March 27, 2025 • 16 mins
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Steve answers a listener's heartfelt question: should you work for a wage or build your own business?
Through a raw and personal backstory from blizzards at Dairy Queen to building a multimillion-dollar company Steve shares the pivotal moments that shaped his journey.
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BYFIQ, LLC is a wholly owned entity of Coltivar Group, LLC. The views expressed here are those of the individual Coltivar Group, LLC (“Coltivar”) personnel quoted and are not the views of Coltivar or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, Coltivar has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If it's all about money.
Sure, you can make a lot ofmoney working for another
company and you have lessheadache, you have to worry
about payroll and everythingelse, and you can be very
successful.
Or you can run a business andyou can make a little bit of
money but be extremely happy.
This is Boosting your FinancialIQ, where I help business
professionals with financialresponsibility to elevate their
careers and run profitablecompanies.
(00:20):
My hope is that you'll applythese lessons to achieve your
greatest ambitions.
Cheers and enjoy.
My hope is that you'll applythese lessons to achieve your
greatest ambitions.
Cheers and enjoy.
This episode is for Cameron.
Thanks for reaching out.
Today.
I want to answer your questionabout should you work for a wage
or own a business, andunderstanding your true
potential.
Did you know you could reachout to me?
If you're a business owner, youcan reach out via coltivar.
(00:40):
com, and if you want to talkabout your business, that's a
great place to find me.
If you want to just ask aquestion or you want me to dive
into a topic, like Cameron did,you could always find me on
LinkedIn, and I get a lot ofmessages from the community.
I appreciate connecting witheverybody.
I love hearing from you, sofeel free to always connect with
(01:01):
me on LinkedIn and shoot me amessage, and if there's a topic
that's burning in your heart,hey, I'm happy to cover it.
So let's jump into this one.
And I want to start with abackstory.
When I was 15 years old I don'teven know if it's legal I got a
job at Dairy Queen.
I was almost 16.
All right, but I was 15 at thetime and I was making 4.25 an
hour, which was super low.
(01:27):
That was minimum wage and, yes,the cost of living was a lot
less in the nineties.
But also it was just it'snothing.
I was working for peanuts,literally All right, not peanuts
, but I was putting peanuts inthe blizzards.
I guess, all right, butnonetheless I was making 425 an
hour.
It just wasn't cutting it.
And here I was riding my bikefrom my sister's house, because
I eventually moved out of mymom's house when I was 16,
(01:47):
because she was married to thistotal punk.
He thought he ruled the roost.
He's this total jerk.
He's like it's my way or thehighway.
So I left and so I had to makemoney.
I had zero safety net.
It's not like my mom had anymoney.
She was a single mom and thenshe married this guy and then he
didn't work and she ended upworking and supporting the
(02:08):
entire family.
Yeah, my mom is like such arock star Like I look up to her
so much.
Anyways, this is a shout out toany single woman or single
parent out there busting yourbutt, raising kids, trying to
make ends meet.
This is for you because, like I, have so much respect for my
mom In fact, we've hadconversations since that time
(02:28):
and she's like I'm so sorry thatI couldn't provide you the
lifestyle that you deserved, andyou're going to be like your
friends and live in this gatedcommunity and play at the pool
and play basketball.
And I was like mom.
That would have made me weak.
That's not what God wanted meto do.
He wanted me to experiencethese hardships and these trials
so I can get this ambition andthis work ethic to go out there
and do what I do today, andthat's why I'm here on this
(02:51):
podcast.
All right, that was a littleside note, but that was me
riding my bike for my sister'shouse, making 425 an hour, and
then my friend came to me.
He's like Steve dude, you couldcome work at this other company
.
You could take your shirt off.
You work outside in the summer,make 10 bucks an hour, and it's
great.
And I was like doing what he'slike doing sprinklers and
landscaping.
I was like sprinklers what theheck are sprinklers?
(03:13):
I didn't even know what theywere.
He was talking aboutunderground sprinklers that you
put in the ground to waterplants and turf, et cetera.
All right, so I'm like cool, Ileft Dairy Queen, I started
working at this company, making10 bucks an hour, and sure
enough, I could take my shirtoff.
If you've seen a picture of me,I'm actually like fair skin.
I'm very pale, so it's morelike getting sunburns and
(03:33):
blisters on my shoulders, butnonetheless, hey, it was great.
