In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Feras Moussa and Casey Minshew welcome special guest Bryan Dunn. Bryan talks about his journey from helicopter pilot in the military, to working at Boeing and other companies, and now working at a manufacturing company while simultaneously buying his own business. Bryan currently owns an ecommerce brand, selling a product called the Pursuit Gold Journal. This product allows people to define and achieve their goals. After attaining an MBA from Drexel, he stumbles upon ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition) and decides this is the route he wants to take for his career. Learn about the transition from big corporate America to the small business landscape. There are many challenges that come with acquiring a business, whether it is an asset-rich manufacturing business, or an ecommerce brand. Bryan dives into the highs and lows of operating his brand, and what advice he would have for others thinking of doing the same.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- Military Mindset in ETA
- Struggles of an Ecommerce Business
- Balancing Life as a Business Owner
- Finding a Higher Calling as an Entrepreneur
Time Stamps:
00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
01:40 Upcoming M&A Launchpad Conference
02:03 Who is Bryan Dunn?
02:09 Bryan’s Background and Career Journey
05:58 Discovering Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA)
12:49 Balancing Career, Family, and Side Hustles
22:10 Buying an E-commerce Business
23:06 Challenges and Successes in E-commerce
28:57 Shifting Focus and Giving Back
32:02 Reflections on Business Ownership
38:26 Rocket Round
You can connect with Bryan by Email: Bryandunn06@gmail.com
Get the Pursuit Gold Journal here: At EVRIM, we design products that help you pursue your biggest goals – pursuitgoaljournal
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
00:00 all right on today’s episode we
00:02 interviewed Brian Dunn and man we kind
00:04 of talked through a lot in this episode
00:06 so we ended up really diving into what
00:09 it looks like to transition out of the
00:10 army into corpor America and really
00:12 start to build up a side hustle right
00:14 how do you have the time to B with Focus
00:16 to be able to do that while having a
00:17 family and ultimately you know what are
00:19 some of the stumbles that he encountered
00:20 personally so I think lots of really
00:22 good information on this one Casey what
00:24 were some of your takeaways you know we
00:25 go to these uh these ETA conferences
00:27 entrepreneur through acquisition
00:28 conferences a lot of lot of army lot of
01:30 military that have left to come back
01:32 with their GI Bild to go and learn about
01:34 entrepreneurship and buying companies
01:36 and you know Brian’s just incredibly you
01:39 could tell great quality human being and
01:42 uh took the adventure of buying a
01:44 company right a corporate guy you know
01:46 heard about ETA said hey I’m going to
01:48 buy a business didn’t want a stretch
01:50 didn’t want debt so he bought a small
01:52 e-commerce business but his story is
01:54 pretty amazing because it’s like hey
01:56 even though it’s not all the cash flow
01:58 Riches of everything you’re asking for
01:00 it’s providing so many other things and
01:02 it’s just the beauty of owning a
01:03 business entrepreneur and he did it
01:05 while continuing to stay employed and I
01:07 think the big one of the big takeways I
01:08 appreciated just him kind of realizing
01:11 that hey it’s made me be a lot more
01:13 understanding of the company I’m at and
01:15 all the risks and the pain Ando that
01:17 that owner has taken right so definitely
01:19 some insight there and so it’s
01:22 definitely um you know it’s always fun
01:23 to hear people’s story and see what’s
01:25 going on and like Casey said doesn’t
01:26 really paint all the Roses right that
01:28 buying a deal has it has its challenges
01:29 ups and downs and you know you learn
02:31 from each one of them right if you
02:32 either learn or you grow and kind of
02:34 move forward so listen in on this
02:40 one hey everybody it’s Ferris and would’
02:42 love to see you at our upcoming m&a
02:44 Launchpad conference in Chicago October
02:46 26 at a conference we talked about what
02:48 it looks like to value a business how to
02:50 buy a business how do you manage a team
02:52 right and ultimately we’re big Believers
02:54 in The Bu than build concept so we’re
02:55 going to have one of our friends Walker
02:57 D the author of BU than build there as
02:59 well as one of our Keynotes and anymore
02:00 so love to see you there to kind of get
02:02 exposure to the space and network hey
02:04 Brian welcome to the show thank you very
02:06 much glad to be here yeah great to have
02:07 you Brian always nice to have a fellow
02:09 pilot on so Brian tell us a little bit
02:11 about yourself sure so my name is Brian
02:13 Dunn thank you very much for having me
02:14 today um so I’m a former Army Aviator
02:18 West Point class 1998 uh that puts me in
02:21 a certain age bracket but uh I don’t
02:23 know if you see in the background
02:24 there’s my aircraft of ch47 so once a
02:26 hooker always a hooker and uh came out
02:29 of the army and
03:30 started a small recruiting company um my
03:33 last job in the Army actually was as a
03:35 recruiter nice got out did some
03:38 recruiting uh for a while then got into
03:40 the home building industry because all
03:41 the cool kids were doing it and then of
03:42 course that was in
03:45 2007 uh which was a good time
03:47 toes nothing happened in 2008 at all uh
03:51 but I moved from home building into
03:53 defense Contracting and worked for the
03:54 Boeing Company on my aircraft actually I
03:56 was a finance manager for a while and
03:58 then moved into business development and
03:60 I had the great pleasure of representing
03:02 uh all of the
03:03 rotorcraft um platforms you know from
03:07 the vertical lift of of Boeing and great
03:10 company yes it’s in the it’s in the
03:13 headlines right now and you were there
03:15 during the Golden Ages we’ll call change
03:18 a little bit I am going to keep my
03:20 comments very general but it is a uh it
03:22 is it’s a it’s a shame any time a major
03:25 organization loses its way and I I truly
03:28 hope for all the wonderful men and women
03:29 that I used to to work with and the
