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You have soul companies, you're invested in companies. But if
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we have to go back, how did all this started.
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The investment that I put into it was my parents' loan.
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I want to hire the right people. I want to
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work with the best, and I want to make sure
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that when we put together something for that business and
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I get a system behind it so that we can
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have a systematized process that people can follow.
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Everyone is stating that you should be multitasking, but based
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on everything that you mentioned, it seems that you're not
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doing the same thing. Hello, and welcome to Behind Numbers.
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Today's guest is someone who has built, lost and rebuilt
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multiple times, and he's doing all of it while being
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also a father of it. Let's go behind the numbers
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with Bubba Paige.
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Hey, thanks Solesandro. I appreciate you having me on. This
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has been a wild journey, this whole idea behind being
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an entrepreneur and having eight children and seeing behind me
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I've got kids that are six years old all the
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way to sixteen, four boys, four girls. It is a
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beautiful chaos. I love to say that I never imagined
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even having eight kids, but we just kept feeling like
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there was another one, and then at the end we
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got twins. So boy girl twins made number seven and eight.
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And it's kind of like we're building our own little
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startup here. We've got all these little people running around
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and we're creating systems and processes, and just like I
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did with my startups.
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I feel that you just spoiled one of my questions
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because I am a dad too, but just of one
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and after a long day, I love her to death,
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but I'm so tired. So one of my questions would
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have been, how can you manage all this? How can
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you manage being a dead of eight? And if anyone
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is going to go through your link it in, they
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will see how many things you're doing right now.
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Look, I'm not doing it alone. So this is a
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big piece. I'm a big believer in systems. I'm a
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big believer in people and process and so when I
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build a company, I want to hire the right people.
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I want to work with the best, and I want
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to make sure that when we put together something for
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that business and I get a system behind it so
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that we can have a systematized process that people can follow.
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It's funny, but I do the same thing at home.
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It's if I'm going to interview my employees and my
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team members and we're going to do KPIs and we're
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going to do one on ones. I'm going to do
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that at home too. Why wouldn't I meet with my
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children one on one to see what are they struggling
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with and what are their roadblocks and what are their
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goals and dreams and be able to help them overcome that,
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and then KPIs in business, I would do that at home.
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So kids, what are you trying to accomplish? What are
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the goals you want to do? I try to block
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out my day and so in the morning, I'm going
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to the gym. I'm trying to take care of my body,
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trying to take care of my health because if my
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by he is moving and I'm eating and fueling properly,
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then I should have more energy throughout the day. Anyway,
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I'm not a big caffeine drinker. That's just not me.
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I don't like soda and caffeine. I don't need it.
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But the only reason I'm not needing it is because
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I try to get a reasonable amount of sleep at
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the end of the day. Six and a half, seven
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hours is where I'm trying to hit every night and
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it doesn't always happen. And I get that, especially when
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you have little babies. I was hardly getting any sleep
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when I had twins, and that was really hard. But
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sleep and health is so critical. It's vital because when
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you get triggered by something, Let's say it's something simple,
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but the kid is making loud noises, doing X, Y
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and Z things in the home. There's a few different
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ways that you can either react or respond if it's
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triggering to you because you're sensitive to that sound and ah,
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you can't handle it. You can do some breeding exercises
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to try and get yourself composed and regulate that nervous system.
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You can respond in a way, for example, that if
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they're pounding on the piano doing what they are practicing right,
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and or their trumpet, or they're on the drums, like
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all my kids are playing all these instruments right, And
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if it's getting irritating to me, I ask myself, why
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am I irritated? Because it's not them, because I've loved
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listening to them, I've loved hearing them play. I'm grateful
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they're practicing because I've asked them to practice. So why
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why am I irritated? And if I think for a
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second and wonder why, I look back and say, Okay,
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have I eaten? Did I get enough sleep? Because am
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I irritable? Right? Have I taken care of my body
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in a way? And my mind is to me? It's
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such a big piece when parents can come in the
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home with somewhat of a cleared mind and a focused
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energy that can be present, which means you have to
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put your phone away, You need to turn off the notifications,
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and if there's an urgent matter, of course, you can
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let the family know that there's an urgent matter. But
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as soon as that's done, you go back. It'd be
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present in that vein. And sometimes many times I've had
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to put the kids bed and get back on the laptop,
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get back on a phone call. But I like to
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focus those last few hours of the day. Those are
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with my kids. That's my family time. It's family dinner,
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it's playing outside, throwing the ball around, it's wrestling with
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those kids. It's finished helping them finish their homework or
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a school project. These are the pieces where I get passionate.
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You know, I love it.
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I love it, And you mentioned more than once the
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word focus, because now everyone is stating that you should
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be multitasking, but based on everything that you mentioned, it
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seems that you're not doing the same thing.
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So do you think that multitasking.
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Is better or it is better to just focus on
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what you're doing right now and as you mentioned, then
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close it and go to the next thing.
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Yeah. Look, some people are not going to agree with this.
