464 | How To Make Millions Selling Your Business

Jul 1

[00:00:00] Josh Wilson: I can't keep living my entire life this way. There's gotta be another way. There's gotta be a better way from that phone call that day. That changed my entire trajectory in my entire life.
[00:00:08] Chaz Wolfe: What's up everybody. Welcome back to gathering the King's podcast. I am your host, Chaz Wolf. Today. We welcome Josh Wilson on the King stage.
[00:00:15] Chaz Wolfe: Josh is the CEO of JW global enterprises, where he buys businesses through M& A and we cover every single angle of his winning strategy. Here's what we discuss. Josh gives five reasons why business owners would want to sell to a holding company. At the end of the day, instead of you getting that 3 million exit, you're going to get,
[00:00:33] Josh Wilson: let's say 10 million for your company on an exit.
[00:00:35] Josh Wilson: It's going to be way more than if you decided to sell it by
[00:00:39] Chaz Wolfe: yourself. We talk about the key traits of Josh's dream team, including how he found and recruited his C suite. I used to have that mentality and mindset that.
[00:00:49] Josh Wilson: If I can't do it, no one else can do it. Learn the hard way that that's not the way to grow and you'll never grow that way.
[00:00:56] Chaz Wolfe: We also talk about the train wreck. This is where Josh shares his story of how he lost over a million dollars on one single investment. I was
[00:01:03] Josh Wilson: full of piss and vinegar and had a huge 25 million dollar real estate portfolio.
[00:01:08] Chaz Wolfe: What could go wrong? Enjoy the show.
[00:01:12] Chaz Wolfe: ,
[00:01:12] Chaz Wolfe: we were just kind of chatting off air a little bit, but you've got, you've got a wide experience and you are in a big transition play, a piece of your life and things going on. And, and so I'm just, this conversation is going to be incredible. I just want to tell the listeners here, but tell us what kind of businesses, the things that you're kind of attached to, there's quite a bit here.
[00:01:32] Chaz Wolfe: So give us the lay of the land.
[00:01:34] Josh Wilson: Yeah. So, we're in four states. We have,~ uh,~ six companies right now and,~ uh,~ over 156 employees. And,~ um, you know, ~we do everything from special needs, transportation to property management, to own med spas,~ um,~ to,~ uh,~ non emergency medical transportation companies. So we do it all right now.
[00:01:48] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ we're really locked in on a specific vertical,~ uh,~ which is the transportation sector. But. We'll jump into that. I'm sure later on here.
[00:01:57] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, well, I love it. My first thing that comes to my mind is that you're, you're,~ uh,~ you're cut from the same cloth that I am. I like lots of stuff, different industries have nothing to do with each other except me. Yeah.
[00:02:08] Josh Wilson: Right.
[00:02:09] Chaz Wolfe: ~You know? ~And so why, what, what is that about you as a serial entrepreneur that you just like lots of stuff?
[00:02:15] Josh Wilson: Honestly, I'm a recovering real estate addict. I had a large portfolio, a built up a 25 million real estate portfolio portfolio last year. ~Uh, ~it took me about 15 years to do it. And,~ uh,~ we sold off pretty much majority of that.
[00:02:27] Josh Wilson: I got a couple of pieces left, but not a whole lot. And,~ um, you know, ~the reason why is because ~Um, you know, ~like most real estate investors were equity rich and cash poor. So I, I just started wanting, I wanted more cashflow. ~Um, you know, ~cashflow is the name of the game and,~ uh,~ one more cashflow. And so I got my eyes opened up to the world of MNA, which mergers and acquisitions.
[00:02:47] Josh Wilson: And I decided to start investing in businesses. I've already owned multiple business before, man, early on. And when I got started,~ uh,~ believe it or not, I was a DJ and,~ uh,~ that was my first exit of a business. ~Um, ~I started a DJ. I started a wedding production company,~ uh,~ when I was like 16 or 17 and,~ uh,~ ended up selling it when I was like 19 or 20 for like 25, 000 to my employee and his dad.
[00:03:09] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ that was my first, like, that was my first entrance into the M& A space. And,~ um,~ ever since then, I've always started businesses, but now,~ uh,~ it's a lot easier just to acquire them. So that's what I do.
[00:03:21] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, well, we're definitely gonna get into a bunch of,~ uh,~ M and a talk here today for sure. But I loved honestly how you gave yourself credit for that 25 K exit. ~Um, ~because it was, and, and I just, I actually, I'm being serious here. ~Um, ~why is that part of your story? Why is it important that it's part of your story?
[00:03:39] Josh Wilson: Well, look, ~you know, ~I got started in the entrepreneur space at a very, very young age. ~Um, ~my grandfather used to take us on cruises. So every Thanksgiving we'd go on a cruise. I don't know if you've ever been on a cruise before. ~Um, ~but, but they give you these little cards that you get on the cruise. So he gave me a, ~you know, ~cruise credit card and I went around and I started using the cruise card while a bunch of the friends that I made on the cruise didn't have access to the card.
[00:04:06] Josh Wilson: So they only had cash. So I was then able to go out and use my cruise card and buy them the items and the candy and all the good things that they wanted that they couldn't acquire because they didn't have a card. So the little entrepreneur in me at seven years old was like, Hey, I can make a dollar or two on each transaction.
[00:04:28] Josh Wilson: And then at the end of the cruise, I'll just pay my grandpa back. Well, that's exactly what I did. I got a, I got this cruise bill in at the end of the cruise came. They slid it underneath my door and I pick it up. I give it to my grandfather, not knowing, ~you know, ~what was about to happen. ~Uh, ~but then he chewed me out, ~you know, ~with this 500 bill.
[00:04:46] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ but I had like 700 in my pocket. So I pulled out, ~you know, ~the 700, gave it to him. And,~ uh,~ he's like, where'd you get all this money from? And I told him that I was like every single transaction, I was charging a couple of bucks extra, ~you know, ~for them to use my car. And he was like, He was like, holy shit, son.
[00:05:02] Josh Wilson: You are, you are an entrepreneur. And so ever since then, that was it, man. Like I just, I got locked in into being an entrepreneur. It was in my blood at a very young age. My grandfather was an entrepreneur. ~Um, ~and I really looked up to him a lot. And,~ um, you know, ~that's how it got started.
[00:05:19] Chaz Wolfe: Dude, I'm just, the entire time you're telling this story, all I can think about is my son. He's only four now, so I, I can't imagine doing something quite like this exactly yet, but here in like another year or two, I would not be shocked if he came to me and we were on a vacation and I'm like, the, the level of pride that I would have in that moment.
[00:05:39] Chaz Wolfe: I'm sure your grandfather was like, what, ~you know, ~here's my, here's my little dude
[00:05:43] Josh Wilson: He went from, yeah, he went from angry to like so prideful in a matter of minutes. It was, it was pretty comical.
