Eddie Wilson - 100+ Companies Exited (Aspire Tour Founder) | The Most Expensive Education

I was young. I was gonna have to front all this capital. Realize like very quickly that I was at the table with somebody I didn't understand who they were. I was up against it. I had already booked all the ads. In the end They gave me seven times the EBITDA, which is great. Had I been able to book all the revenue in the next 90 days That's would have been $30 million more. He isn't just an entrepreneur. He's known as the King of Exits Eddie Wilson has owned and exited over 100 companies that totaled more than one billion dollars in Exits earning him that legendary title in the entrepreneurial world. So many entrepreneurs the bad thing happens to them now Classify this is who they are. I look at most of the businesses I buy and think man That guy's a better operator than me that guy have more vision than I have But I believe that I can do something with it that they can and that changes everything He's the creator of the Empire operating system a framework used to scale and manage businesses with precision and purpose and through his Non-profit impact others He's feeding children empowering communities and creating sustainable change across dozens of countries You're not going to truly scale a company when it's based on one person If you're going to truly build community you cannot think monetization first community has to be community first success takes time Every poor choice I made along the entrepreneurial journey is I made it because I believe I didn't have time when I'm young Time is my ally when I'm old time is my enemy You Take me back to that first exit you had a 24 I want people to understand sort of where you came from how you got into this game of exit of acquisition of buying selling companies But the first real notable thing that happened in your sort of entrepreneurial life was that exit at 24 when You learned the game, but you got taken for 30 million so walk me through what happened It was an ad agency that I had built from scratch. I was sole owner of it And a sourcing capital and so you know in the ad space when you were you know I was booking ads for subway and buffalo wild wings and all that stuff and you have to carry that ad spend Typically for 60 90 days So you get these big contracts and I was young I was in my 20s. I didn't know I was gonna have to front all this capital So I started going after capital and And so I'm sitting at a table thinking about to close on a sourcing of capital so that I could carry this ad spend for the next you know 60 90 days And um and realized like very quickly that I was at the table with somebody that I didn't understand who they were so my MNA attorney Was trying to source capital, but really did not vet these this group well So I'm sitting across the table from three or four of just sharks, you know um I'm young and they're looking at they're very calm and then the one guy says hey today is not gonna go like you think it's gonna go And I was up against it. I had already booked all the ads the you know ads were running all across this southeastern part of the country I've booked you know 20 million dollars with the bats banking on this capital banking on that capital On everything beg barring stealing whatever I could And they had promised me a close about 10 days before that delayed it so I'm just thinking oh they're gonna delay And I just I had a deadline and the deadline was like two to three days later And so I'm stressed you know in my 20s and he I said okay. Well how long is gonna take you to the capital He said no, we're gonna buy your company today. We're not giving you capital and I was like What like it just come he's so off guard and I'm looking at my guy thinking you know like what's going on? And so he said um he said we're gonna buy your company today. He's we're gonna be fair He said um but the reality of it is he said uh you took something that was ours. He said do you know Who we are and I said I have no clue you are and I said, you know Do you know who they are and he was like well whatever capital source and um They said we're the largest ad agency in the world They said you you basically stole these clients off of us and today we're gonna get them back And they're like we're gonna be fair with you So in the end what happened was they gave me seven times EBITDA which is great in the ad space I could have held out for more But it was that I was on this massive trajectory and had I been able to book all the revenue that I made in the next 90 days That's seven times what of would have been $30 million more and so like that that's where they they knew what they're doing and So they knew that you were over leverage? Oh 100% I mean because I had to disclose everything to them because they came in as a lender They came in as a debt structure And they're gonna you know give me money and I had to show them my contracts and I showed them everything You know like open kimono and just had no clue who they were and um That day I made a couple of promises to myself and the first promise I made First of all they gave me 24 hours and they said You'll sign tomorrow or we're walking away and we know what that means for you and um We're gonna get our clients back and we're gonna get them all back And they said 24 hours. I'm ticked. I mean I'm I'm gonna call my lawyers. I'm gonna blow whatever like I just I was you know I had no recourse at all. I get home. I'm frustrated My my mom always taught me I went through a lot of loss in my early life lost my sister lost my brother And my mom would always like make me rehearse gratitude. You would be like Eddie if you rehearse gratitude In any situation you'll end up getting the bonus of whatever problems come in your life You know like you'll find the mountaintop versus being it's like so many entrepreneurs the bad thing happens to them And it now classify it's like now. This is who they are and my mom teaching me just to rehearse gratitude So I'm in them. I'm coming back in the morning to back downtown Chicago And I'm like, okay, what what good could come out of this, you know And it dawns. I mean, I was like, you know, okay, so I'm thinking through the exit and it's like okay They're gonna give me seven times EBITDA well EBITDA and essentially just look at his net. It's like I would have to do the same thing for the next seven years and get the same result Change nothing Um And they're essentially gonna give me seven years of my life back And so like it dawns me like wait a minute like this actually isn't a bad deal like obviously I'm giving up You know my mind 30 million 25 30 million But I also was getting seven years of my life back and getting it today and they were willing to pay me Capital like cash within the next 30 days So I get to that place and I'm like, okay, well, this isn't that bad like what would I do if I had seven years of my life back like Where would I go and so like I'm you know, 40-minute drive back in Chicago So I get there. I sit down on the table. I'm smiling at him and they're looking at me like what you know What's up with you, you know, and um, I had that thought in my head and I made two promises that day The first thought I had was I'm gonna get this capital and I'm gonna go do something with it I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet But I'm never gonna treat somebody like they treated me But also I feel like I just unlocked something like if I could sell something on a multiple and I'm a real I'm third generation real estate investor So I was like, I know I don't get a multiple like then real estate, you know, like I don't get projected revenue and then paid on it Um, you know, it's like there's no speculative revenue sources and real estate. I mean there's some but not like No, and so I was like man, this is different and I started thinking well number one I'm not gonna do what they've done and they're never gonna take advantage of somebody like this and number two I'm gonna learn this game like obviously. I am outmatched outplayed. I had no idea They had to explain to me what EBITDA was and so like I I was like what exactly I'm like talking to my guy First of all, it's just ticked off at him probably fire him first. Oh, yeah. How do you know, you know I was like you're not getting your commission on this deal But um anyways, so we we kind of get he's like he writes it down If he's vapor earnings for interest taxes like he and I'm like This is like kind of our net. So it's my net. He's like well, it's probably a little bit more than your net I'm like, okay, he like I had no clue You know, there was no chat GBT for me to like sit there and act like I knew what I was talking about But I think that you know one thing that I fully fully believe is in that moment Fortunately, you had like a really healthy relationship with your identity and you understood what gratitude was I think that in that moment somebody could have taken that away and it completely demoralized them and killed Even if they took the deal They would have felt like they were like screwed over They would have felt like they were taking advantage of it's like Oh, you know, the world's out to get me I work so hard all this bad luck And then it like reframes your relationship 100% with entrepreneurship with building a business and then you just self-sabotage and and This was on the other side of getting cash too. I think this I think to be quiet Most of them screw themselves because they it's something bad happens and they're not getting cash And they also self-sabotage for sure It seats in your in your subconscious and it's like now in order to keep you safe your subconscious is okay There's a marker don't ever go back past that point again And then they do they self-sabotage I've had so many business partners later in life that I've bought a business off of or I'm I've bought it And I'm still trying to hold them in an operator seat And you just watch them do crazy things and it always stems back to well this failure that happened now is their ceiling And little did I know that little tip of my mom saying you know like fine gratitude