344 Reid Tileston

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Reid Tileston is an acclaimed author, keynote speaker, and a recognized authority in entrepreneurial business ownership. Currently an adjunct professor at Case Western University, Reid's journey spans over 15 years of successfully acquiring, growing, and selling four companies, culminating in a remarkable 10X return on his most recent investment.

His new book, Grit It Done, distills the wisdom and insights he's gained from an extensive entrepreneurial career. Reid has collaborated with iconic brands such as Harley Davidson, the Milwaukee Bucks, and John Deere, and his expertise has been featured in prestigious publications like the Wall Street Journal and Crane's Chicago.

Beyond his professional achievements, Reid is an Eagle Scout and an Ironman Triathlete, constantly seeking new adventures. Most recently, he tackled the world's tallest staircase in Switzerland. Reid is on a mission to empower aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace the exhilarating journey of business ownership. 

And before we start this episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program. [00:01:00] Here's Jane, a graduate who says, and I quote, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program prevented me from making what would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my career. I almost signed on the dotted line with an unsolicited offer that I now realized would have shortchanged my hard work and my future had I accepted that offer. Deep Wealth Mastery has tilted the playing field to my advantage.

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Welcome to Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, Deep Wealth Nation, you heard it in the official introduction. We have a fellow business owner, entrepreneur, founder, post exit entrepreneur, author, and the list goes on and on. But I'm going to put a plug in it right there. Reid, welcome to Deep Wealth Podcast.

It's an absolute pleasure to have you with us, and I'm always curious because there's a story behind every story. So Reid, what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Reid Tileston: I think about entrepreneurship in the sense of low risk entrepreneurial business ownership, and I was lucky when I grew up in the Bay area, I lived right by San Francisco International Airport and my parents, bless their souls, believed in accountability. So Jeffrey, they started paying my brother when he got his driver's [00:05:00] license.

So I'm going to take them to the airport as a part of his weekly allowance. And my brother was like, this is kind of cool. People are paying me to drive them to the airport. I'm going to ask, others, if I can drive them to the airport and get paid. So he made a good amount of money doing this.

Then of course he graduated, went to college at UC Berkeley and I got my driver's license. And I was like, he was making pretty good money doing that. I'm going to start doing that. So I started doing it. Then I greatly expanded that business. And then of course, I went off to college and that taught me that a great form of entrepreneurship is not necessarily starting something from scratch.

It's simply taking something that already works and just growing it. And that was very formative for me when I was in high school about this whole idea of entrepreneurship through acquisition, which I've gone on to, 16 years. So I thank my older brother, Trevor Tyleston, for getting [00:06:00] me going in that direction.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Love that story. Actually, it was really a pre Uber before Uber came on the scene with what you guys are doing and lots of lessons that you have from that. But what you said, Rita, is really interesting because I agree with you. So many entrepreneurs, they have this, I don't know this myth that they're buying into, Hey, if I don't invent it, if I don't create something completely new, it's probably not worth doing, or I'm not going to be successful.

So to that listener, what would you say to them?

Reid Tileston: Nothing wrong with that. That's great. If you're someone that wants to start something from scratch and build it up, that's fantastic. It's so much about what makes America great is that grit, determination, build something from scratch, get to that next level. It's awesome. I think it's a great path to go.

It's not the only path to go. There's another path to go, you can take something that already works, apply that same entrepreneurial mindset to it, and take it from, say, a 4 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10, right? I think those are both equally fantastic [00:07:00] ways to go, and I would tell you that doing the latter of those is just lower risk.

So, to me, you have lower risk, but you can attain that same awesome upside of owning the upside of your work, having that autonomy, and really doing good through entrepreneurship and through business ownership. And I think, Jeffrey, that's it. What's something I'll go into later is some of the avatars around that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And actually it's a perfect segue for your book, Grit It Done, A Low Risk Guide to Entrepreneurial Business Ownership. And for our listeners, if you'd go to the show notes, it doesn't get any easier. It's a point and click, get the book, and we'll talk all about that. And so Reid Talk to us about the book now, because you've taken really some incredible experiences that you've had and some tremendous success that you've had along the way, and you've now distilled it into a book.

And for the casual observer out there, they may be saying, wait a minute, low [00:08:00] risk, entrepreneurship, the two don't belong in the same sentence. So what's going on with that? What's your method to your madness here?

Reid Tileston: Yeah, Method to My Madness. And the first step in this process, Jeffrey, which is critical is just understand what your personal identity is. The first step in the book is assessment. There's four avatars, four personality types, right? One is that you're an employee and employees are fantastic. They're the backbone of companies.

They're the backbone of the economy. Good ones do well, bad ones usually find the door in some capacity. Then secondly, you have what I'll call an equity employee. And that's someone who's a CEO. They are working on the business, Jeffrey, not in the business, so they're creating equity value. Ultimately, though, they don't own all of the upside of what they do, and their job is at the peril of a board, right?

