Building Strong Alliances for Business Expansion

What's up, Cameron, So good to have you on the call.

Hey Justin, thanks for having me. Nice to see you again.

Yeah, this is great. Well, we've been talking about it for a little while and you know, I feel like the timing is always perfect as these things work out. And so I'm excited to talk life and business and all the cool stuff that you're up to. So you're doing some really cool stuff in the world. We were just talking before we went live here about the travels that you're up to and you said that you literally have been to 2020 countries here really recently. I'd love to hear kind of the progression of this, how this happened. You're empty nesters now, so I mean, that's part of it. So tell us what's going on.

About 18 months ago, my wife and I sold our home in the us Got rid of the home in Vancouver, Canada, sold our cars, got rid of all of our furniture. We have a 5 foot by 10 foot storage locker in Vancouver with some art and we have about the same size here in Arizona with some business stuff but and a couple of containers of like some family heirlooms that we'll pass down at some point. But that's it. In the last 12 months, we've been to 22 countries in 2022 and we've got a whack more lined up for 2023.

And yeah, that's incredible. So what are, what are some of the highlights? What are some of the favorites? What do you think? Like, hey, this is an experience that most people maybe have never considered but should add it to their list.

Well, we mentioned our mutual friend Brad Wymart. We were in Antarctica together a year ago. So down in Antarctica, a group of CEOs, spectacular adventure. Being in the Antarctic and, you know, seeing all the penguins and the seals and the icebergs and swimming in the Antarctic was amazing. That was pretty spectacular. And then going hiking down in Patagonia was a great experience as well. We were down there for six weeks and then we were over in Bhutan. Recently we did a trip over in Bhutan and stayed in the monasteries with these monks and did some meditations and lived with the monks and hiked at 14,000ft and hung prayer flags and just being in Bhutan was kind of cool. It's not a country that you can go to very easily. You need to have permits and passes. They don't let just tourists in. And again, a small group of about 22 CEOs, that was kind of cool. Estonia was Another really random, cool, small country that we were in spent three weeks there this summer, so just all over, it's been nice.

That's really cool. And what are the highlights so far? What do you think is going to be a highlight for 2023?

2023? Well, my wife has always wanted to go to Australia, so we're going to spend two months in Australia. November, December, I've been five times. But I think it'll be a highlight to be there and living there will be really cool. Going over to Bali again, She's really wanted to spend some time in Bali. I've been before. She's up to about 38 countries now. I'm at 64, so she's catching me. But I think Bali will be a highlight being able to live in a very different climate, very different environment. It's very kind of hipster right now to be in Bali as well. So I think being around that lifestyle and very much lifestyle entrepreneurs over there will be great. I'd really like to hit. I think South Korea might be on our plan this year too, but that would be an interesting one. And I think my boys and I are going to go to Colombia together. I've got 19 and 21 year old boys, so I think Colombia is going to be my June trip with them. And then we've got a trip to Iceland planned and that's going to be epic.

Well, I love it. Well, we've got some stuff lining up here. That's cool. We've got an Iceland trip planned here for 2023 as well. So maybe our dates line up. That'd be cool.

Yeah, we'll have to share this. We'll be over there in June.

You know, we just love Colombia. We've been there many times. We had family living there, so we've been to Medellin, or as the Americans like to call it, Medellin, Cartagena. I mean, it's just a really cool country. So I think that'd be a really fun trip for you and your kids.

Yeah, I've never been. My wife has spent about a month down there a year or two ago and she raved about it. And so I think that will probably be the switch. Take my kids down there. They wanted to do something in South America, so that'll be a good one.

And then also Bali is super high on our list. That's where I ended up proposing to my wife. So it's a very special place for us and we absolutely adore Bali.

Yeah, you've got the right idea. As well, with the whole lifestyle, travel and lifestyle, just like setting things up, right? That's right.

I'd like to hit every country at some point in time. I know that some are easier to get to and others are harder and some maybe are not the best to go to in this current economic season or, you know, everything that's going on. But man, I just want to explore the world. I want to experience everything, all the cultures, all the people.

