Navigating Business and Life in Dark Times with Ryan Bitgood - Sunset View Windows and Doors

Ryan Bitgood of Sunset View Windows and Doors joins the episode to discuss negotiation success and creating mutual value in deals. He shares his journey from a family business to a leadership role, emphasizing how his military background has influenced business dynamics. Ryan talks about scaling operations, visionary leadership, and overcoming pandemic challenges. He also discusses the transition from military to civilian leadership, managing customer expectations with long lead times, and resilience through martial arts. The conversation touches on leadership pressure, team morale, personnel challenges, and talent development. Ryan reflects on acquisitions, M&A experiences, and real estate investments, offering advice for future growth.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I started negotiating.

(00:01):
I ended up getting them down to $350,000, zerodown, 100% owner financed over five years.
And, I paid them off last year.
It's great great relationship with them.
And the the thing there that got me that dealwas just finding mutual value, finding the
things that they needed from the deal.

(00:22):
They wanted to exit.
Like, he had been stressed out.
Like, I mentioned earlier in in this podcast,like, you know, this business can be super
stressful unless you have the mindset to dealwith the stress, and you can delegate
effectively and train effectively.
And so they weren't wanting to do that.
They didn't wanna grow the businesses, so theythey really wanted to get out.
They really wanted to do something a littleless stressful and get some reward from all the

(00:47):
work that they had done.
And so we came to a a good deal that we bothagreed to.
You know, they got a little bit of a lightertax burden because they're doing an owner
finance deal, and they they had sustainableincome for five years.
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(01:09):
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Today's guest is Ryan Bitgood.

(02:12):
Ryan is an entrepreneur, real estate investor,and US army veteran.
He's the owner of Sunset View Windows andDoors, an eight figure second generation
windows and door replacement company based onFlorida's East Coast.
Sunset View specializes in impact ratedproducts and is known for treating customers
like family, delivering the best products,services, and people to serve them.

(02:33):
Under Ryan's leadership, the company hasrapidly expanded into markets across Florida
and beyond.
His time in the US army taught him discipline,resilience, and mission first mindset, lessons
that now shape his business and leadershipstyle.
Ryan focuses on building businesses that createlong term value, forging strong partnerships,
and developing high performing teams.

(02:55):
And with all that said, Ryan,
What's welcome to the up, guys?
Thank you for having me on.
Really appreciate it.
Yes.
To give more background of how we gotintroduced, we were at Catapult from Cultivate
Advisors.
The last day I was having lunch, and I Ibrought a little bock lunch to give you.
I sit down at this table, and I was next toRyan, and I don't know.
We we were just shooting the shit, and I waslike, hey.

(03:17):
I do this podcast.
Hey.
I'm in the industry.
And I was like, oh, well, this is amazing.
What serendipity, as they say, kinda led ushere.
And in the multiple conversations we've hadnow, Ryan's just awesome, just across the
board.
In addition to his business being awesome, he'sjust a cool guy to know.
So I've been I've been blessed, as they say, inthat regard.
But enough of the the fluff, and let me get toyou.

(03:38):
What what so tell us about the business.
Tell us about how you got in the industry.
Give us that backstory.
Absolutely.
Well, thank you for those kind words.
There was like a synergy when we had lunchtogether, you know?
Yes.
I gotta throw in some like business terms inthere, you know?
This is what we're
I love synergy, especially when it's referringto a turkey sandwich.
Dude, I get some synergy with a turkeysandwich.
You got no idea.

(03:58):
Yeah.
You know.
Yeah.
I mean, we're really getting close to theThanksgiving and yeah.
I know.
Alright.
So, like, Sunset View, man.
I mean, look, second generation window and doorguy.
It was my dad's business.
My mom and my dad, I should say, they reallybuilt a wonderful little window and door
business, and, you know, it's been my missionto grow it to something that's really a

(04:18):
powerhouse, something that makes a statement inthe market, and really set the bar for customer
serve and operational excellence in this partof Florida.
And I think we've done that, and we have a alot of room to grow.
I have a lot of room to grow, but we'redefinitely on the way to, you know, really
dominating the East Coast Of Florida.
Love that.
So second generation, that always brings upthe, hey, how do you go from dad to you?

(04:43):
What does that look like?
Some people, it's a beautiful, no questions.
It was like, you know, written in a a poem.
Other people are like, yeah, this was like theshit show documentary that like was horrific,
and I I would never ever wish this uponanybody.
What did yours look
in between probably.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, the joke is that my dad hadsons because he didn't wanna pay employees And

(05:08):
so it was very, yeah, very kind of like classicapprenticeship type model that we had in my
family.
I was homeschooled, and so after doing ourschool, my dad would take us out to the field.
Whether that was legal or not, you know, Idon't know anything about that, but he would be
out there training us how to put these windowsand doors in.
And my brother is a little bit older than thanI am.

(05:29):
He's about six and a half years older, so hekinda led the way.
But when I finally got to the field, I was justsweeping up, handing tapcons over to my dad,
cutting pieces of wood, you know, once I wasable to operate a saw, you know, and just kinda
doing that labor type work.
Eventually, when I got to an older teenager,kind of a young adult, I was actually really a

(05:50):
big help and I was his his right hand man, soto speak.
My brother joined the Marine Corps around thattime and so I sort of stepped into his shoes
and we ran the business together.
It was just my dad and I for a long time.
And then I joined the army and when I joinedthe army around that time, my brother had
gotten out of the Marine Corps, so there's kindof a changing Yeah. Of
Of the

(06:10):
Let's trade.
I'll go I'll go save the country, You work, andthen we'll switch.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just a, you know, classic American hero story.
Not really.
But I'll
But we we had a
But it totally is.
It's like totally the, oh, yeah.
I went to the arms forces, and then I I wentinto construction and, like, started a
business.
Like, that is the that's almost like the builtAmerican dream.

(06:33):
Right?
Like, that's, like, the thing.
I think so.
Yeah.
I'm very I'm very proud of of the whole familybusiness and how everything kinda transpired.
So, you know, there was kind of a a change inthe guards.
My brother comes out of the marine corps,decides he wants to become an electrical
engineer.
He does that for a little while, decides thatthat's not for him.
You know, I say, like, once you've been in thefield and you've done manual labor and you've

(06:56):
seen the results of working on people's homesand doing doing stuff with your hands, it's
really hard to stray too far from that.
That's just like, you know, that gratificationof making something beautiful with your own
talents, with with your hands, you know, usingtools, with a team, you know, it's very
special, that kind of gratification.

(07:17):
So I think my brother kind of realized that,you know, he wanted to do something similar to
to what he grew up doing.
And so around that time, it kind of all workedout where my dad was really over it.
He was done handling the customers, collecting,you know, overdue payments, just dealing with
the stress of the business.
And as you guys know, I mean, this type ofbusiness, it can be really stressful.