So they don't fully control their destiny. Then you have a business [00:09:00] owner. Business owners are great. I've spent a long time in my career as a business owner. You have the freedom. You own all the upside of your work, but ultimately business owns you more than you own the business. And you may not have that level of autonomy that you're striving for.

Then you have entrepreneurial business ownership, which to me is the best. It's where you're working on the business, not in the business. You feel true autonomy You can cultivate some awesome relationships with your team members. And as an entrepreneurial business owner, you get a view of what good government can look like.

So I wrote the book because I'm here to engage, with your audience. A lot of which I know are current business owners about how you can live your American dream through business ownership in the same way that I've been able to do over the last 16 years.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And so I want to take the avatars, the mindset that you spoke about. And now parlay that into what you actually talk about in chapter two, when [00:10:00] you're talking about the readiness. And I know here at Deep Wealth, when we meet a business owner, one of the first questions we ask them, Hey, Jeffrey, does the business run without you?

And don't give me the ums and the ahs and the buts and this whole long story. It's a simple one word answer, yes or no. And read, when most business owners are honest about it, it's Even if they have a management team in place, the answer is really a no. If they have a management team in place, they're still running all the major decisions through the entrepreneur or the founder or the business owner, or they don't have a management team in place.

That's part of the issue here where they're really doing everything because they have this mindset. They have this belief. Well, if I don't do it, either it won't get done or it won't get done as well, or it won't be as successful. We won't be as good. And they don't realize that's Really what's going to hold them back in terms of growing the business or raising capital or having some kind of liquidity venture exit down the road.

And so as I share that with you, what would you say in terms of the mindset when someone is assessing the readiness or they're saying, Hey, Jeffrey, that sounds a lot like me, as much as I don't [00:11:00] want to admit that, that really does sound like me. What would you share in terms of some strategies or advice for someone who finds himself in that position?

Reid Tileston: Well, first and foremost, If you like that position, that's awesome. Good for you. It's fantastic. I've been in that position before. I've seen a lot of people that are, it's like super cool to be like involved in the business on a day to day basis and like to be needed in the business. And it is fun for me, at least to do things myself and take complete ownership of them.

I like that. I get a ton of utility out of that. And if it works, it works. So there's nothing wrong with having that mentality. There really isn't, especially if you know that that's what you want out of it. Now, I'm going to flip and say, to me, I like having the option to be that way. I like having the option to work in the business because sometimes working in the business is actually equivalent to working on the business, but I want that option too.

I owned an industrial services business that did very dirty work, grease trap. I go into this in the book a lot, grease traps, factor trucks, industrial [00:12:00] maintenance, exhaust cleaning. I loved going out with the technicians. overnight jobs, having the owner there at two o'clock in the morning scrubbing grease off an RV's hood.

But I did that because I wanted to show the team members that, hey, I know exactly what it is that you're going through. So when I do things like talk about transitioning from, on premise to field service management that requires you to take pictures of your work, I get it because I'm here with a greasy hand doing that with you.

I'm creating equity value by being out in the field, but I have the option to do that, right? So my guidance to any business owner that is in that mindset where, I like doing this and it really aligns to me and everything like that, I'd say if that works for you, great. But wouldn't it be a better situation if doing that was optional versus if it wasn't optional and we can talk about, which I do in the book and you can get it at, you know, griddeddone.

com, I talk about what I think is the one key factor in making that transition.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Enri, I agree with you up to a point and I've made the mistake [00:13:00] where I haven't, not only not delegated, I've just simply abdicated as opposed to getting, so to speak, dirty in the business and rolling up the sleeves, getting into the trenches, doing things that aren't scalable for a short period of time, just so I can understand the business.

I know all the ebbs and flow of the business. I can train someone better, or if someone's trying to pull a quick one over me, I can say, hey, not so quick, that's really not how it goes, or to your point, earning the respect of the team, yeah, Jeffrey's done this before, and he was doing this, just exactly what I was doing, but my goodness, look how he was doing it, let me get up to that level, I get that, but to your point, it's when, maybe deliberately or not deliberately, when that just Keeps on happening and we don't give ourselves the opportunity to take a step back, bring other people on the team.

Even if they can do it 70 percent as good as we could, it gives us the chance to grow and to scale. So I agree up to a point with what you're saying of, Hey, you really should know the business, all facets of it. This way you can grow it faster, grow it better, have a more profitable. [00:14:00] That said though, there's always a point of, okay, let me now bring on the business.

Let me begin to expand, to scale. And from that side, Reidbased on your experiences, the research that you've done, the people that you've spoken to. For a lot of business owners, they have that fog, I'll call it of, okay, now's the time I can bring in other people. The business can afford it. I can do this.

Again, what would be some of your insights on when is the right time to really fire yourself so you can bring other people in to do it?

Reid Tileston: I mean, for me, it's as quickly as possible, but I think the critical way to do that, Jeffrey, is that it's hard. To put those systems into place, it's hard to take the step back and put that pride aside and say, you know what, maybe I really should take myself 100 percent out of the business. That's the right thing to do.