04:31 products they create that they they can
04:32 find that way again 100% but um from uh
04:37 that position as a business development
04:39 manager in the Boeing Company I uh
04:42 eventually found an opportunity to move
04:44 up in in a leadership role into part of
04:46 the supply chain so there’s a really
04:47 interesting pathway for a career uh
04:51 right and the size of your title and the
04:54 size of the organization are sometimes
04:55 inversely proportional so I chose a path
04:58 where I would go into the supply chain
04:59 and start moving down in size of
04:01 companies as I moved up in a leadership
04:03 position so I went to a company called
04:05 L3 Harris was L3 when I joined it and
04:08 then they merged with a company called
04:09 Harris and I did uh a lot of I
04:12 represented five different divisions of
04:14 that company back to Boeing of all their
04:17 various Aviation parts and and processes
04:19 and did that for a couple years and had
04:21 a lot of great success very interesting
04:22 way that that that came around and then
04:24 once again a smaller company um
04:26 recruited me into their organization to
04:28 lead their sales and marketing and so
05:31 you know my primary effort right now is
05:33 as a vice president business development
05:35 in a privately held 50-year-old
05:37 manufacturing company uh that is well
05:41 represented across the entire DOD in
05:43 terms of what kind of products they do
05:45 and
05:46 um during that time uh I’ve also uh
05:50 become an entrepreneur uh through
05:52 acquisition uh of a of a small
05:55 e-commerce brand we can get in to talk
05:57 about but it’s the the Brand’s name uh
05:60 trademark is the pursuit gold Journal is
05:03 a gold Journal you can find it on Amazon
05:04 or on my own website and um it helps a
05:07 person Define what they want to pursue
05:10 in life and then break down into logical
05:12 steps how to achieve that goal in a very
05:14 uh consistent sort of way it’s a great
05:16 little product 25,000 is thingss sold
05:18 the last couple years it’s it’s a nice
05:20 little tangible piece of paper because I
05:22 am very much analog in what I do right I
05:26 love paper I love tactile things uh so
05:29 yeah and um so that’s kind of
06:31 professional me personal me is I’m a
06:33 father of three I’ve married 23 years
06:35 now we have three kids first one goes to
06:38 college tomorrow so that’s a lot
06:41 congratulations conr all right so
06:43 there’s a lot to unpack there so you
06:45 know maybe quickly so you you obviously
06:48 you know went to West Point then you
06:50 kind of started the corporate America
06:52 and you you know you kind of moved down
06:54 the ladder in size while you moved up
06:57 the ladder in career but then you went
06:59 and you know did did ETA right you went
06:00 and bought a business I mean what got
06:03 you that exposure right especially kind
06:04 of given where you were in life having a
06:06 family having kids most people go the
06:08 opposite direction right where they’re
06:10 consumed they’re just living their
06:11 lifestyle they don’t think about you
06:13 know the grass being Greener elsewhere I
06:15 mean how’ you get that that itch or that
06:17 exposure I had no idea that that process
06:21 really existed I me I know people bought
06:23 and sold businesses I get that I mean
06:25 I’d gone to Drexel uh got an NBA in
06:28 2013 and it just wasn’t really talked
06:30 about that was not it was not a thing
07:32 really I mean it was but like it wasn’t
07:34 broadly known not like it is today um
07:37 and so a couple years later after
07:39 graduating that I get an email from my
07:41 sister-in-law and and a young man I
07:44 shout out Brian Brian Cruz he uh he
07:47 reached out to her family and Company
07:48 and said hey I’m this guy I’m searching
07:50 for a business to buy can I talk to your
07:53 ownership you know she’s like we’re not
07:54 for sale but you might want to talk to
07:56 my brother-in-law you’re both AR former
07:58 Army you know and that’s have a
07:00 conversation so I talked to this
07:02 individual and he’s like this is what
07:03 I’m doing I got out of the army he’s a
07:05 pilot I was a pilot I’m going to raise a
07:07 fund and I’m gonna go buy something I
07:09 said that sounds impossible that surely
07:12 that’s not real he say yeah well like
07:13 here’s a list of books go read them so I
07:16 went on the standard path you know got
07:17 the hbr book um I read it started me on
07:21 the on the path of like this is the most
07:23 amazing thing as as I’m reading this H
07:25 hbr book I realized some of the names
07:26 were familiar and I had them in my
07:28 LinkedIn uh connection it’s like these
08:31 are real people like this oh my God so
08:33 my my brain just start to explode and
08:35 from that point I started realizing that
08:37 I wanted to leave big Corporate America
08:40 and come down into that small company
08:43 small mediumsized the SMB land um and so
08:46 I spent a couple of years looking both
08:48 for a company to buy uh partnered and
08:51 solo kind of part-time
08:54 self-funded um nights and weekends kind
08:56 of work and also uh perhaps find one
08:60 that I could then go work in get some
08:02 operational reps because it’s a really
08:04 different place being in SMB land than
08:06 is being you know in a 100,000 person
08:10 Corporation Called Boeing oh bet those
08:13 things are not the same no no I mean
08:15 yeah way different I know exactly what
08:17 you mean I worked at Microsoft and
08:18 there’s 100 thousand people and you’re
08:20 just a cog but I think maybe that I’m
08:22 maybe I’m trying to understand so what
08:24 led to her roping you in right it was
08:26 her family’s business right sure why did
08:29 you get roped in to that conversation
09:31 that gave you the exposure that there’s
09:32 this whole ETA world out there yeah I
09:35 think a lot of it had to do with uh
09:37 first of all uh Karen is wicked smart
09:40 right and she’s a great sister-in-law
09:43 she admired my older brother who was
09:44 also Wicked smart you know older
09:47 siblings but the uh the thing that she
09:51 knew I was very interested in business
09:53 um sort of
09:55 part-time maybe it’s even just a hobby I
09:58 tend to spend a lot of time asking
09:01 questions you know I have a great sense
09:02 of wonder about other people’s work what
09:04 they do and how they do it and I used to
