Join hosts Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa on the M&A Launchpad Podcast as they welcome Jeremey Ames, Co-Founder and CEO of Guidant Financial. With over two decades of experience and a track record of helping 30,000 individuals step into business ownership, Jeremey brings invaluable insights to the table. Together, they explore different routes to entrepreneurship, from leveraging retirement funds to choosing between franchises and startups. Jeremey also breaks down current trends in business acquisitions, while sharing advice on navigating challenges and avoiding common pitfalls faced by aspiring business owners. Don’t miss this expert-driven conversation packed with actionable tips for your entrepreneurial journey!
Tune in for an engaging and informative discussion packed with actionable takeaways for anyone involved in M&A or wealth management!
In this episode:
- Using retirement funds to become your own angel investor
- Franchises vs. Startups
- Relationship building for successful deals
- The changing landscape of business acquisition
You can contact Jeremy at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyamesentrepreneur/
Additional Resources:
- Join the M&A Launchpad Community at the M&A Launchpad Conference on May 3rd in Houston. Get your tickets here: https://www.malaunchpad.com/ and use code LAUNCH for $200 Off
- Access our archive of video interviews on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@MALaunchpad
- 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 (https://equity-launchpad.com/)
🎧 Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6VYlwxxuEKpT06rz28bXvD?si=vXNcpS5PQxOp8JBNXTBl4g
🎧 Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/funding-business-acquisition-with-your-retirement/id1740382586?i=1000700126755
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Transcript
00:00 hey are you thinking about buying or
00:02 selling a business join us May 3rd for
00:05 the m&a Launchpad conference this is the
00:07 Premier conference for entrepreneurs
00:09 investors navigating mergers and
00:11 Acquisitions in the lower Middle Market
00:13 you’re going to connect with top
00:14 dealmakers gain Insight strategies to
00:17 take your business search and your
00:18 business Acquisitions to the next level
00:20 so get your tickets now at M
00:23 launchpad.com and use the code launch
00:26 for $200 off your ticket we’re looking
00:28 forward to seeing you all right on
00:29 today’s episode we interviewed Jeremy
00:31 Ames with guid and financial and we
00:33 talked about a lot of different things
00:34 as an entrepreneur to consider right
00:37 whether that be how do you go raise
00:39 equity and you know leverage a
00:40 self-directed IRA or 401k to help you go
00:42 buy a business or what does it look like
00:44 to get into franchises and some of the
00:46 kind of other opportunities for for
00:48 people and really just some of the you
00:50 know I want to call them pitfalls of
00:52 being an entrepreneur right and kind of
00:54 how difficult it can be how to find
00:56 partners and how to kind of build from
00:57 there so Casey what was some of your
00:58 takeaways and we covered a lot of stuff
01:00 this guy’s a Serial entrepreneur so you
01:03 know love to talk to serial
01:04 entrepreneurs but you know one of the
01:06 things I think that a lot of people
01:08 forget is that you know if you’re in
01:09 your 40s 30s and you’ve had a good job
01:12 and a good career you’ve got your
01:13 retirement account that can be your down
01:15 payment to buy a company and as you know
01:18 Jeremy was talking about is that a lot
01:20 of the the sellers you know if they like
01:22 you and they see your vision you may not
01:24 have to take out an SBA loan you can use
01:26 that retirement account to put down and
01:28 now all of a sudden you don’t have to
01:29 deal with that type of burden and and
01:32 that’s pretty powerful and so goes into
01:34 detail on a lot of great stuff and I
01:36 think for anybody that’s that’s
01:37 interested in buying a business and
01:38 you’ve had a career you’ve got a 401k
01:41 this is a do not miss conversation yeah
01:42 and in addition to that I mean it was
01:44 just like he said Ser seral serial
01:46 entrepreneur right we’ve hit some of the
01:47 pitfalls that he’s hit we’ve had the
01:49 same challenges he’s had and there’s a
01:51 lot of nuggets in this one about those
01:53 different topics and even going as far
01:55 as Shiny Toy syndrome right and how do
01:56 you help kind of harness that one so
01:58 this one’s definitely a broad
01:59 conversation lots of different topics to
02:01 go
02:06 through hey guys go ahead and just pause
02:08 the podcast for a second when you’re
02:09 buying a business you need to ensure the
02:11 financial health of the company the
02:13 quality of earnings is Mission critical
02:14 it doesn’t matter what size business
02:16 you’re buying Patrick oconnell Advisory
02:18 Group they’re dynamic they do a great
02:20 job they’re to look over your shoulder
02:21 they’re going to make sure that you’re
02:22 doing the right thing and this guy’s
02:23 done over 200 buyers successfully just
02:26 like you so reach out to them and it’s
02:28 oconnell advisory group.com click the
02:30 link in our show notes can’t live
02:32 without this hey Jeremy welcome to the
02:34 show hey thanks for having me you bet
02:37 man so serial entrepreneur man of many
02:39 talents and kind of helped the launch a
02:41 lot of business I think we have a lot to
02:42 talk through today so maybe give the
02:44 maybe just give the listeners a little
02:45 bit of background about yourself yeah so
02:48 I started my first business about 23
02:50 years ago it was a real estate company
02:53 uh it doesn’t exist today but it did
02:54 lead me to a number of other
02:56 opportunities of which this one with
02:58 guid and financial we’ve been working at
02:59 for 22 two years we’ve helped over
03:01 30,000 people get started as business
03:04 owners primarily using their retirement
03:06 funds to actually invest in a business
03:08 where their retirement plan becomes an
03:10 owner of the company they’re not
03:11 borrowing money from their 401K they’re
03:13 actually becoming their own angel
03:15 investor in essence it’s pretty amazing
03:17 my my wife um 10 years ago did a
03:20 franchise and we used her 401k to do the
03:23 franchise fees and all that good stuff
03:25 so we went through that process and you
03:27 know it was it it was a little clunky
03:29 for us back in those days because I
03:31 think it was relatively new and I
03:32 imagine you guys have you know but but
03:34 very powerful right because we we were
03:36 able to utilize those funds to create a
03:39 business and it led my wife to the
03:41 career she’s in right now so it was well
03:43 worth what we did what did you buy and
03:45 how did it go the franchise wasn’t great
03:48 uh she bought an she was she’s in
03:50 corporate events and so it was an event
03:53 management company and but it led her to
03:55 the company she’s been with now for
03:57 eight years and she’s been doing a great
03:58 job there uh they became her client then
04:01 they hired her and then that franchise
04:02 kind of fell off but man it all because