[00:05:51] Chaz Wolfe: I, that's what a special moment. ~Um, ~that, that baseline of, I can take something, add value, make money. What does that look like in the MNA space?
[00:05:59] Josh Wilson: Yeah. So that's what we do pretty much on an everyday basis. When we go out to acquire a company. We're looking at companies, we're looking at good companies and we want to make them great. So we're not buying like in real estate, you go and buy a value add company where you have to go and rehab the property and all that.
[00:06:14] Josh Wilson: In M& A, you can do the exact same thing. You can buy a company that is, ~you know, uh, ~really hurting in revenue. ~Um, you know, you know, ~that needs,~ uh, you know, ~some extra help,~ uh, you know, ~on the cashflow side, things like that, we're not, we're not buying those companies, we're buying companies that are really good, solid companies that we can come in and make great.
[00:06:29] Josh Wilson: And then add our value to it,~ uh,~ just by utilizing our team, by utilizing our technology, our software.
[00:06:35] Josh Wilson: So yeah, that's what we do on a daily basis. ~You know, ~we're looking for companies that we can add value to, but again, at the same time, we're looking for really good, solid, long term mom and pop companies that are maybe just outdated when it comes to technology, they're running things really,~ um, you know, ~inadequately, and we can come in there and add value in that capacity.
[00:06:54] Chaz Wolfe: There was something about MNA that made it make sense for you, you kind of hinted at cashflow, but when you were, I'm assuming at a conference, you were around somebody and they were talking, what was that MNA bug that bit you?
[00:07:05] Josh Wilson: It was really back in COVID. , I was a full time real estate investor. So I was worried about rents getting paid and sitting in that hot tub, freaking out, not knowing if my tenants were going to pay rent.
[00:07:18] Josh Wilson: And finally, thank goodness they did. They paid rent. But at the same time, I was thinking that I needed to diversify. I needed to get into other spaces, other verticals, and that's really what set me off and got me on the MNA journey. So that's what I did. I bought my first company in Orlando, Florida. That was the first acquisition.
[00:07:34] Josh Wilson: I've started multiple companies before that, but that was the first acquisition. And I started that company,~ uh,~ acquired that company, Orlando, Florida,~ uh,~ back in 2021. And I have not looked back since we are now closing in on our seventh acquisition year, probably within the next 30 days in Chicago, ,
[00:07:51] Josh Wilson: I've started companies my entire life. That's like, I feel like that's all I've ever done. I've never worked for, well, I say I never worked for anyone else. I've worked for one,~ uh,~ one employer my entire life, and that was at Winn Dixie. And I was a buggy boy and I think I lasted at that place for probably two months.
[00:08:07] Josh Wilson: And then I got fired. ~Um, ~and ~you know, ~I got fired and left that job, but after that, I've pretty much worked for myself ever since then. And it's, it's probably the best thing that, ~you know, ~that's ever happened to me because I just know that I'm just not employable. I'm not able to, to work for someone else.
[00:08:24] Josh Wilson: I think differently. My vision is completely different. And when it comes to M& A. I'm, I'm looking at companies completely different than I think an employee would look. They're looking at it from a strictly,~ uh, uh, you know, ~a paycheck standpoint, a security standpoint. I'm looking at it as, ~you know, ~a risk versus reward standpoint.
[00:08:41] Josh Wilson: ~You know, ~if we invest our funds here, we raise our capital, ~you know, ~we do things that we do. ~Uh, ~what is the risk reward? What are we going to be able to generate? As far as income, what are we going to be able to generate for a multiple, not years from now? ~Um, you know, ~we're looking real, ~you know, ~we're looking down the road, ~know, ~5, 10, 15 years down the road of what this company can generate for our portfolio.
[00:09:00] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I love it. Now let's talk for a minute here,~ uh,~ about the difference of, ~you know, ~different angles that you've gone, different industries, rather different verticals, ~you know, ~some, some entrepreneurs speak, ~you know, ~stay focused, do one thing, don't do lots of things. I mean, you might argue that your one thing is acquisitions inside of your portfolio, there's lots of stuff going on, completely different things that don't relate to themselves or do they?
[00:09:24] Josh Wilson: ~uh, ~in, in a sense. So, ~you know, ~we have companies that are in completely different sectors. So imagine, right. Trying to have like our COO, ~you know, ~has a meeting with our transportation company and special needs, and then she goes immediately to the other meeting, which is our med spot, completely two different industries.
[00:09:41] Josh Wilson: ~You know, ~it got to be handled completely differently with the staff, everything else. So, ~um, ~that is a little bit of a challenge. So what we have done recently is we are now locking in on one vertical and we are going deep now on that vertical. So what I mean by that is we are now acquiring special needs transportation companies, probably in the foreseeable future to lock in on that vertical so that down the road, let's say five, 10 years from now, we can then go and exit at a higher multiple to a PE company,~ um,~ to be able to get,~ uh, you know, ~a better,~ uh,~ exit,~ uh,~ on the multiple.
[00:10:14] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Okay. And so, ~um, ~you have found value in going wide to be able to maybe locate that specialty piece that, that really made sense for you. Is that how it happened or is it something different?
[00:10:25] Josh Wilson: ~You know, ~I think, I think for me, it was, it was more of, and I'll admit this, I think it was more of a learning curve,~ you know, ~when I first got started in M& A,~ uh,~ I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I just wanted cashflow. That was the goal is to create cashflow. And then I started getting all these opportunities, ~you know, ~you're an entrepreneur.
[00:10:42] Josh Wilson: You get opportunities, you get excited, you, ~you know, ~you, you jump on things that make sense to you. And I think that's what we did. And so we started acquiring companies that just made sense at the time,~ uh,~ with no real goal or plan,~ uh, you know, ~just, we just wanted more cashflow. And so that's what we did.
[00:10:58] Josh Wilson: Now, looking back,~ uh, you know, ~had I, ~you know, ~five years now into the, ~you know, ~the acquisition M& A space of acquiring companies, I would probably do it differently, which we have, we've pivoted a little bit and changed our course, which. ~You know, ~if you are a real entrepreneur, you have to master the art of pivoting.
[00:11:14] Josh Wilson: You have to master know when things are, ~you know, ~are heading in the wrong direction and be able to make a turn and pivot to get your right yourself back on the road. And so that's what we've done. ~Um, you know, ~so we are now looking at the specific verticals, like the transportation sector to be able to really, ~you know, ~go deep in those verticals versus.
[00:11:30] Josh Wilson: Let's say for instance, ~you know, ~we're not looking to go acquire another med spa today. Now, that being said, if the opportunity prevent presents itself, and it's a really good opportunity, we would likely then acquire that company,~ uh,~ because we already have a med spa. So we can then double down on that trajectory and continue to build up our multiple because at the end of the day.
