292 Neil Johnson

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth. 

I'm your host Jeffrey Feldberg. 

This podcast is brought to you by Deep Wealth and the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. 

When it comes to your business deep wealth, your exit or liquidity event is the most important financial decision of your life. 

But unfortunately, up to 90% of liquidity events fail. Think about all that time and your hard earned money wasted. 

Of the quote unquote "successful" liquidity events, most business owners leave 50% to over 100% of the deal value in the buyer's pocket and don't even know it. 

I should know. I said "no" to a seven-figure offer. And "yes" to mastering the art and the science of a liquidity event. [00:01:00] Two years later, I said "yes" to a different buyer with a nine figure deal. 

Are you thinking about an exit or liquidity event? 

Don't become a statistic and make the fatal mistake of believing the skills that built your business are the same ones to sell it. 

After all, how can you master something you've never done before? 

Let the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience and the 9-step roadmap of preparation help you capture the best deal instead of any deal. 

At the end of this episode, take a moment and hear from business owners like you, who went through the Deep Wealth Experience. 

Neil Johnson is a renowned finance expert with over 30 years of experience in investment banking, merchant banking, and research analysis in the Canadian and UK capital markets. He currently serves as the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Duke Private Capital, overseeing the company's overall strategic direction and performance.

Mr. Johnson is responsible for leading deal origination, [00:02:00] due diligence, and structuring for Duke, a 300 million alternative finance investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Neil's expertise in alternative finance, SME capital options, and corporate royalties is invaluable for any owner operator or business owner of private companies and investors in public companies.

He has played an instrumental role in the growth and success of companies, raising over five billion dollars in funding for hundreds of companies during his tenure as European Head of Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. You heard it in the official introduction. We have one of those mythical creatures, otherwise known as an investment banker, or at least a former investment banker, a fellow business owner, and a really smart guy who has put together a very unique situation that if you're looking to grow your business, here comes my rhetorical questions.

All you business owners out there in deep wealth land. Do you want to grow your business without some of the pressures and the risks that you have when you bring in private equity or some of the other [00:03:00] more quote unquote traditional ways, what you're going to love, what we're going to be talking about, but let me put a plug in it right there.

Neil, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. It's a pleasure to have you with us. And there's always a story behind the story. So Neil, what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Neil Johnson: Well, thank you, Jeffrey. It's very nice to be here and looking forward to this. Yeah, well, listen, I say I'm a recovering investment banker, I've transitioned from being an investment banker and raising money I was the head of technology globally for Genuity. I have a little bit more gray hair, and also are cash flowing, very steady businesses that we, in today's world, Jeffrey, we know What we need is profits and profitable businesses that need help or have a strategy to either grow their and really get a growth story but do not want to lose control of their business.

That's kind of what Duke is all about and excited to be here.[00:04:00]

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, terrific story and background and congratulations on from where you were to where you are today. And really what's interesting, you've really been on all sides of the table. So on the one hand, as an investment banker, you're seeing deals, perhaps you're buying companies, perhaps you're selling companies.

Then as an investor, and now with what you're doing, you're really de risking the situation where a company can grow and not worry, like you just said, so much about losing control or all the ownership that you would in the traditional sense. Let me start with this, though. You and I and the listeners of the Deep Wealth community, we're type A personalities, but the glass is always half full.

Let's do something that we normally don't do. The glass is half empty in the following sense. When you look back, whether as an investment banker or an investor with what you're doing now, Neil, for companies that are making these fatal mistakes, maybe it's even the 80 20 principle or Pareto's law, where 80 percent of the issues that we're seeing are coming from 20 percent of the same mistakes that business owners across industries, across companies continue to make.[00:05:00]

What would come to mind? What would those be as perhaps a bit of a warning for listeners of, Hey, if you're doing this, maybe you want to stop that and do something else instead.

Neil Johnson: Well, what we see is that, as you said, the glass is always held full. I think putting yourself into a situation where there is what I call a lighting the fuse of having to do you know, have a second event. is difficult because if you have uncertainty and, things don't go according to plan, then you've lit a fuse on something else that then you need to deal with.

