Ep. 95: Uncovering the Rembrandt in Your Business Attic: A Conversation with Rob Follows bölümünün tam dökümü

75% of the money on the table that was there. 00:05:19.362 --> 00:05:28.148 I sold the business to start a charity, which is another story, but for those three reasons to actually get people the real value of their business. 00:05:28.187 --> 00:05:45.490 In my case, the 100 times EBITDA I didn't get, because I didn't understand it To really be able to bring the knowledge of integrated value to families and entrepreneurs so they understand they too can sell to a strategic buyer as opposed to a financial, local buyer you know, global strategic that'll pay more for their firm. 00:05:45.490 --> 00:06:12.879 And because that's something that really brings me a lot of energy and to just finish with the rollout story, I thought there'd be three or four of us doing this there's now 4,275 advisors to STS, which we're thrilled are working with us to introduce us to families or to bring our deals to strategic buyers, and we have a core team in over 33 cities globally, and so we've really grown. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:17.173 And I'm a better chairman I would say Scott than CEO. 00:06:17.173 --> 00:06:21.952 Our CEO is Sean Friday and he's doing a better job than I ever did, and the team has grown. 00:06:21.992 --> 00:06:46.783 We have many, many partners and professionals that are partners, and I'm very, very happy to say that we bring STS success to significance through selling to strategics, hoping we can support people in creating more philanthropic capital, because that's the last and biggest reason I started STS was to create billions of dollars of new philanthropic capital by helping families and entrepreneurs sell to strategic buyers strategically. 00:06:46.783 --> 00:06:49.173 Double or triple what private equity will pay. 00:06:49.173 --> 00:06:54.869 And then I hope, scott, that they will turn that into their own legacy, which most people do. 00:06:54.869 --> 00:06:58.285 They can't take it with them when they go, and that's philanthropic capital. 00:06:58.285 --> 00:07:00.089 That's what I call philanthropic capital. 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:10.427 Yeah, that makes complete sense, Rob, and I've heard it said you know Rembrandt's in the attic and I guess that that's a form of strategic right. 00:07:10.427 --> 00:07:18.673 I'm going to say right on that, you know what are people not seeing that are there and opportunities in the existing business? 00:07:18.894 --> 00:07:38.202 or you know from the acquirer's perspective that people just aren't seeing that you know, it can be a one plus one equals 11 type situation yes, yes, exactly, I can elaborate on that both in my own example and in several others, if you'd like, just for a couple minutes, if you'd like, so people might think about. 00:07:38.202 --> 00:07:41.790 Okay, well, the analogy Scott of Rembrandt's in the attic. 00:07:41.790 --> 00:07:53.225 Just to make it clear because people use the term and aren't always necessarily clear the situation that it's referencing is if you came home and your

spouse said I've got the perfect house for us. 00:07:53.225 --> 00:07:54.689 I need you to come and see that. 00:07:54.689 --> 00:07:57.583 And so you said, okay, let's go see the home. 00:07:57.583 --> 00:08:02.420 And you realize it's priced $5 million more than any of the other houses on the same street. 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:09.065 And you're like, look, I'm not interested in paying a premium here, it's basically the same house. 00:08:09.901 --> 00:08:19.259 In this case, say it's your wife and she says you know, look, I just absolutely love the bathroom and the kitchen and I'm going to be happy here and I really want this house, I don't want the others. 00:08:19.259 --> 00:08:24.327 And so you say well, you know, hesitantly, bring a home inspector in. 00:08:24.327 --> 00:08:31.141 And the home inspector says sir, you've got to come up into the attic, you're not going to believe what's up there, and and and. 00:08:31.141 --> 00:08:37.673 So you go up in the attic and he says look, these, these paintings have got, I've got a signature in the corner that that looks like Rembrandt. 00:08:37.673 --> 00:08:40.408 They look like Rembrandt's and you're like I don't know anything about that. 00:08:40.408 --> 00:08:47.121 So let's get the Christie's guys in here. 00:08:47.121 --> 00:08:48.825 And so the assessment group shows up and says these are Rembrandts. 00:08:48.825 --> 00:08:56.551 And so if you found a Rembrandt in the attic of a home that you were going to buy that was $5 million more than the others, would you pay that $5 million? 