[00:11:51] Josh Wilson: ~You know, ~our goal is we do want to exit. We want, we want to exit and then be able to level up again and climb that ladder to be able to acquire,~ uh,~ even, ~you know, ~a larger company. And so the only way to do that is by continuing to invest into the same verticals we're already in and fattening the pie,~ uh,~ so to speak, so that it becomes attractive for a private equity company,~ uh,~ to want to be able to acquire us.
[00:12:13] Josh Wilson: The great thing about the way we have our company set up now, and this was not. ~Uh, ~how we had set up in the beginning when I first acquired my first company, ~you know, ~it was just me. It was me running the show, me handling the management,~ um, you know, ~me, ~you know, ~making sure that our accounting team was doing what they need to do, setting up the manager, setting up, ~you know, ~the drivers on a daily basis.
[00:12:32] Josh Wilson: Now, looking back five years from now with, ~you know, ~all the companies we have under our belt, we have a C suite now. So we have a CFO, we have a CEO, we have a COO,~ uh,~ and those things,~ uh,~ those folks pretty much run the day to day. They oversee the managers. It makes my job a lot easier now because now I'm focused on growth and vision, and that's,~ uh,~ exactly what I wanted to do from the beginning.
[00:12:52] Josh Wilson: So we may have gone off course a little bit, but we've righted the ship. ~Uh,~ into the lane we need to be in order to be able to continue to have that growth. Our, our goal is 10 companies, 10 million. So whichever comes first, we want to get 10 companies under our belt or 10 million in EBITDA.
[00:13:07] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ that's been our goal,~ uh,~ since last June. And that's what we're heading towards. And,~ uh,~ we're striving, we're getting ready to get up to number seven. And,~ uh,~ we'll see,~ uh,~ see what happens.
[00:13:16] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I love it. When you're, I get kind of the same question, but we're going to look at it in two different ways. The first one is as you're looking at these businesses, I want to know what kind of metrics and stuff that you're looking for. And then the same question is, what are you building towards that?
[00:13:29] Chaz Wolfe: ~You know, ~this PE company is going to be looking at later. So when you're at an opportunity to come across your desk, how do you know if it's a good deal? You want to look at it further or you pass on it right away?
[00:13:39] Josh Wilson: Of course. ~Uh, ~so we're looking at stuff that's,~ uh,~ at least a million dollars,~ uh,~ in EBITDA or a million dollars in cashflow. We're not looking at really anything under that. I get deals all the time. They get sent to me, ~you know, ~people are like 500 K seven 50 of cashflow. And that's not like, I'm not trying to stick my nose up in the air or anything like that, it's just now, now it becomes time, ~you know, ~what is my time worth?
[00:13:58] Josh Wilson: And I want to make sure that we're investing in companies where we can get the maximum amount of return. And our time is going to be able to be,~ um, uh, ~utilized properly. If I go and acquire a smaller company, 500, 000 of cashflow, it's not going to give me enough runway, it's not going to give me enough,~ uh, ~runway to hire the proper management team that I need to run that company. Now if I buy a company that's a million dollars plus, it's going to give me some runway. I'll be able to hire proper people. I'll be able to pay my people properly. They're not going to be complaining about, ~you know, ~wages, et cetera.
[00:14:30] Josh Wilson: ~Um, ~I'll be able to put the right people , in the right seats so that we can then grow that company strategically and not under the gun under pressure because we're, we're clamped down by cashflow. ~Uh, ~lesson learned that, that was, ~you know, ~the reason how, how do I know this now? And it's just because of lessons learned when I bought my first company, bought the first company for 350, 000, ~you know, ~I thought I could do anything at the time and.
[00:14:52] Josh Wilson: ~You know, ~I learned really quickly that I had to jump in and really pretty much run the company. So now looking back,~ uh,~ when we're acquiring Chicago, Chicago is,~ uh,~ over a million dollars in cashflow a year. And that's strategically that way, because we know we can, number one, there's some, ~you know, ~some expense cutting we're going to be able to do.
[00:15:09] Josh Wilson: To create an ad value to continue to bump that up even higher. And then number two,~ um, you know, ~we know we can raise prices. Prices are low. That's an, that's another thing for your listeners. If they're ever thinking about getting into the MNA space,~ uh,~ and they're looking to acquire a company, or if you're an entrepreneur and you already own a company, you need to look at your pricing.
[00:15:26] Josh Wilson: If you haven't raised prices since COVID, you are losing out on a tremendous amount of cashflow. ~Uh, ~there have been,~ uh,~ mass,~ uh,~ massive increases in price,~ uh,~ massive increases in prices,~ uh,~ across the board and pretty much every sector. So look at your pricing if you haven't done that. And that's one thing we do when we go and look at a company to acquire.
[00:15:45] Josh Wilson: We ask the seller, we look at their books and say, when was the last time you increased your prices? And believe it or not, nine times out of 10, most of them haven't increased it. For years. And so that's a value add for us. So we know we'll be able to increase prices by at least 10 20 percent without blinking an eye and our customers won't even feel it.
[00:16:04] Josh Wilson: So those are the kind of things we're looking for cash flow. ~Uh, you know, ~1, 000, 000 in cash flow. We're looking for good companies. We're looking for long term good mom and pop companies. Where we can add value when it comes to,~ uh,~ old, ~you know, ~old outdated technology,~ uh,~ and then we're looking in a buy box, probably in the where, anywhere between 3 million to 5 million,~ uh,~ no more than 5 million because of the SBA lending rules right now,~ uh, you know, ~we want to be able to maximize our loans we can get with SBA and SBA will only lend up to 5 million that will likely change at some point as we continue to grow.
[00:16:35] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~we will then probably get out outside of that SBA box and start,~ uh, you know, ~just raising the capital,~ uh,~ in full and go out, acquire larger companies, but that's where we are today.
[00:16:46] Chaz Wolfe: Love it. Okay. And so you're putting together this, ~you know, ~10 million EBITDA conglomerate portfolio, and you're going to try to locate a PE that that's excited about that. What inside of this are you building the value add piece? Of course you're adding price and all the semantics to be able to get the value there, but what, what does a PE looking at?
[00:17:05] Chaz Wolfe: In your organization that you're in the process of building, like, why would somebody want to maybe link up with you? Or, you know what
[00:17:11] Josh Wilson: right. No, it's, it's a great, it's a great,~ uh,~ great transition. So number one, why would, why would PE be even interested in me? ~Uh, ~well, they would be not right now. They're not interested,~ uh,~ because we're not big enough. ~Uh, ~but they would be interested if we, if we hit that 10 million EBITDA mark, meaning, Hey, we have 10 million of cashflow.
