From the Tools to the Table: Chad Peterson on Why Your Trades Business Is Worth More Than You Think

What if the business you've been building is worth far more than you think? Chad Peterson has spent 25 years answering that question for business owners across the country, and the answer might surprise you. As the founder of Peterson Acquisitions and the creator of Quantum Stack Investing, Chad has been involved in more than $100 billion in completed transactions and has built a nationwide movement around one powerful idea: your business should be building your freedom, not just your schedule.

Chad didn't start in a corner office. He started where a lot of you did, with blue-collar roots, a relentless work ethic, and the kind of real-world experience that no business school can teach. That foundation became the backbone of a wealth-building philosophy that has changed the way thousands of entrepreneurs think about ownership, liquidity, and what it actually means to win.

In this conversation with Mandeep, Chad breaks down Quantum Stack Investing in plain language, explains why trades businesses like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical are some of the most undervalued wealth vehicles in America, and makes a compelling case for why artificial intelligence is actually making blue-collar businesses more valuable, not less. He also gets into why buying an existing business often makes more sense than starting one from scratch, and how even the most hardworking owners can confuse staying busy with building real wealth.

This episode is equal parts strategy, mindset, and motivation. Chad doesn't hold back, and the analogies he brings to this conversation will stick with you long after it's over.

Want to connect with Chad or explore what your business might be worth? You can reach him through Peterson Acquisitions and follow him on Instagram at @realchadpeterson for daily insight on wealth, business, and freedom.

This episode is brought to you by Broccoli AI, helping trades and service businesses unlock the power of artificial intelligence to grow smarter and faster, and Grow Reviews, the reputation platform built specifically for home service companies ready to win more customers through the power of trust. We're grateful for their support of the Born For The Trades community.

If you've ever wondered whether your trades business could be your greatest asset, this episode will show you exactly how to find out.

Transcript

00;00;11;15 - 00;00;48;02
Speaker 1
Welcome to bond for the Trade the Home Service podcast, and I'm your host, Mandy Paula. Today we have someone who has built an entire movement around a simple but powerful idea that blue collar business owners are sitting on more world than they realize. Chad Peterson is the founder of Peterson Acquisitions, a six time author and the creator of Quantum Stack Investing, a framework that helps this is owners stop working for income and start building real freedom.

00;00;48;04 - 00;01;08;13
Speaker 1
With over 100 billion in completed transactions and over 25 years in the game. Chad is widely considered the number one business broker in the country, and he started from the same place a lot of you did. Let's get into it. Welcome to the show, Chad.

00;01;08;15 - 00;01;11;22
Speaker 2
Hey, thanks for having me. What's up? What's up? Glad to be here.

00;01;11;25 - 00;01;34;17
Speaker 1
Awesome, awesome. Yeah. Like, really, really impressed for what you have done. In the blue collar space. And, I know we were chatting. You were showing me all your books. Definitely. We will link all the books in our podcast description so that, you know, home share with industry owners, those who are listening to this podcast. They will buy those books, like grab them and read them.

00;01;34;19 - 00;01;59;22
Speaker 1
And, let's get into our first segment here. Like, you know, my first segment is Blue Collar Roots 200 billion in transaction. So you you came from blue collar roots and built one of the most successful M&A firms in the country. Right. At what point did you realize the path you were on could lead somewhere? Most people never get to?

00;01;59;24 - 00;02;23;15
Speaker 2
You know, their thing is that blue collar workers have the work ethic, even if even if they don't want to do what they're doing right now, let's just say it's dirty hot work. They're still gonna do it right. And that kind of grit, that kind of that kind of gumption, that kind of, hard work is the blue collar trades understood how to run a business, right then.

00;02;23;20 - 00;02;49;28
Speaker 2
Then they've got it figured out because the tradesmen know tradesmen. Yeah. And then if you if you understand the knowledge behind how to be a business owner and you take that hard work and that grit. Yeah, then you got a hell of a combination. So that's what I did to answer your question. And so what I did and I built a company when I was very young, I sold my first company when I was 19 years old.

00;02;50;01 - 00;03;12;29
Speaker 2
I sold that company for at $150,000. Now, that's not a lot of money, but when you're 19, it is. Yes. And then what I did is I. A light bulb went off. I thought, wait a minute, I can build a company. I'm not too happy about the company. I'd like to do something else, but if I sell it, I'll get paid three years of what I made.

00;03;12;29 - 00;03;31;06
Speaker 2
And then what I can do is I can take that liquidity event that I just created, right? And I can take that liquidity of it, and I can leverage into a bigger business. Right? It's paying me more money. So at 19 years old, here I am by the grace of the universe, God or whatever you want to call it.

00;03;31;09 - 00;04;00;19
Speaker 2
I was able to sell my business. And then I thought, well, shit, this is easy. I'll build a company. I'll sell it for three years. What I was making, I just bought myself three years of my life back. Yeah, and I can go do something else. And so I did that about six times. Well, if you do that time after time after time, you become a multi multi-millionaire because each liquidity event moves you up in business.

00;04;00;19 - 00;04;14;12
Speaker 2
But in business, yes. But most people are trying to grow their business forever. And I tell people, do you want to grow your business or do you want to grow your wealth? Because that's two totally different things, right?