I was working outside.
Making 10 bucks an hour isdouble my money, right?
So I did that for a couple ofsummers and then I went back to
go work at the other company inmy junior year and they were
gone.
They're out of business.
I was like what the heck?
You know that's my summer job.
And so I was like what should Ido?
(03:53):
And I was talking to my sisterand she's like hey, you know, I
work at the tanning salon, sowhy don't you just drop off some
business cards and I'll putthem at the front desk and then,
you know, people come in allthe time.
They could grab a business cardif they need sprinklers or
landscaping and I was like cool,so I didn't think much of it.
I went to Kinko's which is FedExKinko's now, I think and got
(04:13):
some business cards and it wasSteve's sprinklers, black and
white, so generic.
And I put my sister's phonenumber on it like the home phone
number, and that's what I did.
And people would call and likemy little niece, she was like I
don't know, like three or fouryears old at the time.
She'd answer the phone.
She'd be like hello, you know.
And they'd be like is thisSteve sprinklers?
(04:35):
And it's like blah, blah, blah,you know.
And I was like, oh my gosh,give me the phone.
Now.
That's how I started out Verybasic, very grassroots.
Out of my sister's house, Iconverted a part of her garage
into my little business area.
I built shelves, had all myparts, and the key was is I
started charging 50 bucks anhour for these repairs.
So I'd go out to somebody'shouse.
(04:57):
They'd have a broken pipe,they'd need a sprinkler head
replaced, they needed a new zoneadded for their plants or for
the grass, whatever.
And I was doing all this work50 bucks an hour, and then I was
marking up my parts doubleright, and that's because, like,
some parts would get broken,some would get lost, I'd have to
hold this inventory, et cetera,but nonetheless I would go on
(05:19):
an appointment and makesometimes 200, 300, $400 in one
hour with parts right my labor,and I was like, oh my gosh, this
is way better than 10 bucks anhour.
And so that's what I did, and Idid that through the summer.
And then I graduated high schooland I went to college, and when
I was working in college I was,like, obsessed with the
business.
So I was making flyers, I wasmaking brochures that was at the
(05:43):
time before the internet wassuper pervasive and I just
focused all my time on thisprint media that I'd go
distribute to potential clientswhen I'd go back home for the
weekends, and so I was highlyfocused on my business and
that's what I was doing.
And then I was going back homemore and more because I'd have
these projects to do on theweekends, but I'd go home and
(06:04):
I'd make a few thousand dollarsover the weekend and then go
back to school and a lot of myfriends were working on campus
making like five or six bucks anhour because minimum wage went
up, and I was like, wow, this islike so much better, so much
better.
Then I could just like focus onmy studies and kind of chill
and have fun with my friends,like from Sunday night through
(06:24):
Thursday, and then I'd go homeFriday and come back on Sunday
and I'd come back with a bunchof money.
That's what I did.
My junior year of school is likethe last couple of weeks of
class a sitting in class, mypager was going off.
My cell phone is ringing out apager back in the day, if you
know what a pager is.
That's what I had and I waslike what am I doing?
(06:45):
And I left.
I left class, I packed up mytruck and I just headed back to
Denver and I was like I'mcommitting to my business full
time and I was like peace, seeyou later.
School I'm not recommendingdropping out of school, all
right, I have some regrets there, but that's where I was at the
time.
And then I built this companyfor the next 13 years and I grew
it into a multimillion dollarbusiness.
(07:06):
But here's the thing I didn'thave the financial literacy
skills and I'm not just sayingthis because it's a financial
podcast but I didn't have thefinancial literacy skills to
really understand how to readfinancial statements, then
leverage financial statements toget more cashflow and increase
the value of my business, andtherefore I left a lot of money
(07:28):
on the table and I made a ton ofmistakes.
So don't go down the same pathas me.
Okay, definitely, go through myfree financial pro program that
I'm providing you.
Right, it's totally free atbyfiqcom.
Seriously, it's like over ahundred videos, I think.
But anyways, I didn't know howto read financials.
I didn't know how to put inplace a strategy, as it's
lacking in certain skills as itrelates to running a business.
(07:48):
You may feel the same way.
That's okay, just don't staystuck there.
But that's what I did.
And then that company Iultimately transitioned to and
then I went back to school,finished my degree in accounting
and finance, and then I wentand got my MBA and my CPA and I
spent all this time in schooland I started up my consulting
(08:10):
firm.
