In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Feras Moussa and Casey Minshew welcome special guest Richard Parker. We delve deep into the world of M&A with Richard, who has successfully bought and sold dozens of companies. Richard currently owns Roy Street Advisors, an investment banking firm representing business owners and buyers in the sale of companies. Richard also provides great resources and courses on how to become an expert in the M&A world of buying good businesses.
The episode also covers insights from working with notable figures like Ray and Devon Dalio, emphasizing practical M&A strategies such as building rapport with sellers, securing funding, and thorough due diligence. The conversation touches on personal and professional growth, reflecting on experiences with industry leaders, and the essential role of operator relationships.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- Making Mistakes in M&A
- Art of Hiring Performers
- Tips to a Successful Acquisition
- How Richard’s Firm Can Help You Acquire
Time stamp:
00:00 Introduction and Overview
01:55 Welcoming Richard Parker
05:24 Biggest Mistakes in Business Acquisition
09:33 Importance of Hiring Top Talent
14:36 Working with the Dalio Family Office
21:07 The Search Process
31:49 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
36:46 Richard’s Ideal Client and Consulting Approach
38:51 Rocket Round
27:20 Conclusion and Contact Information
You can connect with Richard Parker by Website: richardparker.com
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
00:01 interviewed Richard Parker and talked
00:03 about you know he’s bought and sold 13
00:05 different companies he’s been around the
00:06 block made a lot of mistakes and today
00:08 he’s focused on helping clients avoid
00:10 those mistakes and you know just a ton
00:12 of information on this one from going
00:14 from mistakes made to people he’s met to
00:17 what it looked like to work with Ray Doo
00:18 and his family on buying you know even
00:20 larger opportunities and so Casey what
00:22 were some of your takeaways on this one
00:23 man it was a very good podcast for
00:25 anyone that’s looking but I would
00:27 definitely say that from a Searcher
00:28 standpoint if you’re sitting there
01:30 you’re trying to find the business I
01:31 mean he made some very key points right
01:34 six months or less yeah he kind of you
01:35 know it’s kick in the rear end hey wake
01:37 up guys to buy a business or do you want
01:39 to buy a business because I you need you
01:41 need to want to buy a business yeah you
01:43 know all of those things are there and
01:45 it gets into some great tips like how
01:47 his thesis is made out you know what are
01:49 the key things that when he got into
01:51 further in his career of buying
01:53 companies you know starting with sales
01:54 and marketing and going down a list of
01:56 the things that made him better at what
01:58 he did but to have success in the
01:00 business and he learned those things so
01:02 incredible and realize your strengths
01:03 are what you’re going to amplify in the
01:04 business right if you’re not a good
01:06 operator don’t go buy a company that has
01:08 poor operations go find a if you’re a
01:10 good sales and marketing guy find a
01:11 company that has good operations and you
01:12 can go amplify the sales and marketing
01:14 side and then I think maybe the last
01:16 thing I’ll mentioned too is you know
01:17 just touched on just kind of
01:18 relationships right and just being good
01:20 genuine people and I mean I think
01:21 Richard was the canonical example of
01:23 that and just you know find people that
01:24 you’d like to work with and grow with
01:26 them and so lots of information on this
01:28 one
02:31 welcome to the m&a Launchpad podcast
02:33 with your host Casey and Ferris with
02:35 Equity Launchpad on this podcast you
02:37 will gain insights on acquiring
02:38 investing in and selling profitable
02:39 businesses in the lower to Middle Market
02:41 whether you’re a business owner investor
02:43 or spine entrepreneur at Equity
02:44 Launchpad we will provide you with the
02:46 knowledge guidance and capital to
02:47 navigate the world of mergers and
02:50 Acquisitions hey everybody it’s Ferris
02:52 and would’ love to see you at our
02:53 upcoming m&a Launchpad conference in
02:55 Chicago October 26 at a conference we
02:58 talk about what it looks like to value a
02:60 business how to buy a business how do
02:01 you manage a team right and ultimately
02:03 we’re big Believers in the buy then
02:05 build concept so we’re going to have one
02:06 of our friends Walker D the author of BU
02:08 and build there as well as one of our
02:10 Keynotes and many more so we love to see
02:11 you there to kind of get exposure to the
02:13 space and network hey Richard welcome to
02:15 the show thank you I appreciate you guys
02:17 having me it’s nice to be with you yeah
02:19 excited to have you oh absolutely man
02:21 it’s always good to you know just talk
02:22 to people that have been there done it
02:24 and really share some of their
02:25 experiences for our audience and so you
02:27 know I think you know maybe to get going
02:29 Richard maybe give a little people
03:30 before we start diving into advisory and
03:32 some of the pitfalls people make right
03:34 you know give a little bit of your
03:35 background and kind of what you did and
03:36 kind of how you got to where you are
03:37 today okay well hopefully won’t bore you
03:40 too much with all the details I’ve been
03:41 in the world of I’ve been in the world
03:43 of m&a for 34 years now as buyer seller
03:46 investor representative for buyers and
03:49 sellers I’ve acquired 14 of my own
03:51 companies I’ve sold 13 of them and wide
03:53 range from $50,000 when I first started
03:56 out to $28 million so a wide swath of
03:59 acquisition
03:01 and um along the way not probably about
03:04 5 six years after started in this world
03:07 started realizing how much some of the
03:08 challenges that people were going to
03:09 have in these businesses coming across a
03:12 lot of individuals that wanted to become
03:13 entrepreneurs they had no way to Nowhere
03:15 no idea where to go or how to start or
03:17 what have you and that started me along
03:19 the road of a journey putting together
03:20 materials that help people buy
03:21 businesses more from a learning
03:23 perspective here’s what you need to know
03:25 here’s what you how to do it here’s what
03:26 you need to do and here’s how to do it
03:28 because it’s a lonely road to buy a
03:30 business business and if there’s you
04:32 know education in in some ways the
04:33 internet has made it infinitely more
04:35 complicated because there’s a lot more
04:37 information out there now but there’s a
04:38 lot of misleading information or
04:40 misinformation or disinformation as well
04:43 and so you know as the years have
04:45 progressed it’s one Universe where it’s
04:47 actually in some cases have gotten much
04:49 more complicated for people there’s a
04:50 lot more tools but there’s a lot more
04:52 people looking and there’s a a shortage
04:54 of you know straightforward practical
04:56 real world advice and so the the bide of
04:59 things are something that I you know I
04:01 love to work on and assist people and I
04:03 do lower Market Investment Banking work
04:05 typically representing um sellers that
04:08 are looking to exit their businesses you
04:09 know e it up about two and a half to S
04:11 and a half million dollars so I cover
04:13 the uh the whole spectrum and then in
04:15 addition to that parallel to all that
04:16 although I’ve toned it down a little bit
04:18 as some of my own Acquisitions I’m just
04:19 getting a little older and I’m uh
04:21 chilling out enjoying the uh the
04:23 downtime more you mean you don’t enjoy
04:24 all the stress that’s involved in
04:26 running these dang
04:27 things I love the stress I actually
04:30 don’t find it stressful I mean I love I
05:32 love the stress of it but it’s time to