(07:40):
It can be super stressful.
And so my dad was done with it.
He ended up becoming a building inspector, andmy brother took the reins with my mom, and and
they built it up.
And they had excellent, excellent growth,growing from a few $100,000 to a few million
dollars within a a couple years.
And around that time yeah.
I know.
Incredible.
I can't say enough about my family, my brother,and my mom's resilience during that time.

(08:05):
They really just picked the business up fromthe their bootstraps, so to speak, and just
went crazy with it.
So during that time, around that time I got outof the army and they moved the business from
West Palm Beach to Brevard County.
So they're moving the business several countiesnorth, growing it at the same time.
For about two years, they were operating twoseparate branches, one in Brevard County, one

(08:27):
in West Palm Beach, mid transition.
So eventually, we closed down the West PalmBeach branch, and then I got out of the army
and joined them.
And so I had ran the business with my brotherand my mom for a couple years, and then I took
over as percent owner and CEO and and a licenseholder the 2021.
And so we've been growing it from there.

(08:48):
Now we're about 30 employees and 20subcontractors, and we're just growing like
crazy.
So, yeah, that's kind of the story in a in anutshell.
That's massively impressive.
That's all a shit ton of growth '21 to it's '25now, so a four year window here.
That's right.
That's that's massive.
Yeah.

(09:08):
So when I took over, we were we we closed thatyear out 2021 about about five million.
And this year, we're looking to close out about12.
Nice.
So there was obviously some big shifts, bigchanges between maybe the mentality or
something between when your dad was doing itand then your brother taking over.

(09:30):
And then then it was you and your brother.
And then it was you.
And those are like different levels of likeshifts and different levels of scale.
So can you talk about like the mentality oflike first starting out versus, you know, kind
of those different transition periods?
Yeah, absolutely.

(09:51):
Yeah, that's a good question.
You know, I think it's pretty common you see inmulti generational businesses, right?
You have the first generation starts thebusiness and runs the business.
And in my case, you know, I see I saw what mydad did, and it was just very operator focused.

(10:12):
Like, it's it's the business isn't gonna runwithout him.
He is the business.
And after working with my dad for so manyyears, I realized that there was another way of
doing this.
I'd see some of our competitors, and they wouldhave several installation crews and service
teams and salespeople, and they were running areal business.
And so I kinda had that in the back of my mind.

(10:32):
And sometimes my dad and I would talk, youknow, like, when I worked with him.
Oh, man.
Maybe we should hire some people.
But, you know, my dad just wasn't that guy.
He was excellent as a general contractor.
He's a a really incredible like, the way hethinks about projects and the pride that he
takes in his work is is incredible, and Irespect him for that.

(10:53):
But there are some people that they don't havethat yearning to, like, grow something and then
own that, you know, kind of empire and leadteams and do that.
That takes a different skill set, and it takesa a wildly different mindset.
My dad knew that he wasn't that guy, and sothat's why he decided to become a building
inspector.

(11:14):
You know?
He just knew that at at that point in time, hadto decide what he was gonna do because you
can't retire as a as just a one man operatorunless you're, you know, investing and, you
know, doing some other things.
And so, you know, it it you know, and you seethat with the boomer generation a lot.
You know?
I bought a couple businesses from boomers, soto speak, and you see that that similar mindset

(11:36):
where, you know, and I I I'm not trying to benegative on this this generation, but it's
definitely more of a scarcity mindset.
It's not like, you know, we're we're going tobuild.
There's more more than enough work foreveryone.
There's a, you know, there's a play after thisone.
There's levels to this game.
You know?
You don't really see that a lot.
That definitely exists.

(11:57):
But but, yeah, that was kind of that mindsetthat my dad had.
He was the founder.
He's the general contractor.
He has the technical mind and technicalexperience, years and years of experience.
And so when my brother took over, my brother isa very similar to my father, but he is a
perfectionist, and he delivers what he sayshe's gonna deliver.

(12:19):
That's that's my one compliment to my brother.
When my brother says he's gonna do somethingfor a customer, it gets done.
And so he really set the foundation foroperational excellence at Sunset View with that
mentality.
And so it's been a mission of mine to bringthat mentality.
Every single year, we we do new stuff and wegrow our teams to bring that mentality through

(12:42):
as we grow the company, because that's reallywhat set the foundation for our rapid growth.
That's the thing that set us apart here inBrevard County and in in on the East Coast is
we are a we say that we're born in the field.
That's like on our about us page on ourwebsite.
It says born in the field, and and reallythat's what we bring to this market is we bring

(13:06):
a field first perspective.
It's like, look, at the end of the day, you'repaying us to do something to solve a problem
that you can't solve yourself.
And so when you give us your money and you putyour faith in our teams, we're going to make
sure that we treat your home better than wewould treat our own home.
And that's what my brother did, was he reallyshowed up and brought that operational

(13:27):
excellence, that technical experience, andreally rocked out with that.
And so that's fat that's why we grew so quicklyhere, is because our referrals were just off
the off the charts.
When we got up to Brevard County, there wasn'tthat many contractors doing the quality work
that we were doing.
And so people were telling their neighbors, andand so we got a lot of business.

(13:49):
I wanna say around that time, 60 to 80% of ourbusiness in 2018 and 2019 was just referrals.
We were growing from a few 100,000 to a fewmillion a year on just referrals.
So pretty incredible compliment there from mybrother and from my mom, who was also helping
at that time.
So the mindset shift from my brother to myselfis a little bit more organizational focus,

(14:11):
professional leadership, and that sort ofthing.
That's what I bring to the organization is amore visionary mindset.
I'm a bit of a dreamer.
Not not much of an execute you know, I don'treally execute as much as I probably should.
You know, there's always like, what I'verealized is, in a lot of successful companies,

(14:35):
there are two main people in the companies thatreally get those companies growing and
expanding, and there's a visionary, and there'sa person that executes.
And so when I took over after my brother leftthe company, you know, I was really nervous
because I knew I was losing the guy that reallywas good at executing.
And so I had to double down on my weakness andbecome a bit of a, you know, a bit of an action

(15:00):
guy, not just a visionary.
And now that I've hired a general manager whois an excellent action guy, I mean he really
gets out there and executes on the vision, onthe annual plan.
It's helped a lot, but but yeah, would saythat's the mindset shift and I think that's
exactly what this organization needed is, youknow, you have to you need certain things

(15:22):
during those growth phases in a business.
And we we talk about breakpoints a lot, likezero to 3,000,000, you really need a doer.
You need someone that's in the field, in frontof the customer, really proving what they
promised, really doing what they promised theywere going to do, and growing the business
organically like that.

(15:43):
And then from three to eight, like, you needsomeone that can do, and you need someone that
can plan and dream.
And that's what my brother and I did together.
And then growing from that five to 12, which iswhat I've done as the main leader in the
company up to this point, I've had to do alittle bit of both.
But a lot of it is delegating and gettingpeople excited around your vision.

