In this episode, Mike sits down with Michael Schieffer—husband, father, real estate investor, and now founder of Exit Factor of O’Fallon—to explore the courageous leap from a secure W2 job into full-blown entrepreneurship. Michael shares the inner and outer journey of leaving behind a decade-long career in commercial lending, stepping into alignment with his true purpose, and navigating the mental and emotional turbulence that comes with redefining success. They unpack the fears, family dynamics, and internal programming that often keep high-performing leaders stuck—and what it really takes to create time freedom, fulfillment, and a business that serves your soul. This episode is a must-listen for anyone ready to stop surviving and start intentionally creating.
Key Takeaways
- Clarity Leads to Courage–Michael’s moment of vision didn’t come from force—it arrived through stillness and inner alignment. The courage to leap followed clarity of purpose.
- Freedom Requires Letting Go of Security–You can’t have both freedom and false security. True expansion comes from releasing comfort to step into the unknown.
- Identity Is Not Obligation–You don’t have to live the same life as your parents or meet anyone’s expectations but your own. Fulfillment starts with authenticity.
- Alignment Attracts Opportunity–Michael didn’t chase his business idea—it landed in his lap once he committed to the life he truly wanted.
- Emotional Courage Is the Real Work–Leaving a job, letting go of old identities, and choosing purpose requires you to feel it all—and move forward anyway.
Notable Quotes
“There’s part of me that’s still scared. But I’m not scared of the income. I’m doing this for more time with my family.”
“I didn’t leave because I hated my job—I left because I craved more freedom, more control of my time, and a deeper sense of purpose.”
“I was terrified to tell my parents. I had this imagined fear that they’d resent me… and none of it was true.”
“You can’t have security and freedom at the same time. If you want to be free, you have to let go of needing to feel secure.”
“I’m not trying to be anyone else anymore. I’m choosing what’s right for me and my family.”
Music Credit: "What's Left of Me" by Wes Hoffman & Friends
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Mike Kitko is an executive self-mastery coach, speaker and author. He found external success through powerful titles, incomes, and material possessions. He ultimately fell into depression, toxic abuse of alcohol, and the near collapse of his family before he began a journey of internal happiness and success.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've got an awesome guest today and you know I don't
do many interviews on theInterwealth podcast, but I'm
always looking for thatexceptional story of
transformation, of courage,somebody who's jumped into the
void and shifted from a lifethat they were kind of living,
that they had to live, into alife that they get to live.
(00:20):
I'm always looking for that.
Today I've got my man, michaelSchieffer, on the podcast.
Now.
Michael came to me a while ago,some time ago, through the
Choose your Destiny LiveIntensive Workshop and we began
working together and that's whenwe really started to understand
what Michael had in his heart,that was trying to be created in
(00:45):
the world, and we dove in andwe uncovered some things and
some opportunities and we'regoing to share that on this
episode.
Now.
Michael, up to this point, hasbeen a commercial banker.
He's been in the loan industry.
He's a real estate investor.
He's got a couple of rentalproperties.
He's flipped about a dozenproperties as well.
(01:09):
The guy loves farming and hehas a family farm and he loves
being on the farm.
In this episode we're going totalk about his journey and his
leap into business consulting inhis new business called Exit
Factor, which actually launchesin about a week, a week and a
half.
So sit back, get to knowMichael Schieffer and just
(01:34):
experience and see what couragelooks like in jumping into the
void and jumping into your realpurpose in this lifetime.
Into the void and jumping intoyour real purpose in this
lifetime.
Do you ever wake up feelinglike there's something missing
in your life?
(01:55):
Do you ever feel the need toescape your business?
Are you running your life or isyour life running you?
I'm Mike Kitko and I'll helpyou design and create a life so
authentic and aligned with whoyou really are you'll get
excited just to wake up.
I'll help you create realwealth, success and freedom from
the inside out.
Welcome to the Inner WealthPodcast, where we learn and
choose to live inspired each andevery day.
Michael, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, man, it's fun.
I was excited to get you onhere and I can't wait for people
to hear your story, because youare the vision of what I had in
mind when I created InterWealthand InterWealth Global and
InterWealth Mastermind.
It's people that are doingexactly what you're doing, not
(02:45):
in the industry, but just theact of courage that you're
demonstrating.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, this is the vision I had in mind when I
joined, so it's good to hearthey match up.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's exciting, so I've already done.
We've already done.
They've already heard yourintro before the show, but tell
them a little bit about who youare and what's going on in your
life Currently.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Currently.
Currently today, I am days awayfrom my final day in my W2 job.
I have started my own business.
It is a consulting firm forbusinesses looking to exit and
the name of that is Exit Factorof O'Fallon.
It's been quite the buildup tothat.
(03:30):
I've had this idea in my headfor over a year and the story of
how it came to me is quiteawesome.
But currently, yeah, jumpinginto that business, I'm also
dabbling in real estate.
More than dabbling, I'm in realestate pretty heavily.
I flip a couple of houses at atime and I have a few rentals.
(03:52):
So that's where I am currently.
I got a lovely family wife, twogirls and then I don't know if
Mike knew this yet, but one onthe way.
Congratulations.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And the way Congratulations.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So yeah, and you just had onenot too long ago.
Yeah, it'll be two under two.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It will be two under two.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Angie and I had a rule two hands, two kids, that
was it.
Well, I wanted 10, but we kindof set the limit at two hands to
to to, uh, two kids.
Michael, we don't have a, wedon't have a limit on how far
we're going.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
So no, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, between me and Angie, we don't have, we no
longer have a uterus, so or, orwe like I, I'd like to have more
.
I love kids.
But listen, talk about your W2.
And you're one of the.
You're one of the guys that youdidn't hate your W-2.
You didn't hate your job.
You never hated it.
You never expressed anybitterness towards being
(04:55):
employed.
It was just you were in thatrole and it was kind of a
security blanket and it hadexpired.
So talk about that.
What do you do Like?
What are you currently doing?
How, how does that look?
And and what is it like to youknow to recognize that there's
something more to life than whatyou're living?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, um, so I've always had way too many irons in
the fire, that's no secret.
You knew that.
Um, so I could count them out.
I got my W2.
I farm with my dad and grandpa.
I like to flip houses, I haverentals.
Me and my wife have a garden atour house.
We have a mini farm here.
We like to go to Lake theOzarks, I like to golf, I like
(05:38):
to do way too many things, andas I build up these side things,
some of these are taking up waytoo much of my time and and I
found that I enjoy them, more sothan my W2.
Um, so it got to the pointwhere something, something had
to give.
I can't do it all.
Um and uh.
(05:59):
Working with you, I identifiedwhat, what I do want to do with
my time, and that is the realestate and this new business
that I was forming.
So the big thing in the middlewas this 40 hour work week that
I was.
You know, you have to get thereat eight and you leave at four.
(06:20):
It doesn't matter how busy youare, it doesn't matter if I'm
swamped out of my mind or don'thave a thing to do.
I gotta get there at eight andleave at four.
Um, and that's not how my brainoperates.
I I'm really task oriented, so,um, if I have something to do,
I want to do it right now and Iwant to get it done.
Um, as opposed to and on theother side of that, if, if I
(06:43):
don't have anything to do, Idon't want to sit at my desk and
and act like I'm doing somekind of job, um, but yeah, so
that that the obvious thing toget rid of was that 40 hour
right in the week, right in themiddle of my week.
So now I can shift everythingum and hopefully get, uh, these
other tasks done during my workweek, instead of being in the
(07:07):
house until 10 o'clock pm orgoing to clean up a rental on
Sunday morning at 7 am.
I mean, that's not the times Iwant to do any type of work.
I want to relax and enjoy timewith family.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, and the growing family, and as you were talking
about that, I've got all thesethoughts and these concepts in
my mind that pop up.
The one that I think what youwere speaking to is if you don't
own your time, you don't ownyour life.
Right, you wanted to take backcontrol of your time and, in
essence, you wanted to take backcontrol of your life.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Exactly, and I don't even know where to start on this
.
So what is your?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
W-2?
Let's start there.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yep, good place.
So I have been a commerciallender for 10 years.
I worked for a small bank,silex Bank, early on and then,
in the latter part, I worked forPeople's Bank and Trust
Fantastic banks both of them andI really, really like my job.
I really enjoyed it.
I learned a ton.
(08:13):
You know there's there's partof me that you know I'm still
young, I'm 32 years old.
But I look back and I say man ifI would have gotten into this
when I was 22, I'd be so muchfurther ahead.
(08:34):
That's not the truth.
I had so many experiences andI've gained so much knowledge
from these jobs.
The fact that I can go intoconversations now with a
potential client that I'm goingto be working with and say, hey,
I have 10 years experienceworking with businesses like
yours from a different type oftable I was a commercial lender.
I've seen these types of things, so that aspect of experience
is just I'm grateful.
(08:55):
I think I don't regret my pastone bit.
I'm just super, super happy tobe where I'm at, headed towards
this final day, happy to bewhere I'm at, you know, headed
towards this this final day.
Um, but yeah, and as far as youknow, the exit from the bank, I
I don't think there's a bit ofhostility, you know, maybe there
is, but I definitely don't hateor not enjoy any of my previous
(09:17):
coworkers and and I don't thinkthat's the the way they feel
about me either Um, I have areally good, um, really good
relationship with my uh, well,soon to be previous employer, uh
, justin St Pierre, there at thebank.
Um, I think he's going to be abig proponent of, you know
future Michael.
So, um, he, he's sad to see mego, but uh, I think a lot of
(09:42):
people there kind of saw thewriting on the wall as I kind of
got a little bit furtherremoved and I'd be in and out
and they'd say where were you?
And I'd say oh, I was closing aloan for a customer.
Okay, At some point I can't beclosing loans for customers
three hours a day Come onMichael.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, and there was.
That's what I think makes youexceptional in this realm.
So I'll tell a quick story.
I remember my older daughtergrowing up, like when she when
we left Oregon to come toMissouri.
But when she went fromelementary school to middle
(10:22):
school, she hated her elementaryschool, like it was almost like
to like middle school.
She had to hate her elementaryschool to middle school.
She hated her elementary school.
It was almost like to likemiddle school.
She had to hate her elementaryschool.
Then, when we moved here, inorder to love high school, she
had to hate middle school.
And then, when she graduatedhigh school, she went to college
and in order to love hercollege, she had to hate her
high school.
So it was like she always hadto make the past wrong in some
(10:46):
way to feel good about where shewas.
And then she changed colleges.
She loved her first college.
Then she changed, you know,went to a second college and
then she had to make the firstcollege bad and wrong.