05:35 chill out a little bit right so but yeah
05:37 the reality is Casey if you don’t love
05:38 this dress you shouldn’t be in this yeah
05:40 well I thought it was supposed to be
05:41 easy yeah it’s not that hard no as the
05:44 thing I tell people people see the
05:45 success but I mean there there there’s
05:47 no there’s no business that’s easy right
05:49 they all have their own challenges and
05:51 you know can be a painful time and it
05:53 can be a smooth time so but oh
05:55 absolutely it’s you know there’s always
05:58 challenges along the way and it’s never
05:59 easy easy but it’s also how you handle
05:02 it and navigate your way so um you got
05:05 to you’ve got to be cut out for it I
05:07 mean it’s a lot of it that you can learn
05:08 you’ve got to be ready to you know I
05:09 always tell people one of the most
05:10 important thing is you got to as an
05:12 entrepreneur you got to embrace
05:13 uncertainty because you never really
05:15 know what the hell is coming around the
05:16 corner and stuff happens and if you get
05:18 derailed too quickly you’re not going to
05:20 thrive as an entrepreneur you really
05:21 have to embrace a lot of times unknown
05:23 and just wing it you know at times tell
05:26 people you know I went to bed on Tuesday
05:27 night had no had no clue how I went to
05:29 bed on Tuesday night no clue how I’m
06:30 going to make payroll on Friday but you
06:32 figure it out no that the highs are
06:33 highs and the lows are lows I mean
06:34 that’s that’s onip in N but maybe that’s
06:37 a good segue so before we talk about
06:38 maybe tips for clients and some of the
06:40 mistakes they’ve made you know tell us
06:42 about some of your biggest mistakes
06:43 you’ve made right I mean I’m sure
06:44 Richard you had a few of those so you
06:45 want to share just you know I mean 13
06:48 you know buys and sells right of those
06:50 what are just some of the big mistakes
06:51 you made going in and maybe also the
06:53 flip side what are some of the big
06:54 mistakes you think you made kind of on
06:55 the cell side too how long is this
06:58 show got another 30 minutes to go
06:00 okay well you don’t have enough time for
06:02 all of my mistakes so I’ve made some
06:03 Beauties um when I think about things
06:06 that I’ve done wrong as far as the let’s
06:09 say the main acquisition is concerned
06:11 where you know because the minutia of
06:13 things you’ve done wrong every day you
06:15 you recover from that and you repair
06:16 those things but I’m I’m talking from a
06:18 you know not a 30,000 foot view but
06:21 maybe 3,000 foot view of where I made
06:24 some real fundamental mistakes that
06:26 prove to be really good learning the
06:28 first thing is anytime I bought a
06:29 business that didn’t meet my key skill
07:31 set you know I’m a firm believer I have
07:33 five golden rules I’ve been teaching and
07:35 preaching this to people for years I
07:37 have five core things that a business
07:39 must have in place for me to acquire it
07:41 which includes it’s got to be sales and
07:43 marketing driven because that’s my best
07:44 skill set it’s got to have high margins
07:46 it’s got to have demand in place it
07:49 doesn’t compete in price on price
07:51 because I don’t think that’s a way to
07:52 build a business and I like an element
07:54 of exclusivity in territory your product
07:56 anytime I’ve gone away from that or I’ve
07:58 tried yeah thank you it’s taken many
07:00 years to evolve to that but it it’s
07:02 really and anytime I’ve gone away from
07:04 that in other words if there’s four or
07:05 not five I’ve always wrapped the bed um
07:08 it’s it’s turned out to be a terrible
07:10 acquisition and so the high level ones
07:12 are always ones where the my best skill
07:15 set or anyone I thought I was going to
07:16 put in place to operate that business if
07:18 their skill set didn’t matter perfectly
07:20 with the business it always went it we
07:22 always went off the reservation it went
07:24 sideways I mean there’s it I’ve never
07:26 been able to get back onto the right
07:28 path with it ever enough so that’s
07:30 certainly from you know from the
08:32 acquisition standpoint and also I was a
08:34 very young business owner 29 years old
08:36 my ego and insecurity got in the way
08:39 early on I was a young business owner I
08:40 was at the table with older people more
08:42 successful people than I was probably
08:44 felt a little bit intimidated so it took
08:46 me quite a while to get past that once I
08:48 got past the ego piece and the
08:50 insecurity piece and started hiring
08:52 people that were bigger better faster
08:53 smarter than me it’s not too hard to be
08:55 smarter than me but once I got
08:56 comfortable with that my businesses
08:58 really started to explode
08:00 those were those were early mistakes so
08:02 so maybe pill back the onion a little
08:03 bit more you want to give it a specific
08:05 business specific example and kind of
08:07 what what all to place there sure I mean
08:09 there’s um there’s lots of them I when I
08:11 you know one of the first Acquisitions
08:13 that I made after I started out I I
08:14 bought this retail merchandising company
08:18 and um I didn’t have a lot of money I
08:20 negotiated a really good contract
08:22 because I really felt that the business
08:23 when I say retail merchandising we’d go
08:25 in on behalf of suppliers to various
08:27 retailers across Canada grow up in
08:29 Montreal been in the states for uh 28
09:31 years now but we’d go into the retail
09:33 stores on behalf of Manufacturers to
09:35 make sure their merchandise was properly
09:37 set up if they an ad if they had a
09:39 national ad breaking we’d make sure it’s
09:40 a prominent location because the people
09:42 in the stores typically did not bring
09:44 the merchandise to the store floor
09:47 properly and sales and marketing bucket
09:49 checked right you that’s sales and
09:51 marketing that’s your skill set that’s
09:53 my skill set and so I I was doing this
09:55 on a limited basis and believe there was
09:57 a much bigger pie across the country and
09:59 I bought one company I convinced I
09:00 didn’t have much money and I convinced
09:02 them to throw in their lot with me so
09:03 we’d have an Eastern Canadian presence
09:05 and then started buying a couple other
09:06 small companies rolled them up and made
09:08 you know built it into National presence
09:10 a real significant company we had 200
09:12 employees which if you draw the
09:14 equivalent to the United States that
09:15 would be like having 2,000 employees but
09:17 one of the biggest mistakes I made was
09:18 again on the personality side is you
09:20 know a couple of my partners you know
09:22 good guys but as far as bringing in some
09:25 rock stars you know I I was just too
09:28 young too dumb to recognize that there
10:31 were people that were infinitely smarter
10:33 than I was and of course still am and
10:35 should have brought them in to lead the
10:37 charge we built that business like from
10:39 nothing to four and a half million which
10:40 again if you equate and this is 30
10:43 something years ago if you equate that
10:44 to the United States you know that’s A40
10:46 50 million business ridiculously
10:49 profitable but it could have been 10
10:51 times that and that was a lack of the
10:53 you know it it was definitely on me as
10:55 far as personalities top toal like you
10:58 right now I mean anything I get into I
10:60 want the number one draft pick to be
10:02 alongside in every area possible because
10:04 it it makes a huge difference and again
10:06 it was just it was just my own ego
10:08 insecurity is learning along the way you
10:10 know owned a business at 29 and I was um
10:12 you know I was just trying to keep
10:14 sometimes one nostril above the water
10:16 but learning as I went and just um just
10:19 those two things got in the way and once
10:20 I got past those years later and
10:22 recognized that you know it’s not
10:24 important to be right it’s more