00;04;14;15 - 00;04;27;18
Speaker 1
That's that's amazing. Like, what did the early days of like, you know, let's say, we talk about Peterson acquisition actually look like and how different was the reality from what you had imagined?

00;04;27;20 - 00;04;44;15
Speaker 2
Well, when I was a kid, I sold my first company. I knew a little bit about it, and then I sold my second company. I knew more about it. I sold my third. I even knew more about it. So what I did is I started to do it for other people. And so people were like, Chad, you're so good at this.

00;04;44;21 - 00;05;02;24
Speaker 2
What are you doing? Why are you selling your company? I'm like, man, you sell your company, you get three years of your life back because you don't have to work those three years. And you can take that liquidity because liquidity leads to wealth, right? I have a saying. I have a saying paychecks lead to poverty, right? Liquidity leads to wealth.

00;05;02;27 - 00;05;03;22
Speaker 1
I love that. Okay.

00;05;03;22 - 00;05;25;28
Speaker 2
So if you can create liquidity events, you can become wealthy. Well, how do you create liquidity events? Here's how you do it. You run your contract in company in a way that doesn't deplete the cash flow or deplete the enterprise value. That way, at all times, your company is sellable. When you get tired, when you get burned out, you sell that company.

00;05;25;28 - 00;05;47;02
Speaker 2
You create a liquidity event, and then you move forward with the larger business paying you 10 to 15 times more than what you're getting paid now. So while it looked like as I was doing it for myself, but then other people were like, what is this kid doing? Yeah. Why is he selling a business every three years? Right.

00;05;47;02 - 00;06;06;05
Speaker 2
And so when then I started in Harlem because people would come to me and say, Chad, help me. So that's where it started. And then now I'm nationwide and I work with over 200 business owners a month, and we work with probably 4000 buyers a month. I'm showing people how to buy a business. I'm showing people how to sell a business.

00;06;06;07 - 00;06;16;27
Speaker 2
Now. I'm showing them how to run a business in a way that protects you from failure. And so all my books, all my books, all my teachings are around this.

00;06;17;00 - 00;06;41;11
Speaker 1
Love it, love it. That's amazing. Good stuff out there. And, we have another segment called Blue Collar Businesses as Wealth. Vehicles. So you have said like, trade businesses, like, are some of the most overlooked wealth building vehicles in America. Why do you think so many owners in the Hvac, plumbing and electrical still don't see their business that way?

00;06;41;13 - 00;07;09;23
Speaker 2
Well, because a lot of times, the blue collar world, they they somehow don't have a lot of belief in themselves. They're, they're glad they're not working for somebody else. Their body, you know, if they're a tradesman and their their, their the tech, right times their bodies that their body is hurting, they can't really see beyond what they're doing right now, and they can't really look at their business.

00;07;09;26 - 00;07;33;04
Speaker 2
Yeah. As a wealth builder. And I think a lot of that is because, you know, the the our market, our economy, our culture has been looking down on blue collar trades for the last 40 years. It's like, you know, if you don't go to college, you're dumb. I mean, that's that's really what it comes down to. Yeah. And so the blue collar man has been taught that, oh, I'm just a contractor.

00;07;33;04 - 00;07;38;19
Speaker 2
I'm just a plumber. I'm just. Well, now there's plumbers are making more than attorneys now.

00;07;38;20 - 00;07;41;26
Speaker 1
Exactly. That's, that's, you know, looking at. Yeah.

00;07;41;29 - 00;08;11;13
Speaker 2
Yeah. And so, so right now what's happening is with artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence is going to take a lot of tech jobs, probably 95% of tech jobs it's going to take. Yeah. So if, if, if the common man, the blue collar man has been looked down upon, well guess what. All these all these coders, all these graphic designers, all these, these tasks that can do certain things.

00;08;11;13 - 00;08;33;03
Speaker 2
But now Claude or AI in some fashion can do it. They're out of a job and, and and at least for the for the next ten, 15 years, no robot is going to be able to get on a roof. No robots have to be able to come in your house and fix the toilet. Right. So, so, you know, the blue collar tradesmen are in a great position to win.

00;08;33;06 - 00;08;56;24
Speaker 2
Yep. And and if I could help the blue collar world understand how to create wealth using their skills, I would love to do that. And as I showed you before I wrote this book, I was ahead of my time from blue to white. Yeah. Showing you color, man. How to become the owner. Right. And put down the tool bag and grab the briefcase.

00;08;56;27 - 00;09;18;06
Speaker 2
And if I show if I show one blue collar man how to become a millionaire. And I've really I really, made the book worth writing. So I'm teaching things that people don't understand. And, a lot of the blue collar guys, they, they just go to work every day and they don't spend time on this kind of thing.

00;09;18;09 - 00;09;42;06
Speaker 2
And, and they don't really spend the time on, on, self-development and, and, and investing in themselves because they go to work, they come home, they're glad they made 500 bucks. I'm glad they made 800 bucks, whatever it is. Right. They got a job. They sold the job. But but the reality of it is that if you're a blue collar guy today, you have to have marketing around you.

00;09;42;13 - 00;10;08;21
Speaker 2
You have to have a good message. You don't want to be the lowest priced guy out there. You want to have a message about who you are, where the company is, and you have to have marketing. And so blue collar trades men, they don't have the marketing and the business acumen that they really need. That's why businessmen and the blue collar need to come together to partner now.