09:06 always talk to her about her dad’s
09:07 company he founded this thing from
09:09 scratch um they were unemployed in the
09:11 70s and pregnant at the same time like
09:14 in like Mom and Dad um and they built
09:16 this thing up to from nothing into a
09:18 very profitable very enduringly boring
09:21 profitable business I used always I
09:23 didn’t even know that you had a business
09:24 like this you know they’re in Property
09:25 Management uh HUD housing right they do
09:28 a lot of very tall HUD buildings and
10:30 they are the property managers across
10:32 our geographic area and and I’ll say
10:35 this because property management company
10:36 and it’s one of the hardest businesses
10:38 I’ve ever seen just for the record so a
10:40 lot of people a lot of numbers a lot of
10:42 money and you know all in between so I
10:45 think she just knew that I was it’d be
10:46 interested and also you know randomly
10:49 here’s this former Army Aviator former
10:51 pilot says hey can I buy your business
10:53 and she’s like that’s crazy you should
10:54 talk to my brother-in-law I’m not
10:55 selling but golaw is a former pilot
10:57 maybe you know each other you know one
10:58 of those things
10:60 so we’ll be up at the the Harvard
10:01 Business School we do an ETA conference
10:03 here in October yeah so for those
10:05 listeners I mean we’ll be out there
10:06 October 26 with love to connect reach
10:07 out to us on the website but we’ll be
10:09 out there absolutely and um one of the
10:11 things that we meet a lot of are West
10:14 Point graduates that have spent you know
10:17 their time and you know did their
10:18 service and they’re using their GI Bill
10:20 to go back to Harvard and there I mean
10:23 I’m talking about a huge portion of
10:26 these guys are military you know and
10:28 they’re coming through the the the
11:30 entrepreneurship program it’s pretty
11:32 amazing Cas went to the first one and I
11:33 just remember him being there messaging
11:34 us he’s like it’s the West Point Guys
11:36 these are the guys we need to talk to
11:38 they’ve had this system they other guys
11:40 that are buttoned up they’re already
11:41 kind of past the hurah hurah phase of
11:42 their life and they’re looking to do
11:44 something and be serious about it laser
11:46 focused man and and anyway so I I was s
11:49 really impressed that the military guys
11:51 seem to really grab to this ET kind of
11:54 concept it’s it’s it’s pretty neat um to
11:58 and I think we met one of the one of the
11:60 funds they invest purely in I think they
11:03 were exclusive to West Point it wasn’t
11:05 even military they were only they invest
11:07 in West you know basically we invest in
11:09 people that went to West Point that want
11:10 to be operative period like that was
11:12 their fantastic now to pop your bubble
11:15 though just to pop your bubble I also
11:17 talked to that same guy and he said
11:19 they’ve done like they’ve been the firm
11:21 he works for does the search investing
11:23 they’ve been around for like 30 years
11:25 right they did a huge analysis of all
11:28 the different people success not success
12:31 all the above and they looked and they
12:33 said the people that have NBAs the
12:35 people the smartest all these things had
12:38 no correlation to success sure they said
12:41 it all came down to grit it all came
12:43 down to grit thought it came down to
12:44 being the older sibling the older
12:46 sibling and personally I’m the oldest
12:48 sibling but was but but literally he
12:50 told me this and he because he was a
12:51 West Point guy and he was like you’d
12:52 think that like there was some kind of
12:54 DNA connection to success in the
12:55 business world and he was like there’s
12:57 not it really comes down to the people
12:59 that will dig in in they’ve got the grit
12:01 and they’re willing to they’re willing
12:02 to put in the the time and like you said
12:04 earlier the Reps too right it’s putting
12:06 in the Reps yeah no so it’s pretty
12:08 amazing they say the same thing at West
12:10 Point um your position in the class like
12:12 your class Rank and how well you do it
12:14 the academy has no bearing on how well
12:17 you’ll do in actual Army experience you
12:20 know it’s like Patton right on the
12:22 five-year program there’s there’s no
12:23 five-year program at West Point but he
12:24 was on it one of our most amazing
12:27 generals and did not do well at all at
12:30 West Point you know keep him behind
13:32 glass you like in case of work break
13:33 glass those guys yes very very now
13:37 sometimes the the the first captains and
13:39 those really remarkable folks yeah of
13:40 course they did great but very little
13:42 correlation to True combat uh experience
13:45 leadership and class rank so yeah I’m
13:48 I’m with you 100% on that one so being
13:50 an entrepreneur that has a family and I
13:53 have had side hustles I have you know
13:55 I’ve had to have short-term stints of
13:57 careers in order to to put away side
13:00 hustles had side hustles my side hustles
13:02 had I mean like it was the biggest joke
13:04 in my family because I don’t know if you
13:06 ever remember U uh Damon Wayne’s had a
13:09 they had a a show called In Living Color
13:12 I got 15 jobs man that’s it everybody in
13:15 my family called me a Jamaican because
13:17 they were like you lazy bum man you only
13:19 have one you only have three jobs one
13:20 job one job yeah so that was the joke in
13:23 my household they’re like CU Casey’s
13:24 always and I’m like hey I’ve got to you
13:26 know I’m an entrepreneur I’ve got to
13:27 have all these things working um so so
13:29 how do you do it you know I mean you’ve
14:31 got a career and then now you’ve also
14:32 got this side hustle and I can imagine
14:34 you’re looking for your next opportunity
14:36 too so where do you find the time being
14:38 a dad and do it because a lot of our
14:39 listeners are they’re looking to make
14:42 that jump and they they have jobs they
14:45 have careers and they’re like man if I
14:46 could just make that jump all right that
14:49 is such an important question and it’s
14:51 important top a great important topic
14:53 and I I’ll tell you my story I don’t
14:55 know if this has uh bearing for everyone
14:58 else’s life but you know if if you don’t
14:00 mind I’ll get a little personal about it
14:02 it’s it is is hugely important cuz let’s
