WEBVTT
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What's up, everybody?
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This is Sam Tagger, your host of the CEO Roundtable.
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And today we have a new friend of mine that I've, you know, over the last six, 12 months kind of gotten to know.
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And he's been a mentor and just kind of given some good advice as we've done our forge stuff.
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And it was funny that when we had our last call, I didn't even like say this, but I was like, man, I had an eye-opening light bulb moment on our roll-up of like, oh shit, we didn't think of that.
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You know what I mean?
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Oh darn.
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You know what I mean?
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My whole thesis kind of changed a little bit.
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And I was like, oh.
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But anyway, we have an author of the inevitable exit, founder of Meritage Partners MA Advisories.
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They've done hundreds of acquisitions, over$2.4 billion of deals.
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They've actually had 21 of those be public, which is pretty cool.
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Taking a company IPO is a big deal.
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And uh anyway, welcome to the show, Brian.
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I'm excited to jam on this.
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Me too, man.
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And I'm I'm I'm actually glad to hear that I provoked something in your mind because you know I've been doing this since I was 24 years old, is when I got into this industry.
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I was a kid, right?
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And I was 26 when I founded Meritage Partners.
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And the one thing I struggled with was always earning the respect of my elders, like my clients, they were in their 50s and 60s and 70s.
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And they're like, who's this punk kid gonna sell my largest asset?
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Right.
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And so I would always leave with we lead with education and thought-provoking like ideas.
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Because if I could teach them something or get them to think about something they never thought about, they're gonna say to themselves, I need them on my team, I need Brian Franco on my team.
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So I'm glad to hear that, man.
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Cause well, I'll say I'll tell you the two light bulb moments, and then we'll get into like, I mean, this is just it.
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If you're listening, this is how this is real talk for a second.
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So obviously, if you don't know, we're doing this roll-up with Roofers called Forge.
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And I get on a call with Brian, and I was like, you know, our goal is to sell for over 200 million and skip kind of that middle level market.
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And Brian said, Well, most of the transactions you're studying have been in the 10 to 35, 40 million dollar acquisitions.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.040
What's up, everybody?
00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:04.480
This is Sam Tagger, your host of the CEO Roundtable.
00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:11.199
And today we have a new friend of mine that I've, you know, over the last six, 12 months kind of gotten to know.
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.599
And he's been a mentor and just kind of given some good advice as we've done our forge stuff.
00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:25.920
And it was funny that when we had our last call, I didn't even like say this, but I was like, man, I had an eye-opening light bulb moment on our roll-up of like, oh shit, we didn't think of that.
00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:26.640
You know what I mean?
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.480
Oh darn.
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:29.280
You know what I mean?
00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:31.280
My whole thesis kind of changed a little bit.
00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:32.079
And I was like, oh.
00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:37.840
But anyway, we have an author of the inevitable exit, founder of Meritage Partners MA Advisories.
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:42.240
They've done hundreds of acquisitions, over$2.4 billion of deals.
00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:47.280
They've actually had 21 of those be public, which is pretty cool.
00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.520
Taking a company IPO is a big deal.
00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.159
And uh anyway, welcome to the show, Brian.
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I'm excited to jam on this.
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Me too, man.
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And I'm I'm I'm actually glad to hear that I provoked something in your mind because you know I've been doing this since I was 24 years old, is when I got into this industry.
00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:07.439
I was a kid, right?
00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.879
And I was 26 when I founded Meritage Partners.
00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:18.959
And the one thing I struggled with was always earning the respect of my elders, like my clients, they were in their 50s and 60s and 70s.
00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.519
And they're like, who's this punk kid gonna sell my largest asset?
00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:24.000
Right.
00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:30.079
And so I would always leave with we lead with education and thought-provoking like ideas.
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:40.400
Because if I could teach them something or get them to think about something they never thought about, they're gonna say to themselves, I need them on my team, I need Brian Franco on my team.
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So I'm glad to hear that, man.
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Cause well, I'll say I'll tell you the two light bulb moments, and then we'll get into like, I mean, this is just it.
