475 | Why I Turned Down $600 Million for My Business | Negotiate Like A Pro

Sep 2

[00:00:00] Chaz Wolfe (2): Have you ever looked at the competition and wondered how to turn them into your friend instead of your enemy? What does it take to build a real relationship in business, even in a high pressure situation? What do you do when the FBI knocks at your door? This is Driven to Win, the show that helps you, the entrepreneur who wants to win in all areas and isn't afraid to do the work to get there.
[00:00:21] Chaz Wolfe (2): I'm your host, Chas Wolf. My mission on this show is to help driven entrepreneurs grow and win in all areas. Today. I welcome Jeremy Delk. He's a serial entrepreneur, investor, and speaker. This guy has got a unique ability to win in tough negotiations. He's built several multimillion dollar empires in different industries, and he's even come face to face with the FBI.
[00:00:43] Chaz Wolfe (2): Jeremy's journey is a Testament to the idea that you are not done until you say so in this episode, Jeremy shares his tips on how to negotiate like a pro. And he tells us the story of turning down a 600 million offer for his business, right before he gets raided by the FBI. And he gives us a parenting hack that he wants every entrepreneur to steal from him.
[00:01:06] Chaz Wolfe (2): So if you want to learn how to win in business by building authentic connections and mastering the art of negotiation, just keep on watching.

[00:01:15] Chaz Wolfe: You have this immense ability to communicate and negotiate. Uh, we can maybe throw on some other terms there, but specifically with your competitors, people who might be seen as competitors, but you have this way about you time and time again, through your story where you've turned competitors into allies or even alliances.
[00:01:33] Chaz Wolfe: Um, talk about that. Talk about negotiation and communication specifically, but, but with that particular lane, right?
[00:01:39] Jeremy Delk: Yeah. I mean, I'm just a firm believer that, you know, people do business with people, right? And I don't care what business or industry you're in or at what level. And I think part of that started for me, like I went to school and got the grades and did all that stuff in college. I, I don't know that I've really applied much.
[00:01:59] Jeremy Delk: I own hotels and stuff now and different business stuff, but I don't know that I've applied a ton. Um, uh, like, Because I didn't go to school for a trade. I wasn't a doctor, lawyer, engineer, but what I learned in college is I was so curious. I grew up in this small town in Bardstown, Kentucky, and like, You know, they're just diversity wasn't there.
[00:02:17] Jeremy Delk: I mean, it was, you know, much, you know, I wasn't really redneck, but like just a country town, you know, we had a small african american um, population and that was really it. So to go to school in Providence and meet people from Europe and Asia and just different socioeconomic backgrounds, um, That curiosity that they, that's probably what drives me in business is that curiosity of just meeting people and kind of talking and being able to relate.
[00:02:40] Jeremy Delk: And I think that's what I pride myself in, in being able to do because it's genuine. I can talk to, you know, the guy that's taking out trash. I just left a job site that we're doing a commercial conversion. Um, to residential downtown and one of the guys, I mean, he's the nicest guy ever. And I always make sure to say, hi, how's it going, buddy?
[00:02:58] Jeremy Delk: Kind of going through and I can, you know, text two or three of my billionaire friends and have that same, same rapport. And I'm just who I am. And I'm just authentic. And kind of, you either, maybe I'm a little polarizing. You either like me or, or don't like me. I think it's, it's binary. I found that You know, when negotiating or when doing something, if, you know, you hear everyone hears like a win win or, you know, it's gotta be, you know, no one's happy with a good deal, right?
[00:03:23] Jeremy Delk: That neither side is really happy. I've always tried to negotiate, um, from the other side of the table and, and really kind of genuinely understand like what's important for and also asking that because so many times, um, You go through, like we had, I can, this, this one's apparent right now. Like we were doing, it was a commercial building, law firm, couple of tenants, and we're happy to keep some where they were happy to go, but we're converting the building to residential and I'm the nicest guy until I'm pushed.
[00:03:54] Jeremy Delk: And these guys, you know, took it legal. And I just went. Nuclear on them. And all of a sudden now they've, they've come to the realization, like, you know, what, it's probably much easier just talking to Jeremy. And I'm like, yeah, like, let's just kind of resolve it. And it's resolved itself, wasted some couple hundred grand in lawyers.
[00:04:10] Jeremy Delk: So you have to let people go at their own pace, but if you can be genuine and, and come in and approach it, like what's in it for you and what's important to you. And then put your cards on the table. Um, you get to a result much quicker and people appreciate it. And also like some deals aren't meant to happen, right?
[00:04:27] Jeremy Delk: You're never going to work out and Hey, if you just don't align, well, that's okay. At least we know where it is, but communication is the key to everything. Business, personal, you know, relationships, friendships, et cetera.