00:08:56.551 --> 00:09:01.009 Of course you would, because the Rembrandts would be worth $100 million plus in the attic. 00:09:01.090 --> 00:09:17.594 And so if you stop for a second and think about that analogy of Rembrandt's in the attic and think about a strategic buyer looking at your business, if you're the seller or if you're an advisor looking at your client's business, what is it that they're going to see in the business that they can make more money owning than you do? 00:09:17.594 --> 00:09:28.458 That's the simple definition of a strategic buyer Somebody that's going to not buy for financial reasons, not try to buy low and sell high, which is what private equities model is vis-a-vis families and entrepreneurs. 00:09:28.458 --> 00:09:35.240 They're trying to buy low and polish up, put debt on, leverage their investment and then sell to a strategic. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:44.265 So the question here is if you have things in your business that could be Rembrandt's in the attic to a strategic buyer. 00:09:44.265 --> 00:09:51.501 The message that I want everybody to go home with today, scott, is you too, as a private business owner, can sell to strategics. 00:09:51.501 --> 00:10:01.984 Okay, and they will see things in your business and hopefully we find them with you or you have an advisor that finds them to present to them to say, look, you can afford to pay big multiples here. 00:10:01.984 --> 00:10:10.671 And to make it very real, scott, we had an auction recently I just put together a talk on this of you two can sell to strategic. 00:10:10.671 --> 00:10:13.269 So it reminded me of that when you asked the question. 00:10:13.299 --> 00:10:15.227 We got 60 times EBITDA for that business. 00:10:15.227 --> 00:10:25.793 The guy that bought it said I will never pay more than 10 times EBITDA because you've just sold he was talking to our client You've just sold your shares to one to our client. 00:10:25.793 --> 00:10:28.302 You've just sold your shares to another investor at 10 times EBITDA. 00:10:28.302 --> 00:10:30.249 That's the valuation it was within the year. 00:10:30.249 --> 00:10:31.130 That's what we're going to pay. 00:10:31.130 --> 00:10:47.828 That buyer paid 60 times EBITDA because we could see the integrated value and what it was, and in their case, they were buying an asset that was going to give them tax protection in an international jurisdiction on $400 million a year worth of interest on student loans. 00:10:47.828 --> 00:10:55.653 That was their gig, as it were, their integrated strategic value in technical terms. 00:10:55.653 --> 00:11:10.833 And yet we found someone else that had a foreign entity, which was I mean, just to be very specific, it was a foreign exchange fund that was in Sri Lanka right at the moment that Tamil Tigers got defeated. 00:11:10.833 --> 00:11:13.568 So a geopolitical, unique Rembrandt, right. 00:11:13.568 --> 00:11:24.741 They were the only ones in Sri Lanka if you wanted to invest after the war got settled, and so that was worth thousands of percentages of capital gain. 00:11:24.741 --> 00:11:29.825 And so those were the two Rembrandt situations that we ran. 00:11:29.884 --> 00:11:41.510 A soft auction, that is to say, a soft auction is between those that are interested in buying, and you set the indicative value and gradually move it up, and move it up, and move it up, until one of them says look, I'm done, look, I'm done. 00:11:41.510 --> 00:12:02.908 And through a process of identifying what those Rembrandts are in the attic, what are those leverageable assets that the buyer can make more money owning than the seller, than you own if you're the seller and identifying those and then getting them to share, open the kimono, as we say, and share what those are worth to them. 00:12:02.908 --> 00:12:05.274 And they'll do that because they don't want to make a mistake. 00:12:05.274 --> 00:12:10.769 And if your operator is representing, you can say, hey, tell us what you're doing so that you're not going to make a mistake, and that's a big motive for them. 00:12:10.769 --> 00:12:15.745 And then with that information, scott, you can run a soft auction between several and drive the value up. 00:12:15.826 --> 00:12:20.721 In this case it was a family, it was a widow, and she ended up with 60 times EBITDA. 00:12:20.721 --> 00:12:22.205 So that's a quick story. 00:12:22.205 --> 00:12:27.023 I could tell