00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.480
If you're listening, this is how this is real talk for a second.
00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:54.560
So obviously, if you don't know, we're doing this roll-up with Roofers called Forge.
00:01:54.959 --> 00:02:04.159
And I get on a call with Brian, and I was like, you know, our goal is to sell for over 200 million and skip kind of that middle level market.
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:12.560
And Brian said, Well, most of the transactions you're studying have been in the 10 to 35, 40 million dollar acquisitions.
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He's like, if you're going straight to institutional money, they're expecting you to have already made some bigger moves like W-2 employments, and you know what I mean, like you're how you're integrated, how your CR, like, and they're not, they're not dumb.
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Like they're spending 200 million dollars, not 30 million dollars, bolting them, firing CEO, and saying, jump into our platform that you know, and I was just like, well, touche.
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So that was the first remember that conversation.
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I do.
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The second one is the book, and you know, a lot of books, obviously, like I just bought my buddy's book, uh Dan Clark Storytelling.
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You know, they they kind of tell you the book in the title, and the book, Inevitable Exit, I thought was just kind of the easiest, and it was an easy read.
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I read your digital version of it, and but the theory, it's just like a light bulb moment goes on, and I changed my entire paradigm of how I'm running my business because most people start a business.
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Like I started DDD experts, I started DoorToDorCon out of just kind of like creative entrepreneurial brain, right?
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And I'm like, we're gonna do this thing 10 years now.
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I'm over here, like now what?
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You know what I mean?
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Like it's kind of like exactly and I like your concept of looking into business as five to seven year chunks and kind of chapters, and there's going to be an exit, whether you're intentional about it versus not intentional.
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And so talk to us about this theory of your book.
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I I I think I think this is that was the huge light bulb moment of when I read that.
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I was like, oh, I see it all day, all the time.
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My dad was an entrepreneur, my uncles are entrepreneur, you know what I mean?
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And I'm just like watching it real time as it like just clips, yeah.
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Instead of like, you run a business, not yeah, there's this inevitable exit.
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Talk to us about that.
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So I'm I'm glad to hear that because uh a lot of my inspiration behind this book was my father, who owned his business as you as you read in the book.
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Um, and he had massive contracts with national company, international companies like Waste Management and FedEx, or then Federal Express.
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And you know, my father was young, he was aggressive, he was energetic.
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Uh, he was a big inspiration for me.
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And so what I saw though in my family is my long long story short, he had two back fusions from getting hurt on the job.
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And it led him to today, he's permanently disabled.
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Like it's he's he's mostly in bed.
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If he's walking, he's using a cane or a wheelchair, depending on how he feels that day.
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But what we saw, and what I saw firsthand, watching my mother, my sister, my my older sister, my younger brother, we watched this man who's been an inspiration to us all of our childhood.
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I was about 17 when this all happened.
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And we saw his health deteriorate and we saw his business deteriorate until he had to close it.
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And I was like, at that moment, it was like, okay, there has to be a better way.
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I was 17 years old.
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I did not know then what I know now, but as I went through my journey in my life, this has been a rainbow of that experience because my father's business today would be worth over$30 million had he had planned for that inevitable exit.
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And so we're all gonna exit.
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And even those that say, no, I'm never gonna exit.
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I'm giving this to my kids, you're gonna exit.
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You exited and gave it to your kids, like you just yeah.
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So, you know, we're we're obsessed with like generations and generational wealth, and and and we were just talking about like legacies of vacations, like these things we we value, man.
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Like as fam, as fathers and husbands, like we want to continue those those legacies.
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And so, if you are gonna hand down a legacy business to your kids, I'll tell you, what you don't resolve today, given all your experience and all of your knowledge and all of your abilities and capabilities, what you do not resolve today, you're gonna pass down those problems to your kids, you're gonna do it right.
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And so, and specifically inside the business, you're you're probably giving them some childhood trauma along the way too, outside of the business, but that's a whole nother topic.
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But jokes aside, you have to look at that and you have to consider that because I'm dealing with a centennial client right now, a hundred-year-old business, fourth generation in the family.