[00:04:39] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Why do you think that there is, um, or, or maybe, maybe a better question would be, what have you developed to be able to have that perspective of niceness as you call it? I'm the nicest guy until pushed where you, you can have that pleasing personality where you're really genuine and curious. Until we're like, if we got, if you're going to go, you know, lawyers on me, then, then I'm going to go nuclear before that happened, that that was all skill.
[00:05:03] Chaz Wolfe: How did you get that? What would you recommend to the listeners?
[00:05:06] Jeremy Delk: Well, I mean, I think it just goes back to being personal, right? I mean, I take my word at. Like my word, right? I mean, if I tell you I'm gonna do something and it works out bad for me, I'm still gonna do the deal, right? Because my reputation is, is too important to me, um, to kind of break that. So if you really see it.
[00:05:26] Jeremy Delk: are coming in it from a, you know, holistic, genuine approach. You, you, you're putting yourself out there when you kind of go nuclear is when you feel like, Hey, I've made my best effort and you don't want to do it. Well then, okay, then let's, we can agree to disagree and then just let, let it go a different, a different path.
[00:05:44] Chaz Wolfe: What would you say that, um, you know, specifically around the, you know, competitors or people that maybe are, are on the other side of the fence of the negotiation or, or again, maybe an enemy of sorts, but again, you just have like a little bit of a history of kind of turning those into like really great leverage points for yourself.
[00:06:02] Jeremy Delk: If you would have started out and I said, I'm going to go into building materials to making windows in Europe to regenerative medicine company to the, there's no straight line to it, but each one of those had a building block.
[00:06:14] Jeremy Delk: Right. And where I took a little bit of skill and then applied to that different one. So when I said like business is business is business and people do business with people, um, that's, industry agnostic, right? People have the same pieces, whether they're, you know, if in the Virginia medicine space, this was cutting edge new things.
[00:06:31] Jeremy Delk: So while we may be competitors, like we had a, you know, a big suit with this, when that was in the MedEvac days with VET STEM, this whole patent fight litigation. And again, we, I would remember I was in federal court in San Diego, um, with this patent infringement case that was never going to hold water.
[00:06:46] Jeremy Delk: We've already got six figures in this. And. I was frustrated, but we had never talked and I kind of, you know, saw him in the hallway. We're in mediation. CEO of Betstem, San Diego based company. And I said, listen, uh, and I was bluffing, I said, I've got 5 million in an extra war chest just in legal that I'll fucking just burn up in legal.
[00:07:09] Jeremy Delk: I will undercut your, I'll just do whatever, cause I'm stupid. And I, and I go through there. Here's the reality. We are a lot more alike. Then we are different Merck and Pfizer are not fighting. They're going through and trying to get their piece of the pie, but they're not saying non steroidal anti inflammatories are bad.
[00:07:29] Jeremy Delk: They're just saying like, they're going through like, Hey, by my brain, cause it's this packaging or this thing, and they're going after, and then trying to get a market share, but what we're doing is using resources to fight each other in a market that wasn't built. So, and it's just true. I mean, it helps when the, when your argument or your, the fact pattern is, is actually true.
[00:07:47] Jeremy Delk: Um, And then if you can see that, and it just removes the emotion, put the other person's perspective on there and really understand, like, what is their driving piece? Like, why are we here and what is it? And then if you can eliminate it, um, great and come together or kind of go through. And if not, at least you have a mutual respect, right?
[00:08:04] Jeremy Delk: Like wouldn't the 150 grand you spent and I spent do better in our business as opposed to going to these lawyers. And that's kind of the point, like, yeah, it will.
[00:08:11] Jeremy Delk: And. Every time, every single time, it's better to not go for the lawyers. I mean, lawyers are great to mess up deals and, you know, bring this false sense of value on. .
[00:08:22] Chaz Wolfe: Exactly. You kind of started the conversation here around some of the meta meta vet stuff and how some of that went south. But what my 1st question on that was. Kind of along the same lines of negotiation and your ability to communicate you, you had like a 600 million evaluation on that tailor made business.
[00:08:43] Chaz Wolfe: How do you think the skillset that we just got in talking about your ability to negotiate and, or, you know, kind of play, not play both sides of the fence, but be able to hear, communicate, be curious, be curious. How did that play into that evaluation? Do you think?
[00:08:56] Jeremy Delk: Well, I mean, we were in a really, um, we were in a really good place. So anytime you can negotiate from a position of power, um, it's a huge, huge advantage.