10:25 important to get it right or do the
10:27 right thing being right has no value
10:29 whatsoever ever I mean things do you
11:31 know the the universe of profit opened
11:33 up exponentially good for you for
11:35 figuring that in your 30s because I’m
11:37 I’m in my late 40s and I’m I’m now
11:39 partnering with some really great guys
11:41 you know that that are you know they’re
11:43 strong willed strong minded they have
11:45 their own opinions and I think a younger
11:47 version of me could not tolerate that
11:50 because I had to be right you know even
11:51 though I felt like I didn’t have to be I
11:53 I did and uh when you self-reflect and
11:56 you think about those things about
11:57 having a good partnership right you know
11:60 everybody should be bringing that those
11:02 ideas and strengths to the table so that
11:04 ego ego check is a big one yeah and I
11:07 think I mean yeah you know you got to
11:09 set ego aside but I think the other
11:11 important note in what you said really
11:13 is you know if you’re trying to grow and
11:15 S you know scale right we’re not talking
11:17 about just maintain but actually growing
11:19 and scaling it’s about being
11:21 hyperfocused on bringing people on board
11:24 that have that vision and can do it
11:26 better than you right and I think too
11:27 many time people get complacent the
11:29 biggest mes I’ve made is you know I’m
12:32 generally a fairly nice guy and there’s
12:34 people that like you know that linger
12:36 right they kind of know it but kind of
12:38 don’t and but the problem is it’s a drag
12:39 on the organization right and the
12:41 biggest mistakes I’ve made is not making
12:43 changes sooner and not being hyper
12:45 focused on do I have you know the draft
12:48 the number one draft pick or am I get a
12:50 you know a tenth round right and am I is
12:51 that okay or is that not okay and so you
12:53 know there’s a lot of these different
12:55 phrases that really stick right like
12:56 higher fast fire faster right there’s
12:58 and just really Focus so I mean I don’t
12:01 and that’s still even today I think it’s
12:03 something I don’t do a good enough job
12:04 on which is like be hyperfocused on who
12:08 you have and what the roles are
12:09 responsibilities right that is a
12:11 probably usually the best spent of a
12:13 good leader a good manager because then
12:15 you next multipli from those people you
12:17 know trickling down yeah and in most
12:19 cases I mean the goal is to try to
12:20 multiply yourself to me the phrase that
12:22 I’ve always used that resonates with me
12:24 and you know thought of as you know
12:25 don’t let your loyalties bankrupt your
12:27 business you know sometimes you know
12:29 reality is you’re doing everybody a
13:32 favor yeah if you’re doing the right
13:34 thing if someone is not the right person
13:36 besides the benefit for your business to
13:38 get the right person in place you’re
13:40 doing them a favor because they’re never
13:42 going to grow they’re never going to get
13:44 to the level that they hope to get to
13:46 because you’ve recognized that they’re
13:48 the wrong person so you end up you know
13:50 stagnating their growth so you penalize
13:52 two things you penal or three things you
13:54 penalize yourself you penalize your
13:55 business you penalize this other person
13:57 you know my Manion always has been don’t
13:59 let your lawyer is bankrupt your
13:00 business you don’t have to be an ogre
13:01 you don’t have to be mean about it you
13:02 could do things respectfully when we get
13:04 to the point to realize you know that
13:06 they’re not the right person chances are
13:07 you know if they’re not the right person
13:09 you usually can’t make them the right
13:11 person very often that’s as good as it’s
13:13 going to get and if that’s not good
13:14 enough because good enough is never good
13:16 enough you got to make that change I
13:17 mean it’s painful but you know reality
13:19 is you’re doing them a favor yeah so I
13:21 me you want people to have the you know
13:22 at least we we do OS and it’s really
13:24 about people that get it want and have
13:25 the capacity to do it right so some
13:26 people want it some people get it some
13:28 people just don’t have the capacity
13:29 right you really someone has all three
14:30 of those things so correct yeah so so
14:33 maybe you know so moving on a little bit
14:35 right um you know just kind of in your
14:37 career what’s been just kind of the
14:39 biggest highlight that that you hit and
14:41 you know what kind of got you there I’m
14:42 throwing you a little bit of a curveball
14:44 no that’s okay um there’s lots of great
14:46 highlights I’m very happy uh you know
14:48 you asked me that and mostly from um I’d
14:51 say highlight some of the relationships
14:52 and people that I’ve met along the way
14:54 things that I’ve learned from some of
14:56 these people um you know I’ve had the
14:58 blessing of being able to work with some
14:59 ridiculously successful people
14:01 multi-billionaires um so some of the
14:04 learning uh you know I think I would
14:05 answer that in two parts the first thing
14:07 would be the learning from really
14:09 successful people and probably the best
14:11 thing about it the most successful
14:13 people that I’ve met um pretty much had
14:15 one thing in common which is they rarely
14:18 focus on the money they’re always focus
14:20 on building something great they want to
14:22 build a great business and you know they
14:24 do that by empowering employees or you
14:26 know generating new products or ideas
14:28 but they you know they’ve really not
14:29 been focused on the money part because
15:31 the money if if you’re in something that
15:33 has an economic benefit I mean if you do
15:35 it the right way the money is going to
15:36 follow by default right and so these
15:39 Uber successful people have really
15:41 taught me that um along the way which is
15:43 you know focus on building a great
15:45 business and the money will follow and I
15:46 think they you know probably career
15:48 highlight and I’ve had some wonderful
15:49 ones I’m really and I don’t want to
15:50 sound like a blow heart but probably my
15:52 four years working with the Dalo family
15:54 office was probably the most meaningful
15:57 time of my business career separate
15:00 apart from things that I started up or
15:02 Grew From nothing to magnificent
15:03 businesses that period of time was just
15:05 some incredible learning exposure and
15:07 access to some wonderful people my you
15:09 know trusted partner and cherish friend
15:11 Devon
15:12 who Deon Del who passed away in a car
15:15 accident a number of years ago um the
15:17 the time and the interaction that we had
15:19 and the growth that we were able to um
15:21 achieve um personally professionally I
15:23 mean I I would probably isolate that as
15:25 probably the uh you know a real
15:27 highlight to my career was just
15:29 incredible time the the the ending was
16:31 horrific but the timing was you know and
16:33 the learning was was wonderful just
16:36 unbelievable oh I was going say just for
16:37 the listeners the doio family office
16:39 it’s Ray Doo right and we mentioned that
16:41 in our intro here but yeah and that
16:43 that’s pretty significant right yeah and
16:45 I think you know you told us a little
16:45 bit about the story but I mean it sounds
16:47 like you’re kind of at the peak of your
16:48 career right there you weren’t just
16:50 broughten out of nowhere right you had
16:51 done a lot of things accomplished things
16:53 and maybe the thing that you didn’t
16:55 share maybe I’m curious actually how did
16:57 you get connected with Ray right like
16:59 what you know he reached out to you or
16:01 what mechanism did he reach out to you
16:02 through and you know and again you were
16:04 brought in for a specific reason right
16:05 and so you were at the piku and I think
16:07 that’s why you found it so profound
16:08 because you know you built up your 30 40