14:06 face it um I think we all know a ton of
14:09 folks who are successful in business and
14:11 they have a terrible history with their
14:14 family right yeah kids don’t talk to
14:17 them strange spouse I mean look I don’t
14:20 want to get anybody else’s marriage
14:21 trust me at all like there’s no judgment
14:23 when I say this but like you got to be
14:26 careful what you do um and so I have
14:28 been tra
14:30 traveling extensively for about a decade
15:34 right I’m a BD guy got to go to customer
15:37 and one of the things that kind of
15:38 overwhelmed my life during that period
15:41 was I realized I was spending an
15:44 inordinate amount of time in the bar
15:47 right hey customer let’s go to the bar
15:50 hey customer let’s go to Bar no customer
15:52 I’m gonna go the bar anyway right and so
15:54 it gets this point where it became
15:56 really clear as a middle-aged guy with
15:59 kids kids who are becoming high
15:00 schoolers you know so five four and a
15:02 half years ago I guess it’s four and a
15:04 half years now um I decided you know
15:07 what it’s I’m done I’m not drinking
15:08 anymore I’m just drawing a line to it
15:12 done I’m still traveling a ton but I
15:15 find myself sitting by myself in a hotel
15:18 room I’ve already done 12 hours like at
15:21 work and I need something else to do not
15:24 drink just and so I started having this
15:28 idea like all right I need something to
16:30 fill that void I’m exercising in the
16:33 morning usually sometimes at night but
16:35 usually in morning I just need something
16:36 to do so I began to realize that hey
16:39 look uh I’m in this great Corp corporate
16:42 gig small business gig um I have a bunch
16:45 of time I don’t know what to do with and
16:47 I don’t want to you know Idle Hands Are
16:49 The Devil’s play things so let’s go fill
16:50 it with something and the ET idea like
16:53 well let’s do it online business right
16:55 so I I’ll fill this void in my life on
16:58 the road with an online business and
16:00 that really helped me understand that I
16:02 could be both a small business exec a
16:05 father cuz when I’m home I don’t do a
16:07 Time online I I try not to work at night
16:09 I try to be very very present when I am
16:12 home if I can it’s not always possible
16:15 tough very tough but that’s my intention
16:18 it’s to be very present uh but when I’m
16:20 on the road I’m on the road and the kids
16:22 know by now they know I’m not going to I
16:24 mean I will FaceTime them and they go to
16:26 bed and all that stuff but so I I
16:28 searched for an on online business to
17:31 acquire and that’s I eventually did well
17:33 I can tell you the story um eventually I
17:35 did acquire this online business from
17:37 the founder of it it’s a brand really
17:39 the the pursuit gold General brand um
17:42 but yeah it is exceptionally hard to
17:44 balance all these things and
17:47 mid-40s um I had accumulated enough
17:50 Capital to do something I wanted to do
17:52 something right um I almost like I got
17:55 this money burning in a hole in my
17:56 pocket I’d gotten my ducks in a row if I
17:59 found a deal I could move
17:01 quickly uh without doing a lot of debt I
17:04 had some cash and I thought instead of
17:08 um just looking for the big picture
17:12 purchase my own company I’m gonna get
17:15 small I’m going to get experienced doing
17:18 something in a very recoverable sort of
17:21 way right I was smart enough to know
17:23 that like hey um if I personally do the
17:26 SBA route and I’m going to sign the PG
17:29 and all that stuff everybody knows you
18:31 know it’s big dog territory I’m like
18:33 looking at the wife looking at the kids
18:35 and I’m like all I’m not 100% sure that
18:37 they’re ready for that yet and I’m
18:39 talking to her and you know like it’s a
18:40 team sport you and your spouse if
18:42 they’re not signed up and I am not
18:43 blaming her at all she’s usually the
18:45 best part of any decision I ever make is
18:49 her opinion we’ll just put it that way
18:50 because I you know I might go out one
18:53 day and buy a a chrome build Chrome
18:56 business because I love shiny objects
18:57 100% you know like come home bring it
18:01 like she is very much like slow down
18:03 brother slow down like think that one
18:05 through but you know this is this is
18:08 what you’re going through we talk to a
18:09 lot of people we just had our conference
18:10 in here in Houston we had about 300 plus
18:13 people attend and this is a common
18:15 conversation I have it is the risk of
18:19 it’s almost like the only way I could
18:20 buy that business is if I financ it
18:22 through SBA people don’t realize that
18:24 you know there are sellers that will
18:26 that will allow you to put money down
18:28 and finance it I mean there are ways to
18:29 get around the PG so I don’t want people
19:31 to get stuck there but there’s also like
19:34 it sounds like I mean that is just it’s
19:35 a it’s a common one so thanks your story
19:38 is important because the people are
19:39 listening they have to say well then how
19:41 do I get started well guess what you
19:43 don’t have to go out and take down the
19:45 $5 million company right you can start
19:47 with something yeah and I think your
19:49 example too is is is it matches a lot of
19:52 people right I mean take advantage of
19:54 the time you do have and I think a lot
19:55 of people people don’t realize how much
19:57 time they waste in life Ian it’s it’s
19:59 it’s crazy to me whether it’s you know
19:02 watching TV shows and that’s fine
19:03 everybody has their VI yeah but I mean
19:05 one of my one of my friends and it’s
19:07 kind of a similar story to you he’s not
19:08 BISD but he is always traveling because
19:10 guess what he’s a pilot you know for a
19:13 you know wealthy individual and so he
19:15 has a lot of downtime the problem is
19:17 he’s on that person’s schedule but his
19:18 downtime is like he’s you know I mean
19:20 he’s still sending me pictures he’s in
19:22 hanging out in Milan you know for three
19:25 days waiting for that person to finish
19:27 whatever they’re doing and so he has
19:28 spent that time to build up a commercial
20:30 real estate portfolio and it’s almost
20:32 comical because you know he’s getting
20:33 paid well as a pilot but he’s actually
20:35 making more now on the commercial real
20:36 estate side so again there’s ways for
20:39 people to grow and accomplish things but