[00:09:07] Jeremy Delk: It was that mission driven goal that was bigger than me. That was the driving force on the human side with Taylor made. Um, we were just, it was a rocket ship. I mean, we were just, we were the first ones that introduced and now it's mainstream. I mean, Osempic, um, which is like the biggest blockbuster drug right now.
[00:09:27] Jeremy Delk: That's a peptide. We were doing that, you know, Eight years ago before off label kind of going through. So peptides, we were the kind of group that brought it to this country. And, um, we were just on a, you know, rocket ship to the moon and our growth over, over time was massive. I owned it with a partner 50 50, and I was making, um, yeah, I don't know, maybe close to a million dollars a month.
[00:09:49] Jeremy Delk: Like, I've got, you know, three, you know, 1 billion different. I would consider a really good friend to acquaintances. And I can tell you, Chaz, like we didn't live much different, right? I mean, that's an obscene amount of money to, it's hard to spend. It's, I mean, you're not, you don't need for anything. Um, you have all the things taken care of and it's great.
[00:10:10] Jeremy Delk: So for me. What, um, the, the piece, so they, they contacted us unsolicited. We weren't in a process. And I literally just told the guy like, Hey, I'm probably going to be pretty hard to deal with. I'm a nice guy, but I'm going to be pretty tough. Um, and if it's not like a pretty material, um, nine figure, uh, number, don't even waste your time.
[00:10:31] Jeremy Delk: He's like, Nope, we got like, you know, a couple billion to deploy. And we've done two acquisitions and. We're able to go. So that's how the conversation started. So I set the precedent there, which is great. Someone comes to you and you've already pushed them away. They want me more and it just kind of goes through.
[00:10:48] Jeremy Delk: And we went through that whole process. And I, I'm asked this all the time, because obviously, you know, the story, I sold it for a lot less than 600 million. Um, and like, I'm always asked, like, would you do it again? And the answer, yeah, a hundred percent of the time, because for me, the decision to do it was, it was arrogant.
[00:11:06] Jeremy Delk: Right. But I don't know, I've got my company that we've got now. I think that's my next kind of play that, you know, build a billion dollar business, but it's very rare air, right. To be able to build a billion dollar company. At that time, that's all that was. I thought that was my only shot on goal to, to do it.
[00:11:23] Jeremy Delk: So I was confident, like if we've just tripled year over year, if they're willing to pay me 600 now, they're going to pay me a billion next year. Um, and if they don't, who cares? I'm like, my life was not going to change. Uh, what, when, where the other way, this wasn't when some negative earnings growth thing, but we're going to get a big liquidity event.
[00:11:40] Jeremy Delk: Um, So those are always easier to be a super smart guy. Um, when, uh, when you're in that position to power and yeah.
[00:11:48] Chaz Wolfe: Well, spoiler alert on that is that obviously your life did change,
[00:11:52] Jeremy Delk: Oh yeah.
[00:11:52] Chaz Wolfe: um, drastically, um, within a very short period of time there, um, give us just a smidge of that story. You've kind of hinted at it a couple of times, but give us a little bit of that story in it, which obviously led you down, but then eventually, you know, back up.
[00:12:05] Jeremy Delk: Yeah, man. So, um, we turned down that offer, um, for that money. And then I don't remember the timeline, some things you try to block out, but you know, less than a week or two later, um, I was at the gym and I got calls from my office and, um, the FBI raided our pharmacy and. Um, which is just absolutely nuts and like freaked out a hundred and some employees took 3 million worth of inventory from us.
[00:12:32] Jeremy Delk: And, you know, mind you, like, we didn't go into this, like, you know, half cocked. We had a lot of really good lawyers, um, a lot of good regulatory folks, you know, massive QA QC, you know, out of like, I think, four or 5 million, um, doses. We had like. A handful of reactions. And that was like injections, like redness, like, like a beastie.
[00:12:52] Jeremy Delk: Like, I mean, so the safety profile, and that's usually where these things happen. Like this is all cash pay. Usually you see a healthcare kind of deal go up when you've killed somebody like new England compound is coming pharmacy. Like they had meningitis outbreak everywhere that was on the hospitals and just in sanitary conditions.
[00:13:08] Jeremy Delk: Like, that's usually what you hear. We're like, man, I can get every, every single A list celebrity you've ever heard of. Our patients and friends that will kind of say, like, we're helping people. So it was like, what did we do? And that was tough for, I think, government to the degree, like, were there, what's the, what's the victim story?
[00:13:25] Jeremy Delk: Like you need a victim. And there really isn't, isn't that a, that piece,
[00:13:29] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.
[00:13:32] Jeremy Delk: uh, they raided us on the pretense. On the Medivac business that I had sold, um, years prior, they, um, they took out an equine component and, um, dumped it into this whole doping, um, racehorse doping story, which I kind of talk a little bit about, like, some nuances to that of like, what's doping versus repair because just so, so many people.