16:11 Years of knowledge yeah to get to that
16:13 point to be able to then you know
16:14 accomplish what you wrote a book about
16:16 it did a lot of stuff maybe did he read
16:18 your book how did he find you so going
16:21 back um was probably about 15 years ago
16:25 um he was looking his son Deon at that
16:27 point was living in Florida and was was
16:29 looking to acquire smaller business this
17:30 is before they even had their family
17:32 office established I think they had like
17:33 three people starting to work at their
17:35 family office and Deon was in Florida he
17:37 was looking to acquire business and
17:38 through a number of referrals Ry got to
17:40 me as being the guy to help prospective
17:43 business buyers and Ray’s perspective
17:45 was I just want someone to mentor and
17:46 teach them and so at that point in time
17:49 I got a call from someone one day and
17:51 said hi my name is Ray doio you were
17:53 recommended to me I’m looking to hire
17:54 someone that could help Mentor my son
17:56 teach him how to buy businesses I have
17:57 no idea who the guy was I mean I
17:59 like or whatever I mean I have no no
17:01 clue it actually just happened at the
17:03 point where my youngest son was just had
17:06 recently been diagnosed with epilepsy
17:08 and I had decided I was going to take
17:09 three months off because I wanted to
17:11 learn about the condition and I told
17:13 this gentleman on the phone say look I I
17:15 appreciate the um you’re reaching out to
17:17 me but I’m taking a few months off
17:19 because I want to focus on learning
17:21 about my son’s disease because I don’t
17:22 know how our family was going to handle
17:24 this and so he you know he was
17:26 completely empathetic he said as a
17:27 matter of fact said you know I have a
17:28 lot of connection
17:29 to some great medical and Healthcare
18:32 people and again I have no clue who this
18:33 guy is he said I have some great
18:35 connections to Medical people and
18:36 Healthcare people so if you want me to
18:38 make some introductions or you want to
18:39 meet any Specialists these can be some
18:41 of the top people I’m sure I’m happy to
18:43 make that connection for you um
18:44 irrespective if you we do work together
18:47 and I thought that was such a meaningful
18:49 offer that I said you know at the very
18:50 least I owe it to this gentleman to at
18:53 least meet with his son very and so I
18:56 did meet with him and I thought son Deon
18:59 I thought Devon was great I mean he was
18:01 really inquisitive he was intellectually
18:03 curious I mean he was really sharp he
18:05 was desperate to learn how to acquire
18:07 businesses and so I decided to start um
18:10 that I would take the engagement work
18:12 for the family and they hired me and
18:13 Devon was learning from my course as the
18:15 curriculum and we would meet once a week
18:17 and then we started looking at
18:18 businesses and after about six months
18:20 their family office is just starting to
18:22 to be built and and collectively Ray
18:24 myself Devon thought it would be a
18:25 really good idea for him to go work in
18:27 the family office and really get some
18:29 good experience how at the time 29 which
19:33 he did at the um which was a good
19:35 decision at that point and we always
19:36 stayed in touch and then Devon actually
19:39 went on and became the co-ceo of the
19:41 family office I mean today they have a
19:42 100 plus people um and um and then in
19:47 2017 Devon decided that he wanted to
19:49 exit the family office and wanted to
19:51 start acquiring businesses and went to
19:54 the Ry with this idea and Ray said hey
19:56 why don’t you um get together with
19:57 Richard and see if you guys you know
19:59 want to do this together and and keep in
19:02 mind when Deon and I started working
19:03 together I had no idea who his family
19:04 was I mean was only after Deon and I
19:06 worked I Deon and I had worked together
19:08 for about six months seven months and
19:10 something that he said he was the most
19:12 unassuming laid-back unentitled man
19:14 you’d ever met I he was the smartest
19:15 nicest guy I ever met but he was NE un
19:19 unentitled wow so I had no clue about
19:21 this time but something that was
19:22 mentioned during a conversation
19:24 triggered me I said to myself you know I
19:25 think like he might come from some some
19:27 money and I ended up GOOG goling his dad
19:30 and I looked and I remember on the right
20:31 side of Google i s like Ray doio like
20:33 Networth and was like holy smokes um but
20:35 this is long after we’ had been friends
20:37 and working together whatever because
20:38 that and I and I don’t really care about
20:40 that stuff it makes no difference to me
20:42 but going back going fast forward to
20:44 Devon deciding he you know he was a
20:46 co-coo of the family office decided he
20:47 wanted to acquire businesses and Ray
20:49 suggested that he reach out to me um see
20:51 if I wanted to do it with him and I was
20:53 about to move my m&a practice this is in
20:55 2017 I was going to move my m&a practice
20:58 and they called me on a Sunday we did we
20:59 did the deal in like 60 seconds yeah
20:01 it’s hard to say no to those guys right
20:04 well you know but it’s also the flip
20:05 side which is it was very much of what
20:08 is it going to take to get you to do
20:09 this because it wasn’t a case of having
20:11 to know de I knew Devon and I I worked
20:13 with you know Ray was always very
20:14 honorable and enjoyed that but all
20:15 worked with Deon who was like very much
20:17 look we want to do this here’s what we
20:19 think the upside is what is it going to
20:21 take to get you on board to do this and
20:22 I was just about to move my m&a practice
20:24 so was very upfront you know very blunt
20:26 said here’s exactly what it’s going to
20:27 take was okay good let’s go and that was
20:29 it and we went into business so they
21:31 came to you with a existing business
21:33 they wanted to buy and they brought you
21:34 into to help put it together or was it
21:37 hey what is it gonna take to get you to
21:39 help us go find a business for us all to
21:41 buy yeah it was very much Devon wants to
21:43 buy businesses Ray said he’ll Finance
21:45 all of the Acquisitions um he wants me
21:48 to continue to teach and Mentor Devon in
21:51 acquiring businesses and we’ll work
21:53 together and we can make our investor
21:55 proposals but the at the top of the Heap
21:57 was this he wants this to be a learning
21:59 experience for Devon and um which it was
21:02 and we continued our learning and the
21:04 mentoring and I learned as much from him
21:05 as he did for me because he brought a
21:07 tremendous amount of benefit from time
21:09 at the family office in Bridgewater and
21:10 so we were completely independent of the
21:13 family office and Ray we did our own
21:14 thing we had our own offices in
21:15 Greenwich Connecticut we didn’t operate
21:17 out of you know family office we wanted
21:19 our independence and which they allowed
21:21 us to do they stood us up they were our
21:23 greatest cheerleaders it was the whole
21:25 family office so for a lot of our
21:27 listeners you know they’re starting
21:28 their search right they’re starting
21:30 their search they’re they’re they’re
22:31 starting with1 $200,000 maybe they’ve
22:34 got to go out and raise that that that
22:36 round you know and and I could imagine
22:38 if you know that you’ve got Capital
22:40 right and you know how to buy a business
22:42 you should be able to identify a
22:44 business relatively within a within a
22:46 reasonable time frame in the search and
22:48 all that above so give us kind of that
22:50 like yall start in 17 and then you’ve
22:52 got to go back and start a search
22:54 process right you’ve got to go back and
22:56 identify businesses and evaluate got to
22:59 go back to the beginning of your of your
22:01 roots right what was the thesis and then
22:03 ultim what did you guys end up buying
22:05 well we wanted to do our version of mini