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I think multitasking is a fallacy. I think it's impossible,
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And it depends on the definition of multitasking. Right now,
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I am speaking and looking at the camera at the
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same time and talking to you and thinking about what
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I'm gonna say. Is that multitasking Maybe? But if I'm
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trying to do a project here and then another project here,
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and then talk to somebody here and then interrupt with
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this and then try to exercise in between, that I
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know for me, if I'm going to go exercise, I
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need to exercise, and if I have my phone out,
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I'm not going to get the exercise I came there
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to do because I'm distracted by the goal that I had. Now,
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can I listen to an audiobook an exercise or a
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podcast an exercise? Yeah? And so the way I try
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to do it is I compartmentalize and I block out
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my day. I'm in a place where I have people
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that can help me, and so I'm able to delicate
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eat certain tasks, but I'm able to block out the
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time necessary for this specific piece. Now, for example, I
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am getting out a deal to my investors, and I
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knew that today would not be the day I could
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get out the deal to my investors because I'm focused
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more on content creation. Let's say, so today is more
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of the content creation type environment, and so I've blocked
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out and I've focused on that content creation. And so
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what I have scheduled is on Monday, that is my
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day that I'm going to be reaching out and connecting
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with those investors who invest alongside with me in influenc VC,
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and so I'll get that project done before I move on.
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And then Tuesday Wednesday, I'm doing a lot of the
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coaching with the business BOOKIEMP dot com. So anyway, it's
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a tough question. Some people are going to agree disagree.
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I know for me, this is how I've had to
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make it work to keep my sanity, to have the
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lifestyle that I've wanted. I want to be able to
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clock out and the time with my children, have the
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family dinner, practice with them their musical instrument or sports
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whenever go to the game. And then if I need to,
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I can come back to the computer or the phone
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after I put those guys to me, And only in
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those emergency circumstances and I try to get on a
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phone call wild'ing around the kids. I just it's very
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rare to try and do that.
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And I'm really curious right now.
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You to have companies, you have sold companies, you're invested
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in companies.
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But if we have to go back, how did all
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this started?
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So I was a college student at BYU, bringing me
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Young University, and I had some friends who were importing
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office furniture of all things from Taiwan where they had
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served their volunteer missions, and they were importing this off
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furniture and they approached me and said, we want you
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to come and help us with sales. That was the
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only life still I had at that time, and so
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they allowed me to join as a co founder of
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the business. It wasn't my idea. I wasn't the original founders,
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but it opened my eyes to entrepreneurship. I didn't have
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family members who are entrepreneurs. My dad is a physician,
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my brother's a physician, my other brother's an attorney. My sister,
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who was more in business, she was going to do
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an NBA kind of think. She married a dentist. And
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so I had zero entrepreneurs that were influencing me, and
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I didn't even know that word. But when I got
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involved as a college student, which I think is a
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phenomenal time to get involved as entrepreneurship, I was able
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to end up selling my ownership to my co founders.
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I walked away with a ten x return on my investment,
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which was unbelievable. I can't believe that actually happened. Now.
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To be clear, the investment that I put into it
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was my parents loan. They loaned me five thousand dollars.
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I put that into the business. That was part how
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I bought my equity, and then I got fifty at
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the end, and I paid my parents back plus interest,
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which I think they were shocked that they got anything back.
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I'm pretty sure they thought that was a donation. And
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then I was able to move on and I started
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my next business just a year and a half later
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in two thousand and nine, and then ended up selling
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that one in twenty twenty. But the entrepreneurship side was
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that fire was sparked inside me at that young age
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in college, and I knew that's what I needed to do.
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I had plans of going and getting an MBA. That
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was the plan, That's the track I was on, and
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once I stepped foot into the role of an entrepreneur,
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I couldn't go back. I absolutely loved it. And so
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people look at me sometimes online like on LinkedIn, They're
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going to see that I'm an investor and I've invested
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in about thirty companies and a bunch of funds and
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all these things, and so sometimes they look at me
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as the title as an investor. I'm an entrepreneur through
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and through. I've been lucky to be able to invest
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in some amazing companies that have done well, and right now,
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out of a little under thirty companies, I have five
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unicorns in my portfolio, and that's an unbelievable blessing. I
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feel like I was lucky to work with these entrepreneurs
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and to be able to be involved, and from a
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numbers game, those are pretty dang good odds. Most of
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the time, angel investors have a hard time making anything
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with their investments, let alone having some of that. So
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that's been a huge blessing, and it inspires me to
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do more and to want to invest in more and
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to mentor more and to help people however they can.
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How do you generally choose which of the companies that
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you believe that they do have a shot.
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Whoo, this is the magic question. I wish I could
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say all of them were a success. I've lost some
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money too, right, And so let me actually do the math,
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because I have my little spreadsheet that I keep track
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of all these things. Of these I need to remember
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if it's twenty eight or twenty nine. Let's say it's
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twenty eight of these twenty eight companies that I've invested
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in individually. So I have funds that have invested in
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twenty companies with my money or whatever, and so I'm
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spread over maybe one hundred and fifty companies or something
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because of the funds I'm involved in. But my specific
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personal investments. Out of those twenty eight companies, I've lost
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four so far, and so four of them have they're
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dead right. Five of them are unicorns, meaning they have
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higher than a billion dollar valuation, and then a bunch
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that are still in the process of growing. Now some
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are going to fail. That's just part of the plan, right,
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and you won't get anything back. But number one, I
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live for people. People is who I bet on. That's
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the number one thing. When I saw for example, Taurus,
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Taurus has been on the Time magazine is one of
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the most innovative companies. They're soaring their revenue numbers and
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their valuation is their unicorn on a multiple what I
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saw them early on. The reason why I got so
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interested was because I really liked the founders. And so
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what's funny is I reached out to the founders and said, hey,
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I love you guys. I've seen what you've done in
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the past. I would love to invest in what you
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guys are doing now. Well, they didn't need my money.