I just want to see what's out there and go through the experiences and meet the people and understand the cultures. And just at the end of the day, none of this matters. We all die. You know, we're all just walking each other home. So we may as well enjoy the journey.

That's right. And I'd love to talk about your journey, how you got to where you are. How did you know that you were an entrepreneur? You started out kind of in more of like a corporate role. But that corporate role I feel like defined you. Actually younger, you may have actually been a full blown entrepreneur. Then, you know, transitioned into Corporate America. C Suite. Right. And then kind of created a business on that.

Yeah. So I was actually groomed as an entrepreneur. I did a talk that's on the main TED website, but it's called let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs. It's had a few million views still on the main TED website today. I had about 15 different businesses by the time I was 18 years old. When I was 21 years old, I had 12 full time employees in a company that I owned. So I was in second year university, ran my own business, had 12 employees way before being an entrepreneur was cool. Like that was 1986. So being an entrepreneur was not cool in 86. We were the greedy capitalist, kind of vilified humans back then. But my dad was an entrepreneur. Both grandparents were entrepreneurs. And he and my grandparents mom really kind of groomed my brother and sister and I to all be entrepreneurs. And we've all really run our own businesses since then. Brian, who is the founder of 1-800-GOT Junk, he, he and I were in a forum together in the entrepreneur's organization for four and a half years and he watched me build two other companies. So I was a partner in a franchising company for what's called Gerber Auto collision in the U.S. boyd Auto Body in Canada, we built that out. It's about a $2 billion company. I was one of the three partners in that firm. And then I was hired as the president of a private currency company and we built that company out and built it and sold it. And then I joined Brian to be his second in command. But there was only 14 employees. It wasn't a big corporate company at the time. I was employee number 14. When I left six and a half years later, we had 3100 employees. And I'd been the COO for that journey. But by the time it got corporate, I was pulling my hair out. I was literally going, this is big. This is overwhelming and funny. They actually replaced me with the former president of Starbucks, us. And when Lonnie came in, she saw the company and went, what a cute little place. And I'm like, so big. So, yeah, definitely more, more in the entrepreneur. And then I left there 16 years ago. So I've been running my own business now for the last 16 years. Started the COO alliance, which is a network of second in commands from all over the world, about six years ago. I've now written six books. I've been paid to speak in 27 countries. I've been actually paid to speak now on every single continent, including Antarctica. I got paid last year to speak in Antarctica to a maverick group.

That's incredible. Well, I mean, what a resume.

When I was about 16, my dad took me to the golf club and we sat down at about 12 o' clock and we were getting ready to go out golfing. And he started showing me all the people walking into the golf club. And he said, you know, he owns a car dealership and she owns a clothing store and he owns this business and she owns that business. And there were all these entrepreneurs coming to play golf on a Wednesday at 12 o'. Clock. And we went off and played golf and we came back and it was five o' clock and we're sitting on the balcony and he's pointing to all these people walking in at 5 o' clock to play golf. And it's summer, so you know, sunsets like 9:30 at night up in Sudbury. And he's like, he works for a car dealer and he's a lawyer and she's a teacher and he's a dentist and he works for this company. He said, do you remember what all the people did that were here at 12 o'? Clock? And I said, yeah, they're entrepreneurs. And he said, do you notice the difference? And I said, yes, if you're an entrepreneur, you can play golf whenever you want to. And he said, that's why I'm an entrepreneur is so I can do what I want, when I want and I can have the lifestyle and the life that I want and not have to report to somebody else. Being an entrepreneur for me was never about money. It was about the lifestyle and the ability to be where I want, when I want, and it's always stuck with me. What's weird is the money's always come anyway. By focusing on having a better life, I delegate more. I say no to the wrong things. I say yes to the right things, and somehow it just keeps lining up in the right order for me.

What a great life lesson at that age, at a young age, where it's, you know, we're at a defining age. Young and very open to, you know, different things. Like, I feel like so many impactful conversations happened for me, my 18 to 24 age range, maybe even early on on the sales side of things, you know, once I was, what, 14 years old. So I love hearing that, and I'd love to even follow up on that because you had mentioned your TED Talk, and by the way, I thought your TED Talk was incredible. One of the things that was a big takeaway for me from your TED Talk was how you opted not to do allowance, but rather decided to find a way to help encourage an entrepreneurial spirit for your kids to be able to make their money. I'd love for you to speak to that.