20:40 you’re going to have to prioritize what
20:42 you’re looking for and it’s too many
20:44 people try to do the Allin and I I hate
20:46 that strategy people like go Allin you
20:48 know cut you know burn the ships commit
20:50 to everything and a lot of times that
20:53 pressure itself becomes too much for
20:55 people let alone having to build a
20:56 business and start it and so there’s a
20:58 lot of ways to get where you want to go
20:00 and and I think we’re all looking for
20:02 Life enjoyment fulfillment all the above
20:04 right yeah and then Partners I mean like
20:05 I said Partners is another example like
20:07 that’s what Partners do they help load
20:08 balance they help you know reduce risk I
20:11 mean whether it’s someone that wants to
20:12 come to us and an operating partner and
20:14 we help raise the equity or you know a
20:17 direct partner that’s hey sharing the
20:18 actual duties I mean so again there’s a
20:20 lot of ways to do it and you know for
20:23 kind of least getting yourself and kind
20:25 of moving and it’s sometimes as simple
20:26 as saying I’m just going to stop
20:27 drinking and figure out what I waste my
20:28 time on I’m either gonna build a six
21:30 pack or I’m gonna go buy business please
21:33 don’t ask me to show you the screen time
21:35 part of this you know because you’ll
21:37 you’ll find a lot you’ll find a lot of
21:38 time spent uh various platforms but yeah
21:42 100% you gota you gota you got to make
21:43 your choices every day and do something
21:45 right absolutely so then so much there’s
21:47 so much to unpack what we’re just
21:49 talking about so yeah I know for sure so
21:50 but then you know because just to kind
21:52 of keep the time it’s so you you know
21:54 you decided hey maybe an e-commerce
21:55 business right how’ you find this
21:58 business how’ you Finance this business
21:00 and you know have you been happy with
21:01 that acquisition and the multiple we
21:03 we’ve got to know what you’re buying the
21:04 e-commerce business at I mean it’s a
21:07 healthy
21:07 23 yeah just absolutely um so uh all
21:12 right so to go back a couple bits so I
21:14 told you how I learned about ETA but
21:15 really it didn’t really start clicking
21:18 and sorry really quick for two people
21:19 just for the audience ETA means
21:21 entrepreneur through acquisition and the
21:22 other acronym we did say too was uh hbr
21:25 Harvard Business Review so just because
21:28 to help sure sure thank
21:30 you um so I was in an Executive coaching
22:33 program called the Lions Pride right and
22:36 it was full of uh Academy graduates uh
22:40 business owners or business execs right
22:42 so the business had to be run or managed
22:45 by um a veteran like that and one of the
22:48 events they had was with Walker d right
22:52 and so I had it yeah he’s on he’s on
22:55 he’s on the the the he’s very much a
22:58 friend to podcast so I had an
22:00 opportunity to interact with him as a
22:03 part of a group you know um remotely
22:05 just like this and then I went and read
22:07 his book and you know again just so it
22:10 goes off um as I was going through this
22:14 process and realizing I wanted to do uh
22:17 e-commerce and what I wanted to buy uh
22:21 using the idea of um finding something
22:26 that I want and making a real
22:29 decision his brokerage Quiet Light
23:33 that’s how I came to know about that and
23:35 so I bought my my business through Quiet
23:37 Light um great online business brokerage
23:41 phenomenal like good businesses on it I
23:44 got a great process um I was able to not
23:47 Finance I have to finance this business
23:49 I I paid cash for it um and I bought it
23:52 a 3X multiple of its net profit on the
23:57 trailing 12 months so 3x on profit
23:01 that’s un that’s healthy it’s a healthy
23:03 good bit on on a good on a good
23:05 eCommerce you know was this pre-2020 or
23:08 post 2020 this was this was uh mid 2021
23:13 is that’s a really good that’s a really
23:14 good trade right there especially when
23:16 everybody was overpaying for e-commerce
23:18 during the uh the boom fit you know I
23:21 had um I thought it fit at the
23:23 time it still fit at the time now it
23:26 still fits like it’s still a decent
23:27 story and it’s a good process I moved so
24:31 fast like I told you i’ I’d kind of
24:33 gotten myself ready to go I’d
24:35 Consolidated all the various sources of
24:36 funds I’m pulling some money out um
24:39 using this line of credit or that sort
24:41 of thing like I have a pile of dry
24:44 powder that I can just wire and the
24:49 seller of the business um discounted it
24:53 if I could move very fast and by fast I
24:56 mean 90 wow CL days uh he was undergoing
24:01 major surgery and was like I have to
24:03 have this thing like out um and use this
24:08 dollar figure because I’m going to need
24:09 it in the various medical expenses I’m
24:11 about to have blah blah blah blah so
24:13 talk to the broker talk to the owner all
24:16 right we can do this I can move that
24:17 fast can you move that fast I have a
24:19 personal Network I had a great m&a
24:21 attorney who uh did a lot of the work
24:24 writing all the paperwork all that sort
24:26 of stuff and and and their brokerage
24:27 handled it phenomen so we moved from
25:31 finding the business to closing the
25:33 business was nine days wow what a just
25:36 happened so this is the funny part about
25:38 this is um and it’s funny it’s actually
25:41 um give me a second so I have it’s a six
25:45 month not like undated Journal right and
25:49 I was using it at the time as a customer
25:52 so I like the laugh like not only am I
25:54 the president of the Hair Club for Men
25:55 but I’m a client kind of thing I was
25:57 using this book
25:59 because I I needed to kind of
25:01 consolidate my actions towards getting
25:04 ready to do uh a deal and I was using
25:08 this and um it came through my email
25:11 that oh my God the the the producer of
25:14 this book is for sale so I I was like
25:16 awesome story universe is aligned let’s
25:18 do it so so then how you know maybe
25:21 really quick how many people are in this
25:24 is it purely online or do you have some
25:26 people that do stock and then how has it
25:28 gone right right so that was what two
25:30 and a half years ago yeah so it it is
26:32 100% online um I do have a a Shopify
26:36 site that I’ve built spent spent some
