We thought 10 Airbnbs would make us rich… turns out, one business could do it faster.

This episode dives into a major mindset and strategy shift—from building wealth through Airbnb and real estate to focusing on acquiring cash-flowing businesses.

The hosts reflect on their journey: starting with short-term rentals as a path to financial freedom, only to realize that real estate—while valuable—is slower, capital-intensive, and heavily reliant on equity rather than immediate income.

After conversations with mentors and analyzing real numbers, they uncover a key insight: buying established businesses can generate significantly higher and faster cash flow than building or scaling real estate portfolios.

They break down:

•  Why many investors are pivoting from real estate to business acquisition 
•  The difference between being “equity-rich” vs. “cash-flow rich” 
•  How buying an existing business removes the grind of starting from zero 
•  The surprising opportunities in “boring” service-based businesses (like plumbing, street sweeping, etc.) 
•  The impact of AI on jobs—and why owning businesses may be the safest long-term move 

The episode also highlights the power of social media in creating unexpected opportunities and emphasizes a key mindset shift:
 👉 You don’t need to know everything—you just need to be willing to lead and figure it out.

Overall, it’s a raw, honest conversation about evolving financial strategies, risk, and building wealth in a rapidly changing economy.

Hosted by Ethan Glidewell & Sarah Glidewell 

You can view the video & audio version on our Youtube Channel 

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Everybody's like, how do you run a business? I'm like, and just answer the phone. Start there, you just eliminated over half of your competition simply by answering the phone.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

All right. Well, welcome back to another episode of Designed to Glide Well. I love that name with that over it. Um, last time we were recording, we finished talking through our real estate journey, I guess you could say, over the last seven years.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

But yeah, we went into some depth there. Yeah. But also at the same time kept it pretty light. Because there's way more.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

There's so much tea. Um, but this episode, I really want to shift the conversation to talk about our shift in focus over the last year, maybe year and a half, I guess, at this point. Um, I will say I think it's a trend. I think the shift in focus is a trend that we are not the only people having this conversation because I see it all over online.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Um I think it's probably been like that for a long time. It's just we're now so focused on it. Instagram has it on us.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, maybe it just seems like uh a lot of the Airbnb slash real estate in general investors that were all real estate now are either having the conversation of real estate versus buying businesses or shifting completely into buying businesses. And so even yesterday I saw three videos that were all of people that primarily were real estate that are now having this same conversation. And so um, yeah, I just I think that you know, we're understanding it in the same way that they are, and I want this conversation to be around why we're shifting our focus into that, your perspective on it, my perspective on it, you getting me on board with it. Um, and just kind of talk through why we've made the decisions that we've made to shift that focus. So let's start with you. I mean, you really were the one that led this whole thing up of shifting from focusing on buying real estate and that replacing our nine to five income per se to really starting to focus on buying a business as opposed to real estate. So talk me through like what was going through your head when we started that shift, why you felt like we needed to start that shift.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Well, I think that you know, you talk about all these influencers and people are experiencing the same shift that we are. I think we all ran into the same problems, right? Um, and I say problems, they're really good problems, but the problem is, you know, Airbnb has been fantastic and it really taught us how to hire, how to fire, how to manage. You know, there was so much value in that, but what it is, is it's very slow. Um, and you know, originally our goal I think was to get like 10 Airbnbs, yeah, and and be done, live off that and see you later. I think we got to five, and we're like, oh, this is a lot more than we were thinking it was. And so, you know, I just again I think that Airbnb was an excellent introduction into really it is running a business. You know, it's it's it's it at least in the state of Michigan, it's considered commercial. Um, however, we don't have to uh go down that rabbit hole. Yeah, we don't have to go down that one. But um, and so I I just I think I've shared this story before, but I was in the middle of selling my business last year. We were at the level up your listing uh conference, yeah. And I was you know starting to get a little nervous that hey, the thing that I've done for the last 10 years that supported you and me, uh I'm selling, and I need to know what I'm I should be doing next. And that's when I got on the phone with our CPA, Steven, um, Snapback CPA, shout out. And uh he's the best. Yeah, he is, he's a great guy. And I was just on the phone with him and I was like, hey, look, dude, this is what I'm going through. And and you get the opportunity, the unique opportunity to see into everybody's financials. And I just, you know, probably people that make less money than us, and hopefully people that like make way more money than us. And I just need to know, like, what are they doing? I don't need specifics, right? I don't need to know how much anybody's making, but I just want to know what they are doing. How are they generating that much money? And he said that we are doing it backwards. We're doing it backwards, right? We're we're focusing too much on the real estate and not focusing enough on the business. And so we need to buy a business that is cash flowing, heavy cash flowing, preferably, um, and then roll that cash into real estate, which is what we started with. That's how we started. And with the insurance business, right? We were rolling all the money into, or really, maybe we weren't rolling the insurance business money into that, but we were able to live online and roll your money into it. Yes. And and then at some point, I don't know if it was maybe it was new, exciting, sexy, whatever it was, it it shifted for me, where it was like, oh, real estate is the vehicle that's gonna take us to the top. Yeah, I don't necessarily know when that shifted or why, but it did. And so when he said that, I was just like, huh. You know, like that we already had that.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

You want to know what I think shifted?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

I actually just sold my cash one business. Oops.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Oh no. Oh no, I still think that was the right call. But you know what I think really shifted? Um, because I I remember vividly having the conversation, like while we were sitting at Biteley, we're on the paddle boat and we're like, or the pedal boat, and we're like, hey, 10 of these, each one making 50k a year profit. Done. 500k a year, we're done. 500k isn't enough anymore.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Okay. It is, or it could be.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah. However, we weren't it just like we were like 500k and we're done. Right. You know, and so yeah, it just seemed like at that point in time, we were so fresh off of, or I was really fresh off of just making 40k a year. So 500k to me felt like all the money in the world.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Right, right. And enough to solve all your problems.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Enough to solve all my problems, which granted still is, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Like it could solve a few, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

It could solve a few problems. But nonetheless, it's like now um now we just know more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

You know, and now we weren't considering cash out refines. We weren't, we had no clue. We were just like save money, next, save money, next.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

To ten.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah, to ten.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

That was the game. Yep. I think we made it to five.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yep. And then we were like, time out.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Time out.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