04:05 we took that retirement account utilized
04:07 that for our business it was it was
04:09 powerful yeah and for people to know I
04:11 mean you know people don’t realize that
04:12 you can use your retirement accounts
04:13 whether it’s a 401k or an IRA right and
04:15 you can use it to go buy a business you
04:18 can also use it to invest passively in
04:20 some other syndication too so for for us
04:22 on the real estate side we’ve had a ton
04:24 you know millions of dollars that has
04:25 been invested through people getting
04:26 their own self-directed IAS and so not
04:29 the uh not the topic for the show but
04:31 something is important for people to
04:32 realize because it’s it’s another way to
04:34 unlock potential right you’re constantly
04:35 looking for tools in your utility belt
04:37 as an entrepreneur of how do I go
04:39 accomplish the next goal totally yeah
04:42 and so then I guess kind of taking on
04:44 from there so maybe fast forward a
04:45 little bit so after that W you kind of
04:47 end up
04:48 going you mean what have I done since
04:50 then yeah uh we founded a few different
04:53 companies I’ve owned three different
04:54 franchises um probably the biggest thing
04:57 we’ve done recently is about four or
04:59 five years ago split off a company that
05:02 has become a global Staffing firm and
05:05 that company has grown like crazy it’s
05:07 just been perfect timing when you look
05:09 at the move towards remote work and the
05:12 technology that backs up the ability to
05:14 have people support you no matter where
05:15 they are in the world got it and so
05:19 maybe I guess I have a question you’ve
05:20 done franchises you’ve also started a
05:22 business from scratch you know how would
05:24 you compare the two right is it buy then
05:26 build or is it something else you know
05:29 they’re so very different right they I
05:31 see that they serve different purposes I
05:34 think most of the people who are
05:36 effective at the startup game have one
05:38 of two things true one they either have
05:41 something they are really passionate
05:42 about that they understand really really
05:44 well that they want to get into or
05:46 they’re just the kind of person who
05:47 wants to create and work within their
05:49 own set of boundaries and usually
05:51 startup people I don’t worry too much
05:53 about because if you’re a startup person
05:55 you know you’re a startup person it’s
05:56 not like you don’t have to be convinced
05:58 about it franchises I think can be a a
05:60 great way for people to get started
06:02 because it takes some of the
06:03 intimidation Factor down of how many
06:05 things that they have to figure out when
06:07 they first start and for some people
06:09 it’s great and it can turn into great
06:11 things but most franchise models are
06:13 built so that you have to own multiple
06:15 units for it to really be the kind of
06:17 business that’s going to generate a
06:18 meaningful return um so I see one of two
06:22 paths that successful franchises go
06:25 either they get in and they turn
06:27 themselves into a multi-unit franchise
06:29 owner or they get get in and they decide
06:32 I don’t know that the franchise thing is
06:33 right for me but they see some other
06:34 adjacent problem within that industry or
06:37 that format and then they go find the
06:38 solution to it I mean your example Casey
06:41 may be one right your wife is hopping
06:43 from this franchise opportunity she
06:44 finds another opportunity that’s uh
06:46 adjacent with the company she’s working
06:48 with uh and then existing businesses I
06:51 am a big fan of people buying existing
06:52 businesses because if you are somebody
06:55 who’s already a mature professional and
06:58 you are going to become a business owner
07:00 in an environment where you have
07:01 something to lose an existing business
07:03 is the best way to drisk that because
07:06 you can walk into something that has
07:08 existing Revenue existing customers and
07:11 the ability to actually pay you to work
07:13 in the business one of the things that I
07:15 think really syns a lot of new business
07:17 owners is they got to pay their own
07:19 personal expenses and if they start
07:20 drawing that off their investment in the
07:22 business it just chokes out the cash
07:24 flow and the lifeblood of what keeps it
07:26 going especially that first couple years
07:28 you know it’s first couple years cash
07:30 management big time um and uh that’s
07:34 just that piece but it’s nice to know
07:35 like that somebody sitting back right
07:37 now that’s like man I got to go out and
07:38 raise money to buy that company now
07:42 they’re like hey I could actually use my
07:43 401k my retirement to help me buy that
07:46 so talk talk to us a little bit about
07:48 that process because I’m sure you talk
07:49 to people every day and it’s like a
07:51 light bulb comes on like oh man I can
07:53 tap that and and without having to give
07:55 up because let me just explain you go
07:58 out and raise money from an investor
07:59 you’re going to give up Equity right
08:01 it’s going to be just the trade that the
08:02 person’s going to do but if you’re able
08:04 to do a solo acquisition right you’re
08:06 going to get the the the Beast of the
08:09 pie you’re GNA get most of it so you’re
08:10 going to maximize your return profile so
08:12 if you’ve got money sitting there in
08:14 your retirement and you’re saying hey
08:16 should I tap it what is my rate of
08:18 return what is my risk I mean these are
08:20 all the questions someone has to ask
08:21 right it’s like man am I um I’m risking
08:24 my retirement on this you know or I’d
08:27 rather raise money I mean these are like
08:28 real questions that people are sitting
08:30 back asking so how do you help somebody
08:32 think through that
08:34 conversation you know the approach we
08:35 take is just an educational one because
08:37 there’s no one right answer for any one
08:39 person uh for example you know there are
08:42 people who will pay off their mortgages
08:46 people who are really smart about
08:47 finances now when you do the math on
08:49 paying off your mortgage it almost never
08:50 makes sense because you get this giant
08:52 tax write off for it you can keep it at
08:54 a low interest rate but for some people
08:56 it helps them sleep at night right and
08:58 if so awesome that’s the the right thing
08:60 for them some people don’t want to get
09:02 started in a business and have any debt
09:04 because they’re so worried about the
09:06 cash flow payment that’s going to have
09:08 to come out to go to the lender they’re
09:10 worried about leans on their homes
09:12 things like that other people don’t want
09:13 to touch their retirement funds because
09:15 they you know look at those as some
09:16 sacred cow that’s safe for the future so
09:19 we try not to get to um on a soapbox
09:23 about what the right answer is and more
09:25 just educate about the pros and cons now
09:28 I will tell you for most businesses that
09:30 are buying smaller companies raising
09:33 investors is really really tough unless
09:35 you’re going to go with just friends and
09:37 family because most Angel Investors out
09:40 there are looking for a pretty Dynamic