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And by the way, fourth generation success rate is single digits.
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I was gonna say most fail in third generation, right?
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Like second generation struggle, third generation, very low likelihood, fourth generation's probably like it's single-digit success.
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And in second generation is about the stats change, but it's between 60 to 65 percent failure rate in the second generation.
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So if you're gonna sit here and listen to Sam and I, you're like, oh man, we're gonna sell you, but you okay, but you're gonna exit and you're gonna exit to your family.
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So this book is relevant from that standpoint because it it forces you this.
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Sam, you went through it.
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It was this paradigm shift where you went from looking at a business that generated in an income to produce a lifestyle that you desire to an outcome.
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And that outcome is the asset, your business, which others want to own and acquire because what they're buying is the cash flow.
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And so what you have to be able to define and prove, because the burden of proof is on our side of the table, is is that sustainable?
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Is the revenue predictable?
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And predictable nature comes from systems, KPIs, you know, you're setting those targets, you're keeping the people accountable to those targets, like even in you know, D2D sales, like it's not predictable who is going to buy, but there's a predictable nature of how many no doors you have to knock on because there's a hit rate and a pre-win rate, and that is that becomes predictable mathematically, right?
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It's how many reps, how many doors, and how many conversations, and it's just math at that point.
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It's just math.
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Here's the next question, though.
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This is this is where it actually kind of shifted for me because most people are like, I'm never gonna sell, maybe for two reasons.
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It's like they don't they love what they do, they're making great money and they're winning, but all of a sudden, when things change, the tune changes, life changes.
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Like, I think the other side of that is interest change.
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You know, what I was interested in 10 years ago versus what I'm interested in today is very different.
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My kids are different ages, my energy of what I care about is shifted, right?
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Like, and so all of a sudden, what you loved and was so exciting isn't exciting anymore.
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Like, it's funny.
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Like, I love speaking on big stages, and I do it for free sometimes five years ago.
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And now I'm like, dude, you got to pay a gnarly number for me to even want to get out of my house anymore because I can go and go to my kids' soccer game this weekend.
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Like, like, I'd rather do that.
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And so, like, it's just weird of how sometimes people's interests change now, all of a sudden, either their business revenue shifts and follows because their attention goes elsewhere.
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Maybe the market shifted, and they're like, Like, I think of a software company, they're like, damn, I wish I would have sold three years ago, right?
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Like, and they're like, We're never selling, we're going to the moon.
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AI disrupted them, and now they're just like irrelevant softwares, right?
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So, like, I think there's a side of that too that I'd I'm curious, your element of not legacy business, where it's like, I'm never gonna sell and pass this out, I'm gonna do this until I'm what ready to retire.
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You know, whatever that version, whatever it is.
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Yeah, talk to us about how you see business owners, you know, in this phase of I'm kicking ass, I'm never gonna sell, versus oh shit, I hate my business, I don't know how to get out of it, but I don't know how to like what do I do with it?
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You know what I mean?
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Like, there's a balance there too.
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Talk to us what you see there.
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There's a huge balance, you know.
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So there's my my father's my father's case study is an example that I personally went through, but you have situations like death, divorce, partnership splits, you have outside influences like economic influences, could be regulatory.
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Everything's always changing, right?
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And so when you think about when you think about that paradigm shift that we're talking about, you start to look at your business differently and you start behaving differently because yeah, we are always evolving.
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For some of us, we're hitting that glass ceiling and we just can't break through because we don't have the capital.
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Or, you know, you've probably seen this, you've coached a lot of businesses as well.
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Like we as entrepreneurs, we are fixers, we like to solve problems.
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And when there's no problems, I've seen good business owners create problems just to solve them, right?
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How many times have you seen that?
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Well, you know, I have only like 12 products in our company, and it's big every time you see, you know, I'm coach business, and then I see a problem, and I'm like, let's just build a product to solve their problem.
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Yeah, like wait, I gotta sell that customer service that different process.
