April 28, 2025 • 35 mins
Jerome Myers shares his journey from corporate America dropout to entrepreneurship expert, revealing how he helps founders find post-exit fulfillment rather than just maximizing valuations.
• Built a $20 million division for a Fortune 550 company before leaving to pursue entrepreneurship
• Created "the eight X's of a founder" framework to guide entrepreneurs through common pitfalls
• Advocates finding mentors who've achieved your goals rather than learning through trial and error
• Explains the "founder's exit paradox" where entrepreneurs feel lost after selling their businesses
• Shares case study of helping a dentist sell most of her practices to achieve financial freedom while maintaining income
• Measures success by time freedom (194 days off in 2024) rather than just financial metrics
• Believes car culture creates opportunities to inspire others by making dreams tangible
• Recommends "Sizing People Up" as essential reading for building trusted relationships
• Emphasizes clarity and elimination of distractions as what separates top entrepreneurs
• Daily habit of intense exercise builds resilience needed for entrepreneurship
Your dream should be real. Most adults haven't heard that in a long time, so if you made it to this part of the interview, you've got to go out and do something about it.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Forget what you've heard.
Forged in Fire is where realentrepreneurs come to share the
untold truths of success thelate nights, the crushing
setbacks, the moments thatchange everything.
No fluff, just fire, ready tostep into the heat and unlock
(00:25):
what it really takes to build abusiness.
This is where legends are made.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another
exciting episode of Forged inFire.
I'm your co-host, nateFarm-Reading.
I'm going to bring on mycounterpart, cole.
How we doing brother.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Nate.
What's going on, man?
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Dude, I'm fired up man.
I walked into the office, halfthe things are on fire.
It's like, okay, we got thisman.
I feel rejuvenated, but how areyou doing?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
A day in paradise.
That's how it always is.
No, I love it.
Same thing A lot on the plate,but things are.
I'm excited because, for anyonethat doesn't know, we just
closed a refi that we wereworking on for a long time and
it was a stressful project.
There was a lot of ups anddowns.
If anyone on here has beenthrough bridge debt, you know
about the sleepless nights.
(01:15):
So we're super excited thatthat's wrapped up and now we can
kind of take a breath.
So that's kind of what'shappening.
I'm really excited for thisinterview, for today as well.
It's going to be a really,really good one.
I think it'll speak to a lot ofpeople.
But before we get into that, Ihave one favor for you Please,
please, leave us a review.
This helps us grow, this helpsus reach more people, it helps
us educate others.
So the only thing I couldpossibly ask you to do is please
(01:37):
just give us a review, and thatwould help us expand and keep
these conversations going.
So, expand and keep theseconversations going.
So, with that, sit back, relax,enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Dude, this is going to be awesome.
Today, we are joined by JeromeMyers.
He is the founder and CEO ofExit to Excellence.
Without further ado, let mejust bring this brother on stage
.
This man is amazing.
Come on stage, man.
How are we doing?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I'm amazing Real estate.
Nate Cole, it's good to be withyou guys.
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Bro, the pleasure is ours, man, thank you so much.
So please tell us a little bitabout yourself.
What got you here?
What brought you here?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
I'm a corporate America dropout man.
I remember building a $20million division for a Fortune
550 and getting told that we'regoing to lay people off year
after year.
And I was like, man, this isold, we need to do something
different.
And I want the buck to stopwith me.
And so jumped into real estate,did that for a while, got
lonely because people onlywanted to talk to me if they
(02:32):
were worried about theirdistribution or there was an
issue with their unit.
And then we started workingwith founders and helping them
grow and scale.
And so we are the leadingboutique firm for folks who are
figuring out their exit.
And not so much how do youmaximize evaluation, but how do
you maximize post-exitfulfillment.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
That is incredible.
There's so much I want to diveinto there.
So first let's go back to thebeginning.
You said you worked incorporate America, had these
issues started or ended upexiting that, so one, can you
talk a little bit about that andwe're not going to harp on real
estate here because I want tofocus on other things but tell
me about some of the struggleswith that, because a lot of
people are either thinking aboutgetting into real estate or are
(03:16):
in real estate.
I'm sure they can relate.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, real estate is a capital intensive business,
and so, whether you're doingsingle family or multifamily,
the thing that you have toconsider is if you don't have
the income meaning if yourproperties aren't rented or
people are deciding not to payrent you have to deal with the
debt, and I think Dave Ramseytells you to buy it in cash.
(03:38):
For most people, that's justnot practical, and so if you're
going to get into the space,there's going to be debt service
in addition to all theoperational expenses.
We watch many people executebusiness plans that are destined
to fail before they even getinto them, and they don't even
know why.
And the funny thing about realestate is most people think that
(04:00):
it's just buying a widget.
I buy it for this and sell itfor that, I made money.
Think that it's just buying awidget If I buy it for this and
sell it for that, I made money.
If you're doing something thathas renters, you actually have
to execute a business plan.
Right, there's a subscriptionmodel, and then you got to get
through that subscription forlong enough in order to break
even, and then you're actuallyhaving a conversation about
whether you made money or not,and I just think so many people
(04:23):
miss that because you can justgo buy it and that is probably
the least of your concerns ifyou're doing real estate, and so
it's really interesting thatpeople try to do something that
we think is really difficult astheir first business.
There's a ton of risk wheneveryou introduce that, and it's
(04:44):
probably not the easiest way tomake money, for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Oh my gosh dude, you are dropping nuggets already.
I am notorious and infamous fordoing this.
Anybody that's listening.
Pause this rewind.
Start this back from the topalready.
But let me jump in a little bitmore.
So, coming from the corporateAmerica world failed at that, as
you mentioned, and then youdecided to transition.
Talk to us a little bit aboutyour mindset.
Talk to us a little about whatchanged inside of you to be able
(05:10):
to say you know what?
I can figure this out on my own.
I can just go ahead and jumpinto this and I can start it and
I can actually do somethingthat's going to be meaningful,
and I can be able to help andinspire and influence other
people as well to be able tomake that choice.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yeah, I mean I mentioned $20 million.
So on January 13th I had $0 inrevenue and only one other
person on the team.
By the end of September we had175 folks on our team and again
$20 million in revenue with 30%profit margins.
The thought for me was, if Ican make $20 million for
somebody else, I can make twofor myself, and that two going
to my pocket versus getting afive-figure bonus made a big
(05:50):
difference in the thoughtprocess and I thought maybe I'll
work less.
In the beginning I worked awhole lot more, but you get
rewarded for the things that youdid.
It kind of compounds when youmove into entrepreneurship,
especially once you get a decadein, and so you know the.
It's funny the the Instagramdepiction of what
(06:13):
entrepreneurship looks likeisn't what you experienced in
the beginning, and so we createda framework.
We call it the eight X's of afounder.
The first one is leavingcorporate America.
Of a founder.
The first one is leavingcorporate America.
The next one is being chief,everything officer, sexy, but if
you're the one cleaning thebathrooms and getting the copy
(06:33):
papers, you're probably not theone driving the Ferrari, and so
the goal for us was to givepeople a roadmap, because you
can get lost in earlyentrepreneurship, because you
don't know what you're supposedto do next, other than you're
just figuring out how to makepayroll and you're figuring out
how not to run out of cash.
Most of the time, so good, sogood.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
um, can you expand more?
There's so much I want to diveinto quickly.
Can you expand more on um, theearly stages per se?
And the reason I'm asking thisis we target a lot of people
that are trying to figure thingsout, and so it depends how deep
you want to go in.