And I think another point that I want to make too is real estate is very slow, right? Like you you can if you want to do the caliber of property that we're doing, you can maybe do two a year. But outside of it being slow, it's expensive. It's extremely expensive. And so I think my big moment of click, um, where I was like, wait a minute, what are like why why are we doing this? Is when you joined that mentorship and we started actually looking at running an analysis on how much businesses were cash flowing. Right. And everybody's like, you know, when we first started. Already. Yes. Yes, everybody in the real estate space was like, you know, equity's the game, equity's the game, equity's the game. But the reality is, is it's like, okay, if you are leveraging equity, then you're over-leveraged on every single property that you've got. If there's a downturn in the market, now you've got this huge expense because you only own 20% of every building that you're in. If you're lucky. If you're lucky and you've poured 100% of that equity, either you've spent it on living expenses, if you actually want cash flow in your pocket that you can spend on your lifestyle, or two, you've rolled it into more real estate. So being equity rich doesn't really change your lifestyle unless you've got something that is allowing you to be.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Being equity rich at the very end makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Great.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

I don't need that right now. Like again, you can cash out refi, but then you're just that's you're arguably over-leveraging. And I think it started a little bit just a hair when Steven told me that, and I he told me to get Cody Sanchez's book and uh The Main Street Millionaire. I read that um a little to beginner, being that I'd already done a business, sold a business. Yeah, uh, but the idea was planted in. I was like, oh, got it. And then I read the next book, yeah, which was Buyback, no, no, no, sorry, um, Buy Then Build. Yeah. Um, a little drier, a little harder of a book to read, but I mean, just really opened my eyes. And then that's when I was like, I am buying a mentorship, and I'm gonna get I'm gonna get all the information I need, and then I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

And that's that's how it really it accelerated quickly.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yeah, time to go back to school.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Because I I I was talking to Steven, I think level ups in March, and then I think I purchased that uh mentorship in early June.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah. So well, and I think being able to do the like everything in life, in my opinion, comes down to the math. Yeah. Right? Like uh everything comes down to the math. And so it was like in running a mentorship for the last three years, I would just see the light bulb moment the second we would show people how to calculate the worst case and best case scenario for profitability for their B. Because the math isn't super hard. It's just like you need somebody it's you gotta go to class. You you need somebody to teach you how to do it correctly and know that they have done it themselves and they have seen the result that they're seeing. And and it just takes you a minute to like believe that you're doing the math right and that you're accounting for everything. And um a little hand holding. Yeah, you just want somebody to hold your hand. And so I remember watching everybody's eyes light up. It was always my favorite class to teach because it's like a skill that you can learn in 45 minutes that absolutely changes the entire trajectory of your life because you feel in control of how to grow your money. And it's the same thing when you brought back, okay, let's run these numbers on these businesses and let's compare it to real estate. And for me, that was the big light bulb moment where I was like, wait a minute, you know, every single one of these Airbnbs we're pouring at least 150 grand into.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

What does 150 grand get you in a B and B? You're trading 150 grand for 50 grand of cash flow, right? In a best case scenario, right? In our market. But 150 grand, putting it down towards a down payment of a business produces exponentially more than that. Yeah. Like the cash on cash is totally different.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

You're talking in the hundreds of the percent of the uh not a hundred of the percent, but hundreds of percentage.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, in real estate, you're looking at a 20% cash on cash.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Which is really, really good. Yeah. You know, yeah. When I was running some numbers the other day and saw a business that I was looking at was 332% cash on cash. And and again, that that can get even greater, assuming you do some sort of seller finance. You know, it it's just it's exciting. It's very exciting. It's uh it took me a minute to get you on board. I think where I made a mistake was I read the two books without you. Well, I had the conversation with Steven without you. I read the two books without you, and I took the mentorship without you. So it was like I was sold, clearly. Yeah, and then I had to turn around and put my salesman britches on and go, hey, we're doing it wrong. Scratch everything we've ever done.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

And and trust me on this, because I've read two books and have taken a mentorship. So trust me, let's let's start over. Yeah, but now that I've gotten you on board, it's like, no, look, these businesses, it's not like you talk about pouring 150 in to make 50. Again, that's all projected, right? That doesn't take into account any external factors, any flower.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah, you're not buying an existing, running has been proven to work B.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah, this is this is You're making assumptions. You're making complete assumptions. So when you think about even lending, when you're going through the lending process on real estate versus buying a business, lending, they're like, all right, I'll give you 300, 400, whatever that number is, based on your credit, based on your uh what you have in the bank, based on a couple of different things, right? But they're only gonna give you this much money. Yeah, that was a pretty eye-opening experience when we went through pre-quall on business lending. And they're like, we'll give you 6.7 million.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

I'm like, Oh, yeah, you were like, I hope that they give me 1.5 million.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

I was, yeah, I was I had no clue, right? But it's like that to me, right there shows how a bank looks at risk.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

And a bank doesn't necessarily like real estate, right? Or they consider it maybe a little bit more risky versus an already established cash flowing business.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Yes, where day one, you walk into it, you change nothing, and you're making hundreds of thousands of dollars.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

That's the exciting thing. Like, and I want to talk, we can talk about it in a minute, but I want to talk about like the anxiety I get or have gotten in the past thinking about day one or day thirty, sixty, ninety when you're buying a business. And it's like you net don't necessarily have to change anything. Right. Like if they're cash flowing and business is running smoothly, right? Just you can just hop in. Leave it alone. Leave it alone.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah, don't fix it if it ain't broken.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Yeah. Well, and I think too, part of my pushback as well is like I didn't fully understand the benefit of buying versus building a business because obviously that's the way that we've gone every time. Every time. Um, and thankfully, like being active on social media has allowed us to step into several businesses and get clients right away and not have like a season of famine and have to like build this huge reputation because it's always just been an underlying thing of like people are watching what we do. But I I it was just such a mindset shift for me to be like, especially in this season of starting over with studio host and and re rebuilding, you know, really kind of from the ground up. And it's not from the ground up, but it feels like it's from the ground up again. And it's like, okay, now I've got to go hire, now I've got to go train, now I've got to go develop systems, now I've got to go find clients, now I've got to go market, now I've got to go rebuild a reputation, now I've got to like, and it all is even with a social media following, it all is really starting over. Whereas you look at these businesses that you're buying that have been in business for 20 plus years, it's like the reputation's there, the team's there. Yep. Like you're improving.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Yeah, you could tweak or improve.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

As opposed to doing that and that front end lift is heavy.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

It's like all while worrying about if you're gonna get another customer. Yeah, like that. And if you do get that customer, are you gonna be able to treat them correctly and make their experience good because you're worried about all these other things, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

When it's already done too much, it's already done. Yeah. Yeah. So talk to me about um, because I think a big portion of our conversations in looking at these businesses um and getting really serious about putting offers in on these businesses and you know, what do we want to do? Where do we want to be? Where do we want to go? How much money are we willing to spend? How much money does it need to make? Um, I posted online this week about how a topic of our conversation is how do we make sure that we're buying a business that's not just going to get absolutely obliterated by AI in two years. Right. You know, because when you started your mentorship a year ago, it was like everyone was like accounting firms, accounting firms, accounting firms, accounting firms.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Like that they still are, it's still hot.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah. But it feels like to me, there are like that conversation is shifting a little bit because of AI.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

It seems to be going more towards service-based, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah. So what's going through your head when you're looking at these? Like, what are you saying yes and no to?