some more, but I don't want to spend too much time on that subject. 00:12:27.023 --> 00:12:29.428 If you have other questions, it's helpful, rob. 00:12:29.469 --> 00:12:34.761 I think what I think of here is I mean, you're just riffing this off, because it's what you do, and it seems like minor points. 00:12:34.761 --> 00:12:47.500 What I hear, though, when I'm hearing it, is what the challenge is, and I think the big challenge is you have sophisticated buyers private equity and others and unsophisticated sellers. 00:12:48.182 --> 00:12:50.708 And that's how they end up getting taken advantage of. 00:12:50.708 --> 00:12:55.447 And so you're just punching off this list because it's top of mind to you. 00:12:55.447 --> 00:12:58.533 You do it every day, but these sellers don't know this. 00:12:58.533 --> 00:13:05.265 And this is why it's important to have proper representation, because if not, you're going to leave a lot of money on the table. 00:13:05.265 --> 00:13:21.846 And here's the thing Okay, maybe you're getting what you feel like you need, but if you're leaving money on the table that the buyer is going to benefit from and then they're going to flip it or do whatever they're going to do like private equity, put debt on it and then leverage, et cetera, well, what if you could get that? 00:13:21.846 --> 00:13:31.976 And to then your point, then that's coming to your side of the balance sheet, but then that could be used for, if you don't need it, to charity and philanthropic endeavors and things that can make the world better. 00:13:31.976 --> 00:13:44.067 And I think that's two key drivers One, unsophisticated sellers, sophisticated buyers, and then two, getting the you know, representing the unsophisticated seller, so that they can get that and use it for good. 00:13:44.087 --> 00:13:46.571 Yeah, yeah, absolutely, scott. 00:13:46.571 --> 00:13:48.110 That's one of the reasons I do this work. 00:13:48.110 --> 00:14:25.388 In fact, that's the main reason I do this work is to help families and entrepreneurs understand that if they enter a process of thinking about and selling to strategies Scott, even a year or two before they're ready to go to market and really get great advice from someone like STS, where they come to understand and we are very open to new business and would love to work with new clients, but just the key is great representation that understand what selling to strategic is like that have been strategic buyers and, as you say, in doing that, the playing field can be leveled because we know how to leverage them against each other. 00:14:25.388 --> 00:14:27.168 And that's where their real fear comes out. 00:14:27.168 --> 00:14:36.779 They're not afraid of us, but they're very much afraid of losing a deal to their competitors, and especially globally. 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:46.067 Because, if you, I remember one time we were in Chicago and I said to this CEO of a multi-billion dollar CFO sorry, multi-billion dollar group that was trading at 38 times on the market. 00:14:46.067 --> 00:14:49.457 It was a very, very successful, hazardous, waste company. 00:14:49.457 --> 00:14:54.621 And I said to him what is your concern? 00:14:54.621 --> 00:14:56.768 What would you be concerned about in this area of your business? 00:14:56.768 --> 00:15:02.101 And he turned to me and said if those Filipinos ever came into this market, we would be in deep trouble. 00:15:02.101 --> 00:15:22.081 So, Scott, in those circumstances, what we do is call our friends in the Philippines and say, look, we'd like to enter an auction here, and when the CFO of that very, very large organization realizes he's competing not against somebody locally but against that big concern he has, that price goes up and up and up. 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:30.922 In that case it was somebody's business You'll know, john Ratliff's business and we sold that business for 300 percent of what the buyer had said. 00:15:30.922 --> 00:15:35.298 The normal market rate was it was 0.7 times revenue as market rate and we sold it. 00:15:35.298 --> 00:15:40.961 We uh helped john sell his business and led um a one a one person auction. 00:15:40.961 --> 00:15:46.653 Actually, uh, that resulted in a 2.2 times revenue of that industry, which is 0.7 times. 00:15:46.653 --> 00:15:57.854 So we tripled the value through that soft auction process, through leveraging the concerns the strategics have of not losing to their arch competitors, and so that's something you can't do on your own. 00:15:57.854 --> 00:16:04.549 You need some professional help with that, and that's what we're offering people, and I'm thrilled to be able to do that to create philanthropic capital. 00:16:04.549 --> 00:16:21.496 Because, just as you say, if, if, if, somebody sells a business for two, three, 400% of what they thought it was worth, that upside very often can become significance and legacy and philanthropic capital for them, scott, and you know that more than anyone and I really appreciate you doing so much work in that area. 00:16:22.198 --> 00:16:31.453 Yeah, thanks, and that's why I resonate and we're friends and aligned on this mission, because this is what you're doing and actually I'll frame that. 00:16:31.453 --> 00:16:32.938 I was going to go there later, let's go there now. 00:16:32.938 --> 00:16:37.437 I mean, so the vision here for me moving forward. 