00;10;08;24 - 00;10;34;28
Speaker 2
Right. And the the blue collar tradesmen need to partner up with somebody who really understands the game of marketing and visibility and messaging and branding. Yes. Yeah. And they have the blue collar man has to have somebody who's a really good corporate manager. Order to manage it. So you need this is what you need. You need marketing management and messaging.

00;10;34;28 - 00;11;03;22
Speaker 2
The three M's, three M's and then then you need the tech side of it which the blue collar trades has that right. I would also say training. So it's m m m PT. You need marketing messaging management and then the technicality of it and then the training around it. So yeah any more any more of the blue collar trades they need to be a recruiting and a reach and a training center.

00;11;03;25 - 00;11;04;16
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;11;04;16 - 00;11;05;04
Speaker 1
Recruiting.

00;11;05;05 - 00;11;30;18
Speaker 2
Excellent. Yeah. If you, if you want to be the biggest roofing company, if you want to be the biggest Hvac company, if you want to be really successful, you have to stop thinking that you're in the roofing business or in the Hvac business. You're not, you are in the you are in the marketing, messaging and management of yes, the tech of what you, you know, technicality of what you do, but the training of what you do.

00;11;30;20 - 00;12;06;01
Speaker 2
You are a nonstop training center. And that's how you you hire and you train nonstop to where you pick the best to the best techs that have some sales ability. Right? Has the social skills, the basic skills, waking up every day and being on the job site by 730. That's a skill, right? And and then knowing how to talk to the customer and upselling the customer within with integrity, but upselling the customer to get that ticket value higher and then getting the job done in an efficient manner to protect margin for the company.

00;12;06;03 - 00;12;30;28
Speaker 2
Right. So the blue collar, worlds, the blue people that are on the blue collar road, the ones that are really succeeding, is the ones that understand marketing, messaging, messaging, management. Also the technicality of what you do for a living, but then also nonstop training and and you got, you got to train ten to get yourself one good one or train 20 to get yourself one good.

00;12;30;28 - 00;12;57;15
Speaker 1
100%, 100%. I agree. Like, you know, we, we do digital marketing, like, you know, for the contractors across the country. And today my I was like, you know, talking to my leadership, like, you know, to actually have more trainings. I, you know, this applies to us as well. Most of the things that you just said. And yes, like, you know, trainings and like, you know, we are having weekly 1 or 2, I think we got a double down on that.

00;12;57;15 - 00;13;18;25
Speaker 1
Like you know trainings are very, very, very important. Obviously marketing is the core with the messaging. You nailed it. I think this is definitely I think all the audiences like, you know, they are listening to this one. This was really powerful. I love, love that, love that. And I think next segment we're going to dive into quantum stack investing.

00;13;18;27 - 00;13;30;19
Speaker 1
So Chad walk us through quantum stack investing in plain language. What is it and why did you feel like it needed to exist?

00;13;30;22 - 00;13;59;01
Speaker 2
Well, quantum stack investing is a framework that shows people how to take a quantum leap into wealth. I can take a blue collar worker right now, and within five years I can turn him into a multi-millionaire. Wow. So that's quantum stack investing. Quantum means quantum leap into wealth. Stack means stack. The odds of success in your favor, like a banker or a casino would.

00;13;59;03 - 00;14;25;23
Speaker 2
Right? And it also means stacking one opportunity on top of the next. So let's just say you own a roofing company right now, and you like that. Well, you might like it for the next 3 or 4 years, but what you'd really like is if you sold that right, and you created a liquidity event, and that liquidity event would buy you a much larger business that pays you ten times more because you need liquidity to buy larger assets, to pay you more money.

00;14;25;23 - 00;14;32;20
Speaker 2
The last part of my book is investing, showing you how to run your business like an investment, not a job.

00;14;32;22 - 00;14;36;01
Speaker 1
I love that, I love that, I love that cigar, by the way.

00;14;36;04 - 00;14;43;19
Speaker 2
Looks like a man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got to do it. I got to have a cigar today. Do you like. You like cigars?

00;14;43;21 - 00;14;47;14
Speaker 1
No. Cigars. Cigars? No.

00;14;47;16 - 00;14;54;03
Speaker 2
And we'll work on it. We'll work on it. Because these. If you get the goods, if you get good cigars, man, there's nothing better.

00;14;54;05 - 00;14;58;19
Speaker 1
Nothing better. What's the country, I think Nicaragua. Right. The card?

00;14;58;22 - 00;15;03;13
Speaker 2
Yeah. Nick. Nicaragua's Nicaragua. Right. Nicaragua is good tobacco.

00;15;03;16 - 00;15;17;04
Speaker 1
Nicaragua? Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. I think, I wanted to ask, like, you know, one more thing. At what stage of business ownership does QSI actually start to work? And is it true at every stage?

00;15;17;04 - 00;15;33;29
Speaker 2
At every stage. But before you start, you need to read it. And while you're running your business, you need to read it. And whenever you're selling your business, you need to read it before you buy. You need to read it. That that is the best book that's ever been written on how to become wealthy as a self-employed business owner.