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Well, it's there's no denying that AI is gonna change everything, right? I'm not ignorant to that fact. Um, however, there is there's research and studies suggesting where AI is gonna really take over versus it's gonna take a while, it's gonna lag. So, I mean, Elon's saying today that like by X amount of time, there are gonna be no jobs, right? So I don't know necessarily if we can avoid AI altogether. Um, but I know that there's gonna be a lag in a lot of different industries for a while. Um, and so I'm looking at those industries. I'm looking at service-based.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Now, I mentioned on my Instagram the other day when I was showing people how I start looking at businesses, anything like a plumber, electrician, HVAC, those businesses come with a license. Uh, some well, not the business license, but the person in the business owning the business has to have the plumbing license, the HVAC license, right? And I personally think that license is going to get crazy valuable.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Whoever holds he who holds the license. Um, and and so we got a bunch of 60s and 70-year-old people with that license retiring, not training the next round. Yeah, they're just a one-man show or a couple of man show and they're dipping. Like our the electrician we talked to.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I was gonna say, how do we know? It's because we hire them.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

We hire them and I ask them every single question. I am so obsessed with it.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, you're like, hey, I need you to quote this job, but also I need an hour of your time to pick your brain.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

And then I also like if you're getting tired and don't want to do it, fantastic. Don't need you to. I just need your license. So I need you to have a a a piece of this business, an ownership in this business. So, so you know, service base is obviously something that I would be uh very interested in. However, um with the SBA guidelines, I believe that they have to, the person with the license has to have an X amount of ownership in the business. So you've got a business partner automatically. Um, but it is a moat, right? That license is a moat, and that's it, that's attractive. Um, I'm looking at anything that is like maybe just more manual labor, right? That takes a little bit of skill. So I'm looking at remediation, that is AI resistant. Let's say, you know, I want to try and be correct here. AI resistant, but it's also recession proof. Yeah, right. Like remediation, you're talking like water damage, fire.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Yeah, hurricanes and wildfires are gonna be those ain't going anywhere, right? Those are getting closer.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Seem to be getting worse. Yeah, right. So remediation, however, we've got your project base, right? But you also have employees that are sometimes contractors, subcontractors. There are some there. And then I'm also currently looking at a street sweeping business, right? Street sweeping, they get typically you get like counties or cities and they have contracts to the government, whether it be local or or federal, and and they have to spend that money on these things.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

And so I'm just looking for things again that are AI resistant, something that I can bring AI into. Yeah. Because that street sweeping business is funny. I'm talking to the owner, it's one of the ones where uh I'm working on a seller finance deal. Uh he pays his employees via Cash App every week. And it's like, okay, there's an opportunity to improve a system there.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Um, that was funny. But that's also, and I'm rambling, but I that's also to me, that gives me confidence. Yeah. Like these people have ran this business this certain way for X amount of time. Him, it's been since 2012. Nearly 15 years, paying people via Cash App. And it's like, okay, so when you when somebody thinks about, well, like I don't know necessarily how to run a business or own a business. I don't necessarily know how to get in there and like systemize operations. It's like it's something as small as that.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, like you, yeah. In c especially when we have the point of comparison of building from the ground up.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Like that that's a 9 a.m. meeting on a Tuesday randomly that we're solving that problem amongst a gazillion other problems when you're building from the ground up.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah. Yeah. Like it, it's just like, and again, I think Alex Ramosy says it best when he's like, I change like one thing a year per year.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Right. And so I think everybody gets this like, ooh, gotta get in there, gotta do this, gotta do that. And it gets overwhelming, myself included. I've felt that pressure, and it's like, relax. Yeah, A, I just made $10,000 or whatever, you know, per month because it's a cash-lung business.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

And B, I it it can be something as simple as payroll.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

That's it. And once you and that could take a month to do, right? That payroll is difficult. You got to get a bookkeeper who knows QuickBooks and yada yah. Like it is difficult. Um, but that simple switch automatically makes your business worth more.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah. Well, and I think too, one of the main conversations that you and I have been having is it's like I feel less anxiety about whatever business we decide to buy. Um I feel less anxiety about like getting in there and having to like figure it all out right away. I think what I'm going to be most curious about when we do end up buying this first business is what we decide to focus on next. Is it really optimizing and growing that first business that we bought, or is it leaving that business alone, letting it could like you know, improving small improvements? So it's on an upward trajectory year over year. Um But do we spend our time focusing on really pumping that thing to where it's like maximizing the cash flow that that one business can create? Or is it wait a minute, this worked, let's just go buy more street sweeping companies. You know, like which one makes more sense. So for me it's like much less about, you know, the nitty-gritty of the operations and how to improve it, or do we need to like replace employees or whatever else? It's you know, where do we spend our time after? What are we experts at?

SPEAKER_00 22:14

I think it's just one of those things we're gonna have to solve when we get there. Yeah. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah. Yeah. For me, the street sweeping business is exponentially more attractive than the remedi the remediation companies that we've been looking at. Um mostly because I think you know, anyone who has built a business in the Airbnb space, it's like a joke amongst all of us where we're like we built the most complicated business possible first.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

And again, I think that's why it's so exciting to me to talk about this because I agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Airbnb is complicated. It is tough. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Um, but but that's good. If you're successful at that, I think you can be successful at any business. Any business.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Because there are so many moving parts when it comes to running and operating Airbnbs, especially if you've got Airbnbs like we do in vastly different markets where you don't have consolidated operations. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Um another error.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah. Add it to the list. Um, and so yeah, I think that the remediation company is so similar to what we do with Airbnbs because it is project management. It is like it's it's what we do now, right? But for a different problem. Right. Right. And that gives me a little bit of anxiety because there's so there's so much room for error and there's so much unknown when you walk into renovations in any capacity. It's like you don't really know what you're getting into until you're in it. And then it's delivering bad news after bad news after bad news after I need more money, I need more time, I need, I need, I need, and then you get all done, and then the client's like, hey, this sucks, this needs to be redone, I wish this looked different. That you know, it's like there's just on every single corner, nobody leaves a major renovation of any kind stoked. Like you by the contractor might maybe the contractor. But everyone's everyone's exhausted at the end of the day. Right. You know, they really are. Everyone is exhausted. They're like happy to have an Airbnb up and running, but they're like, oh, that was more expensive, took longer. Yeah, it's still not absolutely perfect. There were things that we wish we could have done, but we couldn't because the budget went to this that we didn't want, you know, it's a whole thing where by the end of it, you're like, glad that's over. Um, and so there's some anxiety around remediation for that reason, where I'm just like, I really want, I think something that's I keep saying this, but that's less subjective and more objective. Where it's like, I there is a task, it's a singular task, it is a very simple task. No one is super emotionally invested in it.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