When I see people effectively make that change, the one common factor that I see with it Is they join a [00:15:00] business owner peer group with other people that are working to make that transition or other people that have recently made that transition, because ultimately we become like the group that we surround ourselves by and putting these systems in place is difficult.

And my belief is that there's no reason to do that on your own. Surround yourself with other business owners. Surround yourself with other operators. Surround yourself with other individuals that have gone down that route. The most painful experiences I've had have led to some of the best growth for the businesses that I've been a part of because of the peer groups that I've been around.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. Actually chapter seven in your book, where you talk about that, I've been a benefactor of that as well, belonging to a number of peer groups, but let me circle back to something that you said earlier. Crack me if I'm off base with this. It sounds like you grew up in an entrepreneurial kind of family and an entrepreneurial mindset.

And one can almost say, given what you've achieved and what you've [00:16:00] done, that you have the DNA of an entrepreneur within you. Factor fiction. Entrepreneurs are born, not made. What do you think about that?

Reid Tileston: Fact is that Entrepreneurship is a mindset, and it's very simple. Who you surround yourself with will become who you surround yourself with. You will start to mimic those behaviors. So if you want to be more entrepreneurial, independent of your background, join groups of people that are entrepreneurial, and you will become that way.

And, for me, what's so interesting is that And I stated this in others as well, when I look back at what really inspires, what really motivates, what really drives results for me, Jeffrey, whether it's in business or whether it's in doing interesting things like climbing the world's tallest staircase, there's one common factor in that. And that common factor is relationships. It's that I met a person or I met a group of people that [00:17:00] inspired me to do whatever I had to get it done. One concrete example, talk about this a bit in the book. I was at Chicago Booth. University of Chicago Booth School of Business when they were launching their entrepreneurship through acquisition program.

So I had the experience of being a teaching assistant, Jeffrey, for the first ever class that Booth taught on entrepreneurship through acquisition, and it was taught by these two first time adjuncts, Mark and Brian. And this class. That experience of being the teaching assistant and how much those individuals inspired me allowed me to go out, be very successful in the next business that I bought.

And as I finished that class with being the teaching assistant, I was like, you know what? At some point, I'm going to grow up and be just like Mark and Brian. I'm going to be the adjunct professor of my own class on entrepreneurship through acquisition. And I am, today. So it was those two individuals that inspired me to go out and do that.

So the [00:18:00] key takeaway is whether you're thinking about, transitioning from being a business owner to an entrepreneurial business owner, or you're thinking about, well, am I really like an entrepreneur? Does it come in the DNA or does it, is it cultivated? I encourage you to flip that narrative and think about who you can surround yourself with that you aspire to be like.

And then just, Jeffrey, get like stoked and excited for the relationships, which can be life changing. They certainly have been for me, of the people that you are going to meet along the way.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It really reminds me of what you're saying, Reid. It's, I'd be fairly close. It may not be a hundred percent accurate, but I believe it was Jim Rohn who said, each one of us, we are the average of the five people that we spend the most amount of time with, or another way of saying it, birds of a feather flock together.

And so from what you're saying, If you have aspirations to be an entrepreneur, surround yourself with not just entrepreneurs, but successful entrepreneurs and learn from them, see what they're doing, begin to [00:19:00] mimic their behaviors, have them as a support group that they can really mentor you and teach you.

Thoughts about that?

Reid Tileston: Yeah, cannot agree with you more. We talked about working. On the business versus in the business, we talked about being an absentee owner. If you want to be an absentee owner, and if you want to make yourself relevant, then surround yourself with other owners that have achieved that or are in the process like you of working towards that.

And don't look at people that did it 20 years ago, right? You want them to be like similar to you. It's oh yeah. Jeffrey, I was in that same situation like three years ago and here's what I did to get there. Then you see them. They're tangible. They're not some author, right? They're not some YouTuber.

It's like that person that you're interacting with and they're doing it here with you. That's where I've seen the sky can be the limit for change. And listen, I don't talk about this stuff and don't do it. I'll flip the narrative here a little bit. I have a gap on the family side of my life, right?

I'm not married. I don't have kids. Okay. So I am currently, I joined the Mormon [00:20:00] Church for the sole purpose of to surround myself with people that value family and that have gotten this whole family thing right. Because in doing that, I'm putting myself on the path to going that. So works in business, works in personal life.

I could not agree with Jim Rohn more. There's a lot of academic research which backs it up as well. It is a. It is a law. It is a dictum. It is a universal truth. You become like the people you surround yourself with. My guidance, choose accordingly.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's some great advice and something that our listeners can certainly really coming out of this episode, they can put that into play right away. But let me jump, I mean, I know I'm jumping all over the place. There is a method to the madness here though. So let's talk about what you talk about in chapter four, financing the business.

And you have different schools of thought from bootstrapping to right off the bat, getting some private equity or some venture capital behind you and going there, or perhaps a bank loan. So where are you on that in terms of financing the business? What would you share with our listeners?