[00:17:27] Josh Wilson: We have a full suite, a C suite that's running all these entities. We have a full back office accounting team that's handling the day to day. We have general managers and management level staff in every single organization that is attractive to them because they're just coming in, buying the cashflow.
[00:17:43] Josh Wilson: They're not having to come to think, they're not having to come and be strategic about the growth. They can buy the cashflow. Maybe put in some, ~you know, ~add some additional capital and jet capital on companies that they think that they can grow and then do the same thing and flip it over again. And so that's, that's what they're looking for.
[00:17:59] Chaz Wolfe: At some point I assume that like you said, you're going to transition away from the SBA. You might be trying to raise capital. Somebody might want to be attracted to what you are doing specifically. ~Um, ~why am I, even as an entrepreneur myself, like I have a, I have a whole community of entrepreneurs.
[00:18:12] Chaz Wolfe: We talk M and a all the time. Why would we want to either do a deal with you or link up with you? Is that even a possibility?
[00:18:19] Josh Wilson: Yes. Yeah. So, so right now would probably be the best time to link up with me,~ uh,~ to possibly do a deal. And here's the reason why is because. You will be able to get access to our multiple, our cashflow multiple when we go to exit. So let me give you an example. Let's say for instance, you have a company, you have a plumbing company in Duluth, Minnesota, and you want to sell that company.
[00:18:43] Josh Wilson: You could come to me, sell me your company. I will then buy your company and give you a piece of equity of our holding company. So when we go to sell at, to a PE company, instead of you selling your company, let's say to a mom and pop buyer at a three X multiple, you can then get the upside of selling your company.
[00:19:05] Josh Wilson: As a whole with all of ours at let's say an eight to 10 X multiple. And so that's the reason why,~ uh,~ right now we're looking for partners. We're looking for operators, folks that want to be able to,~ uh,~ maybe get a higher multiple. It can wait it out a couple of years and join essentially our holding company and get equity in our company,~ uh,~ while they're selling it to our,~ uh,~ our holding company.
[00:19:26] Josh Wilson: So that, that at the end, that's, that's, it's extremely attractive.
[00:19:30] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, you've got listeners right now. I want to, I mean, I'm kind of shamelessly giving you a plug here, but you've got listeners and all different types of industries,~ um,~ are, are gathering the King's community mastermind community is full of all different types of industries. If they've got a million in EBITDA and they're interested in a larger multiplier and they can be an operator still for two, 10 years, however long that runway is.
[00:19:51] Chaz Wolfe: They want to connect with you because they can still run their business, but they get an exit and then a second exit. You want to like elaborate on that?
[00:19:58] Josh Wilson: Yeah, absolutely. So we could give them some cash up front. ~Um, you know, ~to basically solidify,~ uh, you know, ~them,~ uh, you know, ~as the first exit per se. ~Uh, ~and it would be end, they'll get some equity in our company. And so when we go to sell as a whole, as, as a company, they will then be able to realize a larger exit than they normally would.
[00:20:16] Josh Wilson: Let's say for instance, your company's doing a million dollars in cashflow and you want to go sell it on the regular marketplace.
[00:20:22] Josh Wilson: You'll be lucky if you get anywhere from, ~you know, ~2 million to 3 million, maybe if you're lucky, if it's a really solid company, three and a half million bucks. But if you sell it to us, Let's say for instance, we can give you some cash up front, maybe give you a half a million bucks today and say, look,~ uh,~ sell us your company.
[00:20:37] Josh Wilson: We'll give you 10%,~ uh, you know, ~an equity in our company. But at the end of the day, instead of you getting that 3 million exit, you're going to get, let's say 10 million for your company,~ uh,~ on an exit. It's going to be way more. than if you decided to sell it,~ um, you know, ~by yourself with a broker on the front end versus selling it to us,~ uh,~ I mean, we can get into really technical numbers, ~you know, ~down the road, but that's just the gist of it.
[00:20:58] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~instead of getting a three X multiple, you'd be able to realize almost a 10 X multiple,~ uh,~ by, ~you know, ~getting the equity in,~ um,~ in, in our company.
[00:21:05] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I love that. I'm going to go back to the team that you've built, ~you know, ~the C suite and of course, ~you know, ~higher level management down to, ~you know, ~in the weeds management down even to the individual teams, there's a lot of hiring going on, 156 employees. Some of those are, are the executives.
[00:21:20] Chaz Wolfe: We'll start from the top and go down. ~Um, ~was that difficult? Was that a challenge? These people come from your network. Did you poach them from, ~you know, ~LinkedIn, Harvard? Like give us your strategy.
[00:21:30] Josh Wilson: Yeah. So, ~uh, you know, ~I, I found our CFO through,~ uh,~ through Upwork. I was looking through Upwork and,~ uh,~ I mean, I probably interviewed, I would say probably 75 different accounting professionals. Looking for this particular CFO that I wanted. I wanted someone that was also an entrepreneur. I didn't want someone,~ uh,~ that was just numbers, meaning that,~ um, you know, ~they came from a background of, ~you know, you know, ~strictly numbers.
[00:21:54] Josh Wilson: They didn't understand risk. They don't understand leverage. They didn't understand all that stuff. And so, ~uh, ~I met John, John's our CFO. He's been with me now for almost a year and a half, almost two years. And. He's been phenomenal. He's great. But again, I met him through Upwork, ~you know, ~it's just like going through a dating site, ~you know, ~so that's exactly what I did, but best decision ever made.
[00:22:13] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~he is so aligned and so linked in with our vision and the way we operate. ~Uh, ~and he, his responsibility is essentially to keep the company's financial health in check. And that's what he does every day. He manages cashflow management. ~You know, ~it tells us where we can, ~you know, ~we can pay people where we can't pay people.
[00:22:28] Josh Wilson: We need to, ~you know, ~collect AR. I mean, he, he's all over it and I, I love it without him. I don't know where I'd be today. ~Uh, ~and then secondly,~ um,~ I have our COO who is Aura,~ uh,~ and she is a godsend. She's probably one of my,~ uh,~ she's probably a best friend. ~Um, you know, ~became a best friend,~ uh,~ since we started here.
[00:22:44] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~I talked to her about anything and everything. I mean, ~you know, ~nine 30, 10 o'clock at night, I have an idea. I pick up the phone or shoot her a text and say, I was thinking about doing this or making this, ~you know, ~move and what do you think? And,~ uh,~ she's a great sounding board. How did I meet her? Well, she, when I used to coach.
[00:22:59] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~back in the day,~ uh,~ through real estate, she was one of my students. She managed 150 employees and about 30 Waffle House locations. And I knew she had, ~you know, ~incredible management experience. She'd been doing that for 10 years, got burned out. And I said, Hey, have you ever thought about maybe just coming to work for me?