Listen, if you thought, hey, I'm going to borrow this money and the bank is going to need it. You know, In five years or less, because there's amortization mostly on small cap loans, I'm gonna, I'm gonna build my business. Over those five years and I can double and triple my business if I take this loan now, and I'm not going to dilute myself if the banks are going to give me the money, and then five years later, I'll be able to [00:06:00] pay it off.

If you said that, which would be rational to think in 2019, as a business Interest rate is zero, and then you look forward, four years your business plan did not go according to plan. I can assure you, you did not think of a global pandemic wars global wars, and 40 year inflation.

And that has caused your debt costs because it's probably a floating rate, to double or thereabouts. And so that means that, you've now put your business at risk. Because you cannot pay back that bank loan and the bank is going to seize their security that's probably one of the things that, I see a lot, but I see a lot of people coming to avoid that exact situation.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so you painted what is an all, unfortunately, too real of a picture. I mean, good intentions that have gone bad, interest rates out of nowhere, just double, triple, quadruple. [00:07:00] And here you find yourself, wow, you know what? I can't make those payments. I'm in serious trouble here. But let's go back to what you said and how you're making a difference there.

So as you said, a business owner doesn't want to give up control of the company. They want to go more of a traditional bank loan to help finance the growth and whatever they need to do. But no one knows the future. They run into trouble. So if I came to you today as a business owner, okay, Neil, listen, I want to keep as much control and as ownership of my company, I need the capital to grow though.

How are you coming in, in a different light, in a different way that can make a difference?

Neil Johnson: Yeah I would say, first of all we see a lot of different companies, a lot of different situations, and we're not all things to all people a lot of people saying, I'm big enough that I don't mind bank debt, and I can repay it, and some people are saying, and some companies are just too small and don't have the cash flow to support you know, a Duke Royalty solution.

But for those, types of companies And we do all industries, so it's more actually the type of situation of what the business owner is in, [00:08:00] and we can get into that but also the size of the company, so we like long standing profitable businesses in a multitude of industries, so that doesn't matter, but they're closely held, they're either an entrepreneur and his friends and family might have some equity.

He might have a business partner that they created this company. Been a long time profitable business in any sector. Call it services , business you know, industry. We have glass manufacturers paint companies recruiting companies.

We have a multitude of different companies that come to us, but the biggest thing that we can help them with is to eliminate that refinancing risk of the debt solution. That's number one.

And we also want to partner with the owner operator. We actually are a kind of a Unitron's capital or, hybrid capital that really [00:09:00] want to get into the weeds of the business. but yet. Keep the ownership with the current owners. So we're not going to buy your company if it's not for sale.

That's what we want. We want you to be in control of your destiny. And when we put together a kind of a hybrid credit solution with some, upside. If we're all successful, we have alignment in taking risk on the upside and the downside of your business.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Neil, in that process, I'm going to call it your secret sauce. You've developed a methodology. You're looking for telltale signs, no guarantees, but telltale signs, hey, if a company exhibits A, B, C, and D, there's a better to good chance that not only would we be interested in investing, But that company will also grow, get a return on investment for all the stakeholders involved and life is good in that regard.

So for the benefit of our listeners, what are some of those, I'll call them KPIs or best practices that you're looking for that has you say, yes, we're going to really seriously consider this [00:10:00] business as opportunity as a company that we'd like to invest with.

Neil Johnson: Looking for companies that have two and a half to five million dollars or pounds depending on, where you're listening from in EBITDA the operating cash flow of the business has to be there, it has to be demonstrated for a number of years. And so that's I think the first thing we say, and we want a business that wants to grow either by acquisition or organically because if it's an acquisition type model, we can contribute different tranches to it.

of capital to increase the EBITDA of the company and increase and de risk the business and then take it to another level and then once that level is achieved and usually it's kind of over 10 million of EBITDA, 10 to 15 million of EBITDA, you can actually have a lot of different financial buyers or trade sellers and then you can have a lot of different financial buyers or trade sellers.

If you [00:11:00] so choose to sell your business at that time. So that's one of our situations that we like to get into. The other is a situation where the owners want to exit, but they are absentee owners anyway, and there's a great management team that have demonstrated and have presided over the profits of the last few years that now have an opportunity and a willingness to own the business.