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They didn't need it at the time, and so I'm
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like begging them to let me give them money. They
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didn't need my money, and at the time they didn't
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take it. And I'm so frustrated because what I didn't
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need a chance to invest they were at ten times
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the valuation that they were, or maybe a little less,
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maybe five times evaluation that what I wanted to get
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in it was Number one, as the founders who they are,
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what is their integrity like, what is their work ethic like?
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How do they respond and talk to people? How do
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they manage and work with people? And then number two,
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I always want to make sure if it's if I'm
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writing a check, I needed to be a venture backable business.
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In most scenarios, a window washing company that's doing the
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neighborhoods around town is not a venture backable business because
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venture backable business means that I'm seeking a ten times return.
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If I give someone one hundred grand, I expect and
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hope that I will get a million dollars back. And
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unless they become a national, nationwide window washing company, that's
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not going to be a venture backable business. And so
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when people approach me and they haven't really done the
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investor thing before, I want them to realize that you
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need to have a business that has a large enough
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market that when you do go to market, you can
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scale from whatever it is a million dollars your revenue
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to one hundred million dollars revenue. Can you scale and
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grow the business at that size? Otherwise you may not
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be a venture backable business. Now, it doesn't mean that
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there's anything wrong with being a lifestyle business. And when
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I'm mentoring entrepreneurs, especially first time entrepreneurs, I want them
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to start with a lot lifestyle business because I want
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them to learn the ins and outs of how a
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business works. I suggest early stage entrepreneurs starts with something simple,
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something that's service oriented, service based business that can be profitable,
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and that doesn't cost you a ton to get started.
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Because if you'd have a success early on, then you
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can start looking into more complicated businesses and you can
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start doing things that leverage investor dollars or debt or
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things like that. But I out the gate. I think
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it's a lot easier to start simple, have some wins,
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and then move on from there.
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It is really great that you mentioned more than once
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that the most important thing is people. How can you
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choose or which are the trades that you're looking in
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a person to actually say that's the right fit, that's
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the right person, that's a person that I can trust.
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One hundred percent. So integrity for me is number one.
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I want to make sure that when the person says
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they're going to do something, they do it. And number
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two for me is accountability. It goes along the lines
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with integrity too. When you make a mistake, own it.
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Own the mistake, don't hide it, don't try to keep
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it secret, but own it. And so when I think
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about integrity, and this is when if people pitch me
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for me to invest, I need them to know that
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I'm most likely not going to write them a check
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on that first phone call. That's just not how relationships work.
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It's as if we're getting married in a business sense, right,
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I am now giving you my heart earned money and
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banking that you're going to return it back to me tenfold.
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I need to get to know who you are, what
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kind of a person are you? What do other people
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think about you? How have you proven that you know
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how to do this type of thing you're promising that
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you can do. And so when they get on a
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phone call with me, sometimes people are shocked when I say, hey,
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the business looks great. I'd love to get to know
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you for a little while, and they look at me
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kind of confused, aren't you just going to give me
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one hundred thousand dollars? And I'm like, no, no, I'm not.
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I'm gonna watch. I want to watch. So you've told
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me what you're going to do over the next X
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amount of time. Right, I'm gonna sit back and I'm
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gonna watch, and I want you to see if you
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can do what you said you're started going to do.
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And I would love for you to give me an update,
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whether it's monthly, every six day, weeks, whatever it is,
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and you give me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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I want to hear all of it. I don't want
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to hear just the sugar coating of it. I want
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to see. So the deal I'm doing right now with
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Influence WC, I met with them over ten months ago,
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and I've been watching, watching and meeting with them and
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talking with them and getting updates, watching to see if
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they can do what they say they've been doing. When
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they finally launched and they started generating revenue, I was
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watching closely. And the wonderful part about it is they've
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actually done what they said they were gonna do, even
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more than I expected. And so now it's a no
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brainer for me to want to write a check and
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get them, get them and my other friends and investors involved,
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because I have a much higher confidence rate with someone
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that I've been able to get to know and see.
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So I do love to invest in people I know,
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love and trust. That's the easiest way. I'll give you
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an example. I invest in in a Marco Polo competitor
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with a friend of mine that I just loved dearly.
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And the business was going and growing and I loved
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the product. It was awesome. But in the end it
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didn't pan out and I lost my fifty thousand dollars. Now,
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I remember talking to that entrepreneur, a good friend of mine,
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and I said, look, I know it's not you. You
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didn't do anything illegal, you did nothing against your integrity.
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Sometimes businesses just don't work out, and I understand some.