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I literally wrote in my journal that I'm like, I am not a CEO of three companies, I'm CEO of like 12 companies because there's like five companies within.
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Like, we have Door to DoorCon coming up.
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I'm like, that's its own million dollar business, yes, in and of itself.
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It has its own workflow, process, sales flow.
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Like, you know what I mean?
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And I'm like, that's a whole nother problem we went to go solve.
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And it's just a once a year thing, you know what I mean?
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It's like it is, man, it really is.
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But you know, to that point, we call those like you people like you and I were foreverpreneurs, right?
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We're always gonna be an entrepreneur.
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It's just what are we doing next?
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And so this is part of our evolution and our growth because yeah, we're gonna be different seven to ten years from now, and what that looks like, we have an idea, maybe we're manifesting what that is, but it's gonna be different.
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Let's just agree on that.
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So the key here is optionality.
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This is what I always tell people.
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You want to have the options because a couple of things will happen.
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One, you're gonna get burned out.
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Two, we've seen we've we've closed deals where people don't know we sold their business because they have Alzheimer's.
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We we sold uh a 50-year-old man's business that died prematurely of a heart attack, and his his widow was crying on my shoulder, thanking me, right?
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We don't we can't anticipate everything, but there's also the situations where, like, holy smokes, man, this business grew way beyond my capability or experience.
00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:06.799
I was comfortable running a$20 million business, but running a$100 million business, haven't been there, never done that.
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It's uh it's it's going to be a learning experience, right?
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And so if you could position yourself in a way that you're allowing yourself those options, because let's face it, Sam, you probably it calls or emails on a weekly basis of someone that is interested in buying what you built, and but you're not interested in selling today, and that's fine, but there will be a time and a place where that would be of interest.
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So, what are you doing today to position yourself for that option in the future?
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That's what this book comes down to.
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That's the core teachings of it.
00:13:39.600 --> 00:14:02.720
And when you start to go through it after that paradigm shift, look, the cool thing is, and I've had a lot of people say this is that inevitable exit's designed to prepare you and give you those options, but the natural progression of the work that we're and the actual advice that we're giving you, it's creating a better company, it's creating a more valuable company, right?
00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:07.120
Which some people aren't willing to go through the surgeries required to do that.
00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:08.080
You know what I mean?
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And I think that's like the hard part is like you're like, I'm comfortable, and if I move and create the frictions and have to fire my accountant that's been with me for five years, knowing my accounting sucks, but it's like it's working, I guess.
00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:31.759
That's some surgery you have to do, or you know, having to actually figure out your marketing cack and being like dialing that in.
00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.840
You're like, Well, I just kind of throw money in the internet and it works, you know what I mean?
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Versus, okay, do you have levers you know how to pull on though?
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Like if we need to spend double, could you?
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You know what I mean?
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Like, yeah, but we're good.
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Like those are like what he's getting at.
00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.919
So that this actually leads me to the next.
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Yeah, I have a guy flew in from Ohio today, and I told him, I was like, Hey, I there's one podcast I can't move today because I already moved it.
00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:03.600
So and I said, You can listen if not, but he's a$35 million owner of a roofing company looking at Forge, right?
00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:09.840
Okay, and he asked a few questions to me that I was like, you know, I'm just gonna ask them to Brian.
00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:10.720
All right, let's go.
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And and and maybe because because he didn't ask him directly, but I was like, actually, this is a really good theme for a podcast.
00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:29.440
One of the reasons he wants to jump into Forge is because he's like, dude, I'm exhausted, done the 17 years, and for me to go to the next level, the iteration, I feel like I need partners, like you said.
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You're like, he's like, I don't know.
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And to go optimize my marketing department, my recruiting, you know, to see the shared services or the integration is what his biggest value is.
00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:50.799
But then I challenged that because like we have a recruiting company called Recruit American and he's paying this company 3,000, it's called Volition, 3,000 bucks a month per market.
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They get him 10 people a month, whatever, right?
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And I was like, well, we do recruiting too.
00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.559
Then I was like, he's like, what about marketing?