Like in the midst of all thatand that company's Coltivar.
It's transitioned since theninto a tech platform with
advisory, but nonetheless, withall that said, cameron's like oh
my gosh, steve.
I just wanted a simple answerbut nonetheless, that was an
incredible journey that I tookand I would never go back.
(08:31):
I worked for other businesses,okay, as a CFO of a billion
dollar company, as a CFO of afintech company.
I've been a CFO of other firms.
I've worked for a few otherbusinesses, like as a W2
employee, and for me it's justnot for me, because I feel like
I have a greater impact in theworld of business, doing my own
thing and adding value toorganizations like I do.
(08:52):
That's just me, that's justSteve.
So for you, cameron, you mayfind that your path is working
for wages, but you may find thatthat's not for you.
So what I've learned throughoutmy life is that there's a
difference between advice andcounsel.
So I try not to give likespecific advice to individuals.
So if you ever reach out to me,you're like hey, steve, I want
(09:13):
your advice.
It's hard for me to give advice.
I can give counsel.
And here's the difference.
And this could apply to yourrelationships in your life.
And maybe you're the one givingpeople advice and you want to
switch things up.
But advice is when you takeyour experiences right what
worked for you or what workedfor somebody else and then tell
somebody what to do based onwhat worked for you in those
(09:36):
specific circumstances.
Versus counsel is when youunderstand somebody else's
circumstances and their issuesand you ask questions and you
get them to think about how theycould apply some of the things
that you've learned to theirlife.
So you're not telling them whatto do based on your experience,
you're helping them to findtheir own answers.
And so, cameron, I can't giveyou like specific advice and say
(09:59):
, hey, work for wages or startyour own business, because, who
knows, you may work for wagesand become this super successful
executive one day and runningyour business could be
disastrous.
But I can share my experiences.
I believe business is the bestvehicle to bless the lives of
other people.
That's me, that's Steve.
My whole purpose at Coltivar isto elevate lives through better
(10:19):
business people.
That's me, that's Steve.
My whole purpose at Coltivar isto elevate lives through better
business.
Some people bless lives throughtheir hands.
They're doctors.
They save lives.
Some people bake things andthey bring joy and happiness to
somebody who is in the hospitalor a mother who just had a baby.
Right.
They bring them a pie or apastry or something like that,
or dinner.
Others bring joy through art.
(10:40):
Others bring joy through codingand programming.
There's so many ways to addvalue in this world and so many
different paths For me.
I love business, like peoplelove sports.
I'm obsessed with business, infact.
I just got back from Rio deJaneiro with my wife and we
spent a few days at the pool,which is rare.
Normally, when I go visitcountries, we're all over the
place doing bike tours and goingaround the city, but on this
(11:04):
particular trip is more chilland we're hanging out at the
resort, and during this time, Ispent those three days thinking
about my business, studyingfinance and strategy and just
doing all this stuff.
My wife's like oh my gosh, takea break.
And I'm like this is a break.
This is relaxing to me becauseI'm figuring things out for my
company, I'm getting clarity andI'm learning and I'm just
(11:28):
applying things and I just loveit and I was like so happy doing
this.
That's me, and so the reasonwhy I'm so passionate about
business is because there'sleverage there.
If you start a company, youshould expect the first call it
five years or so being a grind,and you may not make a lot of
money.
You may actually go negative,you may go into debt, right,
doing this.
But if you find a good business, a good business model, then
(11:51):
you're going to start creatingleverage, because then you have
profit right, so that's greatProfit.
You can live off the profit,you can reinvest the profit.
But then you also have amultiple on your business
because there's value of owninga business and therefore you
have leverage with profit andyou have leverage with your
valuation multiple.
And really business ownerswhere they make their money is
(12:13):
through an exit or some type ofliquidity event.
So they'll sell their businessone day and they will make 5X
profit or 7X profit or whatever.
They'll make this huge multipleon their business.
And then they're going to paytaxes at a capital gains rate
versus an ordinary tax rate Okay, Like if you're getting paid
wages.
So I just think there'stremendous value.
(12:35):
And you have to ask yourselfokay, what am I trying to do If
it's all about money?
Sure you can make a lot ofmoney working for another
company.
And you have to ask yourselfokay, what am I trying to do If
it's all about money?