09:42 return and you’re not going to get that
09:43 on a million or two million dollar
09:45 business generally unless it’s part of
09:47 some broader rollup strategy so uh for
09:50 most of those people you’re looking at
09:52 things like friends and family raise SBA
09:55 Loans uh 401K Investments those are like
09:59 those are the big ones and sometimes
10:01 people stack them um I was just talking
10:03 to a client a few months ago who you
10:05 know his big his golden handcuffs for
10:07 him were was that he was so successful
10:09 he was making tons of money like four or
10:10 500,000 a year and that was the thing
10:13 that always kept him from pursuing this
10:15 dream but when he found out he could use
10:17 retirement funds he said oh well wait a
10:19 second I’ve already done the math on an
10:20 SBA loan so if I’ve got a million
10:22 dollars in my retirement account I can
10:24 go out and buy a $5 million business
10:25 with with this and that will have enough
10:28 of a return to be able to pay me
10:30 something that’s not going to force a
10:32 dramatic backstep in terms of my
10:34 lifestyle absolutely I think that’s the
10:37 that’s the thought process someone has
10:38 to have but you know like with my wife
10:40 we didn’t have a huge retirement account
10:42 but it was just it made sense right how
10:44 like why would we utilize like what what
10:47 good is that retirement account if if we
10:50 if the market changes or whatever
10:52 happens but we can take control of it
10:53 today we can put it into something that
10:55 we believe in ourselves can make it
10:57 prosper and and it happened it didn’t
10:59 work out that way to be honest with you
11:01 you know we we took that money out it
11:03 created something that didn’t work but
11:05 it gave that vehic it led to the next
11:07 opportunity which was great yeah and
11:09 maybe I’d say you know as a entrepreneur
11:12 right the capital stack matters and so
11:14 to to kind of your point Jeremy do I
11:16 want to take on debt that matters right
11:18 there’s pros and cons to each of those
11:19 things but then as you kind of move up
11:21 the food chain right you do you know
11:23 start to have to unlock certain things
11:25 whether it’s you know your IRA or
11:27 raising money and I tell people is not
11:30 don’t get deterred about raising money
11:31 there is a art to it right into your
11:33 point it starts with friends and family
11:35 because most people don’t they don’t
11:36 know you well enough to say well hey I
11:38 know you’ve never ran a metal plating
11:40 shop but I’m gonna trust you to do it
11:42 right that that’s the only friends and
11:44 family that know you well enough but
11:45 again there’s money out there to be had
11:47 but it’s about putting together a
11:48 full-blown thesis full-blown strategy
11:50 and you know working that and being able
11:52 to do it and there’s pros and cons with
11:54 investors too because now you have
11:55 someone to report to someone that’s
11:57 going to ask questions someone that’s
11:58 going to keep you accountable right and
11:60 so again people need to ask themselves
12:02 what is it that I actually want and then
12:04 you know how do I match the equity and
12:06 kind of the rest of the capital stack to
12:07 that thesis and that’s key because not
12:10 everybody wants the same thing out of a
12:12 business some people want to grow it to
12:13 be a hundred million do some people just
12:15 want to have a couple million dollar
12:16 company that allows them to go to Europe
12:18 five weeks a year and not have to stress
12:20 about it and be able to make all their
12:21 kids soccer games I mean that’s why
12:24 nothing wrong with that nothing wrong
12:25 with that right yeah and so then jery so
12:28 you know just for the listeners right
12:30 today you mentioned you’ve you’ve helped
12:32 what is it 10,000 companies launch over
12:34 the past couple years 30,000 over 30,000
12:37 all right I got that off only by three
12:38 comp so then I guess you know maybe tell
12:40 us like what are some of the trends that
12:41 you’re seeing right maybe from a couple
12:43 years ago to now what’s been changing
12:44 the market whether that be capital or
12:47 types of deals are people are looking at
12:48 or is it you know methodologies
12:51 Etc we’re seeing a lot more excitement
12:54 towards existing businesses in general
12:56 in terms of demand but I think people
12:59 under estimate how difficult it is to
13:01 find a good existing business and what I
13:03 mean by that is when you look at startup
13:05 versus franchise versus existing
13:07 business a startup is the easiest to get
13:09 into because No One’s Gonna gate you you
13:12 can start tomorrow and do whatever you
13:13 want a franchise is just a little step
13:16 up in terms of how easy it is to get
13:17 started usually requires a little more
13:20 capital and you got to at least go
13:21 through a diligence process but in
13:23 existing business it is heavy work
13:25 upfront to find a good one now it can
13:26 save you a lot of work in the long term
13:28 in terms of all the things that that are
13:29 in place so we’re seeing a lot of
13:31 interest in that but maybe a lot of
13:33 people also stalling out because they’re
13:35 not sure how to connect the dots of
13:36 actually finding and evaluating and
13:39 choosing a company that’s out there um
13:42 we’re seeing really an increased number
13:45 of people that are using retirement
13:47 funds over the last 12 to 18 months uh
13:50 we saw qu a quite a bit of a dip During
13:53 the covid period of time um and as
13:57 interest rates have sort of stayed high
13:59 and inflation has stayed high you’re
14:00 seeing we’re seeing at least a real
14:03 reduction in the number of people that
14:04 are pursuing SBA Loans and the use of
14:07 debt and that’s I think just by nature
14:09 of you know when you’re talking about
14:11 effective 10% rates and then you start
14:13 to do the you know what that turns into
14:16 in terms of a cash payment when you’re
14:17 advertising that over 10 years and what
14:19 that does to the cash flow of the
14:21 business um I think that scares a few
14:23 people off of the SBA side yeah and
14:26 that’s where you start talking to the
14:28 sellers saying hey I can put a hefty
14:30 down payment and I want you to be my you
14:32 be the financer and and that’s where
14:34 that becomes a question right I that
14:35 becomes a very solid conversation which
14:38 I’m having daily with people that are
14:40 you know at that age and they’re looking
14:42 to transition is you know they are open
14:45 to being the bank because one they don’t
14:47 necessarily need the cash two they don’t
14:49 really want the big tax clip to hit them
14:52 you know and three you know most of them
14:54 love their business and there’s a
14:55 longevity there if they really believe
14:57 that you can help them transition their
14:59 business they’ll support you and uh but
15:03 having your 401k being able to draw that
15:05 money down and show them a sizable down
15:07 payment is gonna go a very long way huge
15:10 in fact I just talked to a client last
15:12 week um who bought a golf course and he
15:16 went to this was sort of an
15:17 opportunistic thing his brother sent him