22:07 PE so we wanted to be able to find
22:09 operating businesses we had one thing
22:12 that was really to our benefit which was
22:14 this blank slate and said guys learn
22:15 about a bunch of different things you
22:17 don’t have to do any of them but decide
22:18 you know what it is if any that you want
22:20 to do so we started learning about a lot
22:21 of different things from you know from
22:23 franchises independent operating
22:25 business funds um making some uh
22:28 parallel PE Investments um
22:30 co-investments Etc so about the whole
23:32 universe because very much a learning
23:33 experience for Devon as well at the time
23:35 you know and you allude to these people
23:37 for 100 thou you know have hundred or
23:38 $200,000 in the search process um this
23:41 process should not take long I mean I I
23:43 bought my first business with $30,000
23:46 which is today’s equivalent to about
23:48 $75,000 and so this process should not
23:50 take long you do this the right way from
23:52 the time you decide that you want to buy
23:53 business until you close a deal should
23:55 be six months maximum I mean most people
23:57 take way way way too long they don’t
23:60 make offers they’re they’re spinning
23:01 their Wheels I mean you see it more and
23:02 more and more of all these alleged
23:04 Searchers they call themselves which is
23:05 just a fancy word for business firey and
23:07 they’re just spinning their wheels so
23:09 for us for you know going back and
23:10 looking at identifying businesses was
23:13 again one was a collection of what our
23:15 golden rules are what we wanted in a
23:17 business which they were modified
23:18 somewhat compared to my five golden
23:20 rules we wanted a a higher element of
23:22 recurring Revenue um some barriers to
23:24 entry we did have the EV benefit of
23:26 capital um but that is no different than
23:28 the individual no matter what we had
24:31 related to Capital is no different than
24:33 the individual who um Casey mentioned
24:35 100 or 200 Grand because the process is
24:37 the exact same all the steps in the
24:39 process the only thing that differs
24:41 between buying a $200 million business
24:43 and a $2 million business and a $200,000
24:45 business is potentially to financing
24:47 that’s it because all the other steps in
24:49 the process are the same and and very
24:51 often at the larger businesses you’re
24:53 dealing with more sophisticated Sellers
24:54 from a buyer perspective you know the
24:56 books and records are in better shape
24:57 they may have processes procedures in
24:59 place and so you know the thesis um you
24:02 know the process no one should be um
24:04 taken back when we talk about some of
24:06 the Acquisitions that that I’ve made
24:08 regardless of size because it’s the
24:10 exact same process I mean it really is
24:13 no different I mean I like dealing with
24:15 ones that are a little bigger now just
24:16 because of the level of sophistication
24:18 but there’s no intimidation the fact is
24:21 people just waste their darn time you
24:23 know spin their wheels and they’re and
24:24 you see a lot of it now with people that
24:26 coming out of fancy Business Schools I
24:27 mean they just think they’re real smart
24:29 and they may be but they have a lot of
25:30 education but they have zero knowledge
25:33 and so they got to get off and realize
25:35 you got to roll up your sleeves get your
25:36 fingernails dirty because the process
25:37 it’s a blue collar process even if
25:39 you’re buying a one collar business a
25:41 great quote it’s a it is a blue collar
25:42 process to there’s too many people that
25:44 get analysis paralysis they’re almost
25:45 too smart for themselves right because
25:47 they you know everything everything I
25:48 mean there’s risk in anything you take
25:50 right everything you could be talked out
25:51 of and it’s really more about kind of
25:54 understanding what can you talk yourself
25:55 into that offsets what you talk yourself
25:57 out of and it is a bluecollar process
25:58 it’s about picking up the phone building
25:60 a repor Casey had a quote that I love
25:02 which is you know we got to go belly to
25:03 belly with these sellers right I mean
25:04 you know spend the time and effort to
25:07 it’s not just hey I sent them an email
25:08 and I haven’t heard back from them in a
25:09 week and you know I’m just going to wait
25:11 like that doesn’t work right and that
25:12 drives me nuts when people act that way
25:14 and think that way it’s what what else
25:16 what are the other 30 things you could
25:17 do to maybe move this along right get a
25:19 car get in a plank do something but go
25:21 get in front of them sit down you know
25:23 do most of the people right a lot of the
25:25 Searchers you know again we’re dealing
25:27 with people that are in the baby boomer
25:29 generation they are not accustomed
26:31 negotiating over teams or Zoom or or any
26:35 of those things in fact I prefer to just
26:37 pick up the phone and call because
26:38 that’s the way we used to do it and or
26:41 get in a plane and go and meet with them
26:44 in we had one recently where the seller
26:45 said like I’ve talked to 30 or 40 guys
26:47 and I’ve only had one group come out and
26:48 meet me right I mean be that one yeah
26:51 you know what do this webinar on meeting
26:53 for and preparing for the seller meeting
26:54 and said understand who you’re dealing
26:56 with you know all you smart NBA guys and
26:59 gals you’re meeting with a guy like me
26:01 in 60s successful business some have
26:04 added more Tech some are more
26:05 comfortable others or not but understand
26:08 who you’re dealing with I don’t want to
26:10 sit across the table selling my business
26:11 with some schmuck who’s sitting there on
26:13 a a on an on a tablet and writing notes
26:16 as we talk I want to look you look me in
26:18 the eye and I want to find out what
26:19 you’re about what’s behind those
26:20 eyeballs and then I’ll decide whether or
26:22 not I want to sell you my business
26:23 because if you’re the right person I’ll
26:25 I’ll make the deal happen as much as you
26:27 the buyer can make the deal happen and
26:29 so this idea that you know this digital
27:31 world yeah this digital world is toxic I
27:33 mean it’s absolutely toxic you know
27:35 again you made the example I sent emails
27:36 they didn’t get answered back I mean or
27:38 we’ll set up a zoom call or you know I
27:40 get sometimes with you know with Buyers
27:42 through the course that I sell they’ll
27:43 send me an example you know provide them
27:45 with some help and they look at and I
27:47 say this is Absol this know they send me
27:50 an Excel spreadsheet with this pivot
27:51 table and this and that I said look guys
27:53 understand something these are num it’s
27:54 a beautiful pivot pivot table these
27:56 numbers are fantastic these scenarios
27:58 are are all wonderful but it’s actually
27:60 meaningless because the numbers are the
27:01 easiest part of the process the numbers
27:03 don’t lie you can take care of the
27:04 numbers when you chop up the process and
27:07 there’s 23 steps in this that looking at
27:09 the numbers and evaluating the numbers
27:11 should be the fastest part of the
27:12 process because they are or they aren’t
27:14 I mean that’s it it’s binary 1 plus one
27:16 always equals two no matter what and so
27:18 you know the fancy kids they remove the
27:20 human element and PE buyers sellers
27:23 don’t want that and sellers don’t want
27:25 it to be just transactional I mean the
27:26 first two times you meet with a seller
27:28 like you’re not talk
27:29 the deal 90% of time you’re talking
28:30 about the deal 5 10% of time and the
28:32 other 90 is just building Rapport right
28:35 show who you are and building that
28:37 relationship up so exactly you know what
28:39 do you go in there prepared to do you go
28:41 go in there with nothing go in there and
28:42 have a meaningful conversation to get to
28:44 know each other you’re not buying