For themselves, and we would actually facilitate a transaction where we put in the capital. Again, a little bit of upside for us, but the majority of the, equity ownership and the board control. Could be transitioned to the management in what's called a management

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. So a few different scenarios that's going on there. And so when you're describing some of these attributes or these characteristics, it's taking me back to our nine step roadmap, step number two, X Factors. These are areas where a business is world class. Your last example is up here. Perfect one.[00:12:00]

The business runs without the business owner, whether it's an absentee owner or a business owner says, Hey, you know what? Maybe I'll just be a board of director kind of role. I have a world class leadership team. The business does not need me to be there day in, day out. When there's a liquidity event, the business will get even stronger, even better without me there.

And it sounds like that really gives you confidence as an investor. Let me ask you this. I suppose we could take what you said and take the opposite of that, that would have you say, thank you, but no thank you, or run the other direction as fast as you can. What would be some telltale signs of thank you, but not the kind of company that we're looking for?

It's too high risk for us. And the reason I ask that is for our listeners, they may hear some of themselves in what you're about to describe, and this is a heads up to them of, hey, if you're doing this, you may want to think twice about that. 

Neil Johnson: we are at our core. We're on an SME lender. What I just described is like traditional operating companies. I do have to pause and say, you know, royalties have a, [00:13:00] real traditional royalties. People will think of like you're selling, your songs. Oil and gas or mining they all have these percentage of sales and that's not what we do. So, we have to say that right off the bat. And then if you are an operating company and just what I've just described some of the things we shy away from is real technological risk.

As I said, I was a global head of technology. That's not what I'm looking for now, just because there's a one in 10 chance that you're gonna be very rich but it is a low Probability. so there's venture capital firms and there's a lot of people and angels that will take that risk, but, you know, Duke isn't one of them. So startups of any kind and technological risk and technological obsolescence is something. So, that's probably what I'd say. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So now we've met, we've gone through the various diligence on both sides, and okay, yes, there's a fit, Jeffrey, let's move forward together. So once that happens.[00:14:00] What's next? Is there some things that you'd bring to the table that I, as an example, would not get with a traditional bank where I'm getting a line of credit or they're just giving me a loan.

Okay, Jeffrey, good luck. We'll check in from quarter to quarter, see how things are going. Just make your payments to us and we'll be in touch. And that's about it that you're going to get from traditional financing. What's going on with your side, Neil

Neil Johnson: So you're going to ask what's the bad news, right? Give me the money. what am I asking in return, right? I can see that. There is something I'm going to ask in return, unfortunately, right?

Because we are a public company but what that means for business owners is what... Duke has is permanent capital, and so unlike any other form of capital, your bank loan that is a five year loan that you're going to need to refinance, or a private equity, or any equity shareholders, any minority equities, if you take equity, everyone's going to ask one thing.

What's my exit plan? Like, when do I get my money back? When do I get a return on my money? I just can't give you my money and not know when I'm gonna get it back. You might get a [00:15:00] rich uncle to say that, but that's about it. Where we hang our hat is that we actually have a long term uh, 30 year plan that everything that is, what we do is we ask for a monthly rate.

Distribution out of your cash flow, and I'll describe this, but it's worth just mentioning right now that, we have in that monthly distribution, that kind of monthly dividend that Duke gets is everything that we need to satisfy Duke shareholders. There's our return of capital built into that and our upside.

That's why we call it a corporate mortgage. The loan date of maturity to 30 years from now, and in that payment, you're paying down our principal. Now, what is it, 30 years, no one has a 30 year business plan, but what it allows us to do is to take the refinancing risk, take that risk that I [00:16:00] set off the top of this program, it's off the table.

If you can service our debt, we're not going to give you too much money. So that, that payment becomes too big of a pill to swallow every month so that, we want half or less than the cash flow coming from the company.

So now we can be 50 50 partners that are the cash flow for the company, but what you're paying is. Everything you need to pay to do royalty over the long term, and that's why we call it a corporate mortgage, it's like your home mortgage bank doesn't give you more than you can afford to pay for your salary, but it'll give you the money so you can buy this nice house, We'll And then they don't tell you, hey, you have to live in this house for 30 years.

If you want to sell the house, you can refinance the mortgage. There's some penalties to pay as you buy out the mortgage. And it does two things.