00;15;34;01 - 00;15;35;19
Speaker 2
That's the best book ever written.

00;15;35;21 - 00;15;43;08
Speaker 1
The best book. And and the what, what what what do you have that book? Do you want to show it to the audience? Do you have it handy?

00;15;43;11 - 00;15;44;25
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;15;44;27 - 00;15;55;15
Speaker 1
So, guys, we are talking about, like, you know, this book, it's a must read. Here you go. Quantum stack investing. Highly, highly recommended. And we're going to link everything.

00;15;55;17 - 00;16;15;25
Speaker 2
And, and, and so the I have a light bulb on on a couple of my books. The fact is that a light bulb will go off in your mind and watch. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. I'll show your readers how to take a quantum leap into a world no matter where they're at, stacked the odds in their favor, and treat their business like an investment.

00;16;15;26 - 00;16;33;24
Speaker 2
Not their baby, not their job. So I show them, and I have courses around this. I teach them how to do this, and I show them how to turn their their small business into more time, millions of dollars through liquidity events. Love it, love it. That's amazing.

00;16;33;27 - 00;16;42;26
Speaker 1
And, yeah, I'm I'm definitely going to grab like, you know, one as well. Looks like a big book. But you know,

00;16;42;28 - 00;16;58;10
Speaker 2
I well, I'll tell you what, though, if you want to, if you want to read a book that's not so big. Yeah, you can read the shows I shipped. Okay, here's that book, the QSI sheet, and that's only about 210 pages that.

00;16;58;10 - 00;17;00;29
Speaker 1
Yeah, I can knock it out in two days. Yeah.

00;17;01;02 - 00;17;21;07
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's a six hour read. But once you once you read this, you'll never look at business or money the same. You never will. Awesome. And so this is not for the Ivy leagues. This is for every day. People that really want the real answers on how to create wealth and time and freedom in their life.

00;17;21;09 - 00;17;28;13
Speaker 1
Love it, love it. Definitely. I'm going to order and start reading. That's going to be great for you know what? We can.

00;17;28;15 - 00;17;51;17
Speaker 2
Yeah, you know, Mandeep, I'll tell you this. I'll tell you and your audience. Yeah. You know, there's a real problem. I wrote the book wealth, Time and Freedom. And in this book, it's a short book and it leads into my better books. Yeah, but this book simply teaches people why they're not successful. Why do you not have wealth in your life?

00;17;51;19 - 00;18;02;14
Speaker 2
Yeah. Like, wouldn't you want to know why you don't have in your life? Why don't you have the time you want? Why do you not have the freedom you want? I'll tell you why, but it's just it's systemic.

00;18;02;17 - 00;18;03;26
Speaker 1
Systemic.

00;18;03;28 - 00;18;43;23
Speaker 2
It's. Yes. It's systemic. Your parents, your peers, your professors, even your professionals, your CPAs, your attorneys, your mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, your teachers, your professors. Nobody knew how to create wealth, time and freedom in their life because they didn't have the information. Your your church, your church isn't going to teach you how to have wealth, time and freedom if you're whether you're a whether you're a Jesus guy or a Muhammad guy or a Buddha guy or whatever, you're you're not going to go to church and learn how to have wealth, time and freedom in your life.

00;18;43;23 - 00;19;04;16
Speaker 2
Yeah, sure. The church is still talking about what some religious figure did thousands of years ago, right? That does not that isn't that does not help us out today. Okay? I don't give a shit what some guy did 3000 years ago. Right? I want to know if I'm. And if I'm going to go to church. If I'm going to go to school, if I'm going to go anywhere.

00;19;04;18 - 00;19;21;23
Speaker 2
Yeah. I want to know what's going to help me today, because today is way different than five years ago. Would you agree? I agree yeah okay. So five years ago we we remember what happened 5 or 6 years ago, don't we.

00;19;21;25 - 00;19;24;21
Speaker 1
Are you talking about pandemic plandemic.

00;19;24;23 - 00;19;25;23
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;19;25;25 - 00;19;26;18
Speaker 1
Plandemic.

00;19;26;24 - 00;19;30;21
Speaker 2
And is the is the market different now than it was five years ago?

00;19;30;28 - 00;19;32;29
Speaker 1
It's totally different.

00;19;33;01 - 00;19;37;12
Speaker 2
So so the market has changed. But have you?

00;19;37;14 - 00;20;01;25
Speaker 1
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00;20;01;25 - 00;20;24;29
Speaker 1
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00;20;24;29 - 00;20;47;00
Speaker 1
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00;20;47;00 - 00;21;07;18
Speaker 1
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00;21;07;22 - 00;21;15;23
Speaker 1
If you want more trust, more credibility, and more book jobs, head to Grow reviews.com. All right, now let's get back into it.

00;21;15;25 - 00;21;38;18
Speaker 2
See, as a business as a business owner, if the market has changed, have you. Well, you know, if I go to church to hear for the 900,000,000th millionth time, what Jesus said or whoever said, what in the hell does that do for me? It doesn't do anything for me. You're in the middle of the biggest. We're in the biggest.

00;21;38;20 - 00;22;05;25
Speaker 2
The biggest wall transfer is going on right now. The biggest shift in our economy is happening right now. Yeah, artificial intelligence is upon us right now. Jobs are being taken away from us right now. People are scared, fearful. They don't know what to do. Education is lacking the school systems. The Harvard University aren't even understanding and keeping up with how fast this is moving.