But that's what makes youexceptional is is you've never
I've never heard you one timecomplain about your having a job
the bank, it was just you werecraving more of freedom, more
(11:10):
time, freedom, more control overyour life but I've never heard
you complain one time about anyof this.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
No, I mean my wife might hear it occasionally, but
no, I really don't have a realcomplaint, don't have a logistic
like a.
A real complaint about it, yeah, I love that I can't name.
I can't name one person that, um, that doesn't quite get.
You know, that gets along withevery single person in the room.
So I mean, yeah, are therepeople at that bank that maybe I
(11:37):
butt heads with, fine?
Yeah, um, are there thingsabout a W2 that I?
I I completely resent?
Are there things about a W-2that I completely resent
Absolutely?
But as far as the place, thepeople there, no, fantastic,
love it, love it.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
So your commercial lending.
And then there was this magicalmoment on one of the
Interwealth mastermind businesscalls and it was kind of a
moment of awakening for you.
Tell us about the you know, youknow the moment I'm talking
about.
Tell us about that moment, whathappened.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Are you talking about my idea?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, yeah, the concept, the vision, the clarity
.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, so.
So dealing with uh, dealingwith customer customers at the
bank.
It's no secret that businessowners try to lower their tax
threshold as much as theypossibly can.
So they bring me tax returnsand their bottom line is always
as low as possible so that theycan avoid paying an absorbent
(12:38):
amount of taxes.
So seeing this and then seeinghow it was done on paper, and
then in their other financials,I look across the table and I
say this guy's got this greatbusiness, but on paper he
struggles to get a loan from abank to where I'm telling you,
(12:58):
you can't afford a certain loanpayment.
And then this guy is telling meback well, yes, I can certain
loan payment.
And then this guy's telling meback, well, yes, I can, I don't
know.
So there's a disconnect betweenwhat the business is actually
doing, what shows up on thepaper, and then what the loan
officer is able to do for them.
So my idea was I wanted tostart a consulting business to
make businesses bankable andthat was going to be my slogan
(13:22):
making businesses bankable.
And I went through thelogistics of it all and how I
was going to be my slogan makingbusinesses bankable.
And I went through thelogistics of it all and how I
was going to jump into this andbecome this consultant and I
could never make sense of it onmy own.
So that idea kind of fizzledaway for I want to say, almost a
year it fizzled away.
(13:43):
Then this drive to be my own,you know, on my own came up
again and I was looking atbusinesses on Viz by Cell and
one of them happened to be aSinarama, which is a sign store,
and anyways, I went down thepath of trying to get more
details on it.
I learned that it was afranchise owned by UFG United
(14:05):
Franchise Group and went throughtheir whole tour and got the
whole pitch from them andsomewhere along the lines I
decided I didn't want to do that, I didn't want to buy that
business.
So that stopped.
And months later I want to sayhalf a year went by and I get a
phone call from the franchisesalesperson.
(14:27):
He said, hey, it didn't workout with Sinorama, but I was
looking back over your file andyour past experiences and I have
something else that might youmight be interested in, and
that's when he was pitching meExit Factor, which is also owned
by the same franchise group init.
And that's when he was pitchingme, exit factor, which is also
owned by the same franchisegroup, and this guy, dan
(14:48):
Neimanitis, he, he, he gives methis pitch and he's going
through what this business doesand the whole time he's talking.
I'm laughing and like almostlike a, like a nervous laugh,
like oh, how's the why is thishappening?
The guy was pitching my idea tome, yeah, and the only words
that were different was when Iused bankable.
He would use saleable orexitable.
(15:10):
So exit factor is makingbusinesses exitable, saleable.
My idea was making businessesbankable.
It's the same exact thing.
It's the same exact thing, alittle more in depth, but same
thing.
So I want to say that took me atotal of 20 days from when he
(15:31):
pitched the idea to me to beingunder contract on buying the
franchise and bringing it to StLouis buying the franchise and
bringing it to St Louis.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You know it's, it's amazing.
And I get to, I get to workwith awesome people and I get to
see, you know their, theirsuccess compound over time and
with enough soak time, everybody, everybody, will start to step
into their.
You know their, their vision,as they intended.
With enough soak time.
Not everybody, not everybody,gives it enough soak time Right
now.
What I mean by that is I justfinished writing a chapter in my
(16:04):
new book and it talks aboutjust the patience required, the
patience and the trust requiredfor whatever you're clear about,
whatever you intend when youcreate that intention, that
vision.
It's just trusting and beingpatient enough and the universe
will deliver.
Life will deliver, god willdeliver.
Whatever that thing is outthere, I don't care what it
(16:24):
looks like I'm not, I'm notwrapping dog around that, but
it's whenever you're, you're ina place of trust and patience,
it's going to show up.
And you came on right afterthat happened.
You called and you said you'renever going to believe what
happened and I said that on the,on the mastermind with
everybody.
(16:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, and that was before I committed to buying and
I said this came in my facethat I have no idea why this is
happening.
But I'm going to look into itdeeply and, after a little bit
more research, yeah, it was whatI wanted.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And our good friend Brian Schroeder says that the
where people go wrong in thecreation process often is not
receiving.
When you get what you said youwanted, when it shows up, you
got to receive it and you did.
And that was that.
20 days.
Right, 20 days was thereceiving process.
But you could have easily said,no, I'm going to stay in my job
(17:21):
, I'm going to keep, I'm goingto keep my security blanket.
But instead you jumped into thevoid and you started to like,
like, actually receive the, the,the, the clarity that you had
received.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I actually did.
I fought it for quite some time, even after that, because even
with working with the franchise,I said, hey, maybe is there a
way I can retain my job and getthis on its feet.
And then it turned into maybeis there a way I can keep my job
and still maybe hire someconsultants and manage it while
(17:54):
I work my job.
And we're six months in.
I started this in October, soit's almost exactly six months
is how long that I've beendragging this out, since I
actually bought the franchise.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So when did you give notice?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
The 14th, 15th of March, I gave a month.
Yeah, actually I honestlydidn't even give a date.
I said I just want to clean upmy relationships.
You know, if that takes twoweeks, fine, if that takes six
weeks, whatever.
You know, I didn't have acommitment to another employer.
I didn't have any dates that Iwas concerned about other than
(18:33):
you, than your retreat.
That's true.
I said I got to have all forthat, um, but no, I, I'm just
letting it play out and I willhelp them get it All of my loose
ends tied up.
So that's where I'm at rightnow.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So let's timeline this the 14th.
You gave notice and you said Idon't know.
I'm not going to give an exactdate.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
This episode will launch on March 27th and when is
the official or maybe the softand the official launch of exit
factor?
I?
Uh, as far as the franchiseconcerns, it's april 1st.
That's the official launch.
Like all my systems processes,it's set up.
I have a consultant fired andshe is already working with a
client.
Um, so we we're moving andgrooving, uh, this thing now
(19:23):
that we finally have the foot.
I honestly, I probably had thefoot on the brake a little bit,
but once, now that I had thefoot on the gas, I think it's
gonna we're going to start tosee some serious momentum now.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
When is the official launch the public?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, I have a.
I have a, I have a lunch andlearn, uh, April 4th, Thursday
during lunch, and anybody thatwants to come by all means come
by.
That's going to be at theWaterbury building in O'Fallon,
and just let me know and I'lladd you to the list.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
So this is a worldwide podcast.
So 830 Waterbury Falls Drive inO'Fallon, missouri, so if
you're interested from comingfrom anywhere around, the world.
Yeah right, 830 Waterbury FallsDrive in O'Fallon, missouri.
That's where this thing's goingto be held and Michael will be
(20:18):
there and he'll be sharing, kindof what he's doing, his vision
for Exit Factor.
And come and jam and come andshow up.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yep, I hope not to bore anybody.
That's the main thing there.
I don't want to get up thereand talk for 30 or 40 minutes.
I just want to get up there,say my spiel and then walk
around the room and talk topeople individually.
So that's kind of what I havein mind with that.
Nothing crazy or fancy of whatI have in mind with that.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Uh, nothing crazy or fancy, just just some food and
drinks and hopefully talk toeverybody.
And that's april 4th.
So we're not done with thisthing yet.
We're not, we're not wrappingup yet.
We're just, we're just gettingthe, you know, kind of getting
that message anchored a littlebit that the week basically a
week or or a week and a halfafter this, this, after this
episode drops, michael will bein full momentum, full throttle.
(21:05):
So now, okay, we talked aboutthe full throttle, april 4th is
full throttle.
Now let's talk about kind of thediscussions that you and your
wife and you and your familyhave been having behind the
scenes.
Because, like I started off,this is an act of courage.
Not everybody has the courageto jump into the void, and you
(21:26):
are right.
So, and I love theentrepreneurial spirit, you know
that I love the entrepreneurialspirit because when you're in
business for yourself, there'snowhere to hide.
It's eat what you kill, youmarket, you create a concept,
you market, you kill, you market, you create a concept, you
(21:47):
market, you sell, you're theoperator, often until you build
something when you can starthiring employees, you are the
hunter and you are the consumer.
So the point being is likethat's scary and it takes an act
of courage.
This is a very Brian Schroederand I had a conversation one
time.
This is the most spiritual,freaking development work that
you could ever imagine becauseit challenges every aspect and
(22:10):
you're going to feel everythingyou don't want to feel.
You're going to experience whatyou don't want to experience.
Tell us what thoseconversations were like leading
up to this.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Okay, so just a smidge of background with my
wife.
Um, she's an occupationaltherapist.
She used to be in SSM hospitals, um, in the hospitals.
When COVID happened she wasalso.
We were expecting Amelia, ourfirst child, and she said I'm
not going back to the hospital.
And at that point she started,um, her health coaching business
(22:44):
, uh, which at this point now isis doing great.
Uh, she got into a multi-levelmarket selling wine and then, uh
, she also did some in-homevisits for, uh, a Missouri
program called first steps.
So she had a few irons in thefire but she left W2.
At that point I wanted to too.
(23:05):
I had decided I was going to bea realtor.
Hindsight, I'm really glad Ididn't.
I do not want to be a realtor.
I do have my realtor's license,but it's only for my own flips.
I don't want that to be myfull-time job.
Will I take one on occasionally?
Fine, yes, but that's not myfull time thing.
So, anyway, sarah, now she'sbeen working from home.
(23:29):
Now she's starting tohomeschool our youngest daughter
.
So this is where the visionkind of takes place.
Sarah is super flexible in ourlife outside of my W2, super
flexible.