[00:13:52] Jeremy Delk: Not the way the company was vision, but that's how it kind of got bumped them to. So the narrative I think that they thought was, Hey, we were making all of these horse drugs, um, in the pharmacy and gotcha. Well, it just wasn't the case. Right? So they took 3 million worth of stuff. Never found anything in equine, not, not nothing there.
[00:14:13] Jeremy Delk: I never got my 3 million bucks of stuff back. And, you know, we're like, okay. And I remember one of the officers, um, that was there told one of my staff, like, you know, cause the staff like freaked out, like, are we going to have a job tomorrow? And. They're like, I don't know if that'd be, I just raid my office.
[00:14:30] Jeremy Delk: I don't think you probably do. And I, I, you know, think that, you know, maybe the expectation was that we'd probably would have shelved it. And, but again, I had some money, so we just threw in a few more million bucks back in and just picked right back up, um, where we went off and kept, kept serving people.
[00:14:46] Jeremy Delk: And, you know, I didn't talk about this, but like, we, we grew a company from zero to 60 million a year runway, you know, two employees to 150. So we've definitely made some mistakes along the, along that path.
[00:15:00] Jeremy Delk: And, you know, my previous criminal history was, you know, surmised by speeding tickets in my Ferrari, right?
[00:15:08] Jeremy Delk: That's like, that's my, that's my background. I was never indicted, but there's a threat, right. Of like, there's a peanut going through, like, after they figured out this guy, isn't related to the horse stuff.
[00:15:18] Jeremy Delk: It's nothing to do with that. The federal government does not miss. They just don't. And, um, there was, you know, just a ton of discovery. We were being super cooperative and, um, Our, our, our regulatory lawyer that we hired before, because I talk about all it in detail with compounding pharmacies, but there's, you know, there was a gray area of whether this was eligible to be compounded and eligible to be compounded, but it had never been enforced and historically, like in Australia, the enforcement was, they just, they just, you know, classified them as like class two narcotics.
[00:15:53] Jeremy Delk: So it has to be prescription. Um, to, to get them, well, we were already getting prescriptions. So like we just thought like the downside would be a little bit more regulatory and we'd already kind of solved for that. Um, but our lawyer kind of said like, Hey, they're not going to come at you for that.
[00:16:05] Jeremy Delk: They're going to get you with, with, um, they're going to get you with something else. And there's something else. And again, not to get nausea, but 503 a is a patient specific company. So if I'm a doctor, I have to write a prescription for Jeremy Delk. I've got to write one for Chas Wolf. 503 B is like.
[00:16:22] Jeremy Delk: Cubans cost plus meds, right? That's a 503 B where they're doing like bulk manufacturing. So you don't need an individual script. You can send 20 descriptions to a doctor and they dispense him there. Well, we had distributed maybe 100 and something doses of methylcobalamin, which is vitamin B 12 to a doctor friend in Beverly Hills.
[00:16:43] Jeremy Delk: So I'm a, I'm a convicted vitamin B 12.
[00:16:48] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:58] Jeremy Delk: Cause like, again, never indicted, but the, the, the threats of like, you know, I hope everyone can read my book and like how to deal with the fucking ready to just, I mean, the amount of pressure that.
[00:17:08] Jeremy Delk: It put on me was just nuts, but you get a really quick tutorial on crim law, right? It's if you have a product Let's your bio you've got a couple of brick and mortar building. What's your what's your friend is that you have?
[00:17:22] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Edible arrangements is the brain.
[00:17:24] Jeremy Delk: Okay. So if you happen to do anything wrong with edible arrangements ever, right?
[00:17:31] Jeremy Delk: And the fruit was, you know, illegal. If you ever sent an email, um, electronic communication about said edible arrangements, that is wire fraud. And then if you ever took a dollar. From, from the business and bought like a bottle of Pellegrino and spent any of it that because they're illicit gains, illicit money is money laundering.
[00:17:59] Jeremy Delk: So now speeding tickets to never indicted, but the threat of mail fraud and money laundering and, um, and wire fraud. So. Which are 20 year things now, they're not really 20 years because like for time offenders and all that kind of stuff, but, uh, I had some money that I could either fight or, um, you know, pay some fines and some penalties and have the certainty.
[00:18:23] Jeremy Delk: So it was, it was a very uncertain time for 6 months that I just was very uncomfortable. And I'm like, Hey, I'm happy just to get the fuck out of this thing. And how do we, how do we go on? And, uh, and, and that's the cliff notes
[00:18:37] Jeremy Delk: version of it.