00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:01.679
He pays 10 grand in Google Ads, he pays this company Illand or something, 4K.
00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:02.639
And I wrote all this down.
00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:08.159
I'm just like writing down where in his brain, where do I see integration and shared services?
00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:10.159
Because it's a headache for me.
00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:16.480
And I would love to see somebody else that knows what the hell they're doing do it for me, the done for you concept.
00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.480
But here's the theory of the podcast.
00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:19.919
So I'm giving context.
00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:30.559
Post sell, most people they're like, I want to sell my company, but what they don't realize is the optionality of you don't have to leave your company when you sell your company.
00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:36.000
I think that's like a this theory of like, hold on, what if you want to sell and not leave?
00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:37.759
What happens next?
00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:49.360
And then how do you see best success for owners transitioning into being a regional or a partner or an employee at that point?
00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.879
Because they're like, I'm I'm a business entrepreneur, I'm the guy.
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:54.879
Now moving into integration.
00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:00.399
And what successes and failures do you see as companies try to merge and or integrate?
00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:05.200
Because essentially, when you buy and sell a company, most of the time they're usually strategic.
00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:11.599
Sometimes it's a dude just coming in and you know, independent, but most of the time there's a lot of integration that starts to happen, right?
00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:16.960
So, what's the the do's and don'ts, the wins, the losses that you see in that process?
00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:25.359
So it's interesting because everyone is asking themselves this question either verbally or inside their own mind.
00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:29.759
And and you know what I'll start with this.
00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:32.640
Most deals we close.
00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:48.880
The owner says to us, gosh, like I thought I wanted to sell this and I wanted to retire, but I'm actually re-energized, I'm having fun, and I'm doing the things I I that got me into this business in the first place, and we're growing.
00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:52.400
And you know, I had a client in a roofing company in uh St.
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:58.000
Louis, sold them for 15 million, sold to a larger private equity group.
00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:04.480
They brought the capital behind him, and he grew, he's gonna do 40 million this year, just his division.
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:16.400
The overall business, the platform is gonna hit 35 million dollars of EBITDA this year, and he's a part of that because he rolled equity forward.
00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:19.519
So is there this weird ego of like so?
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:27.359
Like in his is it, yeah, because like there's this psychology of like, you're not the guy though, but you are the guy within the guy, you know what I mean?
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:28.400
Like, keep going.
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.279
Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but no, you're you're you're spot on.
00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:42.240
So, my so with that framing, I always ask clients, and I talk about in my book, I ask the question, you want to exit, but what do you want to exit into?
00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.759
And people are like, never thought of that, right?
00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:46.880
Just like your response.
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.640
What do you want to exit into?
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:54.160
Well, okay, well, I want to exit, I don't want to do payroll, I don't want to do HR.
00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:56.319
Everyone has a list, right?
00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:57.759
I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that.
00:18:57.839 --> 00:18:59.920
I don't want to, well, what do you want to exit into?
00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:01.279
What do you want to do?
00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.279
And for some people, yes, that's retirement.
00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:05.359
Some of it's let's go sit my ties on the beach.
00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:07.119
Well, to him, I'm like, dude, you're 40.
00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.039
I'm like, yeah, well, I asked him, I simply asked him that's that question.
00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.759
I said, I said, what are your hobbies?
00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:14.559
I started there.
00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:15.599
So what do you like to do?
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:17.279
He goes, I work, right?
00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:19.920
Like I just grind and I go, works for sport.
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:20.559
I love it, man.
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:21.039
Yeah.
00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:24.480
So then, like, I don't know, 20 minutes later, I asked him the question.
00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:27.200
I said, So when you sell this, or like, what's your vision?
00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:32.799
He's like, Well, I want to sell and retire by like, you know, I told myself by the time I was 40, I'm there, so I want to retire.
00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.599
And I go, You just said your hobbies work, bro.
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:41.839
I I guarantee freaking to you, you're gonna just start working again.
00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:50.400
I don't know what that is, but like he's it it someone once told me being an entrepreneur is not a career, it's a condition.