So I think that was the wholegoal here is that we could, um,
we could get to a point to wherewe could leave on a Tuesday and
(23:51):
go to lake and come home on aThursday Um, no questions asked,
just needed somebody to come toour house and watch our animals
or something.
Um, but as far as conversationsterrifying.
It's terrifying because throughthe bank, I get all of my
healthcare paid for.
Insurance is paid for.
(24:13):
They also match 401k and allthat good stuff.
A lot of employers do that.
So that's a question mark.
It's kind of like something,something I don't want to say.
They're holding it over yourheads like, hey, if you leave,
you won't have health, healthinsurance in the 401k match
anymore.
You just have to account forthat, you know.
(24:35):
Early on, you asked me whatdoes it take in a month?
What do I need in a month tosurvive?
And you, I went through thebudget and then I just added
1500 bucks for health insuranceand another little bit for 401k.
It's.
It's just a shift in mentalityand, uh, it just took a really
(24:57):
long time to get there.
Um, I mean honestly, yeah, I'mstill scared but um I'm, I'm
still scared, but um, but atthis point I'm not scared about
the income at all.
Um, I'll make the income,that's.
That's not a there's not adoubt in my mind that I'm not
going to make the income.
I might make two or three,three times the income, or or or
(25:21):
I might not.
I might not cover what I'mmaking right now, but none of
that even matters.
None of it matters because, um,that's not the reason I'm doing
it.
I'm doing it for for more timewith my family, my daughter.
You know she's always wantingto go places with me and you
know she can't come sit in myoffice at the bank all day, but
maybe there's a day where I'mlooking around at houses and she
(25:44):
can get in the truck and ridearound with me.
I mean, so there's there's alot more flexibility that we
were after, and and that's whatI think we're going to be
getting here soon.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
That is the reward, man that is, and you will.
You will make two to threetimes the the income that you
made at the bank.
You'll crush it, in fact, youand I.
You know you got all theseirons in the fire.
And one thing let me back upbecause you mentioned it.
But Michael loves farming,michael loves being on the farm,
michael loves being on thefamily farm and tending to the
(26:18):
animals and tending to the farm.
That's one piece of it.
Right, he's got so many ironsin the fire, but one one of
those irons is real estate.
And there was a time, like Ithink it was over the last few
months, where you're whereyou're like, already replaced,
already made as much in realestate over the last 12 months
as I would have in Tibet.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
So the income, the income has already been replaced
and by ramping up activitiesthat you're already doing and
the exit factor is just going toserve your soul, because it's
really what's in your soultrying to get out, it's really
the purpose that you're lookingto explore right now and that's
just going to create even moreincome and compensation.
(27:00):
But the reward, the treasure,is time, freedom, and that's
what you are after and that'swhat we're all after in the
entrepreneurial game.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yep and you.
You mentioned discussions priorto leaving my job with my wife
and yeah, I'll just go back to,we're both terrified.
We were both terrified for thelongest time.
There's a lot of times whereyou know I would let's go back
to last year.
I would say January 1st that'swhen I'm done and Sarah would
(27:29):
say, oh, are you sure, like, wereally, like, how are we going
to do this?
And then that turned intoFebruary 1st, march 1st it's
here now.
But yeah, we kept pushing thatbecause we had a.
There was a lot of pushback,not just from Sarah, I can't
blame her, it was me.
I mean, it was me because, yeah,I was terrified you know,
(27:55):
thrown away and even though Imean, I'll say it, I'm not, I'm
not complaining about myprevious salary, but I'm not
impressed.
I'm really not impressed withit at all.
I can easily cover it and now Ijust have that confidence built
up that that part is not even adoubt or a worry, it's just.
(28:21):
I honestly think there was somany other things at play, which
I've talked to you about aswell.
You know the.
You throw my parents into themix, um, you throw my community
into the mix.
I just had this idea built upthat my parents were going to
hate me if I left my W2, like myparents were going to hate me.
My mom's worked at People's Bankfor 38 years.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
The same bank as me.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I had this fear that I was going to leave and mom was
going to resent me and think Iwas stupid.
She might think I'm stupidactually she said it out loud
but she doesn't resent me.
She wishes me well.
And here we go, like we're offto the races now I just had
these discussions imagined in myhead that I was going to have
(29:09):
with my parents and they weregoing to disown me, and none of
that happens.
And then you got the bank.
I mean, man, an icon of LincolnCounty, there, anytime anybody
asks for a donation, the bank'sthe first one there with $10,000
.
Like, so I think that allweighed into it.
As man, I'm leaving thiswonderful place and all these
(29:31):
people are going to hate me.
Nobody hates me, nobody hatesyou.
I was making it all up.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Nobody hates you and, and I want to, I want to, I'm
going to unpack some stuff realquick and and I want to, I'm
going to.
It's a little bit of ateachable moment because really,
what happens is when you saidwhen I asked you the question I
ask that question 10 times a daywhen I'm talking to people what
do you need to survive?
How much?
When somebody is looking tomake the leap from W2 into
(29:57):
entrepreneurism or looking tolevel up in some way, what does
it take?
And it usually doesn't take awhole lot to manage our
lifestyle.
So I think I'm around peoplewith a good, healthy income, but
we're not high maintenance interms of we don't have this
lavishly millions of dollars ofspend every month.
But the point is you didn'tneed a whole lot to make the
(30:19):
transition.
But there is this conditioningand programming.
When you're built the way I wasbuilt, and when you're built
the way you were built, there'sconditioning and programming
that says I need a job to besecure, somebody else needs to
pay my benefits.
I don't know if I can besuccessful.
(30:42):
What if it fails?
It's almost like we're built inorder to and you're going to
experience it.
In order to experience freedom,you must give up the need for
security.
You can't have security andfreedom at the same time and
(31:07):
freedom at the same time.
Freedom can help give youfinancial margin, but to get
into a place where you are free,you must give up the need for
security.
But that is what's terrifying.
Just like and I'll throw itover to you right after this,
just like when you were sayingthe word terrifying, when I went
up and I did some skydivingback in August last year, I was
in that, I was in that doorwayand I was petrified but I was
(31:30):
jumping anyway, right.
So, and that's what emotionalcourage is.
It's the presence of fear inyour body, but the courage to
move forward anyway.
It's the willingness to feelall that discomfort and all that
fear and still move towards theobjective.
And that's what you did.
You're starting to move throughthe story that you need
security.
Where, so did your?
(31:54):
You know, where did yourparents come in to play with
that security mindset that youwere holding on to?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
that security mindset that you were holding on to.
Well, you know, I can'tpinpoint anything exactly.
It probably all goes back tothe fact that, yeah, 38 years at
(32:27):
one bank, um, super low risk,yeah, always.
Just, you know, staying withinmeans, um.
And then you know, yeah, we, weare a well-known family in
lincoln county, so I meanthere's a lot of eyes on us and
you know.
Then there's always the phraseof uh, like your dad is such a
great guy, like, yeah, he islike 100%.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
But there's always this um man, I gotta be like my
dad, I gotta be, you know, Igotta.
I gotta live up to this.
No one told me this, but that's, that's what he's playing in
your head, is that?
Wow, everybody thinks you know,dad has created this, um, a
bridge of hope, which is ahomeless shelter in Troy.
Amazing, it's incredible, but Igot this.
(33:11):
Everything I got to hold myselfup to, I got to be this guy is
what I was trying to tell myself.
I have to be him and I don'thave to.
I'll do my own thing andhopefully do as much good for
the community that he did.
Like that's the goal.
I want to, but I don't have todo the exact same thing, Right.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
There's a, there's a book and you and I you you've
heard me talk about this book abillion times, but no more, mr
Nice guy, yeah, I was going tomention that book somewhere here
, because that was such a hugeinfluence on my life that no
more, mr Nice Guy, it's like topthree for me.
It's Dr Robert Glover.
Dr Robert Glover, no more.
Mr Nice Guy, it's stop worryingabout pleasing or impressing or
(33:53):
the judgment of others.
Just live your life.
You're not built like anybodyelse.
You can't make anybody happy.
You can't make anybody pissedoff.
They're going to do thatthemselves.
The only thing you can do isjust live your life to be
authentic, to be powerful, to befulfilled, to be free, to be
prosperous, and let everybodysort out their own mess and
(34:15):
their own judgment and their ownemotions and their own
anxieties.
And as you stepped into thatplace of you know, letting go of
the judgment of others, youstarted stepping into into more
alignment with your authenticity.
And that's what.
That's what created this.
Could you speak to that?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yes, and in that book he calls it the nice guy
syndrome.
That is, that was me to a Tnice guy syndrome.
You know I not.
That doesn't mean that youdon't, you can't be nice to
people.
Yeah, it's not about being anass people.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah it's not about being an ass.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, it's not about being an ass yeah, getting cured
of nice guy syndrome doesn'tmean that you're an asshole to
everybody and you walk aroundjust treating everybody like
crap.
No, it just means that youstand up for yourself, you do
what you want for you and yourfamily.
And and that is where myintentions are right now is that
I'm not shoving anybody aside,I'm not telling anybody else
(35:07):
they can't live their life howthey live, to want to live.
But as for me and mine, this iswhat we're doing.
Yeah, and, and that's where Iam right now, that book was
super empowering and not a I Ihad a ha aha moment when I read
originally, but it truly didn'tkick in until months after.
Yeah, honestly, I think I readit a second time.
(35:30):
Actually.
That was, yeah, that was a goodone.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
That's one that, once you've been subjected, once you
realize that you're livingthrough a nice guy filter and
lens, I think, michael, thatbook, probably every time you go
through it you're going to,you're just going to be a little
little more catharsis.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
So so it's actually on my bed stand.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I intend to do it, to read it again so yeah, I've
probably been through that bookabout five or six times so far,
and it's only been like a yearor two that I've had it, so so I
mean it's just a just a longerthan that, but just a wonderful,
wonderful read.
It looks like what you're doingand what you're saying is
you're just letting go of theopinions, of what everybody else
wants for you, and you're justchoosing yourself.
(36:12):
I love that.
That's what creates authenticalignment.
So, now let's talk a little moreabout Exit Factor.
Talk about the exact work thatyou're going to be doing in exit
factor.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Okay, um, the intention behind exit factor, uh
, my particular brand, myparticular business, is exit
factor of O'Fallon O'Fallon,missouri, uh, in St Louis.
Um, the intention behind it isthat, um, we're helping
businesses clean up theirfinancials.
Different processes withemployees, you know, structure
(36:48):
their business, anything to makethem more sellable.
The statistic behind it is thatI believe the number is 86% of
businesses that go to a businessbrokerage don't sell.
And what happens with those?
Most of them just fold.
They just close up shop, selltheir real estate.
