An entrepreneur had a heart attack in 2014 after buying a failing competitor for $3.5 million in debt. He rebuilt the company by trusting his team, then sold it not for maximum profit but to pursue a purpose of helping others.
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Great teams need great leadership, but sometimes leadership is embodiment and not words or actions. I'm also reminded by— you saw a picture of me and Dave Ramsey downstairs. We were looking at the studio and stuff like that. And one of the greatest lessons I learned from him was actually from one of his greatest mistakes that he verbalized, which was he had a propensity, like I do, to find it really easy to find the stuff that's wrong. Kind of what you were just describing. And he made it— he taught me to go and make it a point to go out and catch him doing something right.
Right.
So when you do have to deliver that vinegar, you know, that you've got lots of honey around it so that the vinegar, like, as you know, is nowhere near as painful.
Yeah.
You know, so these types of leadership, these are nuances that all require a grounded leader, a self-aware leader.
Yep.
Right. I would consider you a very self-aware leader, CEO, founder. Performance coach, all the things. You know, how long did it take you to make that transition to actually get to the place where you were very grounded, regulated, and looked from an awareness standpoint?
It took about 15 years, because every time that we do something good, we want to stop learning and we want to stop implementing the change, and then we always go backwards. So through the process of having all these businesses, I ended up buying a bad business back in 2014.
Hmm.
I had sold my previous company. I bought my competitor out. Everything looked good. Accountant looks at it, lawyers look at it, cleanest deal ever, man. Just do it. But you know, when the stuff isn't inserted into the books and you're $3.5 million in debt the day you sign over the company, you got a problem. And that was a waking moment where, again, I'm chasing greed because I'm looking, oh, if I put $100 grand in this thing, I'm going to be a millionaire again. You know, like, here's another couple million. And we always chase the next thing. And at that point, I had to take myself back and say, okay, after that company was done and I built the next company, which was 2 companies ago that I had gotten rid of, I built it on purpose this time. I built it the right way from the foundation up because I knew that everything at the bottom was going to rise in the way the leadership started from the the bottom. And that next company went on to do $30 million, and it was just like, wow.
Yeah.
Because it was structured different. I worked 20 hours a week maybe, but I had the right people in place, the right systems in place. And I realized that I can no longer be in control. I'm the idea man. I wear the hat.
Yeah.
For the idea. That's it.
Yeah.
And everything else, it's like Our GPS in our car is updated with a map when we buy the car. And we're just putting the destination in. We're trusting the satellite. We're trusting the girl and the voice behind. We're trusting the manufacturer on them getting us to our place. Those are our people.
Mm-hmm.
We know the destination and where we're going. We just don't know how we're going to get there until we listen to the voice. Till we watch the map, till we know that the program is correct. But this is everything outside of us.
Yeah.
And I started building everything on purpose without the intention of me being the one to know that the only way that this business was ever going to be a real business was if I wasn't a control stick.
Yeah.
And that last company was ridiculous. But again, I knew that I had leverage, but then I have a heart attack.
Yeah.
And that changed everything.
Yeah.
Because even though you're building a successful company, you're making all this money, sometimes your focuses are still off.
Yeah.
You're still doing things for the wrong reasons. And that heart attack checked me big time.
Geez. Well, I can't even imagine, right? Because I would assume that it caused you to really question everything you had been building and why you've been building it.
So what happened was, this was about 4 years ago, almost last— In August, August 3rd was the anniversary of it, 4 years ago. So when I'm laying in the ambulance and I just really felt like I got released, my spirit got released, and I'm having a conversation with God. My son now, for about 2 years now, hasn't talked to me. Parent alienation from a divorce. Rough. And I'm having this conversation with God and I said, I can't. I'm not ready, man. And then he's like, no one's ever ready, right?
Yeah.
He goes, but how many times do I have to show you that you're on the wrong path? I've instilled you with the gift of discipline, and you've used it for you. But the problem is, is you're selfish and you don't want to share it with others. And at that point, I was like, I didn't understand.
Yeah.
But I said, listen, bring me back and I'll change.
Yeah.
And I didn't.
Yeah.
So my doctor's like, hey, you need to take 6 months off. So I've got a project manager. I let him— hey, I'm gonna let you do sales too.
Yeah.
I'll give you some more money. I thought the assignment was to make him wealthier, make him more money, but it wasn't. Get rid of what you have and build it for others was the assignment. So what that project manager did was run my company to the ground financially. in about 9 months, and my bookkeeper caught it. And he was signing work, signing work, signing work for commissions, but the profits just—
Yeah, the margins weren't there to protect it. Yeah. Wow.
So again, God's like, are you ready to listen now? I was able to keep the company alive. Company still had money, still was doing good. So I was able to sell it, but not for the dollar amount that I should have sold it for. But at the same time, that was my exit. And guess what happens when I sell it? To guide defaults on payment. So guy goes, okay, what are you gonna do now? You were just gonna take the money and chill. Yeah. Now go make some more.
Yeah.
And help other people, and I'll provide.
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