even like I lost my sister when I was six And my mom I was struggling with it my mom would say things like Eddie Instead of thinking about how much you miss her think about let's think about what was your favorite toy that you played with? What would you I mean like it was like a mom that was just so Emotionally intelligent to help me process those things that gave me this crazy tool later in life that I easily could have been the guy they got ripped off for 30 million You know like I could have been sitting here talking about you know, it's this horrible experience in my life It's like it wasn't that at all, you know, it's like and then through that gratitude Then I made these commitments and then those commitments carried me past that point immediately. It's like I remember going home and thinking I literally was searching online going how do you find out about private equity and acquisitions and roll ups? Like that I mean I'm the day later. I'm like figuring it out, you know Versus sulking and you know being frustrated and I made my first acquisition Within a year of that moment. So it's like I I wasn't slowing down. Yeah, there was no downtime But you I mean like now you see that scale because you work with so many different CEOs Um, and I'm assuming that some of the CEOs where you are Not all the businesses that you acquire are distressed But I'm sure when you do see some distressed businesses. This is the reason why like they they are a mindset Away from taking action or doing something they could radically change the outcome But they're over it. They think that there's no out. There's no positive out and they're like, okay, I just have to get rid of this I I typically my strategy is usually not buying distressed. I always say I'd rather buy somebody's success than their problems But I will tell you that even in their success They've gotten to a place where they feel like they can't they can't get more out of the business They can't take it to the next level like they can be making a million two million three million dollars a year Profit to themselves and still believe that they have no path to get to 10, you know It's like it's just it's a wild thing But it usually why do you think they have that limiting belief? It's a it's a weird marker that gets gets set in the mind of an entrepreneur It's like they hit something they hit some wall. It's and it's a hundred percent mindset. It's a hundred percent mindset Most of them have such a like I look at most of the businesses I buy and think man That guy's a better operator than me that guy had more vision than I have that guy It's just but I believe that I can do something with it that they can't and that changes everything your first acquisition was a year later Yeah, how did you figure out, you know the the art of acquisition the art of figure of buying of And was it an individual acquisition or were you thinking like roll up or you think like what was your thought process when you're getting into private equity So I made a conversation with my grandfather who said if you ever get the chance to like get involved in insurance He was like it's a sensual game There's not a lot of new information He was like there's some disruptions that are happening is like if you ever get to captives He's like he's like it's it's kind of this pre he's like think about all these actual scientists that determine the success of this thing He's like you should invest in insurance So I got a buddy of mine had an insurance company who's looking for some capital and I was just gonna be passive and So I went in and I was looking at his deal and it was a group of guys and they had 2030 companies and they had rolled up a bunch of stuff and They came in and they were like hey, we don't have an operator. They're like What would you consider? So after a month or so talking they were I was gonna make the acquisition or at least Be a passive investor in the insurance company. They're like would you actually Be okay with us giving you Matching the equity in this insurance group with all these companies over here and we'll match it But the only caveat is you have to come in and run them and I was like Well, I would consider it And so I took the next five years and I essentially took that group of Yeah, there was like 24 25 companies something like that very small stuff like the insurance company was the prize possession And then there's a bunch of little random tech companies and some technology stuff and You know things that complemented insurance and and then I ended up going into run that and then Because of that it gave me the ability to go buy because now I had this group of companies leverage things I could add things to so it was like it gave me this master course immediately within the first like year So really what I do is master operations among many assets Once I mastered that then we went to 76 companies. We sold you know I had a big exit in 2019 and sold you know 76 of those assets and so it really was In it investment that turned into a lot of operational kind of prowess and understanding Then I was like oh and those guys wanted to add more to their portfolio So then they had deeper pockets. I had capital. It's just the perfect storm. Do you feel like this is interesting because um I always see I always see great operators In some cases have a hard time becoming good investors What allowed you to become a good investor after and I do think that to become a good investor You do have to be a good operator first you actually know how things run and you know how to hire good talent and whatever But what allowed you to sort of do both things simultaneously because that seems to be a rare skill because I have some friends that have had massive exits That lose a shit ton of money Trying to figure out how to invest. Yeah, and that is the case I have a buddy in New York right now that had a huge exit And calls me non-stop with the most absurd ideas and you're like what are you doing? You know like why would you He's so far outside of his lane, but he's so good at what he did. Yeah, he's amazing. What do you do? Yeah? I think that what happened again I think it was a serendipitous or maybe it was divine. I don't know, but it was like I think that Going in and because they had there were too many companies for me to operate right off the bat. I had to then Build my empire by building the people when I was building the agency. I was outselling. I was doing everything I had a media background. So it's like I could speak to the the technology that we were using I spoke the language. So it was like my insurance or my advertising agency was really based on me And this now was too big to be based on me. So then I had to attach to these leaders and Really what happened was is and I realized very quickly. I can't run all of this I have to I have to put myself into the this seat that I'm good at and And then I really just I was forced into building people Then I really focused on how do I build these people then as I built the people then I saw this Theme was like oh that guy is a great operator and that guy is a great operator and that ladies, you know crushing And it's like so then when I would acquire the company I would essentially create a bench of people to essentially operate your force to do it. I was forced to what size company You acquire now do you see that great operator still have that problem hiring great people every because they weren't forced to figure it out every day And so what happens is is most investors or let's just say somebody who exits a company they exit for a sizeable amount Um, you know revenue capital covers since and it's like and so what happens is it allows them to make bad choices Um, usually the best operators are the people who run low margin businesses Or they've been forced to because they've been under the gun or they don't have capital It's like they're the best operators, you know But they also then ceiling out because they learn really bad lessons in that journey and then they can't get to where I was forced to It's like if you're forced to stop the I own coffee companies uh coffee shops We have a coffee roastery and lots of shops and we're expanding super low margin Um In order to run a coffee shop It's a different mindset to run than to run the coffee organization and uh and it's just like there's steps to that Game and people get stuck But I the nice thing is as I was forced I didn't have a choice It was either sink or swim I was sink or swim when I was building my business and it was sink or swim when I was at the private equity side It was like there was just like this constant push and so there was no way to just let my capital kind of cover the bad choices I was making and that's where a lot of people that exit that's what they they literally throw money at things to see If they know what they're doing and then they find out they don't I also feel like founders can be incredibly effective To a significant degree like I mean like they can grow a company significantly And bring in sometimes tens of millions of dollars in revenue While still having a massive key man problem in the company 100% which blows my mind and I'm sure again you this is Probably what you see with a lot of companies you acquire too because yes, there's the mindset of Can I take this company from 10 million to 50 million or I don't know what your buy boxes, but say that's one of them right like somebody who stuck at 10 million and they're Taken home some good money at the end of the day But is it can I do it like do I believe myself to do it? But also do I know how to hire the people that will take it there with me and You can be a there was a company that I worked for when I first started my career and The company was doing around 11 million dollars in revenue and half of that was coming from founder led sales It was just his relationships. It's pretty typical which is crazy. It is crazy And that's we always say there's really five phase of business right like you have startup then you have perseverance That's kind of your pre-profit phase then viability viability You really don't truly reach viability