(16:08):
And that is, I think, my superpower and what'sgot us here.
And we're just getting started.
I mean, 12,000,000 is nothing too impressive inmy mind.
I think, like, you know, we could do a100,000,000 in our area of operation, but I
know that that's what's gonna get us is movingmoving the needle in that direction is getting
people excited around the vision.
And I would say that that's what I do well ismeeting with the leaders, meeting with our

(16:31):
stakeholders, whether that's customers,contractors, vendors, employees,
subcontractors, sitting down with them one onone, sharing the vision, sharing their place in
the vision, and getting them excited abouttheir stake in that vision.
So, that's that's I think a little bit about,like, those mindset shifts and what's what's

(16:51):
helped get us here.
You make it sound so easy.
So
Super easy.
You make it super easy.
Like, know, like, you knew that like the backof your hand.
Right?
Oh, yeah.
Just tap your finger and done.
Right?
Is that how it went?
Oh, yeah.
Just like that.
Yeah.
I woke up and I
was like, alright.
This is what this organization needs.
One and done.
Alright.
Time to make some eggs.

(17:11):
So you had you had mentioned 21 was you youbecoming full on.
That to me, it sounds like a crazy time to takeon that type of risk.
Construction was bananas at this point in time.
COVID's in full swing.
Yeah.
What in all serious, what were those timeslike?

(17:31):
Like what, you know, we were literally at ateam dinner last week.
I was in Chicago and we had a whole bunch offun, all this kind of stuff.
At the end of the dinner, one of the, one ofthe engineers said like, Hey, look, what makes
success?
Like, what's the thing that like gets you?
And I immediately said, I'm like, you have tobe willing to go on go into the deep, go into
the dark, and not know when the light's gonnacome, but keep going and trust the fact that

(17:54):
the light will eventually show up.
And I feel like in construction in twentytwenty one, twenty two Yeah.
That had to feel that way.
Tell tell me what what happened in your story.
Yeah.
I mean, 2122 was like staring into the abysswhile chewing glass.
I mean, that's that's what it was That's evenbetter.
That's better than the way I said

(18:15):
it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It wasn't as easy as I said it was.
That's for sure.
It was in a time of incredible personal growthand professional development, I'll tell you
that.
You know, I took over, you know, as the mainguy in the company 01/01/2021, for, you know,
really getting into the thick of it.
Know, 2020, at the 2020, you knew, you know, itwas it was going down.

(18:38):
When they said it was like two weeks of,lockdowns and then it was like a month or
whatever it was, they kept like upping thetime.
You know, that was at the 2020.
So there's like a little bit of hope there.
We were like, alright.
Like, we might just kinda get past this, andthen 2021 might normalize, and we get back on
our way.
By January 2021, right after I signed thosedocuments with my brother, I'm thinking, what a

(19:04):
good time for this transition.
Like, what a what a wonderful time to owe mybrother So money and not make any that was that
was super fun, but you know, during that time,I think it was good to have one leader, one

(19:25):
captain willing to go down with the ship.
And that's how I looked at myself.
I knew that was no one was coming to save meand that everyone could jump off the ship, but
as the captain, I'm staying on.
I'm staying on this ship, and I'm responsiblefor the people that jump off.
I'm responsible for the the ship itself, andthat's where I have to keep the focus.

(19:49):
So I have to keep the focus on this.
You can't move the storm.
You can't slow the the wind down.
You can't calm the waves.
You have to look at your ship and the crew andkeep your focus there.
That's the only thing that you can control.
I'll tell you, every day felt dark.
Every day was a nightmare.
I mean, we had some good days, but very veryfew of them.

(20:12):
But I'll tell you that my crew didn't know howmany dark days there were because I didn't show
it.
And I'll tell you a little bit about somerituals I had during that time.
Those yeah.
Those those days were dark, and I had to findsome ways to inspire some confidence.
I'm taking over for my brother.
My brother was the field expert.

(20:32):
He's a master level installation guy.
He knows the products like the back of hishand.
I don't.
I know just enough to be dangerous.
I was a really good apprentice level installer.
I was not a lead installer like my brother was.
And now I'm the license holder.
So I'm like, I'm the license holder, but I'mnot a master level installer.
So I had to really delegate and trust myteammates.

(20:54):
I didn't have another option.
And so I have all this pressure of, you know,like impostor syndrome.
You know, like, I'm a license holder, but I'mnot the best installer.
You know?
I'm 27.
You know, at the time, was 27 years old.
I having am just a baby.
You know, I have 50 and 60 year old men andwomen working for me that I have a lot of

(21:16):
respect for, and they're counting on me.
They're counting on me to lead this and topoint the ship in the right direction.
And an analogy I use all the time is to geteveryone rowing in the same direction because a
lot of people during these chaotic times,everyone's working, everyone's rowing, but not
all of them are rowing in the same direction.

(21:37):
And so your ship is spinning around in circles,and you're just staying in the storm.
You're just, you know, you're just stayingright there in the waves and in the wind.
And and it's your job as the captain not to bea rower, but to be a captain, to point in the
direction, and to get people excited to row inthat direction.
And so there's a lot of pressure, and a coupleof things I did was, one, I I made kind of a

(22:00):
list, a mental list of all my weaknesses, allthe things that I knew could sink the ship
faster.
And I started kind of looking at thoseweaknesses and saying, okay, I'm gonna start
addressing these with knowledge and withmentorship.
So I'm gonna read some books.
So like, one of one of the things I've alwaysstruggled with is just basic accounting.
I've taken accounting twice in in college.

(22:21):
I failed the first time, not because I'm I'mdumb, I I really wasn't that focused.
I was a little
Occupied.
Too much I was a little too much fun at thattime.
Yes.
But it still wasn't easy for me to grasp, andso I had to take it again.
And it's always been something that's been astruggle of mine.
Another thing is leading civilians.

(22:43):
A big thing that no one talks about is whenyou're a leader in the army, I was a sergeant
when I got out of the army, I had a couplesoldiers that reported to me, I was just
learning how to be a leader.
But leadership in the military, especially as aas a NCO, as a non commissioned officer, is not
directly translating over to the, you know,leading in a company, leading people who have

(23:05):
never been in a military type environment.
Right?
So You mean
they can say no to you?
They can say no or or they cannot
don't do do the things you say?
I mean, you know, who would have thought,right?
So you can't actually smoke them when theydon't do the right thing, you know.
That was a was a big change, you know.

(23:25):
I can't I can't make people do push ups whenthey don't respect me.
I love that you brought that up because whenyou you had mentioned the army and my, you
know, very light understanding, I'll put itthat way, is like the army is like that's where
you go to learn to lead.
Like that's like Right.
Of the branches and not that's not anythingagainst the other branches.
But like Yeah.
The army is like like to become a like a armyranger, it's like you are the best leaders.

