Join us for an insightful conversation with Jay B Sauceda, an entrepreneur with a diverse portfolio of experiences. From his early days at UT studying Political Science to his current roles as a TV show host and EOS implementer, Jay B’s journey is as unique as it is inspiring.
At the heart of Jay B’s story is Sauceda Industries, a company he founded and eventually sold. Initially starting as a clothing and apparel store, Sauceda Industries evolved into a thriving third-party logistics (3PL) company, managing inventory and shipping for manufacturers. Key to its success was Jay B’s emphasis on company culture, fostering a kind and supportive environment for his employees.
With the sale of Sauceda Industries to Cart.com, Jay B found himself at a crossroads. Despite lucrative offers from private equity firms, he sought a strategic buyer who would appreciate and preserve the company’s culture. Through this experience, Jay B gained valuable insights into the sale process and the factors influencing the valuation of a 3PL business.
Now focusing on his passion for education and business consulting, Jay B is dedicated to promoting the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) after experiencing its transformative impact firsthand. Having implemented EOS in his own business with remarkable results, Jay B is eager to share its benefits with other entrepreneurs and business owners.
Join us as we explore Jay B Sauceda’s journey, from entrepreneurship to education, and uncover the lessons and wisdom he has gathered along the way.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- The importance of company culture
- The journey from founding to selling Sauceda Industries
- How EOS can impact a business’ success
- You can connect with Jay B Sauceda at his website: Jay B Sauceda
Additional Resources:
- Access our archive of video interviews on YouTube
- Checkout our upcoming Conference – https://malaunchpad.com/
- Get in touch with show hosts Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa at – info@equitylaunchpad.com
- Looking to invest in M&A opportunities or partner with an advisor to acquire, scale or sell your business? Visit Equity Launchpad
Transcript
00:01 on today’s episode we interviewed JB
00:03 Sala and we talked a lot about what it
00:05 looks like to run a logistics business
00:07 how to exit that business and ultimately
00:09 what it looks like to be an implementer
00:11 right how do you implement a business
00:12 how do you put in processes such as EOS
00:14 to help make your business success and
00:16 what that world looks like and why you
00:17 should do those things Casey what were
00:19 some of your takeaways first off JB’s
00:21 incredible guy I mean you can just tell
00:23 he’s he’s passionate he’s one of the
00:25 guys that you know just makes things
00:27 happen he’s a pilot so you get along
00:28 well with reminded me a lot of myself
00:30 yeah very you go and uh Charming
01:31 goodlooking but you know one of the
01:33 other things is we talk about a lot is
01:34 eos right and Pinnacle EOS but it’s
01:37 having that system in the place and JB
01:40 at an early stage of his business
01:42 implemented that right brought that into
01:45 his company even to the point where now
01:47 after he’s exited he’s now in that space
01:50 and he is doing it himself so it’s
01:52 pretty it’s pretty powerful it’s a
01:53 testimony yeah the other interesting
01:55 thing to me was really how much he
01:56 talked about culture right in culture
01:58 you know as we’ve grown our companies
01:59 it’s so crucial and you hear that saying
01:01 all the time that it’s all about the
01:02 people but it absolutely is and how do
01:04 you create an environment where people
01:06 are able to communicate be effective and
01:08 ultimately remove you as maybe the
01:10 entrepreneur or the leader of the
01:11 company from being that one Cog where
01:13 everything implodes without them and I
01:15 thought that was kind of really
01:16 interesting because whenever he sold his
01:18 business that was part of his pitch to
01:19 the company right that’s what you’re
01:20 buying the company that bought him was a
01:22 young company and in his mind hey you’re
01:24 buying the culture you’re buying the
01:26 processes you’re buying the systems that
01:27 we have today to go support your company
01:29 and that’s why you know he felt a
02:31 commanded that little bit of extra
02:32 premium hey I’m GNA throw that world
02:34 selfish because this was the first time
02:36 I’d ever heard that in such a way that
02:39 it was delivered essentially it’s a core
02:40 value for him right I mean but in a in a
02:42 big way and the way that it was is not
02:44 how I see the word it was pretty
02:45 powerful way that he delivered because
02:48 you want people to come to the table
02:50 with what they want right so we all come
02:52 to the get together because we’re
02:54 selfish we want to be able to
02:57 communicate effectively so we work well
02:59 together yeah CU one of our compy core
02:00 values is candid but I actually kind of
02:02 likeed because really being selfish is
02:04 being being extremely candid if you
02:06 think about it yeah right you’re cutting
02:08 out all the BS and going straight to the
02:09 point same thing way the way that he
02:12 says selfish right it’s very much candid
02:14 powerful so super informative podcast
02:16 and so we’ll go ahead and hop right to
02:22 it hey everybody Welcome to the mmaa
02:24 Launchpad podcast and on today’s show we
02:26 have JB SAA after spending 10 years in
02:28 the advertising industry JB and his wife
02:30 Pilla fell into the retail logistic
03:31 space through their own challenges
03:33 trying to scale an online brand after
03:34 bootstrapping the business to over 550
03:36 employees saleta exited in 20121 to
03:38 cart.com venture back Logistics and
03:40 e-commerce service startup most recently
03:42 he has taken on the role of coo at
03:44 saltbox where he’s continuing his
03:45 efforts in the logistics space JB
03:47 welcome to show glad to have you yeah
03:49 Jay great to have you yeah thanks for
03:51 having me I’m excited to be here all
03:52 right so I guess you let’s hop right in
03:54 man so Logistics space you want to share
03:57 a little bit just how you got exposed to
03:58 that right it’s an industry not a lot of
03:60 people people know about but it’s
03:01 obviously the plumbing that makes
03:02 everything happen yeah uh you know I was
03:05 specifically in the direct to Consumer
03:07 Logistics and shipping space so we had a
03:10 retail brand that we had started and we
03:12 had a really big audience that we were
03:13 selling products to and it was you know
03:17 kind of a overnight success in terms of
03:19 the retail component of it the audience
03:20 was preexisting so the the retail
03:23 success was was immediate uh back in
03:26 2013 and we were looking for shipping
03:29 providers uh what are known as like
04:30 thirdparty logistics companies and
04:33 weren’t really happy with what we were
04:34 finding most of the businesses that were
04:36 out there were uh these kind of like
04:38 three-letter acronym companies in the
04:41 middle of nowhere or uh the the the tech
04:44 version you know Tech enabled companies
04:46 that were out there uh maybe had like
04:48 slick sales processes but didn’t seem to
04:50 really have the follow-through on the
04:52 quality of service that I was looking
04:53 for and uh so we ended up just doing it
04:56 for ourselves but we didn’t necessarily
04:58 set out to start a 3pl
04:00 uh initially it was just a matter of
04:02 building the shipping services and the
04:04 shipping uh you know step in the sale
04:07 process into our company uh but over
04:10 time what we found was that there was an
04:12 opportunity to sell those services to
04:13 other people and you know even that
04:15 concept wasn’t something I sat down and
04:18 realized like overnight it was really
04:19 more the realization that you know when
04:22 you’re running a retail brand you’re