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I've had mine that I've had to shut down. But
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I said, the next time you do something, I want
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to invest in you because I love you as a
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human and I believe in you as a person. So
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this was a tech business that I invested in prior.
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He went from being a tech on entrepreneur multiple times
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to being a consumer product company. And it's called Josh's Pickles.
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And I love him to death. And I was one
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of his very first checks to support him in his
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pickle company. And you know what's wild to me. Number One,
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people either love or hate pickles. Right, So it's fascinating.
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But he started to take off on TikTok. The market
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for pickles is massive and so because it's pickles all
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over the world and there's only a few key competitors
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out there. So he created this product. It's like fifth
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generation Bridmaster from his ancestors, and he's had this he's
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always loved doing pickles. But I invested in him because
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I know love and I trust him. Even though the
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other one didn't work and I lost money there, I
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still took a bat and I invested here and it's
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killing it. He's in retail stores now, he's getting accepted
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into some of the big box retailers. Very soon you'll
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be able to find Josh's pickles all over the country.
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And I'm so happy to be a part of it,
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even though it wasn't what I normally had invested in.
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You know, what a great story. What a great story.
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And Baba, we're always closing the podcast with one question.
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So if you could go back and change just one thing.
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It could be a decision that you made, It could
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be a mindset, it could be something that you wish
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that you would have known.
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What would it be and.
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Why, oh oh.
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My gosh, there's so many I could write a book
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on how many things I wish I would have known.
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One of the things I wish I would have known
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as a young entrepreneur is where my priorities are is
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what matters. Where I focus my attention is where I
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will have success. I early on in my career, I
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don't believe I had the best priorities. I was confused
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to think that making money was the ultimate priority, and
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that's what my job was as a husband and as
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a father, was to be the provider. Now I believe
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that I should be the provider, truly believe that. But
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I started putting some of the most important things in
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my life not in the correct focus, and so my maker,
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my God. Although I would keep communication, it was not
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as intentional my spouse, although loved her dearly loved her children.
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I worked a lot, and I put that focus on
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being the provider and not the presider in the home,
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and early on I didn't realize some of those mistakes
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that I wish I would have and that I would
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have prioritized. Even my health. I was not as healthy
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in any way, shape or form early on in my
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career because I was just work, Go, Go, Go build,
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Bill build, thinking that sacrifice was going to bring the
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pile of gold at the end of the rainbow. And
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although it did bring financial success, I felt like I
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lost some of the pieces that I wish I would
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have had. And life is complicated and we learn things
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as we go along. But I know, for example, those
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first five to ten years of my career, I wish
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I could have gone back and said, Okay, God You're
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number one no matter what, because I can't take any
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of these worldly possessions with me when I die, so
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I need to put God number one and allow him
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to guide my life and be the focal point. And
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in a relationship, I believe if you put God first
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and both spouses look to God as the primary source
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of truth, that closer you get to God, this triangle
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with God at the top, the closer you are as
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a couple. I believe in that, and that's something I
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wish I would have focused on with my children. I
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have always been an engaged father, but I worked a lot,
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and I was even gone for a few months for
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a business opportunity, and that put a lot of strain
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on my wife, on her and our relationship. It was
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really hard. And I looked back and it was a
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business opportunity that we had agreed upon as a couple.
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That's something that I would do. But I look back
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and I wonder, you know what damage did that cause?
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And everything happens for reasons, and I know God's involved
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in every detail of our lives. But if I could
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look back, and if I'm talking to myself twenty years ago,
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I would say, Bubba, put the right priority on the
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things that matter most, and then fill your calendar appropriately
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with boulders the most important things locked in. Then stones
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put in there, and then pebbles, and then say and
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then water. You've heard maybe that metaphor before. Yeah, And
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if you get those boulders locked in and you make
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sure that those are those priorities, you may not become
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the next Elon Musk. You may not become the next
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Jeff Bezos. And to me, that's okay because the life
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that you're building you can impact millions of lives or
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even the life of just you and your family, And
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in God's eyes, that's incredible that you prioritize that piece
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first and look and if God has bigger things for
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you to do, hear him first. So you got to
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put him there to be able to hear what he
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has for you. But anyway, I know people will not
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agree with this, and that some will say, look, in
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order to do anything big, you have to sacrifice, and
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there is reality in that, and so you have to
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pick what are you going to sacrifice, and hopefully you've
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put those things in order.
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There should always be a balance between what you're going
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to choose and what then you will get at the
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end of the day. But it seems that it turns
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out pretty well for you and Baback. First, thank you
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so much for being on Behind Numbers. It was a
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pleasure to actually have you.
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Thank you, Thank you. If anybody wants to reach out,
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please find me on LinkedIn. There's not too many Bubba pages.
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If you're on Instagram, I'm fairly active on Instagram, so
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you can find me at bubble page. So happy to
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connect with anybody in it's here that we can see
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if I can help it anyway.
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Fantastic, fantastic, And for everyone listening, thank you so much
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for joining us. If you've enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget
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to follow Behind Numbers for more stories from leaders that
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shape the future of business and finance. I am Alessandra
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COTTI thank you and see you next time.
