In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Feras Moussa and Casey Minshew welcome special guest Jordan Hammond. Jordan Hammond shares his journey from experiencing the failure of his first business to building a successful business through strategic acquisitions.
After a successful second start-up, Jordan decided that rather than deploying his cash into real estate, as many of his friends did, he would pursue the M&A industry. The discussion touches on the rollup strategy he employed, the challenges of integrating new businesses, and the transformational growth achieved. The roll-up strategy is seen as a great way to quickly and efficiently grow the top line in order to become a larger force in the market. On top of growing through acquisition, Jordan discusses his organic growth strategy that he is currently focused on to reach the next level.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- Wealth Preservation vs Growth
- Roll-Up Strategy
- Gaining a Competitive Advantage
Time stamp:
00:00 Introduction
01:42 Ensuring the Financial Health of Your Company
02:09 Introducing Jordan Hammond
11:37 Finding & Acquiring the Business
23:37 The Next Acquisition
37:35 The Strategy to Grow Today
39:20 Rocket Round
You can connect with Jordan by LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-hammond-9a79562a/
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 had
00:02 Jordan Hammond and we talked about
00:03 really you know having your first
00:05 business failing at it right and then
00:07 kind of starting a different one in a
00:09 different vertical from scratch and
00:11 really almost stumbling into really the
00:13 rollup strategy right buying the first
00:15 one was dist stress situation a business
00:18 that was losing money right but that you
00:20 know working on what integration looks
00:21 like in that and then buying the third
00:23 and really starting to grow the business
00:24 through acquisition Casey what some your
00:26 big takeways you know when you hear
00:28 Jordan’s story about when he first
00:29 started as an a rur he went out strong
01:31 tried to build his business and he had a
01:33 failure that builds that resilience
01:36 right not to be fearful you know and so
01:38 when this opportunity pulls up in his
01:40 life where now all of a sudden he has an
01:42 opportunity to take advantage of a
01:44 downturn he had the the he had the the
01:47 ability to take advantage of it right
01:49 because he didn’t have the fear he knew
01:51 he trusted his ability and that he could
01:53 do it that is what I took away it’s very
01:55 powerful absolutely we kind of talk
01:56 about this during the interview but I
01:57 mean it’s it’s not luck right it’s
01:59 really having some of the EXP the
01:00 stumbles and the things that have
01:02 happened to kind of get you to where you
01:03 are to give you the confidence to go do
01:05 something whenever an opportunity does
01:06 present itself and so yeah those
01:07 building blocks are important yeah you
01:09 know it’s just kind of interesting to
01:10 see Jordan just really shift his mindset
01:12 saying hey you know acquisition is a way
01:15 to grow and then now he’s kind of
01:16 acquired the bulk of you know his little
01:18 niche and starting to shift back to the
01:20 other side of the Spectrum which is hey
01:22 we have to start to build organically
01:24 not just for ourselves but also it’ll
01:25 help us acquire guys because they know
01:27 that hey we will take their business
01:29 organically or we can buy you and you
02:31 know make life easy for everybody and so
02:33 lots of interesting nuggets on this one
02:35 like Jordan said right everybody’s going
02:36 to have that one nugget to take away
02:37 from this podcast oh it’s a great one
02:39 look forward to having
02:43 you hey guys go ahead and just pause the
02:45 podcast for a second when you’re buying
02:47 a business you need to ensure the
02:48 financial health of the company quality
02:50 of earnings is Mission critical it
02:52 doesn’t matter what size business you’re
02:53 buying Patrick oconnell Advisory Group
02:55 they’re dynamic they do a great job
02:57 they’re to look over your shoulder
02:58 they’re going to make sure that you’re
02:59 doing the right thing and this guy’s
02:01 done over 200 buyers successfully just
02:03 like you so reach out to him and it’s
02:05 oconnell advisory group.com click the
02:07 link in our show notes can’t live
02:09 without this all right Jordan welcome to
02:10 the show hey guys thanks so much for
02:12 having me great to be here yeah nice to
02:14 have you all right so let’s get on let’s
02:17 hop right in so Jordan you want to share
02:18 a little bit of your background of the
02:19 audience and kind of really how you got
02:20 into the m&a space that you’re in today
02:23 yeah yeah for sure so you know startup
02:25 entrepreneur in my early 20s uh had a
02:27 first go at it which actually ended in
02:29 personal bankrupcy when I was in my
03:30 early 20s and to check that box early
03:34 yeah exactly as most successful
03:36 entrepreneurs do right they you have to
03:38 have the practice business or business
03:40 is so thankfully I only had one yeah and
03:42 I really stumbled across acquisition
03:44 entrepreneurship a little bit later on
03:46 in my career after I got some success
03:48 with my second startup got some traction
03:49 there found product Market fit very blue
03:51 collar kind of a Distribution Company we
03:53 do HVAC distribution very niche of a
03:56 niche type business and and really just
03:58 kind of started looking at I I got some
03:60 extra cash right the business was
03:01 throwing off a little bit of cash not
03:03 nothing crazy at that point this was
03:04 back in kind of the 2014 2015 it’s like
03:07 well what do I do with this money and
03:09 everybody in my network was doing real
03:11 estate and you know nothing against Real
03:12 Estate Investors but you I looked at it
03:14 I was like well if everybody’s doing it
03:16 the returns are probably bitted down a
03:18 little bit and then I started looking a
03:19 little bit deeper and I started looking
03:21 at guys that were doing you know
03:23 basically buying these small businesses
03:25 and making supposedly bigger returns
03:27 than real estate and and that’s what
03:29 really kind of lit the fire for me being
04:31 interested in m&a and then and then it
04:33 kind of went from there yeah and you
04:35 know and I think that’s exactly what we
04:36 see right like you know obviously we do
04:37 a lot of real estate we do a lot of m&a
04:39 and we kind of look at real estate as
04:41 wealth preservation with some kind of
04:44 you know growth whereas the businesses
04:46 is really more about cash flow and
04:48 wealth preservation is just kind of an
04:50 Adder on top of that and then kind of
04:51 that’s where really we look at the two
04:53 different worlds and how do we provide
04:54 both opportunities to our investors to
04:55 be able to diversify and kind of get the
04:57 best of both worlds yeah so so so true
04:59 so just didn’t know that back then I was
04:01 I was in my mid 20s and I didn’t know
04:03 anything about wealth Vehicles versus
04:05 wealth preservation so it was it was all
04:07 new to me at the time yeah I got this
04:08 slide that I show in we have a when we
04:10 ever do this uh do this fast pitch
04:12 presentation at the multif family
04:13 conference as we’re talking to investors
04:15 and things like that and one of the
04:17 slides is basically it’s from the Forbes