They don't actually sell thebusiness, they just sell the
(37:10):
real estate and equipment.
Maybe it's more like an assetsale.
The intention with this companyis to give them value.
Every business has value.
Every business has value.
Some business owners think thatthey're worth less than what
(37:31):
they actually are and somebusiness owners completely
inflate what they think theirbusiness is worth.
The goal with with what I wantto help with is to give them a
clear value of where they're attoday, a clear path over the
next year to two to threepotentially, how we can increase
the value and by, by growth,increase the value by cleaning
(37:55):
up processes.
So, maybe, maybe you've gotthree employees and every day,
these employees just do randomtasks.
Now we need to go in.
These employees just do randomtasks.
Now we need to go in, defineclearly what each employee does,
what their daily job tasks are,weekly, whatever it be.
That way, if employee A leaves,you get a job listing.
(38:23):
You can hire someone to jumpright into their role.
All those things thatstreamline the business, makes
it more appealing to a new buyer, things that buyers don't like
An owner-operator.
That's one of the first thingswe always work to remove.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
If there's an owner-operator, the person has a
job not a business.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yep, the person has a job.
I don't want to buy a job, Iwant to buy a business.
I want to buy a business that Ican show up at and I can manage
if I want to.
But I don't A prime example andI'm not throwing my dad under
the bus, but he's got a heatingand cooling business and he has
a job.
If he stops working and goingto service calls and the
(39:03):
business will stop, soparticularly with his business,
we would work to divvy up histask.
So maybe he's doing his ownbookkeeping Well, I know he is.
We would find a bookkeeper forhim.
Maybe he's running servicecalls.
We need to find a trainedemployee or take his employee on
hand and train him to do someof these service calls.
(39:25):
Get as many of these tasks offof the owner operator as
possible.
That way, when that personsteps out of that role, the new
buyer doesn't have to step intothat role.
I can just buy the business andit's operating.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
And if the person leaves, if an employee leaves,
the whole Yep, a key employeethe whole operation doesn't
collapse Right.
So there's always and I've beenon when I was in fortune 500,
when I was in corporation, I wason both sides of acquisitions.
I was on, I was I was the, theacquirer and I was the acquiree.
And it's a.
(40:00):
It's a fragile time.
That business transition isvery, especially for the,
especially for the company beingacquired.
When, when the, when the ownersays, hey, we've just, I've just
sold or we've been acquired,everybody is looking to see if
they should exit.
At that moment it's likeeverybody is that moment.
everybody dusts up dust or, yeah, dust off their, their resume,
(40:21):
right.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
A prime example.
The franchise owner from Denverspoke about how she had a
business that she was workingthrough, and she repeatedly said
now I know you might care aboutyour employees and you might
want to fill them in on this andtell them what you're doing,
(40:43):
but I promise you, please do nottell them.
Please do not tell them.
And the lady kept it to herselfas she was building this
business for an exit.
But then she told some of herkey employees that she was
getting ready to sell thebusiness a couple months before
it went through.
They all quit and found jobselsewhere, and her deal fell
through and her business wasthen worth nothing.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I was.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
I was working for a company called I was working for
a company called techtronics inportland oregon and we were
acquired by a company calleddanaher and danaher's up.
It was huge at the time it was.
It was called danaher I thinkit's something different now,
but it was a holding company andthey took what we had 3,000
employees or something and theybrought us all like into a
(41:31):
conference, into separateconference rooms, and told
everybody and it's like this wasa multi-billion dollar company
that we were running and it wascompletely a secret that we were
being acquired right,completely a secret Surprise
meeting.
Yeah, yeah, and that's where youfind out.
But it's in that moment that Ihad a brand new kid.
(41:55):
Our younger daughter was brandnew, and she was.
She was just a couple of monthsold and my first thought is, oh
my God, I'm going to, am Igoing to lose my job?
And that's what everybody'sthinking on when the acquisition
needed to prepare for thosethings way ahead of time, so
that when the business is sold,everything doesn't fall apart
just because of the transaction.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Right, my, my buddy, uh, did it the right way.
He bought a carpet cleaningbusiness and the employees did
not know until the day of thetransition.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Dusty and his uh, new well, dusty Sanders.
There you go, yeah, dusty, andhis new well, dusty Sanders.
There you go, dusty and his newmanager walked in and said hey,
I am the new owner of thisbusiness.
Everything's going to go on asit was before.
You all are still employed.
You know, the reason that thiswas sold is to hopefully grow
(42:43):
the business, not to deplete thebusiness.
You're all good and all theemployees were happy.
You know, not to deplete thebusiness.
You're all good and all theemployees were happy.
They were scared and obviouslychange is never fun.
I'm going through that rightnow but if it's handled that way
, that's the best thing for thebusiness.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Yeah, and you prepare .
So there's a saying about anoak tree and I shared this with
you on a call one time.
I used this in a sales call.
I love it.
I'm glad you did Shit.
I didn't create it right, Ididn't.
It's not my invention, I juststole it too.
But there's two best times toplant an oak tree.
What are they?
Speaker 2 (43:20):
50 years ago and or today.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yeah so the best time to start preparing to sell your
business is.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Obviously, five years ago is the greatest time to
start, but today is the nextbest time.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
If you haven't started preparing for an exit,
today is the perfect time.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
It's the best day to get started and it's never too
early.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I've even heard people say on the first day that
you are a business owner, thatyou are building a business.
You start preparing to sell itfrom day one.
It's never, ever too early.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
That should be the mindset from day one, cause
you're going to see yourbusiness grow the most and
you're going to see it operatethe most efficiently.
If that's, if that is the thethe goal, even if even if it's
10 to 15 years out, have itready to sell at any point,
because that means it's awell-oiled machine.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, now there's.
There's a bunch of people in myecosystem and in the
interwealth mastermind and thatI work with and clients that are
in the business acquisitionscheme and they are always
looking to acquire a businessand they each have niches, they
each have their industries thatthey prefer.
But one thing they're doing isthey're from the second on,
(44:33):
whether it be biz, by sell.
They're analyzing if thisbusiness is sellable, if this
business is actually acquirable,and they have a couple
determinants and it's is it.
Is it dependent, like you said?
Is it dependent on the operator?
Do they have systems andprocesses?
(44:55):
Is the growth?
Is the growth sustainable?
Are they?
Are they asking too much, right?
I mean all of these things, andthis is what you help
businesses prepare for it tomake sure it's airtight so that
when they want to sell they can.
That's exactly right.
But that work's got to takeplace way before you even think
(45:16):
of or you're not sellable, right, and it's going to take you a
couple of years to in order toget that thing so that it is
sellable.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yep, and currently I'm working on that mindset
shift with business brokers.
Believe it or not, this isgoing to be.
One of the hardest hurdles hereis because if a business goes
to a business broker and theythink they're worth a million
dollars, maybe the businessbroker thinks they can get them
(45:46):
sold for 750.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
If you're the business broker.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Would you rather sell that business right now for 750
and get your commission check,or would you send it off to me
and let me clean up thisbusiness for potentially one to
three years, in the hopes thatin three years I'm sending it
back to you, which I would havesome kind of contractual
agreement with them?
Send it back to them 50% higher, you know, so maybe it's worth
(46:15):
1.5 at that time, right?
I think the instantgratification with with them
currently is is one of mybiggest hurdles.
Some get it, some don't, butthat's what I'm working on right
now with these relationshipwith business brokers is trying
to get them to see the value andsending them off.
Let them grow, let them nurturefor a couple of years and then
(46:38):
bring them back and make moremoney.
I think that the fast paycheckis what we're after currently.
When in all reality it's betterfor us to grow a little bit for
two years and then get them tosell.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Increase the value and increase the commission over
time.
Well, michael, it sounds likeyou are in alignment with what
you want to do and, moving intoalignment, it sounds like you've
got massive clarity.
It sounds like you're excitedabout this.
It sounds like you've got likemassive clarity.
It sounds like you're excitedabout this.
If somebody wanted to, maybethey have a business right now
and they're looking to get thatthing prepared.
(47:11):
Maybe they have line of sightfor an exit, maybe they don't,
but if they wanted to connectwith you, how can they find you?
Where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Exit Factor of O'Fallon is on Facebook,
instagram, so you can find methere.
My email is michaelschiefer atexitfactorcom.
You can contact me there aswell.
Or we have a website which islinked to every franchise in the
nation, so if I'm not theclosest one to you, somebody can
(47:42):
help you or contact me and Ican refer you to the right
direction.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
Somebody can help you or contact me and I can refer
you to the right direction.
Awesome, and I'll put all ofthose, all of those links, in
the show notes.
So if you or somebody you knowis running a business and wants
to, wants to get it airtightbefore you sell so that you get
max value out of your business,go connect with Michael and
connect with X.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
And how that looks.
Um, that doesn't mean that youhave to come to me and pay me.
You have to sign up for myconsulting.
To get a tidbit from me.
How it would look is I'd havean intro call roughly 30 minutes
.
We'd talk about where you're atcurrently and then talk about
what's best for you.
Maybe that just means you needsome sort of SBA loan and I have
a referral for you.
(48:24):
Maybe that means that I canalready tell that just means you
need some sort of SBA loan andI have a referral for you.
Maybe that means that I canalready tell that you might just
need a bookkeeper, and I have areferral for you there too.
So it might be something simplethat we can hash out in a short
conversation.
Or maybe it is something thatyou do need a consulting package
for, so we can discuss that ina short phone call.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
And this is from experience I was.
I started my business back in2017 and I was always afraid to
tell people that I was brand newin my in my career.
Right that that well,especially getting the first
client.
I was scared to say you'regoing to be my first client, so
I kind of held that back.
But what I've learned later isthose first clients got more of
me than anybody else ever,because there was there was a
(49:08):
hundred percent of me beingdivided amongst just a few
people.
It's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
That's a good way to put it, because I also struggle
with that.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
It's like I'm new, but I'm not new, I have a ton of
experience yep, when, whenyou're, when you're one of
michael's first five clients,you're going to get like all of
him that you need and and a lotmore Cause he's going to.
He's going to be passionate andI'm just speaking from my own
experience.
He's going to be passionateabout you.
He's going to be passionateabout your business.
He's going to be passionatethat he gets to do what he's
(49:36):
passionate about.
So he's going to give you extratime, extra attention, and
you're going to get massivevalue out of it.
I can speak from experience.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
That's very well stated, because I know that's
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
And that's exactly why you definitely want to be
one of Michael's first fiveclients.
Michael, it's been awesomeconnecting with you.