Reid Tileston: I mean, the first step is [00:21:00] maximize as much SBA leverage as possible. And thank. Your fellow taxpayer for subsidizing these loans, whether it's for individuals that are starting up or looking to grow through acquisition or do real estate, the SBA programs are absolutely fantastic. My personal opinion is if you're not willing to sign a personal guarantee for something, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

That's just me, right? There are personal guarantees of that, but make sure you can do everything. Everything in your power to max out SBA 7A leverage, because the biggest benefit to it is that as long as you pay the loan, there's no covenants, there's no rules, there's no restrictions, right? You can focus on operations.

And to me, time as a business operator is the most valuable commodity. I don't want to spend it explaining to a bank or why I might've missed some number or something like that. I don't want to explain it. Take my time to explain to an investor what's going on. I want to be able to [00:22:00] focus on actually solving it.

So my guidance is max out. SBA loans as much as possible as a first step.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. I couldn't agree more. Did something very similar when I first began and wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough to help me get out there, bring on a new employee, begin to grow the business and scale my time and get that out there. And so it's that age old question and full disclosure, you're speaking to a bootstrapper here with myself through and through, where are you though on where is the time or when would be the time for venture capital or private equity?

Reid Tileston: I think that it all depends on what the ultimate goal that you want to accomplish is, and there could be a variety of reasons to it. Some people like to bring on investors and outsiders because it helps solve a fundamental issue with being an entrepreneur, which to me is lonely owner syndrome. The crown at the top can be heavy, so having investors and having partners is a great way to solve that.

But the pushback that [00:23:00] I'll give is that. If that's what you're trying to solve, is an investor or is money really a way to solve that? Or you might bring on an investor that could help you if you're thinking about, hey, you know what? I want someone in my corner that has been able to successfully, sell a company in this industry.

Then it might make sense for me to bring them on as an investor. But I also push back on that and say, well, couldn't you just have an informal board and hire them as an advisor or just bring them on as a consultant or things like that? I think that when you take, if you're going to take money which, I have, and I haven't at times in my career, you need to be very thoughtful about why you're taking it.

If it's just dumb money. Is there a better source to get dumb money? Is it, if it's strategic money, is there a better way to get that strategic advice that's going to be a bet, be more cost effective essentially than the actual cost of equity, because equity [00:24:00] is very expensive. And to me should be safeguarded until the end.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. Couldn't agree with you more on, on that. And I know for myself, when my e learning company, Embanet, when it had grown to a point where for the next phase, I took a look and said, okay, could I do it? Yes, I could. Would I enjoy doing it? Probably not. Do I have the skill set that really is good at more of a corporate kind of level, a much larger company?

Yeah, I guess I could kind of do that, but probably would not be happy. So for me, it was fairly clear, Hey, Jeffrey, if you want your business to grow, if you want to be happy, go for it. Bring somebody else in that's what they do day in, day out. And when that happened, after the deal closed, we were talking and I openly said, Hey, I can never do what you do.

And I said, well, Jeffrey, we couldn't really do what you do. And it was a terrific match from that perspective. So let me ask you this because it really reminds me, I know you run ultra marathons, climbing the tallest staircase in Switzerland. You're into all these kinds of things. They are not a sprint. It really is a [00:25:00] marathon.

And in many ways, so is business. Both growing the business and ultimately, when you're going to have your exit or your liquidity event, you've had a number of them and you've been very successful with them. And so looking back, what would you share with the Deep Wealth Nation of personal lessons that you've learned that you're not necessarily, other than your book, you're not necessarily going to hear it anywhere else.

And it's something that perhaps surprised you or was new for you, particularly because you've done it a number of times.

Reid Tileston: That unequivocally the best part of the process. Is the people that I have met along the way. I was opening a fitness club in a small town in Northern California, great market for a fitness center. And I was in the coffee shop. I go through this story in the book as well. I was at the coffee shop and I was working on my laptop and out of nowhere, someone grabbed my left arm and they were like, are [00:26:00] you the guy that's looking to open the fitness center in town?

And I said yeah, yeah, that's me. She's like. I am so excited to be your first member when you get sign ups going, and I'm just so excited that you're here. Well, Jeffrey, that, that lady went on to run that club for me for the next 12 years. And even after I sold, and it was a top performer in this particular franchise system I was a part of.

I mean, like a top 1 percent performer. And even after I sold the business, she is still a close friend. I've been blessed with having a number of those over the years that I have done this. Their lives have gotten better. They have made my life get so much better. They innovate ways to make my life get better.

It's just absolutely amazing. So it's the relationships that have come out of this and my guidance to people, the business owners that are listening here, and a lot of you probably already know this. I'm just going to reiterate it. And you never know where that's [00:27:00] going to come from. I was literally sitting in a coffee shop snacking on a ham, avocado, cheddar cheese wrap when this crazy woman grabbed my arm, right?