00:16:37.437 --> 00:16:44.681 The audience has heard me talk about infinite entrepreneurship and the idea of infinite entrepreneurship is it was, by the way, infinite Entrepreneur. 00:16:44.681 --> 00:16:47.269 Entrepreneur Magazine is having a problem with that. 00:16:47.370 --> 00:16:57.255 So infinite entrepreneurship, nonetheless, same idea and so the four things are really the games aboutE-A-L, and the definition of that is well-being. 00:16:57.255 --> 00:17:39.978 That's what they're chasing and so the idea is, if they can do the work, the individual healing, at the physical, mental, spiritual

level, and then from there do the work at the family level where they could create a family constitution and harmony and values in the family to pass on that, those traditions, those rites of passage, those values to the next generation, then be clear on the business values. 00:17:39.978 --> 00:18:01.862 This is where Rob and STS come, not only clear on the business values and implementing purpose, people process and profit, that the business is sustainable, but when you're able, take chips off the table so you get to your number and now you're financially free as a family and then you can swing for the fences and tie that to philanthropy. 00:18:01.862 --> 00:18:07.022 And that's where Rob comes in of maximizing the value so that you can tie that to philanthropy. 00:18:07.022 --> 00:18:09.645 And then the way to wealth process. 00:18:09.645 --> 00:18:28.236 I created to act as a family office to do what I call make the money clean, use that money where it's aligned with your individual healing and values, your family healing and values and your business and philanthropy healing and values, and to me that's the infinity symbol of a sustainable practice, and that's the game. 00:18:28.236 --> 00:18:43.732 And so I wanted to set that context because now I think you can see as an audience where Rob and STS fits in that infinite entrepreneurship model and why we're so clearly aligned on what he's doing, why he's doing it and how that fits into the infinite entrepreneurship program. 00:18:43.732 --> 00:18:49.241 Rob, of course, what would you say? 00:18:49.321 --> 00:18:51.384 What do business owners get wrong? 00:18:51.384 --> 00:18:57.123 One of the things that I see is they're not building to exit. 00:18:57.123 --> 00:19:00.462 They're building this business and I'm not telling them to exit. 00:19:00.462 --> 00:19:06.143 I am saying take the chips off the table when you can, because it just provides freedom and allows you to then swing for the fences. 00:19:06.143 --> 00:19:11.692 However, they end up building this and get trapped in this machine. 00:19:11.692 --> 00:19:19.818 Sometimes they built and they're not thinking about exit, but the benefit of thinking about exiting is that's how the business is going to be sustainable. 00:19:19.818 --> 00:19:37.501 It's going to be worth more, the less you're needed, and the less you're needed, the more you're freed up to focus on your area of genius, what you talked about earlier, your dharma and it's creating a more valuable company and you're gonna lead a better quality of life and make better decisions. 00:19:37.501 --> 00:19:43.500 So that's one thing that I see business owners get wrong is not planning early enough for this exit. 00:19:43.500 --> 00:19:47.780 What else do you see business owners get wrong when it comes to this? 00:19:48.589 --> 00:19:49.715 Yeah, thank you so much, Scott. 00:19:49.715 --> 00:19:54.569 So I agree with you with the first challenge. 00:19:54.569 --> 00:19:57.897 The one

that I often see is entrepreneurs. 00:19:57.897 --> 00:19:59.883 They're not on the business. 00:19:59.883 --> 00:20:04.660 Right, they're in family businesses, they're doing a great job in the business, but they're not on the business. 00:20:04.660 --> 00:20:20.325 They don't see the whole industry globally and all the different potential strategic buyers, both in their own vertical and their adjacent verticals, and so they often get drawn in by private equity and private equity said they've got a great story, you know you'll get the second bite of your apple. 00:20:20.345 --> 00:20:21.567 We're going to leverage this up. 00:20:21.567 --> 00:20:33.663 It's going to be confidential. 00:20:33.663 --> 00:20:34.824 First of all, it's not confidential because they, in doing their research, they're not operators. 