It's been awesome unpackingthis with you, but it's been
even more awesome watching youstep from where you were into
what you wanted to do and to seeyour heart, like, continue to
fricking, expand into your, intoyour purpose.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Yeah, Looking back, I mean, my journey is so fun.
I mentioned that I don't regretanything.
But, like, looking back behindme, I'm just like, wow, that was
pretty cool how I got here.
So, uh, I don't regret any ofit at all.
I'm just super excited for what.
You know.
I tell Sarah we're going tohave a great summer because I'm
(50:29):
not quite super busy yet withthe new business, we're going to
the lake every week.
I love it.
I'm really excited for whatit's going to bring.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Time freedom, man.
If you don't own your time, youdon't own your life.
Guys, thanks for hanging inthere with us.
Connect with all of Michael'scontact information in the show
notes, even just have adiscovery session with him.
But in any way, man, justcheerlead Michael Schieffer on,
because he's anotherentrepreneur that made the jump
into the void and that's whereyou're going to find freedom.
(51:01):
Until next week.
Until next week, if you enjoyedwhat you heard and you want to
learn more, go towwwinnerwealthglobalcom for more
tools and resources.
I've got an awesome guest today and you know I don't
do many interviews on theInterwealth podcast, but I'm
always looking for thatexceptional story of
transformation, of courage,somebody who's jumped into the
void and shifted from a lifethat they were kind of living,
that they had to live, into alife that they get to live.
(00:20):
I'm always looking for that.
Today I've got my man, michaelSchieffer, on the podcast.
Now.
Michael came to me a while ago,some time ago, through the
Choose your Destiny LiveIntensive Workshop and we began
working together and that's whenwe really started to understand
what Michael had in his heart,that was trying to be created in
(00:45):
the world, and we dove in andwe uncovered some things and
some opportunities and we'regoing to share that on this
episode.
Now.
Michael, up to this point, hasbeen a commercial banker.
He's been in the loan industry.
He's a real estate investor.
He's got a couple of rentalproperties.
He's flipped about a dozenproperties as well.
(01:09):
The guy loves farming and hehas a family farm and he loves
being on the farm.
In this episode we're going totalk about his journey and his
leap into business consulting inhis new business called Exit
Factor, which actually launchesin about a week, a week and a
half.
So sit back, get to knowMichael Schieffer and just
(01:34):
experience and see what couragelooks like in jumping into the
void and jumping into your realpurpose in this lifetime.
Into the void and jumping intoyour real purpose in this
lifetime.
Do you ever wake up feelinglike there's something missing
in your life?
(01:55):
Do you ever feel the need toescape your business?
Are you running your life or isyour life running you?
I'm Mike Kitko and I'll helpyou design and create a life so
authentic and aligned with whoyou really are you'll get
excited just to wake up.
I'll help you create realwealth, success and freedom from
the inside out.
Welcome to the Inner WealthPodcast, where we learn and
choose to live inspired each andevery day.
Michael, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, man, it's fun.
I was excited to get you onhere and I can't wait for people
to hear your story, because youare the vision of what I had in
mind when I created InterWealthand InterWealth Global and
InterWealth Mastermind.
It's people that are doingexactly what you're doing, not
(02:45):
in the industry, but just theact of courage that you're
demonstrating.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, this is the vision I had in mind when I
joined, so it's good to hearthey match up.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's exciting, so I've already done.
We've already done.
They've already heard yourintro before the show, but tell
them a little bit about who youare and what's going on in your
life Currently.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Currently.
Currently today, I am days awayfrom my final day in my W2 job.
I have started my own business.
It is a consulting firm forbusinesses looking to exit and
the name of that is Exit Factorof O'Fallon.
It's been quite the buildup tothat.
(03:30):
I've had this idea in my headfor over a year and the story of
how it came to me is quiteawesome.
But currently, yeah, jumpinginto that business, I'm also
dabbling in real estate.
More than dabbling, I'm in realestate pretty heavily.
I flip a couple of houses at atime and I have a few rentals.
(03:52):
So that's where I am currently.
I got a lovely family wife, twogirls and then I don't know if
Mike knew this yet, but one onthe way.
Congratulations.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And the way Congratulations.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So yeah, and you just had onenot too long ago.
Yeah, it'll be two under two.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It will be two under two.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Angie and I had a rule two hands, two kids, that
was it.
Well, I wanted 10, but we kindof set the limit at two hands to
to to, uh, two kids.
Michael, we don't have a, wedon't have a limit on how far
we're going.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
So no, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, between me and Angie, we don't have, we no
longer have a uterus, so or, orwe like I, I'd like to have more
.
I love kids.
But listen, talk about your W2.
And you're one of the.
You're one of the guys that youdidn't hate your W-2.
You didn't hate your job.
You never hated it.
You never expressed anybitterness towards being
(04:55):
employed.
It was just you were in thatrole and it was kind of a
security blanket and it hadexpired.
So talk about that.
What do you do Like?
What are you currently doing?
How, how does that look?
And and what is it like to youknow to recognize that there's
something more to life than whatyou're living?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, um, so I've always had way too many irons in
the fire, that's no secret.
You knew that.
Um, so I could count them out.
I got my W2.
I farm with my dad and grandpa.
I like to flip houses, I haverentals.
Me and my wife have a garden atour house.
We have a mini farm here.
We like to go to Lake theOzarks, I like to golf, I like
(05:38):
to do way too many things, andas I build up these side things,
some of these are taking up waytoo much of my time and and I
found that I enjoy them, more sothan my W2.
Um, so it got to the pointwhere something, something had
to give.
I can't do it all.
Um and uh.
(05:59):
Working with you, I identifiedwhat, what I do want to do with
my time, and that is the realestate and this new business
that I was forming.
So the big thing in the middlewas this 40 hour work week that
I was.
You know, you have to get thereat eight and you leave at four.
(06:20):
It doesn't matter how busy youare, it doesn't matter if I'm
swamped out of my mind or don'thave a thing to do.
I gotta get there at eight andleave at four.
Um, and that's not how my brainoperates.
I I'm really task oriented, so,um, if I have something to do,
I want to do it right now and Iwant to get it done.
Um, as opposed to and on theother side of that, if, if I
(06:43):
don't have anything to do, Idon't want to sit at my desk and
and act like I'm doing somekind of job, um, but yeah, so
that that the obvious thing toget rid of was that 40 hour
right in the week, right in themiddle of my week.
So now I can shift everythingum and hopefully get, uh, these
other tasks done during my workweek, instead of being in the
(07:07):
house until 10 o'clock pm orgoing to clean up a rental on
Sunday morning at 7 am.
I mean, that's not the times Iwant to do any type of work.
I want to relax and enjoy timewith family.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, and the growing family, and as you were talking
about that, I've got all thesethoughts and these concepts in
my mind that pop up.
The one that I think what youwere speaking to is if you don't
own your time, you don't ownyour life.
Right, you wanted to take backcontrol of your time and, in
essence, you wanted to take backcontrol of your life.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Exactly, and I don't even know where to start on this
.
So what is your?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
W-2?
Let's start there.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yep, good place.
So I have been a commerciallender for 10 years.
I worked for a small bank,silex Bank, early on and then,
in the latter part, I worked forPeople's Bank and Trust
Fantastic banks both of them andI really, really like my job.
I really enjoyed it.
I learned a ton.
(08:13):
You know there's there's partof me that you know I'm still
young, I'm 32 years old.
But I look back and I say man ifI would have gotten into this
when I was 22, I'd be so muchfurther ahead.
(08:34):
That's not the truth.
I had so many experiences andI've gained so much knowledge
from these jobs.
The fact that I can go intoconversations now with a
potential client that I'm goingto be working with and say, hey,
I have 10 years experienceworking with businesses like
yours from a different type oftable I was a commercial lender.
I've seen these types of things, so that aspect of experience
is just I'm grateful.
(08:55):
I think I don't regret my pastone bit.
I'm just super, super happy tobe where I'm at, headed towards
this final day, happy to bewhere I'm at, you know, headed
towards this this final day.
Um, but yeah, and as far as youknow, the exit from the bank, I
I don't think there's a bit ofhostility, you know, maybe there
is, but I definitely don't hateor not enjoy any of my previous
(09:17):
coworkers and and I don't thinkthat's the the way they feel
about me either Um, I have areally good, um, really good
relationship with my uh, well,soon to be previous employer, uh
, justin St Pierre, there at thebank.
Um, I think he's going to be abig proponent of, you know
future Michael.
So, um, he, he's sad to see mego, but uh, I think a lot of
(09:42):
people there kind of saw thewriting on the wall as I kind of
got a little bit furtherremoved and I'd be in and out
and they'd say where were you?
And I'd say oh, I was closing aloan for a customer.
Okay, At some point I can't beclosing loans for customers
three hours a day Come onMichael.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, and there was.
That's what I think makes youexceptional in this realm.
So I'll tell a quick story.
I remember my older daughtergrowing up, like when she when
we left Oregon to come toMissouri.
But when she went fromelementary school to middle
(10:22):
school, she hated her elementaryschool, like it was almost like
to like middle school.
She had to hate her elementaryschool to middle school.
She hated her elementary school.
It was almost like to likemiddle school.
She had to hate her elementaryschool.
Then, when we moved here, inorder to love high school, she
had to hate middle school.
And then, when she graduatedhigh school, she went to college
and in order to love hercollege, she had to hate her
high school.
So it was like she always hadto make the past wrong in some
(10:46):
way to feel good about where shewas.
And then she changed colleges.
She loved her first college.
Then she changed, you know,went to a second college and
then she had to make the firstcollege bad and wrong.
But that's what makes youexceptional is is you've never
I've never heard you one timecomplain about your having a job
the bank, it was just you werecraving more of freedom, more
(11:10):
time, freedom, more control overyour life but I've never heard
you complain one time about anyof this.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
No, I mean my wife might hear it occasionally, but
no, I really don't have a realcomplaint, don't have a logistic
like a.
A real complaint about it, yeah, I love that I can't name.
I can't name one person that, um, that doesn't quite get.
You know, that gets along withevery single person in the room.
So I mean, yeah, are therepeople at that bank that maybe I
(11:37):
butt heads with, fine?
Yeah, um, are there thingsabout a W2 that I?
I I completely resent?
Are there things about a W-2that I completely resent
Absolutely?
But as far as the place, thepeople there, no, fantastic,
love it, love it.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
So your commercial lending.
And then there was this magicalmoment on one of the
Interwealth mastermind businesscalls and it was kind of a
moment of awakening for you.
Tell us about the you know, youknow the moment I'm talking
about.
Tell us about that moment, whathappened.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Are you talking about my idea?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, yeah, the concept, the vision, the clarity
.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, so.