(23:49):
Like you are just unbelievable leaders.
So like that foundation of leadership to me, Ijust start thinking like, that had to be such
an advantage.
So it's great that you're bringing up that'slike, yes and no.
Like, there's nuance to that that factor.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of nuance.
I mean, they definitely teach you how to leadin a way of like, you know, here's how you have

(24:10):
discipline, here's how you motivate people, butit's very textbook, and it's through the lens
of how to motivate a soldier to charge a hilland take take the hill, you know, and kill the
enemy.
And you can't bring that same level of energyand vibe to, you know, to an office full of
receptionists.
You know, you can't do
totally installing this window today like youwould not believe.

(24:33):
Oh, yes.
Building is gonna have the best doors.
No question, they are gonna be installedperfectly.
Yeah.
And we're gonna do it all night until it'sdone.
We're not leaving this job until it's done.
Yeah.
Exactly.
No.
It's it's, you know, it really did did a lot ofharm because I came in super motivated.
And, you know, I realized that I I really enjoyleading through chaotic times.

(24:56):
But I just had the wrong tools at first to dothat.
And so I was using some of the wrong tools.
And I realized that, you know, with civ I'lljust call them civilians, and I don't mean that
as a negative thing, but with civilians andwith just Will and I
are also civilians, so it's totally I'm
I'm a civilian.
I'm a civilian.
I just like, that was the lens that I came inwith, was just like, okay, these are civilians,

(25:18):
but I'm gonna lead them like soldiers becauseif I can lead soldiers, then I can lead
civilians.
And that is I couldn't be more wrong.
I couldn't be more wrong.
I came off, you know, really harsh, reallyintense.
I mean, I really loved my employees.
I loved my teammates, but it didn't translate.
They they couldn't really tell that, eventhough I felt that way for them.
And so I had to slow things down, sit down withthem one on one, share my vision and love for

(25:43):
what we were doing, and try to figure out whatmotivated them.
Right?
This is like leadership one zero one.
I mean, like, any leadership, not even a book,like, a leadership article could could teach
you this, but sometimes you have to be throwninto the furnace, you know, and that was what
it was for me.
I really I had to take a take a breath andrealize that we weren't going to accomplish

(26:06):
anything without my team.
It's, you know, I thought it was like no one'sgonna come save me, and that was the mentality
that I had.
And that motivated me for sure, But there's acaveat to that.
There's a big asterisk, and it's no one's gonnasave me, but I can't even save myself.

(26:26):
I can't do this by myself.
And so I I have to get these team membersmotivated around the solutions that are gonna
get us out of this.
And that's what I focused on.
That's what I did during that period of time.
Some rituals that really helped me is everynight I would come home, and I felt defeated
most nights.
We owed a lot of money.

(26:47):
You know, there was not no light at the end ofthe tunnel, just more dark tunnel.
And the lead times were I mean, we were we wereordering product.
We would tell the customer it would be here insixteen weeks because that's what the vendor
would would tell us.
We'll ship it in sixteen weeks, which was stilla long lead time.
They'd give us a deposit.

(27:08):
We require 50% upfront so we can order thematerials and pay the vendors.
And we we collect the deposit.
And right after we collect deposit, sometimesnot right after, sometimes after a few months,
the vendor would update us with the new leadtime.
And in 2021, many, many times, we would collecta deposit, order the product, and then we

(27:28):
wouldn't receive it for fifty to sixty weeks.
It was brutal.
It was brutal.
I mean, those phone calls that you're havingwith the customer, not not fun.
Not fun.
They are absolutely irate that you have theirmoney, they signed a contract, and that there's
nothing that you can do.
There's nothing that I could have done at thatpoint in time.

(27:50):
Everyone that wanted a refund, if we could ifwe afforded it, we we gave them a refund.
We did everything that we could do.
And at that point in time, you know, you'rejust like, you know, you're you're talking to
the customers, and you're just like, look.
If I had your windows, I'd put them in rightnow because I I I need to get paid.
You know, I need to get the jobs done.
But, you know, a lot of people don't understandthat you're a middleman.

(28:11):
Sometimes as a contractor, you're a middleman.
You don't manufacture everything.
You're just collecting the materials, you'reperforming the work, and you're serving the
customer that way.
And so, you know, being a good communicatorduring that time, being a good, you know,
conflict, conflict resolver, what is the wordfor that?
Resolution, conflict resolution.
Yeah.
Having some good conflict resolution skills waswas needed.

(28:32):
And so we did conflict resolution training,and, you know, in the office.
So we we focused on those things and and wemade it out, thank God.
But, you know, some of those days were so dark,I would come home, and and my ritual I had
every day, I'd come home, I'd take a hotshower, and I mean the hottest shower I could
bear, and I would think about the smallestlittle things that could just move the needle,

(28:56):
even just a millimeter.
If there was one text I could send out, ifthere was one email I could send, if there's
one conversation, if there's just, if there's abook I could read that would help me solve a
problem, and that's what I did, and that was mysafe space.
I would be in there just, you know, by myself.
My wife knew not to not to go in there andbother me.

(29:18):
I would just think about you know, it seemedlike that was the only space I could really
think clearly about where I was.
That was the only time that I could kinda pullmy head above the clouds and say, okay.
Here's where I'm at.
This is the lay of the land.
Okay.
Here are these things over here that I need toaddress.
And I would think about just the the littletiny things, the little steps I could take to

(29:38):
get me to the top, to get me to the finishline.
And I would think of just oftentimes one thing.
I'm just gonna get out of the shower and I'mgonna send one email to this specific guy over
here and see if he knows a solution to thisproblem.
And oftentimes, they would know a solution.
They would have someone or some connection orsome book recommendation or podcast

(30:02):
recommendation, and I would follow that trail.
Sometimes it would lead to nowhere, butoftentimes I'd find the exact answer I needed.
And so it was that kind of thing that reallyhelped me get through, and oftentimes I'd end
that shower motivating myself to the pointwhere I would be pissed off.
I would be I don't know if this is healthy ornot.
If there's a therapist that listens to this,they're probably like, this is totally like the

(30:25):
worst way of coping.
But I I I would be thinking of solutions, andthen I would motivate myself through anger.
And I would I would really motivate myselfthrough thinking about, you know, how am I
gonna be remembered in this time?
And I would visualize myself fighting, youknow.
At that point in time, I started doing jujitsuand kickboxing.

(30:47):
That was a huge, huge thing, and we'll talkabout that in a minute.
But I just got a lot of motivation through thatthrough that anger.
And it wasn't like a anger of, like, I'm angryat people or I'm angry at myself, but I'm angry
at the situation I'm in.
And it motivated me to come up with thosesolutions and to push harder.
And I would tell myself, is this the kind ofman that you are?

(31:09):
Is this the kind of person that you're gonnabe?
Are you gonna crumble and quit now?
Are you gonna do it now?
And there are many times man, I'm looking atvideos on YouTube of like how to file for
bankruptcy and like what to do, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah, real shit.
Oh real stuff, yeah.
I mean sitting on, I remember sitting on apicnic bench.