00;22;05;27 - 00;22;11;06
Speaker 1
It is how fast this is moving and how they can actually, you know, cope with what's happening.

00;22;11;08 - 00;22;15;14
Speaker 2
Right. So how do you how do you mandate me?

00;22;15;17 - 00;22;18;03
Speaker 1
I will just like, you know, educate, myself.

00;22;18;06 - 00;22;20;01
Speaker 2
How how old are you? How old are you?

00;22;20;08 - 00;22;22;03
Speaker 1
I am 40.

00;22;22;05 - 00;22;26;08
Speaker 2
You're 40 years old. So that means you're a born in 1986, am I right?

00;22;26;16 - 00;22;27;17
Speaker 1
85?

00;22;27;19 - 00;22;35;24
Speaker 2
85 is the world drastically different since 1985? So now?

00;22;35;26 - 00;22;40;25
Speaker 1
Absolutely. It's totally different. But like, you know, the technology, the AI.

00;22;40;28 - 00;22;43;04
Speaker 2
The mentality. Right. Everything.

00;22;43;06 - 00;22;44;21
Speaker 1
Yeah. So again everything.

00;22;44;21 - 00;22;55;21
Speaker 2
Yeah. So again, whatever you learned in school 15 years ago is not relevant today. And what and what you learn about church or something about some guy 2500 years ago said, this doesn't help you today.

00;22;55;23 - 00;23;03;28
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. No one taught me how to like, you know, make well, this is something, right? You know, I figured out, like, you know, on my own, right?

00;23;04;01 - 00;23;27;11
Speaker 2
Yeah. So that's what that's what I'm passionate about doing. And, I also run Misfit Ministries, where I do business ministry. I'm teaching people how to do these things. And, it's in the it's in the spirit of, of Matthew seven seven, which is ask and, and, seek and knock and know that it will be there.

00;23;27;11 - 00;23;30;07
Speaker 2
In other words, you have to believe it's going to happen.

00;23;30;09 - 00;23;30;22
Speaker 1
It's going to.

00;23;30;22 - 00;23;40;24
Speaker 2
And so I run I run Misfit Ministries where I'm showing your ordinary people how to become extraordinary millionaires through the business principles that I teach.

00;23;40;27 - 00;23;59;24
Speaker 1
That's awesome. Love it, love it. I'm going to actually look that up as well and like, you know, link everything. So you gave me goosebumps when it comes to like, you know, creating wealth. No one is teaching. I know I'm going to read like, your book as well. I want to ask you, how simple is that to create wealth?

00;23;59;24 - 00;24;09;13
Speaker 1
Like, you know, just like, you know, 1 or 2 points of high level that you can actually share. So that I'm going to read your book. But yeah, a couple of points like, you know, how is.

00;24;09;20 - 00;24;21;04
Speaker 2
It's very it's very simple, very, very easy. Let me ask you and your audience one thing. Have you ever played chess? Yes. Okay.

00;24;21;06 - 00;24;29;14
Speaker 2
Have you ever whenever you're playing chess, have you ever used the king right off the bat?

00;24;29;17 - 00;24;32;03
Speaker 2
No.

00;24;32;05 - 00;25;01;21
Speaker 2
Cash flow is king. You always protect cash flow on the on the chess board. You don't ever touch the king. You keep the king protected. So if you're earning $300,000 a year, right now. Yeah. Good, good. Keep keep earning $300,000 a year. Here's the problem that people do, Mandeep. And and pay close attention to the math because it could easily confuse you, but it's very simple to understand.

00;25;01;24 - 00;25;02;06
Speaker 1
Got it?

00;25;02;06 - 00;25;21;12
Speaker 2
Okay, if you're making $300,000 a year net, your company is worth $900,000 right now. Okay? Right now you don't have to do a damn thing to it. If you're making 300 a year, your company is worth $900,000. You follow me.

00;25;21;14 - 00;25;22;00
Speaker 1
I follow.

00;25;22;00 - 00;25;51;14
Speaker 2
You. Yeah. Okay. Okay. But here's what people do. They say I want to grow my business, right? Yeah. They spend $50,000 on a new van or truck or trailer. They spend money on a consultant. They spend, spend, spend. Well, they were making 300 grand, but now they just spend 150 grand. Now they've reduced the the value of their company by over half.

00;25;51;16 - 00;25;55;11
Speaker 2
You're not worth 900 grand. You're worth less than four 5450.

00;25;55;14 - 00;25;56;14
Speaker 1
Less than 450.

00;25;56;14 - 00;26;24;13
Speaker 2
Yeah. Okay. But but but they say. Yeah, but Chad we're growing. We had to buy that to grow. And I say, great. So you spent $150,000 on equipment and all this other bullshit you thought you needed, right? Okay. But if you spend 150 grand, that means that you need to go make, you need to go do $1 million in plumbing, electrical, Hvac, garage doors.

00;26;24;19 - 00;26;51;20
Speaker 2
You have to go make $1 million out of 15% margin to make up for what you spent, and you haven't even made any money yet. You just had to go do $1 million worth of work just to break even. Yeah. So you always protect cash flow, and instead of trying to grow your business by robbing cash flow to grow for future possibility of growth, you sell your business and take that 900 grand right now.

