tried, you know, so I just see— I'm like, what have you got on this? That's St. Louis Cardinals hat. I love it. I want the blue, man. Hey, my man Ken Cox, nlink.com. Check him out. We out of here. Peace.

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Mm-hmm.