28:45 furniture but start dating and just get
28:47 to know you know I tell people they
28:49 first Mee you want to know do I like
28:50 this person can I trust them do I like
28:52 this business can I see myself running
28:54 it that’s it you answer those four
28:55 questions you go to step two so then all
28:57 that said so what was that business that
28:58 you guys ended up buying which uh you’re
28:01 talking with
28:03 um we made a co-investment um in 118
28:07 Taco Bells and apple bees believe it or
28:09 not okay yeah which was yeah awesome and
28:13 so I guess you know maybe we had
28:14 operators yeah we had operators in place
28:17 um and we like that business the
28:19 multiples were high but they kept
28:20 growing we like the uh the return the
28:22 you know some taco about as four meals
28:24 you know which really like you got
28:25 breakfast lunch supper and drunks and so
28:28 you know like that you know we like so
29:31 true you know so it was it was good and
29:33 and and then after you know with Co a
29:35 lot of it you know they closed front of
29:36 the restaurants whatever to take out and
29:38 a delivery service or you know has
29:40 really changed that landscape so we had
29:41 that we made a a couple other fund
29:44 Investments that just from a
29:46 confidentiality standpoint got to keep
29:48 you know without naming names but it was
29:50 we looked at a number of really
29:51 interesting businesses and we’re very
29:53 pleased with what we did still hold the
29:55 investment today so and it’s done very
29:56 well our investments have done very well
29:58 so everyone’s been happy so so really
29:60 quick so that and that that 118 you know
29:02 Taco Bell’s Apple bees you mentioned so
29:04 that was an operator that already had
29:07 built out those franchises right you
29:08 know they they’re so to speak you know
29:10 an individual that kind of grew up the
29:12 back office and they’re running the 118
29:14 so you invested directly into them you
29:15 obviously you didn’t invest into the
29:16 franchise or at any point in time you’re
29:18 just you just bought into the operating
29:20 company that was running those 118 units
29:22 right yeah we bought him with a p for
29:24 perfect yeah it’s almost like a recap
29:26 was it was a recap right yeah were a
29:29 co-investor and it was a really
30:30 attractive deal we um you know and uh we
30:33 did a lot of work our thesis have made
30:35 all our our key points you know went
30:37 through the investment uh committee
30:39 proposal on our end which was great
30:41 exercise um good learning you know and
30:44 you know one of the things you brought
30:45 up I think Casey mentioned it when we
30:47 talked about individuals you know that
30:48 they have1 $200,000 and then they’re
30:50 going to you know go to P business and
30:52 look to line lineup financing or what
30:54 have you one of the things that I’m
30:55 seeing more and more maybe you guys are
30:56 running across it well especially with
30:58 your podcast and some of the conferences
30:60 that you do is you know the the buyers
30:02 and I keep picking on these so-called
30:04 searches or whatever but they’re doing
30:05 this ass backwards like you’re going out
30:07 and finding businesses putting in Lois
30:09 and then going to find the money which
30:10 is completely insane to me like first
30:12 you got to line up the money you may not
30:13 line it up exactly may not be in your
30:15 bank account but you better get that
30:16 investor or investors on board and
30:19 understand what they want to see in a
30:20 business and understand their criteria
30:22 because the world is not waiting for you
30:25 as someone who has no experience no
30:27 track record no money to come out and
30:30 present them with an idea on a business
31:32 where you think they’re going to throw
31:33 money at you it’s it’s you know you’re
31:35 smoking crack you got to line up this
31:36 stuff beforehand because if not you’re
31:38 just never going to get a deal to the
31:39 Finish Line yeah you gotta have that
31:41 pace no I know the phrase that I like to
31:44 say you know we raise hundreds of
31:46 millions of dollars and whenever you
31:48 actually have the opportunity that phone
31:50 call is not about really you know
31:52 raising money it’s actually about
31:53 closing money there’s a big difference
31:54 right you spent the previous six months
31:56 raising the money prepping sharing what
31:58 you’re doing giveing the Insight getting
31:00 kind of the verbal commit so to speak
31:02 and once the opportunity is there you
31:04 know you’re presenting an opportunity
31:06 right and you’re kind of closing it and
31:07 so it’s about I mean you you are doing
31:09 it absolutely wrong if you’re not doing
31:11 any investor nurturing until you have
31:13 the opportunity because then you put
31:14 yourself in the bind right where you got
31:16 to go put up hard money and can you get
31:18 it done can you not I mean that’s that’s
31:19 its owna so yeah oh absolutely and and
31:22 it’s misleading to people you’re going
31:24 out to sellers you know you’re tying
31:25 them up with Lois and then going to find
31:27 the money I mean at that point you
31:28 should be focused on your due diligence
32:31 you know and investigating the business
32:32 as opposed to running around looking for
32:34 money I mean it’s uh you penalize
32:36 yourself by not being able to focus on
32:38 what’s important at that point after you
32:39 know the work really starts when the LOI
32:41 is in place you got to be really
32:43 scrubbing that business to make sure
32:45 it’s the right acquisition and you’re
32:46 going to go spend your time looking for
32:48 money I mean makes no sense so Richard
32:51 kind of in a in a perspectiv because we
32:52 have so many different types of
32:53 listeners right we’ve got those like
32:55 I’ve had this question at our conference
32:56 from a 20-some hey what do I focus on
32:60 how do I do it you know I’ve never done
32:01 it then you’ve get your 30s and your 40s
32:03 you we got all all different types of
32:04 age brackets that are looking to make
32:06 their
32:07 Acquisitions talking about let’s talk
32:09 about the younger group right the
32:11 20-some to 30s that are looking in your
32:14 perspective right do you go out and try
32:16 to buy a bigger business at that age and
32:19 try to stretch go raise Capital do all
32:21 that stuff or do you do similar to like
32:22 what you did do you buy A50 or $100,000
32:25 business make that successful and then
32:27 know that you know over the next you
32:29 know 5 10 years of your life you’re
33:31 going to you’re going to have more
33:31 opportunity to buy more so if you were
33:33 to set somebody in their 20-some let’s
33:35 just say they’ve graduated they’ve got
33:37 their MBA they’re they’re out there
33:39 ready to search and go to work and you
33:41 know you and I know you can find all
33:42 different types of businesses out there
33:44 where would you suggest with your life
33:46 experiences today where should they
33:47 focus and what range would you would you
33:50 f Center them on I’m a strong proponent
33:52 that you should buy the biggest business
33:54 you can however with that said you buy
33:58 buy the biggest business that you can
33:60 that you’re capable of running and
33:02 you’re comfortable leveraging and so the
33:04 earlier on in your career success is not
33:07 going to happen overnight you lack you
33:10 know you may have gone to the greatest
33:11 business school but if you don’t have
33:13 operational experience you’re going to
33:16 go out of business you don’t even know
33:18 what you’re good at at the beginning you
33:20 have no idea what your right skill I
33:21 always say whatever it is that you do
33:23 best has to be the single greatest
33:24 driver the revenue and profits of any
33:26 business you consider purchasing if
33:28 you’re going to be an operator so if
33:29 you’re a young individual fresh out of
34:31 business school maybe you’ve held some