You can't really mess it up.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

You can't really mess it up, it's super boring. Like, there's just something really attractive about sweet sweep street sweeping in that way where it's just like there is you're not getting into anything that you can't see.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

You know, and like maybe maybe I'm being overly optimistic. Like, I I don't know a whole lot of people. There will be other problems, but yes, there will be other problems, but it's just it seems so much simpler than home renovations in any capacity. And so uh another point I want to make on this too is just the power of social media in general and like how we got connected with this owner.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

I don't talk about this enough on my social media or on the podcast on how much personal brand has changed our lives over and over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Like continues to do so.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Every big opportun every opportunity, maybe not everyone, but like a vast majority of opportunities that we have received or come across have been directly from people visibility on social media. And so this particular street sweeping company that we're currently eyeing um and in conversations with the owner over, uh Ethan's online every day looking at businesses for sale. And it's, you know, same thing as Airbnb, you've got a website, there's a bunch of businesses listed, same thing as a Zillow per se, but for businesses. And, you know, it's you put in offers or you reach out about businesses all the time. Right. And you had mentioned a sweet street sweeping business two months ago.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Yeah, about a month ago.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Maybe a month ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

So I even reached out but never heard anything back.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah, yeah. Like you tried to connect with this person. I remember you bringing it up, and then like, you know, never heard back. And so we're like, okay, whatever. Maybe it wasn't that serious. Like, maybe it got purchased by somebody else. Most likely, right. Yeah, you just never know. Um, and I post one video on social media. Literally, I don't talk about buying businesses a whole lot right now, anyway, because it really has been something that you've been leading, that I am late to the game on, that I am really starting to get on board with, understanding that we're just at that place. It's like when you were selling the insurance company, I was like, okay, this is something that's way like down the road for us. I need to focus on my thing right now. But I posted one video talking about how, and I didn't even talk about what type of business we were considering buying. I was I I said nothing other than we're considering buying a business and we want to focus on one that's not gonna be impacted on by AI. And the whole video is about AI. And so I get a comment on that video, and the video didn't even do remarkable by any stretch of the imagination as far as performance online. Got super average views, average likes, a few comments. So, one of the comments that we get is from somebody who has no profile picture.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Um their name is Faye.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Their name is Fade. Their name was like King Tut or something. Like it was like not anything professional, no posts at all. And so I'm like, okay, this is a bot. Yeah. But they commented and they were like, hey, I'm selling a street sweeping business in DFW. And I'm like, okay, this is probably fake.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah, sure you are.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

So I didn't comment back, and then he messages me and he's like, Hey, I'm selling a street, like, I would love to have a conversation with you and your husband about buying this company. And I was like, Oh, okay, that's whatever. So again, I didn't reply, or I was like, sounds good. And he replied, and he's like, What's your husband's email? Like he was like digging, you know. Yeah, and I was like, Oh, like maybe this actually isn't a bot.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Like maybe this is maybe King Tut is real.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Who knew? Um, and come to find out, like full circle moment, that he's the owner of the business that you reached out about a month ago.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

That never got back to me.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

That never got back to you.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Probably got overwhelmed and said, never mind.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Because he's not using a broker. He's trying to do it himself, save some money.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Yeah. Yeah. And so it's just one of those things where it's like I always try and look for green lights that feel very serendipitous. Yeah. Um, but you know, had I not made that one post on social media, like we probably would have never heard back about that. And who knows if we'll end up like actually moving forward with this business.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Yeah, it's an interesting one for sure. Interesting fella.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah. Yeah, but nonetheless, I'm like text me nearly daily.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

I mean, we're that's what's funny. You're like, I don't know about remediation, yeah, blah, blah. And I'm like, that's where my full focus is right now. I'm like, hold on, dude, wait till I hear back on these two that I've got offers on before I even spend any time on that. Oops. But it's interesting because you got to just like a house, uh and really, I guess maybe it's less popular uh with houses, but like you either use a broker or you don't. And there's pros and cons, and I'll talk a little bit about that. To and I'm sure it's the same again with real estate, but there's pros and cons on business where it's like if you don't use a broker, sure you don't pay a broker fee. Um, so that's nice. However, you're now fielding all the calls, all the requests for an NDA's, all the LOIs. Uh, you're really leading that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yeah. Um, which and you've got to like sort through all the tire kickers. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Which is, I would imagine overwhelming. Yes. Um, especially when the business looks good, right? Like if what they post it looks good, like you're gonna get a lot of inquiries. Like, yeah, it's it's people are looking for businesses. Yeah. And and so that's on the seller side, but on the buyer side, it's a little dip more difficult as well because the seller thinks their business is worth more than it actually is.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Because they yeah, they spent their whole world. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

So guess who is the first one to say, I don't think it's worth that.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

And that's a pretty tricky situation to be in because you're either gonna get a okay, you're right, or they're upset, right? And you're yeah, you're gone. See it. You're like out of the uh the the list of people that could buy it, right? And so maybe he hears five or six other people say the same thing and maybe he starts coming around to it. Yeah. However, what I have found is sellers get a little weird when they find out that their business isn't worth what it's worth. I've seen it over and over and over on these types of businesses, mostly blue-collar, where it's like, oh, it's not worth it. I'll just shut it down. It's like, what?

SPEAKER_01 30:55

And it's like, how many guys do we know that would do that?