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You have soul companies, you're invested in companies. But if
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we have to go back, how did all this started.
3
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The investment that I put into it was my parents' loan.
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I want to hire the right people. I want to
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work with the best, and I want to make sure
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that when we put together something for that business and
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I get a system behind it so that we can
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have a systematized process that people can follow.
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Everyone is stating that you should be multitasking, but based
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on everything that you mentioned, it seems that you're not
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doing the same thing. Hello, and welcome to Behind Numbers.
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Today's guest is someone who has built, lost and rebuilt
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multiple times, and he's doing all of it while being
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also a father of it. Let's go behind the numbers
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with Bubba Paige.
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Hey, thanks Solesandro. I appreciate you having me on. This
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has been a wild journey, this whole idea behind being
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an entrepreneur and having eight children and seeing behind me
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I've got kids that are six years old all the
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way to sixteen, four boys, four girls. It is a
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beautiful chaos. I love to say that I never imagined
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even having eight kids, but we just kept feeling like
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there was another one, and then at the end we
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got twins. So boy girl twins made number seven and eight.
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And it's kind of like we're building our own little
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startup here. We've got all these little people running around
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and we're creating systems and processes, and just like I
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did with my startups.
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I feel that you just spoiled one of my questions
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because I am a dad too, but just of one
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and after a long day, I love her to death,
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but I'm so tired. So one of my questions would
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have been, how can you manage all this? How can
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you manage being a dead of eight? And if anyone
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is going to go through your link it in, they
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will see how many things you're doing right now.
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Look, I'm not doing it alone. So this is a
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big piece. I'm a big believer in systems. I'm a
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big believer in people and process and so when I
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build a company, I want to hire the right people.
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I want to work with the best, and I want
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to make sure that when we put together something for
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that business and I get a system behind it so
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that we can have a systematized process that people can follow.
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It's funny, but I do the same thing at home.
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It's if I'm going to interview my employees and my
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team members and we're going to do KPIs and we're
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going to do one on ones. I'm going to do
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that at home too. Why wouldn't I meet with my
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children one on one to see what are they struggling
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with and what are their roadblocks and what are their
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goals and dreams and be able to help them overcome that,
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and then KPIs in business, I would do that at home.
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So kids, what are you trying to accomplish? What are
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the goals you want to do? I try to block
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out my day and so in the morning, I'm going
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to the gym. I'm trying to take care of my body,
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trying to take care of my health because if my
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by he is moving and I'm eating and fueling properly,
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then I should have more energy throughout the day. Anyway,
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I'm not a big caffeine drinker. That's just not me.
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I don't like soda and caffeine. I don't need it.
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But the only reason I'm not needing it is because
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I try to get a reasonable amount of sleep at
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the end of the day. Six and a half, seven
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hours is where I'm trying to hit every night and
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it doesn't always happen. And I get that, especially when
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you have little babies. I was hardly getting any sleep
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when I had twins, and that was really hard. But
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sleep and health is so critical. It's vital because when
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you get triggered by something, Let's say it's something simple,
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but the kid is making loud noises, doing X, Y
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and Z things in the home. There's a few different
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ways that you can either react or respond if it's
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triggering to you because you're sensitive to that sound and ah,
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you can't handle it. You can do some breeding exercises
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to try and get yourself composed and regulate that nervous system.
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You can respond in a way, for example, that if
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they're pounding on the piano doing what they are practicing right,
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and or their trumpet, or they're on the drums, like
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all my kids are playing all these instruments right, And
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if it's getting irritating to me, I ask myself, why
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am I irritated? Because it's not them, because I've loved
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listening to them, I've loved hearing them play. I'm grateful
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they're practicing because I've asked them to practice. So why
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why am I irritated? And if I think for a
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second and wonder why, I look back and say, Okay,
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have I eaten? Did I get enough sleep? Because am
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I irritable? Right? Have I taken care of my body
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in a way? And my mind is to me? It's
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such a big piece when parents can come in the
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home with somewhat of a cleared mind and a focused
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energy that can be present, which means you have to
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put your phone away, You need to turn off the notifications,
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and if there's an urgent matter, of course, you can
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let the family know that there's an urgent matter. But
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as soon as that's done, you go back. It'd be
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present in that vein. And sometimes many times I've had
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to put the kids bed and get back on the laptop,
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get back on a phone call. But I like to
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focus those last few hours of the day. Those are
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with my kids. That's my family time. It's family dinner,
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it's playing outside, throwing the ball around, it's wrestling with
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those kids. It's finished helping them finish their homework or
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a school project. These are the pieces where I get passionate.
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You know, I love it.
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I love it, And you mentioned more than once the
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word focus, because now everyone is stating that you should
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be multitasking, but based on everything that you mentioned, it
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seems that you're not doing the same thing.
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So do you think that multitasking.
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Is better or it is better to just focus on
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what you're doing right now and as you mentioned, then
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close it and go to the next thing.
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Yeah. Look, some people are not going to agree with this.