But if somebody is consideringthis, what would you say to
speak to them?
Do it, don't do it?
Hey, here's something just tokeep in mind.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
So I would tell people to do it, but have a plan
.
So I did it the worst way.
I walked out.
I didn't have any clients, Ididn't have a business plan.
I only had a year's worth ofexpenses saved.
So I didn't even really haveany money that I wanted or could
invest and I was going to go dothe most capital intensive
thing that I knew to do, whichwas buy apartments.
That, for me, is silly andbackwards.
(07:42):
And the other thing I would sayto increase your likelihood of
success is to find somebodywho's done what you want to do
and pay them, whatever theycharge, to get them to look over
your shoulder.
Because, I mean, there's areason why you have driver's ed,
right, there's a reason why youhave a learner's permit, and
many people think, oh well, I'mjust going to go do it.
The school of hard knocks isstupid, I guess, the most
(08:03):
inefficient, ineffective way tolearn how to get things done.
It's better to learn from theexperiences.
Experiences is usually a codeword for failure the experiences
of other people.
And so I think that's what Idid wrong.
I mean, I remember when I waslistening to 40 hours of
podcasts a week, I was like thisis dumb.
I could have just paid $20,000to $30,000, maybe $40,000 for
(08:27):
somebody to teach me how to dothis, versus just consuming
content for hours and hours onend and then getting confused
because the guy in theMid-Atlantic was saying
something different from the guyin the Northeast.
And then when we startedlistening to the guy in Texas,
he had a totally differentperspective on how it was
supposed to be done.
And I'm just like startedlistening to the guy in Texas.
He had a totally differentperspective on how it was
supposed to be done.
And I'm just like who's got anend-to-end framework to help me
(08:49):
do what I want to do?
And I think that is the biggestdifference between being an
employee and being anentrepreneur.
There usually isn't a roadmapand you don't know what you
don't know.
I call it unconsciouslyincompetent.
And so you're out there andyou're a bumblebee, you're
flying, and you don't know.
I call it unconsciouslyincompetent.
And so you're out there andyou're a bumblebee, you're
flying and you don't know thatyou're not supposed to be flying
(09:10):
, and everybody's there watchingand, in a very cold world, they
are waiting for you to make themistake so they can take
advantage of you and takeadvantage of that opportunity of
you and take advantage of thatopportunity.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Nate, before you jump in, I have one thing to add on
there, which is oh my God, Ijust completely lost my question
.
Damn it.
All right, nate, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
This is so good.
So let's go a little bit deeperin here.
And then, cole, you just let meknow whenever you remember the
question.
But let's go a little bitdeeper, like you plus one other
person, to a few short buzzwords, to a hundred plus people.
Right, what was the first?
Let's just break it down intolike three to six months, like
(09:54):
like cause you mentioned nothaving a plan.
You're just like you know whatYolo, we're just going to go for
it.
No advice, they don't do thatone.
So then, when you decided totry to figure out your roadmap
and you tried to figure out whatit looked like, what were those
first action items that youtook and what would you tell
somebody else that wants to getthat three, six, you know, a
year in?
What would you do?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Well, it's funny, you guys open up the show talking
about everything was on fire,and you kind of calm and
steadied yourself and said, hey,we got this.
And for most people that is theexperience, right.
And if you're leaving a jobwhere you're working nine to
five, eight to four, whateverthe thing is, you're trading
that in for five to nine, andfive to nine is 5 am to 9 pm,
(10:37):
and the moment that you acceptthat you're going to have to do
more with less is the momentthat I think you position
yourself for success.
Now to get tactical right.
Three, the first thing you needto do is to have the product
develop, whatever it is, andthen sell it right, and you
(10:57):
don't even have to have thefinal release.
You just have to have enough ofa concept that you can sell to
other people so that you canmake revenue right.
And then you can build it afterit's sold.
In real estate.
It doesn't work, although youwill watch a lot of builders
sell off plan.
If you put together SPAC,you're like, oh well, we're
(11:18):
going to build a SPAC home,assuming you're building houses.
All right, here are plans andnow we need your deposit and
your construction loan so thatyou can build a thing.
I think what many people do islike oh well, I'm just going to
put my capital into the thing,because that is the answer.
It's only the answer if you'retrying to save time, and the
(11:41):
majority of the time, capitalisn't the reason why you're not
being successful, and this isthe magic of resourcefulness.
I believe that if you're not aresourceful person,
entrepreneurship isn't for you,and you should, as quickly as
possible, find a job that allowsyou to just do what you're told
(12:02):
you to just do what you're told.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh, my goodness, so good.
Two things One, I remember whatI was going to say earlier and
I'll get that in a second, butnow that something else you said
, which is like theresourcefulness, and I just want
to harp on that because I thinkit is so important as things
are, something that we see in somany people we talk to is that
ability to just figure it outbecause there's no other option.
I think a lot of people we talkto and a lot of people I work
with on all different industriesand aspects, they just keep
(12:28):
asking questions and they don'tlike ever get to like I'm just
going to figure it out, where,at some point, somebody just has
to figure it out, and if youwant to be the entrepreneur, you
need to be that person, andit's just do whatever it takes,
figure it out, be resourceful,because no one's coming to help
you, and that's the basis of it.
So I love that you mentionedthat.
And the other thing that youkind of hinted at that I kind of
(12:50):
want to expand on and this iswhat I was trying to remember
earlier is, when it comes tothat roadmap, I always think
it's important to find somebody.
That is where you want to be.
They are the actual lifestylethat you want to, you know,
basically have at the end goal.
Because one of the things Iwish somebody would told me when
I started is, if you go andfind something that looks good
(13:10):
but they don't have thelifestyle you want aka if
they're working 100 hours a weekand you don't want to work 100
hours a week you probablyshouldn't be doing exactly what
they're doing, because you can'temulate that.
You're going to get to the samegoal.
So there's more to it, ofcourse.
I see you shaking your head.
So there's things to it, but doyou want to add on to anything
there?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, I mean I think there's nuance, right, there are
phases, right.
The entrepreneur who's beendoing it for 25 years is
different from the entrepreneurthat's been doing it for two and
a half months, and so I thinkit is very common that we will
try to emulate the result andnot the inputs or the effort.
And so you can see somebody.
(13:49):
You know I like cars, right, soanytime I get to talk to
somebody who's got a Lamborghini, I have conversations with them
about, well, like, what wouldyou do to get there?
And then, does it actually makesense?
Or are you, or are you doingthis for other reasons, like, oh
, networking, or people treat medifferently when I show up,
whatever their excuse is for it,not just I like the car, so I
(14:11):
bought it.
It's always fascinating to hearpeople justify their decision.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think it's very important that you understand
that where the person is rightnow doesn't mean that that's
where they have always been orthat that's what they were doing
when they were at the same spoton the journey as you are right
now so tell me a little bitabout um future outlook and also
(14:48):
like where you are right nowand where you want to go,
because you it took a lot oftime, took a lot of effort and
you've got you, clearlydeveloped your plan, but I know
that it's not the end.
So let us into your world, intowhat you're seeing.
Where do you want to go?
How do you want to develop?
Is how do you want to develop?
Is there a next step up?
There's got to be.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, I don't.
I've kind of moved past the moreand it's probably more about
better.
And so, you know, our firm helpsfounders exit and we help them
create a legacy, because thecompany typically isn't a legacy
at least not the one that theybuild to solve the money problem
typically isn't a legacy atleast not the one that they
(15:25):
build to solve the money problemand so we want to really be the
go-to.