04:24 carrying headcount all year but you’re
04:26 still a very seasonal business so you
04:27 might have a couple product launches two
04:28 or three times a year in which case you
05:30 need all of that infrastructure
05:32 available but the rest of the year
05:34 you’re shipping and selling but you’re
05:35 sitting on all of those overhead costs
05:37 so at the end of the day Sala Industries
05:40 which was the 3pl uh was really more of
05:43 a means and an initiative to cover our
05:45 overhead than it was to go build some
05:48 big business with a ton of Enterprise
05:49 Value it was really just you know
05:51 serving our own needs and how do we
05:52 cover our costs but uh the need was
05:55 there and and we jumped into that space
05:57 right around the same time that uh the
05:59 direct to consumer boom started in 2013
05:02 2014 yeah so I was going to ask the
05:04 retail business you started that and
05:06 when uh the retail business started in
05:10 2020 uh 2013 and uh I’d had the social
05:14 media account uh since 2011 uh but it it
05:19 you know the retail business didn’t
05:21 start until late 2013 and we shipped for
05:24 ourselves for about a year year and a
05:26 half before we in Earnest really started
05:28 the 3pl uh our first client signed in um
06:32 I think early 2015 and our first like
06:34 real real client uh of of real material
06:37 value started in in late 2015 was there
06:40 a series of product lines is it
06:42 different products was it an in what was
06:44 the prod yeah so so my store sold
06:47 clothing it was t-shirts hats stickers
06:49 bumpers stickers like all kinds of like
06:51 clothing and apparel uh but the the 3pl
06:55 like our our you know ideal client was
06:58 really anybody in this kind of 100 to
06:00 200 packages a day uh maybe I don’t know
06:04 a hundred skews total so not a super
06:07 complex store and you you needed 3pl
06:10 Services you wanted something that was
06:12 high touch you wanted to be able to walk
06:14 to the warehouse and check out your
06:15 inventory and so you know in those
06:17 instances we were the perfect fit so um
06:20 for the most part uh the initial growth
06:22 started mostly because just Word of
06:24 Mouth people knew me from my advertising
06:27 experience and they’d hear that I was
06:28 running a warehouse now they kind of
06:30 just be curious about what that looked
07:31 like and then they’d say Oh either I
07:33 have a brand or my cousin just started a
07:35 thing should you talk to them and you
07:37 know it was a lot of like exploratory
07:39 stuff I think now people understand what
07:42 3pls are and they kind of have a better
07:43 sense you know they’ll at a minimum
07:45 they’ll say like oh it’s like Amazon for
07:46 individual Brands and you know and over
07:50 simplification but that is what it is
07:51 and uh but back then that was not as
07:54 well known so it was more like guy with
07:56 warehouse and I know him cool I’ll call
07:58 no I literally just learned about 3pl
07:60 like understood it in around 201819 so I
07:03 can imagine that Cutting Edge I was
07:05 going to say for the audience I mean you
07:06 want to explain what exactly three p is
07:08 I mean for us it’s probably common
07:09 bacular now but most people don’t know
07:11 what it is so you how would you I would
07:13 say you know if if there’s a chance that
07:16 anyone has heard of a
07:18 3pl uh of of like kind of my type the
07:21 biggest brand out there I think today is
07:24 Bob um and they’ve got locations
07:26 kind of all over the country but from a
07:29 a core product perspective a 3pl
08:32 thirdparty logistics provider uh that
08:35 term encompasses a lot of things
08:37 trucking companies are technically 3pls
08:40 um warehousing companies are
08:42 3pls uh you know parcel delivery
08:45 companies like UPS and FedEx are are you
08:48 know you know conceptually 3pls but the
08:51 type that we were running um you would
08:53 consider it a third party to you so like
08:56 you are the the brand you’re selling
08:59 some kind of product you have customers
08:01 buying from you in a typical sense like
08:03 in our case we started shipping in our
08:06 garage we had a little label printer and
08:08 we would fold the t-shirts and put them
08:10 in a bag and send them out but over time
08:13 what happens is like as the brand
08:14 founder you need more time back to go
08:17 grow the business so you can either hire
08:19 Warehouse people to do that work for you
08:21 or you can hire what’s called a
08:22 third-party Logistics firm uh that does
08:25 direct to Consumer shipping and they
08:27 will help you ship your products on on
08:29 your behalf so you’ll give them your
09:30 inventory and then their system will
09:32 plug into your storefront and as orders
09:34 come in from your store or your
09:36 customers those orders funnel into their
09:38 system and their team picks packs and
09:41 then ships those orders out the door to
09:42 the customer so the customer doesn’t
09:44 really realize that it’s coming from a
09:46 third party but uh a lot of online
09:49 Brands today that’s where it’s coming
09:51 from you know and uh so so we were
09:54 really just focused on these Brands like
09:56 the big brands that most people would
09:58 know are like toova boots uh Hower
09:02 Brothers uh William Murray Golf which is
09:04 Bill Murray’s golf clothing brand uh
09:06 kamik which sells like outdoor gear uh
09:10 that hot ones T TV show the YouTube
09:12 channel where people eat the hot wings
09:14 with the hot sauce like we we shipped
09:15 all the hot sauces for heatness which
09:17 was a retail brand um so we sold a lot
09:20 of stuff like that we did some work for
09:21 goop for you know gwenneth palro brand
09:23 so all of them gave us entory we did the
09:27 work of hiring people we did the work of
09:28 building racks
09:30 leasing warehouses and all that stuff
10:32 and then we just charged an incremental
10:33 fee that was based off of the
10:35 transaction that was taking place yeah
10:37 so for an entrepreneur right it lets
10:38 them focus on sales marketing and then
10:41 just sourcing the initial inventory that
10:43 they have shipped to you directly right
10:46 correct correct so on on paper it it
10:48 will come off as maybe a little bit more
10:51 expensive than they could do on their
10:52 own like you can always transactionally
10:54 do it cheaper
10:55 but the challenge is that like you’re
10:58 not always running your engine fulltime
10:60 time right so like it it doesn’t make
10:02 sense it’s like buying a car for a
10:04 vacation home sure you know um it’s
10:07 maybe cheaper technically to own the car
10:10 uh you know on a daily basis for the
10:12 couple of days that you’re visiting your
10:13 vacation home but the rest of the year
10:14 it’s just sitting there unutilized
10:16 you’re paying for it anyway so that $300
10:18 you pay to rent the car although it’s a
10:21 little bit more expensive it’s half a
10:22 car note per month or something it’s uh
10:25 it’s cheaper to do that in the long run
10:26 than it is to own the car outright right
10:28 like it’s like the concept of of uh
11:30 false which by the way it’s not true
11:32 concept that AWS was started because
11:33 Amazon gets something like 70% of their
11:36 volume during the Christmas season so
11:38 they have all this server space sitting
11:40 there you know not doing anything the
11:41 rest of the year so they figured out to
11:42 start selling it ads but that’s not
11:44 really the true story but it makes sense
11:45 right conceptually you have something
11:47 you know it’s like a car Uber car versus
11:49 Uber how much does anyone Drive their
11:51 car maybe 5% of the the day right yeah
11:55 yeah so kind of using those efficiencies
11:57 but I guess that’s a that’s a segue
11:58 maybe to what I wanted to kind of ask
11:01 about which is at what point like how
11:03 big did you grow the retail before you
11:05 realize that no really the opportunity
11:07 is in the logistic side right and you