34:33 Finance job or whatever but you haven’t
34:35 had operational experience just get into
34:37 an operating business and make sure you
34:40 don’t make a big mistake so in that case
34:43 a smaller business where you could learn
34:45 I mean you don’t know anything at this
34:46 point and and and be smart enough to
34:48 admit to yourself that you know nothing
34:50 you’ve got a long Runway you’re 25 28
34:53 years old you got 30 plus years of
34:55 Runway get into it learn it even if it
34:57 shits the bed pardon my French it
34:59 doesn’t really matter because you could
34:01 you could move on to the next one that’s
34:02 bigger um that’s bigger um that you’ve
34:05 and now you’ve brought some skill set to
34:06 it so just get in learn how to be an
34:09 entrepreneur learn what it is to make
34:10 payroll learn what it is to hire people
34:12 learn what it is to you know go out and
34:14 get customers learn what it is to sign a
34:16 lease to sign a contract when you have
34:18 none of that because what you’ve learned
34:19 in business school has no relationship
34:21 to what you’re going to do on an
34:22 everyday scale in business so the a
34:24 younger person the goal is get into the
34:26 game no matter what the important
34:28 important thing is get into the
34:29 entrepreneurship game and if it’s a
35:31 smaller business that’s fine too that’s
35:33 perfect nothing WR not I don’t even want
35:35 to say there’s nothing wrong with it
35:36 there’s everything right about that but
35:38 there’s two big things you’ve said and
35:40 for anybody that’s listening this is key
35:42 one it should not take you more than six
35:43 months from the start to the finish of
35:45 the search if you’re finding yourself
35:47 doing that you’re you’re either you’re
35:49 not doing enough whatever the thing
35:51 there’s T being too selective you’re not
35:53 being enough you’re just finding reasons
35:54 to say no do that and two if you’re
35:56 young and you are getting started it’s
35:58 okay to buy something smaller something
35:01 more manageable something where you can
35:04 get those skill sets that you need and
35:07 and learn that process right so those
35:09 are two major things takeaway from today
35:12 for for for any of our Searchers and
35:13 listeners that are are considering
35:15 buying a company and you know when you
35:16 talk to you know to add on to your point
35:18 with Rel to time you know the metrics
35:20 are like this I’m deal with hundreds of
35:21 thousands of buyer so the metrics are
35:23 like this you need to look at you know
35:25 it should take you four months you
35:26 should be able to meet with 40 sellers
35:28 make four offers by one business that’s
36:30 the metric if you’re in this for longer
36:32 than four months and if you haven’t made
36:34 four offers you’re already down the
36:36 wrong grow 94% of the people who begin
36:38 the search to buy a business never
36:39 complete a transaction so if you’ve been
36:41 at this for longer than four months
36:42 haven’t made four offers or at least
36:43 haven’t met with 40 sellers well you’re
36:46 on your way to becoming another
36:47 statistic so it’s time to Pivot and look
36:49 at this get yourself get you know get
36:51 knowledgeable um learn how to uh learn
36:53 how to navigate your way successfully
36:55 through the process use the right tools
36:57 have the right mentor but those are the
36:59 metrics and if it’s 6 months beginning
36:00 to end I mean I guarantee you you two
36:03 guys I could drop you out a helicopter
36:04 anywhere in the middle of a of you know
36:07 United States or another country and in
36:08 30 days you’ll loan a business there
36:10 yeah I agree I mean yeah there’s a lot
36:12 yeah it’s a hustle so I mean you have to
36:14 be comfortable hustling and you’re in
36:15 the wrong business if you’re not I mean
36:16 you have to be uncomfortable I love the
36:18 phrase of you’re not growing if you’re
36:20 not uncomfortable right and so if you’re
36:22 just staying within your comfort zone
36:23 you’re not growing I mean you’re you’re
36:25 just kind of maintaining which is not
36:27 really kind of what this business is
36:28 made out to be so not at all correct you
36:30 mean you got to be out you got to be
37:31 meeting sellers you got to be making
37:32 offers it’s a six-month process without
37:34 there’s no reason should go longer and
37:37 and I think that’s a good segue so I
37:38 mean so Richard obviously very tenured
37:40 career you’ve seen a lot done a lot made
37:42 the mistakes had the successes you’re
37:44 focused today on advising people right
37:46 and you know and maybe what does that
37:47 look like is it that you’re looking for
37:49 that you know what is your ideal person
37:51 is it the the 20-some year old that’s
37:53 just finished in NBA and looking to go
37:55 do a search fund is it the 35-year-old
37:57 engine who’s probably had 10 years of
37:59 work experience that has a little bit
37:01 saved up looking to go buy their B I
37:02 mean who is your kind of Ideal client
37:04 today so I I as I mentioned earlier I do
37:06 investment banking where I represent
37:08 sellers I handle about four five
37:10 transactions a year which I I really
37:12 enjoy I’m very selective um that’s on
37:13 the sell side on the buy side you know
37:15 we have our courses that we that we sell
37:18 um I you know as far as from a
37:19 consulting or advisory basis you know my
37:22 my criteria is very simple I want some
37:24 anybody who needs to buy a business I
37:27 have no interest in dealing with anybody
37:29 who wants to buy a business I want
38:31 someone who has a need to buy a business
38:33 need to buy a business that for whatever
38:36 reason they need to replace or generate
38:38 an income they need to ideally that
38:40 they’re no longer willing to do what it
38:42 is that they’ve been doing every day as
38:44 part of their career and they look at
38:46 this and say I need to buy a business
38:48 and I don’t care how much money they
38:49 have or they don’t have what their
38:50 experiences or what have you I love to
38:52 help those people who have this
38:53 burdening desire and a need versus a
38:56 want to acquire company and get into the
38:58 world of
38:59 Entrepreneurship awesome and I mean I
38:01 think that’s where your course is apptly
38:03 named how to buy a good business at a
38:05 great price right so yes and and those
38:08 listeners can go to Richard parker.com
38:10 and it sounds like you’ve got a ton of
38:11 content ton of
38:13 information yeah I mean we have tons of
38:15 videos educational videos I’ve been on I
38:18 think about 80 podcasts in the last year
38:20 that I’ve been asked to guest on so all
38:21 we post all of
38:23 those by far all right perfect I love
38:26 sales and marketing guy
38:28 by by far um the uh you know the content
39:33 we have articles the materials of course
39:35 we sell you you get yourself lost there
39:37 and it’s good you know I deal in the
39:39 real world I don’t tell people you can
39:40 go buy businesses throwing off three
39:42 four $500,000 of of profits and for no
39:45 no money down and close a deal in 30
39:47 days I mean I don’t it’s just just
39:48 nonsense don’t go down that road this is
39:50 you got to operate in the real world
39:51 with practical advice from people that
39:53 have been there and so you we’ve got a
39:55 lot of great resources people if they
39:56 buy the course great if they don’t my my
39:58 financial situation doesn’t change one
39:59 bit um just want to make it easy for
39:01 people that could really get lost and
39:02 immerse themselves um and get you know
39:04 get access to a lot of really valuable
39:06 practical information love it awesome
39:10 all right so next up is our rocket round
39:13 where we’ll basically we ask we askers
39:16 all the same three questions so first
39:18 question what do you like to do in your
39:19 free time hang out with my kids and my
39:22 my my wife of course and my new grandson
39:25 oh congratulations it’s so it’s not even