So, if you think about somebodyasking a question, so are you
going to Tony Robbins or are yougoing to Jerome Myers and team?
That's our goal, and so for us,that's not more but better.
It's recognition that we arethe experts in the field.
We are the ones that understandthis niche better than anybody
(15:48):
else, and we've got the toolsand frameworks that are most
likely to help the person yieldthe success or the outcome that
they desire to achieve.
And I just don't think manypeople are committed to being
amazing, like world-classleading edge.
(16:09):
Instead, they're trying to do abunch of things to um build
their empire.
I I think that when you reallyfind something special being the
best in the world at it, is thegame.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's incredible, and are you referencing
basically doing one thing,becoming the best at that one
thing and potentially expanding,of course, but like initially.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Is that something you would kind of suggest, or yeah,
I don't.
I don't think expansion is anecessary goal.
I think you might verticallyintegrate so you might do
something that's upstream ordownstream of what you're doing.
But to me, like, expansionusually means going wider and
doing more things and you know,gary v talks about it a lot like
(16:55):
you got to punch through theceiling and then, once you do
that, you can go in other places.
But you, I believe in expertise.
I believe that you want to bethe one that has the answers.
You don't have to go look themup, you don't need AI.
You can answer the questionsoff the cuff and you know what
(17:16):
works because you've got theexperience, and you've got more
experience than anybody else.
And for us, this problem ofpost-exit fulfillment is
something that has escapedeverybody.
I remember when we first gotinto this, there was a guy who
had just exited Kajabi and hewas given a seven-step framework
for having a double unicornexit, because they exited for a
(17:38):
little over 2 billion.
And he was going through thepresentation and he said hey,
honey, I'm going to go get aburger from In-N-Out.
And she's like pick up a jobapplication while you're there.
And he's like you want me to gowork at In-N-Out, like I just
exited for 2 billion.
And so he realized that he washaving an existential crisis,
(18:00):
something that we now call thefounder's exit paradox.
And what his wife told him wasI can tell when you've been
stimulated with a businessconversation and when you
haven't, and you're just sadpanda when you're not being
stimulated.
So we need to get you in aplace where you're getting what
you need in order to be thathappy version of yourself.
(18:21):
And I was sitting therethinking because, I mean,
conceptually, this guy's worthhundreds of millions of dollars.
Now he's got all the resourcesin the world and this comes back
to the resourcefulness but hedidn't have the support that he
needed in order to make histransition and in order to find
post-exit fulfillment.
And so I started doing researchand there was one Harvard
(18:43):
Business Review article and itsaid congratulations, you sold
your business, prepare to bedepressed.
I was like is that really thegoal?
And then there's more stats.
It's like, oh well, you buildthis amazing business and only
two out of 10 sell successfullyif you list it, and then only
25% of people are happy thatthey actually made the
transaction.
(19:04):
I'm like, wow, those are slimodds, right?
Conceptually, you have a higherlikelihood of being a
professional athlete than you doof successfully building and
selling a business.
So, for us, we not only wantpeople to build and successfully
(19:25):
exit their business, but wedon't want them out to pasture.
We want them to then take thetime, money and energy that they
have because they are free,work optional, and do something
to make the world a better place, because, for us, that's the
only way that the world is goingto get better is by having
(19:46):
these extremely talented,resourceful people solving
problems for a specific group ofpeople that they have an
affinity to.
And so, for us, if we can dothat right, if we can help these
amazing people, help otherpeople, then I think we're doing
God's work.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Let's talk about a mission that is so powerful, and
that sentence you said aboutgetting those resourceful people
to change the world should beon a billboard.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Oh my gosh, holy cow.
So question, since we're on thesame topic can you give me a
scenario?
Please don't spill all the tea.
Can you give me a scenario?
You don't, please don't spillall the tea.
Can you give me a scenario, ormaybe a case study, of somebody
that you've worked with and whatthat looked like, how you
changed their trajectory?
Maybe they came in right beforethe exit.
You helped them sort offormulate a plan, and then what
they're doing to be able toimpact and give back towards the
(20:37):
world, you know yeah, I mean so, this is one of my favorite
things to talk about.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
And names, though yeah, I mean so this is one of
my favorite things to talk about.
And it's interesting becauseeverybody's got a different
desired outcome and we don'ttell people what the outcome is
Right.
And so, in this particular case, there was there's a lady who
had multiple dental offices, andso she was like I'm burnt out,
I'm tired.
She was on anxiety medicine,like she had all of this stuff
going on where it was just likeI'm stressed out, I've got to
(21:06):
get out of this.
And it was almost like well,I'll just close it.
She spent 10 years building itand I was like that's not the
right answer.
We got to get some liquidityout of this thing, and so we put
together a strategy.
She sells four of of thepractices and then she sells
another one.
She decided to keep two andshe's like now I'm gonna sell
(21:28):
this one too, right.
So we put the strategy together.
She exits those practices.
I'm like, why don't we keep oneso you keep some cash flow
instead of just getting all thecash?
And so she keeps one.
She moves from charlotte toatlanta, she moves from
Charlotte to Atlanta and she's45.
(21:49):
She's made a few million off ofthe practices.
She makes another like 70,000 amonth, which she doesn't even
have to practice anymore.
She's four hours away from theoffices and she wanted a break
right.
She'd been running for 10 years.
She just wants to hang out.
So we got the best of bothworlds.
She didn't have to build apost-exit portfolio, which is
(22:10):
exit seven in the framework.
Exit six is the liquidity event.
So we got some liquidity right.
We parsed out, got rid of partsof the company, then we kept
the piece so that she couldcontinue to have income.
She could take that money fromthe pieces that she sold, invest
those in the stock market,because she doesn't really want
(22:30):
to do the private equity rightnow.
And her goal was to be astay-at-home mom right, but
she's single, and so the thoughtof being a stay-at-home mom
where you're single just kind ofescapes most people, unless
they don't like welfare orsomething right.
So she was able to accomplishher dream of being a
stay-at-home mom while herdaughter matriculates through
high school and then when shegoes off to college, she'll be
(22:53):
able to dive back in if shewants to and build something
else.
The thing for me that'sexciting about that is that was
her dream right Before she gotdivorced, before she had the
10-year run building theportfolio of practices.
That's what she wanted, and wewere able to help her achieve
(23:13):
that.
She was able to buy a beautifulhome.
I think it was like almost amillion dollars.
There were just so manydifferent things that we were
able to achieve and accomplishfor her.
And now she has leisure so shecan go volunteer and do dental
work at clinics for low incomefolks, and she can be an example
(23:40):
for all of the folks that shecomes in contact with, because
for her to be able to retire inher 40s and still have massive
income, because she was able toset up a practice and grow it
where she didn't have to bethere, she's got other dentists
practicing for her and shedidn't even make them partners.
(24:01):
For me it's the best of bothworlds.
And so, cole, you were talkingabout a lifestyle.
She's got a lifestyle right,and not everybody's trying to
build things for maximum value.
Sometimes they just want alifestyle business, and so for
me that's a massive success.
Other people were like, well,she didn't do the foundation and
she didn't exit for eight ornine figures, and it doesn't
(24:25):
matter, because that wasn't hergoal.
From my perspective, right, wewanted to get her to her goal,
her dream, and if the goal is tohave an eight or nine or a 10
figure exit, we can do that too.
But at the end of the day, themoney we've learned doesn't
really matter, as long as youcan have the lifestyle that you
want to have, as long as youhave the freedom to use your
(24:46):
time in the way that you desireto use it, you're wealthy
because that is the onlynon-renewable resource that we
have.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I love that.