And that's where it came from. And I've had similar experience to that, of which I also outlined in the book, so check it out if you want to hear some of those. But just keep your eyes open for the right people around you, because that's where the real fulfillment comes from.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Fulfillment and developing people. Yes, absolutely. Love that. It's something I've aspired to. And actually you talk about that in the book, developing entrepreneurial employees and Reidwhen I was going through that, I couldn't help but reflect on my own journey. And when I try that, because my dream has always been to have, I hate the word employee.

For me, it's a team member. That's really what they are. And my aspirations have always been, Hey, I don't want my employees to think like an employee. I want them to think like an owner. And when I'm honest with myself. In some ways, I've succeeded, and in other ways, I've mainly failed in that. The ways I've succeeded, the team members, [00:28:00] they got so inspired, I helped develop them so much, they ultimately, they left the company to go do their own things or take their talents elsewhere, and it was a loss for the company, but it was a win for them, and overall, we were happy for them.

For the others, though, It was still the same blank, different day kind of mentality. And in that regard, I'd give myself a failing grade of really not being able to crack that code, to have the employees really think like an owner. So what's going on from your side? What's that secret sauce to really be able to succeed and have our team members not think like a team member, but to really think like an owner and have that kind of motivation day in, day out.

Reid Tileston: What I found is that some team members Can be taught that mentality to think like an owner. It's already in their DNA. They can cultivate it, right? Certain team members though, to your point, don't necessarily have that. What I always found my utility at is I would just look at individual team members and I would think to myself, okay, how can I uniquely help this person level up their life?

And it was really on an individual [00:29:00] basis. And then when I figured out what that was, I would just mercilessly push it forward. So, for example. Talk about this one in the book as well. I had a team member that had gotten an operated, well, this is again, the industrial services business. Operating while intoxicated.

The guy was driving when he was on drugs, so he lost his driver's license. And he had to go take these classes in order for him to get his driver's license back. And he'd taken them before and he'd quit. I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to make it my mission in life to get this guy his driver's license back.

I'm going to, with his permission, and he was down, I'm going to loan him the money. I'm going to make a relationship with his actual like therapist. I'm going to push this across the finish line because his life is going to be better with a driver's license. The state of Wisconsin is going to be better with him as a driver's license.

It's just a net win overall. So I always just found. These people projects that I could embark upon, that whether it was teaching someone to think like an owner or whether it was just something granular and [00:30:00] basic let's get your driver's license back, man. What's going on here? Is this way you can drive your kids to school, without worrying about getting pulled over, right?

I found a way that I could uniquely help my team members. And, again, that's where I just get so much fulfillment, and that's where it builds such a great culture, too, because now when you're hiring someone, and it's hey, all right, listen, go talk to the people that are already here, don't take my word for it about how it's like to work here, talk to them, and then they tell them stories, they're like, yeah, this crazy guy that owns a business did this, and he did that, and he helped me file my unpaid taxes I just, I always find ways that I can help take my team members and push their life forward in whatever way I think is going to add the most value to them.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's interesting in really helping solve problems, not just for our customers, but really for all stakeholders. If I can help my team members figure out some of their challenges, well, they're going to be happier. And if they're happier, they're going to be that much better with the clients. The clients are happier than my team members are going to be happier.

And it really forms a positive feedback loop. And I was [00:31:00] wondering, because I know you've done some research on this, actually earlier this year, you published a whole paper on this. You yourself have been through a number of exits. So, we've done things right, we've followed your advice in Gridded Done, we've built a business, we've been able to scale our time, we're working on the business, not in the business, and now it's time for our exit, or what we like to say here at Deep Wealth, our liquidity event.

Whatever that looks like. Maybe we're going public, maybe we're raising capital, maybe we're taking some chips off the table, maybe instead of a partial exit, it's a full exit. When you look back, Reid, at your liquidity events, your exits, what would be a strategy or two that really has stood out for you that over the multiple exits that you've had has given you a high return on investment?

Reid Tileston: Yeah. So combining my personal experience with whole peer reviewed academic paper that I published on this as well, where I interviewed 32, basically 1 percent sellers. So we're talking about people that are having exits that are going to put them in like the 10 million plus net worth [00:32:00] range. So successful, rich people is what I learned is that the real top performers of those that are satisfied versus not satisfied.

Is those that are satisfied have a really clear vision of what they want their life and their role in the company to be post sale, and they surround themselves by competent help that allows them to achieve it. My misconception going into it as a practitioner is like, the best transitions are the ones where the owner gets out of there as quickly as possible.

Simple as that. Clean deal structure, clean exit, let the new operators come in, go from there. You hear the horror stories of, oh, I got a private equity owner now, I'm not happy, or I got a new owner in there and it doesn't work and all that good stuff. So I was like, hey, the right solution is just to get out.

What I found in the research though, is that the true top performers, whether it's that they want to stay on as an advisor, they just want to go back and they want to get lunch with the [00:33:00] team once every month, right? Or whether they want to take a formal chairman role, they've actually given really deep thought to what that is.