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I think multitasking is a fallacy. I think it's impossible,
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And it depends on the definition of multitasking. Right now,
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I am speaking and looking at the camera at the
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same time and talking to you and thinking about what
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I'm gonna say. Is that multitasking Maybe? But if I'm
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trying to do a project here and then another project here,
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and then talk to somebody here and then interrupt with
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this and then try to exercise in between, that I
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know for me, if I'm going to go exercise, I
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need to exercise, and if I have my phone out,
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I'm not going to get the exercise I came there
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to do because I'm distracted by the goal that I had. Now,
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can I listen to an audiobook an exercise or a
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podcast an exercise? Yeah? And so the way I try
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to do it is I compartmentalize and I block out
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my day. I'm in a place where I have people
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that can help me, and so I'm able to delicate
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eat certain tasks, but I'm able to block out the
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time necessary for this specific piece. Now, for example, I
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am getting out a deal to my investors, and I
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knew that today would not be the day I could
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get out the deal to my investors because I'm focused
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more on content creation. Let's say, so today is more
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of the content creation type environment, and so I've blocked
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out and I've focused on that content creation. And so
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what I have scheduled is on Monday, that is my
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day that I'm going to be reaching out and connecting
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with those investors who invest alongside with me in influenc VC,
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and so I'll get that project done before I move on.
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And then Tuesday Wednesday, I'm doing a lot of the
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coaching with the business BOOKIEMP dot com. So anyway, it's
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a tough question. Some people are going to agree disagree.
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I know for me, this is how I've had to
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make it work to keep my sanity, to have the
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lifestyle that I've wanted. I want to be able to
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clock out and the time with my children, have the
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family dinner, practice with them their musical instrument or sports
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whenever go to the game. And then if I need to,
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I can come back to the computer or the phone
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after I put those guys to me, And only in
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those emergency circumstances and I try to get on a
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phone call wild'ing around the kids. I just it's very
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rare to try and do that.
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And I'm really curious right now.
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You to have companies, you have sold companies, you're invested
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in companies.
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But if we have to go back, how did all
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this started?
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So I was a college student at BYU, bringing me
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Young University, and I had some friends who were importing
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office furniture of all things from Taiwan where they had
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served their volunteer missions, and they were importing this off
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furniture and they approached me and said, we want you
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to come and help us with sales. That was the
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only life still I had at that time, and so
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they allowed me to join as a co founder of
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the business. It wasn't my idea. I wasn't the original founders,
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but it opened my eyes to entrepreneurship. I didn't have
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family members who are entrepreneurs. My dad is a physician,
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my brother's a physician, my other brother's an attorney. My sister,
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who was more in business, she was going to do
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an NBA kind of think. She married a dentist. And
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so I had zero entrepreneurs that were influencing me, and
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I didn't even know that word. But when I got
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involved as a college student, which I think is a
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phenomenal time to get involved as entrepreneurship, I was able
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to end up selling my ownership to my co founders.
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I walked away with a ten x return on my investment,
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which was unbelievable. I can't believe that actually happened. Now.
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To be clear, the investment that I put into it
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was my parents loan. They loaned me five thousand dollars.
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I put that into the business. That was part how
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I bought my equity, and then I got fifty at
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the end, and I paid my parents back plus interest,
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which I think they were shocked that they got anything back.
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I'm pretty sure they thought that was a donation. And
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then I was able to move on and I started
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my next business just a year and a half later
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in two thousand and nine, and then ended up selling
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that one in twenty twenty. But the entrepreneurship side was
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that fire was sparked inside me at that young age
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in college, and I knew that's what I needed to do.
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I had plans of going and getting an MBA. That
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was the plan, That's the track I was on, and
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once I stepped foot into the role of an entrepreneur,
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I couldn't go back. I absolutely loved it. And so
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people look at me sometimes online like on LinkedIn, They're
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going to see that I'm an investor and I've invested
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in about thirty companies and a bunch of funds and
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all these things, and so sometimes they look at me
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as the title as an investor. I'm an entrepreneur through
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and through. I've been lucky to be able to invest
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in some amazing companies that have done well, and right now,
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out of a little under thirty companies, I have five
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unicorns in my portfolio, and that's an unbelievable blessing. I
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feel like I was lucky to work with these entrepreneurs
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and to be able to be involved, and from a
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numbers game, those are pretty dang good odds. Most of
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the time, angel investors have a hard time making anything
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with their investments, let alone having some of that. So
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that's been a huge blessing, and it inspires me to
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do more and to want to invest in more and
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to mentor more and to help people however they can.
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How do you generally choose which of the companies that
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you believe that they do have a shot.
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Whoo, this is the magic question. I wish I could
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say all of them were a success. I've lost some
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money too, right, And so let me actually do the math,
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because I have my little spreadsheet that I keep track
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of all these things. Of these I need to remember
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if it's twenty eight or twenty nine. Let's say it's
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twenty eight of these twenty eight companies that I've invested
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in individually. So I have funds that have invested in
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twenty companies with my money or whatever, and so I'm
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spread over maybe one hundred and fifty companies or something
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because of the funds I'm involved in. But my specific
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personal investments. Out of those twenty eight companies, I've lost
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four so far, and so four of them have they're
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dead right. Five of them are unicorns, meaning they have
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higher than a billion dollar valuation, and then a bunch
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that are still in the process of growing. Now some
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are going to fail. That's just part of the plan, right,
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and you won't get anything back. But number one, I
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live for people. People is who I bet on. That's
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the number one thing. When I saw for example, Taurus,
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Taurus has been on the Time magazine is one of
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the most innovative companies. They're soaring their revenue numbers and
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their valuation is their unicorn on a multiple what I
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saw them early on. The reason why I got so
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interested was because I really liked the founders. And so
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what's funny is I reached out to the founders and said, hey,
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I love you guys. I've seen what you've done in
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the past. I would love to invest in what you
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guys are doing now. Well, they didn't need my money.