26:40 money build up a brand because like
26:42 Amazon you don’t really own your
26:43 customer the whole idea is you got to
26:45 move your customer Journey over here and
26:47 Own It own the emails develop the list
26:49 so you can really monetize it um it 100%
26:53 is Amazon and it really still is I sell
26:55 very few through my um Channel and it’s
26:58 it’s still
26:59 primarily Amazon was then is now but it
26:01 is brand registered now it’s trademarked
26:04 now I mean it was it was a a really good
26:06 new story young men build it slowly uh
26:10 during a healthy time to introduce a new
26:13 product into the the gold Journal space
26:15 it’s very crowded but it’s but it’s it’s
26:17 completely Evergreen because you know
26:19 every six months you buy a new book um
26:22 sometimes people buy in sets of twos get
26:23 you the whole year but spike in January
26:26 spike in July that was the the profile
26:28 of of the seasonality of the of the
27:30 revenue but yeah so it it has gone uh
27:34 some ways better than I could expect and
27:35 some ways terribly if you know and what
27:37 I mean by that is after sounds like
27:40 entrepreneurship I’ll tell you Highs are
27:42 high the lows are low so low the lows
27:44 are so low so started off brilliantly it
27:48 really did um and then something
27:50 happened in Amazon that I cannot explain
27:55 and they will not explain but I I I made
27:58 a small tweak after 30 days like I just
27:01 wanted to change a little bit here and I
27:03 took some writing and I changed it
27:04 through a uh helium 10 is is a is a
27:07 software package a lot more user
27:09 friendly a couple years ago hit the
27:11 button went to bed I’m in my hotel room
27:13 it’s like midnight click update wake up
27:16 the next morning and I check but to see
27:17 what it looks like and the entire thing
27:20 had disaggregated oh my God so three
27:22 different colors thousand reviews you
27:25 know 4.8 stars all that stuff all the
27:27 reviews were gone all the bullets were
27:29 gone like the pictures were gone on
28:31 like what
28:33 happened it’s my High season
28:36 like you know and so 26 help tickets
28:39 like hours spent talking to very polite
28:42 gentlemen and ladies in the Philippines
28:45 who cannot help you whatsoever and six
28:49 weeks goes by and eventually poof like
28:51 magic it’s all back together again and I
28:54 miss the high
28:55 season
28:57 and probably 70% of what I was expecting
28:00 from a sales standpoint just went poof
28:03 gone nothing nothing I can do about that
28:05 whatsoever uh and so I spend the next uh
28:08 18 months trying to figure out how to
28:12 increase my payperclick advertising
28:15 right part of my thesis was these guys
28:17 don’t even advertise and they’re selling
28:19 you know six figures with the books
28:21 hooray I’ll
28:24 advertise this gets me to the worst part
28:26 of this experience right so um I have
28:29 heard this said I didn’t invent it but
29:31 it’s absolutely true uh I bought an
29:33 e-commerce business not be not because
29:35 it’s easy because I thought it’d be easy
29:39 ah 100 now you now understand PBC you
29:42 know Facebook marketing you’ve had to
29:44 learn it all huh it’s brutal and I am
29:48 personally terrible at
29:50 it you’d think you know no not good like
29:53 I I’ve done various campaigns I’ve taken
29:56 the classes I’ve done all this stuff so
29:57 what I really I ized about this business
29:59 is I love the product and I love talking
29:03 about the product and I hate everything
29:06 there is to hate about being an Amazon
29:08 Seller besides that and I don’t have any
29:11 relationship with the customer so like I
29:13 I I’ve kind of shifted now and a lot of
29:15 these books go out they’re either
29:17 donated or sold through uh veterans
29:20 Charities I I I donate to a lot of
29:22 women’s shelters I have a whole entire
29:24 line of these things they purple you
29:26 know for um domestic violence or
29:29 bonds against women and it helps these
30:31 people get you like something tangible
30:33 to help get back on their feet and is a
30:35 big deal no it’s not and here’s a free
30:36 book just can it help you something
30:41 homeless shelters uh folks are coming
30:43 out of prison like those types of things
30:44 I give a lot of either very reduced
30:47 price wholesale at cost or just free
30:50 just take the books it’s fine like we’re
30:51 going to figure this out later um but I
30:53 also use it in a in a class that’s
30:55 developed at Drexel which will the first
30:58 one will be in the fall where they’ll
30:00 use this book as part of their
30:03 curriculum for the incoming class of
30:05 Veteran Stu student veterans um give
30:08 them something to use as they figure out
30:10 how to pursue what they need to do as a
30:12 as an academic goal uh versus just being
30:16 in the military so like making that
30:17 transition so I spent a lot of my time
30:20 on my free time now transitioning from
30:22 I’m an e-commerce guy to now I’m really
30:25 concerned about the book I’m concerned
30:27 about making your goals I’m concerned
30:30 about how do I help others achieve that
31:33 and that’s what I draw energy from and
31:35 that’s what I enjoy and I totally hate
31:39 checking my PPC doing that stuff so I’ve
31:41 have some folks who have helped me with
31:43 it on and off but um I’m I’m not sure
31:46 yet really if I’m ever going to get back
31:48 to the level I was at when I bought the
31:50 company I bought the brand the entrance
31:53 to the market since 21 expanded and uh I
31:57 think I can count either nine or 11 of
31:60 my top competitors pictures and ads
31:03 inside my Amazon lifting listing at a
31:06 PPC that I cannot afford paperclick so
31:09 they advertise more inside my actual
31:13 branded home they can do that no you can
31:16 that’s the new that’s the new game the
31:17 problem is you’re selling is hard
31:19 because I mean your margins are so
31:20 skinny on those I’m saying yeah so it’s
31:23 killing me so best of times love the
31:25 product love how it works love all
31:26 amon’s fastest growing vision is
31:29 advertising if you don’t know that right
31:30 now oh wow that’s been the new push the
32:32 past two three years and I mean it’s
32:33 across the industry not just King their
32:35 sellers man that’s just that’s just
32:36 crazy that’s that’s this they make their
32:38 money off of me not right not you got