(31:30):
It's a total sob story.
Sitting on a bench, this beautiful outside,blue skies, birds flying overhead, beautiful
oak trees, there's a lake, sitting there andI'm just crying, watching YouTube videos on how
to file bankruptcy.
I'm like, I can't pull myself out of this.
I can't feel any joy where I'm at in life.

(31:51):
And I I decided to just work through that andsay, I'm not that man.
I'm not that quitter.
Now I'm gonna go down swinging.
And that's what I decided to do, and it tookabout three years to get back financially what
we lost during COVID.
It was a very long, long road, and now we're,you know, doing really, really well.

(32:11):
We're head and shoulders above our competitionas far as profitability goes, and so we've
we've figured it out.
But, yeah, during during that time, man, thoserituals really, really helped.
Those that kickboxing, jujitsu, building thatconfidence up.
I know, Will, you've done a little bit ofmartial arts and I know you can vouch for this,
but the confidence you get from getting chokedout by a 12 year old girl is really no, I'm

(32:38):
saying that sarcastically, know, it's veryhumbling and then when you start, you learn a
lot about yourself during those humblingmoments and you start building yourself up
brick by brick and you start developing someskills and there's just, it's hard to explain,
but there's just confidence that comes fromthat, from that adversity, from doing those
really, really hard things, from sparring,match after match after match, or, you know,

(33:02):
getting choked nearly unconscious, you know, 20times in a row during a training session.
There's something that happens inside of youthat really, it wakes up, you know.
It's like that lion growing his mane, you know.
It's like that's what it feels like to betraining in martial arts and be training with
good students.
So, yeah, a lot of it I attribute to thosethose two rituals to help get through those

(33:24):
hard times.
So, a little bit on that.
For me, it was the incremental improvement,like failing a lot.
Right?
And then eventually going up against peoplethat were just better.
Right?
Just you knew that they were better and stilltaking up the challenge of like, okay, what can
I learn from the person that's significantlybetter than me?

(33:47):
A 100%.
I was the the days that I was doing it afterthe after the sessions, because they were for
me, it was an hour and a half session.
Physically, I was completely broken.
And mentally, I was completely focused.
Like, it helped me change my focus in acompletely different manner.
So I a 100% agree with you.

(34:08):
Like martial arts, especially like somethinglike jujitsu, a 100% recommend because it will
change mindset of thinking in what it reallymeans to show up and to like get through.
Because when you're, I mean, battlingessentially when you're sparring and you're
truly going up against someone that outclassesyou in every way, shape or form, that's where
mental toughness comes in.

(34:30):
Yeah.
You know, at the beginning of the the catapultconference where you and I met, Justin, there
was I think it was one of the very firstslides.
There is this slide about capacity.
More suffering you go through, greater yourcapacity to endure suffering.
And obviously they're referencing being anentrepreneur.
Don't get entrepreneurs.

(34:51):
It's it's actually that quote that I talkedabout, chewing glass and staring into the
abyss, that's a quote that you from Elon Musk,actually.
Okay.
Well, it's it's very good.
He said he said a lot of his friends after theybecome successful in their first endeavor or
whatever, they quit being entrepreneur becauseno one wants to stare into the abyss and chew
glass their whole life.

(35:11):
And obviously, that's not not everybody.
You know, a lot of people do.
But, you know, there's there's so much truth toto that.
It's just like you get motivated from the painalmost.
And I remember being in jujitsu and andsomething bad would happen and I'd get caught
and it's like, oh my god, that hurts so bad.
But then I was motivated to learn how to getbetter so that doesn't happen again.

(35:33):
And entrepreneurship is very similar to that.
And so your capacity grows through thosehardships, through those problems.
Your problem solving skills get sharper, andit's kind of like this snowball effect where,
you know, you get tougher and your capacitygrows, and a lot of that you can see in
jujitsu.
That's a interesting thing that you can see injujitsu and business.

(35:55):
Was literally yesterday talking to a friend,who's transitioning from more of a corporate,
situation.
He just kinda he's fed up with it.
Cool.
Like, love I love that you've come to clarity.
And he is kinda going through.
We're just talking about different thing paths.
Right?
Like, hey, what different paths you can take?
And one one of the things he said was about,like, consulting.

(36:17):
And I was like, okay.
And I'm like, well, have you ever thought aboutactually going out, find yourself and, you
know, because you're trying to alleviate thesestresses that you're being put on you.
And I'm like going into any form of you doing athing by yourself, doesn't alleviate that.
Stress is not going to disappear.
In fact, it is going to be harder and harderbecause all the things that you're really good

(36:38):
at that you could actually to do stuff like youdoing this thing, like like you being able to
install stuff.
Right?
It's like, that's just a piece.
Like, that's just wanna be great at that forsure.
But that's just a piece compared to like all ofthe other stuff that you don't even know and
it's you're blind to.
And he literally came to the conclusion.
He's like, yeah, you're right.
Like, I don't I don't actually wanna do that.

(36:59):
Like, that's not like and I'm like, it's andI'm not trying to discourage you.
Like, yo, if that's your if that's your dreamand that's your thing, drive to it.
But like, don't romanticize it.
Like that and I think that that's where peopleget into the I could do this or I'm gonna be
this.
Yeah.
And it's just it is all the stories you shared,the amount of stories that, certainly Will has

(37:19):
shared over the years with me.
It it is is that.
It is like it this isn't, it's not for thefaint of heart as they say, but it's it's very
much like, if you wanna do the thing byyourself, you have to understand that, like,
nobody is there to help you.
Yeah.
You can call somebody and that can give you abook review and they can or, you know,
recommendation, all those different things.
And, like, that's great.
But, like, when brass, you know, comes to tax,like, when the rubber hits the road, it's like

(37:41):
Yeah.
You gotta figure it out.
Otherwise, it ain't getting done.
And if it don't get done, what what does thatmean for the business?
Yeah.
Bills don't get paid.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
But
you're It's that simple.
You have any and if you have any family thatyou are supporting and all that, it's like you
are the pressure mounts and mounts.
And Yeah.
That's that is just the reality of, like, man,this is not it's not the beauty.

(38:03):
It's, like, it's not the easy thing, and that'swhy you have Yeah.
Less and less people to do it.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, and it you mentioned family, and Iwas thinking about my analogy being on the
ship, and it's something I would remind myselfof just to make it even worse was that it
wasn't the 30 people on the ship.
It was the 30 people and every one of theirfamily members that counted on their income,

(38:27):
which ultimately was dependent on thedecisions, the quality of the decisions that I
made for the company.
And during COVID, you know, like employment isunsure.
Like you don't know where you're gonna end up.
You don't know what's gonna happen.
And so you have to preserve this lifeline.
That's a lifeline for them and their familiesthey have.
And so, yeah, man, it's it's not for the forthe weak hearted, but I'll tell you, if you're

(38:52):
weak hearted when you get into it, you won't beif you're successful.
You won't be.
It will make you stronger.
Just like jujitsu.
You start your first class a week, and after afew years, you're a monster.
Believe me.
It only takes
So that that brings up the during the COVID,like, leading through that.
Right?
Obviously, you are you're coming into thisrealization of, hey.
Leadership isn't the same as it was in the armyas it is now.