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They didn't need it at the time, and so I'm
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like begging them to let me give them money. They
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didn't need my money, and at the time they didn't
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take it. And I'm so frustrated because what I didn't
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need a chance to invest they were at ten times
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the valuation that they were, or maybe a little less,
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maybe five times evaluation that what I wanted to get
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in it was Number one, as the founders who they are,
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what is their integrity like, what is their work ethic like?
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How do they respond and talk to people? How do
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they manage and work with people? And then number two,
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I always want to make sure if it's if I'm
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writing a check, I needed to be a venture backable business.
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In most scenarios, a window washing company that's doing the
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neighborhoods around town is not a venture backable business because
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venture backable business means that I'm seeking a ten times return.
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If I give someone one hundred grand, I expect and
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hope that I will get a million dollars back. And
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unless they become a national, nationwide window washing company, that's
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not going to be a venture backable business. And so
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when people approach me and they haven't really done the
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investor thing before, I want them to realize that you
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need to have a business that has a large enough
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market that when you do go to market, you can
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scale from whatever it is a million dollars your revenue
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to one hundred million dollars revenue. Can you scale and
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grow the business at that size? Otherwise you may not
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be a venture backable business. Now, it doesn't mean that
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there's anything wrong with being a lifestyle business. And when
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I'm mentoring entrepreneurs, especially first time entrepreneurs, I want them
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to start with a lot lifestyle business because I want
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them to learn the ins and outs of how a
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business works. I suggest early stage entrepreneurs starts with something simple,
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something that's service oriented, service based business that can be profitable,
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and that doesn't cost you a ton to get started.
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Because if you'd have a success early on, then you
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can start looking into more complicated businesses and you can
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start doing things that leverage investor dollars or debt or
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things like that. But I out the gate. I think
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it's a lot easier to start simple, have some wins,
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and then move on from there.
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It is really great that you mentioned more than once
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that the most important thing is people. How can you
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choose or which are the trades that you're looking in
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a person to actually say that's the right fit, that's
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the right person, that's a person that I can trust.
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One hundred percent. So integrity for me is number one.
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I want to make sure that when the person says
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they're going to do something, they do it. And number
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two for me is accountability. It goes along the lines
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with integrity too. When you make a mistake, own it.
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Own the mistake, don't hide it, don't try to keep
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it secret, but own it. And so when I think
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about integrity, and this is when if people pitch me
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for me to invest, I need them to know that
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I'm most likely not going to write them a check
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on that first phone call. That's just not how relationships work.
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It's as if we're getting married in a business sense, right,
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I am now giving you my heart earned money and
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banking that you're going to return it back to me tenfold.
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I need to get to know who you are, what
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kind of a person are you? What do other people
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think about you? How have you proven that you know
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how to do this type of thing you're promising that
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you can do. And so when they get on a
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phone call with me, sometimes people are shocked when I say, hey,
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the business looks great. I'd love to get to know
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you for a little while, and they look at me
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kind of confused, aren't you just going to give me
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one hundred thousand dollars? And I'm like, no, no, I'm not.
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I'm gonna watch. I want to watch. So you've told
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me what you're going to do over the next X
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amount of time. Right, I'm gonna sit back and I'm
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gonna watch, and I want you to see if you
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can do what you said you're started going to do.
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And I would love for you to give me an update,
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whether it's monthly, every six day, weeks, whatever it is,
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and you give me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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I want to hear all of it. I don't want
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to hear just the sugar coating of it. I want
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to see. So the deal I'm doing right now with
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Influence WC, I met with them over ten months ago,
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and I've been watching, watching and meeting with them and
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talking with them and getting updates, watching to see if
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they can do what they say they've been doing. When
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they finally launched and they started generating revenue, I was
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watching closely. And the wonderful part about it is they've
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actually done what they said they were gonna do, even
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more than I expected. And so now it's a no
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brainer for me to want to write a check and
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get them, get them and my other friends and investors involved,
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because I have a much higher confidence rate with someone
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that I've been able to get to know and see.
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So I do love to invest in people I know,
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love and trust. That's the easiest way. I'll give you
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an example. I invest in in a Marco Polo competitor
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with a friend of mine that I just loved dearly.
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And the business was going and growing and I loved
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the product. It was awesome. But in the end it
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didn't pan out and I lost my fifty thousand dollars. Now,
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I remember talking to that entrepreneur, a good friend of mine,
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and I said, look, I know it's not you. You
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didn't do anything illegal, you did nothing against your integrity.
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Sometimes businesses just don't work out, and I understand some.