11:08 see that time and time again with
11:09 companies where they go off to start one
11:12 thing and it ends up being the real
11:14 opportunity was in the side thing that
11:16 they didn’t really spearhead to start
11:17 off with um you know I think that the
11:21 the opportunity was immediate I mean
11:24 once we realize like this is a business
11:26 uh we knew that that’s really where the
11:28 focus should be uh you know there were
12:31 there were moments in which we we
12:33 thought that the the retail brand could
12:36 grow larger but for a lot of reasons it
12:38 was less of like a marketable asset uh
12:41 because the retail brand was very
12:43 closely tied to me personally and my
12:45 personality so it was harder to see a
12:47 world in which like you know unless I
12:50 just ran that brand every day and it
12:52 could grow massive on its own uh to see
12:56 a world in which like we could sell it
12:57 or we could have investment in it you
12:59 know and that kind of thing so as the
12:01 and then on top of that like I mean when
12:04 the retail brand that I had it was u
12:06 based largely on Texas and focused on on
12:11 like an audience that’s based in Texas
12:12 and when I started it I mean I I Googled
12:14 like how many people live in Texas and
12:16 at the time it was I don’t know 28
12:17 million or something like that I was
12:18 like all right I think that’s enough
12:20 customers like I I can build a business
12:22 around this and so with the 3pl it was
12:24 very similar it was like all right how
12:25 many Brands out there and there were a
12:27 lot a lot of I felt like every day there
12:29 was a new one starting and um and those
13:32 that we were working with or I knew were
13:34 growing really rapidly and you know
13:36 they’re whatever 250 270 million people
13:39 in the United States Alone um I mean it
13:42 seemed like a lot of packages and a lot
13:44 of opportunity so it was like you know I
13:46 didn’t go through some model I didn’t
13:48 like do a ton of research it was just
13:49 kind of a holy I think we have an
13:52 opportunity here to grow this let’s
13:53 focus on it you
13:55 know yeah it’s the ready fire aim
13:57 strategy right exactly go that’s it y so
13:02 talk to me in the in the sense of like
13:03 okay so start your business you’re doing
13:05 the retail you do 3pl and so when did
13:08 you start to scale up to where you have
13:10 150 employees when did when did that
13:12 process start to kick in in your journey
13:14 you know the really the mo the majority
13:16 of our growth started I would say in
13:18 late
13:19 2017 um we we won the toova boots
13:23 account I think in that would have been
13:25 late 16 or early 17 and um they just
13:28 exploded I mean when we landed that
13:30 account they had maybe 12 to 15 pallets
14:33 worth of shoe of boots um and you know
14:37 as their offering grew so did our
14:39 footprint and the amount of hands it
14:41 required to just get those boots out the
14:43 door you know I mean every shoe style is
14:46 going to have multiple sizes uh multiple
14:48 widths you know so it was a very complex
14:50 problem to solve just for them um but
14:52 there was some serious growth that
14:54 really pushed us past the like 50 to 60
14:57 employee level um we in in mid 2018 got
14:03 tapped by Shopify which is kind of the
14:05 preeminent you know shopping platform
14:07 and storefront product out there they
14:09 decided to get into the logistics space
14:10 but they decided to do it in an asset
14:13 light approach and so rather than build
14:15 a warehouse themselves they decided to
14:17 partner with uh basically a mom and pop
14:19 network of 3pls to put something
14:21 together and for a handful of reasons we
14:25 were picked as the first one uh for
14:27 cultural reasons like the you know the
14:29 way that operated was more like a tech
15:30 company than a warehouse uh and then
15:33 there was like logistically we’re in the
15:34 center of the country for the most part
15:36 and then um operationally we were the
15:38 best in the business you know we were
15:39 like very Scrappy and we hired really
15:41 incredible people and retained them
15:43 through a lot of our cultural practices
15:46 and uh that’s hard to find in an
15:48 industry that is like kind of a race to
15:50 the bottom in terms of quality and price
15:53 and so uh when we when we signed the
15:55 Shopify deal uh that was big because
15:57 suddenly the platform on which everybody
15:59 is selling and is this billion- dooll
15:02 Canadian company is now saying like Hey
15:04 we’re we are now a logistics provider
15:06 and we were under the hood we were the
15:07 engine but under the hood and suddenly
15:09 it was like just an unlimited amount of
15:11 volume was coming our way so that really
15:13 pushed us in a big way and we were we
15:15 were probably 80 employees until right
15:19 before covid and then um during covid we
15:22 went from like you know 65 70 a lot of
15:26 which were kind of part-time as things
15:29 you know during Co the volume dropped
16:31 pretty drastically and then the second
16:33 that all the uh stimulus dollars hit
16:35 people’s pockets it was like you know
16:38 all bets are off and we had to hire I
16:40 think we hired 60 people in 30 days and
16:44 and and these were these were 60 really
16:46 great people too I mean we really prided
16:49 ourselves on on our ability to hire
16:51 really great people our interview
16:52 process and uh and hiring for fit you
16:56 know not just bodies but people who were
16:58 like they fit they gave a which was
16:00 one of our core core values and uh they
16:03 were here for our core value number one
16:04 is get done on the company so yeah
16:07 yeah a sign that says just that oh yeah
16:11 um so a couple of questions for you I
16:13 want to just kind of being a numbers guy
16:14 I want to understand a couple things
16:15 right so whenever you had the problem
16:19 you were doing about a couple of hundred
16:21 packages a week right is that the
16:22 problem you were looking to solve
16:24 initially yeah you know you had the
16:26 retail space when we had the when we
16:29 were shipping in our garage we were
17:30 maybe doing like 70 packages a day for
17:33 ourselves okay so 70 day and yeah and
17:36 then as we started to scale up and we
17:38 moved to our warehouse it was like you
17:39 know 100 125 and we had a little 3,000
17:42 foot building and then um you know we
17:45 brought on our first client and that
17:47 pushed us into the like 350 packages a
17:51 day you know we thought we were a big
17:52 deal because we could fill up like a
17:53 palette or two of invent of stuff going
17:55 out the door um and then over time you
17:58 know like it it grew you know there was
17:00 a point at which like for um you know
17:03 one of our biggest clients we were
17:04 shipping like a thousand packages a day
17:06 just for them you know but by the time
17:08 we sold the business we were doing about
17:10 120,000 packages a month um across all
17:12 our clients so and that would grow uh
17:15 during peak season um and shrink during
17:18 the summer but on average you could kind
17:20 of Peg it at about 120,000 packages a
17:22 month and what was it pre-co versus
17:25 postco gosh ous kind of did a double
17:28 between kind of beginning of 20 21 to
17:30 the end of 21 yeah I don’t know that it
18:32 would I think it was like you know 1.5x
18:35 you know so it was more like a 50%
18:36 growth in a matter of like months right
18:39 so like I mean on average we were
18:41 growing organically about 20 or 30% a
18:44 year and then suddenly in covid it was
18:47 like we grew 50 60% like year-over year
18:50 you know right there right so um but you
18:54 by the time we sold the business uh
18:57 which was early 2021 I think we we ended
18:00 2020 as a uh roughly like a 12.6 million
18:04 business in Topline and that includes
18:06 like Postage and packages and uh you
18:09 know all the services and stuff very
18:11 nice good well I think it’s a good segue
