Anthony Power - Gen Z Success: This 21 Year Olds Home Service Entrepreneur Success Story

keywords

entrepreneurship, young entrepreneurs, delayed gratification, financial health, social media, success, personal growth, traditional values, work-life balance, success, values, self-education, investing, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, motivation, family, personal finance, young entrepreneurs

summary

In this conversation, Branden Sewell and Anthony Power discuss the journey of entrepreneurship, particularly focusing on young entrepreneurs. They explore the importance of pursuing passion over money, the significance of delayed gratification, and the impact of social media on perceptions of success. The discussion also touches on financial health, lifestyle choices, and the resurgence of traditional values among younger generations. Ultimately, they emphasize the need for a balanced approach to success that prioritizes personal fulfillment and relationships over material wealth. In this conversation, Branden Sewell and Anthony P. discuss the balance between achieving success and maintaining personal values. They emphasize the importance of self-education, particularly in personal finance and investing, and the need to take action on what one learns. The discussion also highlights the significance of teaching financial literacy to the next generation, ensuring that children understand the value of hard work and financial responsibility.

takeaways

• Pursuing passion can lead to greater fulfillment than chasing money.
• Delayed gratification is crucial for long-term business success.
• Financial health is more important than outward appearances of wealth.
• Social media can create misleading perceptions of success.
• Success should be defined beyond material possessions.
• Young entrepreneurs have the freedom to pivot and explore new opportunities.
• Living below your means can provide more freedom in business.
• Traditional values are making a comeback among younger generations.
• It's important to enjoy the journey of entrepreneurship.
• Success is a marathon, not a sprint. There's an honorable way to achieve success and a way that comes at a cost.
• Understanding your motivation and 'why' is crucial for success.
• Financial freedom and stability are common goals for many.
• Living below your means is essential for financial success.
• Self-education is vital, especially in personal finance.
• Investing early can lead to significant benefits later in life.
• Taking action i

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.305)
Hi everybody, I am Brandon Sewell, owner of Seal Pro Painting, located in central Florida. I'm also the host of the Off the Ladder podcast. And we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. Today's guest is Anthony Power. And he is right here in my local market. He is the owner and founder of Kraken Home Services.

Anthony, welcome to the show. Why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself and what you guys do?

Anthony P. (00:33.89)
Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, my name's Anthony Power. I'm the owner of Kraken Home Services. We are primarily a window cleaning company here in South Central Brevard. We also offer exterior cleaning services and stuff along those lines.

Branden Sewell (00:51.247)
Awesome. So Anthony, what's inspiring about your story is obviously you're a young guy. how old are you right now?

Anthony P. (01:00.558)
I am currently 21, almost 22 here.

Branden Sewell (01:02.671)
21. 21 and so and you started your business I think he was it a year or two ago.

Anthony P. (01:09.486)
We've been full-time for a year here back in September and then I've kind of just been doing the window cleaning on and off for a few years now

Branden Sewell (01:19.895)
Okay. You know, I think one of the like most heated topics that people talk about right now when it comes to young people is like whether college is necessary, right? Like, is that the only way to be successful? Is that the only thing that interests young people? And I think you and I are similar in the sense that like me, I

I started college, but I dropped out. was like, this is not for me. It's not the route that I want to go in life. I don't feel like I need to go to college to be successful. So can you share with the listeners a little bit about your story and how you chose this path of the trades and pursuing your own business and being an entrepreneur?

Anthony P. (02:07.884)
Yeah, so it's kind of a funny story. So obviously coming out of high school, I was chasing the money. I think a lot of people do that. So I started to go to college and get my AA and do the gen ed stuff and all the fun things. But I realized I wasn't really passionate with the degree I was pursuing. At the time, I was pursuing an engineering degree and I wasn't very good at math. So as you can see, those two things don't go together so well.

So I ended up kind of just finishing up my AA and not going back from my bachelor's and this was two years ago at the time and I saw a TikTok on my feed about knocking doors and cleaning windows. So that's what I did. just said, you know what? This can't be too hard. So.

I went for a drive, parked my truck, and I didn't knock a single door that day. So my social anxiety got the best of me and I said, all right, well, I got to do this some some other way, but I can clean a window. That's easy. So. But yeah, I think there's a lot of just opportunity other than college to try to save your money and go somewhere else.

Branden Sewell (03:17.847)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (03:32.451)
Yeah. There's. You know, there's a lot of like entrepreneurs out there that I look up to and. One of them is Gary Vee and I think he even posted something I think it was yesterday and he's like don't chase money chase what's going to like make you happy and fulfilled and I think unfortunately a lot of young people they do they chase after like.