39:27 with you asked that question there’s not
39:28 even a close second I mean I used to be
40:30 a big big fisherman but now it’s it’s
40:32 all family I got to ask did you you feel
40:35 like you became 10 years younger once
40:37 you had a grandson because I swear my
40:38 dad I I remember the second I had my
40:40 daughter like all of a sudden he’s doing
40:41 the stuff that would start to frustrate
40:43 my mom because he’s like picking up the
40:44 kids and doing he had back problems and
40:46 all of a sudden he’s doing all these
40:48 things and I’m just like what are you
40:49 doing man my dad is way too crazy with
40:51 my
40:52 daughters you know what you know what I
40:54 am I’m Walking on Sunshine with my
40:56 little guy it’s unbelievable
40:58 yeah yes 10 years younger for sure and
40:00 yes it’s a a whole different level it’s
40:02 great and I know we touched on it for a
40:04 little bit there on a relationship but
40:06 hey so what is your most memorable uh
40:08 moment in your business Journey wow um I
40:12 would say when I think back to the whole
40:17 to like the whole universe from
40:20 entrepreneurship probably just getting
40:23 out of the gate and getting into my
40:25 first business because I was working for
40:27 a company I was making quite a bit of
40:28 money I was 29 years old I I lost
40:30 $60,000 in the stock market this was in
41:32 in 1990 and I only had 90 grand to my
41:35 name which was quite a bit of money at
41:36 that point but I really pissed away
41:37 two-thirds of it I didn’t have a choice
41:39 I had to put myself in a position where
41:41 I could make more money I was already
41:42 overpaid at the company I was working at
41:44 so I couldn’t just get a better job and
41:46 so um I didn’t you know when you don’t
41:48 have a lot of options it’s very easy to
41:49 make decisions and so pulling the
41:51 trigger on at that point I started a
41:53 company then three months after bought
41:55 one so that getting into that world was
41:58 you know I’d say is I still look back at
41:01 that as as as the big moment you know
41:03 awesome well sounded like you needed to
41:05 buy business so there’s a guy named
41:06 Richard parker.com would help coach
41:08 people that are that have that need to
41:10 go find that I needed one I had no
41:12 choice I was me those those are the I
41:15 mean there’s there’s a there’s this
41:16 concept that I love and I swear I’m
41:18 gonna write a book on it but in my mind
41:19 it’s basically there’s things that
41:21 happen in life that force you to cross
41:23 the chasm to get to the next one right
41:25 and it’s really you know it’s almost
41:27 that forcing function that forces you to
41:29 think about something differently
41:30 whether it’s relationships whether it’s
42:32 you know a business or a next set of
42:34 goals and those things have to happen to
42:36 force you to kind of elevate your game
42:38 to that next level so 100% agree awesome
42:42 so then last question what’s your
42:44 favorite tool or resource oh that’s an
42:46 easy
42:47 one live inperson face- Toof face
42:50 meetings awesome that’s key I I love
42:54 those two man meeting people and that’s
42:55 why we do these conferences so Richard
42:57 you know loved this podcast and we got
42:59 to get you out our conference coming up
42:00 so it’s end of October 26 you know we’ll
42:02 send you the information but great thank
42:04 you kind of get to meet that face to
42:05 face on the panel you think you could be
42:07 a great adviser and all good stuff so
42:08 let’s let’s make that happen well thank
42:10 you I appreciate it I know you have a
42:12 couple of them so and keep me posted
42:14 with the other one send me I would love
42:15 to get the stuff and and learn more
42:17 about it because it sounds you know what
42:18 you guys doing be able to get 100 plus
42:20 or 200 perspective buyers there and
42:22 really educate them I mean you’re doing
42:24 uh you know the work of the
42:25 entrepreneurial Gods it’s fantastic I
42:27 mean I really commend you guys for doing
42:28 it we take a lot of the same philosophy
42:29 that you do right at the end of the day
43:32 you know we give and we give and we give
43:34 and we give we’re going to get right
43:35 it’s it’s it’s but giving back is really
43:37 the key here because it is very
43:39 difficult and finding that community and
43:40 finding out who’s telling you the real
43:42 things I think you mentioned it these
43:44 these no money down conversations you
43:46 see so many of them online and and and
43:48 nothing against them they’re marketing
43:49 they’re getting people into their funnel
43:51 but um that’s just a really really tough
43:53 way I think to go into some Acquisitions
43:55 and so getting people around real
43:56 information truth like just tell me the
43:59 truth it’s gonna be hard yes it’s gonna
43:01 be hard no I agree with you 100% toing
43:04 money you have to go ra yes you need to
43:07 have reserves and plan for test you
43:08 could lose your upfront money in your
43:10 due diligence it happens yes you should
43:13 walk away from the deal and if it
43:14 doesn’t make I me you know there’s all
43:15 things that happen yeah and I’m with you
43:17 you know those guys who whatever they
43:18 want they could do whatever they want
43:19 for their marketing it’s just I know it
43:21 doesn’t work and you want to you know
43:22 you don’t want to buy distressed
43:23 businesses you want to buy a good rock
43:25 solid business you know that could grow
43:27 with you as the owner that that you know
43:29 I always talk about this boss Theory I
44:30 like these Bland businesses I like them
44:32 operationally oper you know
44:34 operationally sound I like them to be
44:36 sustainable and scalable it’s like I’ve
44:38 always called it my my boss Theory and
44:40 so you you want to have that in place
44:42 these other people that are selling
44:43 these courses these Mastermind groups
44:45 and all this nonsense you know good for
44:47 them I just you know if you fall for it
44:48 you’re a sucker but it’s it’s just not
44:50 the real world so hopefully you know you
44:52 want just one good practical advice
44:55 awesome well hey Richard I mean thank
44:57 you so
44:58 so much information really quick how can
44:60 people get a hold of you just Richard
44:01 parker.com is there a better way yeah
44:03 that’s the easiest way there’s a contact
44:04 us page on there if people want to speak
44:06 to me directly just send in a you know
44:08 send in a uh an inquiry and just put
44:10 mark on there to please make sure it
44:11 gets sent to me so my staff will make
44:13 sure that I address it but yeah go to
44:15 Richard parker.com a lot of good
44:16 learning and um and and happy to speak
44:19 with anybody who could use some help and
44:20 I got to tell you guys I really enjoyed
44:22 this conversation it was great and I
44:24 love I love what you guys are doing as
44:25 well and it’s you know it’s the great to
44:28 hear about your own success but you’re
44:29 uh you’re spreading the word in a good
45:31 way so I love it awesome know likewise
45:33 so hey we’ll have that on the show notes
45:34 so Richard thank you very much we call
45:36 to RP thank great thanks guys bye bye
45:39 byebye thank you for listening to the
45:41 m&a Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
45:43 today’s podcast and would like to
45:45 support us please leave us a rating and
45:46 a review after you listen if you’re
45:48 looking for guidance on your next
45:49 business acquisition or sale Capital to
45:52 support your next business transaction
45:53 or to invest in a private Equity
45:55 opportunity visit Equity LaunchPad .c to
45:58 learn more and to connect with our team
45:60 if you know of an individual who would
45:01 be a great guest for the show head over
45:03 to equity launchpad.com SL nominate
45:06 where you’ll have the chance to refer
45:08 yourself or someone else to be a guest
45:10 on our show I’m Casey muu and I look
45:11 forward to talking with you next week