32:41 when you when you buy something as a
32:42 customer they make a little bit of money
32:44 it’s it’s it’s the it’s the small seller
32:45 that they’re killing killing and so will
32:48 I continue to compete I am it’s
32:50 currently listed for sale today uh I
32:53 have a plan I’m continuing the thesis
32:56 and doing the things that I was going to
32:57 do anyway and it’s puttering along costs
32:00 are low it doesn’t kill me to keep it
32:03 eventually I’ll figure it out and it
32:05 helps me do what I enjoy which is
32:08 talking to people about their goals and
32:10 talking to people about how to develop
32:12 either in their career or buy a business
32:14 or do something like that and it’s a
32:16 tool and it’s it’s just part of kind of
32:19 my own personal brand but it is not the
32:22 massive success of like it’s throwing
32:25 money at me that I can now turn around
32:27 and do something else with
32:29 it’s been a you know a a great
33:31 expression of the I either win or I
33:34 learn and boy am I learning a lot of
33:36 stuff and and that’s just your first rep
33:38 in the in that side so now you got to
33:39 get another rep so yeah absolutely
33:42 you’ll find it right you’ll find that
33:44 next opportunity but you’ve you’ve now
33:45 taken that
33:47 leap I got I got a snake boil uh
33:50 e-commerce store for you if you you’d
33:52 like yeah I I will not buy another
33:55 e-commerce business I mayow grow
33:58 something organically and that’s
33:59 probably one of the biggest things like
33:01 you’re searching for a side hustle
33:02 here’s my advice to you you’re a
33:04 midcareer exec or maybe you’re 32 maybe
33:06 what you’re coming out a big big
33:08 business you’re a banker do something
33:11 small start something small that’s like
33:13 that experiment was so crucial my
33:15 problem is I think I bid off more of an
33:17 experiment in hindsight I go you know I
33:20 could have developed my own book over
33:22 the course of six months and then
33:23 launched it for probably 10 grand I
33:25 spent a lot more than that buying one
33:28 with five years worth of reviews and a
34:30 thousand you know thousand positive
34:32 reviews like so I jumped years in the
34:35 future which is great except that when
34:38 something went bad I had no skills to
34:41 fix it so I’m trying to fix this large
34:43 problem without the five years of
34:45 earning the ability to go yeah this
34:48 happened before I can I can handle this
34:49 from an OP standpoint and I think that
34:51 lesson is kind of whitewashed a lot in
34:53 some of the ETA space like you really
34:55 are going to have to have some scars
34:58 hard scars and so if you don’t have any
34:01 kind of true operational experience in
34:03 the business you’re going to and you
34:04 want to be by yourself dude go for it if
34:07 you want to have a partner that’s got
34:09 some of those chops if you want to like
34:10 say I’m a Searcher and I’ve got this
34:12 board who’s funding me and they have
34:14 deep expertise in the domain I’m in you
34:17 know I recommend that 100% absolutely
34:20 you know don’t don’t solo this nonsense
34:23 it’s hard don’t do that solo is
34:25 definitely hard it is definitely hard it
34:27 is one of those things but all all this
34:29 business stuff there’s anybody that’s
35:31 listening mark my words none of this is
35:34 easy now people see the success and
35:36 ignore the easy you know like it’s
35:38 everybody just so naive to it and I
35:40 think I’ve as I’ve done more and more
35:42 different businesses and just you know
35:44 grown and Bas the ups and downs you kind
35:46 of start to have a new found
35:48 appreciation for any business person
35:50 right whether it’s Elon or Jeff Bezos or
35:53 you know the guy running the bakery down
35:54 the road I there’s a lot of work that
35:55 goes into these and again people see the
35:58 finish line but they ignore all the work
35:01 and effort that it took to build it up
35:02 so our our coo and I today we had a joke
35:05 he was like you know he was talking
35:07 about a a podcast he’d heard of Co Cody
35:09 Sanchez’s and she had said you haven’t
35:11 really lived until you haven’t been able
35:12 to make payroll you know or like you’re
35:14 sweating to make payroll and it’s like
35:16 so true right that’s a great quote it’s
35:18 like how like yes that that’s just one
35:21 of those parts of being in business you
35:24 know I think the probably one of the
35:27 best things about this interesting
35:30 Journey I’ve had in my own ETA
36:31 experience uh buying this brand figuring
36:34 it out is a all the decisions about
36:35 marking all the decisions I’ve made that
36:38 emotional roller coaster I’ve run has
36:40 given me so much more empathy for the
36:42 ownership of the company I work at yeah
36:45 right and I will tell you without a Shad
36:48 of Doubt has made me a better executive
36:49 in my day job so being a business owner
36:52 and having all of those problems keep me
36:54 up night worrying about it may has made
36:57 me make better better decisions during
36:59 my execution of my my day jobs for for
36:03 for instance like so much better at
36:05 relating to the bo our board uh to the
36:09 president so much better at just
36:11 explaining how and why decisions are
36:14 made to the senior managers or to the
36:16 line folks you know without being like I
36:20 don’t know boss says this like no no
36:23 like I I get that empathy and it’s it
36:25 was important for me to kind of
36:26 understand that and I would say
36:28 that it’s helped me really understand
37:31 that as a executive in a small business
37:33 even if I don’t it’s not my business
37:35 like I’m not the primary shareholder of
37:37 this business you know I’m incentivized
37:39 by the top line of the business or the
37:41 the top and bottom line of the business
37:42 right great wonderful great W2 role it’s
37:46 great W2s are great keep one if you have
37:49 one um if you can right if you if you
37:52 can stand it but knowing that I have
37:55 this other part of my emotion other part
37:57 of my my brain dealing with all of these
37:00 stresses I can see what my boss goes
37:02 through because I work directly for the
37:04 president and and help him do that and
37:06 over the period of time I mean like he
37:08 is eventually going to sell this
37:10 business you know he’s not gonna live
37:11 forever um whether he sells that uh to a