Sure you can make a lot ofmoney working for another
company and you have lessheadache, you have to worry
about payroll and everythingelse, and you can be very
successful.
Or you can run a business andyou can make a little bit of
money but be extremely happy,right.
So it's hard to give likeprecise guidance here.
I just know for me like thebiggest upside is business.
(12:58):
Right, you can grow a business,you have leverage in so many
different areas.
The valuation is huge and themajority of millionaires out
there like the IRS did a studythe majority of them make their
money on capital, not from wages.
So that's the big difference.
Anyways, cameron, I wanted toanswer your question and just
(13:19):
provide a little bit of abackstory for you.
I know others are listening tothis and they're wondering the
same thing.
I would just say, like whenyou're young because I was just
having a conversation withsomebody else, another 20 year
old, and I told him I was likejust go out there and try
different things, get skills,like build skills, like do the
grunt work, and that's what Idid.
I've spent thousands andthousands of hours in Microsoft
(13:43):
Excel, building financial models, pouring through financial
statements, doing analysis.
I reconciled bank accounts, Iused to enter receipts into the
accounting system, doingbookkeeping.
I've done it all Okay andbecause I've done this all, I
have multiple skills that addvalue to companies.
I could go into a business andI can pinpoint with precision
(14:03):
where to focus on to increaseprofit and cashflow, because
I've been there.
I can empathize with thebusiness owner because I've been
there, like struggling to makepayroll.
But I wouldn't have theseexperiences and I wouldn't have
these valuable skillsets if Ididn't put in the work.
So when you're young, like, putin the work, put away your phone
.
Maybe you have to sacrificegoing out with friends, maybe,
instead of going and playingbasketball with your buddies or
(14:25):
hanging out at the pool, youneed to study, you need to build
some skills, you need to go toa workshop, whatever it is.
Make the sacrifices early on,because when you're older like
me I'm in my mid forties thenyou'll start reaping the fruits
of your labor.
But if you don't put in theeffort right now, like yeah,
(14:45):
it's going to be a struggle.
Unfortunately, the world is socompetitive out there and so
many people are going to beworking to steal your lunch and
eat your lunch, metaphoricallyspeaking.
All right, that's what I havefor you, cameron, and for
everybody else.
Thanks everybody for being suchgreat.
Members of the BYFIQ community,I hope you have a great week.
Feel free to reach out, like Isaid, and until next time, take
(15:07):
care.
Cheers.
If it's all about money.
Sure, you can make a lot ofmoney working for another
company and you have lessheadache, you have to worry
about payroll and everythingelse, and you can be very
successful.
Or you can run a business andyou can make a little bit of
money but be extremely happy.
This is Boosting your FinancialIQ, where I help business
professionals with financialresponsibility to elevate their
careers and run profitablecompanies.
(00:20):
My hope is that you'll applythese lessons to achieve your
greatest ambitions.
Cheers and enjoy.
My hope is that you'll applythese lessons to achieve your
greatest ambitions.
Cheers and enjoy.
This episode is for Cameron.
Thanks for reaching out.
Today.
I want to answer your questionabout should you work for a wage
or own a business, andunderstanding your true
potential.
Did you know you could reachout to me?
If you're a business owner, youcan reach out via coltivar.
(00:40):
com, and if you want to talkabout your business, that's a
great place to find me.
If you want to just ask aquestion or you want me to dive
into a topic, like Cameron did,you could always find me on
LinkedIn, and I get a lot ofmessages from the community.
I appreciate connecting witheverybody.
I love hearing from you, sofeel free to always connect with
(01:01):
me on LinkedIn and shoot me amessage, and if there's a topic
that's burning in your heart,hey, I'm happy to cover it.
So let's jump into this one.
And I want to start with abackstory.
When I was 15 years old I don'teven know if it's legal I got a
job at Dairy Queen.
I was almost 16.
All right, but I was 15 at thetime and I was making 4.25 an
hour, which was super low.
(01:27):
That was minimum wage and, yes,the cost of living was a lot
less in the nineties.
But also it was just it'snothing.
I was working for peanuts,literally All right, not peanuts
, but I was putting peanuts inthe blizzards.
I guess, all right, butnonetheless I was making 425 an
hour.
It just wasn't cutting it.
And here I was riding my bikefrom my sister's house, because
I eventually moved out of mymom's house when I was 16,
(01:47):
because she was married to thistotal punk.