I absolutely love that, andthat's such a cool case study.
I'm sure she's absolutelythrilled and, like you said,
achieved what she wanted toachieve.
So, before we get into our lastsection, I have a question for
you, which is just talk to aboutcars.
I'm obsessed with cars.
Nate doesn't love cars, butwhat do you have?
Anything exciting?
What's your favorite?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Yeah, oh, my favorite .
It's funny my buddy TJmillionaire, tj millionaire
mentor.
I went out to Beverly Hills andhung out with him, a guy named
Todd Johnson in case you guyswant to look him up on Instagram
, he's got a pretty bigfollowing and he was just on
that show where the guy walks upand is like, hey, what did you
(25:33):
do?
Or how much money did you makein a year?
He was just on there and wentcrazy.
But he let me drive my dream car.
He's got a Venador SVJ, got avended or svj and we were there
and it's crazy because he's gotit set up.
He's got a um, a huracan, it'ssto.
(25:54):
So he's got the sto and the svjset up exactly alike.
And so we go to cars and coffee, back to back and I'm driving a
vended or in beverly hills andit's like what life is this that
I'm living?
So that was the, that's thedream car.
The Revolto is cool, butthere's something about just how
(26:16):
raw the SVJ is that you know,I'm pretty excited about it.
You know, for me, we got aCybertruck.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Me, we got a cyber truck we got um uh gtr gtr on
instagram.
Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, um, we just did some big uh turbo upgrades and
some other stuff, so that thingis it's wild.
I we think we got the loudestone in anywhere in the country
right now.
That's not a drag car, um.
So, yeah, I mean not a drag car.
So, yeah, I mean we we're justhaving fun, man, like.
At the end of the day, carculture and sports I think it's
(27:00):
done more for race relationsthan anything else in the
country.
You know, everybody has adifferent style, a different
appreciation for, differentapproaches to customization, and
it's just my belief that it'san extension of who you are and
the ability for you todemonstrate your creativity.
And so much of what we do isBlack Panther or Wakanda themed
(27:22):
and the whole goal is just tospread the joy of dreams being
real.
And so you know, for me, it'snot as much about driving the
car as it is about pulling upand the kids saying that's my
car and then letting them sit inthe car so that they can feel
(27:43):
and touch the dream, because Iremember being that kid.
I remember thinking, oh my gosh, if only I could.
And when you start touching itand you start experiencing it,
you realize there are no limits,you have whatever you want, and
that for me is, I think, theessence of truly living.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
So good, if they can do it, why not me?
I love that.
Well, look, I know we'rewrapping up here and I know
we're running out of time, so Iwant to jump into our last
segment here.
These are questions we ask toevery guest and I'm extremely
excited for your answers.
So first question is for youwhat separates top performing
entrepreneurs from the rest ofthe crowd?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Clarity.
It's all about knowing whatyou're trying to accomplish and
then eliminating all thedistractions around it.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
So good.
What is a daily habit that'scontributed to your success?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
lifting heavy things, raising your heart rate so that
you're under stress, making itso that you're moving so hard
and so fast that you can'tbreathe.
It gets you, it prepares you,it gives you resiliency so that
you can actually endure thechallenges of entrepreneurship,
love it.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
What is a piece of advice that you'd give to
yourself if you were startingagain?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Do it now.
There's no value in waiting,because you're never going to be
ready.
There's always going to besomething wrong.
It's always going to be notoptimal, so go now.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
What is your favorite ?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
business book.
Oh man, the one that changed mylife was Sizing People Up.
I read it in 2020.
It was when we got reallyaggressive on growing on
LinkedIn.
I was just meeting so manypeople and I didn't know who I
could trust and what I thoughttrust was.
Oh, if I like somebody, then Ishould trust them.
Trust has nothing to do withwhether or not you like a person
(29:43):
.
Everything to do withpredictability has nothing to do
with whether or not you like aperson.
Everything to do withpredictability.
And so if you're payingattention to the economy and
what's happening in the US rightnow not trying to make it super
political, but to illustratethe point people don't know what
the president's going to do ona day-to-day basis and it's
creating a tremendous amount ofvolatility, and so that lack of
predictability is the thing thatdrives that trust.
(30:06):
People don't trust the US rightnow.
Consumers don't trust theeconomy right now, and it's just
because things are erratic andyou know that just is a simple
of doing what you say you'regoing to do and you can.
(30:28):
The book actually gives you sixindicators, or six tells that
you can use in order to convincepeople that doing to them, to
you is, I think, extremelyimportant as you're moving
through the space and trying tofigure out who's on the team and
who's not.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
So good.
What is your favorite part ofowning your business?
Speaker 4 (31:00):
You know, for me it's the mission at this point, it's
just the ability to helppeople's light come back on.
So you sell.
Everybody thinks like once yousell your business, you cross
some magic finish line.
That would be like saying, oh,I got married and so I crossed
the finish line and I don't haveto do anything.
(31:21):
Like there is, it's just thebeginning, right.
And so when people say, oh, Isold my company and I lost my
purpose, but when we can helpthat light come back on, you're
like, oh, there it is, or theycan experience that passion
again.
That's the whole game, becauseif you don't have something
(31:44):
worth living for, your life isempty.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
So good.
What is something new thatyou've implemented in your
business that's helped drivesuccess?
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Man, there's so many things.
I think what I would say iscounting my days off is probably
the most important thing thatI've done.
Uh, so in 2024 we took 194 off,and people are like, well, why
is the number of days offimportant?
It's like shouldn't you begrinding, isn't it no days off?
(32:19):
Well, if you think about thenon-renewable resources and you
use that as a measure of yourwealth, I had 194 days where I
could pick what I did.
Right.
Most people, regardless of howmuch money they have, can't say
that, and so I think time ismore valuable than money.
(32:47):
I think if we're good stewardsof our time, then we can have a
huge impact by being intentionalabout that allocation.
I think most people just kindof give it away, waste it away,
and so I would definitely saycounting days off is the game.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
So good, Absolutely amazing.
There was so much we covered inthis interview and I cannot
wait to rewind this back myselfand listen to it, because
there's so much that I just wantto hear again, and I do not say
that often.
So thank you for being here.
I mean it was cool hearing yourjourney from your corporate
world going into real estate andthen creating your firm, and
all the things that you foundand that you're evolving now and
(33:27):
the goals.
So really, really amazing.
I have two last final questionsfor you.
One, any final advice?
And two where can people findyou?
Where can people get in touch?
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, exit to excellencecom is the place to go
.
You can find out all of ourstuff.
And then you know, my bigfollow is on LinkedIn.
We do a little bit on Instagram, but LinkedIn is where you can
get a ton of information as well, and I think it's just Jerome
Myers on LinkedIn.
As far as advice, your dreamshould be real, and most adults
(33:59):
haven't heard that in a longtime, probably since they were,
you know, maybe a preteen,probably for most people before
that, and so if you made it tothis part of the interview,
you're welcome, because nowyou've got to go out and do
something about it.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh my gosh.
So mic drop, jerome Myers,ladies and gentlemen, I mean,
usually I do like a huge outro,but like I just want to play
this stuff, you know whatDoesn't matter.
Long and short of it was.
This has been phenomenal.
Our house is your house.
I want you to come backwhenever you feel as though you
would like to go ahead and blessus with a little bit more
knowledge, a little bit morewisdom.
(34:35):
Please feel free For those thatare out there.
Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of Forged in
Fire.