04:19 and it shows that as your wealth
04:21 increases it’s typically a business that
04:24 generates that wealth right real
04:26 estate’s a portion of it it goes back to
04:28 that wealth preservation as you see
04:29 people start getting into 20 million $30
05:31 million net worth to100 million it it
05:34 takes up a lot of the business so these
05:36 businesses truly do you know anchor in
05:38 and create that that wealth and the
05:40 number to really just for listeners
05:42 right if you think about it you’re
05:42 buying business let’s say you’re buying
05:44 out a 4X multiple right if you translate
05:46 that into real estate speak you’re
05:48 really buying it at a 25 cap right
05:50 whereas real estate today you know Class
05:53 E multifam is going for five and a half
05:55 to six% cap and so that is what a
05:57 multiple of like four difference between
05:59 them now a business can also go to zero
05:01 dollars of Worth right real estate real
05:04 estate got real at hell’s value but
05:05 that’s the difference right it’s those
05:07 two things you know that kind of really
05:08 reflects the cash flow versus the
05:10 preservation piece well said yeah
05:12 exactly right all right so let’s keep
05:13 going so I didn’t want to interrupt you
05:15 there but so then kind of you got
05:17 attracted to it right more from the cash
05:19 flow side of things and then kind of
05:20 what happened yeah well and then you got
05:22 to screw up a little bit right so just
05:24 just like I did with my first startup I
05:25 got to learn by doing so you know I
05:27 didn’t really go the education route I I
05:29 went to tun College kind of deal you
06:31 know really got my my learnings from
06:33 from the school of black and blue right
06:34 the school of getting the bumps and the
06:36 bruises so I did the same thing when I
06:38 started looking at Acquisitions I I
06:40 bought a couple small micro businesses
06:43 in spaces that I had no idea about
06:46 totally outside of my circle of
06:48 confidence as Charlie and Warren would
06:49 say and uh you know just lost everything
06:52 there not a lot you know maybe lost 100
06:54 Grand really figuring out that I needed
06:57 to do what I wanted to in m&a but within
06:01 my own space you know and I went to this
06:03 conference and I go to a couple
06:04 conferences a year and typically you
06:06 know there’s that one nugget you get
06:07 from a conference that you actually take
06:09 action on that kind of makes it worth it
06:10 right hopefully and this one that I went
06:12 to in 2018 it was right after I lost you
06:15 know money on my second little micro
06:16 business deal and this guy said he had a
06:20 eight fig pretty decent Siz eight
06:22 figureure accit he said the best thing
06:23 he ever did was he reached out to his
06:25 competitors early on when his business
06:26 was getting traction developed these
06:28 relationships and when they wanted to
07:30 exit you know they called up him because
07:32 they had this relationship they were
07:33 friendly competitors I’d never thought
07:35 of that concept before and but it just
07:37 kind of clicked with me for whatever
07:39 reason I know it’s basic that like why
07:41 don’t I just do this acquisition thing
07:43 but in my own space guys I didn’t know
07:45 what the term rollup was I had no idea
07:48 and so I told a couple people that this
07:50 is what I wanted to do and they’re like
07:51 oh yeah like like a rollup I’m like yep
07:53 yeah exactly yeah exactly exactly what
07:56 I’m doing every time you hear a word you
07:57 got to say yep yep yep just like that
07:58 and you go home and later exactly and
07:01 then I go to Google and and look up what
07:03 is a roll up so I just started doing
07:04 that I started reaching out to my
07:06 competitors having those awkward
07:07 conversations right everyone’s kind of a
07:10 little bit guarded and and uh and then
07:13 you know five six seven conversations
07:15 later you’re kind of that friendly
07:17 competitor where I’m sharing some info
07:19 they’re sharing a little bit of info and
07:21 then by then it’s kind of the
07:22 conversation of hey if you’re ever
07:24 looking to sell I’m here I’m looking I’m
07:27 interested we’re in the middle of one of
07:28 those right now just had had a
07:30 conversation Tuesday where both sides
08:32 are sharing a little bit more
08:33 information and they know we’re kind of
08:34 interested they just got to come to
08:35 terms with hey like you know we’re fies
08:38 but like let’s combine into one and you
08:39 know go do something better together
08:42 right exactly so that’s what really kind
08:44 of laid the foundation for me um taking
08:47 my business from really kind of a mom
08:48 and pop you know just me and a handful
08:50 of people lifestyle kind of business to
08:53 pouring the acquisition gasoline on it
08:55 it turned into a real kind of viable
08:58 business okay that is fantastic so let
08:00 me ask you this I mean going back to
08:02 like your original Journey as an
08:03 entrepreneur in your 20s right so you I
08:06 guess you started the company you grew
08:07 the business it sounds like you had some
08:10 personal guarantees you took on some
08:12 some debt you took on some things and it
08:14 kind of forced you into a bad situation
08:16 right yeah I I me my first business you
08:19 know I’m not gonna try to make it
08:20 something other than it was it was just
08:21 a retail store and and and it was just
08:24 me just trying to get in the game at
08:26 something and so I had a ton of debt it
08:28 had zero chance of succeeding I had zero
09:31 competitive Advantage I had zero
09:33 supplier Network I just had no idea what
09:35 I was doing and uh and I realized day
09:38 one after opening it up that this thing
09:39 was just like destined to to fail and it
09:42 took a year before I finally went under
09:44 and but I I learned I scrap I scrapped
09:46 and I I clawed and and I learned a few
09:48 things and and truly the biggest lesson
09:50 that I learned is what a real
09:52 competitive Advantage looks like in the
09:54 marketplace and and what it takes to
09:57 actually you know win that one customer
09:59 from going to your competitor coming to
09:01 you instead and and yeah I had personal
09:03 guarantees on everything and then I even
09:05 had debt that other people co-signed for
09:08 me that didn’t get dissolved in the
09:09 bankruptcy so I still had you know debt
09:12 otherwise that that that was kind of
09:14 hanging over my head that got cleared up
09:16 kind of as I made money for my next
09:17 business so you know it was all bad and
09:20 and it was all good at the same time I
09:22 just thank God that I didn’t have a wife
09:24 I didn’t have a family at the time yeah
09:26 um because it that would have just made
09:28 it so much more stressful well I’ll tell
10:30 you I have I had a similar story so I
10:32 graduated college went to school got an
10:33 accounting degree you know been an
10:35 entrepreneur pretty much the day you
10:36 know I figured out you can make money
10:38 you know lawn business anything and
10:40 everything I could do to turn business
10:41 and when I graduated school I went to
10:43 work at a company called Motorola or but
10:45 it was a spin-off called Metro works I
10:47 was in the count receival Department I
10:49 was just like pulling my hair out you
10:51 know they were like you needed to be
10:52 here at 8:30 you can’t leave until 5:30
10:54 and I’m like and you can have and I was