15:19 a Craigslist listing of this golf course
15:22 and it was less it was less expensive to
15:25 buy this golf course than it was for the
15:26 houses that they were looking at in
15:28 downtown Seattle and so he was really
15:30 intrigued he started looking at this
15:32 thing and they decided to put an offer
15:35 in on it but they took the time to go
15:37 down and spend some time at the golf
15:38 course and meet with the seller and that
15:41 made all the difference because when
15:42 they gave their offer they had said hey
15:44 you know we’re going to put this money
15:45 down we’ll close this over 90 to 120
15:47 days and the seller came back and said
15:50 nah we really like your family we think
15:52 you guys are the type of people who can
15:54 keep this thing going in the way that we
15:55 think we want you to close it in 30 days
15:57 and if you can put down 20% will finance
15:60 the rest like you don’t get those
16:02 opportunities unless you are working to
16:04 develop a relationship to so show
16:06 someone that you want to be a
16:07 continuation of their you know Legacy
16:11 and we talk about this a lot right and I
16:12 mean you know again Casey is one of the
16:14 best at I mean it’s important to go
16:15 belly to belly with the sellers right
16:17 with previous podcast we’ve talked about
16:19 how much you know it makes a difference
16:21 just to be one of the only guys that
16:22 show up right most people will try to do
16:24 it all on Zoom or on phone calls or you
16:26 know whatever it is name your thing
16:28 versus just showing up very different
16:30 again you have to understand the
16:31 demographic of the people you’re working
16:32 with right most baby boomers are people
16:35 that didn’t grow up with with cell phone
16:37 in their pocket right it was not about
16:40 the instant communication it was about
16:41 meeting people and having more genuine
16:43 connections and so the more you do that
16:45 the more you relate to them and the more
16:47 you can open up some of those
16:48 opportunities that you might not have
16:49 gotten otherwise and so it’s huge and it
16:51 makes a deal that might be skinny all of
16:54 a sudden start to look like a home run
16:56 right and kind of makes it very
16:57 lucrative yeah and that contion piece is
16:60 so important I think one of the things
17:01 that I often see people get wrong is
17:03 they think they have to posture
17:04 themselves like a peacock where they’re
17:06 preining to make them seem as if they’re
17:08 the best out there rather than just
17:09 connecting with someone and being a real
17:11 human and recognizing there are some
17:13 things that you don’t know when you walk
17:14 into a new business and you want a
17:16 seller who looks at you and sees a
17:17 little piece of themselves in you and
17:19 says I’m willing to help this guy out to
17:21 get started and that was the case with
17:23 this guy who bought the golf course like
17:24 this seller was so fantastic to him in
17:27 terms of the guidance he gave him and
17:28 the way that he helps structure the deal
17:30 and set the stage for the team and that
17:32 never would have happened if he hadn’t
17:34 you know laid those was that golf course
17:35 in Seattle no it was in cous Bay
17:38 actually in Oregon Bay I don’t even know
17:40 where that is that’s the northern part
17:41 right yeah it’s right outside of Bandon
17:43 Dunes like 20 minutes outside of Bandon
17:45 Dunes gotcha okay cool interesting
17:47 probably be very beautiful but you you
17:50 probably get on the course for four
17:51 months out of the year it’s probably
17:52 very seasonal right yeah although he’s
17:55 done some interesting things they built
17:56 a big um covered area over the driving
17:59 range they’ve done a lot of things with
18:01 sort of community so yeah they make a
18:03 huge part of their money in the summer
18:06 but then they also make a big chunk of
18:08 their money at the beginning of the year
18:09 with membership so there’s really two
18:11 components to it right it’s the vacation
18:14 visitor season and then it’s the
18:15 membership which is really about the
18:17 connection to the local community and
18:18 that’s something I think he’s done
18:20 really well with with this business yeah
18:22 and if you get it right I mean that’s
18:23 that’s that’s pretty beautiful
18:25 especially if you don’t have a big debt
18:26 that you’re dealing with with the with
18:27 the lender right yep
18:30 and stuff’s expensive these days
18:31 financing is very expensive got it yeah
18:34 all right so so then maybe um maybe you
18:37 got any more interesting stories like
18:38 that of just you know deals that have
18:40 shown up in awkward ways from some of
18:42 your clients or you know things that
18:44 they did to kind of get really creative
18:46 just for listeners to kind of get some
18:47 more ideas as to what things are out
18:49 there uh creativity on the financing
18:52 side financing or deal sourcing or you
18:55 know all the above so oh man I talked to
18:57 one client a few weeks ago that thought
18:59 was genius on a on a deal sourcing so
19:01 this guy was an engineer he had worked
19:03 in San Francisco for a bunch of the
19:06 different big tech companies and he had
19:09 already been through two startups that
19:11 he was a part of a co-founding team that
19:13 didn’t go anywhere he had bought a
19:14 multi-unit franchise that had basically
19:16 died in the midst of covid and so he
19:19 decided I’m gonna buy an existing
19:20 business and I’m GNA buy something
19:22 that’s Recession Proof so this is how an
19:24 engineer’s mentality Works he goes to
19:26 the SBA data and he pulls all of the SBA
19:30 default rates by industry and he looks
19:33 at the ones with the lowest default
19:34 rates and he says which of these are the
19:36 types of businesses that I would pay for
19:39 even if I was struggling and my income
19:41 was much lower and so he identified auto
19:44 repair and home repair services and so
19:47 then he says okay now how am I going to
19:49 find these businesses because most of
19:51 the stuff that’s online for listings is
19:52 just kind of garbage so he started
19:55 building this filtering program that
19:57 would pull through Google he sat down
19:59 with his wife and he looked at the
20:01 United States map and picked like 10
20:04 msas that they would be willing to live
20:06 in because he had decided hey for this
20:08 business to be successful I’ve got to be
20:09 there on the ground so he picked 10 msas
20:12 and then he built this Search tool that
20:13 would pull in all the companies in these
20:16 two uh verticals and that would look for
20:19 and filter them based on Google and Yelp
20:22 reviews and what he was looking for was
20:25 let me find a business that has a really
20:27 limited footprint on online marketing
20:30 but that has really strong reviews from
20:33 the people who have submitted things and
20:36 ultimately he ended up buying an auto
20:38 repair business he had planned to take
20:40 down an SBA loan but he was able to buy
20:42 this thing in just cash because he found
20:44 one that uh that was small enough I want
20:46 to say he paid three or $400,000 for it
20:48 and within two years he had grown it to