If you're driving, get homesafely.
We truly appreciate y'all,jerome.
It's been an honor, it's been apleasure, it's been a privilege
.
Brother, you guys take care.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
We'll see y'all in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to anotherepisode of Forged in Fire.
If you enjoyed today's raw,unfiltered stories, don't forget
to like, subscribe and leave usa review.
Stories don't forget to like,subscribe and leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us bringmore real-world insights to
entrepreneurs like you.
Be sure to join us next timefor even more lessons, struggles
(35:17):
and breakthroughs on the roadto success.
Keep forging ahead.
Forget what you've heard.
Forged in Fire is where realentrepreneurs come to share the
untold truths of success thelate nights, the crushing
setbacks, the moments thatchange everything.
No fluff, just fire, ready tostep into the heat and unlock
(00:25):
what it really takes to build abusiness.
This is where legends are made.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another
exciting episode of Forged inFire.
I'm your co-host, nateFarm-Reading.
I'm going to bring on mycounterpart, cole.
How we doing brother.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Nate.
What's going on, man?
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Dude, I'm fired up man.
I walked into the office, halfthe things are on fire.
It's like, okay, we got thisman.
I feel rejuvenated, but how areyou doing?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
A day in paradise.
That's how it always is.
No, I love it.
Same thing A lot on the plate,but things are.
I'm excited because, for anyonethat doesn't know, we just
closed a refi that we wereworking on for a long time and
it was a stressful project.
There was a lot of ups anddowns.
If anyone on here has beenthrough bridge debt, you know
about the sleepless nights.
(01:15):
So we're super excited thatthat's wrapped up and now we can
kind of take a breath.
So that's kind of what'shappening.
I'm really excited for thisinterview, for today as well.
It's going to be a really,really good one.
I think it'll speak to a lot ofpeople.
But before we get into that, Ihave one favor for you Please,
please, leave us a review.
This helps us grow, this helpsus reach more people, it helps
us educate others.
So the only thing I couldpossibly ask you to do is please
(01:37):
just give us a review, and thatwould help us expand and keep
these conversations going.
So, expand and keep theseconversations going.
So, with that, sit back, relax,enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Dude, this is going to be awesome.
Today, we are joined by JeromeMyers.
He is the founder and CEO ofExit to Excellence.
Without further ado, let mejust bring this brother on stage
.
This man is amazing.
Come on stage, man.
How are we doing?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I'm amazing Real estate.
Nate Cole, it's good to be withyou guys.
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Bro, the pleasure is ours, man, thank you so much.
So please tell us a little bitabout yourself.
What got you here?
What brought you here?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
I'm a corporate America dropout man.
I remember building a $20million division for a Fortune
550 and getting told that we'regoing to lay people off year
after year.
And I was like, man, this isold, we need to do something
different.
And I want the buck to stopwith me.
And so jumped into real estate,did that for a while, got
lonely because people onlywanted to talk to me if they
(02:32):
were worried about theirdistribution or there was an
issue with their unit.
And then we started workingwith founders and helping them
grow and scale.
And so we are the leadingboutique firm for folks who are
figuring out their exit.
And not so much how do youmaximize evaluation, but how do
you maximize post-exitfulfillment.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
That is incredible.
There's so much I want to diveinto there.
So first let's go back to thebeginning.
You said you worked incorporate America, had these
issues started or ended upexiting that, so one, can you
talk a little bit about that andwe're not going to harp on real
estate here because I want tofocus on other things but tell
me about some of the struggleswith that, because a lot of
people are either thinking aboutgetting into real estate or are
(03:16):
in real estate.
I'm sure they can relate.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, real estate is a capital intensive business,
and so, whether you're doingsingle family or multifamily,
the thing that you have toconsider is if you don't have
the income meaning if yourproperties aren't rented or
people are deciding not to payrent you have to deal with the
debt, and I think Dave Ramseytells you to buy it in cash.
(03:38):
For most people, that's justnot practical, and so if you're
going to get into the space,there's going to be debt service
in addition to all theoperational expenses.
We watch many people executebusiness plans that are destined
to fail before they even getinto them, and they don't even
know why.
And the funny thing about realestate is most people think that
(04:00):
it's just buying a widget.
I buy it for this and sell itfor that, I made money.
Think that it's just buying awidget If I buy it for this and
sell it for that, I made money.
If you're doing something thathas renters, you actually have
to execute a business plan.
Right, there's a subscriptionmodel, and then you got to get
through that subscription forlong enough in order to break
even, and then you're actuallyhaving a conversation about
whether you made money or not,and I just think so many people
(04:23):
miss that because you can justgo buy it and that is probably
the least of your concerns ifyou're doing real estate, and so
it's really interesting thatpeople try to do something that
we think is really difficult astheir first business.
There's a ton of risk wheneveryou introduce that, and it's
(04:44):
probably not the easiest way tomake money, for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Oh my gosh dude, you are dropping nuggets already.
I am notorious and infamous fordoing this.
Anybody that's listening.
Pause this rewind.
Start this back from the topalready.
But let me jump in a little bitmore.
So, coming from the corporateAmerica world failed at that, as
you mentioned, and then youdecided to transition.
Talk to us a little bit aboutyour mindset.
Talk to us a little about whatchanged inside of you to be able
(05:10):
to say you know what?
I can figure this out on my own.
I can just go ahead and jumpinto this and I can start it and
I can actually do somethingthat's going to be meaningful,
and I can be able to help andinspire and influence other
people as well to be able tomake that choice.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yeah, I mean I mentioned $20 million.
So on January 13th I had $0 inrevenue and only one other
person on the team.
By the end of September we had175 folks on our team and again
$20 million in revenue with 30%profit margins.
The thought for me was, if Ican make $20 million for
somebody else, I can make twofor myself, and that two going
to my pocket versus getting afive-figure bonus made a big
(05:50):
difference in the thoughtprocess and I thought maybe I'll
work less.
In the beginning I worked awhole lot more, but you get
rewarded for the things that youdid.
It kind of compounds when youmove into entrepreneurship,
especially once you get a decadein, and so you know the.
It's funny the the Instagramdepiction of what
(06:13):
entrepreneurship looks likeisn't what you experienced in
the beginning, and so we createda framework.
We call it the eight X's of afounder.
The first one is leavingcorporate America.
Of a founder.
The first one is leavingcorporate America.
The next one is being chief,everything officer, sexy, but if
you're the one cleaning thebathrooms and getting the copy
(06:33):
papers, you're probably not theone driving the Ferrari, and so
the goal for us was to givepeople a roadmap, because you
can get lost in earlyentrepreneurship, because you
don't know what you're supposedto do next, other than you're
just figuring out how to makepayroll and you're figuring out
how not to run out of cash.
Most of the time, so good, sogood.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
um, can you expand more?
There's so much I want to diveinto quickly.
Can you expand more on um, theearly stages per se?
And the reason I'm asking thisis we target a lot of people
that are trying to figure thingsout, and so it depends how deep
you want to go in.
But if somebody is consideringthis, what would you say to
speak to them?
Do it, don't do it?
Hey, here's something just tokeep in mind.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
So I would tell people to do it, but have a plan
.
So I did it the worst way.
I walked out.
I didn't have any clients, Ididn't have a business plan.
I only had a year's worth ofexpenses saved.
So I didn't even really haveany money that I wanted or could
invest and I was going to go dothe most capital intensive
thing that I knew to do, whichwas buy apartments.
That, for me, is silly andbackwards.