And they have taken the years, the time it takes to put the right people around them to structure the right kind of deal with this high level of intentionality that I guess, to an extent, you would almost expect from a really successful business owner. And it's not one size fits all how that looks varies across the board.

So my guidance to those that are thinking about an exit right now is be intentional. About what you want to accomplish and then take vision based action towards that and surround yourself with the right intermediary, with the right competent help to allow you to actually achieve that. And do not get blinded by the price of what people are offering.

And if [00:34:00] that intermediary that you have, or that advisor that you have is pushing you away from what your goals are with it, then get rid of them. Because if you look at the unsatisfied camp, a very common theme there was blinded by the price. And a flawed relationship with what we'll call non competent help.

So key takeaways, vision based action, competent help to surround yourself with in the sale. And then in addition to all the money you have, you might actually be happy as well.

Jeffrey Feldberg: You had it. Okay. So let me make sure I'm understanding what you're saying. So I'm hearing a few things there. So, and I happen to agree with everything that you're saying. This is a page right out of our playbook and you can share, Jeffrey, your on base, off base. But what I'm hearing you say is long before your exit or your liquidity event, number one, make sure the business really runs on its own.

And we spoke about that earlier, finding employees that can become team members who have that entrepreneurial mindset, but they're basically running the business for you. They don't need you. They To [00:35:00] be there day in, day out, or in other words, as we love to say here, if you were abducted by aliens and five years later, you return, not only would your business be there, but it'd be bigger and better than five years from when you're abducted and now you're back and you have a flourishing business.

So find the right people around you. Business wise, team wise, employee wise to help run the business, to take you out of the business. So you're running really more like a board of director, if you choose to, and you're freeing up your time to do more of those creative things. So we've done that. And then if I heard you right, what I'm also hearing you say is when it comes time for your liquidity event, I couldn't agree more.

We talk a lot about this in our nine step roadmap, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, our 90 day program. It's actually step number six, the advisory team. Don't even think about doing this on your own and find the right advisors, whether it be an investment banker or an M& A lawyer or a tax specialist or a wealth advisor.

Do that early, surround yourself with them. And I want to circle back to something that you said. You said, don't let the price blind you and [00:36:00] have you turn the other way. And I suppose we could say the same thing when we're looking to hire team members. Don't let what someone's asking for, if they're world class, have you shy away from that.

So let me put a pause in right there. There's some more to come, but wanted to see how am I doing on base or off base so far,

Reid Tileston: Yeah, generally generally I'm based, and this is your area of expertise as well. But what I will say is what's so unique about academic research, right? Is that I can talk about my own experience with it, which I will. But ultimately, it's not my experience. It's the experience of others, right? And what I learned by studying others.

And a critical part of it is that, again, if you want to be satisfied with your sale, right? If you want to be unsatisfied with your sale, then, do the things that you just said don't do and that I said not to do and everything. But if you want to be satisfied, Yes, when it comes to the ultimate offers that you receive for the business, do not be blinded by high prices.

That was a very common theme among people that [00:37:00] were unsatisfied because the price ended up being a shocking mechanism, right? Just like, you know, Odyssey has seen the sirens, right? It was a shocking mechanism that allowed them to ignore True utility points, which are standard things. How's the culture going to be maintained?

What is my role going to be post sale? So know that price, even for really sophisticated, smart people, again, business owners that you're talking multi million dollars of EBITDA, successful business owners, smart people, just like you, are not immune to being blinded by the price and having significant regrets afterwards. Secondly, to build on what you said, will personally tell you that I think that if you find the right competent help, it is truly invaluable. I would personally pay incessant amounts of money for the right competent help. It's critical though. So, that you realize the [00:38:00] competent help that you surround yourself with, the critical factor in the satisfied sellers is that the competent help was on board with the intrinsic motivation of what the seller's post sale vision was, and they did not attempt to push them away from that.

That is where the unsatisfied camp goes. So when you choose those advisors, one, you got to have a clear vision of what you want And second, you need to make sure that the advisor is there to support you, maybe nudge you a little bit, but support you for what your core goals are from the sale and not allow something like being blinded by a high price to distract you from what your original vision was.

So there's a common theme among the satisfied group of intentionality in these sales.

Jeffrey Feldberg: absolutely Reid at Deep Wealth. It's actually step three, future buyer. What we have our participants do is to create what we call deal points and no fly [00:39:00] zones. So what must absolutely be in the deal? That if it isn't there, I'm walking away. What must not be in the deal? So in other words, if it is there, I'm going to be walking away.

And we do that well in advance, well before we're in market. So we have a clarity. We can communicate this to all of our advisors. They know there's no surprises. And this way, if we get blinded by some really high numbers that come in for what the business may be worth, we still know what our North star is.

Yeah, that's a great offer, but I don't want to be doing this, or I don't want to be doing that. And that can really help along the way. And I want to go off to the side here for just a minute, because offline, you're saying, Jeffrey, yeah, this is some of your podcasts. I don't agree with you that an unsolicited offer is the worst offer and Reidfull disclosure.