18:14 right so you ended up you know sound
18:16 2021 sold a business right to cart.com
18:18 great timing yeah me obviously great
18:21 timing right Co you know right the way
18:23 why not um yeah ultimately how’d that
18:25 conversation come about right you
18:27 seeking them out did they seek you out
18:29 were you thinking of selling or did they
19:31 have a conversation ended up happening I
19:32 think that’s really you know one of the
19:34 things it’s always really interesting to
19:35 hear right how do these things kind of
19:36 come about yeah we didn’t run a process
19:40 so um we we were kicking the tires on
19:43 that idea I mean you know 2020 was a
19:46 really challenging year for a lot of
19:47 reasons I mean not not the least of
19:49 which was just the politics of running a
19:51 business in the middle of all that I
19:52 mean you had both ends of the political
19:54 Spectrum all working for you right and
19:55 everyone’s scared or in disbelief that
19:58 this is even happening
19:59 whatever and it it honestly like it took
19:02 some of the fun out of the business and
19:04 we used to be a very social organization
19:07 one that like we would have social
19:08 Gatherings like once a month uh that
19:11 were like dedicated on company time and
19:13 then on top of that everybody would be
19:15 going and doing like happy hour fairly
19:16 regularly so it was a very tight-knit
19:18 community and during covid it like that
19:21 just was totally eliminated it was like
19:23 you know we weren’t really hanging out
19:25 together and and it was uh it was just
19:28 hard and so you know that that wasn’t
19:30 ultimately the reason that I I decided
20:31 to sell but it it definitely took the
20:33 fun out of what became an even more
20:35 stressful business because now like our
20:37 superpower culturally of like these
20:40 breaking bread moments and stuff was
20:41 taken away at the same time people are
20:43 under a lot of pressure to help grow the
20:44 company and like at a minimum just keep
20:46 our head above water operationally so um
20:50 you know ultimately where that landed us
20:51 was this realization that to grow the
20:55 business you know I I had doubts about
20:57 whether or not I was the Right leader to
20:58 do that
20:59 and you know I started asking myself
20:01 like I built out a really great
20:02 leadership team but I think you know
20:04 we’re going to need to do one of a
20:06 handful of different things we either
20:07 need to a like you know take on some
20:10 investment um we had a business partner
20:13 who was leaving the business and was
20:14 interested in being bought out so at a
20:15 minimum I needed to kind of find some
20:17 Capital to do that um and was thinking
20:20 about what that could look like uh you
20:22 know I thought we would likely need to
20:24 start to invest in technology and and
20:26 some level of automation not like robots
20:28 but like some automation within the
20:30 warehouse um and probably start to
21:33 invest in some some like software
21:35 technology and um and you know and the
21:38 more that I thought about it it was like
21:39 it was a mixture of realizing like BR we
21:42 can totally continue this trajectory but
21:44 that capitalization is going to need to
21:45 be there and uh it can reveal itself or
21:48 show up in a few different ways so we
21:50 just kind of went into the latter half
21:52 of 2020 with that mindset and then as a
21:55 result um you know it just happened to
21:57 be at the time that like everybody was
21:59 trying to enter the space so I was
21:00 getting calls from private Equity firms
21:02 you know once a week it wasn’t and
21:04 that’s not an exaggeration uh a lot of
21:07 fir called you just didn’t answer yeah
21:09 maybe maybe I saw his number and I
21:11 screened him so you know I uh no you
21:14 know we some were of the industry some
21:16 were like we’re just PE and we do
21:18 rollups and we’re industry agnostic
21:21 others like a really great one in in uh
21:23 Chicago reached out and said we do
21:25 Mission critical Services where we keep
21:27 the founder around at kind of this
21:29 structure we run EOS which you guys
22:31 happen to be on and there were like some
22:34 things that lined up but ultimately for
22:36 us we were not at a profitability level
22:38 that would have made sense for PE given
22:40 their deal structure requirements and so
22:42 um so I told my wife like if we’re going
22:44 to sell in the next you know 12 months
22:47 it likely won’t be PE because we won’t
22:49 be able to get there that rapidly it’s
22:51 probably a two-year build to get to that
22:53 point and I’m open to doing that we
22:55 should just start thinking that way
22:56 anyway but uh either way I think you
22:60 know this is when the market is frothy
22:02 there’s a lot going on let’s open our
22:04 minds to some strategic sales because
22:06 strategic’s probably going to be less
22:07 concerned with with profit and more
22:09 about our our customer list which was
22:11 like easily one of the best in the
22:13 country our culture which is easily one
22:15 of the best in the country and uh the
22:18 the formality and maturity of the
22:21 business uh operationally we had really
22:23 good back of house really great books um
22:25 really great process and all that which
22:27 was going to be like you know super uh
22:30 worthwhile for for the right partner to
23:31 look at so um so that was where we were
23:34 where our head was um I had done a panel
23:39 in the middle of 2020 and happened to be
23:42 speaking on the same panel as the CE
23:44 what who would become eventually the CEO
23:46 of cart at the time he was still at Home
23:48 Depot and we just we knew each other
23:50 that way didn’t touch Bas again for a
23:53 long time and then we get to the
23:55 beginning of 2020 uh I had one um one
23:59 strategic uh organization reach out and
23:01 show some interest and we went under NDA
23:04 shared some numbers and you know looked
23:05 at it and we were open to it but the the
23:08 the cash at close was not really where
23:10 we needed it to be from kind of a high
23:12 level perspective so we just got to a no
23:14 quickly and moved on uh but cart called
23:18 uh through a couple of chance encounters
23:20 I mean number one the the panel that I
23:22 was on with that CEO and then the second
23:24 one was that he was at a an event in
23:26 Houston actually um that was attended by
23:30 Josh bear who’s the founder of Capital
24:32 Factory a great accelerator in VC here I
24:35 remember familiar yeah 15 years ago
24:38 Austin yeah so so Josh was at an event
24:41 and uh so was a gentleman named Paul
24:44 hobby who um owns a private Equity Firm
24:46 in Houston um is a good friend of mine
24:49 and the two of them were talking to
24:50 Omare um Tariq who is the CEO of cart at
24:52 this point and he was sharing that he
24:54 was looking for a 3pl that was kind of
24:56 of a certain size and certain maturity
24:58 and and both of them kind of in the
24:60 moment said you should call JB and so I
24:02 got text messages from both of them like
24:03 20 minutes later and then like later
24:06 that night I get a text from om and he’s
24:07 like hi I don’t know if you remember me
24:09 we met I want to buy your company can we
24:11 chat that was that’s all he said
24:13 fantastic it was pretty I mean that was
24:15 about as long as it was you know and uh
24:18 so I was sitting on the couch my wife
24:19 and I were watching uh Ford versus
24:22 Ferrari and uh I I showed the fun of my
24:25 wife I was like look at this what this
24:26 is funny and so um I didn’t know
24:29 anything about cart I looked him up
25:30 online I hadn’t heard anything about him
25:32 and and was trying to just figure out
25:33 like is this real like I mean they were
25:35 very early stage at that point and uh
25:37 but we we met and um he came and visited
25:41 with us with the chairman of the board
25:43 uh Jim who uh is uh Jim had founded uh
25:48 Artic coolers and both of them came I