So dealing with uh, dealingwith customer customers at the
bank.
It's no secret that businessowners try to lower their tax
threshold as much as theypossibly can.
So they bring me tax returnsand their bottom line is always
as low as possible so that theycan avoid paying an absorbent
(12:38):
amount of taxes.
So seeing this and then seeinghow it was done on paper, and
then in their other financials,I look across the table and I
say this guy's got this greatbusiness, but on paper he
struggles to get a loan from abank to where I'm telling you,
(12:58):
you can't afford a certain loanpayment.
And then this guy is telling meback well, yes, I can certain
loan payment.
And then this guy's telling meback, well, yes, I can, I don't
know.
So there's a disconnect betweenwhat the business is actually
doing, what shows up on thepaper, and then what the loan
officer is able to do for them.
So my idea was I wanted tostart a consulting business to
make businesses bankable andthat was going to be my slogan
(13:22):
making businesses bankable.
And I went through thelogistics of it all and how I
was going to be my slogan makingbusinesses bankable.
And I went through thelogistics of it all and how I
was going to jump into this andbecome this consultant and I
could never make sense of it onmy own.
So that idea kind of fizzledaway for I want to say, almost a
year it fizzled away.
(13:43):
Then this drive to be my own,you know, on my own came up
again and I was looking atbusinesses on Viz by Cell and
one of them happened to be aSinarama, which is a sign store,
and anyways, I went down thepath of trying to get more
details on it.
I learned that it was afranchise owned by UFG United
(14:05):
Franchise Group and went throughtheir whole tour and got the
whole pitch from them andsomewhere along the lines I
decided I didn't want to do that, I didn't want to buy that
business.
So that stopped.
And months later I want to sayhalf a year went by and I get a
phone call from the franchisesalesperson.
(14:27):
He said, hey, it didn't workout with Sinorama, but I was
looking back over your file andyour past experiences and I have
something else that might youmight be interested in, and
that's when he was pitching meExit Factor, which is also owned
by the same franchise group init.
And that's when he was pitchingme, exit factor, which is also
owned by the same franchisegroup, and this guy, dan
(14:48):
Neimanitis, he, he, he gives methis pitch and he's going
through what this business doesand the whole time he's talking.
I'm laughing and like almostlike a, like a nervous laugh,
like oh, how's the why is thishappening?
The guy was pitching my idea tome, yeah, and the only words
that were different was when Iused bankable.
He would use saleable orexitable.
(15:10):
So exit factor is makingbusinesses exitable, saleable.
My idea was making businessesbankable.
It's the same exact thing.
It's the same exact thing, alittle more in depth, but same
thing.
So I want to say that took me atotal of 20 days from when he
(15:31):
pitched the idea to me to beingunder contract on buying the
franchise and bringing it to StLouis buying the franchise and
bringing it to St Louis.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You know it's, it's amazing.
And I get to, I get to workwith awesome people and I get to
see, you know their, theirsuccess compound over time and
with enough soak time, everybody, everybody, will start to step
into their.
You know their, their vision,as they intended.
With enough soak time.
Not everybody, not everybody,gives it enough soak time Right
now.
What I mean by that is I justfinished writing a chapter in my
(16:04):
new book and it talks aboutjust the patience required, the
patience and the trust requiredfor whatever you're clear about,
whatever you intend when youcreate that intention, that
vision.
It's just trusting and beingpatient enough and the universe
will deliver.
Life will deliver, god willdeliver.
Whatever that thing is outthere, I don't care what it
(16:24):
looks like I'm not, I'm notwrapping dog around that, but
it's whenever you're, you're ina place of trust and patience,
it's going to show up.
And you came on right afterthat happened.
You called and you said you'renever going to believe what
happened and I said that on the,on the mastermind with
everybody.
(16:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, and that was before I committed to buying and
I said this came in my facethat I have no idea why this is
happening.
But I'm going to look into itdeeply and, after a little bit
more research, yeah, it was whatI wanted.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And our good friend Brian Schroeder says that the
where people go wrong in thecreation process often is not
receiving.
When you get what you said youwanted, when it shows up, you
got to receive it and you did.
And that was that.
20 days.
Right, 20 days was thereceiving process.
But you could have easily said,no, I'm going to stay in my job
(17:21):
, I'm going to keep, I'm goingto keep my security blanket.
But instead you jumped into thevoid and you started to like,
like, actually receive the, the,the, the clarity that you had
received.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I actually did.
I fought it for quite some time, even after that, because even
with working with the franchise,I said, hey, maybe is there a
way I can retain my job and getthis on its feet.
And then it turned into maybeis there a way I can keep my job
and still maybe hire someconsultants and manage it while
(17:54):
I work my job.
And we're six months in.
I started this in October, soit's almost exactly six months
is how long that I've beendragging this out, since I
actually bought the franchise.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So when did you give notice?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
The 14th, 15th of March, I gave a month.
Yeah, actually I honestlydidn't even give a date.
I said I just want to clean upmy relationships.
You know, if that takes twoweeks, fine, if that takes six
weeks, whatever.
You know, I didn't have acommitment to another employer.
I didn't have any dates that Iwas concerned about other than
(18:33):
you, than your retreat.
That's true.
I said I got to have all forthat, um, but no, I, I'm just
letting it play out and I willhelp them get it All of my loose
ends tied up.
So that's where I'm at rightnow.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So let's timeline this the 14th.
You gave notice and you said Idon't know.
I'm not going to give an exactdate.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
This episode will launch on March 27th and when is
the official or maybe the softand the official launch of exit
factor?
I?
Uh, as far as the franchiseconcerns, it's april 1st.
That's the official launch.
Like all my systems processes,it's set up.
I have a consultant fired andshe is already working with a
client.
Um, so we we're moving andgrooving, uh, this thing now
(19:23):
that we finally have the foot.
I honestly, I probably had thefoot on the brake a little bit,
but once, now that I had thefoot on the gas, I think it's
gonna we're going to start tosee some serious momentum now.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
When is the official launch the public?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, I have a.
I have a, I have a lunch andlearn, uh, April 4th, Thursday
during lunch, and anybody thatwants to come by all means come
by.
That's going to be at theWaterbury building in O'Fallon,
and just let me know and I'lladd you to the list.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
So this is a worldwide podcast.
So 830 Waterbury Falls Drive inO'Fallon, missouri, so if
you're interested from comingfrom anywhere around, the world.
Yeah right, 830 Waterbury FallsDrive in O'Fallon, missouri.
That's where this thing's goingto be held and Michael will be
(20:18):
there and he'll be sharing, kindof what he's doing, his vision
for Exit Factor.
And come and jam and come andshow up.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yep, I hope not to bore anybody.
That's the main thing there.
I don't want to get up thereand talk for 30 or 40 minutes.
I just want to get up there,say my spiel and then walk
around the room and talk topeople individually.
So that's kind of what I havein mind with that.
Nothing crazy or fancy of whatI have in mind with that.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Uh, nothing crazy or fancy, just just some food and
drinks and hopefully talk toeverybody.
And that's april 4th.
So we're not done with thisthing yet.
We're not, we're not wrappingup yet.
We're just, we're just gettingthe, you know, kind of getting
that message anchored a littlebit that the week basically a
week or or a week and a halfafter this, this, after this
episode drops, michael will bein full momentum, full throttle.
(21:05):
So now, okay, we talked aboutthe full throttle, april 4th is
full throttle.
Now let's talk about kind of thediscussions that you and your
wife and you and your familyhave been having behind the
scenes.
Because, like I started off,this is an act of courage.
Not everybody has the courageto jump into the void, and you
(21:26):
are right.
So, and I love theentrepreneurial spirit, you know
that I love the entrepreneurialspirit because when you're in
business for yourself, there'snowhere to hide.
It's eat what you kill, youmarket, you create a concept,
you market, you kill, you market, you create a concept, you
(21:47):
market, you sell, you're theoperator, often until you build
something when you can starthiring employees, you are the
hunter and you are the consumer.
So the point being is likethat's scary and it takes an act
of courage.
This is a very Brian Schroederand I had a conversation one
time.
This is the most spiritual,freaking development work that
you could ever imagine becauseit challenges every aspect and
(22:10):
you're going to feel everythingyou don't want to feel.
You're going to experience whatyou don't want to experience.
Tell us what thoseconversations were like leading
up to this.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Okay, so just a smidge of background with my
wife.
Um, she's an occupationaltherapist.
She used to be in SSM hospitals, um, in the hospitals.
When COVID happened she wasalso.
We were expecting Amelia, ourfirst child, and she said I'm
not going back to the hospital.
And at that point she started,um, her health coaching business
(22:44):
, uh, which at this point now isis doing great.
Uh, she got into a multi-levelmarket selling wine and then, uh
, she also did some in-homevisits for, uh, a Missouri
program called first steps.
So she had a few irons in thefire but she left W2.
At that point I wanted to too.
(23:05):
I had decided I was going to bea realtor.
Hindsight, I'm really glad Ididn't.
I do not want to be a realtor.
I do have my realtor's license,but it's only for my own flips.
I don't want that to be myfull-time job.
Will I take one on occasionally?
Fine, yes, but that's not myfull time thing.
So, anyway, sarah, now she'sbeen working from home.
(23:29):
Now she's starting tohomeschool our youngest daughter
.
So this is where the visionkind of takes place.
Sarah is super flexible in ourlife outside of my W2, super
flexible.
So I think that was the wholegoal here is that we could, um,
we could get to a point to wherewe could leave on a Tuesday and
(23:51):
go to lake and come home on aThursday Um, no questions asked,
just needed somebody to come toour house and watch our animals
or something.
Um, but as far as conversationsterrifying.
It's terrifying because throughthe bank, I get all of my
healthcare paid for.
Insurance is paid for.
(24:13):
They also match 401k and allthat good stuff.
A lot of employers do that.
So that's a question mark.
It's kind of like something,something I don't want to say.
They're holding it over yourheads like, hey, if you leave,
you won't have health, healthinsurance in the 401k match
anymore.
You just have to account forthat, you know.
(24:35):
Early on, you asked me whatdoes it take in a month?
What do I need in a month tosurvive?
And you, I went through thebudget and then I just added
1500 bucks for health insuranceand another little bit for 401k.
It's.
It's just a shift in mentalityand, uh, it just took a really
(24:57):
long time to get there.
Um, I mean honestly, yeah, I'mstill scared but um I'm, I'm
still scared, but um, but atthis point I'm not scared about
the income at all.
Um, I'll make the income,that's.
That's not a there's not adoubt in my mind that I'm not
going to make the income.