I'm gonna go and get this degree and I'm gonna make like all of this money. you know, they, they listen to like parents who have good intentions, you know, they they want their children to be successful. But I think they give them this illusion that like, if I go and I get this degree, it's gonna make me happy. And if I make, you know, a bunch of money, I'll be I'll be happier. And so this is actually the post that

Gary V posted 13 hours ago. It says success is not money success is sheer happiness simplicity and joy and so you know that resonates with me because I you know everything that I I do I want to do not because it's about the money like I think money and financial success should be a byproduct of doing what you're passionate and fulfilled doing you know and I think like

If you're passionate and you're fulfilled doing something, the money isn't going to matter as much. Like, of course, like it's a thing. But if you're doing what you're happy and fulfilled doing, you're going to be content. Right. So I think that it's it can be a distraction to think that like colleges is the answer. So.

Anthony P. (05:20.256)
Yeah, absolutely. I have a few younger friends. So if I was in college, I'd be on track to be graduating right about now in my senior year. But I have a few younger friends that they're sophomores in college and they don't really know what they want yet. And I always use the analogy that I'm big on the chasing your dreams thing. And I always tell them, you don't have to do the college thing. Find what you want to do and just go at it. And I always use the analogy that if they want

to be the best trash man in the world they could go and be the best trash man in the world. I would say most people don't want to be a trash man but if they did I would tell them that they should go and be the best or they should go and just chase whatever they actually want to do in life rather than I know a lot of them are in kind of pre-med programs and they're not even sure if that's the debt that the deadline they want to take on so

Branden Sewell (05:55.471)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (06:16.559)
Yeah. Well, I mean, so when I was your age, was actually working for a church and I was it's so funny. I was like passionate about that. It's something I dropped out of college actually to go into full time ministry initially. And so from like 18 to 23, I worked in full time ministry. And but when I when I did that, I didn't even care how much money I was going to make. was like,

I actually took the position without even knowing what they were gonna pay me. They were like, hey, we wanna offer you this position at the church. And they were like, are you interested? I was like, yeah, absolutely. I came in for work, showed up, started working, and then I had a meeting to tell me that week, sit down with someone on staff and they're like, okay, yeah, here's what you're gonna make. And I was like, okay, I don't care. And it was like $12 an hour.

And I think that's what it was. But anyway, I was making like it was awful money, but I didn't care. I was passionate. And so I think like when you're when you're young, I think it's important to like chase after something that's going to make you passionate and, you know, and fulfilled. And, you know, I eventually found my way into like owning a business when I was 23.

But I guess my point there is like you're younger than I was when I got started and I'm sure you're making more than $12 an hour. I would guess I would assume. Yeah. So but I mean just for those who are listening like let's say if there's another young person here listening like you could be on either side of the equation like you could be a

Anthony P. (07:53.454)
I would say so. Yeah.

Branden Sewell (08:09.871)
You could be in my position at 21 where I was working for the church or you know, it could be something else doing something you're passionate about and making less money and still be fulfilled and like still enjoy life and love what you're doing. And that money won't matter or you can be in a position where you're like, hey, I'm not going to do something that I'm not so doing. I'm to be an entrepreneur and make way more money than other people your age. So

and have less debt. Like I'm sure you don't have, you know, 60, 80, $100,000 worth of student loan debt. So

Anthony P. (08:49.248)
I not. I feel fortunate that kind of the path I took gave me a little bit of a jumpstart in life, I would say. as I see a lot of my high school friends graduating from college, it feels as if they are just now entering what is the real world. Like they're just now getting to a corporate job or into their field with the debt. And I feel like I've kind of avoided that a little bit, which is a nice feeling at this age.

Branden Sewell (09:18.167)
Yeah, I think when you're young, you know, I feel like I made those decisions and I didn't even fully realize how beneficial they would be to me now where I am in life. And I talked to my wife about this a lot because, you I would say as far as the two of us go, like my wife is she's very smart and she's smarter than I am in a lot of ways.