20:50 two and a half million and last time I
20:52 talked to him he was looking at
20:53 expanding into a second location yeah
20:56 it’s the beauty get it rolling get that
20:58 cash flow gone and now right you get
21:00 your systems your process your people
21:02 but before you they got to have a clear
21:03 thesis right and he knew what his thesis
21:05 was and then he built the strategy
21:07 around identifying that opportunity yeah
21:09 and what’s important to note about his
21:10 that I think a lot of people Miss is he
21:13 got to that thesis because he fell on
21:14 his face a few times like I’m I’m tired
21:16 of the number of people who tell me like
21:18 I’m just waiting for the right business
21:19 well what are you doing well I’m looking
21:21 at the new listings on bis byell and
21:23 when something comes in I’m submitting
21:24 for information on it I know those
21:27 people are not going to move forward
21:29 because that’s the equivalent of like
21:31 showing up at the gym and then checking
21:33 in and then leaving like all the action
21:36 happens when you get in there and do the
21:38 hard reps and the hard reps are getting
21:40 the information in and filtering it and
21:42 learning what is it that works and
21:44 doesn’t work for me and how do I learn
21:46 to evaluate a business and understand
21:48 where the risks are that’s a that’s a
21:49 muscle that you have to build and most
21:52 people don’t put in enough work to
21:54 actually have Clarity of that vision and
21:56 without Clarity of that Vision most
21:58 people won’t move forward no 100% agree
22:00 I mean to hit a home run you have to go
22:02 up to bat and swing a few times and
22:03 there’s going to be some misses and you
22:05 know that’s just part of the game but I
22:06 think I think what you mentioned I mean
22:07 it goes back to Think and Grow Rich and
22:09 all the all the great you know uh
22:11 Business Development you know Mastery
22:14 which is you know having a Clear Vision
22:16 of what you’re trying to do right so
22:18 that falls back on why you create a
22:20 thesis you’re not creating a thesis
22:22 because you’re just trying to waste time
22:23 you’re trying to get a crystallized
22:24 vision of what industry what Market what
22:26 makes sense what you want to travel what
22:28 you want to do and then you start going
22:30 down that road it doesn’t mean that new
22:31 opportunities aren’t going to pop up but
22:33 it’s crystallizing that vision and uh
22:36 that’s such a big part of this is just
22:38 visualizing the coolest part is we got
22:39 chat GPT now I can literally take I’m
22:43 just I do it all the time I just like I
22:45 something passes by and I’m like you
22:47 know create a business plan around this
22:48 concept boom and all of a sudden I look
22:50 I’m like oh man that’s actually pretty
22:51 good it would have taken me months to
22:53 research that now we’ve got ways to
22:55 generate ideas quickly and uh and being
22:58 able to think of thesis and and speaking
22:59 of thesis you know Baris and I last year
23:02 you know being here in Texas you know
23:04 water is such a big critical
23:05 conversation and so we chased we were
23:08 like Hey we’re gonna get into to the
23:09 water industry Wastewater water any of
23:12 that we’re gonna get into it so we
23:13 chased a company um got got down to to
23:16 closing in November it fell apart uh
23:19 happens right but we were very close
23:20 built a great relationship I I I think
23:23 it is a 2026 deal that we will get right
23:25 back on on and ride really well but in
23:27 the meantime we had a a very small kind
23:30 of bolt on that had a has this hidden
23:33 recurring Revenue in it that we’ve been
23:35 pursuing since November and it’s just
23:38 like hey you know I could I could I
23:40 could sit there and wait for that
23:41 perfect big deal or let’s get let’s take
23:44 the deal down that’s small that would be
23:46 a great bolt on man what a great story
23:49 to tell that when we roll that next one
23:51 in is like now we didn’t stop we stay we
23:53 know our vertical get you into and it
23:55 gets you deeper in the vertical gets you
23:57 the name recognition and you can start
23:58 to identify other opportunities that you
23:60 would not have otherwise yeah what I
24:02 hear is start with a thesis but write it
24:04 in
24:05 pencil exactly and get to work because
24:09 you know that’s the that’s the other
24:10 part is because as you as you were
24:11 saying it’s like get in it go go go talk
24:14 to owners don’t stop go you know just go
24:17 at it and things are going to uncover
24:19 along the way
24:21 yeahand so kind of in the in in the talk
24:24 real quick for us because so you’ve done
24:26 complete absolute startup right and then
24:28 it moved the business to to grow so
24:30 guardian’s been around for 23 years
24:32 correct guan’s been around for 22 years
24:34 22 years gu’s been around 22 years so at
24:37 what point in guidance were you go like
24:39 hey I’m gonna go out and buy franchises
24:41 and I’m gonna make another acquisition
24:43 when does that thought process happened
24:45 because I imagine you had some critical
24:47 mass in your business and you said hey I
24:49 now can go and do other things uh I
24:52 think Casey it’s what they call Shiny
24:54 Toy syndrome yeah um at least that’s how
24:56 it started for me so
24:59 what’s that you know all about that I
25:00 know all about that so the first forray
25:02 into it was as the business first
25:04 started to be successful you know we had
25:06 some cash sitting on the sidelines so
25:08 what what should we do let’s invest in
25:09 another business and so we went out and
25:12 started a startup franchise uh unit and
25:17 uh my wife primarily did that and ran
25:18 into some issues with a partner and that
25:20 never really went anywhere and then we
25:21 had the real estate business that we had
25:23 started with and it was getting to the
25:25 point where we didn’t want to continue
25:26 to maintain it and so we merged it into
25:28 into a real estate franchise that we
25:31 were then part owners of um there was a
25:34 point where I left guiding for a year to
25:36 create another startup uh didn’t go
25:38 particularly well because I started with
25:41 this beautiful Field of Dreams idea of
25:43 what I wanted to build instead of
25:44 actually starting with a customer and
25:46 figuring out what problem I was gonna
25:47 solve um done that twice so what’s that
25:51 I’ve done that twice I thought it’s a
25:53 great idea but like what problem are you
25:55 solving I don’t care I’ll figure it out
25:57 along the way you’re like uh that that’s
25:59 not the best way to start yep at one
26:01 point my uh business partner and I
26:03 bought a franchise because we had a
26:06 family member that we thought would be
26:07 perfect to run it and as soon as we
26:09 closed on this thing we realized she had
26:10 no interest in running it and so then we
26:14 we sort of kept it you know put together
26:16 with duct tape and and a little bit of
26:18 tar for a few years and then ended up
26:20 selling it off just because the
26:21 opportunity cost of focus in any time on
26:23 it wasn’t great so you know those are
26:25 some of the ones we’ve fallen down on