(07:42):
And the other thing I would sayto increase your likelihood of
success is to find somebodywho's done what you want to do
and pay them, whatever theycharge, to get them to look over
your shoulder.
Because, I mean, there's areason why you have driver's ed,
right, there's a reason why youhave a learner's permit, and
many people think, oh well, I'mjust going to go do it.
The school of hard knocks isstupid, I guess, the most
(08:03):
inefficient, ineffective way tolearn how to get things done.
It's better to learn from theexperiences.
Experiences is usually a codeword for failure the experiences
of other people.
And so I think that's what Idid wrong.
I mean, I remember when I waslistening to 40 hours of
podcasts a week, I was like thisis dumb.
I could have just paid $20,000to $30,000, maybe $40,000 for
(08:27):
somebody to teach me how to dothis, versus just consuming
content for hours and hours onend and then getting confused
because the guy in theMid-Atlantic was saying
something different from the guyin the Northeast.
And then when we startedlistening to the guy in Texas,
he had a totally differentperspective on how it was
supposed to be done.
And I'm just like startedlistening to the guy in Texas.
He had a totally differentperspective on how it was
supposed to be done.
And I'm just like who's got anend-to-end framework to help me
(08:49):
do what I want to do?
And I think that is the biggestdifference between being an
employee and being anentrepreneur.
There usually isn't a roadmapand you don't know what you
don't know.
I call it unconsciouslyincompetent.
And so you're out there andyou're a bumblebee, you're
flying, and you don't know.
I call it unconsciouslyincompetent.
And so you're out there andyou're a bumblebee, you're
flying and you don't know thatyou're not supposed to be flying
(09:10):
, and everybody's there watchingand, in a very cold world, they
are waiting for you to make themistake so they can take
advantage of you and takeadvantage of that opportunity of
you and take advantage of thatopportunity.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Nate, before you jump in, I have one thing to add on
there, which is oh my God, Ijust completely lost my question
.
Damn it.
All right, nate, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
This is so good.
So let's go a little bit deeperin here.
And then, cole, you just let meknow whenever you remember the
question.
But let's go a little bitdeeper, like you plus one other
person, to a few short buzzwords, to a hundred plus people.
Right, what was the first?
Let's just break it down intolike three to six months, like
(09:54):
like cause you mentioned nothaving a plan.
You're just like you know whatYolo, we're just going to go for
it.
No advice, they don't do thatone.
So then, when you decided totry to figure out your roadmap
and you tried to figure out whatit looked like, what were those
first action items that youtook and what would you tell
somebody else that wants to getthat three, six, you know, a
year in?
What would you do?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Well, it's funny, you guys open up the show talking
about everything was on fire,and you kind of calm and
steadied yourself and said, hey,we got this.
And for most people that is theexperience, right.
And if you're leaving a jobwhere you're working nine to
five, eight to four, whateverthe thing is, you're trading
that in for five to nine, andfive to nine is 5 am to 9 pm,
(10:37):
and the moment that you acceptthat you're going to have to do
more with less is the momentthat I think you position
yourself for success.
Now to get tactical right.
Three, the first thing you needto do is to have the product
develop, whatever it is, andthen sell it right, and you
(10:57):
don't even have to have thefinal release.
You just have to have enough ofa concept that you can sell to
other people so that you canmake revenue right.
And then you can build it afterit's sold.
In real estate.
It doesn't work, although youwill watch a lot of builders
sell off plan.
If you put together SPAC,you're like, oh well, we're
(11:18):
going to build a SPAC home,assuming you're building houses.
All right, here are plans andnow we need your deposit and
your construction loan so thatyou can build a thing.
I think what many people do islike oh well, I'm just going to
put my capital into the thing,because that is the answer.
It's only the answer if you'retrying to save time, and the
(11:41):
majority of the time, capitalisn't the reason why you're not
being successful, and this isthe magic of resourcefulness.
I believe that if you're not aresourceful person,
entrepreneurship isn't for you,and you should, as quickly as
possible, find a job that allowsyou to just do what you're told
(12:02):
you to just do what you're told.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh, my goodness, so good.
Two things One, I remember whatI was going to say earlier and
I'll get that in a second, butnow that something else you said
, which is like theresourcefulness, and I just want
to harp on that because I thinkit is so important as things
are, something that we see in somany people we talk to is that
ability to just figure it outbecause there's no other option.
I think a lot of people we talkto and a lot of people I work
with on all different industriesand aspects, they just keep
(12:28):
asking questions and they don'tlike ever get to like I'm just
going to figure it out, where,at some point, somebody just has
to figure it out, and if youwant to be the entrepreneur, you
need to be that person, andit's just do whatever it takes,
figure it out, be resourceful,because no one's coming to help
you, and that's the basis of it.
So I love that you mentionedthat.
And the other thing that youkind of hinted at that I kind of
(12:50):
want to expand on and this iswhat I was trying to remember
earlier is, when it comes tothat roadmap, I always think
it's important to find somebody.
That is where you want to be.
They are the actual lifestylethat you want to, you know,
basically have at the end goal.
Because one of the things Iwish somebody would told me when
I started is, if you go andfind something that looks good
(13:10):
but they don't have thelifestyle you want aka if
they're working 100 hours a weekand you don't want to work 100
hours a week you probablyshouldn't be doing exactly what
they're doing, because you can'temulate that.
You're going to get to the samegoal.
So there's more to it, ofcourse.
I see you shaking your head.
So there's things to it, but doyou want to add on to anything
there?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, I mean I think there's nuance, right, there are
phases, right.
The entrepreneur who's beendoing it for 25 years is
different from the entrepreneurthat's been doing it for two and
a half months, and so I thinkit is very common that we will
try to emulate the result andnot the inputs or the effort.
And so you can see somebody.
(13:49):
You know I like cars, right, soanytime I get to talk to
somebody who's got a Lamborghini, I have conversations with them
about, well, like, what wouldyou do to get there?
And then, does it actually makesense?
Or are you, or are you doingthis for other reasons, like, oh
, networking, or people treat medifferently when I show up,
whatever their excuse is for it,not just I like the car, so I
(14:11):
bought it.
It's always fascinating to hearpeople justify their decision.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think it's very important that you understand
that where the person is rightnow doesn't mean that that's
where they have always been orthat that's what they were doing
when they were at the same spoton the journey as you are right
now so tell me a little bitabout um future outlook and also
(14:48):
like where you are right nowand where you want to go,
because you it took a lot oftime, took a lot of effort and
you've got you, clearlydeveloped your plan, but I know
that it's not the end.
So let us into your world, intowhat you're seeing.
Where do you want to go?
How do you want to develop?
Is how do you want to develop?
Is there a next step up?
There's got to be.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, I don't.
I've kind of moved past the moreand it's probably more about
better.
And so, you know, our firm helpsfounders exit and we help them
create a legacy, because thecompany typically isn't a legacy
at least not the one that theybuild to solve the money problem
typically isn't a legacy atleast not the one that they
(15:25):
build to solve the money problemand so we want to really be the
go-to.
So, if you think about somebodyasking a question, so are you
going to Tony Robbins or are yougoing to Jerome Myers and team?
That's our goal, and so for us,that's not more but better.
It's recognition that we arethe experts in the field.
We are the ones that understandthis niche better than anybody
(15:48):
else, and we've got the toolsand frameworks that are most
likely to help the person yieldthe success or the outcome that
they desire to achieve.
And I just don't think manypeople are committed to being
amazing, like world-classleading edge.
(16:09):
Instead, they're trying to do abunch of things to um build
their empire.