10:56 just really that was very difficult for
10:57 me it just was and uh I had been hanging
10:00 out with a couple of my friends and we
10:02 were like hey one guy had his brother
10:05 had started a bar so they knew he
10:06 thought he knew how to run a bar and
10:08 then one of my other partners has you
10:10 know he had some cash he had money and
10:12 uh you know he was like hey I’ll put up
10:14 the cash you guys all you know PA of
10:16 pursue you know follow me on let’s go
10:18 open a bar on Sixth Street and so we did
10:21 and I had the same situation I co-signed
10:23 everything in that bar and uh now I
10:27 worked it out with them and I ended up
10:28 like you know I don’t know how I did it
10:30 but I got out of a lot of it uh but it
11:32 was it was painful I spent a year and a
11:34 half two years with zero credit I
11:37 shouldn’t do anything so I know that
11:39 risk but you know like it makes you
11:41 stronger um because you know one of the
11:43 things we just got back from our
11:44 conference this week in Chicago and it
11:46 was awesome 200 entrepreneurs you know
11:48 the biggest conversation was about the
11:50 personal guarantee on the SBA note right
11:52 for most of our listeners right now it’s
11:53 the scariest part of everything right is
11:56 that guarantee so having that that fear
11:58 so you know that’s a big piece that you
11:01 know people deal with every day when
11:02 they’re thinking about buying a business
11:04 yeah and I mean the other way to look at
11:06 it if you invert that is that’s the
11:09 whole reason the opportunity exists if
11:11 it wasn’t that big of a deal to sign a
11:13 personal guarantee and take that much
11:15 risk these returns would be bided down
11:18 and there there wouldn’t be the you know
11:20 the forx 25% return available in buying
11:23 some of these businesses
11:25 so at the end of the day yeah there’s
11:29 risk there and yeah you could go to zero
12:31 but that is the reason the opportunity
12:33 is there in the first place yeah it’s a
12:35 great way to look at it so then maybe
12:37 kind of you know so what was that
12:39 business that you ended up going into
12:40 next and how did you acquire that yeah
12:43 so I actually found it through up my
12:46 place of work so I got hired back uh to
12:49 this this I was a sales you know I was
12:51 in sales and I was selling appliances on
12:54 a contract basis to multif family uh
12:57 primarily you know stoves dishwashers
12:58 washers dryers all that a little piece
12:60 of it was was the air conditioners that
12:03 go in the wall in a number of apartments
12:05 that we have here in Canada and select
12:08 markets a tiny tiny little market and my
12:11 company did it a little bit it was an
12:13 add-on product though they didn’t focus
12:15 on it they didn’t add value to it they
12:17 didn’t keep product availability as soon
12:20 as I went back to this place of
12:22 employment I think it was 23 at the time
12:24 or something like that I saw the
12:25 opportunity right away and this is like
12:28 three months after I declared Bank two
12:30 months maybe right so I see this
13:32 opportunity I see that they don’t care
13:34 about it um remember having the
13:37 conversation with with my parents you
13:39 know I’m still living that home at this
13:41 no maybe I was I was I think I moved
13:42 back home after I declared bankruptcy
13:44 yeah so I remember telling them I said
13:45 you know hey I got another business idea
13:47 like I see this opport and just in your
13:49 eyes that’s enough ideas out of you oh
13:51 man that like done yes they’re like
13:55 you’re done like you tried it once right
13:57 you still owe us 30k this is nothing
13:59 against my parents but they’re just you
13:00 know W2 employees right that’s no my dad
13:04 was a doctor never really was much of a
13:06 you know investor entrepreneur I mean my
13:08 mom and dad the same they they you go to
13:10 school get a good job and that and you
13:12 save your money that was how I was
13:14 raised yeah so zero against them it was
13:17 just what they knew was their Paradigm
13:18 and they were like you still owe us
13:20 money like just work work your job make
13:23 your 670k a year right stop it and so
13:27 what I did is I took my time I did did
13:29 two years at that job kind of like
14:31 planning my you know building my
14:33 parachute right build building half of
14:35 the parachute learning the suppliers
14:37 learning as much of the business as I
14:38 could and then I jumped I had a bit of
14:40 the parachute built took a number of
14:43 customers away the first year from my
14:45 previous company and then the following
14:47 year basically took the rest after
14:48 people were like okay Jordan’s not GNA
14:50 go under you know we’re g to trust him
14:52 to move our business over there um so so
14:54 so that was really you know that was
14:56 like me and a bookkeeper at that point
14:59 sales
14:60 yeah you you skipped a lot of detailss
14:01 there how’ you buy that how’ you afford
14:03 that I mean you know what was the deal
14:04 structure like to be able to do that
14:06 right no so this this was a startup this
14:08 was a startup so this start yeah this
14:12 this was me I I saw the opportunity from
14:14 my previous company you know I even
14:16 approached my manager said hey there’s
14:17 an opportunity here like that we could
14:19 grow this thing and do this in a better
14:21 way he like no that’s not what we do we
14:22 sell appliances right they were selling
14:23 130 million of appliances a year this is
14:26 like a million dollar market total and
14:29 and maybe had like 500,000 of it so yeah
15:31 I just I I basically competed with them
15:33 the next
15:35 year and so what where’ it go so where
15:37 did it go from there yeah so uh you know
15:41 a couple years in so two years in I’m
15:43 doing a million a year Top Line margins
15:46 were good I you know couple hundred
15:48 thousand on the bottom line SD right
15:50 including my wage um so like a good
15:53 little lifestyle business right I was
15:55 working basically six months of the year
15:57 working maybe 20 hours a week and then
15:59 the winters are off because it’s a
15:00 seasonal business oh wow so like me and
15:03 my wife we went to uh I just got married
15:05 at that point me and my wife we went to
15:07 Phoenix for the winter yeah just just a
15:09 great lifestyle business and then
15:12 started expanding from there so hired a
15:14 sales rep hired uh you know uh kind of
15:17 an operations person started expanding
15:19 different territories different
15:20 provinces in Canada grew it a little bit
15:23 we grew it organically to I think we
15:25 probably got to about three and a half
15:26 million Top Line um in like four years
15:29 and uh but then really kind of Hit the
16:31 the ceiling the market and then we
16:33 started looking at adjacent Markets
16:35 started getting into some different
16:36 products and so we we really stumbled
16:40 across the bigger Market that we play in
16:42 now which is still a niche of a niche
16:44 which is which is the hospitality space
16:46 selling similar but kind of different
16:48 kind of units that go into the hosp a
16:50 hotel um so we kind of play in the hotel
16:52 space we play in the the senior living
16:54 communities and and multi founded and uh
16:57 yeah grew it to you know we prob six
16:60 people four million kind of in 2018 and
16:03 uh and that’s when I stumbled across the
16:05 acquisition stuff that’s when I hired my