I might make two or three,three times the income, or or or
(25:21):
I might not.
I might not cover what I'mmaking right now, but none of
that even matters.
None of it matters because, um,that's not the reason I'm doing
it.
I'm doing it for for more timewith my family, my daughter.
You know she's always wantingto go places with me and you
know she can't come sit in myoffice at the bank all day, but
maybe there's a day where I'mlooking around at houses and she
(25:44):
can get in the truck and ridearound with me.
I mean, so there's there's alot more flexibility that we
were after, and and that's whatI think we're going to be
getting here soon.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
That is the reward, man that is, and you will.
You will make two to threetimes the the income that you
made at the bank.
You'll crush it, in fact, youand I.
You know you got all theseirons in the fire.
And one thing let me back upbecause you mentioned it.
But Michael loves farming,michael loves being on the farm,
michael loves being on thefamily farm and tending to the
(26:18):
animals and tending to the farm.
That's one piece of it.
Right, he's got so many ironsin the fire, but one one of
those irons is real estate.
And there was a time, like Ithink it was over the last few
months, where you're whereyou're like, already replaced,
already made as much in realestate over the last 12 months
as I would have in Tibet.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
So the income, the income has already been replaced
and by ramping up activitiesthat you're already doing and
the exit factor is just going toserve your soul, because it's
really what's in your soultrying to get out, it's really
the purpose that you're lookingto explore right now and that's
just going to create even moreincome and compensation.
(27:00):
But the reward, the treasure,is time, freedom, and that's
what you are after and that'swhat we're all after in the
entrepreneurial game.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yep and you.
You mentioned discussions priorto leaving my job with my wife
and yeah, I'll just go back to,we're both terrified.
We were both terrified for thelongest time.
There's a lot of times whereyou know I would let's go back
to last year.
I would say January 1st that'swhen I'm done and Sarah would
(27:29):
say, oh, are you sure, like, wereally, like, how are we going
to do this?
And then that turned intoFebruary 1st, march 1st it's
here now.
But yeah, we kept pushing thatbecause we had a.
There was a lot of pushback,not just from Sarah, I can't
blame her, it was me.
I mean, it was me because, yeah,I was terrified you know,
(27:55):
thrown away and even though Imean, I'll say it, I'm not, I'm
not complaining about myprevious salary, but I'm not
impressed.
I'm really not impressed withit at all.
I can easily cover it and now Ijust have that confidence built
up that that part is not even adoubt or a worry, it's just.
(28:21):
I honestly think there was somany other things at play, which
I've talked to you about aswell.
You know the.
You throw my parents into themix, um, you throw my community
into the mix.
I just had this idea built upthat my parents were going to
hate me if I left my W2, like myparents were going to hate me.
My mom's worked at People's Bankfor 38 years.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
The same bank as me.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I had this fear that I was going to leave and mom was
going to resent me and think Iwas stupid.
She might think I'm stupidactually she said it out loud
but she doesn't resent me.
She wishes me well.
And here we go, like we're offto the races now I just had
these discussions imagined in myhead that I was going to have
(29:09):
with my parents and they weregoing to disown me, and none of
that happens.
And then you got the bank.
I mean, man, an icon of LincolnCounty, there, anytime anybody
asks for a donation, the bank'sthe first one there with $10,000
.
Like, so I think that allweighed into it.
As man, I'm leaving thiswonderful place and all these
(29:31):
people are going to hate me.
Nobody hates me, nobody hatesyou.
I was making it all up.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Nobody hates you and, and I want to, I want to, I'm
going to unpack some stuff realquick and and I want to, I'm
going to.
It's a little bit of ateachable moment because really,
what happens is when you saidwhen I asked you the question I
ask that question 10 times a daywhen I'm talking to people what
do you need to survive?
How much?
When somebody is looking tomake the leap from W2 into
(29:57):
entrepreneurism or looking tolevel up in some way, what does
it take?
And it usually doesn't take awhole lot to manage our
lifestyle.
So I think I'm around peoplewith a good, healthy income, but
we're not high maintenance interms of we don't have this
lavishly millions of dollars ofspend every month.
But the point is you didn'tneed a whole lot to make the
(30:19):
transition.
But there is this conditioningand programming.
When you're built the way I wasbuilt, and when you're built
the way you were built, there'sconditioning and programming
that says I need a job to besecure, somebody else needs to
pay my benefits.
I don't know if I can besuccessful.
(30:42):
What if it fails?
It's almost like we're built inorder to and you're going to
experience it.
In order to experience freedom,you must give up the need for
security.
You can't have security andfreedom at the same time and
(31:07):
freedom at the same time.
Freedom can help give youfinancial margin, but to get
into a place where you are free,you must give up the need for
security.
But that is what's terrifying.
Just like and I'll throw itover to you right after this,
just like when you were sayingthe word terrifying, when I went
up and I did some skydivingback in August last year, I was
in that, I was in that doorwayand I was petrified but I was
(31:30):
jumping anyway, right.
So, and that's what emotionalcourage is.
It's the presence of fear inyour body, but the courage to
move forward anyway.
It's the willingness to feelall that discomfort and all that
fear and still move towards theobjective.
And that's what you did.
You're starting to move throughthe story that you need
security.
Where, so did your?
(31:54):
You know, where did yourparents come in to play with
that security mindset that youwere holding on to?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
that security mindset that you were holding on to.
Well, you know, I can'tpinpoint anything exactly.
It probably all goes back tothe fact that, yeah, 38 years at
(32:27):
one bank, um, super low risk,yeah, always.
Just, you know, staying withinmeans, um.
And then you know, yeah, we, weare a well-known family in
lincoln county, so I meanthere's a lot of eyes on us and
you know.
Then there's always the phraseof uh, like your dad is such a
great guy, like, yeah, he islike 100%.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
But there's always this um man, I gotta be like my
dad, I gotta be, you know, Igotta.
I gotta live up to this.
No one told me this, but that's, that's what he's playing in
your head, is that?
Wow, everybody thinks you know,dad has created this, um, a
bridge of hope, which is ahomeless shelter in Troy.
Amazing, it's incredible, but Igot this.
(33:11):
Everything I got to hold myselfup to, I got to be this guy is
what I was trying to tell myself.
I have to be him and I don'thave to.
I'll do my own thing andhopefully do as much good for
the community that he did.
Like that's the goal.
I want to, but I don't have todo the exact same thing, Right.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
There's a, there's a book and you and I you you've
heard me talk about this book abillion times, but no more, mr
Nice guy, yeah, I was going tomention that book somewhere here
, because that was such a hugeinfluence on my life that no
more, mr Nice Guy, it's like topthree for me.
It's Dr Robert Glover.
Dr Robert Glover, no more.
Mr Nice Guy, it's stop worryingabout pleasing or impressing or
(33:53):
the judgment of others.
Just live your life.
You're not built like anybodyelse.
You can't make anybody happy.
You can't make anybody pissedoff.
They're going to do thatthemselves.
The only thing you can do isjust live your life to be
authentic, to be powerful, to befulfilled, to be free, to be
prosperous, and let everybodysort out their own mess and
(34:15):
their own judgment and their ownemotions and their own
anxieties.
And as you stepped into thatplace of you know, letting go of
the judgment of others, youstarted stepping into into more
alignment with your authenticity.
And that's what.
That's what created this.
Could you speak to that?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yes, and in that book he calls it the nice guy
syndrome.
That is, that was me to a Tnice guy syndrome.
You know I not.
That doesn't mean that youdon't, you can't be nice to
people.
Yeah, it's not about being anass people.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah it's not about being an ass.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, it's not about being an ass yeah, getting cured
of nice guy syndrome doesn'tmean that you're an asshole to
everybody and you walk aroundjust treating everybody like
crap.
No, it just means that youstand up for yourself, you do
what you want for you and yourfamily.
And and that is where myintentions are right now is that
I'm not shoving anybody aside,I'm not telling anybody else
(35:07):
they can't live their life howthey live, to want to live.
But as for me and mine, this iswhat we're doing.
Yeah, and, and that's where Iam right now, that book was
super empowering and not a I Ihad a ha aha moment when I read
originally, but it truly didn'tkick in until months after.
Yeah, honestly, I think I readit a second time.
(35:30):
Actually.
That was, yeah, that was a goodone.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
That's one that, once you've been subjected, once you
realize that you're livingthrough a nice guy filter and
lens, I think, michael, thatbook, probably every time you go
through it you're going to,you're just going to be a little
little more catharsis.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
So so it's actually on my bed stand.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I intend to do it, to read it again so yeah, I've
probably been through that bookabout five or six times so far,
and it's only been like a yearor two that I've had it, so so I
mean it's just a just a longerthan that, but just a wonderful,
wonderful read.
It looks like what you're doingand what you're saying is
you're just letting go of theopinions, of what everybody else
wants for you, and you're justchoosing yourself.
(36:12):
I love that.
That's what creates authenticalignment.
So, now let's talk a little moreabout Exit Factor.
Talk about the exact work thatyou're going to be doing in exit
factor.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Okay, um, the intention behind exit factor, uh
, my particular brand, myparticular business, is exit
factor of O'Fallon O'Fallon,missouri, uh, in St Louis.
Um, the intention behind it isthat, um, we're helping
businesses clean up theirfinancials.
Different processes withemployees, you know, structure
(36:48):
their business, anything to makethem more sellable.
The statistic behind it is thatI believe the number is 86% of
businesses that go to a businessbrokerage don't sell.
And what happens with those?
Most of them just fold.
They just close up shop, selltheir real estate.
They don't actually sell thebusiness, they just sell the
(37:10):
real estate and equipment.
Maybe it's more like an assetsale.
The intention with this companyis to give them value.
Every business has value.
Every business has value.
Some business owners think thatthey're worth less than what
(37:31):
they actually are and somebusiness owners completely
inflate what they think theirbusiness is worth.
The goal with with what I wantto help with is to give them a
clear value of where they're attoday, a clear path over the
next year to two to threepotentially, how we can increase
the value and by, by growth,increase the value by cleaning
(37:55):
up processes.
So, maybe, maybe you've gotthree employees and every day,
these employees just do randomtasks.
Now we need to go in.
These employees just do randomtasks.
Now we need to go in, defineclearly what each employee does,
what their daily job tasks are,weekly, whatever it be.
That way, if employee A leaves,you get a job listing.
(38:23):
You can hire someone to jumpright into their role.
All those things thatstreamline the business, makes
it more appealing to a new buyer, things that buyers don't like
An owner-operator.
That's one of the first thingswe always work to remove.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
If there's an owner-operator, the person has a
job not a business.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yep, the person has a job.