SPEAKER_00 30:59

All of them. All of them. I'm like, no, it's still worth something. Just because the bank says it's not worth anything, yeah. I don't mean it's not worth anything to me. You've got equipment, you've got reputation, you've got systems, you've got people, you've got things. We're just gonna have to do it a different way.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

I just feel it so deep in my soul, though, of being like, it's not what I want, burn it to the ground.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Just out of control. Uh, so it it it's a very tricky, interesting balance. And and thankfully, with what I've done in the past with insurance sales um and sales specifically, I'm able to really like this guy has been an interesting fellow to talk to because I got him on the phone day one, and we just had like a 45-minute conversation. He's from Texas, I'm from Texas, of course, two different parts. So it's basically like I'm from New York and he's from California.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Yeah, but because you're from Texas, your brother.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

But yeah, yeah, immediately we're good, right? At the end of the day, it's us versus them, uh uh versus everybody else. But uh, you know, it's interesting because he, you know, you start asking questions, he's like, I don't know. Oh yeah. Oh, you start, you're like, well, what about this? He's like, Oh, I'll just I just do it like this. And I'm like, wow, this guy, it literally people think, myself included, think that this is such a crazy thing to do, buy a business and run a business when you've got people like that doing just fine.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Just fine. So that's yeah, it's not that serious. There's an opportunity there for uh both but for the buyer to win in the sense that, like, hey, I'm probably not gonna be able to get traditional financing based on your situation of paying employees via Cash App.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

However, that doesn't mean it's not worth anything, it's still worth money. Yeah, and I want to give you that money. However, we're just gonna have to take it. You be the bank instead of bringing a bank in, you be the bank. And I think if people understood that a little bit more, like, hey, it's okay, I'll give you 5% interest instead of the bank or 10, whatever that number looks like, right? And so that's like uh not using a broker, and then on the broker side, uh it's everything opposite of what I just said. The broker is the one who has to break the bad news. Yeah, hey, this isn't necessarily worth that. Hopefully, they have that conversation. And here's why. I've seen a lot of brokers who don't have that conversation, and that's an extremely frustrating situation because I'm still the guy bringing the bad news. I just put a $3.5 million offer on a $5.5 million business. Yeah, why? Because I had the conversation with them and said that this is not worth it. And here's why.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

And I'm not trying to offend you guys, I'm not trying to lowball you, I'm not trying to do that.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

I'm just simply I just can't get a loan for that amount.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

The bank the bank is gonna say, no, I can tell you I'll give you $5.5 million in the LOI, and you can like me because we had a conversation, I'm relatable, whatever. You can accept that LOI, then I'm gonna beat you up in due diligence, yeah, and I'm gonna get it down to three or three and a half. And then at the very end, what typically happens when you buy a business is the owner stays on for 30, 60, 90 days, whatever. By the very end of that, you ain't my friend. Yeah, we aren't friends, yeah, and you're not gonna help me. Yeah, and I need that help in the very beginning. I want somebody to transition through that with me and who's excited to transition.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Yeah, who's like got the feel good, yeah, tied this business up with a nice little bow. Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

And so that's what I said in my LOI. I was like, I I sent my which is a letter of intent, guys, it's kind of like making an offer on a house. Yeah. Um, a purchase agreement. But and so I put that in my LOI and I attached a letter, and I said, I want I sent it to the broker, and I said, I want you to send that to uh Mr. McDermott, and I want you I want him to read that. And I I put that, I said, look, when we spoke on the Zoom call last week, you said your number one priority was that this business go to somebody with a good reputation and keeps and maintains that reputation that he's built. Got it.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Number two, you want to give this to somebody who can close the deal, who can get this across the finish line. Okay. And I took that to heart. I put 20 hours of work working with the SBA, going over all of your financials. And based on what the SBA said, not me, not Ethan, but based on what the SBA said, they said this is what they would lend on.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

And so to me, if I were the seller, I'd be like, this dude put in a bunch of work, he's already talked to the SBA. I screenshotted what the SBA sent to me so they know I wasn't just making it up. I'm like, hey, here's the report they sent.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Yeah, I'm not the bad guy. This guy's the bad guy.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Right. And it's like, so if closing is important to you, I'm gonna close.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Yeah, I already know.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

So don't take the $5.5 million offer because unless they're a cash offer, of course, take that. But yeah, if somebody's gonna have to SBA finance, you're wasting your time.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Yes, you're wasting your time. Yeah, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work up front.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

But again, it's like you And I don't think we've even experienced the half of it because it's like once you get your LOI accepted is when the work actually starts.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Yeah, it is a lot of work, but again, it's like you you've got to decide what work you want to do. It's like you're either gonna hit the ground running and start taking clients with something that has absolutely no reputation, that you're not buying, that has no systems, and you're gonna spend your time building that, or you're gonna spend your time vetting businesses that already have it. It's like the time's gonna pass anyway. You've just got to decide where you want to allocate it. So that's right.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

I want to allocate it to a million dollars a year.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Yeah, yeah. I would like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Profit.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Um, yeah, and I think too, it's like I think at the beginning when you started pitching the idea of buying a business, it seems big and scary, right? You see, like you've it feels like you're stepping into something that you're not prepared for. Right. Because you're you are walking in blind to a certain degree. It's like when you don't build it from the ground up, it's not your typical process of carrying every single role, knowing the business so intimately, being able to like, you know, step into any position at any time because you understand exactly how everything works, and like you just don't when you're buying a business.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Which I think is a pro. Yeah, now on the yeah, on the other side of the yeah, when you start looking at it, yes. Go ahead. Sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Well, and I and I think too, it's just like for me, it had to I had to have a shift of mindset that I did not need to know everything. We do not need to know everything. We just have to be confident that we want to lead. Yeah. And if we're confident that we want to lead, then the rest is figure outable.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Um, and so I think that that's one of those things that you and I just we've been leading our own businesses for several years now. We know we want to be in that role. We are unemployable. Like, like I'm not gonna work under someone that's I'm not gonna do well in that role. Right. And so if I want the role that I want and I don't want to have to build every single business from the ground up, you've got to buy it. Like it really is your only option.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

I think another conversation that I would love to dive into here a little bit is um why like when we talk about AI specifically and not how it's impacting the businesses that we're looking at, but how AI is going to impact the work economy in general. It's like you hear Elon Musk saying, Hey, we're gonna live in a time that nobody's going to have a job. It's like you know, everything's gonna be done by robots and we're gonna be I don't know. I don't know, like questioning our morality or something. Our existence. Um but there's there's time between now and then, right? Like in and that that amount of time is uncertain. None of us know how long it's going to be before where we're at now and where Elon's talking about. And so in that time, there's going to be, and we're already seeing this, there's gonna be mass layoffs. The the back end of people's businesses is going to get more efficient and need less people. Right. And so when I think about playing that out all the way to getting to the point where maybe we don't need work, you know, or maybe we do, but there's very few people who are super successful. The people who are going to be super successful are the people who have the brand, have the business, run the thing, and have automated the rest. And it's like a conversation that nobody wants to have because everyone's like, oh, prioritize humans. But like as a business owner, if I have the option of using AI to do it faster, more efficient, and free versus using a human, I'm using AI every single time.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