[00:18:37] Chaz Wolfe: I want to ask you about, you know, kind of coming out of that before I do that, you made a comment about the, just the pressure in that moment, you know, of whatever that was, uh, that they're putting it on you. But what it made me think of is obviously just the, you know, the indictments, however many 34 or whatever that, that, uh, Donald Trump has been, you know, pressed on and I think of the pressure.
[00:18:57] Chaz Wolfe: And so. You know, like what you just described and then thinking of his last situation over the last year, regardless of political stance, the pressure has to be just incredibly immense.
[00:19:07] Jeremy Delk: It is. And I mean, the, the pressure, it's just the fear, the fear of your freedom being taken from you is fucking like no other. The threat of not being able to touch your kids at night. Like there's nothing else. And like, I, one of the billionaires I talked about in the book, but it was the best advice.
[00:19:25] Jeremy Delk: He's like, Jeremy, you've got some resources. They have all the resources. Right. You need to get out of here with a fucking flesh wound and not a, not a fatal shot because so many people like, you know, and it's very easy to be an armchair quarterback. Like, man, what'd you do? Like, you help people like you can fight this.
[00:19:42] Jeremy Delk: You just don't victim like really fucking easy to say when the gun's not at your head.
[00:19:47] Jeremy Delk: I highly respect authorities, government, and just was, yeah, I was like, this, this is not, not for me. So the pressure kind of was that cooker and it fucked me up for a while.
[00:19:57] Jeremy Delk: Um, probably a good, you know, six to nine months, I sold everything that was And like, how could that was like a supplement business? I was just like, I don't want to fucking be in that realm. And that was like the first time where I felt like I was losing myself a little bit because like, you know what, why am I doing it?
[00:20:21] Jeremy Delk: And I was, I had, again, I got, we got the houses in the car and we have all the shit. I got a family, like, why am I doing it? And I just, yeah, so it, it, it threw me back. You know, I, I sold a lot of stuff for like fire sales. So I didn't have, you know, my, my, you know how it is. Like if you had a certain income threshold, it's really hard to fucking unwind that, right.
[00:20:43] Jeremy Delk: I mean, you just get comfortable. I remember when I was like making 200 grand a year, um, in my 20s on wall street, I was like, that's a, I'm, I'm basically a billionaire now. That's like, I mean, I'm, I, we're, we're on the
[00:20:53] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, I can do that.
[00:20:54] Jeremy Delk: Yeah, no. And, uh, it hurt, but, um, what I've learned and I, and that's why I share that story at grave detail.
[00:21:03] Jeremy Delk: I share the story with a really bad divorce and, you know, a lot of self help work that I've been doing on myself and counseling is that humans innately are, um, hyper resilient. But we're also very, you know, smart and programmed to be self protective. So why my stories, I mean, I think the closing of my book, like what my, you know, my life's, you know, uh, what was the line?
[00:21:28] Jeremy Delk: Something like it's, you know, of like sex, drugs and rock and roll or something like that, but, um, it makes for a great story, but not a great life. And I think that, you know, when you go back and you, you look at some of these traumas and you look at some of these things, I'm not special. I probably had a lot more extreme things happen.
[00:21:47] Jeremy Delk: Good and bad. Right. Um, super high, high, super low lows. Um, I always talk when I'm either coaching clients or, you know, speaking on stage is that. I'm not special. Like I lost my dad when I was seven. Like we've all experienced loss. We've all had losses in business and in personal life. And it's always been, there's everyone has had a worst day where this is it.
[00:22:11] Jeremy Delk: It's the end of it, but now they're listening to your podcast. A month ago that happened or six years ago that happened or whatever humans, because we want to protect ourselves emotionally. We, we, we tune those out and I'm not one for looking back in dwelling. I look back at that and give myself strength of like, man, look what you come through.
[00:22:31] Jeremy Delk: Right? I have a, in my car club, I've got this quote. I think I saw from Jesse. I did sell from Jesse. Um, it's, or, um, I met him out in California. Um, him and Sarah Blakely were at this war room when I was in and I added because I curse a lot, but, uh, you know, you haven't come this fucking far only to come this fucking far and that is how I live my life, right?
[00:22:53] Jeremy Delk: Like, Hey, let's not make the same mistake twice. Let's kind of go through and go. And that started 20 years ago. I give the correlation. Those two big events. I would have never started Delk Enterprises and had the balls to leave a high paying job on Wall Street where I was making twice as much money as my, as both my mom and my stepdad if I didn't ask myself the question.
[00:23:12] Jeremy Delk: And the question was, what's the fucking worst can happen? And, and there's no way that it's going to be worse than. Ripping up 2 million bucks in four days. So, and I got through that shit and I built myself back. So that's what I kind of talked through in the lesson that hopefully people take away is that don't dwell on it, but remember like we've, you've gotten through shit.