16:07 first kind of key hire I hired a CFO
16:10 somebody that I grew up with and then we
16:12 started to professionalize you know
16:14 professionalize the business a little
16:15 bit and and then modernized is the term
16:18 I like to call it yes yeah yeah yeah you
16:20 always professional you just got current
16:22 with the tools there you go yeah and
16:24 we’re and we’re and we’re still you know
16:26 I guess you’re always modernizing always
16:28 modernizing we’re far far from We’re far
16:30 from done um yeah and then 2020 and 2021
17:33 that that’s when those Acquisitions came
17:35 through and uh and and that’s what
17:38 really kind of took us to the level that
17:39 that we’re at now got it and so you were
17:41 you said you had kind of gotten to about
17:43 six or seven million Topline before
17:45 those Acquisitions four yeah we’re at
17:47 four yeah we had about six people but
17:49 four million Top Line maybe bottom line
17:52 we were doing you know 10 to 12% kind of
17:55 kind of 500 Kish okay and so then what
17:58 did that first first acquisition look
17:60 like right you know what was the revenue
17:01 that it was bringing what was the bottom
17:03 line it was bringing and how did you
17:05 structure that acquisition yeah bottom
17:07 line was negative a million dollars nice
17:10 wow so you went for one of those went
17:12 bottom line of 500 to bottom line
17:14 negative know 500 so yeah yeah so um
17:19 that that deal was I don’t I don’t want
17:23 to say it’s going to be the deal of my
17:24 lifetime because I I got a long career
17:26 left and and who who knows but you know
17:29 in in in the next 40 45 years that I got
18:32 left it’s going to be hard to beat that
18:34 first deal and it was losing a million
18:36 dollars a year wow and and that’s that’s
18:38 the power of being in the space already
18:42 versus coming in as a financial buyer
18:45 and and truly not just people saying oh
18:48 1 plus one equals three but like knowing
18:52 how 1 plus one 10 and and seeing it when
18:55 you look at you know the asset when you
18:57 look at the balance sheet you look at
18:58 p&l so a few let me break that down a
18:01 few ways that that happened so direct
18:03 competitor right they’ve been in the
18:05 space for a lot longer than us a lot
18:08 more knowledge a lot more talent and
18:10 they had much better supplier
18:12 relationships but they had been run by a
18:15 micro company in in Canada great company
18:19 but they had mismanaged this asset and
18:22 they hired a couple bad CEOs they did an
18:24 ill- fated us expansion which most
18:28 companies Canadian companies do they see
18:30 the Holy Grail of the US market and they
19:32 screw it up and lose a bunch of money
19:34 and that and that’s what happened so
19:36 they were historically kind of a 400
19:38 500k bit of business and then they tried
19:42 to expand to the States this is their
19:44 second CEO that they were on and it was
19:47 just a colossal just cluster you know so
19:51 that happened and then what else
19:52 happened in 20120 lockdowns right so the
19:55 Canadian government says No More Travel
19:58 not Hotel Market get decimated like
19:00 decimated in March of 2020 and so this
19:04 PE company is like okay we’re going to
19:05 try to make this work we screwed up in
19:08 the US we lost all this money and now
19:10 our core Market is gone and uh and
19:13 they’re like y let’s call Jordan and so
19:17 I uh you know I I I bought that thing
19:20 for less than inventory value and this
19:25 is like everything that came with it
19:27 trucks equipment you know all the people
20:31 $6 million customer list which at that
20:33 point wasn’t six million because there
20:35 was there’s hardly any Market there but
20:37 that’s the existing base of customers
20:40 and I bought it for probably 70% of
20:44 inventory value all of that inventory we
20:47 sold eventually right as the market came
20:49 back and we inherited Talent you know
20:52 our director of product was the CEO of
20:54 that company he he came on board with us
20:57 he’s been on board for five years now
20:58 he’s kind of the most knowledgeable guy
20:59 product wise in our space in Canada and
20:02 we have another sales rep that’s still
20:03 with us from that company and and we
20:05 were able to leverage their supplier
20:07 relationships and a few other things
20:10 where that negative million eida that
20:13 they were producing within a year and a
20:15 half after it was tucked in and
20:17 integrated and you know we we we had to
20:19 let go basically the whole team other
20:21 than those two people they were carrying
20:22 just a massive amount of payroll it is
20:24 crazy that negative million eida
20:26 basically turned into a positive million
20:28 eida within a a year and a half great
21:31 great story story so so dollars wise
21:34 right what were you buying it for and
21:35 were you able to self fund that or do
21:36 you have to kind of put in some sort of
21:38 you know debt or structure or anything
21:39 else that one was all self-funded
21:42 because um you know our our line of
21:44 credit we are we are margined at 50% of
21:48 inventory so we bought it at 70% of
21:51 inventory so basically that covers the
21:53 whole thing right there and we and we
21:54 had cash as well um so we had you know
21:56 zero zero debt required for that one and
21:58 then when you brought all that inventory
21:60 in that line did that line adjust to
21:01 more well think could use the line of
21:03 buas you brought 20% essentially right
21:06 the 50% yeah beautiful beautiful yeah
21:10 yeah so you can see why I say it’s gonna
21:12 be hard to beat that deal you know in
21:15 terms of the the deal of my lifetime and
21:17 it was my first one right so it really
21:20 it really kind of um in a away it it’s
21:24 it’s I’m not going to say negative but
21:27 it’s set my expectations a little bit
21:28 200 I talk to these businesses now and
22:31 they’re like yeah you know we’re looking
22:32 for 5x and you know four 4.5 I’m like 5x
22:36 I’m paying I’m used to paying onx or you
22:39 know inventory value so I got to adjust
22:41 my expectations a little bit or you just
22:42 need to chase distressed assets and and
22:44 there’s your other option right that
22:46 could be something you’re just naturally
22:47 good at you don’t know well that kind of
22:49 leads to the question I was gonna ask so
22:51 30 days after you bought it did you
22:52 still feel like hey this is a home run
22:55 you know because you’re probably in the
22:56 midst of it 30 days in and you’re
22:58 probably like man what I sign up for
22:59 right yeah I did honestly I did um but
22:03 I’ll give a big shout out to my CFO at
22:05 the time uh his name is Tyson and uh he
22:08 he’s we we mutually parted way a little
22:11 bit ago he’s not currently my CFO but we
22:13 had great great relationship did a great
22:15 fiveyear run together he was integrating
22:17 with me and without him there I wouldn’t
22:19 have been able to do it I mean he you
22:21 know was the financial side more
22:22 analytical kind of made the integration
22:25 work I did more of the sales side and
22:27 and just the high level stuff so yeah 30
22:30 days in I’m not going to say it wasn’t
23:31 hard um you know we had a bunch of stuff
23:33 to figure out like just all the little
23:34 things you guys know that that come with
23:36 buying a business there was just all
23:37 those little details you know down to
23:39 the customer communication sending the