25:51 liked both of them they T our building
25:53 they liked the way that we operated and
25:55 we spoke for you know on and off like
25:57 for a few weeks in a ril and then in may
25:00 we decided like you know let’s go under
25:03 NDA and we shared financials and they
25:05 looked at things and then we got to an
25:07 Loi in U early June did all a ton of
25:12 work just getting aligned on all the
25:14 really important stuff in the LOI signed
25:16 it June 18th and we closed uh July 19th
25:21 it was a super rapid uh D diligence and
25:23 Clos process so awesome so how did they
25:27 value the company right was on a
25:29 multiple of Revenue multiple of you know
26:31 income how did they what were they
26:32 looking for yeah it was kind of a
26:34 mixture of things I mean there’s there’s
26:36 like the value that you place in your
26:38 head which is an emotional one won’t
26:40 always like come from a place of like
26:42 you know real value it’s just perception
26:44 so I had a number in my head that I felt
26:47 like everything considered with the
26:50 partner that we had in the business that
26:51 needed to be bought out and my wife’s
26:53 share of the business Etc like this was
26:55 my number and I kind of and I threw that
26:57 out to Omare and then um and then you
26:00 know he actually he asked me is like how
26:02 are how are these businesses valued you
26:05 know like card is like a a full featured
26:08 like it is now a very big Logistics firm
26:10 but at the time Logistics was not the
26:12 main thing and so he actually asked for
26:14 the ADV buice some feedback he he had
26:16 some idea of like how to Value it and I
26:18 said well this is traditionally how and
26:20 and basically 3pls are typically uh
26:23 valued at a one to 3x multiple on iida
26:28 um at that Point given where the markets
26:30 were it was closer to 3 to
27:31 5x but um you know to go to a private
27:35 Equity Firm which kind of sets the the
27:38 rate uh private Equity firms at that
27:40 stage were were paying three to five but
27:42 historically had paid one to 3x ebah
27:46 typically the floor was about 800k to a
27:48 million dollar ebah before anybody was
27:50 really ready to talk to you from a
27:52 Institutional Investor like PE firm
27:55 level um but that was kind of the floor
27:57 so I I said look you know we’ve got a
27:59 few things going for us um number one I
27:02 here’s my number which I knew was a
27:04 little bit advantageous of me but this
27:06 is the number that emotionally I feel
27:07 good with uh I know I’ll probably have
27:09 to back off of it um we were effectively
27:12 a break even business at that point we
27:14 were losing a little money because we
27:15 had just moved into a new warehouse and
27:17 um had incurred a lot of cost covering
27:19 you know two overheads and stuff but
27:20 when we did the the adjusted eiton and
27:23 said all right if this was running like
27:24 we were done with the move and these
27:26 other costs these onetime expenses
27:27 weren’t being made would we be and we
28:30 pegged it to a
28:31 number and uh we got to a point that we
28:34 felt really comfortable was kind of
28:35 approaching that million doll level and
28:37 then we said great like where do we fall
28:39 in here you know and we kicked it back
28:41 and forth he threw a multiple out I
28:43 looked at it okay you know that some of
28:45 that makes sense here’s what I feel like
28:48 you know there’s some some intangibles
28:49 like our Client List you know these
28:50 clients not anybody can just get these
28:52 clients right these are a big deal and I
28:55 think they’ll generate value for you Etc
28:57 and um here’s some cultural practices
28:59 and policies you know a card at this
28:00 stage was a year and a half old um
28:03 barely a year and a half actually not
28:05 even I think it was a little under a
28:07 year um and so we were going to bring a
28:10 ton of HR expertise and policy and
28:12 practices to the business that like
28:13 weren’t there and so there was a lot of
28:16 stuff that just wasn’t as easily
28:18 quantifiable in the iida um and Omare
28:21 agreed with that he was really
28:22 reasonable he’s like yeah I totally
28:24 agree and so we landed on a number um
28:27 that incorporated did a handful of
28:29 things uh what he saw and I had shared
29:33 was important for us at cash at
29:34 close
29:36 um what he saw and and felt was
29:39 necessary to keep you know Priscilla and
29:41 I around like what what an earnout
29:43 structure needed to look like um how to
29:46 give me enough skin in the game and
29:48 Priscilla skin in the game uh to you
29:52 know from an equity perspective like
29:53 stick around um and then lastly like
29:57 what debt is on the business that needs
29:58 to be WI out to you know do this sale we
29:00 were doing a Securities uh a um like a a
29:05 share purchase you know versus an asset
29:07 sale so uh so in that case it was really
29:10 like they were assuming some debt and
29:11 and all that so all of that total uh was
29:14 our Enterprise Value and that was the
29:15 peg that was kind of like this is the
29:16 multiple equals this total and then we
29:19 can kind of dice pieces of this up to
29:20 make it work and uh you know and that’s
29:23 how we kind of arrived at at the the
29:25 valuation but um it was a lot of back
29:27 and forth and just openness you know but
29:29 what I love that’s what I love about
30:31 this m&a stuff right the structures can
30:35 be creative you know so someone can say
30:37 you know I had a meeting the other day
30:39 and the guy was like you know I got a
30:41 number in my head and I said well keep
30:43 your number I’m not trying to to take
30:44 that number away from you I said I want
30:46 you to actively help me structure a deal
30:49 where you get your number and man you
30:51 should have seen his demeanor because
30:52 the week before he had met with a
30:53 private Equity Group that was just
30:56 shoving it down his face and he he told
30:58 me he was like that’s a breath of fresh
30:59 air and I was like it’s it’s the fact
30:01 right so in m&a you can do that that’s
30:03 pretty powerful so thanks for sharing
30:05 that that structure because that’s the
30:07 way to go well you know I I the one
30:10 thing I will say that is really
30:11 important and and Steve schaer who is a
30:14 uh EO uh so I’m in I’ve been in
30:17 entrepreneurs Organization for at this
30:19 point I think it’s six years uh in the
30:21 Austin chapter and um it’s great
30:24 organization there about 200 members and
30:27 some of which have sold times and some
30:29 of which are still building companies
30:30 from scratch but there’s one guy Steve
31:32 schaer who’s kind of become the sage
31:34 Sage kind of sale and m&a Whisperer to
31:38 the other entrepreneurs and just really
31:39 helps consult on Deal structure and I
31:41 sent him the initial
31:43 lii and he and uh my attorney uh Brian
31:47 Hall both said let’s get to as much
31:51 clarity as possible let’s like if we can
31:53 structure this deal 99% of the way
31:56 before we even get into due diligence we
31:58 should because the the hairy thing that
31:01 always kills deals is all the stuff that
31:04 left was left unsa at the very end and
31:07 then you get in there and you ask for a
31:08 title or you ask for compensation
31:10 afterwards and everybody just gets their
31:12 feelings hurt and and goes away and at
31:14 that point the buyer is more aware of
31:17 whatever things may cause pause for the
31:19 deal and is probably more likely to to
31:22 leave over a extravagant ask so make
31:25 them upfront and and normally there’s a
31:27 way to hit those numbers numbers even if
31:29 like foundationally the number isn’t the
32:32 number there are ways to create upside
32:34 that can create the number or you know
32:36 like the buyers may be afraid that that
32:38 some of the clients will leave and
32:40 you’re confident that they’ll stay well
32:42 build that risk into the deal if you’re
32:44 so confident that that the Enterprise