He thought he ruled the roost.
He's this total jerk.
He's like it's my way or thehighway.
So I left and so I had to makemoney.
I had zero safety net.
It's not like my mom had anymoney.
She was a single mom and thenshe married this guy and then he
didn't work and she ended upworking and supporting the
(02:08):
entire family.
Yeah, my mom is like such arock star Like I look up to her
so much.
Anyways, this is a shout out toany single woman or single
parent out there busting yourbutt, raising kids, trying to
make ends meet.
This is for you because, like I, have so much respect for my
mom In fact, we've hadconversations since that time
(02:28):
and she's like I'm so sorry thatI couldn't provide you the
lifestyle that you deserved, andyou're going to be like your
friends and live in this gatedcommunity and play at the pool
and play basketball.
And I was like mom.
That would have made me weak.
That's not what God wanted meto do.
He wanted me to experiencethese hardships and these trials
so I can get this ambition andthis work ethic to go out there
and do what I do today, andthat's why I'm here on this
(02:51):
podcast.
All right, that was a littleside note, but that was me
riding my bike for my sister'shouse, making 425 an hour, and
then my friend came to me.
He's like Steve dude, you couldcome work at this other company
.
You could take your shirt off.
You work outside in the summer,make 10 bucks an hour, and it's
great.
And I was like doing what he'slike doing sprinklers and
landscaping.
I was like sprinklers what theheck are sprinklers?
(03:13):
I didn't even know what theywere.
He was talking aboutunderground sprinklers that you
put in the ground to waterplants and turf, et cetera.
All right, so I'm like cool, Ileft Dairy Queen, I started
working at this company, making10 bucks an hour, and sure
enough, I could take my shirtoff.
If you've seen a picture of me,I'm actually like fair skin.
I'm very pale, so it's morelike getting sunburns and
(03:33):
blisters on my shoulders, butnonetheless, hey, it was great.
I was working outside.
Making 10 bucks an hour isdouble my money, right?
So I did that for a couple ofsummers and then I went back to
go work at the other company inmy junior year and they were
gone.
They're out of business.
I was like what the heck?
You know that's my summer job.
And so I was like what should Ido?
(03:53):
And I was talking to my sisterand she's like hey, you know, I
work at the tanning salon, sowhy don't you just drop off some
business cards and I'll putthem at the front desk and then,
you know, people come in allthe time.
They could grab a business cardif they need sprinklers or
landscaping and I was like cool,so I didn't think much of it.
I went to Kinko's which is FedExKinko's now, I think and got
(04:13):
some business cards and it wasSteve's sprinklers, black and
white, so generic.
And I put my sister's phonenumber on it like the home phone
number, and that's what I did.
And people would call and likemy little niece, she was like I
don't know, like three or fouryears old at the time.
She'd answer the phone.
She'd be like hello, you know.
And they'd be like is thisSteve sprinklers?
(04:35):
And it's like blah, blah, blah,you know.
And I was like, oh my gosh,give me the phone.
Now.
That's how I started out Verybasic, very grassroots.
Out of my sister's house, Iconverted a part of her garage
into my little business area.
I built shelves, had all myparts, and the key was is I
started charging 50 bucks anhour for these repairs.
So I'd go out to somebody'shouse.
(04:57):
They'd have a broken pipe,they'd need a sprinkler head
replaced, they needed a new zoneadded for their plants or for
the grass, whatever.
And I was doing all this work50 bucks an hour, and then I was
marking up my parts doubleright, and that's because, like,
some parts would get broken,some would get lost, I'd have to
hold this inventory, et cetera,but nonetheless I would go on
(05:19):
an appointment and makesometimes 200, 300, $400 in one
hour with parts right my labor,and I was like, oh my gosh, this
is way better than 10 bucks anhour.
And so that's what I did, and Idid that through the summer.
And then I graduated high schooland I went to college, and when
I was working in college I was,like, obsessed with the
business.
So I was making flyers, I wasmaking brochures that was at the
(05:43):
time before the internet wassuper pervasive and I just
focused all my time on thisprint media that I'd go
distribute to potential clientswhen I'd go back home for the
weekends, and so I was highlyfocused on my business and
that's what I was doing.