23:41 checks to the new place just all the
23:42 things so it was our first time doing it
23:44 um but it was fun honestly it was it was
23:46 not to say that there wasn’t stress but
23:49 uh I I enjoyed it if I was doing it by
23:51 myself it would have been brutal but
23:54 thankfully I was doing it with somebody
23:55 that had a a synergistic skill set to
23:57 mind that’s nice so how many did you add
23:59 so you had it sound like we added 20 wow
23:03 we had we added 20 we had a team
23:05 previous team of like nine we added 20
23:08 and we ended up keeping three out of
23:11 those 20 and then one of those we let go
23:13 like eight months after that cut
23:16 overhead pretty quick right there yeah I
23:19 mean and so we you know there was a cost
23:21 of that right so there’s the sence costs
23:24 that we we took on that uh yeah we we we
23:29 we ended up paying out I don’t know
23:30 probably probably 80k of severance and
24:32 things like that but when you factor in
24:35 what we bought the deal at it you know
24:36 it’s it’s not
24:38 Material got it so you did the first one
24:41 obviously it worked out you know year
24:42 and a half into it kind of grinding
24:44 through got it situated I have a little
24:47 bit of a chip on your shoulder right
24:48 what what happened then you know kind of
24:50 what was that next acquisition yeah so I
24:53 mean I’m simultaneously working and
24:55 sorry then maybe just to recap for the
24:56 audience how what was your iida and
24:58 margin before the next acquisition or
24:00 sorry your revenues inhibit is what I
24:02 meant to say yeah
24:04 so as you guys know right there’s always
24:07 the J curve as we’re integrating we’re
24:09 and we’re cutting costs we’re realizing
24:11 the efficiencies so you know probably
24:14 six months in we’re at maybe maybe eight
24:18 eight and a half million now trailing 12
24:21 just because the the Market’s not back
24:22 in Canada yet right like we’re still in
24:24 the dip so our EA is probably still
24:27 hovering around the same 400 500 just
24:29 because the efficiencies hasn’t haven’t
25:31 been realized and the whole bet is that
25:33 you know the government’s not going to
25:35 keep people locked down forever so the
25:38 Market’s going to return and that hadn’t
25:39 happened yet but as we’re doing this
25:43 acquisition I’m working on another
25:45 acquisition in Quebec for for another
25:47 competitor that I’ve been talking to for
25:49 years one of these guys I was reaching
25:50 out to back in
25:52 2018 and and he’s and him and his wife
25:55 it’s basically a mom and pop team and
25:57 they’re doing about five million they’re
25:59 in Quebec and and they got a couple
25:00 people helping them they’re getting
25:02 spooked as well because they’re working
25:04 60 hours a week they’ve built this thing
25:06 over 20 years and now they’re seeing
25:08 like okay this this Market is you know
25:10 the government is continuing to lock
25:12 down the hotel Market this was probably
25:14 like a a year into you know the the
25:17 covid madness and um so they go to
25:20 market with their business you know
25:21 obviously they they call me I’m pretty
25:23 sure I’m the only one that looked at it
25:25 and and so we bought that one I bought
25:28 that one in in April of 21 this previous
26:31 deal was done in October of 2020 so we
26:34 did these two deals within six months of
26:35 each other and you know so we go from
26:37 four million in Revenue to 11 and a half
26:41 or 12 like within six months and and not
26:45 that all that revenue is kind of
26:47 realized yet but like that that’s what
26:49 it ended up being when trip doing it and
26:52 you’re doing it when things are down
26:54 you’re not doing it so which is you know
26:55 it’s that mindset of going in when what
26:57 is it the the buff Blood on the streets
26:60 yeah Blood on the streets Blood on the
26:01 streets it and and you know what easier
26:03 easier said than done I i’ heard that so
26:05 many times before but it really going
26:08 through that experience it it made me
26:10 realize why so many people when there’s
26:12 blood on the streets they’re a four
26:14 seller versus a buyer it’s tough no I
26:16 mean I I have to constantly tell myself
26:18 that because you’re in the midst of it
26:20 things are not looking up and you know
26:22 you’re basically saying hey I’m making a
26:24 conscious BET right against the Norms
26:26 but just kind of trusting in yourself to
26:29 work through the challenges as they
27:30 arise right and that’s where having
27:31 partners is good too right it kind of
27:33 helps give you a sounding board that hey
27:36 you know emotions aside and Market aside
27:39 like the math supports it or the
27:41 industry supports it or the niche
27:42 supports it and working through it but I
27:44 mean you know it’s tough right and you
27:46 kind of need to be steadfast to actually
27:50 go accomplish what you’re trying to do
27:52 and you need to be prepared there
27:53 there’s no way you can pull the trigger
27:55 if if you haven’t been preparing for
27:57 that moment right so I’d already doing
27:59 the work leading up to you know the The
27:01 lockdowns Happening I didn’t know that
27:03 was coming but I was doing the work I
27:06 already had these relationships we had
27:08 the cash our balance sheet was I mean
27:09 it’s still it was small but it was it
27:11 was healthy and and we were ready to
27:13 pull the trigger so yeah yeah it’s it’s
27:15 easy to say oh yeah just buy when
27:16 everybody else is selling but there’s a
27:18 reason why most people don’t and they’re
27:21 not prepared and not luck right like
27:24 people say it’s luck and it’s really the
27:25 intersection of experience and
27:26 opportunities right like you have to
27:29 have the foundation ready to go to be
28:30 able to leverage the things that show up
28:32 once they do show up that you know
28:34 people say is luck right well said my
28:37 partner talk about all the time right
28:38 like some of our businesses you know is
28:39 a pain but like that was needed to get
28:41 to the next you know to see that next
28:44 Valley behind the mountain right you
28:45 have to keep going up each Hill to get
28:47 to the next one and so how did that next
28:49 acquisition get structured so you said
28:51 there were five million of Revenue
28:52 bottom line was probably 500 to a
28:54 million yeah even maybe a little bit
28:57 less 400 to 500 they their their margins
28:60 were pretty thin they they were just a
28:02 reseller so the the the biggest the
28:04 biggest lever that we pulled in all this
28:07 is we was margin expansion of product so
28:10 we when we purchased these competitors
28:13 we would take on their lower margin you
28:15 know their sales their their their p&l
28:17 at a lower margin and then when we
28:19 changed over to our brand we would
28:21 expand those margins significantly and
28:23 that’s where the the EA expansion you
28:25 know on that just all felt bottom line
28:27 so they were at you know $400 to 500
28:29 kind of four to six million Topline yeah
29:32 kind of 10% margins maybe a little bit
29:34 less and that was actually a pretty easy
29:36 integration because there was no
29:37 employees involved you know so really
29:39 just buying the relationships just
29:41 buying the customer list yeah and then
29:43 just transferring those over and so we
29:45 spent you know a week with the sellers
29:47 we had the seller on like a little
29:49 three-month consultant agreement you