[00:23:31] Jeremy Delk: You, you, you, everyone that's listening has gotten through something hard. Use that as fuel to give you confidence because this fear of failure, which I have a whole, I can go forever on failure. This fear is fucking unbearable. all between your ears, right? That's it. And in most of it is driven around What you think people are going to think.
[00:23:58] Jeremy Delk: And the reality is no one fucking cares about you, right? Maybe your mom, maybe what, but no one else care. And your kids it's, they care about themselves. You'll be the talk of the town. And why I, so I mentioned writing the book for my kids.
[00:24:10] Jeremy Delk: If you look at their legal documents, that's all what's happened, right?
[00:24:13] Jeremy Delk: But you look at these fucking news articles that are out that, that kind of were coming out around the time. This is a very small town. I'm like calling my lawyers. I'm like, whoa, alright. We doing a press conference? Like, what are we gonna say? And they're like, duck, you're fucking saying nothing like you are saying you shut the fuck up.
[00:24:27] Jeremy Delk: Just ignore it. Like, and that was the hardest thing for me because. You know, there was some inaccurate things, I guess, that just leave that I wrote the book, um, solely, um, to, you know, one day, you know, my kids are going to, you know, know about this and kind of go through and I at least want to hear like my, my piece of it.
[00:24:50] Jeremy Delk: And, and again, I don't glamorize it at all. I mean, I took all the responsibility then the book and acknowledge what it is, but it's, uh, It's tough. I've, I've been, I've been very blessed and fortunate because I've, I've had a third act. Right. And usually when you go through something like this, um, you know, I would be, I would be a pharmacist or I would be, I, I, when this happened.
[00:25:12] Jeremy Delk: I, I still had other businesses that were kind of going through. So like, I mean, like, so I was, I was able to make decisions that were, I guess, a higher moral guy. Like we, we, I sold the business for 6 million bucks at an offer for 12. Um, but they would have just moved the book. So this is right. This is March of 2020.
[00:25:31] Jeremy Delk: So right when COVID was happening. And in Nicholasville, where we talked about gentleman that you had on before I live there, man, like I'm not gonna like 6 million is not an immaterial amount of money, but it's I'd move. I would have to move. It was not worth me fucking going to a Walmart or fucking to a restaurant and seeing someone that I displaced out of a fucking job during a pen.
[00:25:54] Jeremy Delk: And now. Sold it to some friends for half the money and they just, it looks like a 15 million. I've only seen it from the street, but a 15 million expansion and they're growing and still hiring people. So that is worth fucking way more to me than the money.
[00:26:09] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, you said, um, you would maybe rewrite the story of, you know, sex, drugs and, and, uh, rock and roll. What would be the 3 replacement words that you would rewrite the story with?
[00:26:17] Jeremy Delk: It's a good question. Um, I mean, I think the, the first would be, um, I think just love. Right. Like true, like love, vulnerability and authenticity. There you go. Just, I think that that would be the biggest piece because that's what's all about the rest of this is all bullshit. And I know it's easy to say like, you know, and sometimes you just like, Oh, well, easy for you to say, cause you're not going through it, man.
[00:26:45] Jeremy Delk: Dude, I've got fucking struggles. Like, you know, I've got all kinds of struggle. I'm always entrepreneurs are always pushing the limits. Um, what I'm saying is struggles like financially, like kind of going through, like everyone, you get this perception. Oh, you got all this stuff to you. Much debt. I have, you know, like it's, it's, it's a game, man.
[00:26:59] Jeremy Delk: Like you're, you're, you're kind of going through and you're building. And I think that you get paid. I'm going to die tangibly. Someone said that, you know, you get paid, uh, in, you know, parallel for the size of problem you solve and the amount of pressure you can take. And I think that's totally true. You know, All that being said, I do this business stuff cause I love it.
[00:27:20] Jeremy Delk: I love the game. I love it. Like I'll never stop. Right. That's my passion. I love creative. I love taking something like the building that we're doing downtown. It was for sale for three years. I'm not smart. Like it was like, why anyone could have done what I did? I'm just the one that did it now. It's wow.
[00:27:37] Jeremy Delk: It's, it's great, but I love that kind of piece of the process. And,
[00:27:42] Chaz Wolfe: Department
[00:27:43] Jeremy Delk: it's gives me purpose and I enjoy it. But it's not real, right? None of this other shit's real. It's all about the experiences that you have the family, your presentness, that kind of stuff.