I I think that when you reallyfind something special being the
best in the world at it, is thegame.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's incredible, and are you referencing
basically doing one thing,becoming the best at that one
thing and potentially expanding,of course, but like initially.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Is that something you would kind of suggest, or yeah,
I don't.
I don't think expansion is anecessary goal.
I think you might verticallyintegrate so you might do
something that's upstream ordownstream of what you're doing.
But to me, like, expansionusually means going wider and
doing more things and you know,gary v talks about it a lot like
(16:55):
you got to punch through theceiling and then, once you do
that, you can go in other places.
But you, I believe in expertise.
I believe that you want to bethe one that has the answers.
You don't have to go look themup, you don't need AI.
You can answer the questionsoff the cuff and you know what
(17:16):
works because you've got theexperience, and you've got more
experience than anybody else.
And for us, this problem ofpost-exit fulfillment is
something that has escapedeverybody.
I remember when we first gotinto this, there was a guy who
had just exited Kajabi and hewas given a seven-step framework
for having a double unicornexit, because they exited for a
(17:38):
little over 2 billion.
And he was going through thepresentation and he said hey,
honey, I'm going to go get aburger from In-N-Out.
And she's like pick up a jobapplication while you're there.
And he's like you want me to gowork at In-N-Out, like I just
exited for 2 billion.
And so he realized that he washaving an existential crisis,
(18:00):
something that we now call thefounder's exit paradox.
And what his wife told him wasI can tell when you've been
stimulated with a businessconversation and when you
haven't, and you're just sadpanda when you're not being
stimulated.
So we need to get you in aplace where you're getting what
you need in order to be thathappy version of yourself.
(18:21):
And I was sitting therethinking because, I mean,
conceptually, this guy's worthhundreds of millions of dollars.
Now he's got all the resourcesin the world and this comes back
to the resourcefulness but hedidn't have the support that he
needed in order to make histransition and in order to find
post-exit fulfillment.
And so I started doing researchand there was one Harvard
(18:43):
Business Review article and itsaid congratulations, you sold
your business, prepare to bedepressed.
I was like is that really thegoal?
And then there's more stats.
It's like, oh well, you buildthis amazing business and only
two out of 10 sell successfullyif you list it, and then only
25% of people are happy thatthey actually made the
transaction.
(19:04):
I'm like, wow, those are slimodds, right?
Conceptually, you have a higherlikelihood of being a
professional athlete than you doof successfully building and
selling a business.
So, for us, we not only wantpeople to build and successfully
(19:25):
exit their business, but wedon't want them out to pasture.
We want them to then take thetime, money and energy that they
have because they are free,work optional, and do something
to make the world a better place, because, for us, that's the
only way that the world is goingto get better is by having
(19:46):
these extremely talented,resourceful people solving
problems for a specific group ofpeople that they have an
affinity to.
And so, for us, if we can dothat right, if we can help these
amazing people, help otherpeople, then I think we're doing
God's work.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Let's talk about a mission that is so powerful, and
that sentence you said aboutgetting those resourceful people
to change the world should beon a billboard.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Oh my gosh, holy cow.
So question, since we're on thesame topic can you give me a
scenario?
Please don't spill all the tea.
Can you give me a scenario?
You don't, please don't spillall the tea.
Can you give me a scenario, ormaybe a case study, of somebody
that you've worked with and whatthat looked like, how you
changed their trajectory?
Maybe they came in right beforethe exit.
You helped them sort offormulate a plan, and then what
they're doing to be able toimpact and give back towards the
(20:37):
world, you know yeah, I mean so, this is one of my favorite
things to talk about.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
And names, though yeah, I mean so this is one of
my favorite things to talk about.
And it's interesting becauseeverybody's got a different
desired outcome and we don'ttell people what the outcome is
Right.
And so, in this particular case, there was there's a lady who
had multiple dental offices, andso she was like I'm burnt out,
I'm tired.
She was on anxiety medicine,like she had all of this stuff
going on where it was just likeI'm stressed out, I've got to
(21:06):
get out of this.
And it was almost like well,I'll just close it.
She spent 10 years building itand I was like that's not the
right answer.
We got to get some liquidityout of this thing, and so we put
together a strategy.
She sells four of of thepractices and then she sells
another one.
She decided to keep two andshe's like now I'm gonna sell
(21:28):
this one too, right.
So we put the strategy together.
She exits those practices.
I'm like, why don't we keep oneso you keep some cash flow
instead of just getting all thecash?
And so she keeps one.
She moves from charlotte toatlanta, she moves from
Charlotte to Atlanta and she's45.
(21:49):
She's made a few million off ofthe practices.
She makes another like 70,000 amonth, which she doesn't even
have to practice anymore.
She's four hours away from theoffices and she wanted a break
right.
She'd been running for 10 years.
She just wants to hang out.
So we got the best of bothworlds.
She didn't have to build apost-exit portfolio, which is
(22:10):
exit seven in the framework.
Exit six is the liquidity event.
So we got some liquidity right.
We parsed out, got rid of partsof the company, then we kept
the piece so that she couldcontinue to have income.
She could take that money fromthe pieces that she sold, invest
those in the stock market,because she doesn't really want
(22:30):
to do the private equity rightnow.
And her goal was to be astay-at-home mom right, but
she's single, and so the thoughtof being a stay-at-home mom
where you're single just kind ofescapes most people, unless
they don't like welfare orsomething right.
So she was able to accomplishher dream of being a
stay-at-home mom while herdaughter matriculates through
high school and then when shegoes off to college, she'll be
(22:53):
able to dive back in if shewants to and build something
else.
The thing for me that'sexciting about that is that was
her dream right Before she gotdivorced, before she had the
10-year run building theportfolio of practices.
That's what she wanted, and wewere able to help her achieve
(23:13):
that.
She was able to buy a beautifulhome.
I think it was like almost amillion dollars.
There were just so manydifferent things that we were
able to achieve and accomplishfor her.
And now she has leisure so shecan go volunteer and do dental
work at clinics for low incomefolks, and she can be an example
(23:40):
for all of the folks that shecomes in contact with, because
for her to be able to retire inher 40s and still have massive
income, because she was able toset up a practice and grow it
where she didn't have to bethere, she's got other dentists
practicing for her and shedidn't even make them partners.
(24:01):
For me it's the best of bothworlds.
And so, cole, you were talkingabout a lifestyle.
She's got a lifestyle right,and not everybody's trying to
build things for maximum value.
Sometimes they just want alifestyle business, and so for
me that's a massive success.
Other people were like, well,she didn't do the foundation and
she didn't exit for eight ornine figures, and it doesn't
(24:25):
matter, because that wasn't hergoal.
From my perspective, right, wewanted to get her to her goal,
her dream, and if the goal is tohave an eight or nine or a 10
figure exit, we can do that too.
But at the end of the day, themoney we've learned doesn't
really matter, as long as youcan have the lifestyle that you
want to have, as long as youhave the freedom to use your
(24:46):
time in the way that you desireto use it, you're wealthy
because that is the onlynon-renewable resource that we
have.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I love that.
I absolutely love that, andthat's such a cool case study.
I'm sure she's absolutelythrilled and, like you said,
achieved what she wanted toachieve.
So, before we get into our lastsection, I have a question for
you, which is just talk to aboutcars.
I'm obsessed with cars.
Nate doesn't love cars, butwhat do you have?
Anything exciting?
What's your favorite?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Yeah, oh, my favorite .
It's funny my buddy TJmillionaire, tj millionaire
mentor.