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I've had mine that I've had to shut down. But
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I said, the next time you do something, I want
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to invest in you because I love you as a
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human and I believe in you as a person. So
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this was a tech business that I invested in prior.
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He went from being a tech on entrepreneur multiple times
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to being a consumer product company. And it's called Josh's Pickles.
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And I love him to death. And I was one
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of his very first checks to support him in his
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pickle company. And you know what's wild to me. Number One,
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people either love or hate pickles. Right, So it's fascinating.
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But he started to take off on TikTok. The market
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for pickles is massive and so because it's pickles all
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over the world and there's only a few key competitors
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out there. So he created this product. It's like fifth
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generation Bridmaster from his ancestors, and he's had this he's
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always loved doing pickles. But I invested in him because
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I know love and I trust him. Even though the
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other one didn't work and I lost money there, I
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still took a bat and I invested here and it's
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killing it. He's in retail stores now, he's getting accepted
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into some of the big box retailers. Very soon you'll
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be able to find Josh's pickles all over the country.
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And I'm so happy to be a part of it,
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even though it wasn't what I normally had invested in.
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You know, what a great story. What a great story.
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And Baba, we're always closing the podcast with one question.
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So if you could go back and change just one thing.
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It could be a decision that you made, It could
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be a mindset, it could be something that you wish
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that you would have known.
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What would it be and.
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Why, oh oh.
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My gosh, there's so many I could write a book
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on how many things I wish I would have known.
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One of the things I wish I would have known
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as a young entrepreneur is where my priorities are is
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what matters. Where I focus my attention is where I
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will have success. I early on in my career, I
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don't believe I had the best priorities. I was confused
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to think that making money was the ultimate priority, and
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that's what my job was as a husband and as
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a father, was to be the provider. Now I believe
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that I should be the provider, truly believe that. But
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I started putting some of the most important things in
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my life not in the correct focus, and so my maker,
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my God. Although I would keep communication, it was not
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as intentional my spouse, although loved her dearly loved her children.
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I worked a lot, and I put that focus on
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being the provider and not the presider in the home,
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and early on I didn't realize some of those mistakes
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that I wish I would have and that I would
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have prioritized. Even my health. I was not as healthy
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in any way, shape or form early on in my
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career because I was just work, Go, Go, Go build,
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Bill build, thinking that sacrifice was going to bring the
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pile of gold at the end of the rainbow. And
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although it did bring financial success, I felt like I
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lost some of the pieces that I wish I would
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have had. And life is complicated and we learn things
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as we go along. But I know, for example, those
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first five to ten years of my career, I wish
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I could have gone back and said, Okay, God You're
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number one no matter what, because I can't take any
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of these worldly possessions with me when I die, so
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I need to put God number one and allow him
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to guide my life and be the focal point. And
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in a relationship, I believe if you put God first
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and both spouses look to God as the primary source
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of truth, that closer you get to God, this triangle
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with God at the top, the closer you are as
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a couple. I believe in that, and that's something I
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wish I would have focused on with my children. I
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have always been an engaged father, but I worked a lot,
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and I was even gone for a few months for
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a business opportunity, and that put a lot of strain
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on my wife, on her and our relationship. It was
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really hard. And I looked back and it was a
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business opportunity that we had agreed upon as a couple.
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That's something that I would do. But I look back
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and I wonder, you know what damage did that cause?
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And everything happens for reasons, and I know God's involved
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in every detail of our lives. But if I could
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look back, and if I'm talking to myself twenty years ago,
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I would say, Bubba, put the right priority on the
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things that matter most, and then fill your calendar appropriately
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with boulders the most important things locked in. Then stones
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put in there, and then pebbles, and then say and
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then water. You've heard maybe that metaphor before. Yeah, And
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if you get those boulders locked in and you make
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sure that those are those priorities, you may not become
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the next Elon Musk. You may not become the next
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Jeff Bezos. And to me, that's okay because the life
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that you're building you can impact millions of lives or
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even the life of just you and your family, And
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in God's eyes, that's incredible that you prioritize that piece
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first and look and if God has bigger things for
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you to do, hear him first. So you got to
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put him there to be able to hear what he
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has for you. But anyway, I know people will not
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agree with this, and that some will say, look, in
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order to do anything big, you have to sacrifice, and
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there is reality in that, and so you have to
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pick what are you going to sacrifice, and hopefully you've
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put those things in order.
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There should always be a balance between what you're going
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to choose and what then you will get at the
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end of the day. But it seems that it turns
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out pretty well for you and Baback. First, thank you
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so much for being on Behind Numbers. It was a
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pleasure to actually have you.
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Thank you, Thank you. If anybody wants to reach out,
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please find me on LinkedIn. There's not too many Bubba pages.
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If you're on Instagram, I'm fairly active on Instagram, so
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you can find me at bubble page. So happy to
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connect with anybody in it's here that we can see
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if I can help it anyway.
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Fantastic, fantastic, And for everyone listening, thank you so much
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for joining us. If you've enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget
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to follow Behind Numbers for more stories from leaders that
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shape the future of business and finance. I am Alessandra
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COTTI thank you and see you next time.