you could be a 10 million dollars in sales and not be a viable company because you have a single point of failure That single point of failure can be a really charismatic leader who can go send 10 sell 10 million dollars for the product You know services and so then you get to scale you rarely go from viability to scale If it's still personality led you know, it's like you can have the personality led companies But in the end you realize like there's a lot more to this you know like they're using it as you know Whatever lead sourcing or something like that, but it's like you know You're not going to truly scale a company when you're when it's based on one person One interesting point that you made that I want to you kind of jump onto is like Most entrepreneurs especially the guy that can go out and sell five seven 10 million dollars for the product Uh, they have a delusion as well that I see a lot and that is When they go to create the team to take that from 10 million to 50 They get so enamored with their own ability all they do is they go reproduce themselves and what happens is that next phase is they Reproduce their problems at a higher rate than they did their productivity So it's like the guy that can sell 10 can go higher guy that can sell seven But the guy that can sell 10 is barely fulfilling at the level to to hang on and create that viability So then they go create this next guy that's going to you know, maybe do 70% of what they do and they just maximize their problems They don't actually maximize their output That's interesting. Okay, so uh fast forward in your career you have Now how many companies that you're that you're running basically you have like the 76 you said you sold so I sold You know, we had 86 total and then in one calendar year we sold 76 sold 76 so that was uh what between 2010 2013 so 2013 I got involved in that group 2019 is when we sell all those companies understood okay and Thinking about that that strategy of selling stuff off what what was the reason for the sell off? Those that just wanted to exit out you want to do something different like felt like the There was a lot going on there um That my biggest exit I still am under NDA and can't even like really talk about it But that one's like that that exit um really was something that I could not choose I was the majority owner and so I just was long for the ride The 76 companies um was there was a little bit infighting with the ownership group. You know, there's always something Um, but then also it really was market conditions 2019 If you like I I love following the economy and I'm an investor so first and so it's like When you follow that kind of conduit of wave the K wave I knew we were at peak and I'm watching you know Warren Buffett selling off and it's like I knew we were at peak so when we started getting All first from one private equity company was like well, why not let's see how far this can go and so I had no idea covid would be the next year and you know, we had thousand employees I had no idea but it really just felt like the peak of the market And we were getting higher multiple offers than I had ever seen before and it was like okay This seems like it's a little bit of a bubble a little bit inflated So we should exercise the the right to sell so we sold um and then uh I ended up you know, I think I ended up during covid having maybe 30 40 employees total from thousands And like it was just a it was a wild Decision that was really the perfect timing. How important is timing and everything timing is everything most people play They'll play the games they'll play the you know like right now. It's like I have so many buddies that are like I'm rolling out HVAC companies and I'm like okay, I get it Are you looking at market conditions while rolling this up? I get everybody else is doing it and I get there's plenty of capital And I get that there's private equity everywhere trying to buy these HVAC companies that are a hundred million dollars plus But are you watching the economy right now like are you watching what's going on with AI specific to that industry And it's like you and most of these investors they they get very transactional And especially the institutional level and they don't play the economy. I play the economy The economy is like the board I'm playing on and everything else is just pieces whether it's a multi-family deal or it's a private equity deal And I'm looking at market condition. Do you feel like they're just chasing hype a lot of investors chase hype Even even like I know that it happens Like when there's just an individual who's putting a little bit of money into the market and they you know Seem big coin on the news and they're like I'm gonna yeah, but institutions do this as well. Oh yeah, by far And and what happens is is there's what we have you know, it's like the whales You got the big big giant ones, you know, you got the the multi-billion dollar, you know, you have black rock and black stone and you know all those And then then downstream you've got mid cap and mid cap always is watching the large cap stuff And so to me I actually don't get lost in that right now mid cap is so focused on on aggregating revenue Finding efficiency selling off within a three to five-year window right like that's all they think about they think about eating the minnow The minnow turns into the midsize fish and then they serve it up to the whale I Played that game for a while and right now there's so much competition in the mid cap space like People rolling up a tracks companies people rolling up doctor practices people rolling up dental practices like the roll-up game is so crazy But I will tell you that I kind of paused for the last year year and a half like I've we've made a couple of acquisitions with nothing crazy But I will tell you that the new tax bill again, I'm playing the economy. So the new tax bill that just came out Actually allows 401k's which is the first time in history to actually be allocated towards private equity funds So the you know one trillion dollars. It's on the sideway is sideline and liquidity and PE today is gonna turn into two trillion probably the next 18 months It's like okay now they're gonna overpay again because they're trying to find yield because all this capital is you know flowing in So again, I'm always playing the market not the not the games That's interesting. It's interesting that even at a higher level people They just succumb to this fear of missing out truly like and I also think it's because some of these Firms they have mandates to invest. Yeah, they do and that will screw them over if they're not making because like right now You see the conditions. You're not just following the hype. You can take a step back And that that will allow you to Make smarter moves. I the biggest difference between me and a big fund are gonna mid cap fund is I Am not raising capital to buy companies. I may raise capital here and there more as a syndication model for specific companies But I'm not I don't have a pool of a hundred million dollars that I have to give yield to and it's like They do and so and then and then they chase the bigger pool of money that has to give yield And then you you find these massive breakdowns, but yeah, I think that overall um Private equity took us a slight you know hiatus just like real estate did I mean it got flat and I think it's gonna ramp up for a little while Just because there's gonna be so much liquidity quick question What's your go-to when you got 10 minutes before a meeting or a workout for me? 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I'd use net sweet now right now Get the free business guide demystifying AI at net sweet.com slash scott clary the guide is free to you at net sweet dot com slash scott clary that's net sweet dot com slash scott clary you talk about all of these because I mean I've heard of I mean dental office role actually like DS so like there's now there's like acronyms for this shit that's so popular And when is that popular probably isn't a good thing for people to go after so what do you look for outside of just looking at the economy What are the opportunities in acquisition that really nobody is paying attention to yet? Yeah, my theory is has always been build community first Serve the community by buying companies that sort of that community. So it's always been my theory So like I have the aspire towards largest business tour in America right now we travel every month and What I'm what I'm doing is creating community and so we have masterminds off those communities and you know our one mastermind Has over 3000 members well 3000 small businesses. I can literally say hey, what are you guys struggling with where are you spending your money? Let me see your P&Ls and what we found was is tax firms financial services bookkeeping It's what they were all struggling with so if I can build a viable company there. I've got 3000 potential clients You know, it's like well, you know you look at Ernst and young they've got however their market cap is ridiculous and they have less than 5000 clients It's like I know these clients are significantly less, but it's like you look at what they're doing to service them It's like could I create a tax run that has 5000 clients like yeah, I could could I have a billion dollar valuation? Yeah, it probably will you know, it's like So I create the community and need before I go make an acquisition So I'm not looking at acquisition my buy box is different because I look at my buy box based on what my community can create in valuation And I don't do a lot of firms do this no, I don't think because we were talking before press record About sort of how aspire came to be and it was all from this community play build the community first right And we're talking about how it seems like a super high risk bet Because that's an expensive community to build so I don't think any other private equity firms are putting on the largest business conference in America right So it makes a lot of sense But if I gave them the metrics and the numbers and I said hey isn't it cost me a million bucks and aspire and out of that