26:26 but we’ve gotten a little better in
26:29 what I’ve learned to do as I’ve gotten
26:31 older is channel My Shiny Toy syndrome
26:33 in a particular direction it used to be
26:35 all over the place with things that
26:37 didn’t align with each other and now
26:39 it’s all about how can I find a shiny
26:41 tool that’s in the same direction of
26:43 helping people in the the business world
26:46 and you know this company that we spun
26:48 off five years
26:49 ago we did it because we were solving a
26:52 problem for our business and then as we
26:54 solve the problem for our as we tried to
26:56 solve the problem for our business we
26:57 saw all these holes and frustra ations
26:59 we had in the market and so we just came
27:00 to this inevitable point where we had to
27:02 decide either we’re going to bail on
27:04 this concept in general or we’re going
27:05 to create it and what we had learned
27:08 from in the past is that we got to be
27:10 all in or all out and so you know we
27:13 broke up the band David and I used to
27:15 you know be both be in the business on a
27:17 day-to-day basis and we just said hey if
27:18 we’re going to do it you got to go run
27:19 that full-time and you got to make it
27:21 work and you know we’re going to raise a
27:23 little bit of money for it so we can go
27:25 big and go fast that is fantastic it’s
27:28 great having a partner along the way in
27:29 the journey right oh huge I I feel so
27:32 lucky because you know I’ve been parts
27:35 of panels where people said ah you had a
27:36 partnership for 22 years like how have
27:38 you made it work and I’m like I got
27:40 lucky it wasn’t like we didn’t sit down
27:42 and do personality assessments we didn’t
27:44 have premarital counseling before we
27:46 decided to to partner on a deals we just
27:48 started working together and it just so
27:51 happened that he was somebody who I have
27:53 strong values alignment with and we want
27:55 the same things and so I think about my
27:57 Business Partnership and the way I think
27:59 about my marriage if you have someone
28:00 who has the same values as you and they
28:02 want the same thing as you in the in the
28:04 long run and you’re willing to put in
28:06 the work when things get hard with each
28:08 other like it’s amazing it’s better than
28:11 it’s better than going like the hardest
28:13 part of Entrepreneurship is how lonely
28:15 it can feel so you’ve got to find a way
28:18 to find that support network it can be
28:20 through a partner it can be through an
28:21 organization like EO been a part of that
28:24 Organization for 20 years but you got to
28:26 find your tribe of people who understand
28:28 understand what you’re going through
28:30 because you’re going to have moments
28:32 where you’re staring into the dark abyss
28:34 saying I’m about to just jump overboard
28:37 and you need someone to help you take a
28:39 step back and let go of the emotions and
28:41 process like what is it you want and
28:43 what are you in control of and what does
28:46 that mean about where you want to go
28:47 next yeah so so there’s a lot to unpack
28:49 in that I mean I completely agree having
28:51 good partners can make the pain so much
28:55 more enjoyable right you know I’ve had
28:57 you know not great Partners I’ve had
28:59 amazing partners and you know it’s about
29:01 finding people that have the same goals
29:02 and the same long-term goals too like
29:04 for Equity launch pad our goal is not
29:06 we’re just going to build something for
29:07 the next year we have a much more longer
29:08 term goal everybody’s aligned on it and
29:10 it makes it easier because you’re gonna
29:12 have problems you’re gonna have stumbles
29:13 you’re gonna have frustrations you’re
29:15 going to be mad at each other and it’s
29:16 about hey here’s the problem solve it
29:18 and move forward but it’s about
29:20 constantly keeping things moving forward
29:22 and you know having someone event to is
29:24 so valuable like mean Casey said like
29:27 you spend six months on a deal it blows
29:29 up at the end it’s like well that sucks
29:30 and you know you go home and your spouse
29:32 is usually not going to even be able to
29:34 understand just how broad and the you
29:37 know what’s going on I mean I I had this
29:38 conversation yesterday with my with my
29:40 wife and she wants to know a lot more
29:42 the details but I’m like man like just
29:44 it’s really hard for me to even
29:45 articulate like well here’s the 75
29:47 different decision trees that we went
29:49 down today just for this one problem
29:51 today and here’s why we went through
29:52 it’s there’s a lot going on right you
29:54 know she she’s not as involved and I
29:56 think most people have that same problem
29:57 right and so a lot of times spouse is
29:60 really not the person you can vent to
30:01 about the details you need to have that
30:03 outlet right so then you can kind of get
30:05 refocused and talk through hear the
30:07 solutions and then move it forward again
30:08 so yeah someone to balance you out right
30:12 somebody who has some strengths where
30:13 maybe you have some weaknesses that’s
30:14 the other benefit of a partnership it’s
30:16 the same thing as a marriage like you
30:18 tend to be attracted to the people that
30:20 help you be better because they pull you
30:22 in particular directions that you’re not
30:23 normally inclined to go uh and in my
30:26 experience that’s led to much better
30:28 decision making over the years yeah and
30:29 and help you see the blind spots that
30:31 you’re not seeing too right just someone
30:32 to play even just play Devil’s Advocate
30:33 like go because again similar to you
30:35 Jeremy I have Shiny Toy syndrome too
30:37 right I mean I love thinking of new
30:39 ideas and hey here are all the ways to
30:40 work it out but then it’s good to kind
30:42 of pause and talk through okay let’s
30:44 talk about the downside risk of each of
30:45 these things also right and you know
30:47 going back to helping just kind of stay
30:49 focused on toys that are at least all
30:52 marching the same direction so yeah yeah
30:54 no I’d say that’s very much what I’ve
30:56 done in the last four four or five years
30:58 is just getting really focused on our
30:60 thesis and then I can be tiny you know
31:02 shiny syndrome inside that thesis I can
31:05 start kicking rocks and doing all that
31:07 stuff and and and you’re right it’s it’s
31:09 channeling that energy because as
31:11 entrepreneurs we’re pretty much we’re
31:13 excited about everything I mean like you
31:15 could talk to me about an industry and
31:17 I’m just I’m like oh my God this is like
31:19 amazing you’re like I got stuck the
31:21 other day just like reading articles
31:22 about Ai and what I need to be doing
31:24 with it and all this stuff I’m like hold
31:25 on I just need to find the person that
31:27 knows this and like bring them on
31:29 the team because if I have to stop but I
31:31 I I my tendency is to like to try to
31:33 become that guy and I’m like man then if
31:36 I do that I’m gonna miss out on all the
31:38 other stuff that I’m good at so I trying
31:40 to find really find that all right so
31:42 let’s talk through the solution that