I'm more of like a common sense street smart, but she's very like book number smart. She was, I mean, just for perspective, she was valedictorian of her high school class and like, she's just, she's really, really smart. But like when we talk about our financial situation, like you can look around and you can see people who have like bigger houses, nicer cars. And I was talking to a financial advisor,

I think it was like a week ago and we were just having the conversation. She's like, I've met people with low income jobs making, you know, let's say 40,000, $50,000 a year who are better off financially and more prepared for retirement than some clients she knows who might be making six, seven figures. She's like, I know people who are making six, seven figures a year and

they're living paycheck to paycheck. sometimes they're, you know, checking account is in the negative at the end of each month. And because it's like that lifestyle, right there. Everything looks flashy on the outside and everything looks good. Right. And they look like they're super wealthy. But the reality is, is like they're one bad month to you know, or a couple bad months away from, you know, financial ruin. So

I listen to Dave Ramsey a lot and Dave Ramsey talks about that. You he's like, you can have these doctors who like sure they live in a million dollar home and drive a hundred thousand dollar car, but they've got dead out their eyeballs, you know. And so I think it's just it's as we're talking about this, like for young people, like if somebody young is listening to this, like, don't

Branden Sewell (11:39.597)
base your success on like the world standards because it's very deceiving and it's easy to like think somebody's doing really well and they're not.

Anthony P. (11:48.734)
It is very, it does seem that way. I don't know if you see the trucks here in Brevard, especially kind of where you live. A lot of these people have a lot of money wrapped up in their vehicles and it's very show show, I guess. And then you kind of, always have to think, well, does that person really have what it takes to like maintain that vehicle and that kind of lifestyle? Or would they be better off putting that money into an investment or

Branden Sewell (11:55.897)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (12:02.031)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (12:13.614)
Right.

Anthony P. (12:18.584)
into anything that's not a depreciating asset like a truck. But it's a very...

Branden Sewell (12:23.694)
Right.

Anthony P. (12:28.242)
weird feeling because I pay myself a minimum salary. I know what I take to live on and I feel like when you're just starting your business, you've got to you're either working a full time job trying to grow the business or you may be full time in the business paying yourself the scraps in the ends to make to live into using the rest for your business. So that's kind of I figured out how much I need to make.

Just my living and then the rest gives me just so much room for growth Because I want to continue to grow this thing into something that could be worth something in the end

Branden Sewell (13:03.469)
Yeah, for sure.

Branden Sewell (13:10.509)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think that's smart for you. And I've done the same thing. I take a modest salary and I don't pay myself a ton of money. I try to keep money in the business and reinvest in the business to grow the business and to be able to hire employees and really scale it. And I listened to Tommy Mello. He's the home service expert. And he said, you know, I really

Look up to him as far as our industry goes and home services and really value a lot of the things that he has to say. And I was listening to a episode this was a couple months ago and he said, you know, a lot of business owners, they make the mistake of they want to make a lot of money now. You know, they want the expensive lifestyle now. So they maybe they're paying themselves like, you know,

six figures, let's say that's, you know, 200,000, 300,000 a year. But they're making that now and they're not growing or scaling their business into something that is sellable. And he's like, what would you rather do? Would you rather make, let's say, a million dollars over the course of, let's say, 15 years or whatever, like because of your personal income, you know, let's say you're paying yourself whatever.

salary to make that over 10, 15 years? Or would you rather take less, scale your business, make it to where it doesn't rely on you and sell it in five years for three million? And he's like, you know, if you change your perspective, you could grow this business and be able to sell it in a short amount of time.

for more money and you're still making that, whatever that exit is, let's say you made a million dollars, or sorry, let's say you paid yourself $100,000 and you worked in your business for let's say 30 years, because I'm like you and I'm not like a math guy, but I'm assuming that's three million. Yeah, so that's $3 million. So let's say you paid yourself.

Branden Sewell (15:33.663)
six figures for 30 years, but you worked in your business. always were there. You know, you never outsourced anything or delegated anything. And now this business revolves around you. get 30 years down the road, you want to retire and you haven't built something to sell. So it took you 30 years to make $3 million. And then when you go to retire, you have no retirement.

You have no, you can't sell the business. It's not sellable. If you sell it, maybe you sell it for like, let's say 250,000. Because you haven't built value, like which one would you rather do? Would you rather take 50, $60,000 over the course of, you know, let's say five, 10 years and sell for three, 5 million or take 30 years to get there.

Anthony P. (16:29.868)
Yeah, of course. think delayed gratification, that the idea of delayed gratification is something that people struggle with a lot in business, in our industry as well. And it's just like kind of what you were saying was they could just work in their own business forever, or they could go ahead and try to build something that's scalable, take a modest salary and then

Branden Sewell (16:39.118)
Yeah, for sure.

Anthony P. (17:00.449)
Just reinvest that.