million It's going to give me you know 3000 small business leads that now no like and trust you 10% are going to say We don't want anything to do with you and a good you know 75 to 90% or like what else do you have is there's some other way You can serve me can I be a part of your community? It's like and if then I showed them the lifetime value of that 75 to 90% and they saw the lifetime value versus the million dollar expense every one of them would be in the live event space But this is how you disrupt an industry so what you're doing is disrupting private equity correct trying trying It is a big space to disrupt it is, but I mean it's an innovative way of sourcing customers and figuring out what people need, but it's a very smart way I mean some of the best businesses I know are community first and in that community It's like you know, we spend a lot on digital ads um Digital ads are great our conversions are great. We've figured out kind of the digital marketing space however When someone comes in they see you in person they see you on a stage they they're there there's a There's a connectivity they see you in proximity to all the celebrities that they love And then they hear you speak like they hear me speak every aspire for an hour like And it's in person and then they see me in the hallway and then they see my nonprofit in the hallway and it's like That's different then hey come to my webinar for the next 90 minutes It's like the funnel it speeds up. It's the same reaction But it's the reaction time is is is it's a my impressive you can press it So when you think about Building out aspire and building out community How did you do it right? I'm sure there was a lot of shit that didn't go right. I've no doubt very stressful Very stressful, but how did you do it right like what allowed you to because other people try and build communities? I don't think I've seen Honest I see you everywhere. I see aspire literally everywhere So you've done something right and it's and it's and it's still growing and you're still building momentum So how do you build a community properly because I think that's a very useful skill for somebody even if they don't do it at the level you're playing at you have to If you're going to truly build community you cannot think monetization first It most people do not put in the time. I guarantee you did not monetize your first podcast You gave and you gave and you gave and you gave and you gave and then Typically what happens and when it happens correctly is then they ask for something and they're like oh now I have the right to monetize Most people do not have deep enough pockets to do what we do what we did And they didn't have enough patience. It's like We we had so little to sell in the early days and we sold it for so cheap today We sell it for a lot more because there's a value tied to it that I can prove But it's like our our like our mastermind everything we were a third of what everybody else was and all we were trying to do was cover our cost And it was like we were like man if we could buy a year to cover our cost Use it as leverage points to build Listen to them tell them it's like community Community has to be community first and it's like you can't be community and I monetize first You know, it's like or else all you do is erode the community So you feel like when people try and do this they get greedy. I think they get nervous because you have to go and so deep I think there's a lot of altruistic people are like I'm going to build a community and then you do it and you do it And you think like well, man, I'm in the hole, you know, like it's some point this has to pay me back And then I think that nervousness and that weight it's it's it's a very patient game I see this with a lot of creators. I mean, I'm in this world now and people just commit five ten years towards it Even this podcast I've committed years of my life to it before it makes a dollar really and I think that's the game that again You have to be in a good position to be able to do that or or Maybe you don't stress yourself when you're first starting like if you want to put on an event series whatever Maybe you don't quit your job right away and maybe you do it as a side hustles so you can still you know pay the bills I think that people This is this is not exclusive to community building, but I think people just we are sold this lie of overnight success And it's even worse with social media now and it feels like everyone's getting everything instantly And I think that the people that concept proper expectations can play the long game Can commit to something for five ten plus years those are the people that are not winning You think about it this way so My story is interesting. I have all these exits right and I I'm the architect of these exits I didn't benefit the billion dollars, but it's like an architect over a billion dollars in exits I had no social presence and I'm here with a Local influencer that everybody would know and he said I know you sold all the stuff for a billion Why don't I know about you and I was like I actually feel like I don't want you to know about me I was like I like anonymity. I feel like there's a lot of crap that comes with exposure And he said I think it's everything you want is on the other side of exposure And I was like okay, tell me why so he started going to that path He told me you know if you ever want to track capital and attract good talent you want to try He's like I built my entire brand on attracting all this stuff and I was like huh I was like yeah, I mean maybe I'll try and like I just want to see how much the negative is Gonna outweigh the positive So I started and this is now well, I mean it was two years for these parts for some five years in um and I still I mean I have a top 10 podcasts on Apple and And it's very organic and I still don't monetize it. I don't even know how to monetize it to be honest Like you you crush it and I do not I don't even know how to do like it's just funny Well, you're very busy, but if you ever want tips all I need them. I need them But it's like it's funny because um now you look at it like I have capital that chases me. I have talent that you know It's it's interesting. It's um Hit a coffee shop right before we came here and I'm walking in the guy walks up and he's like shakes my hand He's like Eddie's like um, he's like I saw you here saw you there watch your podcast and I don't know who this guy was That stuff almost irritates me like because I love my space and I love like but but then he goes You know what I heard about your operating system that you have he was like could you put me in contact with I mean like it was a lead that was created out of nothing because I just stayed with it for the last five years I mean like and I don't even know I mean it's like I say I don't monetize it But I I monetize it in massive ways because it's the aspire tour. It's all these things, you know It's like well. You have a smarter offer tied to the to the content. You know, it's interesting um Have you ever seen that Naval Ravicon tweet thread on the four kinds of leverage? So of course, so then media leverage is one of the four kinds that I think everybody should lean into and obviously I'm in this game and you are to know I you can you can have massive success with a building an audience. I just feel like it just makes it easier It's it's way easier and it's the currency of today. You know what was interesting is um Watching how AI is progressing and we're we're building certain technology at our office And we have a product that we're gonna launch by April and all this stuff and And I'm watching how AI is searching for Information right like and it's very different from Google right and and there's a relevance and what I'm seeing now And I and I've asked so many I've asked at the highest level like that is I literally was on a call with like the number three guy from Instagram one of the early earlier guys in Instagram Talking to the other day. I'm like I said is is content As you know, I said to me it seems like AI and I said whether it's chat GBT or you name whatever AI tool you want to use Seems to be putting a premium on my content information versus my published information right like I have a website I've all this data on me. I have white papers. I have and it's like and if you ask AI question In regards to anything that I've said or any of my theories or something that it's pulling up content from YouTube It's pulling up content for my podcast. It's pulling up and it's like I think that the currency Um that people are gonna miss out on as if they don't build what you're talking about what you help people do I think that you know gone are the days where Google's searching index content and it's like AI is pulling directly from Your Instagram. So I mean like it's pulling from because that's what people are interested in and and It serves up what people are interested in that's it and it's real time It's like I could have built my website two years ago, and so AI looks then says oh, that's two years old content But what do you just post it on Twitter? I know I know yeah, okay, so I want to go back to your story after you exited so the The the 76 companies was in 2019 that wasn't even the largest exit Um, but I want to talk about some sort of Real things that you went through because I think these are interesting. I feel like it's uh Entrepreneurship is very lonely and isolating and I think the sort of shape to you are today You mentioned you're more focused on sort of philanthropic altruistic endeavors You had about of depression Uh Speak to me about what was going on in your life after the exit because obviously you've made more money than most people will ever make Why are you still lonely? Why are you still depressed? How do what was the thing in your life that was not being solved when you were just trying to build businesses and make more money? I could speak about it scientifically I could speak about it practically I could speak about because in the end, it's like most entrepreneurs The dopamine that they get from the identity of the success of whatever