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.640
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:57.039
And we have this condition where look, we this is how we were built.
00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:06.559
Like, we want to go out and solve problems, we want to go out in because we were given the gift of a vision, we want to create and bring that vision to fruition, right?
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.079
And there's nothing wrong with that.
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.759
It it's a great condition to have.
00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:14.400
Like, there's a lot of conditions I would not want to have, but that's one I'm happy having.
00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:17.599
But you the question becomes you know, what do you want to exit into?
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:19.039
And then what does that look like?
00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:23.599
Because they won't know until they get there.
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:37.200
They will not know what that's gonna feel like, what the burden of the weight of their carrying on them for getting payroll dialed in every single month or bi-monthly, whatever the case frequency is.
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:42.000
When you don't have those pressures, you think differently, right?
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.599
Oh, that's a good way to put it.
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:50.799
That's a good way to put it because most people they're just trying to survive and hidden it.
00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:55.839
And it's funny that you said that because I don't know how you say the guy's name, but like you could just sense that.
00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.599
Like he's like, Well, I'm not liquid.
00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:01.119
It's like you could tell he's made a lot of money, but he's like, But I'm not liquid.
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:15.119
And then you could tell he's still dealing with a customer call, and then he's dealing with a rep that just stole from him, and then he's dealing with, and he's like, I think like what I'm hearing him say energetically was, I just don't want to have to deal with all that.
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:27.839
If I could focus on what I do best, which is building and strategic conversations, and you know, but he's just like, I'm still fixing payroll problem, I'm still, you know what I mean?
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:29.279
And and and so what's interesting.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:30.640
I know exactly what you mean.
00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:39.759
Yes, and I'm sure, like, I'm sure part of your sales pitch when you're finding the marriage between buyer and seller, that's what an MA guy does, right?
00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:48.079
Is you're like we've got a bunch of buyers, and I have a client that wants to sell, is trying to figure out how to marry those two, right?
00:21:48.319 --> 00:22:00.799
Matchmaking is a big piece of it, and then you know, becomes the difference with marriage is you know, I mean, well, I guess it's similar, but you know, the engagement or the dating and then the Engagement.
00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:08.160
It's the equivalent of like you're you're on the market if you're dating, you get engaged when you sign a letter of intent.
00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:14.400
You're not married yet, but you're saying, here, here's our wedding date, and here's what I want to discover about you before we get married.
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.960
Some people do pre-mittal premarital counseling, there's all sorts of things you could do.
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:23.759
And but you're really determining is this person who they say they are?
00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:29.039
And so some people are engaged for years, some months, some days, right?
00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:32.240
So the but then there's the the wedding date.
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.920
That's the definitive agreement, that's when the transaction closes.
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:43.119
So if you were to ask somebody what it's like to be engaged versus somebody what it's like to be married, it's two different responses.
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:53.839
And that's what I'm getting at is that once the transaction is consummated, like a marriage, it's just it's a it's a different dimension uh and it's a different level and stage.
00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:57.759
So you can't really explain what marriage is like until you're married.
00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:02.880
And then once you're there, though, you then can firsthand experience, talk about it.
00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:12.160
But once you're there, you also realize well, this is the things I thought I wanted, but these are the things I'm happy with and really get me excited, right?
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:16.799
And so, so my question again is what do you want to exit into?
00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:18.400
That's what I would ask him.
00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:23.839
And and and he might start with those things that he doesn't know no longer wants to do, and that's good.
00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:28.160
Take an inventory of those and make sure he never has to do those again.
00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:44.640
Because if you could clear his mind and you could remove the weight that sits on his shoulders because those things bear a weight on him emotionally, he is going to transform to something that not even you've never seen, he's never seen in himself.
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:45.920
That's the answer.
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:47.920
Yeah, because he has the abundance behind him.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.480
He's now not he's flushed with cash, he's freed of all the weight.
00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.680
And I think that's the theory of an entrepreneur in the first place.
00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:57.920
It's like, why do businesses stagnation?
00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:58.960
Why do they die?