Well, there was two parts to that. One is that's the way I was raised. So I was told by my dad, you're not getting a allowance. There's some you have to do around the house anyway, so you better do it. And then there's some other things that if you spot the opportunities, we can talk about it and I'll pay you. So I, you know, I'd be sitting down one day and I'd be like, hey, dad, the backyard needs to be cut. And he's like, yep. I'm like, I'll do it for five bucks. No way, man. I'll pay you three bucks. I'd be like, how about four? He's like, 375. I'm like, done. So here I am, like, spotting an opportunity, having a hustle, negotiating with my dad, even in a playful way. Like, you know, I know he's going to pay me something, but then I get to go out and cut the grass, and I get the money. What he was teaching me was there's an endless amount of opportunities if you look for them to make money. Negotiation is not a bad thing. It's a skill. You have to meet somewhere, both sides have to meet, or you're never going to get a deal. An allowance is simply a paycheck that you get the same amount of money every single week, and you're probably going to try to do the minimum amount of work to earn that same amount of money every single week. So you're not going to be opportunistic and look for things. My dad's going to have to nag me all the time to go earn my money, right? So he was teaching us at a very young age to be entrepreneurial. Not necessarily to be an entrepreneur yet, but certainly to be entrepreneurial then. Now doing that with my kids, you know, they wanted money, and I'd be like, I'm not giving you a month, you know, a weekly or monthly check, but look around. And sometimes they didn't see the opportunities. So I'd say, look, we have a pear tree. There's pears all over the backyard. Go pick them up. And they'd be like, okay, how about, you know, whatever. And we'd have fun with it. And then off they'd go. And then there were also other things that were just part of. No, you live in this household, you know, when I'm telling you to clean the dishes, we don't get to negotiate with that. That's called. You didn't see the opportunity. Now you're having to do a job.

I love it. I just think it's amazing. And, you know, to anyone who is paying an allowance, maybe this is just food for thought. I know, you know, each child is a little different, but I think the more that we can help foster an entrepreneurial spirit where we can get into discovering things, discovering how to offer value, I think that that's really exciting and substantive in today's day and age. So I think that's great. You know, I was thinking about this. You were earlier talking about part of EO Entrepreneurs Organization. I know you've spoken for them a lot, and I think the first time we actually met was a decade ago when you came to St. Louis. I was living in St. Louis at the time, and John Rulin, our mutual friend, was like, you got to come hear this guy speak. And he'd been trying to get me into EO forever, and I just. I didn't see the big picture of it, didn't see how it could help me at that time. And. And so I went to your message, and I was like, man, this guy. This guy's figured life out. He's got, you know, I got a few hacks I'm going to just walk away with here. And. And then I heard some of the stories of how John and you connected and what a cool kind of full circle scenario where now we, you know, we are friends and get a chance to connect and get a chance to share ideas and business concepts. I've learned a lot from you over the years and I'm excited to continue.

To do that where John has become a very, very close friend. Were you involved in Cutco as well?

I was, I was. That's how I paid for college.

It's like everybody I meet that got involved with Cutco is amazing. Like, Brad Wymart was Cutco and John Rulin was Cutco. My co author of the Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs. Hal Elrod was Cutco. You're like, and you're all really, you all really have this kind of formulaic. You're all like nice guys who are entrepreneurial, who are show gratitude. Yeah, there's something that was really cool about. They either recruited all the same people or they really gave you some good grounded skills. Yeah. John and I met through EO and I wouldn't be here where I am in the business world without putting money to joining these different entrepreneur groups I've been in. You know, I was an EO member for five years and I've worked with them in 26 countries. I was a strategic coach member for seven years. I was a genius network member for seven years. Fourth baby bathwater event this year. I've been to five mastermind talks events, couple War room events. Like, I've really invested in getting into these networks so that I'm not the smartest person in the room. I'm just in the right room learning from these people and also learning who can help me when I don't know the hows. Right?