32:46 Value should be attached to those
32:47 clients and you’re you believe strongly
32:49 that you can keep them then put your
32:50 money where your mouth is and develop an
32:52 earn out that’s like safe but reasonable
32:54 and uh gets you to your whole number and
32:57 the client can feel good or the can feel
32:59 good and you know whatever so that’s the
32:01 sort of stuff we did and um I mean I’ll
32:03 give an example like I was not there
32:05 when cart was founded but being an EO of
32:10 you know one of the contingencies is
32:11 being a a founder or co-founder of
32:13 business and so I asked om I said I’m
32:15 bringing effectively half the headcount
32:16 to cart.com on the day we close you know
32:19 y’all are 180 people I’m bringing
32:21 150 and this is more semantics for me
32:23 I’m not going to go around tell
32:24 everybody I founded cart but like
32:25 semantics I’d like to be defined as a as
32:27 a Founder because brought half the
32:29 business and a material amount of
33:30 Revenue at this stage and om was like
33:34 great I okay sounds great you know like
33:37 I don’t think I would have gotten that
33:38 if I had waited all the way to the end
33:39 just because not that there was any like
33:41 bad blood but it it was just it’s one of
33:43 those things it’s like a weird ask but
33:46 doing it when everybody’s still in love
33:47 at the beginning of a deal was so much
33:49 easier and then it was codified in the
33:51 LOI it was all really easy and you know
33:54 we didn’t have a bunch of ret trading on
33:55 the deal at the very end which is what
33:57 you hear a lot in m it’s easy to make
33:59 asks up front right and that’s thing to
33:01 kind of reiterate Casey said I mean the
33:03 most fun part of this is actually
33:04 structuring right and you know coming
33:06 from commercial real estate you can’t
33:07 really structure stuff you can’t really
33:09 structure the capital stack different
33:10 ways you can’t really structure the
33:12 equity it’s all pretty vanilla right
33:14 you’re like one of three flavors you
33:15 only get vanilla chocolate or strawberry
33:17 versus in m&a space I mean you know I
33:19 could buy your business today for a
33:21 billion dollars with the right structure
33:23 right where maybe you’ll get the billion
33:24 and maybe we’re you everybody walks out
33:26 winning in that scenario and you know
33:28 it’s where you can get really creative
33:30 right and buy things that maybe didn’t
34:31 make sense initially and but still make
34:33 it to where everybody walks away happy
34:35 right negotiating is not about one
34:36 person losing one person winning but how
34:38 do you capture all the things that each
34:39 person wants in that and do it at the
34:41 beginning whenever everybody is willing
34:43 you know they don’t have their mind set
34:45 they have the they know what the end
34:46 goal is right and at the very beginning
34:47 is everyone’s trying to figure out the
34:48 pathway there versus after you have a
34:50 contract everybody they already see the
34:52 path from start to finish and you know
34:54 No One’s Gonna Want to averge from that
34:55 path so I mean I I think fantastic point
34:58 yep so JB just to kind of keep keep the
34:01 move move going here on EOS right
34:04 because it sounds like you know in our
34:05 initial conversations EOS is a big part
34:07 of what you do today so talk talk to us
34:10 just in the company when did you make
34:13 the decision to add EOS in and then how
34:16 important was that part of your exit did
34:19 did was that valued in the sense of like
34:21 wow you guys have a system of process
34:22 accountability all C Implement that from
34:25 you guys as well after the fact yeah so
34:27 we um we implemented it at about 12 or
35:31 15 employees so we were maybe like A1
35:33 and a half million dollar business at
35:35 the point at which it made sense you
35:37 know EOS is kind of stance or uh so for
35:40 the anyone who’s listening it stands for
35:41 entrepreneur operating system it’s not
35:43 related to EO but it’s they have a
35:45 similar name uh I learned about it from
35:47 my EO Forum uh some other business
35:49 owners that I was in Forum with were
35:51 starting to use it and they were getting
35:52 some real value out of like the
35:54 structure with which they ran their
35:56 business um from
35:58 and so we were at a similar stage where
35:00 we were growing really rapidly I as a
35:03 CEO had shiny object syndrome chased
35:04 every opportunity that came about and uh
35:08 and then you know problems would maybe
35:09 go unfixed or unresolved or some of them
35:12 would and other ones would be persistent
35:14 and it was difficult to always like
35:16 quantify why this person’s good and that
35:17 person’s bad and so eos’s goal is to
35:22 kind of solve for that um it’s kind of
35:24 it takes a little bit from all the
35:25 really great business books that are out
35:27 there and ties them together a system
35:28 and so I read the book traction uh fell
36:31 in love with it and then ended up
36:32 implementing it at our business we used
36:34 an implementor to come in and Coach us
36:35 and do the process and um we read about
36:39 12 or 15 employees we went offsite we
36:42 came back with a literal one page is
36:44 called a VTO a vision and traction
36:45 organizer one pager that has your core
36:48 values uh which is who you’re hiring
36:51 your purpose for us it was to deliver an
36:53 exceptional experience for anyone we
36:55 work with whether you’re an employee
36:57 it’s going to be an exception experience
36:59 if you’re a customer of ours then you’re
36:01 going to have this will be the
36:02 shockingly good relationship with the
36:04 3pl and if you’re a customer of our
36:06 customers you will go like holy
36:07 that package showed up really rapidly um
36:10 it defines our tenure goal so it had
36:12 something to build towards we said we
36:14 wanted to be a $50 million 3pl in 10
36:16 years at that point we were 1.5 or two
36:19 million something like that and then uh
36:22 it defined our Market you said we’re
36:23 going to focus on brands in the kind of
36:25 center of the United States of this size
36:27 this detail ET
36:28 and then it then we sat down and we had
37:30 to think about like well to get there in
37:32 10 years what do we need to look like in
37:34 three and we would just close our eyes
37:36 and think about what that would look
37:37 like and that would give us some kind of
37:39 stuff we’d say well we probably have an
37:41 IT person in three years we probably
37:42 have like a finance person in three
37:43 years and we probably have this and you
37:45 know and we just made some guesses and
37:47 then we said well what does that look
37:48 like in 12 months and then we defined
37:50 well we know this year we’ll probably do
37:53 two and a half million and to get to
37:55 that point by the end of this year we
37:56 probably will need to have done this and
37:58 moved to a different accounting firm and
37:00 done you know we we we talked openly as
37:02 a leadership team about the things we
37:04 had to fix and um and then it just got
37:06 us on this Cadence of of like going and
37:08 working on the business instead of in it
37:10 on a quarterly basis and then once a
37:13 year we’d have a two-day offsite where
37:14 we as a team worked on our team health
37:16 and the way that we work together uh and
37:18 then in addition to that would then
37:19 think about what does the next 12 months
37:20 need to look like and then reset the
37:22 threeyear clock and think all right
37:23 where do we need to be in three years
37:24 from now and it just got us in this
37:27 habit of like like pulling ourselves out
37:29 of the business and really thinking you
38:31 know um strategically about where do we
38:33 go so at the time when we implemented it
38:36 you know to to The self-deprecating
38:39 Stance is that we did it to kind of
38:41 wrangle me as a leader and make the
38:42 business more efficiently uh which is