(39:14):
Like, you know, there's all these differences.
I've taken over full control.
So the buck stops with me.
There is I don't I don't even have, you know,the brother to like, hey.
It's us together.
It's like, No.
No.
It's just you now.
Like, you don't you don't have big brother.
Big brother ain't there.
There is there is none of that anymore.
So, like, how did how did that go to lead peepnot not just you.
Like, you gotta be right in your head with youwith your rituals and all those things.

(39:36):
Like, how did you help your employees getthrough?
Yeah.
Was a big transition for him.
You know, my brother's, like I said, about sixyears older than me, and so, you know, he was
30, I think, when I took over as a 27 year old,and I mean, as a 34 year old he was young.
And so, you know, these employees that arelike, you know, some of them in their 50s and

(39:57):
60s, I mentioned, are like, oh my gosh, justwhen we thought it couldn't get any worse.
I mean, you know, they didn't
We've got a express global pandemic going onand we decided to get younger.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're gonna change it up.
Alright?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, a lot of one on one conversations, alot of meeting them where they were, and just

(40:17):
addressing the individual concerns, and some ofthe things I I, you know, I couldn't answer.
You know, a lot of what I heard was, we'llwe'll wait and see.
And hearing your teammates say that to you astheir new as the new leader, and then knowing
that, you know, in your head, you're you'realso saying, we're gonna wait and see because

(40:39):
you have COVID happening, and you're googlinghow to, you know, file bankruptcy.
It's one of those it's one of those thingswhere you have to say, I believe in myself, and
I believe in my humility to learn the lessonsthat I need to learn when I fail, and I know
I'll fail.

(40:59):
So that was that headspace.
That was like where I was.
It's like I know I'm gonna fail and it's okay.
Now I have to mitigate the damage.
So I'm gonna do that from like I'm gonna dothat by entering conversations from a good
place.
Try and try, and I don't do this all the time.
I'm not a perfect leader.
I have so much to learn.
And the things I'm talking about now that Istruggled with then, I still struggle with now.

(41:24):
But it was identifying those things and saying,like, okay.
Like, I have to come into this with a positivemindset and believe that there's gonna be a
good solution or a good outcome from thisconversation or from this business deal or
whatever, or just in general, there's gonna bea good outcome.
I have to believe that for myself, for them,and for the company.

(41:46):
And so, you know, some people, you know, theythey quit during that time, to be honest.
I had to fire quite a few people during thattime, and that was huge.
That was big for me.
Not firing someone is much, much easier, atleast for me and for most entrepreneurs, than
firing them, than letting them go.
And so that was a big leap of faith.
When I had identified that there were people onthe team that weren't gonna make it into the

(42:10):
promised land, that didn't believe me the way Ineeded them to believe in me, to believe in the
leader, you know?
That was a tough decision, but that was a leapof faith, and I had to believe in myself.
I couldn't let those doubts win.
Right?
So I reorganized the ship a little bit.
I didn't let everyone go.
There were just a few people that needed to notbe you know?

(42:31):
Like thoroughbreds and donkeys as Dave Ramseytalks about.
I don't know if you've heard that analogybefore.
Yep.
Around that time, I actually went to a EntreLeadership three day seminar, and it probably
wasn't the wisest financial decision, you know,and that's part of that, like, betting on
yourself and betting on your your selfdevelopment.

(42:52):
So I went ahead and I did it anyways.
I went up and stayed three days in a resortthat I probably couldn't have couldn't have
really shouldn't have, you know, I shouldn'thave stayed at.
And I learned some interesting things there.
And one of the one of the things I actuallydon't really like this analogy, but I'll use it
just for for that time in my life, it made alot of sense.
He said that thoroughbreds don't like racingwith donkeys, and and they're they they they'll

(43:14):
leave the race.
They don't race with donkeys.
You can't you can't have them on the same onthe same track.
And the donkeys will slow the thoroughbredsdown.
And I looked at my team, and I found somepeople that weren't thoroughbreds.
You know, what was more powerful though, is Ifound some people that were thoroughbreds that
I wasn't training.

(43:34):
I wasn't developing them.
I wasn't spending the time to make sure thatthey were showing up for themselves and for
their family and for their team.
And that's your job as a leader, so identifythose thoroughbreds.
I think sometimes, at least for me and myleadership experience in the army, especially
during that time, it was easy for me to comedown with a hammer and be like, I'm getting rid

(43:55):
of all the donkeys, and I'm only gonna go youknow, I was, like, so motivated.
Like, I told you I'm only gonna raisethoroughbreds from here on out.
You know?
I'm gonna be the the best team or the bestwindow door company because I'm only gonna have
thoroughbreds.
And what I found out over time was that I had alot of thoroughbreds, and I just wasn't a good
leader.
I wasn't training them.
I wasn't developing them.
And so there were some donkeys I had to let go,but there were a lot more thoroughbreds than

(44:21):
donkeys that I just wasn't training, I wasn'tdeveloping, and that was on me.
And so having that kind of headspace of beinglike, I'm gonna find out what I'm messing up
because there are a lot of things I'm messingup.
And and then I'm just gonna categorize themaccording to the priority, and then I'm just
gonna start developing myself and my teamaccording to that list of priorities.

(44:41):
That's that's I think what helps.
So I wanna switch it up a bit because I thinkthis is related when we talked about it before.
You talked about that you've done a coupleacquisitions.
Yes.
So let's talk about your experience.
What was it?
What what did you acquire?
How'd you acquire it?
And any learning lessons from your acquisition?
Yeah.
Think Yeah.

(45:03):
Just a couple.
I'm still starting out my M and A journey.
If you're listening to this and you're like,oh, I'm gonna take M and A advice from this
guy, like, maybe do some more research.
I hope it's inspirational to you.
Okay, golden nuggets, here they come.
Yeah, here we go.
Here we go.
Yeah, no, this is medical advice.
Listen to this.
Yeah, no, you know, I think I started beingcreative with financing and acquiring assets

(45:28):
when I was about 18.
Like, I had an opportunity to buy a prettyinexpensive house close to my parents.
I didn't really know a lot about real estateinvesting.
I knew the generic advice that like, you know,it's better to own a house and build equity
than to rent and build someone else's equity.
And so at 18 I figured, well one, wanted to getout of my parents house and do that stuff they

(45:50):
didn't want me to do, you know.
And they were, you know, good good Christianhouse, and I I didn't wanna be in a good
Christian house and have my mommy and daddyaround.
So I'm like, look.
I'm gonna buy a house.
And, also, it's a really good financialdecision.
So it kinda goes hand in hand.
And I ended up getting some creative financing.
One of the contractors that we worked for, he,knew me and we knew my father.