Yeah. That's incredible. And by the way, I'd love to even touch base on this more because, I mean, I would totally agree. I would not be where I am today had I not invested in my education, had I not put myself in rooms with people playing the game of life, business wealth building at a much higher level than I was, to even just open my eyes to what was possible or to glean some strategies periodically that I could copy. You know, I feel like one of my gifts is that I can be a good copycat. You know, show me who's doing it well and I'll go copy them.

My dad again when I was 16 said that I would never be smart enough to figure it out on my own. And he said you R and D should stand for rip off and duplicate. There's really Smart people that are doing really smart things just do what they're doing, and it'll get you most of the way. I'm like, because I wasn't the smart kid in school, I got a solid 2.3 GPA, maybe 2.4. I can show you my transcript. It's embarrassing.

I love it. What a great hack, right? You could go to get your, you know, PhD or doctorate or master's, or you could just hang out with the people that do that and kind of partner up with them and learn all the things that they're doing. I mean, that really has been where the vast majority of my success has been. And at one point, when I wrote my book, I added up that I had spent over a million dollars investing in myself, in my education, in whether it be masterminds, partnerships, coaching, the best legal advisors, whoever, and whatever it was that was best in class. That's what I wanted. I know you've done the same.

It's interesting. Years ago, I also believe in kind of things happen for a reason, like the synchronicities and karma. Years ago, I was in Santa Monica at a strategic coach event, and somebody said, hey, while you're there, have lunch with this guy, Eben Pagan. And I'm like, who's Eben Pagan? So anyway, I go off to have lunch with this Eben Pagan guy, who's now become very, very well known. Over dinner, we're talking about investing and where are we investing our money? And I was like, all these stocks and these, you know, funds and real estate, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, what about you? Where are you investing? He goes, I invest in masterminds. I'm like, what are you talking about? And he said, well, I will put $250,000 this year into being in the right rooms. I'm going to Necker Island. I'm in the Genius Network. I'm like, no, no, we're talking about investing our money. He goes, oh, I understand. He goes, what did you get last year as your return? I'm like, 15%. He goes, great. So you put 250 grand in, you get 15% return. I invest 250 grand in masterminds, and I'll generate $2 million in ideas and revenue. I'm like, teach me. What are you talking about? And it was because he knew the right people that he then could do the right business deals or had the right introductions. So instead of him trying to figure out how to do something, he would get introduced to somebody who could do it for him as a favor or at a discount or even for. Anyway, fast forwarded my entire business world. That one dinner.

Oh, it's incredible. And by the way, one of the things that I, you know, just was talking about. So I had the privilege of speaking at the Texas Ranger Major League Baseball team stadium. And one of the things that I added up for the audience was how many people I have taken out to lunch, coffee or dinner over the course of 20 years. Because I take a lot of pride.

Isn't it you that does it weekly?

Yeah, yeah. Every single week I take someone out and I learn from them. I find someone that knows something more than me or different than me, better than me, and I just spend time with them. I've been doing it for over 20 years, some weeks more than one, but at least one unless I'm on vacation.

I saw a post that you did about that on Facebook recently and I was just like. Because I've hosted dinners for years, probably only quarterly, but where I'll have 10 or 12 CEOs together and just hold sometimes at my home. And I do it as a potluck. Like everybody brings food, but I love the whole like just the focus of once a week going and meeting with a smart person, hanging out, getting to know each other. And you never know what's going to happen, but stuff happens.

Oh, those relationships, there's so many things that have happened with them. I mean, the, the expectation was never that, but you never know who you're going to get close to or what topic you both relate on. And, you know, maybe it ends up pairing up for something right away. And so a lot of people wonder how did I kind of make some of my leaps in the business world and entrepreneurship and investing? And I always say it's, it's the relationships. It's meeting the right people at the right time, putting myself in proximity with movers and shakers and people that are inspiring and just a lot smarter than me.