31:43 Casey had so instead of having Shin a
31:44 toy syndrome and wanting to build a
31:47 business in a million different
31:48 Industries we created one thesis which
31:50 is buying businesses so now any business
31:52 we buy we can be in any industry still
31:54 meet that you just change the boundaries
31:56 I get just change the boundaries and it
31:58 works it man and it’s all critical
31:60 infrastructure so that’s that’s my
32:02 thesis yeah you have more boundaries
32:04 than you than you talk about because
32:05 you’ve said critical infrastructure
32:07 right and to me the best analogy is
32:09 bumper bowling when you put the bumpers
32:11 up and you throw the ball down the you
32:13 know Lane even if you only hit one pin
32:16 that’s one more pin that you didn’t have
32:18 right so even when you miss you’re
32:19 learning something that’s still relevant
32:21 for the other things that you’re trying
32:22 to do and that open doors like even just
32:25 the conversations I’m guessing you guys
32:27 are having about potential m&a deals in
32:29 this vertical it’s helping you learn
32:31 about New Opportunities it’s helping you
32:32 identify people that might be great
32:34 operators in the future it’s helping you
32:36 identify other vendors or people you
32:39 could you know business develop for some
32:41 of your other brands that you have I
32:43 mean when when they’re all aligned in
32:46 One Direction even when you miss you can
32:48 still hit a pin yeah we spent the last
32:51 two days of the year Ben and I and
32:54 Ferris and and other analysts Ben we all
32:57 locked the door got a wipe we said hey
32:60 we’ve had we’ve been going at this now
33:01 for two years we’ve got a business under
33:03 our belt you know we’ve got a lot of
33:05 ideas let’s create our business plan now
33:07 let’s take all of our ideas and we
33:08 really hammered home what Equity launch
33:11 pad’s going to be and even to the point
33:13 where we we we flew in you know 12
33:15 different people to come in uh on a day
33:17 and did kind of a workshop took them to
33:19 dinner just to get their feedback like
33:21 hey what do y’all think and so we’ve
33:22 been very proactive on our plan what’s
33:24 been nice is is like it’s almost like
33:27 wow we’re we’re cohesive it’s amazing uh
33:30 that first couple years you’re just
33:31 spending a lot of plates and you’re
33:32 trying to figure out who are we and then
33:34 it’s just every day gets a little bit
33:36 more and then as a partnership we come
33:37 together we’re like hey this is where
33:39 we’re going we put even tighter bumpers
33:41 in and now we’re just starting to really
33:44 come together it’s very exciting to
33:46 watch a plan come together yeah and
33:47 that’s what I love about
33:48 entrepreneurship you know is that
33:50 creativity and I’m I’m that guy when you
33:52 at the very beginning of the podcast
33:53 these two types of entrepreneurs I love
33:56 creating I love being a part of creative
33:58 process I’m addicted to it is a drug and
34:01 uh you know and and I just enjoy it and
34:04 so that’s kind of that that thing in
34:05 that love for
34:06 entrepreneurship yep makes it tough to
34:08 be married to us because our ideas of
34:11 retirement maybe don’t look the same as
34:12 our spouses no and I will never be yeah
34:15 my my retirement is just being a VC and
34:17 you know investing in other people to go
34:19 do it for you know alongside with so
34:22 awesome so let’s jump on so Jeremy thank
34:25 you we’re going to jump into our rocket
34:26 round this is where we ask all of Our
34:28 Guest three three questions so first one
34:32 what do you like to do in your free time
34:34 oh man I love to write read travel uh
34:38 hang out with friends um coach I coach
34:41 for many years my son’s baseball team
34:43 that was a lot of fun awesome any any
34:45 good books you’re reading right now so
34:47 many books that I’m reading right now
34:49 let me think about one that I’ve read
34:51 recently that was really impactful
34:54 um I think Dan Heath has a new one
34:56 called reset and that was one I thought
34:59 was a pretty good take on how to think
35:01 about fixing things that aren’t working
35:03 the way that you want them to uh and I
35:05 liked it so much that I gave that to my
35:07 leadership team for this quarter and
35:08 said this is going to be our book nice I
35:11 just finished the book and I’ve got five
35:13 credits sitting on my my audible so I’m
35:15 I’m I’m that is why I’m buying it that’s
35:17 as soon as we’re done there you go all
35:19 right next question most memorable
35:21 moment in your business Journey uh good
35:23 or bad I mean there are some that are
35:25 burned into my memory hey good and bad
35:27 are both memorable so your choice yeah
35:31 you know we get we typically get both
35:32 sides of the the question too it’s not
35:34 just good things I mean like a lot of
35:35 times it could be that you know that
35:37 time that I miss payroll right I mean
35:39 whatever it is that meable for you yeah
35:42 the one that’s seared in my mind is I
35:44 remember sitting in a conference room in
35:47 2009 talking on the phone to some
35:49 attorneys and we had spent 30 minutes
35:51 with them trying to understand what our
35:54 options were and at the end I said and
35:57 what is it going to cost us for you guys
35:59 to help us with this and they said well
36:01 you you’re going to have to start with a
36:02 $50,000 retainer and I looked across the
36:04 table at David and I said David we don’t
36:07 even have enough cash to go bankrupt uh
36:10 and it was in that moment right where it
36:13 almost felt ironic to think about you
36:15 know we thought oh we’re going to do a
36:17 bankruptcy restructure and that’s going
36:18 to help us get out of some of these
36:19 contracts that were just overblown for
36:21 the size of the company that we were
36:23 having to sort of um scale down in the
36:27 Great session but I’m so grateful for
36:30 that moment because knowing that option
36:32 was blocked we just buckled down and
36:36 thought differently about the business
36:38 and it was painful but we came out much
36:42 smarter than we started because when we
36:44 were young and things were going well
36:46 and up and to the right we solved every
36:48 Problem by just throwing people at it
36:50 and if you’ve been in business long
36:51 enough you guys know that’s not a
36:53 sustainable solution right it actually
36:55 ends up creating more cost and
36:57 complexity over time because the more
36:58 people you add the more things there
37:00 more opportunities there are for things
37:02 to go sideways and get confused um and
37:05 so that was a really pivotal moment for
37:07 us just to recognize like hey I can go
37:09 to the deepest darkest M moments and and
37:12 we can find a way out just by being
37:15 Scrappy and just continuing to put one
37:17 foot in front of the other I like it so
37:20 not having enough to go bankrupt well
37:22 I’ll tell you man it’s it’s one of those
37:24 other things when you think about it’s
37:25 like uh we learn in those those hardest
37:28 times and so those people that are in
37:30 those hard times it’s being Optimist
37:33 like okay we’re learning here instead of