I've only heard one time where an unsolicited offer was actually the right thing to do. It was when Waze got bought by Google. I was fortunate enough to be in the room where one of the co founders was talking and he said, Hey, we got a fax. It was from Google. It was a billion dollars. We had 24 hours to say yes or no.

And he said to himself, well. Could [00:40:00] I build my company to be worth more? Maybe. Do I want to do it? Not so sure. Let me take the offer. And yes, a billion dollars sounds like a terrific, in this situation, unsolicited offer. What's your take on that? What did you want to share with me that maybe an unsolicited offer should be considered?

Because otherwise it's really off the table for us here at Deep Wealth, as would be an earn out. That's banished the E word here at Deep Wealth. What's going on with unsolicited offers?

Reid Tileston: Yeah, you know, there's a number of experience sharers that I've seen so much I've studied some I haven't, but think about unsolicited offer from for example, one of your key team members says, you know what, Jeffrey, I want to take over this business. And it's wow, this makes a lot of sense.

I think you'd be a great owner. Let's talk about a transition to get you here, whether it's through maybe an ESOP structure, although I wouldn't talk more about that or just do some kind of, sBA financing to get you here. So unsolicited offers can come from a variety of areas and where I've seen a lot of them actually come successfully from.

And I coach people on this that want to go out and buy businesses as I say, you know, if you worked at a business for a while and you're in that position think about how [00:41:00] you could position yourself to be the owner. And then when the time is right, have that conversation and say, you know what? I want to own this business. I'm creating equity value for you. I want to be the business owner. And so I think that there's a critical relational aspect of that, that can be a powerful form of an unsolicited offer. So particularly one time, I think it could make sense is in the sense of cultivating your team members, or if you are a team member right now, thinking about, you know what?

I like that life the owner has. I want to be there at some point. Let's create a roadmap, for getting there. Ultimately, I've sold to private equity backed strategics, I've sold to individuals, I've sold to consolidators, I've sold to a variety of different avatars. What I will tell you is that there's no right one, there's no wrong one, but just think about what message you're trying to send, do you believe that private equity is good for the U. S.? Great, then sell to a private equity firm. Do you believe you want to empower more business owners? Then sell to maybe one of your employees. Just be thoughtful about that and be [00:42:00] open to the idea that maybe that offer could come from someplace that was before you even thinking about it.

And I think in that case, I've seen it come from team members in current companies.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Reid, let me ask you something. As you're talking about all these things, and you've really been blessed, you've had a lot of experiences, you've had success that goes along with that. Not many people can say that. The question I'm going to ask, you would be right to say, Jeffrey, it's such a general question.

Everyone's journey, it's different, it's unique, it's hard to generalize, but I'm going to ask it anyways. So generally speaking, from the research that you've done, from the entrepreneurs that you've spoken to, really what you've seen with your own journey as entrepreneurs? What would be, I guess it's a two part question here.

So the first part is, and then I'll flip it, what are we doing right, generally speaking, as entrepreneurs, the more successful ones, and then where are we just missing the boat? Where are we not saying, or we're buying into these myths that don't exist that are holding us back ultimately from our success?

Reid Tileston: I think that [00:43:00] entrepreneurs do it right when they have the mentality that if I'm not all in, I am in the way. This journey, being a business owner, is not for everybody. It's hard, there's challenges, there's all kinds of issues that come up. Really, as a starting point, If you're not all in, you're in the way.

If you're halfway in, you're halfway out. I really think that those of us, and thank you for saying that. I don't really think of myself as being successful. That's my own emotional issues, right? I think we have that part of it, we really know how difficult this is. I think we're, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we oftentimes struggle.

Is really surrounding ourselves with the right people and being too slow to separate those relationships when it's not right. I'm in a number of peer groups, and I will tell you the most common issue that we talk about is people. And whenever I'm the one in the hot seat, and it's about my people problem, I have every reason why [00:44:00] I should just keep on investing in the individual and not let them go.

Yeah, when I'm on the other side of that, it's the opposite. It's like, no, you gotta let that person go immediately. So it's much easier said than done. But it's not just people, it also gets to service providers. If you're working with someone, Jeffrey, and you see them working with a different intermediary and you're just like, Oh, it's so bad.

If only they were with me, it could be so much better. You can see that as an outsider, but oftentimes like the individual themselves doesn't always see that and keeping the wrong people around you. It's such a negative anchoring effect. So if I had a magic wand and there was one thing that I could change about entrepreneurial business owners now, it would be that it would be just for them to be able to see.

The negative impact that certain people around them have so that they could just immediately cut it out or cut it out in a way that's very intelligent. If it needs a couple months, I get it, but just get that person out of there. So then you're freed up to be in the coffee shop where that crazy lady grabs your arm and you [00:45:00] get that person in your life because now the possibilities are endless.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Reid, as you're talking about that, I'm really reflecting back on the brilliant job that you've done in the book, Grit It Done. And again, for our listeners in the show notes is a point and click because really you're talking about that, chapter two, assess your readiness and it's all part of the mindset.