they're creating is something that becomes addictive and for me, you know from a scientific standpoint It's like you get addicted to being the guy, you know like you get addicted to solving all the problems You get addicted to making the sale and hitting the milestones and it's like That's part of it the second part of it is is in that loss of identity You If you don't have a clear path to recreate it, which is why most people make bad decisions after their exit Is they're just trying to recreate some sort of identity and so they go try to invest or they try to be they try to reinvent themselves in some way If you don't have a clear path um That really does give you fulfillment What happens is it's like a it's like you fall off the cliff and then there's like another cliff It's like it's just like is this constant like tripping down the mountain type thing. It's like um and for me That's what happened I lost my identity, you know like I had this the first exit and I then was really hyper focused on my acquisition So that that was like where I was so I didn't really have that big identity hit but then When I was you know, because I had the first exit then I acquired this other company Then we got 76 you know 80s 86 total companies with a big insurance company is like now I'm on the stage And I'm being asked to speak and now I'm speaking 25 30 times a year internationally and it's like and and it colleges and it's like now my identity is this and Now it's all gone thousands of employees now. I have 30 or 40 to talk to you know It's like I had seven high-rise buildings in Kansas City and it's like they're all gone You know like I'm sitting in a small single office in Atlanta, Georgia, you know, it's like all of it and That was really tough to deal with um because money doesn't bring fulfillment and really you know most people That have an exit if you increase your income to you know, let's just say somebody's doing really well And they make you know five hundred grand to a million bucks a year and all of a sudden you get to three million bucks a year You know, you really from three million have a hard time really creating a different lifestyle right like unless you want to go crazy and go by yachts and Just go crazy But it's like you really once you get to that level like you're really not buying a bigger house You're really not you know, you're not buying 50 cars now. You still have the ones you have or you upgrade every you're not You're still busy. So you're not taking a whole years where the vacations You're not you still have a lot of the same friends, you know So it's just like is this weird weird experience? So the money all of a sudden becomes like oh, and then you're looking back at it going I really thought it was gonna provide this for me and then it doesn't so you like are lacking fulfillment You're lacking purpose you're lacking identity and you're feeling it and I was feeling it in a big big way Did you have I've had this conversation with a few other people that have had pretty large exits was there ever a feeling like Oh, I've now killed my cash flow. I can't fuck this up Yeah, there was a stress to it But I I didn't have that necessarily because I felt like oh, I already did it once before and so you had to repeat Yeah, so I had to repeat so um that helped I wasn't fearful there wasn't a lot of fear. I will tell you though that um When you know, I was in my late 30s when that happened hmm and The midlife crisis kind of came in because it's like well What if that was the biggest moment of my entire life and I just what if I lived to 80 or 90 what I have 60 years worth of Nothing is as good as this, you know like there's some of that What would be your advice to an entrepreneur then so that they don't fall into that? Is it like build for the right reasons? Yes, how does that it? It's a hundred percent. It's mindset. Why am I building? And then once I get that under control, you know, it's like if I'm if I'm building Not for ego-based purposes and then I tie it to purpose and I'm building for something that's purposeful The purpose never goes away your identity No, never goes away and the purpose never goes away It's like if you can master those two things while building a company I think it actually becomes very good and and I've worked with a lot of guys that are exiting founders that are exiting And that's the conversation we start having a year or two in advance You know, it's like part of succession planning isn't just like what what am I to do to avoid all the taxation on exiting this company? It's what am I personally going to do to avoid the you know the the identity tax that's going to come if I'm not tied to Purpose and growth for the right reasons and this is where you had to find purpose post exit. Yeah That was it. Do you think a lot of people struggle with this because there's no like playbook They don't rulebook for no and nobody talks about purpose when you're building a company because when you're young You're so hungry and I think when you first start you're like I want to make money And then you realize that money's not coming it would be way less stressful to just work a job So then you've got to have to find like some internal Reason for doing this if you want to keep doing it And it's not money anymore because then you start to make money But you're like I'm working a hundred hours a day. So I can't even spend the money that I'm making But then I could totally see how on that sort of treadmill Fast forward 10 years you exit you haven't thought about purpose for the last 10 years and then your whole identity overnight Is just like gone gone, but I don't think that you can substitute purpose for Like another gear to get to the success you want which is what most people do like explain that okay So most people are like okay, I've got these gears and I'm hitting like it's like you find this success gear And it's like okay now I'm I hit this revenue goal. Okay, now. I've got profit. Okay now. I've got my dream house Okay, now I've got and it's like and they almost like try to attain to purpose It's like okay now that I've got my dream house my dream car my dream life 90 purpose and it's like I think purpose starts way earlier like the quest for purpose starts earlier than that Because it's not just like another gear. It's not just like another notch on the belt It's like if so it's such a big letdown, you know like because um Purpose is interesting because oftentimes purpose isn't found in Days or moments. It's fine. It's found over a lifetime You know, it's like and so you need to start like searching for it early, you know, because When what I what happens? I have a nonprofit or in a hundred 103 countries now I have a lot of entrepreneurs are like hey, I want to go on a trip with you I'm like, okay, we've got orphanages feeding centers. We're digging clean water. We're building businesses overseas come with me And they expect that that purpose is going to come in that one, you know, four or five day window of feeding orphans or helping dig a well or whatever It's like and they're like okay, but didn't come yet. So now what you know, it's like that's it's that's not how it works If you heard of the the concept of the hedonic treadmill. I have yeah, so that's exactly what you're describing So it's a tutti basically you just keep looking for more and more and more because I guess the dopamine hit from the next achievement That wears out and you go after the bigger dopamine hit and I think that they're actually They think that purpose is at the end of this treadmill. Yeah, it's the ultimate It's the ultimate if I if I finally, you know exit for a hundred million five hundred million whatever Um, then I'll find purpose in my life and that is not the case at all Which means you're not even building for the right reasons. It's not and what you find is is when you get on this like deep search for purpose is Most most of the time you're still looking at this productivity or an output And what you find is is that purpose is actually Being content With who you are at its core and what you bring into this world. It's like, you know, I I found purpose in my nonprofit But really my it was a journey of trying to understand who I was and what I did and what I felt called to him I was created it's like all these things Then it was like my what people would call my purpose. I wouldn't say is my purpose I just think that's the output of my purpose, you know Indeed is a success story partner after hiring indeed is all you need let me give you an example If I needed to hire a new editor for this show I'd go to indeed and be super specific Not just can you edit audio? I'd say I need someone who's edited a conversational podcast for at least three years Gets our style and knows our software someone who's done this before and here's the thing with indeed sponsor jobs I'd get people who fit that description I'm not digging through resumes when people who've edited one YouTube video I'm getting actual podcast editors who know what they're doing people who've worked on shows like ours and can prove it That's what makes the difference you get people who actually are what you're looking for According to indeed data sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed are 90% more likely to report a higher than non sponsored jobs And people are finding quality hires right now in the minute that I've been speaking to you companies like yours Have made 27 hires on indeed according to indeed data worldwide Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all the boxes less stress less time and more results now with indeed sponsor jobs And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help you get your job the premium status It deserves at indeed dot com slash clary just go to indeed dot com slash clary right now and support our show By saying you heard about indeed on this podcast indeed dot com slash clary terms and conditions apply hiring do it the right way HubSpot is a success story partner if you're into this show You're probably someone who likes learning from people who've actually done the thing That's why I want