00:20:34.824 --> 00:20:41.535 They have to go to other operators and talk about the business and show the actual business financials and the business operating models and marketing materials to get opinions, because they're not operators for the most part, and so it's not confidential. 00:20:41.535 --> 00:20:49.049 A which is a challenge when things leak out to the employees or the clients, right, that's a big challenge. 00:20:49.571 --> 00:20:56.777 But secondly, and most importantly but not visible to the entrepreneurs, these financial buyers are middlemen, scott. 00:20:56.777 --> 00:21:06.369 They're middlemen and they're using other people's money and I just had breakfast here in LA with one this morning and they are looking for deal flow. 00:21:06.369 --> 00:21:10.080 They can lock up and buy low to sell high to a strategic. 00:21:10.080 --> 00:21:18.401 And I think the most important thing, if it's the only thing people remember from this podcast, is you too can sell to strategics. 00:21:18.401 --> 00:21:23.218 When it comes to being a family or an entrepreneur, you too can sell to strategics. 00:21:23.218 --> 00:21:35.575 And the distinction understand the distinction between these really polished financial investors that sound fabulous and strategic buyers that are never going to come knocking on your door because they're busy executing on their plans. 00:21:35.575 --> 00:21:55.586 And the thing that is critically important, you too can sell to strategics and starting to think about who would make more money owning your business than you would and bringing a consultative partner in, like STS or someone that really understands strategic buyers and not a specialist in your industry, because you don't want somebody in your industry, scott. 00:21:55.586 --> 00:21:57.698 Well, I'll get into that as a second mistake people make. 00:21:57.698 --> 00:22:01.457 But first of all, understand that you too can sell through strategics. 00:22:01.917 --> 00:22:05.744 And the difference, scott, between a strategic buyer and a financial buyer. 00:22:05.744 --> 00:22:08.721 And financial buyers are private equity venture capital merchant banks. 00:22:08.721 --> 00:22:09.299 They call themselves all the special SPACs. 00:22:09.299 --> 00:22:09.627 Those are all financial buyer. 00:22:09.627 --> 00:22:10.604 And financial buyers are private equity venture capital merchant banks. 00:22:10.604 --> 00:22:12.586 They call themselves all the special SPACs. 00:22:12.586 --> 00:22:14.647 Those are all financial buyers. 00:22:14.647 --> 00:22:19.757 The key is they're using other people's money and their brains to buy low. 00:22:19.757 --> 00:22:26.098 I'm going to say it three times to buy low, to buy low from you to sell high later to a strategic buyer. 00:22:26.098 --> 00:22:34.442 You can disintermediate those people with a good representative and go straight to strategics and get two to 300% value for your business. 00:22:34.442 --> 00:22:37.031 But you just need to grow it to a size that they'll look at. 00:22:39.076 --> 00:22:44.952 On that note, Ram, what is a typical size of a firm that ends up working with you? 00:22:44.952 --> 00:22:47.798 What's maybe the sweet spot and what's that look like? 00:22:48.300 --> 00:22:50.715 Yeah Well, Scott, thank you for that question. 00:22:50.715 --> 00:23:01.381 To move the needle for a strategic, we love to work with businesses that are in the hundred million to billion plus range of enterprise value and often simplicity. 00:23:01.381 --> 00:23:13.891 That often, except in software, that often relates to revenue, revenue. 00:23:13.891 --> 00:23:17.142 But, Scott, we will quietly and supportively come down from the minimum $100 million, as long as it's a solid business. 00:23:17.142 --> 00:23:21.654 We'll come all the way down to in the $40 to $50 million range, sometimes even $30 million. 00:23:21.654 --> 00:23:22.656 But we do that. 00:23:22.656 --> 00:23:34.181 Our positioning and our promise to the marketplace is we sell to strategics, we create extraordinary exits and we're in that middle market of the $100 million to $1 billion range. 00:23:34.181 --> 00:23:45.236 But if you have a friend that has a solid business and wants good representation, or somebody that has a private equity offer already on the table, we'll help Scott. 00:23:45.236 --> 00:23:51.330 So it's $100 million to $1 billion, but we will come down to $40, $50 million enterprise value. 00:23:52.212 --> 00:24:01.278 Well, I think the biggest thing that I would say to the audience is the biggest challenge is looking into this too late. 00:24:01.278 --> 00:24:05.992 In other words, something happens, the life event happens and then you need to sell. 00:24:05.992 --> 00:24:07.557 Well, that's not ideal, right? 00:24:07.557 --> 00:24:15.682 Because now you're scrambling to get something done, or now I decided I'm going to, and you should have started planning three years ago. 00:24:15.682 --> 00:24:33.476 So if someone I'm going to encourage everyone listening to be thinking about exit now and certainly three to five years ahead of time, from my perspective and opinion, watching this