I'll tell you another one that putting yourself in proximity is. I only fly business class now, if it flights longer than an hour and a half, I only fly. And not out of ego. I'm 6 foot 4, so it's a bit of a. My, my body's just big, but I have done. And I can quantify the dollar figure that I've landed in business deals from sitting in business class. I'll give you two ex one. I was flying from Vancouver to Phoenix and I'm sitting beside this woman on a plane and you know, what do you do? Blah, blah, blah, And I've written this book and I double, double, oh, she's, I've read your book. I'm like, oh, you're kidding. I'm like, what do you do? She goes, I'm the second in command for this business group over in Qatar. I'm like, oh, what do you run? Well, we run like, you know, some healthcare and some infrastructure and some schools. I'm like, oh, wow, it's really big. And, you know, what's the company called? She was kind of kept avoiding and she finally was like, well, I actually, I'm the second in command for the royal family, for the monarchy that owns the country of Qatar. I ended up, I ended up landing them as a client. She paid me 100 grand to fly to Qatar for three days, paid for my first class flight, paid for my toes, gave me 100 grand, gave me 50 grand up front to show up to coach them for three days just because I sat beside her on a plane. And then on another flight, I was flying from Chicago to Miami and I end up sitting beside this guy. Marcelo Clare, who ended up selling his company for a billion dollars to Softbank, gets appointed the CEO of Sprint. I land him as a coaching client. I coach Marcelo in his second command for 18 months because I'm sitting beside him on a plane. You just meet more successful people sitting in the front four rows than you do sitting in the back of the plane. And it's nothing against the back. It's just put yourself in the proximity of those and you're more relaxed, you show up more relaxed, you can get work done.

Yeah, that's an incredible tip. You know, so it's interesting because I don't know that I've ever thought about it that way, but it's spot on. And I did fly first class back home just today, right before. I mean, I literally was scrambling. I'm like, please be on time flight, because you and I have our podcast. And I got back just in time. I didn't want to have to reschedule, but, you know, and it was very obvious that there were some pretty successful people in the front there with me. And I probably didn't take as much time networking the way that I could have or should have. The person next to me slept the whole time, but what an incredible just mindset shift. I like that. I think that's really cool.

You know, it's joining the right golf club, joining the right tennis club, you know, joining the Soho House, and just being in those, in the rooms. You just put yourself at a Strategic advantage to be able to meet the right people and do the right deals. And again, if it's out of ego, you're dead in the water. Right. If you're doing it to be somewhere or take a photo with somebody, forget it, it's over. But if you're just doing it because you know that you're going to have a better chance of meeting good people, you better show up as a good person too. Right. You have to show up with the same level of, you know, humility and core values and curiosity. Otherwise you're just going to get well. Great. So you met me on a plane, but I wouldn't. Wouldn't talk to you anyway.

Yeah, that's good. That's powerful. And from the standpoint of, you know, mastermind, I mean, some of them are cheaper than others, but overall they're not cheap. I mean, this is a real investment. These things range in price from, you know, maybe a few thousand dollars on up to. There's one that I have friends that run one that's $250,000 to join. Yeah, you've got one that's $100,000. You got a ton that are out there at, you know, 35 to 55,000.

Yeah.

So. Yeah. But if you can figure out how to get a return on those dollars, it's not about how much is it? I stopped worry long time ago. It's what value can I get from it? Can I get more than whatever the number is? It doesn't matter what the number is. Like, one of the people I paid to Coach Me was $250,000. My friends told me I was crazy and I said, what matters is can that coaching produce a greater return or just break even of $250,000 in income? Which it did. And it did quickly.

Yeah. And if it does, then you got that momentum. Creates momentum. Right. So I call it the trifecta. If these three things happen, I'll say, hell yes to going to that event. Number one, can I get ideas on how to grow my company and my clients companies? Right. So am I going to be in a room where I can grab ideas? That's number one. Number two, can I hang out with current clients or really successful entrepreneurs? Then that's a number two. Number three is can I get clients while I'm there without being a sleazy salesperson? Right. If I have to walk around to try to sell my stuff, bad deal, bad group for me, Bad group for them, they're not going to want me there. But if I can be in the room. Maybe I'm a speaker, maybe I'm just in the right room. And there's lots of downtime to get to connect and talk. And I know the value or the level that they're at. Then it's a hell yes. And so I was in Bhutan recently, hiking with the monks and staying in these monasteries. And, you know, I paid, I think it was 15 grand for my wife and I to be at that, plus our airfare. So call it 20 grand, 25 grand. But I've landed a coaching client and a CEO alliance member. That's 85,000 right there. So I'm like a 3 1/2x return. And I had fun. I was there for like a week in Bhutan hiking, and it was amazing. And I'll do that again. So I've signed up with them to go to Uganda and go check out the gorillas in Uganda in June.