Well, even if it even if you don't want to, your competitors are. It's been in a weird situation where you're. Because I've got a human.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Because I've got a human who's less efficient.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Pay me more when nobody has any money because nobody's working. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Like that's that's not going to be what is going to happen. Right. It's like definitely right. Yeah, absolutely. Every single case scenario, when it comes down to it, when businesses have to make decisions, they are going to want to be the most consistent, the fastest, the most efficient, and have the leanest operational costs. Yeah. That is going to be the decision every single time. Right. And so as we start seeing that shift, it's like, you know, we're interested in buying businesses because we are entrepreneurs, we love running businesses. Like that it's regardless of the state of AI, we would probably end up on this path. Right. Right. But for everybody else listening to this who is sitting at a nine to five and thinking that, like, you know, is it a matter of time before I lose my job? Am I replaceable? Is this something that AI or a robot could do? And your answer is like, yeah, probably. You know, you've got to start considering developing a personal brand and buying a business. Yeah. Because you that's that's gonna be the way that you curb it. It's like before you don't have your nine to five, while you're still in your nine to five position, figure out a skill that you like have that you want to grow, that you want to talk about, that you want to be known for, that you want to be the person that people go to for that thing. Because if you don't have that, employees are gonna employ employee positions are going to dramatically go down over the next few years.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Yeah, yeah. And with more and more people losing their jobs, what even is available is going to be highly competitive.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

I mean So if you have no skill, I mean, I don't I don't know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Yeah, it's like as we grow our business, we're not thinking already, we're not thinking, hey, who do I find who can do this? It's like, hey, is there an AI software that can do this? And if not, is there a person who can develop an AI solution for this that then control until it doesn't need controlling anymore, and then we'll have that person working on a new software. You know, it's like, okay, maybe the option is for people to become experts at AI and implementing those systems, but that job is probably short-lived as well.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

I wouldn't I wouldn't assume so, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

So yeah, I don't know. I just think that you know, the Cody Sanchezes of the world have been screaming about the silver tsunami of businesses that are coming available to purchase and how it's the biggest wealth transfer to ever exist, all while AI is taking employee roles. It's like I just think that people buying boomer businesses is the move right now. It is it is Airbnb in 2018. Yeah. Like it is where you should be spending a hundred percent of your time and energy trying to figure out how to do.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

And what's incredible to think about, especially when we first started Airbnb, remember we wanted 10.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

And 10 would change our lives.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

It's one.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

It's one business. One business.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

That's it, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:35

The math hurts.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

It's offensive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Like I just spent the last seven years being like Airbnb, Airbnb, Airbnb, Airbnb, which is so great.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

It's amazing. We love it. We still have B's, like all that. But it is there's a flaw.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Uh huge flaw.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Huge flaw.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Um yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

And we've never experienced a downturn in the economy. Like, sure, we've experienced, you know, 2025 has been a little was a little lower than 24, I believe. And then 2026 is is starting to get a uh start at a slower start, I believe, as well. So we're seeing a small downturn in the economy, but we've never seen an 08. Yeah. We've seen a 2020, which was weird, but it was kind of an anomaly because people were actually like traveling. Yeah, it was like hit or miss.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

There was B B people who were absolutely crushing it, and then people like us who were in the city who were right, right.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Yeah, I guess it was like we weren't all just like the the sky wasn't falling, right? I mean, in a way, in a sure, in COVID it was, but I'm just saying, like in a monetary value, sure, people lost their jobs, but at the we were all it was okay. It wasn't an 08.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

So we've never been through an 08, right? And that's what scares me so much. And of course, I'm such a doomer, I guess I would say, but it's like I've never heard you use that word. I just heard the I heard it the other day and I was like, oh, that's good. Uh I'm gonna use that one. But because I've been like the world's gonna came in, you know, it's gonna be saying it since 2020. I have been. Saying it because I believe it's all fake. I believe it's all a huge bubble being propped up by a couple of companies that are probably all lying. Um and so it's just like that's what scared had always scared me about over-leverage in real estate. I listened to Rod Cleef like religiously on what he talks about, and he's like, I owned a thousand houses in Denver, and then 08 happened. I own zero houses in Denver. Oh, can you imagine that fall? Can you imagine? Right. And so granted, I I just don't understand how the people that do have 10 that are over-leveraged by uh cash out refi to get to the next one. Um, you know, and maybe your maybe your uh profit on each property is a thousand dollars a month, but again, we haven't seen an 08. And it's like, okay, so let's say travel dries up.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Let's say everybody loses their job because of AI. Who's gonna have the money to travel?

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Travel dries up, and then of course everybody loses their job, then the value of your house goes down, right? Significantly. Now all of a sudden you owe more than it's worth. I just feel like I'm like, oh, I've seen this before, but again, I've been saying it for six years now. And I'm like, I'm of course I'm wrong. That hasn't stopped us from investing. No, we're still doing it.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

It's just I'm okay if we go back to zero. It's fine.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

We have several opportunities to cash out reef our current properties, and some people call us fools for not, but I'm like, you know what? What we currently have, if it all went down, we have enough income per month that we could pay these mortgages if we didn't have a single booking.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

And for for me, that's important.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

I'm not looking to bet it all on black and get big and rip. I'm not trying to do all that. I'm just trying to low slow and slow and now go to businesses.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Yeah, I I completely agree. And I think that like Airbnb, again, it's like, you know, you didn't know then what you know now. And Airbnb is it's still such a good solution, even now, for I think a lot of families. Yes. Right? Like, it's just, I think that there should have been a larger conversation, or I wish someone would have had a larger conversation with me earlier on about what place Airbnb needed to hold in our lives. Correct. Like, I thought it was going to be our end all be all. It was the thing that was going to make us rich. It was a thing that we were going to live off of the cash flow of. It was a thing that we were just going to rinse and repeat until we died. And now what I'm realizing, it's it's like the biggest benefit that Airbnb brought us is that our very first property replaced my nine to five income, right? Like property number one immediately is cash flowing over 50 grand a year. I was like, I used to spend 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, making this amount of money, and now it's taking me 10 hours a week on a bad week. You know? And so I think that like if you are sitting in a position where you are making 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 a year, and let's say maybe you've got a husband or a significant other or someone who's making the same, maybe more than that, and you want to free up one of y'all's time to figure out how to buy businesses, figure out how to grow your money, figure out the thing that you now want to be all wrapped up in like you were your nine to five previous. Airbnb is such a good solution for that. It's like dump your money in one of those, have the cash flow immediately immediately replace your nine to five, and then go spend all of your time figuring out what's next. Right. But I wish I would have spent more time thinking what's next, as opposed to just being tunnel vision on Airbnb. Which granted, in the same breath, like the mentorship when we were running the mentorship for three years, that made that was a cash flowing business. That was a cash cow. Right. No overhead. Yeah. All cash. One overhead. Yeah. And so it's like, you know, we naturally like started another business that was adjacent to Airbnb and like did that thing, but again, it was like all wrapped up in Airbnb. And a huge reason why I wanted to set the mentorship down is because we're having these conversations. And I'm like, how am I supposed to just scream from the mountaintops that everyone needs to invest in Airbnb when me myself over here is like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I think that there's a better way. Yeah. Um, which is a different way. Yeah. Just a different way. Different way that, you know, I'm ready to go back to the learning era as opposed to the teaching era.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