29:51 know paying hourly and it was honestly
29:53 kind of kind of simple compared to the
29:55 first one what did you buy it for and
29:56 how did you structure it bought it for I
29:00 think it was
29:02 1.25 times earnings oh not bad oh
29:05 earning I to say 1.25 million okay 1.25
29:08 times earnings so earning in that you
29:11 know let’s say 600 Kish range yeah yeah
29:15 exactly so you can see why I’m kind of
29:16 spoiled now yeah and so were you able
29:19 and I guess these were reseller so they
29:21 didn’t have inventory right so you had
29:22 to come up with that 600 no they had
29:25 inventory they had inventory but they so
29:27 they would resell other brands but they
29:30 would stock product but it wasn’t a big
30:32 working capital uh situation may maybe
30:36 300 to 400k in in inventory on hand
30:40 couple hundred so you use your margin
30:42 you probably bought three 400 and call
30:44 it a day yeah we we took a little bit of
30:46 debt on this one um I think we took out
30:49 like it was just like a 400k fixed note
30:53 um and then uh and then used our line to
30:56 to do the working capital and for the
30:58 listen is like it’s you know that’s
30:59 what’s beautiful about this space you
30:01 can structure it a million different
30:02 ways and it’s about getting creative
30:03 right I mean if you have a good line
30:05 that says hey we we’ll leverage up 50%
30:07 of your inventory well you could use it
30:09 as an acquisition I mean we did the same
30:10 thing on a where we got a line on our AP
30:12 the business we bought always had five
30:14 and a half million of AP outstanding any
30:16 given time guess what that is money I
30:18 can tap into to help get the transaction
30:20 done and so it’s about being creative
30:22 and figuring out the tools that you have
30:23 available to help get the deal done I’m
30:26 just CU you’re saying AP do you mean
30:28 oh sorry I meant say AR I don’t know why
30:30 I said yes yeah we had a $5 million line
31:32 AR line of credit that we leveraged to
31:34 go and buy a business and that was you
31:36 know a fourth of the capital stack
31:38 beautiful yeah that’s beautiful and then
31:40 we also took back seller notes on both
31:42 these I forgot to mention that we took
31:44 uh the seller took back 20 20 I think we
31:46 did 20% on the first one I think 30%
31:49 especially because it’s distress so I
31:51 mean I bet you you know in your mind you
31:52 know that you can get the cash there if
31:54 you had the time and it’s probably not a
31:56 tough conversation to explain the S he I
31:57 just need a short two one twoyear window
31:59 I don’t need it for a 10-year note I
31:01 need a one twoyear note and you know
31:03 let’s roll yeah I mean so here’s here’s
31:06 a funny story and I kind of I’m a little
31:08 bit hesitant to share this but I think
31:10 it’s I think it’s okay so on the first
31:12 deal that we did this is this is just
31:14 starting with all the zoom stuff right
31:17 this is like March of 2020 when we’re
31:19 starting to talk and everyone’s getting
31:21 used to zoom so I’m talking with I guess
31:24 it’s the VP or the operation manager at
31:27 this private Equity company
31:29 and we’re on Zoom going back and forth
32:30 and I’m having internet issues or Zoom
32:32 issues on like my feed’s going down and
32:35 it’s happening throughout the call and
32:37 so we’re we’re talking we’re talking
32:38 kind of dealing with it and then it kind
32:40 of happens again right and then like my
32:44 side goes down on the zoom call but then
32:46 like comes back right up and then I can
32:47 hear them again but they think that my
32:50 that that I’m cut off huh and so it
32:52 comes back right away and I kind of
32:54 realize that and then I hear them
32:55 talking to each other saying oh this is
32:58 great I I can’t believe this guy came
32:60 along we’re going to be able to dump
32:01 this thing like let’s just get rid of it
32:04 this isuh and and and I’m hearing this
32:07 on the other side and I’m and I’m like
32:09 you know so a couple seconds later okay
32:11 guys I’m I’m back right and so you can
32:14 you can imagine how my offer um sh
32:17 shifted a little bit right it it shifted
32:19 a little bit Yeah so so you know there’s
32:21 there’s a I I maybe got a little bit
32:23 lucky on that one all right well no I
32:26 mean you’re just aware and that’s some
32:27 of the key that’s being in the game
32:28 right I mean the longer you you you play
32:30 the game of business the better you get
33:31 at it at least you hope and uh one of
33:34 the things I know flat out from
33:36 anybody’s success book or whatever it’s
33:39 that grit right it’s the ability to to
33:41 just grit through the tough times push
33:43 through make it work and uh sometimes
33:45 you don’t know where it’s going to come
33:46 from and it looks like you got a couple
33:48 deals that just popped up Co came out of
33:50 Co so tell us how did that work so just
33:52 kind of wrapping up that story right
33:54 you’ve got these two businesses right
33:56 that you bought them in the and really
33:57 the bottom and then
33:00 2122 what happens in that industry what
33:02 happens well no I mean you guys are
33:04 lucky in Texas you got you got you guys
33:06 are in Texas right yeah yeah yeah I you
33:09 got you I have a friend in Texas and you
33:11 know y were going to baseball games when
33:13 we were still like at a had a year of
33:15 lockdowns left so Canada was brutal
33:17 during this whole thing it was brutal
33:19 our government is uh is is yeah I won’t
33:21 get into
33:22 that podcast no there the spring of 22
33:26 and yeah it was it was still going on it
33:28 was night and day versus Texas yeah yeah
34:30 we had like you know you had vaccine
34:32 cards up here and all you weren’t
34:34 allowed to go anywhere all that stuff so
34:36 you know it took a little while right
34:38 like but by by summer of 22 maybe even
34:42 getting into later 22 the market started
34:44 to come back in hotels and so it was
34:47 like the thesis played out that this
34:49 Market is g to return and that’s really
34:51 when we started realizing you know all
34:54 of those synergies and and when those
34:57 books of business that we ac
34:58 they prove to be they prove to be sticky
34:01 we’re now to this day you know we’re 13
34:02 we’re going to do about 13 million this
34:04 year so we really haven’t grown
34:06 organically um you know which is kind of
34:08 a different issue that that I can talk
34:10 about if you guys want but because all
34:12 our growth’s been inorganic it really
34:14 we’ve just our customers are just there
34:16 right so we’re just servicing existing
34:18 customers which isn’t a bad thing I’m
34:20 not complaining but it’s a different
34:21 skill set that’s that’s the Playbook
34:23 right I mean the Playbook you bought was
34:24 to take these distress situations and
34:27 just operate them and operating them
34:29 means you’re growing inorganically once
35:31 things are sizzling maybe in another 12
35:33 months then you can figure out hey how
35:34 do we start to grow more organically
35:37 right and that’s the point that we’re at
35:38 now right so that that was my whole
35:39 point in saying that it’s a different
35:40 skill set so one of our skill sets is
35:42 inorganic growth through acquisition and
35:44 now we need to relearn the skill set of
35:46 growing organically which we’re doing or
35:48 you go find another business to buy to
35:49 roll iny I mean that’s the that’s the
