Chad Silverstein founded a company while at Ohio State and ran it with a mentor for 15 years. When tensions emerged over his leadership vision, his partner suggested a buyout. Chad secured financing and completed it in about 90 days, keeping their relationship intact.
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So, speaking of stories, I'll share one with you. Has to do with built to lead, so it's kind of cool. So when I was in college, I started my company out of my apartment while going to Ohio State, and I had a partner who was my mentor, who was an incredible mentor. I learned a lot from him. He ran a business in Cleveland, and I ran the business in Columbus, and we grew the business together, and I was in charge of pretty much running the Columbus office while he did the Cleveland office. And we grew fast, and after a few years, we started to be profitable, turned into a great partnership, and we had a really great relationship for 15 years. And I remember as I started getting stronger, because Chet was pushing me, and I was getting pushed to kind of get clear on my opus and what I was doing, why I was doing it, and I was getting clear. And I remember having the courage one day to have. To not have to. But I wanted to share my opus with my partner. He wasn't into personal professional development the way I was. He's an older gentleman, and we were in different places in our life. And I was really copying what he was doing in his Cleveland office for a long time when I first started, because I was 20 years old, and I didn't know what I was doing, and what he did worked. So I did a lot of what he did, and he shared with me all the wins, and I would just kind of repeat those things. And that's how we built the business when we first started it. But as I started to get stronger and started to kind of come into my own way of being an entrepreneur, I would change things. And I remember there were always some insecurities that would pop in because I was wondering what he'd think, if he'd be okay with it. And again, he was a great partner. He didn't like conflicts. A lot of times, he wouldn't even address it. But I remember the day that I really had confidence in sharing my opus with him, and I remember sharing it with him, and I remember it not going as well as I thought it would. And at the time, I was a little blind to it. But obviously, if you think about it, here I am under his wing this whole time, growing this business, being successful, and now he sees me kind of going my own way, and yet that was the last thing I was trying to do. I was just kind of finding my way, and I kind of picked up on the sense that he probably felt that I was kind of distancing myself and going in another direction. And I remember I was worried about that. And I drove up to Cleveland one day, and I told him, I said, look, I feel like you feel this, and I want you to know it could be nothing other than the opposite of that. And I want to work with you forever. I can see myself trying to make you extremely wealthy because of the opportunity you gave me. And I really poured it on thick. And I didn't know it at the time, but he was starting to think about having me buy him out. I didn't know this. And my sharing an opus deepened his feeling of, this is probably a good time for him to kind of take the chips off the table and keep his Cleveland business and cash in on his Columbus business. And I remember one day we were on the phone about two months after this, and he said to me, what's the shelf life on this Built to Lead thing? At the time, I was spending $9,000 a month having Chet come in a couple times a month to train with the team and the company, and I was working with him every week, and we were doing great. And I told him, why would we have a shelf life on Bill 2 lead? You know, we're doing great. We're breaking records. We've never made more money. People in the company are happy. They're making more money. I said, if. Look, if we're not, then I'll fire Bill to lead. But why would we even want to consider taking it off the shelf? And I didn't realize it at the time, but it was making him a little uncomfortable to see all the change and to see everybody take to it the way we did. And in that conversation, he said to me, we should think about you buying me out. And I remember he said it, and I literally. My stomach just dropped again. Just two months ago, told him I was going to be with him forever. And I just. Some fear and some panic kind of crept in, and I felt a little loss aversion, like, wow. Like, not wanting to be with me and not wanting to be my partner anymore. It really. It really hit me emotionally. And I remember I was pretty torn up about it at the end of the day. But I was driving home, and I called one of my friends up who was a CEO, and I was talking to him, and I told him what happened. And I remember he said to me, that is unbelievable. And I was like, what's unbelievable? He's like, you get to have your entire company by yourself, 100%. And I was like, yeah. He goes, that's incredible. And he just poured it on thick. And I remember I hung up the phone again. Here's that kind of blind spot and a different perspective can change your life. And I went home smiling. And I remember just the flip of just being so down and depressed that my partner doesn't want to be with me anymore to oh my gosh, what an opportunity this is going to be. And it was just a. It was a funny thing to look back on and see how built probably wasn't the catalyst, but it was sort of one of the nuances that had to do with how to put closure on a 15 year run that we've had together that was just a grand slam. If I ran into today, we'd hug each other and we would be talking like it was old times and we really, truly had a successful partnership that not many people can say that they had with people they'd been in business with. We actually closed the deal within 90 days, which I was told wouldn't happen, wouldn't be possible. I got a loan and we closed it down and transitioned and still remained very close after. And today if he called me and needed something, I'd be there for him in a second. I know he'd be there for me. And nothing but love and respect. And it's a good story. I just, I love telling that story and hopefully, hopefully you enjoyed hearing it.