38:45 where it is actually very useful uh but
38:48 wrangling me is also just kind of a
38:50 euphemism for like creating alignment on
38:52 the leadership team and and it’s meant
38:54 to just create strong alignment so the
38:56 team can really delegate and Elevate
38:57 people
38:58 and what that inevitably did was that it
38:01 just made us better prepared for when
38:03 the opportunity came about because you
38:05 know I I’ve got a really great deck that
38:06 one of the private Equity firms shared
38:07 with me about how they value businesses
38:09 and one of the key things that they
38:10 point out is like a risk to a business
38:13 is a founder or leadership team that
38:15 micromanages is the business or is the
38:18 point of contact for every client or is
38:21 wildly involved in every single core
38:23 process of the company a marketable
38:25 asset that is ready for sale is one in
38:28 which it’s a true system managed by key
39:31 people but the two can be separated and
39:33 still operate successfully right like
39:36 kind of like a RAID hard drive you can
39:37 pull one hard drive out and it still
39:39 maintains the data like you want your
39:41 company to be able to take a chunk out
39:42 of the wing and still fly and that was
39:45 not the case when we started the
39:46 business literal passwords and credit
39:50 card numbers and who to call were all
39:51 stored up in my head and EOS really
39:53 taught us how to like write that stuff
39:55 down and prioritize what should be and
39:56 shouldn’t be um and it and it like
39:59 removed the the need to reinvent the
39:01 wheel about how to have meetings and
39:03 plan out and all the crap where
39:05 like companies kind of play corporate
39:06 but never actually get traction like
39:09 that’s what it did so we didn’t do it
39:11 with the intent um but It ultimately set
39:14 us up for success and now what I found
39:15 actually which is kind of funny is that
39:18 um there are a lot of private Equity
39:20 firms that it’s it’s part of their
39:22 playbook and so they’ll buy a company
39:24 and this one that I was talking about a
39:25 second ago that’s their thing they buy
39:28 bluecollar Logistics and Mission
39:30 critical Services uh businesses they
40:33 bring in a CEO and then they inject EOS
40:36 if the company isn’t already running on
40:37 it and that’s like the way that they
40:39 structure the company to make sure that
40:40 they know it’s running well and um and
40:43 so for me that has just become like a
40:45 really valuable tool and I I point to
40:48 the the consultation and and just
40:50 friendship and ability to like speak
40:53 openly and confidentially with with my
40:54 for mates in EO um structure and
40:59 Frameworks and coaching we got from the
40:02 EOS system and our EOS implementor um
40:05 and then just you know
40:06 the dumb luck of being in the right
40:09 place the right time those things get
40:11 three things together really set us up
40:13 for success to take advantage of the
40:15 dumb luck when it came came about you
40:18 know we were ready so you hit on a ton
40:21 of things but I mean for those listening
40:23 highly recommend EOS right I mean your
40:25 journey essentially copying paste of our
40:26 journey too right
40:28 it’s funny your mission statement’s
40:29 almost identical for ours right we have
41:31 our kind of three people employees
41:32 residents and investors and same kind of
41:35 thing right it forces you to you know as
41:37 an as an entrepreneur you’re a we all
41:39 have Shiny Toy syndrome right so you’re
41:40 speaking my language and then B right
41:43 you’re so busy in the weeds of solving
41:45 problems right that’s what we do you
41:47 know you’re spending all your time on
41:48 solving problems versus stepping back
41:50 and let’s talk about the bigger picture
41:52 of where we’re actually trying to go not
41:54 what is the next step we’re going to
41:55 take and so I mean Super valuable and we
41:57 worked with an implementor too so highly
41:59 recommend it for any listener yeah and
41:01 I’ll tell you we’re we’re actually one
41:02 of the conversations we’re having right
41:03 now is we found a an EOS implementor
41:06 that also does ISO because in our
41:08 manufacturing so he’s got the iso and so
41:10 he’s got a bridge that he’s kind of
41:12 created in his own process of of being
41:14 able to do that so we’ve had a new CEO
41:17 come in and start implementing some
41:19 incredible uh processes around wage
41:22 scales and you know teaching guys how to
41:25 do hours to minutes to you know all
41:27 these different strategies to get the
41:29 managers thinking about moving product
42:30 through manufacturing I’m learning a ton
42:33 right and then it ties into lean so
42:35 we’re sitting there going like hey now
42:36 if we could just bring EOS and ISO and
42:38 put it like where we’re not doing like
42:40 five different things and really just
42:42 make it like the the foundation this
42:44 could be a really cool you know like
42:46 this could really work nicely we’re
42:48 still in the emphy stages of kind of
42:50 putting it all together but man that EOS
42:53 is such a big part of uh of a culture
42:56 and a company and vision and most of
42:58 them just don’t have it you and to add
42:60 to that I mean it’s it’s the buy then
42:01 build strategy right the existing
42:02 company’s there somebody started it and
42:04 the way they get from you know to where
42:06 they are is different than how they GNA
42:07 get from where they are to the next
42:08 level right and really spending the time
42:11 and to Casey’s point I mean you know
42:13 like the business that we bought most of
42:14 the leadership didn’t really know what
42:16 revenues were what targets were any of
42:18 that right we start to give that
42:20 information they start thinking about it
42:21 and they start to really want to perform
42:23 right they start to get competitive with
42:24 each other all the things that you look
42:26 for to kind of really scale and grow a
42:27 business and so this quarter that we’re
42:29 working on right now all we’re trying to
43:30 do is just figure out how to to really
43:32 understand the margins and that’s crazy
43:34 but it’s it’s one of those things that
43:37 this exercise of like hey are we really
43:39 making as much money as we’re as we’re
43:42 thinking right or could we make more and
43:44 uh you’ve got to have visibility you’ve
43:45 got to have Tech you’ve got to have
43:47 systems in place to do it and and so
43:49 it’s a lot of work so EOS is going to be
43:51 another push here probably in about Q3
43:53 it’s gonna be nice that’s awesome that’s
43:56 great so think you we’re coming up on
43:58 time so Casey you want to go ahead and
43:59 go do the rocket round yeah so let’s
43:01 jump into the rocket round JB um you
43:03 know we asked a couple questions here
43:04 just uh pretty some simple things so
43:06 what do you like to do in your free
43:09 time uh love spending time with my kids
43:12 they’re uh a ton of fun but if it’s if
43:15 it’s uh I mean because they’re
43:17 hysterical they’re five and eight but um
43:19 if it’s truly truly just for me uh and
43:22 it’s it’s not like playing video games
43:23 with them or or playing in the backyard
43:25 with them uh I’m flying a plane I I’m a
43:27 A Private Pilot had my license since
43:29 2014 and um yeah I just love flying and
44:33 sharing the love of Aviation with other
44:35 people that don’t fly because I just
44:37 think it’s a a superpower and um it’s
44:40 just such a joy to to get up in the air
44:42 a lot of fun and you’re speaking my
44:44 language um so we definitely we’re gonna
44:47 you know we’re gonna take you up and we
44:48 will absolutely go flying together here
44:49 soon oh next question most memorable
44:52 moment in your business
44:53 Journey uh I I use this one a lot but
44:56 Bill Murray visitting my warehouse um
44:58 cool he he is about as random and all
44:02 over the place as one might perceive and