(46:11):
He my father and I came to him and said, hey.
Look.
Wanna buy a house, and, it's $65,000.
And, you know, will you will you hold the note?
Will you, you know, lend the money?
He said, sure, but I'll only lend it to yourdad and I'll know that you you make the
mortgage payments.
So my dad was cool with it, you know, and thatwas an awesome thing.
I would say that, like, I'm privileged in thatsense that my father was willing to do that and

(46:35):
that we had that connection.
And so I'm grateful for that opportunity.
I will say that he only did that because heknew what kind of worker I was.
I worked a lot on his projects, and he's seenthe integrity.
We also knew him personally, you know, so heknew that I was gonna show up.
I was gonna pay that mortgage payment and notput my dad in a hard hard spot.
So it was a opportunity, and I and, you know, II showed up and made sure he knew that I was

(47:00):
good for it.
So that's how I got that first deal.
He gave me a mortgage.
It was like not the best not the best terms.
I think it was 8% interest over, I wanna say itwas like ten years or something like that.
And it was it was a big nut to crack everymonth for me.
It was like $818 and like 80¢ or something likethat.

(47:24):
It was exactly it was like $918.88.
That's what it was.
I remember writing that check out every month.
So I don't know if there's any math whizzes outthere.
Probably like, that's not the length of the thenote.
It was, you know, whatever.
I don't remember exactly, but I remember $900payment.
I moved in and I thought, well, this is a lotof money, and I was only making about $500 a

(47:45):
week.
And so I'm like, this is like a huge portion ofmy pay is going towards this house, and I have
to fix it up.
It was a $65,000 house after all.
Like, there's a lot of work that needs to bedone.
It was a 1953 house built on a stem wall,plaster walls, no central AC.
It had a big window shaker just, like, mountedinto the wall, and I loved it.

(48:10):
It was awesome.
It was awesome having my own space, and it wasreally cool that a reward of like being able to
get a deal done, you know, and like just likefigure out how to do something that a lot of
your friends didn't know how to do.
Like, I didn't know any other 18 year old or 19year old that was buying their own house.
Right?
And so I felt like a lot of reward andgratification from figuring out something

(48:32):
that's hard.
So I was like, okay.
What what can I do?
So my friends also wanted to move out of theirparents' houses.
So was like, I'm gonna capitalize on that.
And so it was easy.
They were just coming to me anyways and saying,hey.
Can I live here with you?
And I'm like, sure.
Like, you wanna pay me $450 a month for rentinga room?
Sure.
Go for it.
And utilities were included, it was fine.
We shared toiletries, we pitch in for the basicstuff, you know, classic like roommate

(48:56):
situation.
Right.
Was it it was a two one with the smallestkitchen you've ever seen.
It did have a separate living room, so that'snice.
And then it had a garage.
This garage was a single car garage, you wannacall it that.
It had one of those swing open tilt garagedoors, you know, like from the fifties.
Like, it was pretty pretty awesome.

(49:18):
And a loft.
This was, like, the coolest thing ever, like,having a garage with a loft because there's no
attic in the in the garage that went all theway up to the roof.
It was, like, super awesome.
So what I did is I rented out both bedrooms inthe main part of the house, and then I rented
out the lot.
I I rented them all out for $450 a month, andthen I stayed in the garage, the the the, like,

(49:41):
1st Floor of the garage, basically, on a couchthat came with the house.
This couch had been around forever.
Yeah.
And we're talking I had a window shaker in thegarage, but it was not insulated.
Nothing was insulated in the garage.
So it was wicked, wicked hot.
And I mean, like, even at night after a hot daywe're talking about West Palm Beach, Florida.
So after like a 90 degree day, it would getdown to like maybe 75 to 80 in the garage, if

(50:08):
we were lucky.
And so it was brutal.
I'd have a box fan blowing right on me, thewasher and dryer were in there, They always did
their laundry, you know, like when they gothome, so things would be clanking in the dryer.
I got box fan on, and I'd have opened thescreen door just to get some fresh air in, you
know, because I'm sweating in there.
But I tell you, I loved every second of it.
I felt like I was owning my life story, youknow, having a little bit of ownership in what

(50:33):
was happening in my life.
And when you move out at 18 years old, it feelsso good to do that.
And so that's pretty much how
I Going to the army probably felt like avacation then.
I mean, jeez, you were essentially torturingyourself in a in a hot box.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
I didn't live in in the bottom the entire time.
That was during the height of my house hacking.

(50:54):
I did live in the main part of the house thelast few months I lived there, so I don't want
it to be like, oh, like, you know, I wassleeping on the floor with the dogs.
That was part of it, but but yeah, no, it'sfunny because when I joined the army, I told my
my supervisors all the time that the job I hadin the army as a chaplain assistant was so
chill, so relaxed, it was a vacation comparedto putting in windows and doors every single

(51:16):
day.
And and they always thought that was funny, andthen I got out and did it again.
I couldn't I couldn't help myself.
So what about fast forwarding to the businessYes. When you
When you acquisition there?
Yeah.
So, I mean, really what that deal taught me wasthat, one, can be creative.
Like, I'd be creative with way I financethings.
I'd be creative with the way I pay for thefinancing.

(51:36):
And so it kinda came naturally.
I I I started learning a lot of real estateinvesting techniques and information and stuff
from BiggerPockets.
BiggerPockets is an incredible podcast aboutreal estate.
Now they have a BiggerPockets business podcast,excellent podcast as well.
I learned a lot, and I listened to probably afew thousand hours of pod in the army the last

(51:57):
six months or so I was in the army.
So I had this, like, I'm gonna house hack.
I'm gonna, you know, like, just be I'm gonnabuild wealth through real estate and through
business.
And so when I got out of the army, I actuallybought a duplex online through an auction
website called xome, x0me.com.
I don't know if it's still around.
I bought a duplex sight unseen for a $162,000.

(52:19):
I I bid online after PT one morning in thearmy.
I won won the bid, and it was pretty crazy.
So that's I kinda started the house hackingthing.
So when I got when I got down I was stationedin Alaska.
So when I came from Alaska back down to toFlorida, I continued that kinda house hacking
and, you know, being creative and buyingassets.

(52:40):
After about a year of working in the businessand working on the duplex, we had an
opportunity to buy a competitor.
This competitor was similar sized business.
They were doing about 2 and a half million ayear at that time.
They had the business listed for $650,000.
I'm thinking they had their EBITDA was about$253,100,000 dollars.

(53:01):
So I'm like, alright, this is, you know, apretty good deal.
Let me look into this.
I called a broker out of job site, mind you,we're literally putting windows and doors in,
my brother and I and a few employees.
So I called the broker, he calls me right back,and he's like, yeah.
You know, we'd love to meet with you.
I was like, I own a window door company, blahblah blah.
And he's like, yeah.