For five, 10 years, that's a reasonable exit. But a lot of people, just, can't say, hey, I'm going to live below my means for three, five, 10 years and put it back into the business. know that's, know social media has a huge role in that, in my opinion, nowadays, because you open your phone, you see people, they're on boats, they're on yachts, they're on private planes. And then you think, I'm going to go be an entrepreneur.

Branden Sewell (17:16.067)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Anthony P. (17:32.806)
I want this lifestyle and it's right there and then you want to you think maybe three months from now I'm going to be on the jet or and you know you don't you don't understand what it really takes to kick the rock down the road to get a bigger exit or to I was listening to Tommy Mello yesterday actually on a job and

Branden Sewell (17:39.811)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (17:55.252)
nice.

Anthony P. (17:57.07)
And it was baffling to me to hear about his story. And I hear about his story over and over, but every time I listen to a new podcast, there's something new. And he talked about what it took to go from 18 million in revenue to 50 million in revenue and so on and so forth. And it's hard to wrap your mind around that as a small business or a young business to be like, wow, I really got to

Branden Sewell (18:08.814)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (18:22.436)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (18:26.136)
hold back so much before I can go ahead and try to scale to the next level.

Branden Sewell (18:34.223)
Yeah, for sure. mean, a lot of people don't realize like Tommy Mello as he was growing his empire, if you will. He was living in an apartment in a, you know, I guess he owned like this apartment complex where he would like bring guys in that he was training and he lived in an apartment. He drove an old truck like, you know, paid himself, I think modestly, you know, I'm sure he was doing pretty well if you're doing like that.

big numbers, but it was like he had to. He had to do what you're talking about, delay gratification. But look how it paid off. mean, if I'm not correct me if I'm wrong, because I know you listen to him, too. But I think he exited for like 250 million. Yeah, something like that. I mean, it's just insane. So I mean, and the other thing that I talk about on this podcast, too, is like

Anthony P. (19:21.902)
It was a lot.

Branden Sewell (19:33.903)
You know, not everybody's going to be the same. Not everybody is going to want the same things out of their business or, you know, but I think it's important to define what you do want and then have realistic expectations around that. Like you can't if you're if you're working seven days a week and you're doing all of the work yourself and you know, you don't.

you feel like you can't afford to hire anybody, but you're paying yourself $150,000 from your business. It's like, well, don't complain about being, you know, stressed and overworked if that's what you're doing. You know, if you want to not work as much and you want to delegate to other people, well, live a lifestyle where you can afford to pay yourself, you know, let's say $60,000, $70,000 a year.

And then that frees up all of that additional money to hire somebody else take some of the work off your back. But if you're if you're just working working working and like that's that's all you like do and you like think like I'm just going to keep all this to myself. Well, you can't really like you can't scale that way. But the other on the other side of things like if that's what you want to do, then do that, you know, but just know like you can't have it.

both ways. It takes time.

Anthony P. (21:01.986)
does it, yeah, it often seems like the owner of the business is the bottleneck of the business. Like if the owners doesn't want or can't conceptualize where they actually want to take the business, that's the limit. What the owner thinks is the limit is the limit. So even if they're running like a two man operation and the owner says, we can't make room to bring on another technician or another admin. Well, that's where it seems like you've kept yourself.

Branden Sewell (21:24.527)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (21:31.587)
Yeah. I usually try to tell guys, I'm like, look, just have a long term mindset. Like, don't inflate your lifestyle like when your business starts making money. You know, when you inflate your lifestyle, you make it harder. You're basically saying like, okay, now I have to work another

Anthony P. (21:32.064)
So.

Branden Sewell (21:55.149)
you know, two to three years to make more revenue, more money, but now I'm to be even more overworked and even more stressed and struggled to like put the systems in place to hire other people. I'm like, just slow down, like pay yourself less, like try to, I was just talking to a guy who's starting his business and he's like, Hey, what, what advice do do? How do you have? And I said, look, in the beginning, it's probably going to like take all of your time. It's going to have to revolve around you.

And as the business will grow, it'll be successful. But when that success comes, don't inflate your lifestyle. Don't decide you're going to pay yourself $100,000. Take less. Pay off a bunch of your, if you have debt, like pay off a ton of your debt so that you require less from the business. I said it to him this way. I was like, make it to where the business doesn't rely on you and you don't rely on the business.

And if you can do that, then you'll have freedom because then you can grow the business without needing to take from it. And in the same way, you'll be able to grow the business and it's not going to take too much from you to where you feel worn out and depleted because you're just giving everything to this business.