00;26;51;23 - 00;27;11;17
Speaker 2
Yeah. You can go buy one of the 33 million businesses in the United States that are out there, and they're making more money than you're making right now. At 300 grand was $900,000. You can go buy a businesses paying you $2 million a year right now. Wow.

00;27;11;20 - 00;27;15;00
Speaker 1
And then you sell it again after 3 or 4 years, buy another.

00;27;15;00 - 00;27;36;06
Speaker 2
You run it, you run it for four years, you pay down that debt service. Yeah. So you're making money. But paychecks lead to poverty. Liquidity leads to. Well, so you want that liquidity to stack up in the form of paying down equity. Right. But then you're going to get your you're you're going to get your earnings too. So let's just say you're making $1.6 million a year in your company.

00;27;36;06 - 00;28;00;16
Speaker 2
You're going to make about 950 grand a year in paychecks. Yeah. But you're going you're going to be paying down $700,000 a year in equity. Yeah. So don't don't grow your business. Stop, grow, stop doing that. Stop growing your business will run it for 4 or 5 years. Make your paychecks, which you'll be taxed on. Yeah. So paychecks lead to poverty because you're half of that is going Uncle Sam.

00;28;00;18 - 00;28;12;21
Speaker 2
Yeah. Uncle Sam, quit that. Liquidity is adding up in 4 or 5 years. Sell that company, unlock that liquidity, and buy what we call the n l be the next larger business.

00;28;12;23 - 00;28;30;21
Speaker 1
Next larger business people. But yeah, I love that this is this is amazing stuff, people. I think, they stuck into like, you know, day to day, they have emotions attached. Like, you know, they have built a company culture. Why I'm going to like, you know, sell it. And, you know, they have to rebuild it from scratch, right?

00;28;30;21 - 00;28;40;13
Speaker 1
Like, don't you like, you know, get those kind of like, you know, answers, questions, answers like, you know, from people, why do start another another ground from ground up another.

00;28;40;13 - 00;29;01;16
Speaker 2
Oh I don't know. No you don't, you don't ever start ground up the days, the days to start a business are over. There's 33 million companies in the United States. There's $10 trillion about to change hands. And the United States in the form of businesses. 12 million businesses will be going up for sale in the next 5 to 7 years.

00;29;01;18 - 00;29;22;28
Speaker 2
If you it is, you would have to be stupid to go build a business. Right now. There's too many of them that are for sale. So the failure rate on starting a business is over 90%. But the failure rate on owning a business that's already been in business for a long time, there's only one out of 97 chance that you'll fail.

00;29;23;00 - 00;29;26;28
Speaker 2
And if you learn what I teach, you probably won't fail.

00;29;27;01 - 00;29;50;20
Speaker 1
Wow. Was yesterday. Like, you know, even my company, grown year by year, marketing company, onboarded myself because I launched a home service company here in Tampa. Wash you bare. It's a pressure washing company. Better like, you know, I could have invited you before, maybe two months ago, so that I could have, like, you know, bought a business, not like, you know, starting, but anyway, I.

00;29;50;20 - 00;30;10;18
Speaker 2
Could, I could have I could have helped you buy a pressure washing company, and you'd be making 200 grand a year right now, and and instead of trying to get it to make a new 200 grand, all you have to do is write for four years. You've paid on, you've paid down half your debt in 4 or 5 years, and you've made money.

00;30;10;21 - 00;30;26;28
Speaker 2
Now you sell it to somebody who's just as hungry like you to own that same company in 4 or 5 years, and all you did is bought three years of your life back, and then you moved up 10 to 15 times in income because that liquidity leads to wealth. Startups are hard.

00;30;27;01 - 00;30;29;08
Speaker 1
Hard, hard.

00;30;29;11 - 00;30;50;05
Speaker 2
Yeah. Now with the power of washing company with who you are mandate. You know, you get a truck, you get you get the the tank trailer, you get the power washer. That's high gallons per minute. You do all of that, you get the chemicals, the hoses, all that. With your skill set, you can start something like that. Pretty good, because you know how to do the marketing and get it now in the city.

00;30;50;05 - 00;31;15;15
Speaker 2
You can do it. But a lot of people out there, again, they might want to go out there and do some power washing, but they don't have all man deep skills. You could do that for them and get them up and running. But what I'm saying is there's an easier way and you can buy that. Like, for instance, Mandy, if you should sell your company in 4 or 5 years and you should sell that company, let's just say you get it up to make a new $300,000 a year, right?

00;31;15;17 - 00;31;30;14
Speaker 2
That $300,000 a year net, you can sell that company for $900,000. And you could literally go buy a 7 or $8 million company paying you $2.5 million a year and four years.

00;31;30;17 - 00;31;36;15
Speaker 1
So seven, seven, eight, doing in like revenue. But it's going to be net will be different. Right.

00;31;36;18 - 00;31;50;10
Speaker 2
But no no no no no no no no no no. You'll buy a 7 or $8 million company okay. It will be paying you two, $2.5 million a year net. Wow.