(53:22):
You know, we this is exactly the kind ofopportunity that the sellers are looking for.
And I said, okay.
Well, let me know about, you know, let me knowabout a meeting.
So we we sit down with the broker, and I startnegotiating.
And I I tell them, like, look.
It's just a it's a it's a kind of like one ofthose, boomer businesses.
Right?
It's founder led, and they've been, you know,running the business for about almost twenty

(53:46):
years now in this community, which was greatbecause I really wanted that book of business
and recognition of being a household name inthe community that we had just moved to.
And so I told him, I said, look, it's just youtwo and two subcontractors.
It was a husband and a wife.
The husband was still doing some of the servicehimself.
The wife was doing all the bookkeeping, all thereception, all the scheduling, and was the only

(54:08):
point of contact for customers.
And I said, look, you guys have oh, and theyhad two salespeople.
And I said, really?
You have two employees, but this is a job.
I'm not buying a business here.
I'm buying a job.
If I if you don't show up to work, the businessdoesn't work.
And that's that's not a business.
Right?
So we need to get a little bit more competitiveon the pricing.

(54:29):
And so I started negotiating.
I ended up getting them down to $350,000, zerodown, 100% owner financed over five years.
And I paid them off last year.
It's great.
Great relationship with them.
And the the thing there that got me that dealwas just finding mutual value, finding the

(54:49):
things that they needed from the deal.
They wanted to exit.
Like, he had been stressed out.
I had mentioned earlier in in this podcast,like, you know, this business can be super
stressful unless you have the mindset to dealwith the stress, and you can delegate
effectively and train effectively.
And so they weren't wanting to do that.
They didn't wanna grow the business.
So they they really wanted to get out.

(55:10):
They really wanted to do something a littleless stressful and get some reward from all the
work that they had done.
And so we came to a a good deal that we bothagreed to.
You know, they got a little bit of a lightertax burden because they're doing an owner
finance deal, and they they had sustainableincome for five years.

(55:32):
So it worked out great.
They also own the building, so I was payingthem rent, It just worked out great.
So that was my first m and a.
So I actually didn't I moved in, so it's crazy.
I did the deal on September 11.
Sorry to forget that date.
I didn't pay my first payment until October, sothat's cool.
I moved into their office, brought everythingover from our shop, and was running both of our
businesses basically together.

(55:53):
We were absorbing their business into ours andkeeping their website and phone and stuff.
And we we were doing that and making money fromthat before we made our first payment in
October.
So it was a really good experience.
Yeah.
And then their employees basically quit, thesubcontractors left, and then I wound up with
just their book of business basically, and oneof their salesman is still with us.

(56:13):
But, yeah, a lot of great lessons in that, butit was overall a great success.
And so I did that again August 1 or July thirdof of last year.
Actually, I bought another business, a doorspecialty business, for a little bit less than
that, and I also did owner financing on thatone as well.
So, yeah, a little bit of just getting my feetwet, so to speak, with the with the m and a

(56:34):
stuff, but I'm just getting started.
Just getting started.
I'm trying
get some
rest.
Silver tsunami as
the The silver tsunami.
That's right.
Yeah.
This has been a ton of fun.
We you've been awesome, and I'd love Thanks.
To go to our last question that we love to askall of our guests, which is, Ryan, if you go
back twenty years, what advice would you giveyourself?

(56:55):
I know that I'm doing the math upon your age atthis moment, but what advice would you give
yourself years ago?
Ten years ago.
Okay.
At 21, almost 21 Mhmm.
At this point in time, ten years ago, I was inbasic training.
Yeah.
I would probably tell myself to just take abreath.

(57:16):
Just take it easy.
Take a beat.
Yeah.
I mean, I was really, really motivated.
I wanted to accomplish everything.
I wanted to I didn't even know what it was Iwanted to accomplish, but I just had the, like,
the sense of just, I need to be a winner.
Like, I need to be, like, I need to prove tomyself and to others that, you know, I don't
know, I have worth or something.

(57:36):
Like again, if there's a therapist, you know,you can diagnose me.
At
I actually had one on the Building Connectionseries, I will send her over to you.
Yeah, it was, you know, it was a time of, like,you know, and most, I think, young, like,
ambitious people feel that, like, need, like,at twenty twenty one to be, you know, working

(57:57):
towards those goals and getting the collegedegree and getting the internship and making
those right connections and doing all thosethings all at the same time.
And I know a lot of ambitious young people feelthat way, but, you know, I would say, like,
advice to myself is just, like, take a beat,and, like, don't waste any time doing things
that don't matter.
Like, a lot of the stuff that you do in yourtwenties, it just doesn't really matter that
much.

(58:17):
The stuff that matters is enjoying your lifeand trying to find the things that actually
make you tick.
Something I heard yesterday from Alex Hermosy,and this is gonna be a little aggressive as he
says in true Alex Hermosy As generally is.
He goes, the things that keep you from killingyourself are your life's purpose.

(58:37):
And Interesting.
I'm a I'm a Christian.
I I believe, you know, in in a Christian faith.
So my take on this maybe is a little different,but it was very, very thought provoking, you
know.
As a man in his thirties, got a young family,you know, I'm constantly trying to find what's
the purpose.
And it's been very clear now that the purposeof my life is a legacy.

(58:59):
It's showing my sons, you know, a better path,a better way of thinking, you know, better way
of doing things and showing that and, you know,allowing them to watch it being done in front
of them.
And so, yeah, I would I would say, like, if Icould go back to ask myself that question,

(59:21):
what's what's stopping me killing myself?
Focus on those things.
Focus on that stuff.
And then I think, like, the rest of it's gonnabe okay.
Like, just take a beat.
Take a beat.
Don't kill yourself.
Important.
And find the things that help you not
kill yourself.
Very
important.
When when you come visit Arizona, we'll have along conversation about purpose.
It's one of the things I Terrific.

(59:42):
Love maybe more than anything else.
So this has been a ton of fun.
If somebody wanted to get ahold of you, what'sthe best way for them to do that?
Yeah.
At ryan bit good.
It's my Instagram.
It's it's a little a little scarce right now.
Well, just a couple of posts in there, but I'mhiring a content operator, so we'll be building
that up a little bit.
And yeah.
And I'll be starting my my own podcast heresoon.

(01:00:04):
It.
Love it.
Love it.
It.
Cool.
Anything else you'd like to say to the peoplebefore we say goodbye?
No.
Thank you, Justin.
Thanks, Will.
Really appreciate the opportunity.
Love the podcast.
Great work you guys are doing.
Awesome.
Thank you, Ryan.
Thank you so much.
This has been a ton of fun, listeners, anduntil next time.
Adios.
Adios.
Peace.
Thanks for listening to building scale.
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(01:00:28):
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(01:00:53):
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