I just and I feel like people get into this trap where it's like, okay, I've grown this business, we're doing six figures, we're on our way to seven. And I'm gonna buy a $90,000 truck and buy this and buy that and buy a 600 $700,000 home. And next thing you know, it's like you have no choice but to, you know, hustle seven days a week because you got a 1200 $1,300 truck payment, you got a

$500,000 or $4 $5,000 mortgage and like all this expense. It's like, you know, it's gonna require all that of you.

Anthony P. (23:57.442)
Yeah, I was just listening to a podcast the other day that's and it's a personal finance podcast kind of similar to Dave Ramsey and the guy was like, well, nowadays the American way is make more, spend more, make more, spend more. And as you do that, you're going to get to a point where your bills are just so much more expensive than if you were to just stay where you were in the first place. So now you're living, you were living paycheck to paycheck down here. Now you live in paycheck to paycheck way up here with more

expensive things, more liabilities, things like that. And his whole message was how to actually go ahead and budget out your money so you don't have to live like that. But it does seem like that's just how people say they say, I'm going to make an extra this year. I'm spending extra this year. And they end up right back at ground zero.

Branden Sewell (24:29.156)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (24:46.329)
right. It's that lifestyle creep. you know, I think it's like if you spend money, but you're spending it like, for example, I just I was wrestling with this, my wife and I just sold our old house and we bought a new house. And, you know, I had we had like, all this money and I was like, you know, maybe I should just finance a boat.

And I was like, I'll find it. want to vote. Maybe I'll just finance it and, you know, keep the money. And I was like, no, I'm just going to pay cash for it. You know, like set a budget of what I want to spend for it and just pay cash. And so I think that's another way that like people and I've done it, too. Like I've made that mistake. I've I've been like, well, I'm just like finance all this stuff and it really can bite you.

especially as a business owner. Like in 2022, we had like multiple trucks and you know, we had all we had 13 employees and you know, it's like you look at that and you're like, wow, it's going pretty well until it's not. And then it like implodes on you. So I think what you said about social media is so true. Like you can look at these entrepreneurs on social media, but if you don't actually know

their story like their financial story like you could be envying something that's a house of cards, know, right? There's this guy I had on my podcast, he was, you know, you can look up his story, but he had this, they call him at 80 use accessory dwelling units, so tiny homes, basically that he would sell to people.

to like build in their backyard is like a, you know, maybe like a mother-in-law suite or, you know, a guest house or maybe someone lived in a tiny home community. But anyway, he built these small little tiny houses and, you know, he's all over national news about how successful they are and how great they are and their franchising. And he's like all over the news now for how.

Branden Sewell (27:09.965)
the thing imploded and you had to file for bankruptcy and it was all just like, it was bad. But I mean, when you see that stuff out on social media, it's like, you can't necessarily believe everything that you see just because it was on social media. So there was a deeper story there that was going on. So anyway, it's just, you know,

I've been following his story. He had a Bentley and had multiple million dollar homes and living luxuriously. It was just a house of cards ready to fall.

Anthony P. (27:54.958)
I see it as like a 50-50. I'm sure 50 % of the people on there are probably faking it. Their rental cars, their rental houses, so on and so forth. And then the other 50 % are people that it may have taken them 20, 30 years to get there. So it's a double-edged sword that you just can't believe it. If you want that, you're going to have to just go out and get it and see how hard it really is to try to

Branden Sewell (28:02.372)
Right.

Branden Sewell (28:10.884)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (28:16.515)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (28:25.038)
get to where that is. And I would say a lot of people are fooled and then once they jump in, they realize and they want back out pretty quickly. So.

Branden Sewell (28:34.307)
They realize.

Branden Sewell (28:38.895)
Yeah, no, I mean, it's tough, man. It's really hard, you know, being an entrepreneur. And I think that, you know, one of the challenges that you have, especially when you're a young entrepreneur is like, you see everything, all the people around you that you think are so successful. And it's like, you got to step back and you got to really think like, okay, well, what does what a success really look like? And how do I get there? And I think it's smart, like

what you're saying you're doing, you live below your means, like build this business, but build something that has a lot of value. And, you know, delay gratification. And that's going to pay off huge, you know, and then I would also say like, just enjoy the journey. Enjoy the process of it. And don't expect it all to happen all at once. You know, it's

It takes time. think that's the other thing. Sometimes we can look at people's like Gary Vee. I love Gary Vee. I reference him again, but he talks about it all the time. He's like, you don't like young people like like, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm, 25 and I'm failing at life. It's like, you're still an infant. You're still a baby. Like, you know, you're looking at like, Gary Vee and how successful he is. And it's like, well, he's, you know, that's

years and years and years of, you know, business experience and I'm sure challenges and failures and, you know, so you can't compare somebody's like journey to yours. It can be misleading.