And then I was going back homemore and more because I'd have
these projects to do on theweekends, but I'd go home and
(06:04):
I'd make a few thousand dollarsover the weekend and then go
back to school and a lot of myfriends were working on campus
making like five or six bucks anhour because minimum wage went
up, and I was like, wow, this islike so much better, so much
better.
Then I could just like focus onmy studies and kind of chill
and have fun with my friends,like from Sunday night through
(06:24):
Thursday, and then I'd go homeFriday and come back on Sunday
and I'd come back with a bunchof money.
That's what I did.
My junior year of school is likethe last couple of weeks of
class a sitting in class, mypager was going off.
My cell phone is ringing out apager back in the day, if you
know what a pager is.
That's what I had and I waslike what am I doing?
(06:45):
And I left.
I left class, I packed up mytruck and I just headed back to
Denver and I was like I'mcommitting to my business full
time and I was like peace, seeyou later.
School I'm not recommendingdropping out of school, all
right, I have some regrets there, but that's where I was at the
time.
And then I built this companyfor the next 13 years and I grew
it into a multimillion dollarbusiness.
(07:06):
But here's the thing I didn'thave the financial literacy
skills and I'm not just sayingthis because it's a financial
podcast but I didn't have thefinancial literacy skills to
really understand how to readfinancial statements, then
leverage financial statements toget more cashflow and increase
the value of my business, andtherefore I left a lot of money
(07:28):
on the table and I made a ton ofmistakes.
So don't go down the same pathas me.
Okay, definitely, go through myfree financial pro program that
I'm providing you.
Right, it's totally free atbyfiqcom.
Seriously, it's like over ahundred videos, I think.
But anyways, I didn't know howto read financials.
I didn't know how to put inplace a strategy, as it's
lacking in certain skills as itrelates to running a business.
(07:48):
You may feel the same way.
That's okay, just don't staystuck there.
But that's what I did.
And then that company Iultimately transitioned to and
then I went back to school,finished my degree in accounting
and finance, and then I wentand got my MBA and my CPA and I
spent all this time in schooland I started up my consulting
(08:10):
firm.
Like in the midst of all thatand that company's Coltivar.
It's transitioned since theninto a tech platform with
advisory, but nonetheless, withall that said, cameron's like oh
my gosh, steve.
I just wanted a simple answerbut nonetheless, that was an
incredible journey that I tookand I would never go back.
(08:31):
I worked for other businesses,okay, as a CFO of a billion
dollar company, as a CFO of afintech company.
I've been a CFO of other firms.
I've worked for a few otherbusinesses, like as a W2
employee, and for me it's justnot for me, because I feel like
I have a greater impact in theworld of business, doing my own
thing and adding value toorganizations like I do.
(08:52):
That's just me, that's justSteve.
So for you, cameron, you mayfind that your path is working
for wages, but you may find thatthat's not for you.
So what I've learned throughoutmy life is that there's a
difference between advice andcounsel.
So I try not to give likespecific advice to individuals.
So if you ever reach out to me,you're like hey, steve, I want
(09:13):
your advice.
It's hard for me to give advice.
I can give counsel.
And here's the difference.
And this could apply to yourrelationships in your life.
And maybe you're the one givingpeople advice and you want to
switch things up.
But advice is when you takeyour experiences right what
worked for you or what workedfor somebody else and then tell
somebody what to do based onwhat worked for you in those
(09:36):
specific circumstances.
Versus counsel is when youunderstand somebody else's
circumstances and their issuesand you ask questions and you
get them to think about how theycould apply some of the things
that you've learned to theirlife.
So you're not telling them whatto do based on your experience,
you're helping them to findtheir own answers.
And so, cameron, I can't giveyou like specific advice and say
(09:59):
, hey, work for wages or startyour own business, because, who
knows, you may work for wagesand become this super successful
executive one day and runningyour business could be
disastrous.
But I can share my experiences.
I believe business is the bestvehicle to bless the lives of
other people.
That's me, that's Steve.
My whole purpose at Coltivar isto elevate lives through better
(10:19):
business people.
That's me, that's Steve.
My whole purpose at Coltivar isto elevate lives through better
business.
Some people bless lives throughtheir hands.
They're doctors.
They save lives.
Some people bake things andthey bring joy and happiness to
somebody who is in the hospitalor a mother who just had a baby.
Right.
They bring them a pie or apastry or something like that,
or dinner.
Others bring joy through art.