to put create like the greats on your radar It's a great show. It's hosted by Ross Simmons part of the HubSpot podcast network Ross breaks down some of the greatest creations and creators of all time What they built how they thought the actual process behind it and he's not just talking theory He's been doing this stuff for over a decade What I appreciate is that he makes it practical like how do you actually systematize creativity? So you're productive but you're not burning out So if you like learning from history Understanding how great work gets made and you want something that's easy to listen to Check it out listen to create like the greats wherever you get your podcasts after that larger exit Is this one you started to try and find purpose which ultimately led to like Honduras and all of this? Yeah, okay, that's it If somebody is at that stage in their career and they've had some great success What is your advice to that person who doesn't have the purpose? They're kind of seeking it a little bit depressed They're trying to figure out where they just spend their time and energy like what do you tell that person? Yeah, it starts with a lot of self-work You know we if they're gonna keep chasing outputs Versus chasing inputs like what what is actually going on inside? You know, it's like I have a guy that I really subscribed to his name's Larry Yatch He's super great guy. He's former seal team leader and does a lot of trauma work and So much of what we do is just based on our subconscious activity, right? It's like we get taught these things in our subconscious and then they just happen, you know and Real quick It I was sitting in Columbia with a group of entrepreneurs and this lady looks at me. I have at that time It's probably serving three four thousand orphans a day to you had already started I built it I have scaled it, you know like and I'm sitting there and she looks over at me and she says Why orphans when I was like I don't know I you know, it's like this weird moment of like I was like because it brings me some level of fulfillment. She was like why? And I was like well, and then I started walking back through it and what it was was I had a brother that Got a really horrible disease and basically like started off life normal and then progressed to death and he ends up And almost like a vegetative state where my parents have to take care of him So I watch like the world love my brother and then reject my brother in the same lifetime Like he's a cute little kid in the world loves him and then and then my later life is watching thousands people stare at him Tell my mom like, you know, they just say horrible things that when people don't understand when people go through that stuff And what I realize is like I really get a lot of fulfillment out of being a voice for someone who has no voice And you don't even you don't even realize why you do those things You're just like doing them as like oh, I felt the fulfillment of giving you know orphans a voice by being there for them But I never realized what it was so like literally on that trip was like it dawns on me. It's like oh Yeah, like I get it now. It's like but it's like I think that it comes with self reflection self work work Like the internal self work But I do think that it oftentimes Comes naturally begin to understand ourselves when we begin to serve when we begin to Give when we begin to extend ourself past our own little bubble So oftentimes I just say start by doing what makes you happy and gives you fulfillment in any way Like go find a way to serve something like serve a board serve something and And it really depends on you know lifestyle too. So one more step back I have a lot of 20 some things that ask me this question right because they've seen me exit. They've seen the stories And I always tell them You're either egg on a you're gonna search for purpose and meaning today Or if you don't have that let's just say that DNA because most of them don't they're like they're not gonna just give you like Go sit and meditate and think through deep thoughts So then I tell them okay, well, what's your what's your desire? I'm with the Lamborghini in the gym like okay, then hurry up and go get it because one day you're gonna be like taking a selfie On the runway with your Lambo and your jetting and realize like well This is the MTS feeling in the world and then that's gonna take you to the place where now you don't have a choice But to do it so either do it now because you can or go crush it so that at some point it forces you to so that you still can have that Experience in life. Do you feel like after doing a lot of sort of you know Deep self-work. Do you feel like this has made you a better entrepreneur? I actually do Not because I think there's more productivity or efficiency in my life But because now I see everything as purpose driven You know like so I think one of the greatest things we do is not me acquiring companies and performing them I think it's the I go into Thermal countries and give money to Kids that have come up through our system and help them start businesses and even though They're business it like I have a young guy named Isaac and Guadalajara who has a little cleaning business and I funded it He can support his family like he he he's this is not gonna be a hundred million dollar business He can support his family and he can have a good living and I look at look at that and go that's success like I That's true entrepreneurship The ability to take care of oneself and the things that they love and to be able to provide for those around you It's like that's entrepreneurship and it's like so I look at those moments and think like that's what defines entrepreneurship for me That's the way that people should start it if they could but I feel like they don't to your point Those are huge expectations as to what is going to create and what if you you know what the world sees is success Right now you run 27 companies you speak to around what 5,000 plus people monthly at aspire to or Like everybody's coming up to you trying to you know pick your brain connecting them sure like non-stop But you also speak about being lonely How come you feel like you're lonely at this stage in your life when you basically accomplish whatever you want to accomplish You now you're getting the exposure people know who you are lonely. This is it's not about um It's not about people in proximity. It's about true connection And when you get to this place in your life where you really just want to live in purpose live in alignment And do good things in the world. It's like what you find is there are a few people that live on that plane And so then when few people live on that plane and everything's about business growth like every question I get asked is well, how do I scale my company? How do I do it more efficiently? How to find the right person? How do I train this leader? How do I source more capital? How do I it's like those are lonely questions Because like what I want to talk about is like okay, well, we have this group of orphans and you know the Philippines that I want to somehow Teach a bunch of worship and and it's like though I don't get asked those questions So loneliness is not about proximity to people. It's about connection to the things that you love It's like I mean think about like if you've ever been into relationship and you're not on the same plane You could sleep in the same bed and be lonely Um, and I think that that's where life is sometimes for me You know, it's like and I have I have my inner circle and I'm not I wouldn't say that I'm lonely But I experience loneliness and it's mainly because the whole world wants something from you That you know is not going to serve them well And all you want to do is give them something deeper which is that lack of connection How do you navigate that when you walk into rooms? I think I constantly speak Towards the need of it and I feel like the law of attraction what happens is as I speak it And as I talk about it and as I'm open with it like I'm not normally an open person So like you'd ask me four or five years ago to talk about loneliness. I don't know. Let's cut this Let's not get this direction But today what happens is is now that is me putting it out there the law of attraction will put somebody else It's in that same feeling and say the same space into connection with me and I'd be like hey, I feel the same way You know, it's like now all of a sudden I'm creating connection You mentioned how sometimes it's frustrating to get through to people who are younger in their career They're looking for the lambo in the private jet right and I think that that's probably you know this version of success that has been the soul sold to them by Instagram and Take talking everything What frustrates you the most like if you could just take that person that 20-year-old Eddie and say like Please stop believing the hype What frustrates you the most about that person? Would you tell that person to do differently? Yeah, what frustrates me the most is um I Uh We have Tim Grover come speak quite a bit and um Tim Grover wrote a book called winning and What frustrates me the most is people that say they want something but won't give themselves to it So I have a 20-something that says I want the lambo in the jet I'll talk about the purpose and then they you can see it just go out It's like that doesn't connect at all. I'm like, okay Well, let's talk about get the let's hurry and get you the lambo in the jet because you're gonna realize that you need purpose So like let's hurry and get get you there now past this point. You got to be all in And very very few people are all in like very few people are willing to give the time the effort the energy to take What it takes to get to that? So you realize like oh, they're gonna chase this thing their whole life never get it Which is the majority of humans and never actually experience fulfillment? You know, it's like that's frustrating because it's like if you would just go all in Let me think about it you you know, I know that you do a lot in the workout space. It's like Could you get somebody in