00;31;50;12 - 00;32;16;12
Speaker 2
People don't understand this. They don't understand this. They're just going to work. They don't understand what opportunity they're missing. I teach it, they can go to dot Chad peterson.com. Yeah they can go to Peterson acquisition.com I teach this kind of thing. And it it's something that if you don't understand it I consider it you being illiterate. If you don't understand what I teach your business.

00;32;16;12 - 00;32;17;21
Speaker 2
Illiterate.

00;32;17;23 - 00;32;38;14
Speaker 1
Yeah. I think a lot of like, you know, business owners, I think I have I had so many guests as well. Never like, you know, discussed, talked about this. This is something I think, people should be aware of about, like you just said, literate, I think, yeah, everyone, those who are listening, like, you know, make sure you go to this website and we're going to link in the chat.

00;32;38;19 - 00;32;55;07
Speaker 1
I think there is one segment I really wanted to talk to you, Jared, about. I there is a lot of fear right now about AI taking over industries. You have said trade businesses are actually more valuable because of it. Make that case for that.

00;32;55;10 - 00;33;14;16
Speaker 2
Well, let me let me say it this way. If you're if you're blue collar and you're a tradesman and you're also around good people, you have a chance at surviving this. I run. But the people that are blue collar, that are using AI are going to dominate.

00;33;14;18 - 00;33;15;03
Speaker 1
Dominate.

00;33;15;03 - 00;33;33;14
Speaker 2
Okay. Because because you have to take AI now. You have to get your website. You have to get your CEO, you've got to get everything right. You've got to be visible, man, if nobody can see you, you're not going to win, right? So you have to use the AI. Nowadays, the Google, the Google algorithm is changing how people do.

00;33;33;14 - 00;33;57;08
Speaker 2
Business is changing. You have to use AI in your business to keep up with how things are changing. So being a guy who can swing a hammer or can do a trade is no longer enough. You have to get with somebody who understands the AI, the marketing, the business, all of that. Yeah. And and form a partnership and come together and and and then understand how to build a business to be sellable.

00;33;57;10 - 00;33;58;15
Speaker 1
Right. How to sell it.

00;33;58;15 - 00;34;11;10
Speaker 2
Yeah. And those and those businesses that don't use AI will be behind the times. And, and you need to be blue collar with AI. That's that's the combo.

00;34;11;12 - 00;34;32;20
Speaker 1
That's the combo. And that's a deadly combo. Like you know our clients now I think we started more than like, you know, one year ago how to rank on LMS ChatGPT AI overviews. Because that's not the future that's coming. And home service industry owners, they are actually getting leads, phone calls, from AI from ChatGPT, which is insane.

00;34;32;22 - 00;34;42;00
Speaker 1
And the I think you're right damn right that people those are going to implement with AI, it's they're going to dominate love that.

00;34;42;03 - 00;35;01;28
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So the white collar guys, the people that follow to their degree was going to take care of the rest of their life. You got coders that are being fired right now because cloud is clocking code now can I can I right now I can hire a coder. I can hire a coder for $20 an hour to sit in my office right here.

00;35;02;00 - 00;35;14;00
Speaker 2
And I can I can tell Claude to analyze everything and give my programmer an exact path to do it right. Program in eight hours. A $160 is what it would cost me. And one day.

00;35;14;06 - 00;35;14;18
Speaker 1
In, one.

00;35;14;18 - 00;35;19;16
Speaker 2
Day to do everything that Claude tells you to do. Exactly. Based on what it what it what you need.

00;35;19;19 - 00;35;38;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. A lot of damage can be done. Like, you know, I think I have built so many internal AI tools, like with the help of cloud. It's insane. You're right. Yeah. You actually, you don't need, like, you know, people, developers to actually build it. Now, I think the jobs out in the market is prompt engineering. So like that's.

00;35;38;09 - 00;35;58;06
Speaker 2
It. It's like it's knowing it's knowing how to use the technology and then having enough, enough tech understanding to get in, get through and get it done right. But I could I could have a guy come in my office today for eight hours and totally revamp almost everything. Based on what? Based on what Claude tells me to do.

00;35;58;06 - 00;36;12;12
Speaker 2
Now, I'm not the guy. I'm not the geek that's going to go in there. But I could hire a code geek for 20 bucks an hour right now to do something that would have taken months and probably $20,000 to, you know, so a year ago.

00;36;12;15 - 00;36;34;00
Speaker 1
Right? Right. Yeah. That's that's not the future. It's happening already. And, my last segment and then we're going to wrap up that, a lot of like trade owners are proud of, how hard they work. But working hard and building freedom are two different things that I believe. Where does that disconnect come from?

00;36;34;02 - 00;36;55;07
Speaker 2
It comes from a generational saying that says you need to work hard. It was it was it was beat into everybody's heads. Working hard is not the goal is. And working smart is not the goal either. It's not one or the other. It's it's a matter of what do you want in your life? How do you get there?

00;36;55;10 - 00;37;15;13
Speaker 2
Don't don't confuse movement with momentum. Love that because you can move all day long and not get anything done. Yeah. So so it's it's really stupid. Okay. So somebody says, well, work, work smart, not hard. Well, of course I'm not going out there to work stupidly. I'm going to I am being smart about what I'm doing.

00;37;15;14 - 00;37;16;21
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly.