00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:00.880
Why does anybody get burnt out?
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:13.039
It's because when you're like every conversation in your mind has nothing to do with entrepreneurship or the creative or the the growth or the stimulation that it started with.
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:13.680
Correct.
00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:20.720
And I think that's the difference of an integrator or a manager or a you know what I mean, like an employee.
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:26.319
You become the employee when you feel like you're playing HR director or you know what I mean, whatever.
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.200
So I think like I think you're spot on.
00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:34.079
I think this is because I I literally I was like, I don't know the answer to that question.
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:36.319
Now you do, yeah.
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:38.799
I literally get I mean he's here all day.
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:41.519
So I I was like, yeah, give me some ammo on this, bro.
00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:45.519
I had I had a call this morning with a client.
00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:51.920
Uh he's and he said he was in a management meeting like you're doing today, like you're hosting today, right?
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:59.839
And so he in the call in that meeting, you know, the buyers investors were saying, Well, will you come work with us?
00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.440
Will you stay with us?
00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:06.240
And he's like, uh, I really don't want a job.
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:15.920
And he's like, and they're like, and they were kind of like turned off by that because there's risk in that business if he's no longer there, like bottom line, right?
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:34.079
So they were the by the buyers and investors were turned turned off when he said I don't want a job, but then quickly they got excited because he says, I'm not looking for a job, I'm looking for a challenge, and that resonated with the room.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:38.400
And I yeah, see you writing it down, man, because that's what you're writing that down, bro.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:41.359
That's a lot and I'm borrowing that from my client.
00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:44.799
He says, I'm not looking for a job, I'm looking for a challenge.
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:53.680
The man that's in your office today is not looking to do this for a job, he's looking to take this to the next level, which is a challenge.
00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:58.960
And if you can do it shoulder to shoulder and quicker, faster together, then do it.
00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:00.880
Wow.
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:03.920
If I don't close this guy today, Brian, I owe you a hundred bucks.
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:11.440
I gotta bet if you do close it, you gotta like let's bet that.
00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:13.039
Yes, yes.
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:18.400
I'll bet you, I'll bet you ten thousand dollars you actually close it.
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:19.440
I like that.
00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:20.640
I like that, dude.
00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:27.279
Hey, what's fun is like and and and and I'm jealous, you started at 20 something selling businesses.
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.400
I sold you know, alarm systems, you know what I mean?
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:38.319
Like, that's what's funny is I realize like yeah, everything is the same, whether it's selling a house or a business or a you know, you still have the same dopamine hit.
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:40.640
I'm sure when you go lock down one of your hundreds of deals.
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:42.160
I'm I'm a deal junkie.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:43.599
I'm sure you have, yeah.
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:45.599
I mean, like, I'm sure you still are like that.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.359
Was a good line that that was good.
00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.839
Like, and you know, like um anyway, we gotta kind of wrap this up.
00:26:51.920 --> 00:27:02.799
But like, guys, I think that the the whole point of this podcast, and and and as you can tell, if you haven't already, Brian is educating in this space, he's speaking on stages, he's showing up in our audiences.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:05.759
If you haven't heard of you know, Meritoch, go check him out.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.720
Um, go get his book, Inevitable exit.
00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:11.119
It's on Amazon, it's on all the platforms.
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:15.119
Um, he's got a great website with some video courses that go into educating.
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:21.359
One of the things I like, you know, we we know a lot of investment bankers and in private equity and MA guys and brokers.
00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:27.200
One of the things that Brian, I love about you, and I just want to honor you, is just educate like you you learned it young.
00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:31.839
You're like, if I can give them a nugget first, they can trust me and they can, you know, give.
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.160
And you do a really good job at that.
00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:36.240
So, guys, a lot of good resources out.
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:39.599
Make sure to go follow Brian, make sure to go check him out.
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:41.920
And uh, we'll see you guys on the next episode.
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:44.319
So, thank you so much for the for the time, Brian.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:45.200
Thanks, Sam.
00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:46.000
Appreciate you.
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:46.960
Thank you, brother.