shape that they just would give you the course of course? Could I get somebody success? Could I grant somebody success in business if they just give me the time? Yeah, I just like it's just it's a natural part of life So my frustration is typically a lack of commitment and I see it I see What you used to talk about earlier, which is um, we want that instant success mentality We want the social media mentality and so what happens if it doesn't come fast enough then they're on to something else Which is only going to prevent them from getting to fulfillment longer, right? I've thought about this a lot You know mostly because I experience it with the podcast. I've probably had Over the course of me building this podcast the 40 or 50 people ask like how do I start a podcast the pretty common question And I have all my SOPs and I have all my everything that I've ever done and I should probably sell it at some point, but I never have I have it sitting in my google drive and I just sent it to people And there's two people that have actually taken it and ran with it and actually have successful podcasts I'm not great at math, but it's not a it's not a significant percentage of uh two out of 50 is not a significant percentage I guess I'd be 4% but yeah But the point is I think the bar is so low because so few people Will really do what it takes to be successful But it's also it's a lot of work, but it's not that complicated. No, and it's about and I say this in kind of a business Teaching and you know speaks that it talks that I do is like It's not about being 100% better than your competitions about being 5% better consistently. It's like you know, I've got three boys and My sons oftentimes. I'll sell it. I'll say to them like look if the average person gets out of bed at 745 In order for you to be above average get up to 730. It's 15 minutes like and you've literally crushed the rest of the world today Like the bar is so low and that's business too, you know, it's like With our coffee company People are like man, you put a coffee shop right down the street from Starbucks. Are you crazy? He's like no, the bar is so low, you know like it's it's like well, I don't have a problem with that Like it's I would neither because I don't even like Starbucks So I would totally go to that right and and the world does and and it's like and so you're absolutely right like it doesn't take It doesn't take that much more effort to be exceptional So what's the blocker then outside of just needing instant gratification? I mean you speak to over 5,000 people monthly you've worked with how many CEOs of companies I would say the CEOs of companies are probably Oriented towards action. So there's probably not a good sample size but a sample audience But out of the 5,000 people have come to aspire monthly or whatever that number is Um, how big is a spider now, but is it my quoting right numbers? Okay. Yeah, I mean we it's bigger It depends on the the market. I mean like we get a 2000 or we get a 5,000 It really just depends so but still you're getting thousands of people walking into that room They're listening to the most influential motivational people on earth basically Um, some of the greatest business minds too. I mean what percentage of those people actually take action and change their lives And and why don't a hundred percent of those people do it like what's the blocker? There's a lot of blockers There's a lot of signal to noise ratio um in that they don't choose a path I always say this a lot like you know, I have an operating system We have 3000 companies globally that operate on my operating system And somebody will say is yours better than EOS or traction, you know or scaling up and I'm like I don't know that I can quantify and say it's better The the fact of the matter is is it it works when somebody uses it and so does EOS and so does scaling up And so does every other operating system out there like they were created on success model It's like that's that signal noise ratio is really loud today And so what happens is it's like you've got a lot of people that look at it and they change on a daily basis of what they think success is So you have to stick with something you have to choose a path stick with something um but second to that is um often times um It is the instant gratification that we seek and again It's like if you think about my principle of like you have to be 5% better than the competition on a consistent basis But you also only have to outlast your customer one more day than they last right so it's like what's the um What's the equation? It's like there's really four steps that I call the perseverance continuum It starts with you know, there's always fear and starting something There's always pain and starting something and you really can't determine how much pain you're gonna go through And there's always perseverance. How long will you stand to the weight and then there's always success right And the fact of the matter is is most entrepreneurs are just an entrepreneur who stayed in the game one more day than somebody else That's it. It's like the bar is so low So most people don't architect their lives that way they a lot of entrepreneurs they They'll choose multiple pathways because of all the noise And then they get frustrated and then instead of just sticking it out for one more day and tell them so one more day Just one more day. Just one more day What they do is they've kind of got this relet mentality where it's like I'm just all in on black and let's just see what happens It's like I'm just gonna spend all my money and marketing this month I'm just gonna I'm gonna put all and it's like and if it doesn't work it doesn't work and I'll go back to corporate It's like it's that that's the mentality and then they chase something new and shiny and that doesn't work because they had the same mentality They would have applied to that you know Somebody asked me yesterday What would be a good side hustle to start and I'm like any of them? Just stick with it. Yeah, just stick with it and you'll find a way to make more money than a The market will always pay you more for your skills than an employer will it's so funny I have a barber that comes to the office and cuts my hair. I have a guy that you know comes and cleans my car Both of them in the same week ask me What would I if I had a side hustle? What would you do? I said that'd be a barber Because you're a barber and then like the guy that's detailing my car He's like what what would your side also be? I was like detailing cars. He's like no No, I mean like what would your side? I was like detailing cars. He's like well What are all for me? I was like detailing cars. It's like it's like it's the point You know, it's like you know, you can it doesn't take that much more effort to be exceptional like Could he be the greatest barber in our area? Yeah, like he could be like could you be the could you add social media to your presence of Of doing detailing cars and become the greatest, you know, deep car detailer and are you good like 100% It's just the bar you get after and the bar is exceptionally low. Yeah, one of the last things I wanted to touch on I love Ryan holiday. You've read ego is the enemy multiple times Why is and and Ryan holiday is actually more known for stoicism than Than anything but why ego is the enemy? Why that's such an important piece of work that you love. Yeah So Ryan holiday We've had him come and speak and he's I like that he rephrases stoic philosophy most I love I love the meditations of of marks are really it's like I think that should be a must read for every entrepreneur Because it creates a you know, it's like I always tell the story of Julius Caesar now, you know His rise to payments of getting him stabbed by Brutus's best friend because he became the bottleneck of his empire Right like he grew so fast and then every decision stopped with him So the senate literally talks his best friend into walking and stabbing him Marcus are really is if you read his meditations He's very much like self-reflective and He realized like he puts a huge emphasis on the people that help him build his empire Um, and there's a huge difference there and the outcomes are different Um, and so when I read the stoics I feel like it most of them have the emphasis of self-reflection You know self-regulation In understanding of what I'm capable of Commitment to all things that are purposeful. It's like there's so many things that momentum worry living today It's like he's like there's so many just amazing philosophies and in that and I think Ryan holiday is a modern day Uh, writer who who makes it plausible for a young entrepreneur to read it and understand it Um, I've given meditations out to so many young entrepreneurs and then I asked him to read it and they haven't I give out ego Is the enemy which I think is one of the biggest works of Ryan holiday and one of the most important first steps Um, you know, his last one wisdom takes work is an amazing book However, if you don't read that ego is the enemy you never actually realize you need wisdom You know, it's like so I say that because I get platforms to speak and I it's the book I want every young entrepreneur to read because it's like if they can get ego out of the way It goes back to my thesis which is then it's self-reflection then you start working on purpose Then you're doing things for the right reason believe you're with everything you said I love Ryan holidays work um How do you get ego out of the way ego is nothing more than you know believing Something you know like believing that your your abilities who you are is more important than it really should be The way that you get at ego out of the way is oftentimes reflecting on who you really are and And living and being okay with your flaws and with your limitations Um, you know oftentimes the biggest mistake that I see my friends make in going and acquiring companies They sell a company like I'm gonna go acquire a company as they walk in and believe that they know how to solve it I think I tell them every time when they're acquiring it when you're acquiring the first one