Or when we're in the business, again, you're talking about the peer groups. I believe that's chapter seven where you're talking all about that. And what's interesting, you really distilled a Your experience, and it sounds like from your research side, those experiences of not just you, it's not a data point of one, it's from many others.

And you've put that all into really nine accessible strategies that we could take today and deploy right away and begin to get results with that. And that reminds me, you know, before we go into our wrap up mode, I'm wondering, you know, Reid, is there a question I didn't ask or a topic that we haven't spoken about, or is there a message that you want to get out to the community?

Reid Tileston: Jeffrey, you did a fantastic job and I greatly appreciate it. Ultimately, with the book Grit It [00:46:00] Done, I think that business ownership is something that every single American should consider. And entrepreneurial business ownership is a path that every current business owner should consider. So if you have a friend, if you have a neighbor, if you have someone that just kind of has that fire, have them read the book, it's a great first step.

And if you're in a situation where you're thinking about, Oh, what do I want to do next? read the book because you'll find the frameworks in there that have worked for me. But also I combine them with my personal stories. There's a nice emotional element to it as well. Ultimately, as business owners, we make the country better.

So I'm just empowered and inspired to have as many people look at this path as possible. But thank you so much for having me on. I greatly appreciate the time. And I think you're doing great work here, helping business owners level up, think about what their next steps are. And clearly you have a structured process.

You've been doing this a while. So just keep up the excellent work, Jeffrey. I could not be happier for the stuff you're doing.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, we thank you, but not so quick, not so quick. We have our tradition here on the Deep Wealth

Reid Tileston: Yep [00:47:00] yep,

Jeffrey Feldberg: where I get to ask the same question to all the guests, but before I go there for our final wrap up, and thank you so much for the kind words, what I really appreciated is so oftentimes we go out there and we hear the flavor of the day or the strategy of the month.

And it's just really fluff. With what you've done and what I really appreciate with the grid at done is it actually works and you've distilled it into something that anybody could follow. And just even in the brief conversation, I mean, truth be told, every one of your chapters could have been an episode that we could have done a deep dive on, but really appreciate how you're making it so much better out there for entrepreneurs.

Because I agree with you, Reed, for entrepreneurs, the heart of entrepreneurship, we make society a better place. We solve the painful problems. We allow people to do really what they want to do. My personal belief, when we help enough people get what they want, eventually, over time, we get what we want. And in that order, not the other way around.

So really appreciate what you're doing and how you're putting that out there. So let me ask you [00:48:00] this. So we do go into wrap up mode. It's my favorite question here. It's really a fun one. Let me set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that can take you to any point in time.

So Reid, imagine now it's tomorrow morning. Here's the fun part. The DeLorean car, when you look outside your window, the DeLorean car is curbside. The door is open. It's waiting for you to hop on in, which you do. And you're now going to go to any point in time, Reid as a young child, Reid as a teenager, whatever point in time that would be, what would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom, or, hey, Reid, do this, but don't do that, what would it sound like?

Reid Tileston: the one piece of advice I give myself is early in my career when I was a top performing, multi unit, Anytime Fitness Club owner, I caught Lonely Ownership Syndrome. I wish at that point, I had the franchise, I had my club owners, they were good as pure groups. I'm not dinging them, but I wish at that point, I had gone out and joined something like EO or looked into joining YPO.

I had a nice little empire at that time, so I might've been able to get in. I wish I had found that peer group earlier because [00:49:00] ultimately I went to business school to find that peer group and business school was great for me, but I always wonder if I'd found that peer group before I went to business school, how things might've turned out differently.

Part of my gut is that maybe they would have turned out, they turned out really well, but boy, maybe they would have turned out better. I've had so many great experiences with peer groups later in my life, I wish I'd found them when I was in my, mid twenties with my fitness club.

So, a key takeaway for your audience is that if you don't have like that, if you don't have that peer group yet, right now, find a peer group. And diligence, a number of them, just find the one that really resonates with you. Or if you don't find one, start your own, but find that peer group. There's so much upside waiting for you.

you don't have one yet, I'm super excited for you. And if you're in one that doesn't quite feel like it's the right fit, then, get out of it and find another one. Because when you find that right peer group, oh, I think things for me and for others I've seen have been life changing.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. It really is lonely at the top. And so two [00:50:00] things coming out of this episode, because for every episode, we love for our listeners to have a low hanging fruit, low effort, high impact. One, get Reid's book, Reidit down and go to the show notes, click on the links, get it. And two, find a peer group, or if you're in a peer group, ask, hey, is this really working for me?

And if it isn't, find one that does. Well, Reid, it's official. Congratulations. It's a wrap. And as we'd love to say here on the Deep Wealth Podcast, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Reid Tileston: Thank you. Appreciate it. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. Did you find this episode helpful? Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

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And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much. God bless.