First of all, we're not asking for a majority of equity. So you're still in control of your company. You [00:17:00] take the money that you need to buy that company or take money off the table and diversify your holdings. You never have to pay that, money back because it amortizes over a long period of time.

So that kind of loan value, that principle, never comes due at any time. After 30 years, you've paid off the mortgage, just like you've paid off your home mortgage, and you own your home, and you own your company again. If you did do it to term there would be no further payments at that time.

And then, after three years, we don't do this as a bridge loan type of thing, but after three years, you can refinance this out if the 90s come back and everything is growing again and we have no global geopolitical worries, pandemics, then everything's going according to plan.

You can get a finance, again, cheaper financing or sell your business and you can refinance this out of that time for any reason. you keep control of the Refinancing timing, which is very important and unique.

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:18:00] And so, Neil, what I'm hearing, and you can tell me, Hey, Jeffrey, you're way off base on that. Or yes, actually what you're saying is accurate. You're spot on with that. It's very unique what you've created as I'm understanding it. You gave the terrific example of a home mortgage. This is a corporate mortgage.

So unlike a bank loan, which has an expiration date, and like you pointed out earlier, if interest rates are really way out there, there may be some problems with that, or even private equity or venture capital. Okay, Jeffrey, you know, we're going to invest in your company, but we want out in five years or seven years and the time comes up.

Oh, wait a minute, guys, I'm just. Really, few years away from a market disruption, a little bit more time. Sorry, Jeffrey, you got to move on to our next investment. You're done. You're finished. And we hear all the horror stories that come with that. You're taking that risk off the table. So over the 30 years, yes, there is an obligation.

There is a commitment of paying the fees like you would in a home mortgage. You can take you out of the equation after three years, but really what's happening is I have a long runway as a business owner. I'm not going to be [00:19:00] pressured. You're not going to be talking to me about burn rates and Jeffrey, you got to buy your customers or the so called profits that get you into trouble.

And we see the headlines about that recently of, all these. PE backed companies that got into trouble and they're no longer here because of that. Hey, Jeffrey, show me a solid business model. We'll provide the financing that you need and we'll form a partnership that really benefits both of us.

How am I doing so far?

Neil Johnson: Absolutely spot on. Yeah. Couldn't say it about myself, when you take some money and then they need a return, you need to perform for the next five years and then they need to sell the business or sell their position. And everyone can get a return. Or it's the debt that they want their capital back as soon as they can get it. And amortization comes, you know, and , some loans, you know, in years three, four, and five. So you only have two years of interest going away, and then you can't.

pay it out of cash flow. So, You're on this refinancing treadmill in debt and you're on this, you lit the fuse to have another event that you have to [00:20:00] really increase your size of your business in order to get your new partners, and as I said, we take both those things off the table.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I like that, and Neil, let me ask you this. So yourself, obviously with your experience, you have a track record of success. You're a smart guy. You also have the Duke team, each of them in their own right is successful and brings a lot to the table. So now I'm one of your portfolio companies. We're now working together and I'm coming to you, Neil.

I'm having a situation here, it's really out of our grasp here of how to deal with this. Can I look to you and the team to help me with some of that in an advisory kind of role? Well, Jeffrey, let's talk about this or we can introduce you to other people over here. How would that work?

Neil Johnson: Yeah I'd say that gets me on to the hybrid between, that, that credit piece that is that corporate mortgage and really, as a public company, as a big shareholder myself for the public company we want to show that we can make money for our shareholders. The phrase that I use is that we limit our downside by beating that kind of [00:21:00] like senior secured debt for the company, but we also limit our upside, and that upside only comes when the business owner wants to sell or we get refinanced or take action Duke out of his company, or her company.

It's a small equity piece that I think we're, minority equity, and we've got, at an average of 15 percent equity stakes in our portfolio companies, okay? With that amount of money in the company, we would take one seat on the board, just token seat on the board, but that gives us the ability to do what you're saying is be that advisor.

And there's one other piece what we like to keep the alignment with the business owner is that distribution I talked about, that monthly payment to Duke, once per year, we adjust that payment up or down 6 percent of what you're paying based on the growth or decline.