(10:40):
Others bring joy through codingand programming.
There's so many ways to addvalue in this world and so many
different paths For me.
I love business, like peoplelove sports.
I'm obsessed with business, infact.
I just got back from Rio deJaneiro with my wife and we
spent a few days at the pool,which is rare.
Normally, when I go visitcountries, we're all over the
place doing bike tours and goingaround the city, but on this
(11:04):
particular trip is more chilland we're hanging out at the
resort, and during this time, Ispent those three days thinking
about my business, studyingfinance and strategy and just
doing all this stuff.
My wife's like oh my gosh, takea break.
And I'm like this is a break.
This is relaxing to me becauseI'm figuring things out for my
company, I'm getting clarity andI'm learning and I'm just
(11:28):
applying things and I just loveit and I was like so happy doing
this.
That's me, and so the reasonwhy I'm so passionate about
business is because there'sleverage there.
If you start a company, youshould expect the first call it
five years or so being a grind,and you may not make a lot of
money.
You may actually go negative,you may go into debt, right,
doing this.
But if you find a good business, a good business model, then
(11:51):
you're going to start creatingleverage, because then you have
profit right, so that's greatProfit.
You can live off the profit,you can reinvest the profit.
But then you also have amultiple on your business
because there's value of owninga business and therefore you
have leverage with profit andyou have leverage with your
valuation multiple.
And really business ownerswhere they make their money is
(12:13):
through an exit or some type ofliquidity event.
So they'll sell their businessone day and they will make 5X
profit or 7X profit or whatever.
They'll make this huge multipleon their business.
And then they're going to paytaxes at a capital gains rate
versus an ordinary tax rate Okay, Like if you're getting paid
wages.
So I just think there'stremendous value.
(12:35):
And you have to ask yourselfokay, what am I trying to do If
it's all about money?
Sure you can make a lot ofmoney working for another
company.
And you have to ask yourselfokay, what am I trying to do If
it's all about money?
Sure you can make a lot ofmoney working for another
company and you have lessheadache, you have to worry
about payroll and everythingelse, and you can be very
successful.
Or you can run a business andyou can make a little bit of
money but be extremely happy,right.
So it's hard to give likeprecise guidance here.
I just know for me like thebiggest upside is business.
(12:58):
Right, you can grow a business,you have leverage in so many
different areas.
The valuation is huge and themajority of millionaires out
there like the IRS did a studythe majority of them make their
money on capital, not from wages.
So that's the big difference.
Anyways, cameron, I wanted toanswer your question and just
(13:19):
provide a little bit of abackstory for you.
I know others are listening tothis and they're wondering the
same thing.
I would just say, like whenyou're young because I was just
having a conversation withsomebody else, another 20 year
old, and I told him I was likejust go out there and try
different things, get skills,like build skills, like do the
grunt work, and that's what Idid.
I've spent thousands andthousands of hours in Microsoft
(13:43):
Excel, building financial models, pouring through financial
statements, doing analysis.
I reconciled bank accounts, Iused to enter receipts into the
accounting system, doingbookkeeping.
I've done it all Okay andbecause I've done this all, I
have multiple skills that addvalue to companies.
I could go into a business andI can pinpoint with precision
(14:03):
where to focus on to increaseprofit and cashflow, because
I've been there.
I can empathize with thebusiness owner because I've been
there, like struggling to makepayroll.
But I wouldn't have theseexperiences and I wouldn't have
these valuable skillsets if Ididn't put in the work.
So when you're young, like, putin the work, put away your phone
.
Maybe you have to sacrificegoing out with friends, maybe,
instead of going and playingbasketball with your buddies or
(14:25):
hanging out at the pool, youneed to study, you need to build
some skills, you need to go toa workshop, whatever it is.
Make the sacrifices early on,because when you're older like
me I'm in my mid forties thenyou'll start reaping the fruits
of your labor.
But if you don't put in theeffort right now, like yeah,
(14:45):
it's going to be a struggle.
Unfortunately, the world is socompetitive out there and so
many people are going to beworking to steal your lunch and
eat your lunch, metaphoricallyspeaking.
All right, that's what I havefor you, cameron, and for
everybody else.
Thanks everybody for being suchgreat.
Members of the BYFIQ community,I hope you have a great week.
Feel free to reach out, like Isaid, and until next time, take
(15:07):
care.
Cheers.
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