[00:23:17] Josh Wilson: I was like, we're getting to a point now where we're really growing. We're buying more companies. I was like, I'd love to just talk to you about it. So we met for coffee, just hit it off one day and the rest is history. And she's been with me now for almost a year. And,~ uh, you know, ~probably one of the best decisions ever made because I now also have a great friend.
[00:23:34] Josh Wilson: Someone that I can bounce ideas off of. And again, it's back to the alignment. Like everyone is so aligned on growing the portfolio. And that's what I love. And, and, ~you know, ~they care about the team and then also have Mark. ~Uh, ~Mark,~ uh,~ also, he's our business development guy on our C suite level as well, he handles pretty much all the sales, top line growth for all the companies and helps facilitate the new acquisitions and I met him through my first acquisition in Orlando.
[00:24:00] Josh Wilson: He was actually the owner of our Orlando company. So what is the lesson here? Right. The lesson is,~ um, you know, ~trust your gut. ~Uh, ~that's one thing that I've always done is, ~you know, ~trust my gut. If ~you know, ~especially when you come, when it comes to hiring people, you've got to have a good gut feeling about them.
[00:24:16] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ I had to make all those key hires that those, that was my entire team. Like I made the, I picked that roster. So very, very fortunate. And I love the roster that I have. ~Uh, ~they're great key people. They all align with what my vision is. And they're all, they, they all have the entrepreneur mindset. And I think that's what I, that's what I wanted.
[00:24:35] Josh Wilson: I didn't want to have people that had a employee mindset that we're looking for security, looking for safety. I want people that want to,~ uh,~ that are going to cheer me on to take the risk and support me and say, let's do it. Josh, let's go. We got this. We know what we're doing. And,~ uh,~ that's what I have in my C suite.
[00:24:52] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. You didn't want a ball of nose.
[00:24:55] Josh Wilson: No, because I, I can, I can get that anywhere. Yes,
[00:25:00] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um,~ it's, it's funny. Cause as,~ uh,~ Julie and I, my wife had, we've, ~you know, ~we've been together now,~ uh,~ 19 years this year, married 16 and we've, we've both had this back and forth of, ~you know, ~she used to be the, not the spender and, ~you know, ~I'm the creative idea guy, but we're, ~you know, ~back and forth of yes, no, maybe so.
[00:25:16] Chaz Wolfe: And so there's this, there's this tension, I think, which is super to have people in your life that. Always question things,~ uh,~ from a good place. But what you're talking about, employee is more of like, no, I want somebody who's thinking growth, growth oriented, not necessarily how is this not going to work, but how can it work?
[00:25:36] Chaz Wolfe: And yes, there's some checks that we gotta, we gotta, we gotta make sure it's a good investment. ~Um, ~but how can it work? Not necessarily the opposite, right?
[00:25:44] Josh Wilson: absolutely. And, and, and that, ~you know, ~that, that's something that I don't get on a daily basis. So, ~you know, ~I want people that are going to be able to say, Hey, Josh,~ um, you know, ~look, they're not all like, yes, men, right. ~Um, you know, ~or yes, woman, but you know, they will, they will question me. And,~ uh,~ like even our GM and our,~ um,~ our GM and our property management company, Diana.
[00:26:03] Josh Wilson: She is probably the first one that has ever questioned a few moves that I've made. And I told her one day, and I said, look, I commend you because most people just agree with me. And I was like, I appreciate you challenging me because it's helping me understand where you're coming from. And it's helping me,~ uh, you know, ~help solve this,~ uh,~ the problem that we're, we're having with this particular,~ um, uh, ~we had a particular SOP problem.
[00:26:25] Josh Wilson: And so.~ You know, ~being able to, to, ~you know, ~have that, ~you know, ~have those folks challenge me and, and, and, ~you know, ~tell me where I'm wrong and then also support me and give me the guts and the glory to, to go out and, and fight for another company and, and, ~you know, ~acquire another company is tremendous because,~ um,~ that that's what gets, what keeps me going.
[00:26:42] Josh Wilson: I love to motivate. Like I said, at the beginning, I love to motivate. I love to inspire people. And,~ um, you know, ~they inspired me to want to continue to, ~you know, ~to continue to grow and,~ uh,~ grow our team. And at the end of the day,~ uh, you know, ~we have over 156 employees now. So you got to remember, man, I didn't, I didn't just like walk into 156 employees.
[00:27:00] Josh Wilson: I, I started just probably like most of your listeners did, ~you know, ~in the grind, in the, in the trenches,~ um, you know, ~just trying to, Trying to get by with you being the only employee. I was the only employee for a long time. And,~ uh,~ I'm just, I used to have that mentality and mindset that if I can't do it, no one else can do it.
[00:27:18] Josh Wilson: I learned the hard way that that's not the way to grow and you'll never grow that way. And now with the team that we have, that there's no way it'd be impossible to do what we're doing.
[00:27:28] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, there's a, there's a, there's an enlightenment here. I think for the listeners that maybe still,~ uh, you know, ~understand or believe life to be like that at some point you realized, or maybe there was a communication to your, your team that you're good at, in this case, the acquisition, the relationship, the finding, the hunting, the, ~you know, ~The, that task, if you will, that hat and the operations of making sure the accounting is good and the operations and the people are an HR is all good.
[00:27:54] Chaz Wolfe: Is someone else's strong suit. And we, we hear these things like, Oh yeah, I'm good at that. She's good at this. It's like, no, no, no, seriously. Like if I just go do this. And they just go do this, then they don't actually want to do what I'm doing. Cause I really don't want to do what they're doing. And it's actually like a, like a mutually honoring situations.
[00:28:11] Chaz Wolfe: Like, no, thank you. My team tells me, thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you for leading the groups because you're kind of the show pony and like, just go out there and like stick your ankle out there and get us some attention. We don't want to do that. ~You know, ~we just, just. Just bring us the wonderful clients and guests and,~ uh,~ and we'll take great care of them.
[00:28:30] Josh Wilson: 100%,
[00:28:31] Chaz Wolfe: there's like freedom in this,
[00:28:33] Josh Wilson: yes,
[00:28:34] Chaz Wolfe: but also freedom for them. And so talk about just for a quick second here, because we're this, we'll wrap up this little section, but the freedom for us as entrepreneurs, that makes obvious sense. Like we know we can just go be free and go sell and acquire and do the things that entrepreneurs do well, but for the team members, whether they have a piece Ownership or just straight employees.
[00:28:54] Chaz Wolfe: There is a, there is a play for them to go like, Oh no, like that's freedom for me also. And now you stay out of their lane. You're not bugging and micromanaging and thinking that you can do it better. Talk about that piece for the, for the
[00:29:06] Josh Wilson: ~you know, ~my team, they want us to do well, because for them, that means that they're, they're going to get, you know, incentivized for the growth we have, we have GMs, we have our C suite, they're all incentivized.