44:05 uh quirky and tough but very self-aware
44:10 and not self-aware at the same time um
44:13 but uh one of our one of our favorite
44:15 Brands and one of our favorite just like
44:17 brand teams that we worked with but he
44:19 came by in February right before covid
44:22 uh really you know took off and came by
44:24 our warehouse and spent a whole day
44:26 disrupting everything it was it was
44:28 hilarious so seeing him drive heavy
44:30 machinery is scary and amazing at the
45:32 same time yeah Bill m is one of my
45:35 favorite actors man it’s incredible oh
45:37 yeah um and then last question so what
45:40 is your favorite tool or resource that
45:42 you use uh and that it could be about
45:44 business personal but you know really
45:45 it’s driven around for business what do
45:47 you like to use well I’ve talked a lot
45:49 about um EOS but what what I would say
45:54 is uh kind of a concept that I’ve
45:56 developed out of
45:58 reading uh Patty McCord’s book powerful
45:02 which is a book about uh the Netflix
45:05 culture and how she navigated it grew it
45:09 Etc but you know my stance is that the
45:11 biggest and most useful tool in the
45:14 business environment is
45:16 selfishness and what I mean by that is
45:19 when you’re selfish you think about what
45:21 you need and what you care about and
45:24 you’re more forthcoming with what that
45:25 is um but but what I what I’ve seen
45:29 happen is that far too often employees
46:32 aren’t selfish enough about what it is
46:34 that they want to get out of their
46:36 employee and employer relationship um or
46:39 they’re just they’ve never even sat down
46:40 and thought about it you know at all and
46:43 as a result they aren’t equipped to have
46:45 that conversation so they they keep it
46:46 in or they’re just unaware and then they
46:48 find themselves being taken advantage of
46:51 and you know that results in employees
46:53 not leaving when they should because
46:56 sometimes a company can’t offer what you
46:58 need anymore um and it is time to look
46:00 elsewhere like leave the safety of what
46:02 you know for the unknown um or inversely
46:05 like companies retain people that are
46:07 just not who they need any longer
46:09 there’s someone who’s been really great
46:10 for a long time but maybe not who is
46:13 needed in the role or in the seat you
46:14 know at this stage of of business and um
46:17 that lack of selfishness and or at a
46:20 minimum the openness about what those
46:22 needs are ends up creating these kind of
46:24 dynamics that are just not great you
46:25 know and and I think one of the things
46:27 that our business did really well uh was
46:29 that everybody was selfish and we
47:31 encouraged that and you know people
47:33 could come to us and and there were
47:34 plenty of great people people that we
47:36 loved that left that needed something
47:39 else a different comp uh different
47:41 flexibility different hours and um they
47:45 were honest with us about it and it
47:47 wasn’t ever a surprise and um and I
47:49 think that that was really at the core
47:51 of like what made the culture of our
47:52 business so great I me we had a super
47:54 high net promoter score with our with
47:56 our employees and um and I think at the
47:60 uh at the core of that was that
47:01 selfishness and that Honesty you know
47:03 it’s a difference between being kind and
47:04 being nice like we weren’t nice we were
47:06 kind kindness is being honest with
47:09 people and having good communication
47:11 nice is being a pacifist and pacifying
47:14 people and um you know we’re not about
47:16 plating people we’re about like getting
47:17 stuff done and making sure everybody’s
47:19 getting the most out of their time that
47:20 requires selfishness never heard that
47:22 interpretation of it I really like that
47:24 so yeah know it’s funny one of the
47:26 things not to go but EOS right one of
47:28 the first exercises we did was plot
48:30 everybody on productivity and culture
48:32 fit right and so you know one of the
48:35 things they talk about is the people in
48:36 the far left corner which aren’t
48:37 productive and aren’t cultra fit those
48:39 are people that obviously you need to
48:40 get rid of and then people that were bad
48:43 culture fits but productive I think you
48:44 called them Nazis right so also people
48:46 you know and then the rest you’re trying
48:47 to coach up into the other quadrant and
48:49 I mean I just remember walking out of
48:50 that that day and we knew the people
48:52 that you needed to like go right we just
48:53 walked out that day we’re like we just
48:54 need to make this change and you know
48:56 move on and make too much stronger for
48:57 it everybody’s happier afterwards you
48:59 always I have so many employees I mean I
48:02 was at this weekend we were at the
48:04 goodbye party for an employee who left
48:08 frustrated and he was frustrated with
48:10 the company when he left but you know we
48:12 had this conversation the other night
48:14 and he’s like you know I’m so thankful
48:16 that I was like you know that I quit not
48:20 because the company was bad it was just
48:21 like I wasn’t being honest about what I
48:23 needed and so I took it out on the
48:24 business because it was there was this
48:26 misalignment but like I look back on the
48:29 relationship with with that employer
49:31 y’all’s company as the bar for what it’s
49:34 like to work at a company you know he’s
49:36 like and I wish that I had that healthy
49:37 Dynamic you know and um and so it was
49:40 like we knew he wasn’t the right fit he
49:42 knew and and it it like forced that
49:44 decision for him to leave and that was
49:46 great that’s actually the right outcome
49:48 you know yeah and he Parts amicably so y
49:51 awesome well JB thank you for being on
49:53 the show I mean wealth of information um
49:56 really quick AC something you want to
49:57 yeah I just wanted to say I mean I know
49:58 JB you’ve got a new EOS you’re you’re
49:01 you’re are you you’re going to be an
49:02 implementer right that’s your business
49:03 today yeah I you know after uh after a
49:07 while like I’m not just pitching it
49:08 because I’m I’m doing this now but I uh
49:10 for a while after I left c.com I
49:14 actually had multiple people call and
49:15 ask like would you consider doing this
49:16 or could you help so I did it for a
49:18 while uh on a light basis I kind of
49:20 helped people with their core values or
49:21 I helped them with aspects of EOS uh but
49:24 within the last two months I decided to
49:25 go ahead and just do it as a as a
49:27 full-time gig and so um I’m now um you
49:30 know becoming a certified implementer
50:32 and and looking to build that business
50:33 so you know whether I can be the right
50:35 resource or not the one of the core
50:37 values and kind of purposes and mindsets
50:39 of EOS is to really just help people and
50:41 be selfless and in the pursuit of that
50:44 so if you’re interested in it and you’re
50:46 on the track for sale or you just want
50:47 to run a Better Business uh feel free to
50:49 reach out you can find me on Twitter
50:51 LinkedIn J YB Sala sa Ceda and uh I’ll
50:56 point you in the right direction
50:57 right person to help yeah fantastic
50:59 awesome no and I highly recommend that
50:01 I’ll second vouch it I mean you know go
50:03 out there find an implementor whether
50:04 it’s JB or somebody else and so JB I
50:07 mean thank you very much I I think you
50:08 already kind of Hit the last one which
50:09 is how can people get a hold of you so
50:11 anyone’s to get a hold of JB we’ll have
50:12 that in the show notes all the WRA J
50:15 thanks so much for being here nice to
50:16 meet you my man thank you on the
50:18 business thank you for listening to the
50:20 m&a Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
50:22 today’s podcast and would like to
50:24 support us please leave us a rating and
50:25 a review after you listen I’m case menu
50:27 and I look forward to talking with you
50:29 next week