In the revenue of the business, and that is the revenue linkage [00:22:00] we actually are incentivized and economically tied to the success of the business that makes us what we do. What you were saying, give advice to try and grow the success of the business, the revenue of the business, the profits of the business, but we limit that upside.

And so the vast majority of the spoils goes to the business owner which is what we want. We want them to be incentivized to go to work and to conquer the world every day. As have they have done before we got involved.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so really what's nice about that, there's an alignment amongst all the stakeholders. It's not a you versus them or them versus you. It's an us, when you're successful, we're successful. Hey, you're having a down year this year. Okay. Not great. Could be better, but tell you what, you know what? We will reflect that we'll have that 6 percent decrease in what would normally be paid to us, or, Hey, it's a great year.

Let's share in that together and let's move this forward. So it sounds like as things are great, you're there. If things aren't so great, you're there. But most [00:23:00] importantly, we're aligned. You're aligned with the business to make sure that it continues to do what it does best.

Neil Johnson: Wouldn't it be great if a bank manager said, hey you know, you got paid less hey, don't pay us as much in mortgage as you did last year, you got a demotion and you're not making as much, you didn't get a bonus hey, just pay us a little less. We'll take that pain with you.

I've never, had my bank manager call me up and say that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, always a first, Neil, always a first. Let's wait and see and we'll figure out if and when that happens. But Neil, let me ask you this because you're really straddling across all kinds of different companies and different industries. And with your background in technology, I'm just curious, everyday artificial intelligence, AI is making headlines and it's literally changing the world and society as we know it.

So from where you sit today, and this could change in the next six months of what we say today is completely obsolete, who knows? How is that making an impact in your world as you see AI where it is today and as you look forward, what are your thoughts about that? 

Neil Johnson: I think it's, as [00:24:00] profound as the commercialization of the internet. I was an internet analyst in the late nineties and trying to make sense. what the internet would be able to afford society and people and how it would change people's lives, and that is a fool's game, even Bill Gates didn't do it.

He wrote a book that I have about the kind of the way forward back in mid 90s. Microsoft missed the internet to a great extent, doing a great job now, and they're, they've got on the AI, but, you know, the real winners of the internet were the startups that saw the potential and, and nothing to lose.

I mean, Microsoft had a lot to lose you know, from the old way of working But I think it's that profound life today and look back, it was only Twenty five years ago that people started having websites and started having email. I mean, it hasn't been that long and life is unrecognizable.

but just like the internet, there is government regulation that's needed. I mean, the best, [00:25:00] internet sites at the beginning were porn sites, and you need to have controls, around those things. AI is gonna be no different. We need controls of how it's being used because it's scary. When things change, it is scary. and it was at the beginning of the internet and it is at the beginning of ai, I hope. And I actually am.

I believe that, the human brain will figure out how to harness AI, but not let it take over the world. But it, does take government intervention to get those regulations in place because if it's only a for profit motive, I mean, the internet would be all pornography now.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And from looking way out into the future, which as you correctly say, it's near impossible to do, nobody knows, but let me ask you this in the coming months or even year or two ahead. With AI, as it continues to advance, even with what you're doing when you're analyzing companies with the go, no go, you see AI taking over some of that in either making the decision for you with [00:26:00] some oversight or review, or at least taking some time out of the diligence that you're doing to make things a little bit clearer, faster for you.

Neil Johnson: Uh, Yeah I think it's a tool to be used for sure but it is not going to make my decisions for me. You know why? Because what I do, everything that I've said, okay, it boils down to one thing, is that we invest in people and people cannot be done on a spreadsheet.

People cannot be, put an algorithm I need to look into the business owner's eyes. Understand how he or she thinks, what aspirations that they have of their business and really the moral compass of these people because, I need to partner with them for the long term all those things, maybe we'll get there one day, but, I'm not going to rely on AI to, to give me the answers to those things.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's smart, Neil, because really what I'm hearing you say, and listen, you have the in the trenches experience, you've really seen a lot, what I'm hearing you say is, it's a hybrid. Part AI. [00:27:00] The human touch on it will combine the two will be for the better place and also as we've been talking what I really like about the approach.

It's interesting Neil. When I'm speaking to business owners oftentimes I'll speak to business owners, they're in companies that have been around for a while. They're successful, they But they're saying, Jeffrey, it just doesn't seem, I'll use the F word, fair. It doesn't seem fair to us. We're successful.