[00:29:16] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~they, they share in some of the profits. And so if the companies aren't doing well and. They are in control of the companies. It's a reflection on what they're doing. ~Uh, ~and then also at the same time, it's a reflection on what I'm doing as far as leading the, ~you know, ~the C suite team. So, , it all goes downhill and it all starts with me.
[00:29:33] Josh Wilson: And so, ~um, you know, ~they, they have tremendous incentive to make sure that the companies are operationally sound and functioning. ~Um, ~and then also at the same time are even down to our. Managers and our employees, our team members, ~you know, ~all the way down to the guys who are driving vehicles or to the, to the girls at the,~ uh,~ at the med spa that are injecting, ~you know, um, you know, uh, ~Botox.
[00:29:52] Josh Wilson: I mean, everybody, everybody's incentivized. And so,~ uh, you know, ~I, I did that on purpose. The way we, we, we made, we structured that, we did it on purpose. And so we wanted to, we wanted everyone to feel like they were a part of every single piece of the journey. And that's what we've done. And I think it's worked out tremendously,
[00:30:13] Chaz Wolfe: Hey Kings and Queens, Chaz Wolf. I want to talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort, we meaning myself and my team into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
[00:30:32] Chaz Wolfe: So we would love if you would like comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media on all the different platforms or even on the podcast mediums of apple and spotify We would love to be able to get our content into more hands more entrepreneurs So they can grow their business as quick as possible together We are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights So let's do this.
[00:30:58] Chaz Wolfe: Let's help each other grow
[00:31:00] Chaz Wolfe: You talk,~ um,~ I don't know if this is maybe a new topic, but being wealthy on the inside is something that, ~you know, ~came up, ~you know, ~in, in just your content and stuff that you're, that's important to you. What is being wealthy on the inside to you?
[00:31:13] Josh Wilson: man. Got a guy,~ uh,~ by the name of Mike Kiko. ~Uh, ~I give him a lot of credit because without him, I probably wouldn't be in the place that I'm in today. And what I mean about the place that I'm in today is being in survival mode versus being in creation mode. I lived my entire life in survival mode. ~Uh, ~why, why is that?
[00:31:32] Josh Wilson: Well, I can go back and look and realize, ~you know, ~back in 2008, when I first got started in real estate, ~you know, ~it was during the crash. Who in their right mind would be okay with, ~you know, ~getting started in real estate during a recession and during a crash.
[00:31:46] Josh Wilson: Well, we did it, I did it. And so I almost had PTSD to believe it or not,~ uh,~ back from that time. I, ~you know, ~I look back in every, every decision I made, every decision I did,~ uh,~ every, ~you know, ~check I wrote every bill that I added on every monthly expense that I took on came from a place of survival mode, every decision, every risk that I didn't take was in survival mode.
[00:32:13] Josh Wilson: And so that was because of back what happened in 2008, I was just sick to my stomach and I never wanted to be in that position ever again. So. I finally said to myself, I can't keep living my entire life this way. There's gotta be another way. There's gotta be a better way. And then I,~ um,~ I started acquiring companies.
[00:32:32] Josh Wilson: Then I acquired my first company, ~you know, ~wildly successful acquired my second company. It was a train wreck,~ uh,~ lost a million dollars in South Florida. And,~ um, you know, ~then I got in touch with this guy by the name of Mike Kiko. And I was in a very, very, very dark place, called him up. I said, Mike,~ um,~ I don't know what to do anymore, man.
[00:32:51] Josh Wilson: Like, I feel like I've, I feel like I thought I was finally over. I got to the top of the mountain and I feel like somebody just pushed me off. And I felt all the way back down to the bottom again. And I'm like, I don't know what to do. I need some help, inner peace wise.
[00:33:05] Josh Wilson: And we just had this long conversation and ~you know, ~something he told me that just really struck with me. And it probably sounds pretty crude, but you know, he told me, he's like, Josh, we're all going to die. One day we're all going to die. And everything you've done is going to get washed away and people are going to forget, they're not going to care.
[00:33:23] Josh Wilson: And he was like, why are you so stressing about this? He was like, you, you probably, if you're lucky, you have another 40 years. He was like, go enjoy, enjoy the journey, learn from the mistakes you made. Don't make them again, but enjoy the process. Enjoy the journey. So that's what+ I did that after that phone call, my light bulb just switched and said, I can figure this out.
[00:33:46] Josh Wilson: I've done it before. I need to start attacking the problem and stop feeling sorry for myself. So that's what I did. I stopped feeling literally from that phone call that day that changed my entire trajectory of my entire life. And,~ um,~ I, I went on, I went on this rampage of. Trying to live life from creation mode and not coming from a scarcity mindset.
[00:34:06] Josh Wilson: So every decision I made was in creation mode of what can I do to further elevate our portfolio? What can I do to further elevate my inner peace? What can I do to get rid of more negativity out of my life? And that's what I did. I did that every single day. And I still do that till this day. I'm living,~ um, uh, ~I believe 100 percent that you have to get your inner wealth ~Uh, ~in check first before you can receive the external wealth.
[00:34:32] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. And your internal wealth, you're kind of categorizing as this ability to take control, but simplify I'm hearing.
[00:34:39] Josh Wilson: Yeah, absolutely. ~Um, you know, ~so when it comes to inner wealth for me,~ um,~ that means, ~you know, ~I have the three C's. I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but clarity, commitment, and certainty. ~Um, ~I 100 percent live by those every day. ~Um, ~I'm very, very clear about what I want in life. ~Um, ~I also made a massive commitment to make sure that I get what I, what I desire and I get what my vision is.
[00:35:00] Josh Wilson: And then I flood myself with certainty every single day that I know what I'm doing and that we're going to achieve it because you will have doubts. You will, ~you know, ~you'll have people question you, not only yourself, but you'll have outsiders that will question you. So you have to continue to flood yourself with certainty.
[00:35:14] Josh Wilson: But also make sure you get people around you that are going to give you that,~ uh, you know, ~give you that certainty and give you that power and give you that support system,~ um, you know, ~to support you,~ uh,~ maybe when you're not feeling yourself. And so that's what I did. I live by those three C's every single day.
[00:35:27] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ that, that helps,~ uh, you know, ~absolutely change or absolutely achieve the vision that, ~you know, ~we set out.
[00:35:33] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, the, the listener might be thinking, I mean, first off you, you very glanced over, I lost a million bucks there. So we're going to go back to that quick, quickly here. ~Um, you know, ~you, you lose a million bucks. You you're on the top of the mountain. You feel like you've been pushed off because you lost a million in your second deal.