That's awesome. I love it. Yeah. And it's really fun when you can go on something, have some sort of business transaction, cover the cost of the event or the travel or the experience, whatever it was. I mean, that's always just so much fun to do. So I'd love for you to talk about the COO alliance because a lot of people kind of, I guess, favor or lean towards things for the founder, the visionary, the, you know, first in charge. Talk about what COO alliance is like and just even having a place where second in command, where a chief operating officer can actually go to learn, grow, network with all people in the same field.

There is a countless amount of groups for entrepreneurs, right? We've got ypo, the Young Presidents Organization, the Entrepreneurs Organization, Vistage, Genius Network, GoBundance, Baby Bathwater, Mavericks. Like so many groups for entrepreneurs, right? And then recently I spoke at a conference called the American Society of Association Executives, and it was 7,500 trade associations for groups. There's groups for doctors and psychiatrists and engineers and auto body shops and marketers. There's no groups for second in commands. There's this whole audience of people that had nowhere to go and they kept going to the entrepreneur events, but they don't fit in. And I joke about it. It's kind of like a guy showing up at a baby shower. We're not meant to be like, like, sorry, Even though it's 2023, we just don't fit at a baby shower or a bridal shower. Like the guy's not supposed to be at a, at a bridal shower and the woman's not supposed to be at A bachelor party. It's just they're supposed to have. Right. Entrepreneurs are supposed to have their events and they don't fit at the CEO Alliance. So we don't even let entrepreneurs join the CEO Alliance. It's a mastermind community. Members from 17 countries. We only allow the second in command to join. You have to do at least 5 million in revenue just to qualify. Our biggest member is 1.2 billion. We've got about 40% of our members are women. And it's an event that I don't teach them, I just facilitate it. I could actually hand you the agenda for next week's event. You could literally moderate the agenda and all of our members would get just as much value as if I ran it. So it's about them connecting with each other. We bring in experts every month for them to listen to and learn from. And then they have their breakouts and group discussions and we run two in person events a year. One in Scottsdale and one at mit. That's it.

That's awesome. I love that you do that and I love that you have a place for people that there's a real need that they can go fulfill. You know, learning and growing with other even more successful CEOs. I think it's great. You know, one of the interesting things for me is I have the lifestyle investor mastermind is kind of how that's shaken up. Who's coming in, what does that look like? And though we have a lot of entrepreneurs, we definitely have a lot of second in commands. We definitely have a lot of high income earning professionals, whether it be attorneys, doctors, dentists, you know, people in various different medical fields. It's really kind of a nice thing because you got someone that kind of specialize, you know, high income sales professionals. I mean, you got someone in every niche and it's just neat watching them all kind of hang out, get to know each other. And we've definitely recommended many people over your way where we're like, hey, they could make leaps and bounds for those that are actually CEOs.

Thank you. Yeah. You know what's interesting about when you have like the Lifestyle investor mastermind or the co alliance mastermind or even some of these others is because we're not in the same industry. I call it ideas having sex. You know, you take an idea from a high net worth lawyer or a high net worth dentist or a high net worth CEO or high net worth CEO about investing, those ideas percolate and become some other cool things. But if it's all lawyers in the room, it always falls back to talking about law. Nobody wants to talk about like after a while it's just kind of boring or certainly any non lawyers don't want to be in that room. Right. So it's nice that you have that place for them. For sure.

Yeah. That's fun. So tell me, you said you've written six books. Your sixth one is literally about to drop. And as this episode comes out, it will be out. Tell us about this. So this one's really cool because it is called the Second in Command. Right. And this is like, you know, the playbook for coos. So I'd love for you to share more on it.

