Eric Siu interviews an e-commerce founder who clawed out of $2M in debt to build a business tracking toward $21M EBITDA in six to seven years. The founder reinvested everything, liquidated assets to survive, and credits his spouse's support through the collapse and rebuild.
In one of these founders retreats, we had a guy that was about to shut his e-commerce business down. It wasn't doing well. He came to one of the meetings, he's like, hey guys, I think I'm gonna shut it down. Would any of you hire me? Basically, right? We're like, dude, like, you gotta keep going, right? Like, this is the entrepreneur roller coaster. Like, it's gonna go up and down. I think the biggest thing was his wife told him, if we end up on the street, I will be there with you. And what ended up happening was last year, let's say they did about $10 million in EBITDA, and then this year they're gonna do $21 million. All of us were like, dude, That's a damn good wife, right? Like, they will come hell or high water. Like, it doesn't matter if you have $0 left, I will be there with you. That actually gets me a little emotional thinking about that because it's like, it's hard to find people like that, right? So he kept going and then now he's on track. He's— I think he's going to run through a process and reportedly he can sell for probably around $200, maybe $275 or so. And he owns a lion's share of the equity. And so I think we, you and I have seen a lot of stories like this, but I constantly love to hear stories like this because they're so motivating, you know, for you and me and even for the listener.
Well, what's amazing is his wife is ride or die, right?
Yeah.
They're going to succeed together or they're going to die together. I love that.
Yep.
What was the change that he made that took him from negative $2 million to call it positive $10 million? Because he hasn't done $21 million yet, right? So what was the change?
I wish I had a really good hack to tell you, and I think you know what my answer's going to be, but sometimes us entrepreneurs, we're so stubborn that we just don't know how to give up. And I don't, I think he said he wanted to give up, but I don't think he knew how to give up. And so he kept going and that's what got him there. So I wouldn't say he made some amazing hires or had some amazing hacks. Sure, his team is dialed in now, but they don't necessarily have a lot of people. They have like 40 people or something like that.
And now going back when he was negative 2, how long did it take him to get to 10+ in profit? Because this rollercoaster couldn't have been a 1-year swing.
No, it's 6 or 7 years.
Good for him and good for his wife for pushing him and motivating him. People don't realize that your spouse, Whether it's a dude or a chick, your spouse can really make the world of difference to your success or can help you fail if you pick the wrong one.
Well, Neil, you should explain why, because you're married, right? I mean, can you explain the logic? Like, why do you think that is?
They support you. I've been through ups and downs as well. I made money before I got married, but post getting married, I've had issues. And when I say issues, Sometimes in business you have ups and downs where like someone tries to sue you and take some money, even if you believe you're right and you're fighting them and you're spending hundreds of thousands a month on legal fees and you know it's just going to be cheaper to settle than it is to drag it on for years. So then you got to pay up.
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Sometimes you, a business goes sideways and you can fix it, but you have to reinvest a lot. And to do that, you may have to sell your house and liquidate some other assets. And if you look at me, I've changed houses on average once every year and a half. No joke. Not renting, buying, which becomes really expensive. And my dad would always tell me, if you just kept all your houses, you would've made a killing. And he is right. But if I didn't take the money when I needed it, because a lot of times I liquidated because I needed the cash, my business wouldn't be as large as it is today. So when I look back on everything, my wife was really supportive and she would tell me, we don't need a house. Do whatever you think is best for the family in the long term. Sell whatever you need. And I always bet on the business. I bet on myself. She supported me, never complained. I remember one time we spent 2 and a half years building her dream home and I sold it in 30 days after moving in.
Yep. I never understood that. It was a really nice home too.
But yeah, you know, and for me, just going hard to grow in the business makes me happy. And my wife supported that from day one.
All right. So that is it for today, guys. Please don't forget to rate, review, subscribe. There will be no more Agency Owners Association. We'll save that for another Marketing School episode. And that being said, you know, we'll have some other things to throw your way in the near future. So catch you later. Bye.