Yeah. Super exciting times.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

It really is. It really is. Um, but there's just endless opportunities out there, you know. It's like we talk to people every day who are working in Airbnbs who have businesses that all like the plumber that we're working not the plumber, the electrician that we're working with right now. We're like, what are you gonna do with this business when you want to retire? And he's like, That's it. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 48:49

My kids don't want it.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

Yeah, he's literally like, What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 48:52

Yeah. Oh, yeah. So many owners don't even know that they have something worth selling.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

Um, and a lot don't, but a lot do.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

Um, and again, I it goes back to that license. It's like, I don't want to get an electrician license. I'm not an electrician. Yeah, I'm not gonna touch it. I don't know anything about it. I'm a I'm a liability when it comes to it.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

Um, and you, sir, electrician, don't necessarily know how to run a business based on my experience. Um it took you six weeks to bill me.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

Um and it was written on the back of an app and you asked me if we we could send you a cash app, but can it can you send me an invoice?

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Um and so, but but that's where I have experience in, right? And so it's like, let's partner, you know, and you continue like you I take all the day-to-day off of you, and your only role and goal for this is to train the next generation. Yeah, that's the most important part. Let me take all the other BS off you. You keep training, keep doing what you love. You love to do it. Yeah, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

And so or maybe you don't love physically doing it anymore, but you know how to do it and you would love bossing other people around.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Yeah, sit there behind their shoulder and yeah, yell at them. Yeah, play my dad.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

Yeah, yeah. Bring the boys coffee and yell at them.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Yeah, just yeah, like keep them all on their toes. Uh like that younger generation needs it. So uh yeah, and so uh, same thing with the plumber. Um, I was like, dude, tell me about your business because I called so many plumbers for this particular um uh property we're working on. And holy moly, talk about just a nightmare of an experience. Uh, I think I called 10. Yeah. Um, I think four answered. Everybody's like, how do you run a business? I'm like, just answer the phone. But start there, you just eliminated over half of your competition simply by answering the phone. Yes. Second thing you do is be excited to talk to me, right? I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm not a plumber. Yeah. So don't make me feel stupid when I call you.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

Still some confidence. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

And so uh four answered, two told me too busy to take any extra work on. So boom, there's 80% of the competition. And then the other two got them out there. One was a freaking fool, like went through the whole situation with us and like, all right, well, I'm like he can see where we're at in the progress and in the process of the entire uh um business, uh whatever project. And uh he can see that and then goes, he can see that we're ready for him. Yeah, we're very close to ready. We were like two weeks out. He's like, Well, I'm like eight to ten weeks out.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

And it's like you just wasted an hour.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Yeah, like okay, there goes 90, right? And so then one, he's like, he answered the phone, super happy to talk to you. Yeah, super excited to make sure that he's like, Hey, you may not know, and that's okay. That's why I come out. Yeah, fantastic. When can you meet? When can you meet? Is what he asks me. I'm like, wow. Yeah, um, that's weird. Uh, I don't know, how about Friday? Comes out on Friday and walks the premise with us, lets us know beforehand. He's like, I can see you guys are fairly close to needing me. I'm about a week out.

unknown 51:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

Right away. I'm like, okay, that's a better experience. I don't know how he's a week out. He should be like a million weeks out how good he is. Um, walks it through us, and then at the very end, he's like, I will get you a quote in two days. Um, it'll come via email. By the way, how did you hear about me?

SPEAKER_02 52:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

And I was like, who is this guy?

SPEAKER_02 52:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

This guy is not a plumber. Like, I was like, surely you don't. And that's when I started drilling him. I was like, dude, Wes, like, please tell me, like, you're not the plumber, right? Who's the plumber? He's like, no, it's me. I carry the license.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

One man show.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

I'm like, who does the work? He's like, me. And I'm like, there's no way you can be that good at what you're currently doing. And I was like, no wonder you're like, dude. Dude. And I just gave it to him on the phone like the next time I talked to him.

SPEAKER_01 52:38

Yeah, you're like, hopefully I'm not overstepping my bounds here, but I'm gonna let you know.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

But hopefully I am actually. Like, I'm just thinking about the future, and it's like, we are not training the next generation for these jobs, whether they don't want them, whether it's not sexy, whatever the reason is, we don't have any plumbers, we don't have any electricians. And so it's like I feel almost an obligation on something that I don't know anything about, plumbing, to like continue that. And so it's my job to talk to these people. It's not my job, but it's something that I'm passionate about to talk to these people and say, like, look, have you thought about the future? What happens when Wes can't walk anymore? Like the electrician, he can barely walk. Yeah, you know, it's like what like there's gonna come a time you can't walk or you can't get on your knees or whatever, like then what?

SPEAKER_02 53:21

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

And like when you start asking these questions, that gets them to thinking, it's like, oh, okay, I either need to hire, because they're gonna come up with every excuse on why they haven't hired or they have and it didn't work out. We all have those uh same excuses. Um, but it's like, look, at the very end, let's say you make it 10 more years, like you're only 40, you make it to 50. Do you have enough money to save it up to last you until 80? Uh, because if you just are one man show, you're done. Like you can't sit down. But if you can sit down and build it out a little bit, um, A, you get out of the field faster so you can walk longer. Um, but B, you have something to sell at the very end and pass on to the next generation.

SPEAKER_01 54:00

So yeah. Yeah, I think it sounds like a lot of these guys that we've been talking to who are working on our job sites, they're just good old boys, you know? Like they are not business owners. They're just plumbers. Yeah, they are not business owners. They are plumbers that are just like thankful for the next job and they've been blue-collar their entire life, and they just I don't know if it's a confidence thing or an education thing or a all of it.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

They just maybe they don't feel worthy or they don't deserve.

SPEAKER_01 54:27

Everyone has the same answer. They're like, Yeah, I don't I'm just gonna shut it down. Like, what?

SPEAKER_00 54:31

I just hang the hat up and that's it. And I'm like, holy moly. Yeah. Also, how difficult are these tests?

SPEAKER_01 54:38

Can't be can't be that difficult.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

I'm about to go take my my contracting test, my GC test, just to have it, just to see.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

Yeah, I mean, my dad keeps his builder's license up all the time.