Yeah. This is the first book that I actually wrote with any strategic reasoning. My first book was a way to raise my brand awareness and raise my speaking fees. And a couple of mine were a little bit more opportunistic because I had opportunities to write books with Scribe. I was an advisor to Scribe and they helped me push a few books out. And then I co authored that one with Hal Elrod that did really well. I kind of realized that I was sitting on all this IP. You know, I've had 245 guests on the Second in Command podcast. I've had hundreds of members of the COO alliance and I had all these ideas from them and systems from them that was about how do you recruit them and how do you bring them onto your company and how do you build a good relationship with them and how do you get good results from them. And it never been codified and there's not much out there on the subject. You know, again, there's tons of books written for the entrepreneur. So this is written for both the entrepreneur and the coo. It's how do you find one? But then if you are one, how do you find the right company to match for you as well?

That's fantastic. Well, coming from someone that has had to play both roles, and I know you have too, what a breath of fresh air that there's an opportunity for entrepreneurs to find how to fill this void and for those that are skilled and qualified here to be able to learn and grow. I've been a COO more by need than choice. I have the ability to do it in businesses that I've started and that I've been involved in. But it is certainly not one of my greater strengths. It's more like when I get done, I am zapped of energy. It is much better to find someone that this is in their wheelhouse. They get energy from Doing this, there's things about it that are automatic. So for me today, when I start projects, when I buy businesses, buy franchises, the first thing I do even before I buy it, is I get the COO lined up. So that way I know that things are going to be in the right shape because I know I should not be in that role.

You know, it's interesting that if you're a kind of person that wants to have the good lifestyle, that wants to have balance and be able to spend time with your friends and your family and your hobbies and your spouse, hiring a COO isn't necessarily because you need it. It could be because you can have one, you know, and then all of a sudden you have this person who can run a lot of your business for you to free up your time to have a better life. Also to free up your time so that you're only working in a couple of your unique ability areas that you really love and really feed you with energy. So it can also really set up the business for an exit too. If you're ever looking to sell your company, one of the best ways to get a high exit value is to have the team of people running it for you so the company doesn't rely on you anymore.

That's good. Talk more about that. I feel like there are a lot of people that are scaling businesses that have sold businesses that have bought businesses. I'd love to hear you elaborate on that. And really the value. Right, because people want to buy system oriented businesses with the people in place that can run those businesses. I mean, often they'll swap executives in and out upon acquisition, but sometimes they don't and they want to know that person's in place so they can trust that things are actually running well and that they're running effectively without the founder. That it's not a founder, brand or company, that it is a system based brand or company.

Yeah, you don't want your systems walking out the door every night at 5 o' clock and going home. Right. You want the systems deeply ingrained in the organization so that machine continues to run. And that's why you don't need an earn out when if you're buying a company and the company runs and the people are handcuffed and the systems are in place and the redundancies are covered. Cool. Ciao bella. Like, see you later, buddy. I have a friend of mine who I introduced to an M and A firm years ago and he sold this company for 107 million. He was doing 37 million in revenue wanted to sell for 52, sold for 107 with no earn out. Got 100 million in cash, a note for 7, no earn out was able to walk away day one. It's because he had the second in command. He had the leadership team, he had the SOPs in place. The company that was acquiring him recognized, we don't really need you. Yeah, I guess you can just go, that's cool.

You know, it's. It is interesting to see, you know, there are a lot of investments that I do in this space, whether it be direct investments, even funds that invest in companies. And I know it is very common when a company is bought that you want to take the top person out because they're, you know, a founder in a role is often not the right fit. It can be, but it is often not the right fit. Right.

Most often when you buy the company, that founder is now going to be a pain in the. They're not going to want to work as many hours. They don't want you to make any changes. So that's the other part is you actually don't want them to be there anyway. But if you need them to be there, it's not as attractive as an acquisition. So the other thing is like I was coaching a company based in Florida years ago. I coached them from 40 employees up to 700 and they raised about 255 million from Warburg Pincus right at the end of my coaching time with them. And I was talking to Bobby, their CEO, and I taught him this one system. He goes, wow, that's going to change my company. I'm like, no, what will change your company is teaching all 32 of your C level and VPs that'll change your company. But you being the only person that knows how to do this will give you like a little tiny incremental leverage. But teaching everybody will tilt the universe. Growing your coo, growing the skills of your managers and leadership team, that's what's going to scale the company. Not just putting the CEO into their own mastermind group.