is ideal, and maybe even sooner. 00:24:33.476 --> 00:24:47.734 If someone is in that category, and even if they're not the 100 million obviously 100 to a billion, yes or if they're less, how could they find out more information, rob, and who could they reach out to? 00:24:47.755 --> 00:24:48.477 Yeah, they're welcome. 00:24:48.477 --> 00:24:55.914 They're welcome to my email is very simple, rob, at stscapitalcom, and they're welcome, as friends of yours, to reach out to me. 00:24:55.914 --> 00:25:01.816 I won't personally be on the deal team because we're a global business and, as you know, I just spent two months in Japan. 00:25:01.816 --> 00:25:07.640 I work on strategic initiatives, but I'll make sure that they're in a good place, and so they're. 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:13.638 They're welcome to reach out to me or anyone else they see on our website that they're close to identify with, and we'll look after them. 00:25:14.171 --> 00:25:31.330 Now, your question about when to get started is is a is a brilliant one, scott, because you don't want to wait, as you suggested, for the six D's of death disease, divorce, disability, disenchantment, disintermediation, disintermediation. 00:25:31.351 --> 00:25:32.554 Those are not what you want to be, um, responding to. 00:25:32.574 --> 00:25:38.654 You want to be proactive and if, if, if, that, if, that means starting two years ahead of time with somebody like sts, a good advisor. 00:25:38.776 --> 00:26:02.540 That's really important because, scott, what it can do is is have, and it doesn't have to cost you anything, because you have good currency as an entrepreneur in hiring someone, and so that currency should support, as as it does with STS, the group doing strategic assessment and input of where you are now, of what your current value would be to a strategic and then what you could do over the next two years to get ready. 00:26:02.540 --> 00:26:17.823 We have a program called Value Max, which speaks for itself, I think in the name, and if you sign up with STS or somebody does, and then we're all looking towards that exit and maximization of value. 00:26:17.823 --> 00:26:37.497 On the exit, you can expect STS and hopefully other firms, but for sure I can speak for STS to stand with you in your corner and help you get in front of strategics early and understand what the right decisions are to make as you're making business planning and investment decisions along the road to your exit. 00:26:37.497 --> 00:26:37.939 Scott. 00:26:38.759 --> 00:27:03.548 Yeah, so I would say the other, only other comment I would say, rob, is that if you are a center of influence, as an example, and you're working with business owners in this category who may be exiting or should be considering it, you know, you could become an ambassador of this program of STS Capital to also contact Rob, and it's Rob at STS Capital dot com could contact Rob, and it's rob at mtscapitalcom. 00:27:03.568 --> 00:27:09.961 Yes, yes, scott, if I

could elaborate on that, we have a certification. 00:27:10.021 --> 00:27:28.811 Yeah, we have a certification course we've developed because what we're doing is quite unique in selling to strategics, and so we have a certification course for financial advisors and coaches and strategy consultants and people that work directly with entrepreneurs and family business owners as advisors, and they can get certified on selling to strategics with STS. 00:27:28.811 --> 00:27:46.050 They can use that as one of their certifications on their business cards and their materials, because they will be oriented to and understand after taking the course what it means to sell to a strategic and they can give that advice to their clients and eventually bring them to STS when the time's right. 00:27:46.050 --> 00:27:57.026 But it would give them a good framework to be able to be comfortable talking about financial versus strategics and how to position yourself and get ready for a sale. 00:27:57.026 --> 00:28:06.330 And so and we're happy to work alongside of advisors and you know they can be billing the client We'll just provide the strategic input uh if it's under a value max agreement. 00:28:06.330 --> 00:28:08.074 So so that would be a uh. 00:28:08.074 --> 00:28:10.766 If I was an entrepreneur now, that's what I would do, scott. 00:28:11.446 --> 00:28:12.410 I love it, thank you. 00:28:12.410 --> 00:28:14.882 So it's Rob at stscapitalcom. 