37:35 going oh my God it’s the end of the
37:36 world it’s like what am I learning why
37:38 am I here and it’s gonna put something
37:40 it’s gonna help you take that next step
37:42 that’s that’s pretty powerful yeah and
37:43 and on that same ve not to go on a
37:44 tangent but I mean that that’s why we’re
37:46 in the seats that we’re in right we’re
37:47 there we’re there to solve problems
37:48 we’re not there to like Pat ourselves on
37:50 the back and hey you know wo me and keep
37:52 going straight like problems come to us
37:54 we have to solve them so yeah cool cool
37:57 and then last question what is your
37:59 favorite tool or
38:01 resource um this is going to be a little
38:03 bit of a tangent here but um we had run
38:07 our business on EOS for a while so the
38:10 entrepreneur operating system we we got
38:13 to a scale where it was creating a lot
38:15 of friction in our business it was
38:18 creating a lot of um bottlenecks and I
38:21 didn’t know what the answer was to get
38:22 out of it so I hired in a coach that
38:25 specialized in organizational design
38:28 and he helped me create a framework
38:30 that’s a slight modification of EOS that
38:33 involves one weekly meeting with a much
38:35 broader team than just the executives
38:38 but also included the managers of each
38:40 key function and a format for me to get
38:44 all the information about the key things
38:45 that were happening in the business but
38:47 that forced me to sort every issue that
38:50 was coming in into one of three buckets
38:52 either something that was not important
38:54 enough for the entire leadership team
38:56 that I just needed to say you guys
38:58 figure that out you decide if that’s
38:59 important and if you have time for it
39:01 but it’s not going to be something we
39:02 focus on here so that’s one bucket the
39:04 second bucket was things we need to take
39:06 action on right now so those are the
39:07 things I’m looking at and go that’s a
39:09 priority I need to be clear on what
39:10 needs to happen who’s going to own it
39:12 and when it’s going to get done and then
39:14 a third bucket which he called the CEO
39:16 soapbox which is just an opportunity for
39:18 me to say hey this is not an action step
39:20 we need to take but there’s something
39:22 important that I need to communicate to
39:23 all of you at the same time so you all
39:25 have context for who are customer is how
39:28 we need to think about our values uh how
39:31 we need to think about these types of
39:32 problems and it’s just been such an
39:34 amazing tool for me to actually delegate
39:38 ownership I used to delegate more tasks
39:41 of things this has forced me to say okay
39:44 but who actually owns that because I’m
39:46 not going to solve it in this meeting
39:48 I’m gonna give it to that person and
39:49 they’re going to do the work and come
39:51 back and tell this group what that
39:52 answer is going to be and I’ll get my
39:54 chance to weigh in and decide if it’s
39:56 something I need to veto but you know in
39:58 the three years since we’ve implemented
39:59 it I haven’t had to veto a single thing
40:01 wow yeah one of I mean for us one of the
40:04 most powerful things we did whenever we
40:05 were kind of rolling out EOS is spending
40:07 the time to get a good accountability
40:09 chart right and then starting to hold
40:10 people to it just to get that Clarity
40:12 and get that ownership because it’s it’s
40:14 night and day right because you know
40:15 again as an entrepreneur you’re starting
40:17 something usually So you you’re doing
40:18 100% of the things then you’re like I
40:21 need some help so I need to hand off
40:22 simple things to somebody because your
40:24 first help is probably not your most
40:26 what’s the word like not the most you
40:28 know high impact people yet right you
40:30 know you can’t afford the higher people
40:32 all the above so then you get used to
40:34 delegating out tasks and then you keep
40:35 going down then you start maybe trying
40:37 to divide out things but it’s still very
40:39 task oriented versus hey this is your
40:42 responsibility is your responsibility to
40:44 go build out the accounting discipline
40:46 to go make sure there’s budgets for
40:47 everything all of that you come to me
40:48 for the problems and when you’re stuck
40:50 for example and so it’s it’s a Minds
40:53 mindset shift you have to do as an
40:54 entrepreneur to kind of start to get to
40:56 that next level it’s very impactful yeah
40:59 my wife and I have very different ways
41:01 of doing the dishes right and so if I
41:06 think that she needs to do it my way it
41:08 creates pain and vice versa the reality
41:10 is the dishes get cleaned both ways but
41:13 it’s helpful to know who actually owns
41:14 getting the dishes done because that’s
41:16 the person who gets to decide how I
41:18 thought we were talking about delegating
41:19 and you just delegate them out to her no
41:21 you’re responsible for the dishes that
41:23 was my do the I was I was like this has
41:27 to be done this way and she’s like why
41:30 and it’s like eventually you’re just
41:31 like hold on this is stupid like just
41:34 get it done you know so I I know I know
41:36 what you’re talking about yeah because
41:38 you you you think that the way that your
41:40 mind works is the way that it has to be
41:42 done and that’s been the real thing that
41:44 I think’s had to shift in my mind as the
41:45 business has gotten bigger is I have to
41:47 take myself out of the creative problem
41:50 solving this is how to solve it and
41:52 spend my time to get really clear on
41:54 what is it that needs to happen and who
41:57 is is the person who needs to own making
41:59 that happen because that’s what I need
42:00 to give not the task of hey fold the
42:03 towel in you know thirds but hey the
42:07 towels need to get folded and be in the
42:08 in the closet I’m using examples from
42:11 home because those are the ones that hit
42:12 home for me that’s where I’m not always
42:14 feeling like I’m the boss that’s where I
42:16 have the best context me too don’t worry
42:19 I definitely know the feeling awesome
42:21 well Jeremy how can people get a hold of
42:23 you uh you can follow me or reach out to
42:26 me on LinkedIn uh if you want to reach
42:28 out to me personally uh and if you want
42:30 any more information on how to use
42:32 retirement funds to invest in a business
42:34 we got tons of information a big
42:35 educational resource site on Guiden
42:38 financial.com and that’s g d ntf
42:41 financial.com it’s not gueden it’s
42:43 Guiden but you know it was 22 years ago
42:46 when we decided on The Branding so
42:47 you’ll have to forgive us hey that’s
42:49 whenever the removing certain letters
42:51 was popular so it’s all good all right
42:53 jerman well thank you very much so much
42:55 Jeremy great great great meeting
42:57 powerful Auto rrap thank you hey thanks
42:59 guys it was a pleasure thanks for having
43:00 me thank you for listening to the m&a
43:02 Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
43:04 today’s podcast and would like to
43:05 support us please leave us a rating and
43:07 a review after you listen I’m Casey menu
43:09 and I look forward to talking with you
43:11 next week