We've got profits, but we don't excite these private equity companies like these startups. And you have this private equity money that's being poured in by the gazillions into these companies. Well, we're not that. We can't even get the time of day with them. Traditional bank financing. They've got their issues with that.

You know, There's not really a home for us where we can find a way to really finance our growth, our future growth in a way that makes sense. But if you're an established business, you've been around for a while, you're in an industry, in a vertical that we're comfortable with, you have your EBITDA between that two and five million, possibly above, let's talk.

And so what I'm hearing for our listeners out there, if you're in that particular category of business, which by the way, it's a great category to be, you've [00:28:00] lived another day, you survived, you're slaying all those dragons, you've proven yourself over the years and decades. This may be another very viable option for you to really take your business to the next level without some of the risks and constraints that you have with traditional financing.

So it really sounds like you've found a terrific area to focus on that's really been overlooked by the marketplace. How am I doing with that, Neil? On base, off base?

Neil Johnson: Yeah, no that's right. And a lot of money, you're right, a lot of money gets poured into these you know, a very exciting sector. We're not going to come in and say, I need you to double business to make a profit for us.

No, No, we look at what you've already done, what you're already doing. And your history and right size our investment for your company today and in that monthly number is everything that Duke needs to satisfy our investors for a dividend. We take that cash and then we dividend it out to our public investors on the London Stock Exchange.

Ours is a [00:29:00] cashflow model that we have a very small number of people that analyze things. We have McKinsey Company as a commercial due diligence provider, provide us their thoughts this industry, because they are the experts on every industry that we're not.

Because we're long term, permanent capital in your business. And we want to make sure we get it right. That also gives the business owner the time to really understand what Duke is all about.

Once we invest, we're now not going to change the business to say, now you got to act like an Internet company and go out and conquer the world.

You just need to do what you're doing long as you have really solid business moat around your business, and you've got long term customers and those kind of things, 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely terrific, and what I love about that, Neil, it's a page out of our playbook here at Deep Wealth in our 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery System. Step number four, due diligence, where companies do an internal audit. So, nudge, Nudge, wink, wink, all you [00:30:00] business owners out there, once you've done that, and now you're sitting across the table from Neil, and Neil's saying, okay, Jeffrey, you know, let's talk about some due diligence on your company.

You're saying, hey, no problem, Neil, here's my data room, go at it. It's already done. And it just makes it so much more enjoyable for you and the team, Neil, as well as for the business owner. But Neil, let me ask you this, as we begin to go into wrap up mode, before we get there, is there a question I haven't asked or a topic that we haven't covered that you'd like to share with the community? 

Neil Johnson: do, because, what your story and why you got into this is that you turned down a seven figure sum and, did a nine figure sum. I can't promise that, but I do think that Duke a company to. Partner with if you have a seven figure company valued and we can make an eight figure company by partnering with us, you can take some money out but still be in control of the company, but get a cash.

Infusion, a capital infusion into your business to either bolt on, other companies, grow by [00:31:00] acquisition, or grow by just internally generated cash flow that gets you to another step or another stage in a business valuation. Then you're taking, and how you do that is you bulk up the business so that it's less risky. 2 million business valued at eight four times of an 8 million business. If we can take some money, bolt on that you get some efficiencies in your company.

And over. I don't know how long it's gonna take. If it takes three years, that's great. If it takes seven years, that's better. For us, if it takes 10 years, we don't mind. Whenever that occurs, if you can get that 2 million EBITDA up to 10 million, now you could be valued eight times 10 million, which is 80 million.

So you went from 8 million to 80 million in partnering with Duke and we don't need that exit plan. We're not going to tell you when to take the money off the table, and if you want to sell at a 50 million valuation 

Jeffrey Feldberg: it's a terrific story, [00:32:00] Neil, as well, because you continue to really bring home an important point that oftentimes is overlooked by business owners, and that's the ownership in the business. Sure, you can bring in lots of financing options, but usually it's done at, well, you're going to be diluted. Often to the point where you may even lose control of the business, which is the worst thing that you could do.