[00:27:56] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. You've mentioned family a couple of times. Um, you know, gathering the Kings, we talk about winning in all areas and family marriage is a big part of that. Um, you've got some uniqueness. Um, obviously you've got three kids now. They went through some of that stuff with you, but you know, the, the scary moment that you mentioned there was not being able to tuck my kids in.
[00:28:13] Chaz Wolfe: Why, why is that important to you? Being able to tuck your kids in something so
[00:28:18] Jeremy Delk: I mean, it was the threat of not being able
[00:28:21] Chaz Wolfe: Well, right, exactly.
[00:28:22] Jeremy Delk: Yeah. And, and, um, and they don't. So, I mean, my, my oldest is 10. So he was, you know, I'm only about five, I guess, or seven when it was going on.
[00:28:30] Jeremy Delk: I went through a divorce and I've, you know, had several buddies that have had divorces.
[00:28:37] Jeremy Delk: Post me and I always kind of, you know, I don't know why I'm the one that come to advice, but my advice has always been, man, if you can fucking figure it out, figure it out, dude, because it fucking sucks. But I 100 percent recognize that I was not, I took it for granted, right? I would, I wasn't happy. We didn't fight my ex wife and I, but we didn't have any passion or connection.
[00:29:01] Jeremy Delk: It was just, it wasn't anything there. And I immersed myself in work. Cause I didn't want to come home. Right. And I, when I was home, I was on my phone and I just wasn't super present. And then all of a sudden when you're on a 50, 50 custody thing, time really gets fucking relative for you. So that unfortunately it took that for me to be a better father.
[00:29:24] Jeremy Delk: Hopefully it doesn't take anyone else to that piece, but you know, don't take it for granted. So that time is so much more precious and that's why I'm blessed to be an entrepreneur because I'm doing pickups and drop offs at school and doing all the stuff, right? Um, that's there. Um, you, you've heard this stat before, you know, we only get 16 summers, I think, right?
[00:29:44] Jeremy Delk: With our kids. Um, I've started doing this thing. I, I've only talked about it, you know, recently, but this four trip challenge, um, I don't know what I'm going to actually end up with to try to really make it a push, but I stole it from someone. And hopefully everyone realistic steals it from me because look, moms are the heroes.
[00:30:01] Jeremy Delk: Moms are the ones that are the rock stars. This is applicable moms for sure, but moms already do so much and had this deeper relationship sometimes than fathers. So I've got this idea where you take each kid on a solo trip wherever they want to go every five years because the kids are growing up at that point.
[00:30:25] Jeremy Delk: So it's 5, 10, 15 and 20, right? That they, uh, that they go and it's just, um, it's been amazing. Like my, my first one was with my son. He picked Lego land when he was five. we did. It's, I mean it doesn't suck, but my kids are five years apart. Um, my wife, my kids are all born between December and February. Like I have zero money at all during those.
[00:30:46] Jeremy Delk: But so every five years I'm just like, I need some loans. But, uh, the way it's like a three month like sprint, like it's the roughest quarter of the year. Um, my, my, uh, my daughter, we did Barbie world. And, uh, had such a good time and it's just like the innate stuff, especially like on the five year old level, we're traveling on an airplane together and it's just dad.
[00:31:06] Jeremy Delk: It's just dad making sure you have three meals a day and like getting to bed and like all the stuff that mom usually does. But that amount of intimacy and connection that you get there because you are 100 percent the caregiver. is so magical. And we have nights and, um, you do the daddy daughter dance, all those things, but you're spectacular.
[00:31:25] Jeremy Delk: But I'm telling you, two or three days are game changing, but then they're fun. Then they adapt. Like my son's probably knows more about cars than I do at this point in the super into cars and either daredevil and Um, I used to do a bunch of business in Dubai. I still do a little bit and he picked Dubai for his 10 year trip.
[00:31:42] Jeremy Delk: And do we had the best time? Um, he's very mature, uh, very mature for his age. And like, we just like the same stuff. So like we rented a bunch of exotic cars and with this got invited to this really cool private zoo and he's zip lining off the buildings and we're eating dinner at, on the set, like the salt Bay guy.
[00:32:00] Jeremy Delk: I mean, just like, So like things that you would do like a buddy, I was doing with my 10 year old. Um, I don't know where, where it goes from there. Maybe we're going to space when he's 20 or something, but, um, you know, it doesn't always have to be these extravagant things either, but the idea of like pacing out every five years is that they remember them so much because.
[00:32:17] Jeremy Delk: It's, it's a thing like in our family now, like we got back from Dubai and like, Ava, where are you going to go for your 10 year dad? It's obviously going to change a million times, but like that thing where it's, you know, I'm getting so much more out of it than they are, but it's going to be experienced as they reach.