35:52 Adam coffee you know book Playbook right
35:54 buy keep buying 30% growth and you know
35:57 that’s that’s the that is a Playbook it
35:60 sounds like you you might know it well
35:01 so that might be your thing yeah yeah I
35:04 mean but then there’s always I guess
35:07 situations where you need to grow
35:09 organically in order to loosen up those
35:11 deals so that’s that’s kind of the point
35:13 that we we’ve come to now because the
35:14 space is so small right there’s there’s
35:17 only a certain amount of players that
35:19 you know they need to have a reason to
35:20 sell you gotta scare them that you’re
35:22 going to take their business one way or
35:23 the other so yeah yeah so that’s that’s
35:26 kind of that’s kind of where we’re at
35:27 now so today you’re you know you’re run
35:29 that 13 14 million of Revenue right what
36:32 about your margins how much have they
36:33 improved right because I think the
36:34 businesses even whenever you started you
36:36 were in that you were in that five to
36:38 eight five to n%c margin so yeah a
36:40 little bit higher little bit higher
36:41 probably closer to 10 um now now we’re
36:43 in kind of the 18 to 20 on on the bottom
36:46 yeah almost doubled the margins which
36:48 really you know forx value in that so
36:51 yeah yeah yeah so for a Distribution
36:53 Company extremely healthy you know it
36:55 gives us a lot of opportunities to
36:57 acquire Talent hired a great coo hired a
36:60 great director of sales looking at some
36:01 product expansion opportunities you know
36:03 looking at some different other
36:04 opportunities and and obviously always
36:06 working on what’s what’s the next deal
36:08 so yeah the balance sheet is is healthy
36:11 and and it really sets us up for you
36:13 know getting after our beag which is to
36:14 be a 50 million Top Line by by
36:17 2030 we also Implement EOS and so we’re
36:20 actually the Pinnacle flavor of we have
36:21 our uh quarterly planning week after
36:24 next so or planning so so I think the
36:26 biggest question is what does mom and
36:27 dad say
36:28 because they you just have to have blown
37:30 them away H they’re like holy [ __ ] well
37:32 no he was smart he converted the 30k
37:34 into a 20-year note so still paying that
37:38 down yeah I I got rid of that as quick
37:40 as I could I think the first 30k I made
37:43 I I paid them back and yeah you want you
37:45 want the Thanksgiving or whatever you
37:46 want it to be healthy right you know you
37:48 don’t want to have those burdens Yeah
37:50 just something about you know debt
37:51 hanging over your head I’m a pretty
37:53 conservative guy when it comes to
37:54 leverage like I’ve taken out a little
37:56 bit here and there just to make things
37:58 happen when I have no other choice I’m
37:00 pretty conservative with debt I I really
37:02 value the sleep at night Factor yeah and
37:05 um yeah so so I’m not somebody that’s
37:08 gonna go out uh at this stage of my
37:10 career and and and bet it all right and
37:12 so I think there’s there’s the different
37:14 seasons when I was early in my 20s yeah
37:16 you got nothing to lose so you’re gonna
37:18 go take out the 90% SBA loan and do the
37:21 deal right you know I’m in my late 30s
37:24 now and you know I got some net worth
37:26 and uh I got a family four kids kids I’m
37:29 not going to bet at all right I’m I’m
38:30 going to grow a different way um yeah so
38:33 that’s that’s where I’m at got it that’s
38:35 a good seg way to maybe the last
38:36 question before we move on to the rocket
38:37 round which is you know what are you
38:38 spending your time on these days right
38:40 in your role yeah so I am spending my
38:44 time on getting my leadership team
38:46 really pouring into them developing them
38:48 uh and the COO that that reports to me
38:51 uh who’s fairly new he’s only six months
38:53 in really developing them to the point
38:55 where they can be that self growing
38:59 company uh that that that self-
38:01 multiplying company that’s kind of
38:03 independent of me we’re not at that
38:05 point yet right I’m still the main
38:06 growth engine in terms of taking us to
38:09 the next level so you know we’re very
38:11 pretty much a self-managing company if I
38:13 step back today you know we’d be flat
38:16 you know maybe over a number of years
38:18 we’d start to to decline a little bit
38:20 but we’re a little ways from being a
38:22 self multiplying company so that’s
38:24 number one for me leadership team
38:25 development number two is is still the
38:27 m&a I got kind of a world of like 10 or
38:30 so companies that I’m constantly
39:32 planting seeds watering those seeds um
39:35 nurturing those relationships and and
39:37 hoping that they they bear fruit one day
39:39 it’s a long game right it’s it’s a long
39:41 sales cycle as you guys know and it
39:43 takes intentionality it takes
39:44 relationship building and and just
39:46 adding Val so that’s what I’m trying to
39:48 do there and in the bigger deals you
39:51 know kind of the you know bigger uh new
39:53 construction projects things like that
39:54 all kind of come in as a closer now now
39:56 and then and and really help out with
39:58 those awesome I know that’s what it’s
39:00 about I mean it was in New York all of
39:02 last week and we left one meeting with
39:04 my partner I told him this relationship
39:06 is not going to be valuable now it’s
39:07 going to be valuable you know eight nine
39:09 touch points later right over the course
39:11 of the next two three years and it’s
39:12 about planning those seeds so that way
39:14 you can later come Harvest and cultivate
39:16 them and go do some cool stuff together
39:18 so yeah it’s a longm game for sure well
39:21 I guess we’ll go ahead and move on to
39:22 our rocket round where we ask the
39:24 interviewer three the same questions so
39:26 first question is what do like to do in
39:28 your free time yeah so as I mentioned I
40:30 got four uh young kids so I mean family
40:33 time for me is so crucial I I don’t work
40:36 Fridays I call it family Fridays um so
40:39 I’m I’m a four day a week you know Gino
40:41 talks about the the working container
40:43 right so so my container is is 32 hours
40:45 a week and then I do Fridays at home I
40:47 love to golf uh we have a short golf
40:49 season up here in wiip pig though so I I
40:51 get in kind of 40 rounds is a year man
40:54 that’s jamming during your season come
40:55 down here Houston Casey he’s kind of a
40:58 golfer really his daughter’s the golfer
40:59 but come down to Houston and you know if
40:02 you have a daughter and she’s got hand
40:03 eye coordination if you want to talk
40:05 about that offline man I’ll tell you
40:06 that we’ve had a lot of fun putting my
40:08 daughter in golf she started at six and
40:11 um you know I find dads that know how to
40:13 play golf uh typically mess it up
40:15 because they you know or if you just
40:18 rush to get an instructor like I did
40:20 because I don’t know anything I mean I
40:21 can play golf but I you know hack I
40:23 didn’t want to teach her my bad habits
40:25 but let let me know I’ll tell you some
40:27 of the tips right yeah that’s my son me
40:30 me and my six-year-old son we we like
41:31 playing he likes just being out there
41:32 with me go to the range and stuff so I’m
41:34 just doing my best just to have him just
41:36 enjoy the time right and not not I don’t
41:38 tell him nothing I just we just go there
41:40 and have that’s awesome yeah yeah and