[00:35:47] Chaz Wolfe: It's an absolute train wreck. And you gave us the, the result of this, ~you know, ~coach, this guy that just said, Hey,~ you know, ~it's, it's, you can't change it. You might as well just enjoy the journey. How does clarity commitment, these, these C's that you're talking about, how does that come from that level of a, of a deep fall,
[00:36:10] Josh Wilson: Yeah. So.~ You know, ~the three C's didn't take place until probably a little bit after that. ~You know, ~I had to, I had to come to a personal realization that the only way this is going to change is if I start making a change and stop feeling sorry for myself. And so that's what I did. I, I immediately went into action that same day.
[00:36:28] Josh Wilson: I went into action. I remember calling my attorney saying, I'm done fighting. I want to get this over with. I want to settle this within the next 48 hours. And because I knew that it was just costing me money. It was costing me time. It was costing me energy with my family, with my wife at the time, my kids.
[00:36:45] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~I was just a miserable person to be around. And I told him, said, I want to settle this. I'm going to lose money. It is what it is. I'll make it back. And that's what we did. We settled and we, that thing was done. But here's the thing is that as soon as I settled that deal and I put that behind me, I lost the money.
[00:37:03] Josh Wilson: It hurt like hell. And yeah, there were times where I was trying to figure out where in the hell I was going to pull all this money from to be able to repay back my investors. ~Um, ~it all worked out. I figured it out. ~You know, ~it all worked out. ~Uh, ~they got paid back every single dollar, every single one.
[00:37:16] Josh Wilson: And,~ um, you know, ~but it didn't, it didn't start until I was able to say finally within my mind, come to peace with myself and say, this is the beginning of the end and that's what I did. I wanted to end that part of my life. And,~ um,~ that's what I did. I finally put it into it and then started over and then the rebirth happened.
[00:37:34] Josh Wilson: And,~ uh,~ so I don't know if you want to get into the million dollar story a little bit, but.
[00:37:38] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, tell us what happened
[00:37:39] Josh Wilson: yeah. So I'll give you the quick version. ~Um, ~went down, ~you know, ~I was full of piss and vinegar and,~ uh, you know, ~I had some companies under my belt, had a huge 25 million real estate portfolio. What could go wrong?
[00:37:49] Josh Wilson: Right. I was enamored by a hundred thousand a dollar a month net cashflow company, a medical testing company down in South Florida at five locations in West Palm, Miami, Fort Lauderdale. ~Um, you know, ~you name it all around, all along the,~ uh,~ the South Florida coast down there and,~ uh,~ went and visited these companies.
[00:38:06] Josh Wilson: And, ~you know, ~my gut told me something was just off, something was not right. And that's why, ~you know, ~I'm kind of going back to what I said earlier. Trust your gut, man. Your gut doesn't lie. So I didn't listen to my gut was enamored by the cashflow enamored by the money and ended up buying the deal that, ~you know, ~that deal was pumping out by 10, 000 a day in revenue based off of their projections,~ uh,~ well, based off of their tax returns, based off of their P and L's,~ uh,~ bank statements, all that first day I bought it, it was right during Christmas time.
[00:38:35] Josh Wilson: I think it was,~ uh,~ I bought it three days before Christmas and I remember the three days before Christmas, the day we closed on it. ~You know, ~we supposed to have a full day of, of income. I mean, we're supposed to make like 10 grand, like every day has been pumping out about 10, 000. First day I bought it, I think we did 500 in sales.
[00:38:53] Josh Wilson: So you can imagine the question marks that just start going off in your head. Like what is going on? What did I do wrong? We didn't change anything. We literally just bought the company. Like nothing changed. Why are we so slow? Then it was like, okay, well, it's the holidays. Maybe that's what it is. It's slow, but then you go back and look at last year's numbers and it didn't really change.
[00:39:12] Josh Wilson: So,~ you know, ~in the Christmas day, man, I remember sitting there Christmas day, just looking, thinking to myself, Oh my God, what did I do? Like, what did I do? My family's sitting all around, they're enjoying their presence. I am just in a fog. Like I can't even think. And,~ um,~ because, ~you know, ~you got to understand, not only did we not have the revenue, we didn't, ~you know, ~we didn't have the 10, 000 a day revenue, but we had a 10, 000 a day expense of five different locations.
[00:39:40] Josh Wilson: So you have the expenses of all these locations and you're not bringing in the revenue, you're getting double hit. So, ~you know, ~you're getting all, you're having all the expenses and not the revenue. So that being said,~ uh, you know, ~after Christmas, I was like, holy shit, something's up. So I ended up figuring out that there were some fraud going on and,~ uh,~ some things that,~ um,~ just, it just didn't, didn't look good.
[00:39:59] Josh Wilson: So, ~um, you know, ~we ended up settling the, ~you know, ~the case, lost a million dollars, paid back all the investors, settled the case for pennies on the dollar for pretty much,~ uh, you know. ~Yeah, pennies on the dollar and ~um, ~but everything happens for a reason and this is what I feel like is the, ~you know, ~the best thing that has come out of all of this is that I ended up buying a company because of the loss.
[00:40:24] Josh Wilson: That I passed on three years ago prior. So let me explain that. So our next company, our third acquisition was in Boston. I bought that company because of this company of the loss that I had here. I had some money that I just sold off some real estate because I had to pay back investors. So I sold off some real estate to pay back my investors.
[00:40:44] Josh Wilson: I had some extra cash, had about 300, 000 left over that I needed to deploy. I needed to buy another company. So every person I spoke to. I was putting it out into the universe. One thing that Mike, ~you know, ~taught me, he was like, Hey, you got to manifest this. You got to speak to every single person. Let them know what you want.
[00:40:59] Josh Wilson: Let them know what you're looking for and get ready. Because when you ask for it, you got to be ready to receive it. And sure enough, I started asking for it like three weeks after doing this little exercise of asking for it, asking for it, asking for a deal, asking for more cashflow. All of a sudden it came to my doorstep.
[00:41:15] Josh Wilson: I saw the deal, went through the numbers. The guy's like, Hey man, you passed on this deal three years ago. I'm like, I don't care. Give me the deal. Let me look at it. Looked at the deal. The seller was actually in some financial,~ uh, uh, ~financial restraints. He was, he was hurting and I made him an offer. I gave him 150, 000 cash,~ uh,~ cash down.
[00:41:32] Josh Wilson: ~Uh, ~basically that was the money he put up to buy his company with the SBA loan. So game one 50, I assumed his million dollars in SBA debt go figure, man. It's like, who in the hell would do that? You just lost a million dollars. You just assumed another million dollars gave somebody 150, 000 in cash weeks, weeks later.
[00:41:50] Josh Wilson: I mean, talk about Gahoney's, ~you know~
[00:41:52] Chaz Wolfe: I was just getting ready to say that!