I love it. And you've been responsible for helping people scale their companies and exit. Right. You've been involved in a lot of M and A transactions. I think the last time we spoke, I mean, it was a good handful. I don't know how many it is at this point in time. Is that something that you're still actively involved in and helping friends clients to scale and exit?

Yeah, I've got six clients right now that are working with an M and a firm to Exit. And I'm coaching them, I call it packaging them up in the Tiffan box with the white ribbon. Right. So that I can actually, you know, make them look shinier and more beautiful than they really are and help them exit. But yeah, I've got six that I'm working with right now. I've helped well over a dozen, three or four that have had hundred million dollar exit pluses.

That's incredible. We had just the craziest experience in November where for the whole month we had 12 exits inside of a two to two and a half week timeframe. We had nine people exit their company literally just in November, which is just unbelievable. And most of these being pretty sizable, substantial exit.

Yeah.

And also great timing. Right. Because a lot of money has dried up in a lot of different places. And so to kind of exit on the books in 2022 with a lot of groups that had capital they had to spend by the end of the year. You know, I was encouraging everyone that I could since it's been such a frothy year. If you can sell.

Yeah, get her done. Were they selling to strategics, to private equity? Who were they selling to?

Both. Yeah, a little bit of each.

Yeah. There's a lot of money out there in the market still and there's been a lot of very patient money sitting since around March of 2020, just pre Covid hitting. There was money that was being built up and then all of a sudden Covid hit and that money got kind of panicky and then since the crash, just got a little nervous. But there's, there's some good money still out there to be had. But yeah, it's definitely the time to sell.

I love it. What are some thoughts that you might just want to leave our audience with? Things that maybe they can be thinking about to kick off 2023 the right way and make some moves.

None of this actually matters. You know, we're all going to die. This is just what we do to make money, that we need to enjoy the journey and spend time with our friends and family and spend time with ourselves and our hobbies. Because at the end of the day, like none of this stuff actually really does matter. We're all just walking each other home. This journey that we're on at the end of the day is a blip in time. Right. Be passionate about your goals, be passionate about your businesses, but don't forget to laugh and have a good time and remember the people you're working with are going through there. And then the second part is Everybody's actually struggling with something. Like, every single person you meet or employee that works with you is struggling with something. With a debt, with a child, with a spouse, with a disease or a worry or a fear or a relationship issue. Like, the human condition is. You and I are both struggling with something today. I don't know what yours is, you don't know what mine is, but we all have something. And I think it's to be cognizant of that and to really give a shit about people is pretty important as well.

That's powerful. I absolutely love that. And just this whole idea, this whole mantra that people are like, waiting for tomorrow, they're waiting for retirement, they're saving their money, trying to scrimp until they get there. I just. I want to encourage people to figure out a way to do it both. We talk about this all the time, but it's like, let's live today. We don't know when the day is the last.

Yeah. One thing that's been super interesting for me in the last 18 months of being a nomad is I don't buy anywhere near as much stuff as I used to because I have nowhere to put it. And then I just realized how little stuff I actually need to be happy. So I think a lot of people can probably have a better life today, enjoy the life that they want more today if they buy a bunch less of the stuff that they don't really need anyway.

That is powerful.

How many TVs do we need exactly?

I think it's all about, are you spending time with the people that fill you up, inspire you, and that you desire to be around? Are you spending enough time with them and are you doing things that fulfill you in life? And these are all choices, right? These are all decisions we get to make when we're not on autopilot, just in reactionary mode, taking time to be proactive. Amazing things happen.

So all of my books are available on Amazon, Audible and itunes. The cooalliance is the coalliance.com and then also check out my course. It's called investinyourleaders.com it's all the core skills that you need to be able to grow your managers and your leadership skills inside your company.