For a business owner, the most valuable asset, the most valuable resource, it's going to be your company. That's where you're putting your time and the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears into it to take it to the next level. But when you're coming in, okay, maybe a little bit of equity is going to be going your way, but the business owner is keeping the lion's share of that.

And for businesses, as we talked earlier, maybe they've maxed out the line of credit with the bank and the bank is not interested in anything above it. Okay, Jeffrey, we've given you what you've given. You've got to make the best of that. Don't talk to us about that anymore. There really aren't a lot of options out there, and this is a terrific way I've really taking the business to the next level using that financing.

Hey, [00:33:00] find that inflection point. That's what we're all about in step one, big picture. Can you take an inflection point, create a market disruption? Take your business to the next level. Everyone's a winner for it. And you're really leading the charge with that. So for all you listeners out there, really what Neil is sharing is such a key takeaway for you.

Find a way, grow your business, keep as much equity as you can. You're not really going to find a lot out there in the marketplace that has that kind of business model. So something really unique, Neil, that you've put together and congratulations to you and the team for being able to do that.

That said, let's go into wrap up mode. And it's such a fun question. You'll let me set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time. So Neil, the fun part is tomorrow morning, you look outside your window, not only is the DeLorean car there, the door is open, it's waiting for you to hop on in, which you do, and you're now gonna go to any point in your life, maybe Neil as a young child or a teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

What are you telling your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom, or hey, Neil, do [00:34:00] this, but don't do that? What would that sound like?

Neil Johnson: Well, I'd really like to meet Michael J. Fox because he is a good Canadian, just like me. So I'm happy to ride. I take myself back to the first day at Canaccord Annuity. When I first got into the investment business. and yeah, as a young 23 year old was really interested in this new thing called the internet.

It was 1993 and it was just starting. It wasn't even called the internet. There was a World Wide Web or these kind of things. What I would tell my younger self is, make money slow. Get rich slowly because, that compounding interest and that compounding wealth is powerful.

And, I have a 17 year old son, and guess what? He wants to get rich quick. He wants to... buy cryptocurrencies he wants to do day trading and things like that which is scary in one part, but you know what he's gonna do? He's gonna learn very quickly, you know, that you can't [00:35:00] get rich quick.

You can get that long term cash flow and just build on that just a little bit every year. It's Warren Buffett way so, that's what I would say.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, it's terrific advice. Make money flow, get rich slowly, takes the pressure off. We're not going to make that mistake. We're not in such a rush. We can actually enjoy the journey and you're right, compound interest, the eighth wonder of the world really is incredible when you think about that. Terrific takeaway for our listeners and Neil, for someone who wants to learn more about what you're doing or has some questions, maybe even wants to work with you, where would be the best place for a listener to reach you online?

Neil Johnson: Yeah I have a LinkedIn profile people can email me. My contacts are uh, there and you can contact us through the website or through LinkedIn and we are a public company. We say we're an open book, there's no secrets, there's no secrets to what we provide companies I'll be straight up and just contact me however you wish.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Doesn't get any better for our listeners, it will be a point and click, it's all in the show notes, just go there, you click on [00:36:00] it, and we have all of Neil's information. Take him up on his offer, reach out to him, hey, he's been around the block, he's seen a lot of things, why not, he's offering it, take him up and you'll learn a few things.

Well Neil, it's official, congratulations, this is a wrap, as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while remaining healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Neil Johnson: Thank you, Jeffrey. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity 

Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we [00:37:00] need to fix. 

Kam H.: I 100% believe there's never a great time for a business owner to allocate extra hours into his or her week or day. So it's an investment that will yield results today. I thought I will reap the benefit of this program in three to five years down the road. But as soon as I stepped forward into the program, my mind changed immediately. 

Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended. 

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, [00:38:00] I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even. 

Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

It's five-star, A-plus.

Kam H.: I would highly recommend it to any super busy business owner out there.

Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

Please visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more.

If you're not [00:39:00] on my email list, you'll want to be. Sign up at www.deepwealth.com/podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode, if it added value, if you walked away with some new insights and strategies, please leave a review on your favorite podcast channel. Reviews help us reach new listeners, grow the show. And continue to create content that you'll enjoy and as we wrap up this episode as always please stay healthy and safe.