Believe you don't know how to solve it and believe that the person actually has the answer This haven't unlocked it yet So start looking at their genius versus your genius because so much of Of our failures are tied to a elevated belief about ourselves. It's not real And so it's like if you come into every situation believing you don't know the answer you are probably wrong Right, it's like then all of a sudden you you always have wisdom and knowledge and information at your fingertips This turns you into a forever student forever student. Yeah One of your quotes which I love everything I want is on the other side of my ego I wish more people would understand how powerful that is I really really because I think about Think about why somebody would fail in business It's because they think they know what they don't know right every time and that's it because if you didn't have an ego If you just understood the you know go into it like I'm an idiot. I don't know what to do here Let me let me research as much as I can let me study as much as I can let me ask as much as I can like all of those habits Only exist if you don't have ego. I think that to be a true entrepreneur that is good and successful As fast as you possibly can be you have to walk in every situation with no ego But also with decisiveness you can't allow your ego to then paralyze all things like okay I don't know so I'm gonna have to just sit back But that's difficult because there's a duality there And so to be a successful entrepreneur that moves fast You have to remove your ego and then make decisions and I it's the 80% rule I need to be 80% I need to be 80% right on every decision that I make and have enough ego or I have a enough Absence of ego that when the 20% of me being wrong shows up that I had just and it's like liaikoka always talked about You know how he his his business model is not plan and prepare it was act and adjust and so I have an act and adjust model I go into situations without ego as much as possible Believing that I don't have the answer But I'm willing to fail so I make decisive action and because of my experience I'm right 70 80% of the time then I admit when I'm wrong 20 to 30% of time as fast as possible And then I adjust to optimize tell you learn to it's iterations. What's next for you? So I mean your focus now obviously you have aspire you're still acquiring businesses What is the next 10 years look like for you the next 10 years for me is a full sprint to endowing my non-profit With all of my investments and opportunities. I have a non-profit called impact others It operates in over 100 countries. We do feeding centers orphanages clean water projects and and build small businesses for budding entrepreneurs and I don't want to pass on the burden of fundraising to the next generation So I'm creating it, but it's this big monster machine Now I need to make sure that it's endowed forever so that I can pass on the ethos and the the activity It's an next generation without the burden of fundraising. So that's my that's why I'm still doing what I do You've had incredible success if you could go back tell your 20-year-old self one thing one piece of advice What would that piece of advice be and why the the piece of advice would be um that Success takes time. It's like we want things so fast and every poor choice I made along the entrepreneur entrepreneur journey is I I made it Because I believed that I didn't have time you know, it's like what happens is is now Now I actually don't have as much time as I did back then back then time was my ally If I just would have waited one more day if I just would have waited out certain situations And so when I'm young time is my ally when I'm old time is my enemy How is your definition of success changed definition of success has radically changed in that I would say Success is about living a daily optimized experience. It's not about a metric of it's not a KPI It's not a it's not a capital requirement. I think success is a daily optimized Experience that I'm going through I think wealth is about having enough today that if I if I take care of all of my needs It doesn't diminish my amount tomorrow So it's like it's not a mon it's like I'm going down these redefinitions of everything in my life Because then it creates contentment and when you create contentment then you go live in full purpose What's one opportunity that you're excited about today that people start looking at? I'm excited for the disruption that's happening with AI. I mean, and we're investing heavily in tax software specific You know the the government right now the the IRS is It's it's something I know our people need our our members our communities because you know because you you have the Community they telling you yeah, and they're like and the government is using AI to go through everybody's tax returns And they're finding these little pieces and and it's like I want to create a we're creating a preventative Process where you're not gonna Have to have such a worry about being audited because now be they put everything through AI So we're creating creating a pro a program called business taxes AI and that's a really exciting project for me because I have lived at the upper echelon of wealth for a while and what I realize is when people talk about the one percent We are given you know most people are given CPAs is like the ultimate knowledge for tax and in our world The CPAs are the the doers right like then we have tax strategist and tax architects and tax attorneys And it's like and so in that providing all of that at the lowest level at the cheapest rate I think it's going to really disrupt this space. I love that so that's a that's a huge entrepreneur Lesson to if you find like a legacy industry that is Like massively just inefficient and you apply AI this is what you're doing And and I mean that's a that's a huge pain point for a small business owner and it's a race to Whoever gets it out first whoever gets market share first and so that's fun like you know It's like having the ability to go after it create market share. I already have this massive database So it's like that's fun and then really the second big thing is I'm really creating a lot of businesses overseas And so we're constantly Raising capital or are getting donations to help entrepreneurs overseas create sustainable Income that then feeds the greater ecosystem and so what I'm trying to do is create not just an endowment program But like in Guadalajara we have we've started over nine businesses each of them do not have to give a dollar back But they have to get 10% of their revenue to the so they have to be successful Yeah, and so in that then that feeds the orphans that digs water well stuff like that So that's a big big project for me. I'm so curious what happens when When when we can use AI to properly understand taxes Have you thought about this because I mean The reason why people pay so much in taxes because they don't understand the tax law They don't and and what happens when we already have every every word of tax law In our program and what and if you say to this AI system, hey You know, I need my tax bills gonna be $20,000 this year and it says okay Well, based on everything we have and the connectivity to your bank account and everything that we see in his classified This is a high percentage of you're never going to get audited and and it would never never fly Anything and now you can save $24,000 in taxes by using this thing and by the way here's the tax code and completely legally You're in the green. It's very interesting. I think about every entrepreneur today Most of them live in the gray areas of taxes right like they're writing off things that You know, they're tripped a Disney World and saying they had a business trip right like they're writing off things and AI IRS is getting smarter Okay, well, what are you gonna do to combat that? This is how you combat it So, you know, all these industries that are basically in I guess taxes and industry, but all these industries that are based on Lack of knowledge are gonna be so do I'm thinking like health insurance Where nobody knows what they're paying for no at all health insurance. I mean we have a we have a life insurance company And we are constantly looking at models for AI. We have a hedge fund right like we have a hedge fund that um, you know, we've had for a while I Force all of our traders To every trade to go into our AI bot and then I look at the efficiency and then I literally could replicate what they're doing and I have 12 years worth of trades that I could feed into their based on the market conditions It's like it's just we're looking at AI and everything we do Not not necessarily to replace things because we're successful. So I don't need more efficiency But it's what does it look like at product like at scale like it yeah, how do you get 10 x out of every single person That's very you're gonna build the next renaissance for your hedge. I don't know It I think it's feasible, you know, it's like it's wild And now I mean like how that happened, which is a mathematician who figured out how to apply that to trading And this is what AI can do at scale. So this but when everybody has access to it first movers advantage for sure But what happens when everybody can that's the that's that's You know, truly know a question. Okay, Eddie. I appreciate you so much, man Where can people connect with you? Where do you want to send people social all that? I'll put stuff in this one It's the biggest thing that I I try to you know work at is connectivity And so Eddie Wilson officials all my social handles and I try to answer all as many DMs I can and really connect with entrepreneurs And he helped if you could only pass on one lesson to your kids like be most important unless you've ever learned What would that lesson be it would go back to you guys the enemy I think everything that they want is on the other side of the ego If they'll be that constant learner if they'll look at the world with wonder and you know And look at the creativity that's all around us and explore. It's like and yeah, they would be unstoppable