00:28:14.882 --> 00:28:24.518 Last question I do like to ask Rob, um, and that is, and this is going down a different uh road, so, and I didn't prep you for this, so here, it goes and that's by design. 00:28:24.738 --> 00:28:25.538 No problem, Scott. 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:34.490 No problem the question is this and just whatever comes to mind and it might take you a minute what is your earliest childhood memory of money? 00:28:37.579 --> 00:28:39.868 Earliest childhood memory of money. 00:28:39.868 --> 00:28:43.968 Actually, it's a sad story, scott. 00:28:43.968 --> 00:28:54.665 I said to my dad I'm old enough now to be able to go and buy your beer, dad, and he said okay. 00:28:54.665 --> 00:29:07.682 So I got my wagon out it was a red wagon and I was going to go to the corner store it was in Montreal they call them Dependables like a corner grocery store in Quebec, where I was born. 00:29:07.682 --> 00:29:08.804 They sell beer. 00:29:08.804 --> 00:29:16.928 I took my wagon, I took the $5, a case of beer was $5 then for 24 bottles of beer. 00:29:16.928 --> 00:29:21.550 I was so excited and I gave the clerk the five dollars. 00:29:21.550 --> 00:29:26.232 I went to the back, got the beer, put it in my wagon and was rolling out the front door. 00:29:26.232 --> 00:29:28.835 My dad showed up and the guy said I'll be five dollars, please. 00:29:28.835 --> 00:29:35.718 And I said no, I just gave him the five dollars, dad, so we don't give that money to somebody before you buy the thing. 00:29:35.718 --> 00:29:46.086 Robbie, he called me, you know, and I'm like no, I gave him the five dollars. 00:29:46.086 --> 00:29:47.309 The guy looked at me and said no, you didn't and I. 00:29:47.330 --> 00:29:52.265 It was my first experience of a lack of integrity and misrepresentation with, and it was my first experience with, money, scott. 00:29:52.265 --> 00:30:00.411 And so after that I was, I got in the habit of really looking in people's eyes deeply to see, you know, is this person going to take my money or not, scott? 00:30:00.411 --> 00:30:07.667 And so that's my, my first experience with money, when I was, I think, six, maybe five years old, something like that. 00:30:07.667 --> 00:30:10.869 After that, I ran my own entrepreneurial businesses. 00:30:10.869 --> 00:30:22.012 At 12, I had something called B&F Seasonal Services and we used to cut lawns and clean pools, and at that age, at 12, we had 70 contractor employees. 00:30:22.012 --> 00:30:23.244 So that's a different story. 00:30:23.244 --> 00:30:25.815 The first memory is that $5, scott. 00:30:25.815 --> 00:30:26.519 I'll never forget it. 00:30:26.539 --> 00:30:29.046 It's exactly why I didn't prep you right, because that's what I wanted to hear. 00:30:29.046 --> 00:30:36.189 And so this is what's so interesting when I hear stories like this, rob and the audience is here with mine and it makes so much sense why I do what I do. 00:30:36.189 --> 00:30:46.003 And when I hear yours, it makes so much sense why you do what you do, right. 00:30:46.003 --> 00:30:46.484 What are you doing? 00:30:46.505 --> 00:31:12.707 You're representing sellers, so that they're not taken advantage of right To get the maximum value and truth and transparency and money and in the deal, and it's just like and there's other imprints that we can have, certainly at a young age and specifically because I'm in wealth management around money that still affect us today and so I always like to ask this question and so it doesn't surprise me hearing that answer to see what you're doing now, today, and you can kind of see how that ties in. 00:31:12.707 --> 00:31:16.520 So thanks for the transparency and sharing, thanks for being on the way to wealth. 00:31:16.520 --> 00:31:17.842 Maybe we'll do it again someday. 00:31:17.842 --> 00:31:29.076 Rob and audience yeah, shoot it any questions as far as representation or to become an ambassador to rob at stscapitalcom. 00:31:29.076 --> 00:31:31.709 So, thanks for being on, rob and audience. 00:31:31.709 --> 00:31:38.354 We'll see you next week on the Way to Wealth, where we're all about making money simple so you can fully live, and fully live now. 00:31:57.694 --> 00:31:58.355 See you next week. 00:31:58.355 --> 00:32:02.919 Directly Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. 00:32:02.919 --> 00:32:07.224 No strategy assures success or protects against loss. 00:32:07.224 --> 00:32:15.307 To determine what may be appropriate, consult with your attorney, accountant, financial or tax advisor prior to investing. 00:32:15.307 --> 00:32:20.125 Guests on Way to Wealth are not affiliated with CWM LLC. 00:32:20.125 --> 00:32:24.432 Legato Family is not affiliated with CWM LLC. 00:32:24.432 --> 00:32:32.663 Carson Wealth 19833 Leidersburg Pike, suite 1, hagerstown, maryland, 21742. 00:32:32.663 --> 00:32:39.589 You.