37:15 large Prime whether he sells that to a
37:18 private Equity Fund whether he sells
37:19 that to the management pick it I am
37:22 going to be far better set up to go
37:24 through that with him when the time
37:26 comes or help
37:28 even the stuff we’re doing now like I’ve
38:30 met so many really amazing PE folks um
38:34 permanent Equity as well as the kind of
38:36 the the standard private Equity um folks
38:39 raising funds folks doing great stuff in
38:41 Reviving us manufacturing right through
38:45 growth capital and through experience
38:47 and just bringing a lot of energy to
38:48 some kind of small mom and pop shops
38:50 like wonderful people that has expanded
38:53 my network and it’s been a really great
38:54 opportunity to take that part of what
38:57 I’ve been doing last 5 years and apply
38:59 it to my day job and it just makes kind
38:00 of both are helpful so if nothing else I
38:03 certainly have figured out how to uh
38:06 live the life of an entrepreneur at the
38:09 risk tolerance level that my family
38:12 currently needs love it that makes sense
38:15 no it’s fantastic and I’m glad to have
38:17 you know we interview all different
38:19 types of people and I would say majority
38:21 of the people that are listening are in
38:23 your shoes y right and and and that is a
38:26 great way to recap so let’s let’s jump
38:28 into our rocket round this is this is
39:30 exciting stuff all right so rocket round
39:32 where we ask everybody the same three
39:35 questions so Casey gives us the same
39:38 three answers I know um all right so
39:40 quick question so what do you like best
39:42 what do you like to do in your free time
39:44 so in my free time it’s it’s I love
39:47 spending time talking to Veterans I
39:48 spend a ton of it like part of the the
39:50 board of the thing called a greater
39:52 Philadelphia Veterans Network Alex arasi
39:54 founded about 10 years ago known him for
39:56 a decade taking a lot of free calls with
39:58 transitioning veterans just helping them
39:60 figure out what what they want to do
39:01 when they transition what they want to
39:02 do when they get out how are they going
39:03 to move through the the corporate world
39:05 versus the military so I know it’s not a
39:08 very cool hobby but I if I had to pick
39:10 one I love that and I do it all the time
39:12 I do it for free and if you know there’s
39:14 vets listening uh to this podcast and
39:17 you got questions I’m an open book you
39:19 will get all of the cander you could
39:21 possibly ask for the goods the bads the
39:23 pains and um yeah I really do I would do
39:27 that for I would do that fulltime if I
39:29 could figure out a way to pay my
40:30 mortgage with it yeah well thanks for
40:32 doing that my son we just took him to
40:34 ANM he’s joining the Corp couple weeks
40:37 uh he’ll or in a couple in year two he
40:39 plans on joining the Air Force wants to
40:42 be a pilot you know I mean like but but
40:44 we’ve had that military in our family so
40:45 thank you for being that kind of guy
40:46 it’s uh just remind them there’s more
40:48 pilots in the Army than there are in the
40:49 Air Force we’ve told him I
40:52 know we told him all right next question
40:56 most memorable moment in your business
40:58 Journey I’ll tell you it is seared into
40:60 my brain that feeling of when I woke up
40:03 that next morning after my very first
40:05 time hitting the save changes button and
40:08 the entire thing went poof and I was
40:11 like I think I screwed something up I
40:12 just don’t know what
40:14 yet what ah you know whiskey Tang of fox
40:18 TR what just happened to this and that
40:20 is a feeling that I hold on to is like
40:22 hey man make a change be bold do
40:25 whatever but be prepared for
40:28 yeah six weeks missed your entire cells
41:31 period That’s it’s actually a good story
41:34 you’ll laugh at it one day yeah yeah
41:36 sure
41:37 sure all right last question what is
41:39 your favorite tool or resource all right
41:42 I know this is gonna sound funny but um
41:44 there is a wonderful community on the
41:48 SMB Twitter yep X right phenomenal men
41:52 and women I have made actual like real
41:55 life Friends meeting them through
41:57 Twitter and it’s mostly a garbage pile
41:00 or you know giant garbage fire and then
41:03 there’s small business Twitter and like
41:05 you like there are little niches so I
41:08 have found it to be exceptionally
41:10 helpful to follow the right kind of
41:12 people build a community um there’s a
41:15 ton of great stuff out there and the the
41:18 Magic’s in the DMS but it’s been a
41:19 really wonderful tool I’ve made I have
41:21 made friends I’ve met in real life and
41:23 friends that I’ve helped put Lois
41:25 together for you know and businesses and
41:28 move forward in their Journey that I
41:29 have just met by just interacting like
42:31 two good people on Twitter and so that’s
42:35 that’d be my favorite tool I would also
42:37 say your Journal so why don’t you plug
42:39 it one more time where someone can go to
42:40 your your Shopify and and and grab that
42:43 tool sure sure so Pursuit gold
42:45 journal.com is my store you can you can
42:48 find it on Amazon uh it’s it’s Prime
42:51 right so it is a six-month undated gold
42:54 Journal it’s got a nice flow to Focus
42:58 you on One Singular Pursuit and move you
42:60 through kind of a focus funnel uh really
42:02 intended to just get all of the head
42:05 trash out somewhere else this is laser
42:07 focused on just three main tasks you got
42:09 to do every day to accomplish your goal
42:11 if you just do those reps I’m getting
42:13 one put that link in the show notes so
42:16 there you have it Ryan thank you very
42:18 much man great how people get a hold of
42:20 you um so you can get a hold of me at
42:22 Brian at Pursuit gold Journal Brian d06
42:25 at gmail is my personal um I think my
42:28 Twitter handle is goals be done so we’re
43:31 also on instagam at pursue go Journal
43:34 Perfect all right thank you very much
43:36 very nice to meet you thank you it’s a
43:38 pleasure thank you very much for having
43:39 me thank you for listening to the m&a
43:42 Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
43:43 today’s podcast and would like to
43:45 support us please leave us a rating and
43:46 a review after you listen I’m Casey muu
43:48 and I look forward to talking with you
43:50 next week