[00:32:32] Jeremy Delk: And then at 15, he's going to be a different person. And we're going to be one on one and having different conversations at 20, right? You're kind of going through. So I encourage everyone to do it and you got five years to save up for it. Each one to kind of, you know, do something, but it doesn't matter about the place, um, where you go.
[00:32:47] Jeremy Delk: Uh, it can be camping in the woods or whatever it is, man. But just that one on one time, uh, is just so, uh, it's so invaluable.
[00:32:54] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I agree with you. There's a couple of years ago. I've got, I've got four kids. Um, my daughters are 10, eight and two, and my son is five and a couple of years ago with my 10 and eight year old daughters, they started doing daddy daughter dates. And. And at, you know, at seven and five or whatever it was when we started, you know, sometimes just go up to the shields and ride the Ferris wheel.
[00:33:15] Chaz Wolfe: Um, and it costs a buck and, and they just absolutely loved it. But, but what you described as the individual time and me being present. Is what they remember and then look forward to, you know, because they know that daddy's got all this stuff going on and businesses and people, and they know I'm constantly talking.
[00:33:34] Chaz Wolfe: They're probably just right downstairs, listening to this conversation. But that, that attention, I mean, really, when we want to talk about commodities, right? Like you said, I've got all the stuff. It doesn't, I don't, I can't, I can't get any more stuff.
[00:33:44] Jeremy Delk: Yeah.
[00:33:45] Chaz Wolfe: That the attention or time is, is what we don't, we can't create more of.
[00:33:50] Chaz Wolfe: Um, and it's funny how even a child can like really hone in on the importance of that they can articulate it like we can, but when they have your attention,
[00:33:58] Jeremy Delk: They know it.
[00:34:00] Chaz Wolfe: They know
[00:34:01] Jeremy Delk: Yeah.
[00:34:01] Chaz Wolfe: they're, when they're really, really young, they won't really remember their subconscious is going to remember it. And we're building, you know, the foundations of what it means for a gentleman to treat her or for, uh, my son to see a, a man to do man things. And that's all subconscious at a super young age, but when they're a little bit older, they will remember it's for us too.
[00:34:21] Chaz Wolfe: Like we're, you and me are going to remember those moments, you
[00:34:24] Jeremy Delk: stuff it's so, it's so, it's so good for
[00:34:26] Jeremy Delk: your kids. It's so selfish. Yeah. And that dude, that's, that's it.
[00:34:30] Jeremy Delk: Well, we're not promised tomorrow. And I talk about that, but like, it's my fault. Like none of us are promised tomorrow and take the trip. Now ask to go to marry you now by the company. Now extend their product, whatever it is now do it. There's, there's, you know, there's infinite amount of resource, infinite amount of money, but there's not infinite amount of time.
[00:34:49] Chaz Wolfe: I think you said it best with high highs and low lows, but the way you ended it, it was just swing. Why not?
[00:34:56] Jeremy Delk: yeah, keep swinging, keep swinging. Exactly. Don't stop.
[00:34:59] Chaz Wolfe: All right. That's it for today's episode. Jeremy definitely brought the heat and shared some powerful nuggets with us on how to turn competitors into allies and how to navigate some of the toughest challenges. With authenticity and strength. So to dive deeper into Jeremy's story and strategies, don't forget, he's got a book.
[00:35:14] Chaz Wolfe: It's called without a plan. It's definitely funny. It's real and it's worth a read. So grab it. And if you've enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe and follow along for more inspiration from successful business owners who are winning in all areas, all links are in the show notes right below.
[00:35:29] Chaz Wolfe: Thank you for listening to driven to win. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
[00:35:47] Chaz Wolfe: What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing over two or 300, Other very successful seven, eight and nine figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs.
[00:36:05] Chaz Wolfe: In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling Kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities. And here's what we believe that in the pursuit of excellence in those areas. That it ignites within us, the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
[00:36:28] Chaz Wolfe: So if that relates and resonates with you, and you know, that you need people around you, sharp, qualified, other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings. com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 Kings.
[00:36:47] Chaz Wolfe: Talk soon.

Host Chaz Wolfe welcomes Jeremy Delk, a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and speaker known for his tough negotiations and multiple multimillion-dollar businesses. Delk shares his strategies for building authentic relationships in business, the story behind turning down a $600 million offer and facing an FBI raid, and a valuable parenting hack. Tune in to learn how to turn competitors into allies and navigate high-pressure situations with authenticity and strength.

Jeremy Delk:
linkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremysdelk/

Website : https://delkenterprises.com/

Without A Plan by Jeremy Delk: https://amzn.to/4cdgrkt

Chaz's favorite morning drink to fuel him for his day:

10% off Code: GATHERINGKINGS10