[00:41:54] Josh Wilson: yeah, Gahoney's
[00:41:55] Chaz Wolfe: was about to say that.
[00:41:56] Josh Wilson: you gotta have, you gotta have a,
[00:41:58] Chaz Wolfe: Woo!
[00:41:58] Josh Wilson: so. Yeah. So anyway, so ended up buying the company and,~ uh,~ we closed on it and,~ uh,~ best, best damn thing I've ever done in my entire life. ~Um, ~that got me out of the hole that I was in. And like I said, in the beginning, I said that I'm going to make it back.
[00:42:11] Josh Wilson: I just got to get out of this. So let me get out of this and I'll figure out a way to make it back. So that's exactly what I did. Sold the company. I mean, I bought this company and here's the serendipitous part about all of this is that when I went to go meet the seller of this company,~ uh,~ but three months later, after I bought it at the bank of America, we were transferring over bank of accounts, signers on the bank accounts.
[00:42:32] Josh Wilson: I met him, walked up to him, put my hand out, shook his hand and said, Hey man, how you doing Josh? ~You know, ~he's like, Hey man, how you doing John? He was like, you're an angel. And I kind of looked at him like a little funny, like, what are you talking about? What do you mean? I'm an angel. And he said, man, you're an angel.
[00:42:45] Josh Wilson: You saved my house. You saved me from losing my house. And I literally just turned right back around to him and told him, I was like, man, you saved me from losing my house. And had I not bought that company, I was probably pretty damn teetering close to filing bankruptcy because I was losing so much money in cashflow.
[00:43:03] Josh Wilson: Just paying attorneys and all that stuff and trying to keep the business afloat. ~Um, ~that, ~you know, ~I was bleeding pretty bad. So I needed that company more than that company needed me. ~Um, ~and I bought the company and it was just, what a great serendipitous moment and how things always happen for a reason and just trust your gut.
[00:43:20] Josh Wilson: ~Um, you know, ~I don't, I don't know really what else to say other than,~ uh, you know, you know, ~things, things just happen for a reason and they always work out.
[00:43:26] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, yeah. That, that it'll all work out. ~You know, ~he said that earlier in the call or in the, in the show as well, but there's been times. ~Um, ~and if we really peel back your story, if we peel back the times in my life where, ~you know, ~I, where I grew up, I grew a franchise brand. ~Um, ~not, not my brand, but, but I was a franchisee and I grew several locations and I grew very fast.
[00:43:45] Chaz Wolfe: And the thing that actually saved me during that time, nobody knew that we were having consecutive down years, but I was doing so many things, taking so much action, making money in different areas that I basically covered the loss and nobody knew because. I had been taking action and at such great levels, which is in essence, what you're saying, like three weeks later, boom, you're assuming another million dollar SBA.
[00:44:10] Chaz Wolfe: I mean, that's a big deal, especially coming out of a situation where you're like, dude, just cut it. I know I'm going to lose a million. Who cares? It's like, geez, you know,
[00:44:18] Chaz Wolfe: this is how it works though. but that, that's what saved me, man. It was that it was almost like,~ um,~ it was almost like when you're like, maybe you're dying of like a, of a, of a wound. Right. And like, you eventually at some point you just got to, you know what, I'm going to cut, I'm going to cut the bad shit out. I'm going to take myself back up and I'm going to figure it out later and keep on going and keep finishing the race.
[00:44:37] Josh Wilson: That's exactly what I did.
[00:44:39] Chaz Wolfe: If I can get far enough, medical help will be somewhere.
[00:44:42] Josh Wilson: So I'll be able to, I'll be able to reach the hospital at some point, but I got to keep running. And that's, that's what I did.
[00:44:47] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, that's the action piece. Well, ~um, ~I mean, it's just such an incredible story, but you as an entrepreneur,~ uh,~ have an incredible story and you're just, ~you know, ~really getting started, which I just love. I love at your level that you're just getting started. I love talking to guys, ~you know, ~like you, that at your level, where guys listening right now are like, Oh my gosh, ~you know, ~if I could just be, ~you know, ~where Josh is, I know that you're just getting started, which is incredible.
[00:45:08] Chaz Wolfe: So, ~you know, ~10 and 20, ~you know, ~30 years from now, maybe our kids are doing deals together. That'd be kind of fun.
[00:45:12] Josh Wilson: ~Yeah,~
[00:45:12] Chaz Wolfe: We'll be able to look back, ~you know, ~and it's like, dude, this is, there's, there's a scenario here where, where you've been through all this stuff, but yet there's so much more to go. Right.
[00:45:21] Josh Wilson: Yeah. And look, ~you know, ~I mean, this is probably not the last lick on the face I'll take, but,~ uh,~ I think I've learned a lot and ~you know, ~I've, I've,~ uh,~ I've been able to weather the storms. I just know now I have the confidence knowing damn well that,~ uh,~ this too shall pass and,~ uh, you know, ~we'll get through it.
[00:45:37] Chaz Wolfe: That's cool, man. Well, how can the listener connect with you? Maybe they want to just follow you on social. Maybe they want to think about reaching out and having you do a deal with them. ~Uh, ~how can they find you?
[00:45:47] Josh Wilson: Yeah, absolutely. So you can go to our website,~ uh,~ www. jwenterprise. co. ~Um, ~or you can follow me on socials at The Real Josh Wilson,~ uh,~ Instagram, Facebook, TikTok,~ uh,~ among all of them.
[00:45:59] Chaz Wolfe: Perfect. We'll put all that in the show notes. It's been incredible,~ uh,~ talking with you. I'm sure there'll be some fun stuff that we can do,~ uh,~ in coming,~ uh,~ months and years together, but I just appreciate your time. As I said at the beginning, thanks for pouring into our listeners. Thanks for being here, brother.
[00:46:11] Chaz Wolfe: Blessings to you and all that you're touching here this year.
[00:46:13] Josh Wilson: Yes. Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. 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.
What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing over 200 or 300, I hope that you're 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.
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.
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. Once you 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 talk soon.

Host Chaz Wolf welcomes Josh Wilson, CEO of JW Global Enterprises, to discuss his journey from a real estate addict to a successful business acquirer through Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). Josh shares his five compelling reasons why business owners should consider selling to a holding company, emphasizing the potential for higher exit values. He also shares the importance of building a dream team, his million-dollar investment mistake, and the strategic pivot towards focusing on the transportation sector for better growth and future exits.

Josh Wilson:

https://propertymanagementneworleans.com/

https://www.instagram.com/therealjoshwilson?fbclid=IwAR2vWPEvpvfdLhtcxxmZcH5tTqkvOr_wXluR1okmIDuvT0TBd9O0z_5OOng

https://www.facebook.com/realjwilson

https://jwenterprise.co

@therealjoshwilson

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

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