I don't want to buy a job, Iwant to buy a business.
I want to buy a business that Ican show up at and I can manage
if I want to.
But I don't A prime example andI'm not throwing my dad under
the bus, but he's got a heatingand cooling business and he has
a job.
If he stops working and goingto service calls and the
(39:03):
business will stop, soparticularly with his business,
we would work to divvy up histask.
So maybe he's doing his ownbookkeeping Well, I know he is.
We would find a bookkeeper forhim.
Maybe he's running servicecalls.
We need to find a trainedemployee or take his employee on
hand and train him to do someof these service calls.
(39:25):
Get as many of these tasks offof the owner operator as
possible.
That way, when that personsteps out of that role, the new
buyer doesn't have to step intothat role.
I can just buy the business andit's operating.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
And if the person leaves, if an employee leaves,
the whole Yep, a key employeethe whole operation doesn't
collapse Right.
So there's always and I've beenon when I was in fortune 500,
when I was in corporation, I wason both sides of acquisitions.
I was on, I was I was the, theacquirer and I was the acquiree.
And it's a.
(40:00):
It's a fragile time.
That business transition isvery, especially for the,
especially for the company beingacquired.
When, when the, when the ownersays, hey, we've just, I've just
sold or we've been acquired,everybody is looking to see if
they should exit.
At that moment it's likeeverybody is that moment.
everybody dusts up dust or, yeah, dust off their, their resume,
(40:21):
right.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
A prime example.
The franchise owner from Denverspoke about how she had a
business that she was workingthrough, and she repeatedly said
now I know you might care aboutyour employees and you might
want to fill them in on this andtell them what you're doing,
(40:43):
but I promise you, please do nottell them.
Please do not tell them.
And the lady kept it to herselfas she was building this
business for an exit.
But then she told some of herkey employees that she was
getting ready to sell thebusiness a couple months before
it went through.
They all quit and found jobselsewhere, and her deal fell
through and her business wasthen worth nothing.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I was.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
I was working for a company called I was working for
a company called techtronics inportland oregon and we were
acquired by a company calleddanaher and danaher's up.
It was huge at the time it was.
It was called danaher I thinkit's something different now,
but it was a holding company andthey took what we had 3,000
employees or something and theybrought us all like into a
(41:31):
conference, into separateconference rooms, and told
everybody and it's like this wasa multi-billion dollar company
that we were running and it wascompletely a secret that we were
being acquired right,completely a secret Surprise
meeting.
Yeah, yeah, and that's where youfind out.
But it's in that moment that Ihad a brand new kid.
(41:55):
Our younger daughter was brandnew, and she was.
She was just a couple of monthsold and my first thought is, oh
my God, I'm going to, am Igoing to lose my job?
And that's what everybody'sthinking on when the acquisition
needed to prepare for thosethings way ahead of time, so
that when the business is sold,everything doesn't fall apart
just because of the transaction.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Right, my, my buddy, uh, did it the right way.
He bought a carpet cleaningbusiness and the employees did
not know until the day of thetransition.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Dusty and his uh, new well, dusty Sanders.
There you go, yeah, dusty, andhis new well, dusty Sanders.
There you go, dusty and his newmanager walked in and said hey,
I am the new owner of thisbusiness.
Everything's going to go on asit was before.
You all are still employed.
You know, the reason that thiswas sold is to hopefully grow
(42:43):
the business, not to deplete thebusiness.
You're all good and all theemployees were happy.
You know, not to deplete thebusiness.
You're all good and all theemployees were happy.
They were scared and obviouslychange is never fun.
I'm going through that rightnow but if it's handled that way
, that's the best thing for thebusiness.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Yeah, and you prepare .
So there's a saying about anoak tree and I shared this with
you on a call one time.
I used this in a sales call.
I love it.
I'm glad you did Shit.
I didn't create it right, Ididn't.
It's not my invention, I juststole it too.
But there's two best times toplant an oak tree.
What are they?
Speaker 2 (43:20):
50 years ago and or today.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yeah so the best time to start preparing to sell your
business is.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Obviously, five years ago is the greatest time to
start, but today is the nextbest time.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
If you haven't started preparing for an exit,
today is the perfect time.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
It's the best day to get started and it's never too
early.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I've even heard people say on the first day that
you are a business owner, thatyou are building a business.
You start preparing to sell itfrom day one.
It's never, ever too early.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
That should be the mindset from day one, cause
you're going to see yourbusiness grow the most and
you're going to see it operatethe most efficiently.
If that's, if that is the thethe goal, even if even if it's
10 to 15 years out, have itready to sell at any point,
because that means it's awell-oiled machine.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, now there's.
There's a bunch of people in myecosystem and in the
interwealth mastermind and thatI work with and clients that are
in the business acquisitionscheme and they are always
looking to acquire a businessand they each have niches, they
each have their industries thatthey prefer.
But one thing they're doing isthey're from the second on,
(44:33):
whether it be biz, by sell.
They're analyzing if thisbusiness is sellable, if this
business is actually acquirable,and they have a couple
determinants and it's is it.
Is it dependent, like you said?
Is it dependent on the operator?
Do they have systems andprocesses?
(44:55):
Is the growth?
Is the growth sustainable?
Are they?
Are they asking too much, right?
I mean all of these things, andthis is what you help
businesses prepare for it tomake sure it's airtight so that
when they want to sell they can.
That's exactly right.
But that work's got to takeplace way before you even think
(45:16):
of or you're not sellable, right, and it's going to take you a
couple of years to in order toget that thing so that it is
sellable.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yep, and currently I'm working on that mindset
shift with business brokers.
Believe it or not, this isgoing to be.
One of the hardest hurdles hereis because if a business goes
to a business broker and theythink they're worth a million
dollars, maybe the businessbroker thinks they can get them
(45:46):
sold for 750.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
If you're the business broker.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Would you rather sell that business right now for 750
and get your commission check,or would you send it off to me
and let me clean up thisbusiness for potentially one to
three years, in the hopes thatin three years I'm sending it
back to you, which I would havesome kind of contractual
agreement with them?
Send it back to them 50% higher, you know, so maybe it's worth
(46:15):
1.5 at that time, right?
I think the instantgratification with with them
currently is is one of mybiggest hurdles.
Some get it, some don't, butthat's what I'm working on right
now with these relationshipwith business brokers is trying
to get them to see the value andsending them off.
Let them grow, let them nurturefor a couple of years and then
(46:38):
bring them back and make moremoney.
I think that the fast paycheckis what we're after currently.
When in all reality it's betterfor us to grow a little bit for
two years and then get them tosell.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Increase the value and increase the commission over
time.
Well, michael, it sounds likeyou are in alignment with what
you want to do and, moving intoalignment, it sounds like you've
got massive clarity.
It sounds like you're excitedabout this.
It sounds like you've got likemassive clarity.
It sounds like you're excitedabout this.
If somebody wanted to, maybethey have a business right now
and they're looking to get thatthing prepared.
(47:11):
Maybe they have line of sightfor an exit, maybe they don't,
but if they wanted to connectwith you, how can they find you?
Where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Exit Factor of O'Fallon is on Facebook,
instagram, so you can find methere.
My email is michaelschiefer atexitfactorcom.
You can contact me there aswell.
Or we have a website which islinked to every franchise in the
nation, so if I'm not theclosest one to you, somebody can
(47:42):
help you or contact me and Ican refer you to the right
direction.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
Somebody can help you or contact me and I can refer
you to the right direction.
Awesome, and I'll put all ofthose, all of those links, in
the show notes.
So if you or somebody you knowis running a business and wants
to, wants to get it airtightbefore you sell so that you get
max value out of your business,go connect with Michael and
connect with X.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
And how that looks.
Um, that doesn't mean that youhave to come to me and pay me.
You have to sign up for myconsulting.
To get a tidbit from me.
How it would look is I'd havean intro call roughly 30 minutes
.
We'd talk about where you're atcurrently and then talk about
what's best for you.
Maybe that just means you needsome sort of SBA loan and I have
a referral for you.
(48:24):
Maybe that means that I canalready tell that just means you
need some sort of SBA loan andI have a referral for you.
Maybe that means that I canalready tell that you might just
need a bookkeeper, and I have areferral for you there too.
So it might be something simplethat we can hash out in a short
conversation.
Or maybe it is something thatyou do need a consulting package
for, so we can discuss that ina short phone call.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
And this is from experience I was.
I started my business back in2017 and I was always afraid to
tell people that I was brand newin my in my career.
Right that that well,especially getting the first
client.
I was scared to say you'regoing to be my first client, so
I kind of held that back.
But what I've learned later isthose first clients got more of
me than anybody else ever,because there was there was a
(49:08):
hundred percent of me beingdivided amongst just a few
people.
It's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
That's a good way to put it, because I also struggle
with that.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
It's like I'm new, but I'm not new, I have a ton of
experience yep, when, whenyou're, when you're one of
michael's first five clients,you're going to get like all of
him that you need and and a lotmore Cause he's going to.
He's going to be passionate andI'm just speaking from my own
experience.
He's going to be passionateabout you.
He's going to be passionateabout your business.
He's going to be passionatethat he gets to do what he's
(49:36):
passionate about.
So he's going to give you extratime, extra attention, and
you're going to get massivevalue out of it.
I can speak from experience.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
That's very well stated, because I know that's
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
And that's exactly why you definitely want to be
one of Michael's first fiveclients.
Michael, it's been awesomeconnecting with you.
It's been awesome unpackingthis with you, but it's been
even more awesome watching youstep from where you were into
what you wanted to do and to seeyour heart, like, continue to
fricking, expand into your, intoyour purpose.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Yeah, Looking back, I mean, my journey is so fun.
I mentioned that I don't regretanything.
But, like, looking back behindme, I'm just like, wow, that was
pretty cool how I got here.
So, uh, I don't regret any ofit at all.
I'm just super excited for what.
You know.
I tell Sarah we're going tohave a great summer because I'm
(50:29):
not quite super busy yet withthe new business, we're going to
the lake every week.
I love it.
I'm really excited for whatit's going to bring.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Time freedom, man.
If you don't own your time, youdon't own your life.
Guys, thanks for hanging inthere with us.
Connect with all of Michael'scontact information in the show
notes, even just have adiscovery session with him.
But in any way, man, justcheerlead Michael Schieffer on,
because he's anotherentrepreneur that made the jump
into the void and that's whereyou're going to find freedom.
(51:01):
Until next week.
Until next week, if you enjoyedwhat you heard and you want to
learn more, go towwwinnerwealthglobalcom for more
tools and resources.
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