00;37;16;21 - 00;37;37;16
Speaker 2
But it's about it's about what do you want? Do you want to retire in five years? Then you need to reverse engineer a plan that will get you there. And that that will oftentimes, especially with the blue collar guys, mean I can't be working on the jobs. I got to be building something that's much bigger than me.

00;37;37;18 - 00;37;42;11
Speaker 2
Yeah. So working hard was handed down from our parents because that's what they were told.

00;37;42;13 - 00;37;42;29
Speaker 1
Right.

00;37;43;05 - 00;37;53;29
Speaker 2
Because that's where that comes. That comes from factory workers. You had to go to a factory. You had to work your ass off or you got fired. So it was like, work hard, you'll be okay. Well we're not we're not in the factory days anymore.

00;37;54;03 - 00;38;01;18
Speaker 1
Yeah, we're not in the factory days, like. Yeah, my dad, he was into doors and windows back in India. Yeah. So this is what I think.

00;38;01;18 - 00;38;15;21
Speaker 2
I mean, let me ask you a question. How many people are now fat, out of shape, diabetic and sick today versus 30 years ago?

00;38;15;23 - 00;38;22;27
Speaker 1
Today versus 30 years ago? Yeah, I think I would say a lot now.

00;38;23;00 - 00;38;29;26
Speaker 2
The, the the norm now is fat out of shape and sickness. That's the norm.

00;38;29;28 - 00;38;30;18
Speaker 1
That's the norm.

00;38;30;18 - 00;38;38;15
Speaker 2
Yeah okay. But guess what? Our parents told us to eat all the food on our plate, didn't they?

00;38;38;17 - 00;38;42;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. You got to finish. Yeah. You got to finish it.

00;38;42;09 - 00;39;00;05
Speaker 2
Yeah. See how that see how that one little bit of knowledge can, can transform an entire person's life. Yeah. So if you were taught to work hard and you were taught to eat everything on your plate, well, look at us now. We're fat and out of shape and sick and diabetic.

00;39;00;12 - 00;39;03;05
Speaker 1
Diabetic?

00;39;03;07 - 00;39;14;24
Speaker 2
So? So yesterday's wisdom is today's curse. You got to get with the information today to make good adjustments to get where you want tomorrow.

00;39;14;26 - 00;39;38;21
Speaker 1
Love that. Yesterday's wisdom is today's curse, man. Love it, love it. I think for the first time, I think someone gave me goosebumps like many times on the show. Love that. I think, will definitely enjoy that. Gained. You have a lot of info, a lot of like, you know, knowledge, wealth of knowledge. And we will link everything.

00;39;38;21 - 00;39;45;20
Speaker 1
What's the best way? I know you mentioned your website name. What's the best way to connect with you right away on.

00;39;45;20 - 00;40;08;20
Speaker 2
Just go to just go to real Chad Peterson on Instagram at Real Chad Peterson or go to Chad peterson.com. But you know, as far as your audience goes, Mandy and I have a passion for speaking in front of the blue collar world, I really do. So if somebody wants me to go teach what I teach, I'm open to that.

00;40;08;22 - 00;40;36;04
Speaker 2
Also, I, I do charge for my my, speaking, of course, but when I go speak, I move the room. I get people thinking, I educate, and they leave. They're a different person. But I do speak all over the country, in fact, sometimes internationally. So, I speak in front of big crowds, and I really, really get them to think about their life and their business and their money and a totally different way.

00;40;36;07 - 00;40;53;28
Speaker 2
And everybody's talking about growing their business, and that's you're never going to get me talking about that. I'm going to show you how to grow your wealth, your time and your freedom, and I'm going to show you how to use some pretty counterintuitive moves and a mindset shift that will change your whole life.

00;40;54;01 - 00;41;09;06
Speaker 1
Love it, love it. Totally game. Change it for me. Like, you know, I think I've never experienced, like, you know, this kind of, knowledge, like, you know, that you provided here and definitely going to read your books. I'm going to start with that. I think QSI. Right. That's the one you. If I.

00;41;09;06 - 00;41;14;28
Speaker 2
Were if I were you, I would go to Chad peterson.com and I would buy the QSI shift immediately.

00;41;15;00 - 00;41;17;11
Speaker 1
Cuz I shift okay. That's going to be great.

00;41;17;13 - 00;41;18;19
Speaker 2
I shift yeah.

00;41;18;23 - 00;41;43;09
Speaker 1
Here's my shift. That's going to be a good one for this, this Memorial weekend to knock it out as soon as possible. And, great to have you here. Like, I don't know how we got here. My Jake, big shout out to her and, good stuff. Thank you for sharing all that. Like today, I hope, to all the audiences, you love this, podcast.

00;41;43;09 - 00;42;06;22
Speaker 1
Today's episode was like, you know, amazing. And I really want to give a shout out to our sponsors, grow reviews and, broccoli. I, check out the tools out there crushing in the market and helping home service industry and Chad again. Thank you again. And, we'll definitely be in touch. And I think we're going to have a part two episode, pretty soon.

00;42;06;22 - 00;42;08;25
Speaker 1
And you have a great weekend.

00;42;08;27 - 00;42;09;23
Speaker 2
You too, my friend.

00;42;09;23 - 00;42;10;27
Speaker 1
Thank you. Thank you.