41:42 then we love to travel so we we go to
41:44 Mexico basically for the winter and then
41:46 we you know we do a bunch of other trips
41:48 during the year uh not a bunch but we
41:50 travel as a family quite a bit and yeah
41:52 so those those be things you know travel
41:54 Golf and family what entrepreneurship
41:56 brings all right next question what’s
41:58 your most memorable moment in your
41:60 business
41:01 Journey yeah it’s it’s that first deal
41:03 you know it’s it’s it’s I knew it like I
41:06 said yeah it’s it’s a pretty easy one
41:09 for me just just how good it all lined
41:10 up um you know kind of a God moment in
41:13 my life how that how that just changed
41:15 the trajectory of of everything you know
41:17 it really it really helped me take it to
41:21 a place where it was a real business
41:23 versus just a Jordan show with people
41:25 around me and it taught me so many
41:28 experiences that uh just opened up my I
42:32 guess my perspective of like what’s
42:33 possible yeah I was ask we didn’t ask
42:35 this during the the main part of the
42:37 interview but did closing that first one
42:40 push you to be a lot more aggressive on
42:43 the followup of the second one or give
42:45 you the confidence to do the second one
42:47 you know kind of did it really push you
42:48 to get the next one done yeah it
42:51 definitely gave me the confidence cuz my
42:53 previous experiences with buying
42:54 businesses was brutal right it was like
42:57 losing money and doing something I don’t
42:58 want to do so definitely gave me the
42:01 confidence and I mean I I don’t want to
42:04 say it this way but it really showed me
42:06 that growth doesn’t have to be a grind
42:08 right like not that integrating a
42:10 business is easy because it’s not you
42:12 guys know but that we that you can have
42:14 a lever that you can pull that is like
42:17 Rocket Fuel you know not to go back to
42:19 EOS again but and it was kind of
42:21 surprising I don’t want to use the word
42:23 easy but like there was an aspect to
42:26 that like just because it all lined up
42:27 and I did right I mean things can be
42:29 straightforward but not easy yeah yeah
43:32 the integration wasn’t easy it was hard
43:34 but it it seemed almost like a just just
43:38 a hack it’s like how like how could this
43:40 be possible that we could acquire this
43:42 much business for this price and grow
43:44 the company by this where growing
43:46 organically like that would have taken
43:48 so much more time and effort and and so
43:51 really it opened up my eyes to what’s
43:53 possible and I think maybe I have to
43:55 dial it back from those expectations I
43:57 mentioned earlier awesome and then last
43:60 question what is your favorite tool of
43:02 resource I mean you know so I’ve read
43:04 all the books um L m&a books you know
43:08 basically all the all all the business
43:09 books I I go to a bunch of
43:11 conferences H you know I’m I’m sure a
43:14 bunch of your audience knows like all
43:15 the books right The Bu then build um the
43:18 Main Street conference I’ve been going
43:19 to uh you know permanent Brent permanent
43:22 Equity conference there the last couple
43:23 years been amazing gotten so much good
43:25 stuff out of that you know I maybe I’ll
43:27 take different approach on this question
43:28 I think there’s there’s so many great
43:30 tools out there you got so much good
44:32 content you know girdle’s putting out
44:34 all this content now and and um the
44:37 enduring Ventures guys it it really can
44:40 get overwhelming I think with how much
44:42 is out there that and so much of it
44:45 isn’t applicable to your current stage
44:48 and so I made the mistake of like kind
44:50 of over engineering some things when our
44:53 business wasn’t ready for it or I wasn’t
44:54 ready for it that you know my my advice
44:57 for people listening is depending on the
44:58 stage that you’re at usually the answer
44:01 is like looking for in whatever the
44:04 tools are the books the resources the
44:05 content the courses looking for that one
44:08 piece of um wisdom or knowledge or
44:11 advice that you need for your particular
44:13 season right now and just implementing
44:16 that and then taking action on it and
44:19 whenever I’ve gotten something from a
44:21 book a piece of content a resource
44:23 that’s just you know really change the
44:26 trajectory it’s it’s it’s specific and
44:29 it’s applicable to me in that season and
45:31 the best example is that one nugget of
45:33 wisdom I got at that conference from the
45:35 guy saying hey just reach out to your
45:36 competitors and build relationships it’s
45:38 great advice that that took that changed
45:40 my life right there that’s the value of
45:41 being around people right and I think
45:43 I’ll give a shout out to uh Matt Paul I
45:45 think we Wilding group right he we
45:47 interviewed him and you know what he’s
45:49 doing now he’s done a multiple
45:50 acquisition but he’s really focused on
45:51 the strategy side helping entrepreneurs
45:53 and you know he kind of talks he said
45:55 something that was almost like obvious
45:57 in hindsight right until someone tells
45:59 you it and it’s really you know whenever
45:02 you have a business you just think
45:03 growth right like all you fixate on is
45:05 grow grow grow grow grow but really like
45:07 businesses have multiple stages right
45:09 and there’s a time where you’re focused
45:10 on growing Revenue at the cost of people
45:13 but then there’s a time where you’re
45:13 willing to take a loss to grow the
45:15 people and there’s kind of these
45:16 different phases in a company and it
45:18 once you start to break it down and
45:19 compartmentalize it it’s like oh duh
45:21 right and I’ve been through all those
45:23 parts of a business and it’s just you
45:25 know it’s always good to be able to
45:26 relate and really focus into hey what do
45:28 I should I focus on right now given
45:30 where the business is Right am I
46:31 focusing on profits am I focusing on
46:32 Revenue am I focusing on employees I
46:34 think he had a fourth one too but really
46:36 dial that
46:37 in love that awesome all right well
46:41 Jordan I think Jordan great ton of
46:43 information big help for all our
46:45 listeners um and it’s great so let me
46:47 ask this how can people get a hold of
46:49 you yeah linkedin’s the best for me um
46:52 I’m not too active on there right now I
46:53 used to be but uh if anybody wants to
46:55 connect I’m always happy to take 30
46:57 minute um chat get to know people in the
46:60 space I love connecting with with
46:01 Searchers and investors and um yeah for
46:05 for me in the future you know I’m really
46:06 looking to continue the rollup that
46:08 we’re doing with with genuine Comfort my
46:10 current opco and uh and then looking for
46:13 uh down the road another platform to
46:15 invest in um so yeah that’s that’s where
46:17 I’m going fantas put that in the show
46:20 notes and so Jordan thank you very much
46:23 and next time you go into Mexico just
46:24 make sure to stop on by Houston you’ll
46:26 fly right over us anyways come say hi
46:28 it’s not too far that’s right thanks
46:29 guys appreciate it thank you thank you
47:31 Jordan thank you for listening to the
47:33 m&a Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
47:35 today’s podcast and would like to
47:36 support us please leave us a rating and
47:38 a review after you listen I’m Casey menu
47:40 and I look forward to talking with you
47:41 next week