I went out to Beverly Hills andhung out with him, a guy named
Todd Johnson in case you guyswant to look him up on Instagram
, he's got a pretty bigfollowing and he was just on
that show where the guy walks upand is like, hey, what did you
(25:33):
do?
Or how much money did you makein a year?
He was just on there and wentcrazy.
But he let me drive my dream car.
He's got a Venador SVJ, got avended or svj and we were there
and it's crazy because he's gotit set up.
He's got a um, a huracan, it'ssto.
(25:54):
So he's got the sto and the svjset up exactly alike.
And so we go to cars and coffee, back to back and I'm driving a
vended or in beverly hills andit's like what life is this that
I'm living?
So that was the, that's thedream car.
The Revolto is cool, butthere's something about just how
(26:16):
raw the SVJ is that you know,I'm pretty excited about it.
You know, for me, we got aCybertruck.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Me, we got a cyber truck we got um uh gtr gtr on
instagram.
Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, um, we just did some big uh turbo upgrades and
some other stuff, so that thingis it's wild.
I we think we got the loudestone in anywhere in the country
right now.
That's not a drag car, um.
So, yeah, I mean not a drag car.
So, yeah, I mean we we're justhaving fun, man, like.
At the end of the day, carculture and sports I think it's
(27:00):
done more for race relationsthan anything else in the
country.
You know, everybody has adifferent style, a different
appreciation for, differentapproaches to customization, and
it's just my belief that it'san extension of who you are and
the ability for you todemonstrate your creativity.
And so much of what we do isBlack Panther or Wakanda themed
(27:22):
and the whole goal is just tospread the joy of dreams being
real.
And so you know, for me, it'snot as much about driving the
car as it is about pulling upand the kids saying that's my
car and then letting them sit inthe car so that they can feel
(27:43):
and touch the dream, because Iremember being that kid.
I remember thinking, oh my gosh, if only I could.
And when you start touching itand you start experiencing it,
you realize there are no limits,you have whatever you want, and
that for me is, I think, theessence of truly living.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
So good, if they can do it, why not me?
I love that.
Well, look, I know we'rewrapping up here and I know
we're running out of time, so Iwant to jump into our last
segment here.
These are questions we ask toevery guest and I'm extremely
excited for your answers.
So first question is for youwhat separates top performing
entrepreneurs from the rest ofthe crowd?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Clarity.
It's all about knowing whatyou're trying to accomplish and
then eliminating all thedistractions around it.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
So good.
What is a daily habit that'scontributed to your success?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
lifting heavy things, raising your heart rate so that
you're under stress, making itso that you're moving so hard
and so fast that you can'tbreathe.
It gets you, it prepares you,it gives you resiliency so that
you can actually endure thechallenges of entrepreneurship,
love it.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
What is a piece of advice that you'd give to
yourself if you were startingagain?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Do it now.
There's no value in waiting,because you're never going to be
ready.
There's always going to besomething wrong.
It's always going to be notoptimal, so go now.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
What is your favorite ?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
business book.
Oh man, the one that changed mylife was Sizing People Up.
I read it in 2020.
It was when we got reallyaggressive on growing on
LinkedIn.
I was just meeting so manypeople and I didn't know who I
could trust and what I thoughttrust was.
Oh, if I like somebody, then Ishould trust them.
Trust has nothing to do withwhether or not you like a person
(29:43):
.
Everything to do withpredictability has nothing to do
with whether or not you like aperson.
Everything to do withpredictability.
And so if you're payingattention to the economy and
what's happening in the US rightnow not trying to make it super
political, but to illustratethe point people don't know what
the president's going to do ona day-to-day basis and it's
creating a tremendous amount ofvolatility, and so that lack of
predictability is the thing thatdrives that trust.
(30:06):
People don't trust the US rightnow.
Consumers don't trust theeconomy right now, and it's just
because things are erratic andyou know that just is a simple
of doing what you say you'regoing to do and you can.
(30:28):
The book actually gives you sixindicators, or six tells that
you can use in order to convincepeople that doing to them, to
you is, I think, extremelyimportant as you're moving
through the space and trying tofigure out who's on the team and
who's not.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
So good.
What is your favorite part ofowning your business?
Speaker 4 (31:00):
You know, for me it's the mission at this point, it's
just the ability to helppeople's light come back on.
So you sell.
Everybody thinks like once yousell your business, you cross
some magic finish line.
That would be like saying, oh,I got married and so I crossed
the finish line and I don't haveto do anything.
(31:21):
Like there is, it's just thebeginning, right.
And so when people say, oh, Isold my company and I lost my
purpose, but when we can helpthat light come back on, you're
like, oh, there it is, or theycan experience that passion
again.
That's the whole game, becauseif you don't have something
(31:44):
worth living for, your life isempty.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
So good.
What is something new thatyou've implemented in your
business that's helped drivesuccess?
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Man, there's so many things.
I think what I would say iscounting my days off is probably
the most important thing thatI've done.
Uh, so in 2024 we took 194 off,and people are like, well, why
is the number of days offimportant?
It's like shouldn't you begrinding, isn't it no days off?
(32:19):
Well, if you think about thenon-renewable resources and you
use that as a measure of yourwealth, I had 194 days where I
could pick what I did.
Right.
Most people, regardless of howmuch money they have, can't say
that, and so I think time ismore valuable than money.
(32:47):
I think if we're good stewardsof our time, then we can have a
huge impact by being intentionalabout that allocation.
I think most people just kindof give it away, waste it away,
and so I would definitely saycounting days off is the game.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
So good, Absolutely amazing.
There was so much we covered inthis interview and I cannot
wait to rewind this back myselfand listen to it, because
there's so much that I just wantto hear again, and I do not say
that often.
So thank you for being here.
I mean it was cool hearing yourjourney from your corporate
world going into real estate andthen creating your firm, and
all the things that you foundand that you're evolving now and
(33:27):
the goals.
So really, really amazing.
I have two last final questionsfor you.
One, any final advice?
And two where can people findyou?
Where can people get in touch?
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, exit to excellencecom is the place to go
.
You can find out all of ourstuff.
And then you know, my bigfollow is on LinkedIn.
We do a little bit on Instagram, but LinkedIn is where you can
get a ton of information as well, and I think it's just Jerome
Myers on LinkedIn.
As far as advice, your dreamshould be real, and most adults
(33:59):
haven't heard that in a longtime, probably since they were,
you know, maybe a preteen,probably for most people before
that, and so if you made it tothis part of the interview,
you're welcome, because nowyou've got to go out and do
something about it.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh my gosh.
So mic drop, jerome Myers,ladies and gentlemen, I mean,
usually I do like a huge outro,but like I just want to play
this stuff, you know whatDoesn't matter.
Long and short of it was.
This has been phenomenal.
Our house is your house.
I want you to come backwhenever you feel as though you
would like to go ahead and blessus with a little bit more
knowledge, a little bit morewisdom.
(34:35):
Please feel free For those thatare out there.
Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of Forged in
Fire.
If you're driving, get homesafely.
We truly appreciate y'all,jerome.
It's been an honor, it's been apleasure, it's been a privilege
.
Brother, you guys take care.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
We'll see y'all in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to anotherepisode of Forged in Fire.
If you enjoyed today's raw,unfiltered stories, don't forget
to like, subscribe and leave usa review.
Stories don't forget to like,subscribe and leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us bringmore real-world insights to
entrepreneurs like you.
Be sure to join us next timefor even more lessons, struggles
(35:17):
and breakthroughs on the roadto success.
Keep forging ahead.
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