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah, yeah, I think there will be a big shift. Um, and I think that there will be more men who are looking for jobs in the trades as well, because I think as we get further and further into AI and a lot of these like cushy tech jobs or you know, yeah, office jobs are gonna go away. And I think it's going to leave time for there to be extreme competition in the like right now, it's like, you know, it's impossible to find a plumber, electrician, builder available because there's so few of them and there's so much work. But I think that's gonna flip-flop where there's gonna be a lot of them and less work as time goes on because people will have less money, but more people will have tradesmen jobs. And I just want to see craftsmanship come back.

SPEAKER_03 55:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

Like I want to see when you look at residential real estate or commercial real estate and you see something that is just like an absolute work of art, like you look at some of the churches in Europe, and that's like a very extreme example, but it's like I'm I can't even get my guys to like drywall correctly.

SPEAKER_02 55:47

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 55:47

Yet you've got this like crazy intricate detail going on, and so I feel like that'll I'm hoping that'll come back. Yeah, I'm hoping that that'll come back. That like a lot of our stuff that takes our time up in the day that we don't love, AI will start doing um the back end of these businesses, even for these GCs. And so, like when it comes to the trades, the trades get to focus on the craftsmanship of the trade itself.

SPEAKER_00 56:12

Boy, let's hope. It would be great. There's some bad work out there. Yeah, there is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Um, anything else that we missed on this conversation while we're here?

SPEAKER_00 56:23

I don't think so. Um, I think maybe next time, because we're getting close to an hour. I think next time we could probably talk a little bit more about like, okay, we're talking about buying a business. And what does that even mean? Like, where do you even start? How do you get started? Um I think we could dive a little bit more into that. Um, you know, building your buy box, you know, maybe a mentorship or or two. Yeah, you know, kind of just figuring out what how to take the next steps on doing that. Because like a property, right? Like trying to find a property that would be viable on Airbnb, you log into Zillow or whatever, you're immediately overwhelmed. It's the exact same thing on business buying. So you need to you need to really have a plan. And and not to say that plan doesn't, you know, do this because my plan from last June is a whole lot different than March of this year's plan, right? I'm realizing we can go bigger, we are deserving of bigger. Yeah, we are deserving of better. Um, and and then also it is kind of funny you talk about social media and what that really brings. I've just recently just maybe two videos, like stories, not even videos, um have started talking about buying a business in that process. And not only are a lot of people like, holy cow, this is so valuable because everybody's screaming it right now, but nobody's actually talking about how to do it. That's why you take their mentorship. Um, however, I'm giving that $10,000 value away for free. Uh sorry, guys. That's how it starts, though.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

You know, like that's how you build trust with people.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

Right. Sorry, guys. I'm just gonna everything that I've learned, I'm just gonna share it with you for free. Again, everybody's like, well, anyway, everybody's like, well, how are you gonna, you know, how do you aren't you worried that somebody else is gonna buy like there's so many businesses for sale. Like if you get on SB right now, there's over 150,000 or something business for sale, right? So anyway, I just next time, oh, we're talking about social media. Not only are people saying like how incredible and helpful that is, but just this week I've had so many people reach out and go, You looking for an investor? Oh, and that's like the highest compliment because people are willing to hand you money, yeah um, because they believe in you andor the business, right? And then I also just got a text last night, a really good text, that a couple of guys that are inside the mentorship that I'm in um have started a fund and they're going for um higher businesses. So if somebody's looking for a profit of like 200 all the way up to a million, they're not interested in in partnering with those people, but it's the people a million plus, a million to three. Yeah. And they only select a f a certain few people to do that based on you know who you are, what what your experience is. And I have my first interview with them next week. So that's super exciting because they'll bring the capital. They bring, I think, 90% of the down payment capital, um, you know, for some partnership for some equity. But yeah, it's super exciting. So I'm like, I think social media is exciting, it is incredible what what happens with it because you don't know who's listening. You know, there the people that reached out this week and said, Hey dude, I've got money. Yeah, I've been looking at you know, do something with it. I'm like, wow, I've had like one conversation with you ever. And now I'm like being told here's 150, 200 grand. I'm just like, that's crazy. Yeah, I wouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 59:41

Yeah, but it's not that I wouldn't, but I'm like, wow, that's there is just a difference in people's understanding of investing in businesses versus real estate.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:51

There just is a difference.

SPEAKER_00 59:53

Oh yeah, yeah, and and both have their value, right? I I think the real estate's still a fantastic buy and hold. That's what they've said for a million years, buy and hold. And it's like, I don't know a single Airbnb operator who has bought and held.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:08

Like, you know? I know if you well, Zoe and Reed.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

One.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

One. Okay. And they're ahead of everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

So right. It's like it's one of them things where it's like we're we're breaking the number one rule. Well, first one's location, location, location. The second one's buy and hold. We're breaking both of them.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

Both of them. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

Right. So uh yeah, no, it's just super exciting. I think there's value in both, but I just think that for that person that is looking to replace their salary um or their income um on one side, I think this is a perfect opportunity. I still think Airbnb is a perfect opportunity to do that with.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:42

It is. I think it's like the person that I imagine it's most perfect for is the husband and wife duo, where the wife works a nine to five, making just enough to cover child care. Yeah, yeah. They're making between 40 and 60k a year, and the husband has a high W2. Right. And you just retire your wife, buy an Airbnb or two, let her run those Airbnbs, let her get that real estate professional status, get rid of your tax bill, replace her income, let her stay home. She gets that 50 grand back and see.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

I think that's excellent. Yes. But if you feel like you are the person who can skip that chapter um because, you know, whether you you want you have higher goals, higher ambitions, whatever it may be, um, I would heavily consider repurchasing a business.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:32

Yeah. So all these boomers don't have their businesses that are dying.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:35

But think about it. I know we're almost out of time, but think about it. It's like I said the other day on social media, I was like, there's one of two things that's gonna happen if these businesses don't get bought, right? Uh well uh one of two things is gonna happen with this business, let's just say it's gonna go to Wall Street, right? Or it's gonna close down. When it closes down, what happens?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

It goes away.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

It goes away, but also the business is gonna inevitably go to Wall Street. Because they're gonna come in with a different it's gonna flow up.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:06

Yeah. Wall Street's gonna see that there's a gap in the market in that place. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

Correct. So it's gonna happen, or they'll buy a different business and suck up that bit. Yeah, it's gonna happen. So either way, it's going to Wall Street. And I love what Cody says when she says keep it on Main Street. Yeah. Right. And so that's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:22

That's it. I love it. All right. Well, if you uh made it to the end of this episode, thank you so much for listening. And we will listen to our rant.

unknown 1:02:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

Thanks for listening to us shift once again in our entrepreneurial entrepreneurial journey over here. But um thank you guys so much, and we will catch you next time.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:42

Bye.