Anthony P. (30:24.334)
Absolutely. I got the chance to sit down with a friend of mine the other day and she's 22 and we had, we just did a nice catch up chat and I said, well, we could fail next year. 23 years old. could, you could fail completely. You could go nearly bankrupt and you could be okay in a year or two. mean, you're just so young that you have so much time to rebound if what you're doing now is

Branden Sewell (30:48.749)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (30:54.48)
not lighting the spark to your flame anymore, you can jump to a different industry. There's just, there's a lot of opportunity when you're young because there's a lot less risk. I mean, if you have like a solid support system, you can go and do and try a lot of things without having to worry if it's gonna send you down a bad path pretty much.

Branden Sewell (31:05.647)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (31:16.494)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (31:19.831)
Yeah, I think even if you're older, like, you know, you can still fail at 50 and get back up and still build something amazing. I love those, those posts that people share about like, all these different people who are really successful later in life. I could I if I tried to quote like exactly what all their their story or who they are in their stories, but I'd probably you know,

mess it up. But I know like Walmart was one of them, like the founder of Walmart, I think he started Walmart, like in his 40s. You know, so there's like, there's just different people. Let see if I can look up maybe there's like a

Anthony P. (32:07.0)
pretty sure Elon Musk was in his 30s when he founded PayPal, if I'm not mistaken. Same thing with Jeff Bezos. So you're looking at the two wealthiest, two of the wealthiest men in the world. And then one that sticks out to me is Colonel Sanders, who started KFC when he was what, 60 in his 60s. Which is, which is crazy because most people that's when they're looking to retire and he would, he started.

Branden Sewell (32:25.123)
yeah, KFC.

Anthony P. (32:36.622)
a chicken joint that ended up being a...

Branden Sewell (32:40.815)
So this is like a, here's a list I found just really quick as a Google search, but like Martha Stewart, she was older than 41. Joy Behar, 40. This is all women. Vera Wang, she was age 40. Let's see. Who is, no. wait, is this the?

Yeah, so Harlan Sanders for Kentucky Fried Chicken Chicken 65. He was older than 65. Actually, it says before starting his restaurant and then failed at that, he went out of business and found himself broke at the age of 65. So yeah, it's just let's see Samuel L. Jackson. He got his break after 46.

Sam Walton, which is Walmart. He was 44.

So anyway, it's just, you know, there's these people that we know and we see them as being, you know, really successful and they're a lot older in life.

Anthony P. (33:57.282)
Yeah, absolutely. It's crazy to think about because for Sam Walton, he said he was 44 or well 40s. That's over double my lifetime. So I could have a whole nother childhood and grow up again and then fail and then, you know, still maybe make something that could be huge.

Branden Sewell (34:07.82)
Yeah, right.

Branden Sewell (34:17.967)
Yeah, I think about that all the time. And yeah, I was looking at something that what is his name? Jesse. I always forget his last name. Jesse. It's where. Have you heard of him?

So Jesse Itzler he he like founded Marquis jet I think that's how you say it.

Anthony P. (34:48.622)
yes, I have heard of him and his muffin story

Branden Sewell (34:52.941)
Yeah, he does like all the running stuff and but, you know, he's built and sold like multiple companies over his lifetime. But, you know, it's just he he was sharing in a Instagram post like your your one moment. You're just like your days, your weeks away, your one connection away from that break that could like change your life forever.

you know, and I think social media is such a like it's

It's so deceiving, know, like so many people don't realize like the work that people put in the time the and things like that. They think people, I guess, maybe just like arrived at their success. But something that Jesse was sharing is just showing his journey through life. And like he was 21 and broke in L.A., you know, and but now he's very wealthy. And it's you know, I just think to myself, I'm like, you know what?

No matter where I am right now, as long as I do the right things and as long as I stay consistent, I don't give up. keep showing up every day and learning and growing like I'll be successful. And but even in that, I think it's important to like have a healthy perspective on what success really is. You know, like for me,

I want to be successful, no doubt. I want to make a lot of money and live some of those dreams. But I always say I won't do it at the expense of some pretty core things, like my marriage. If it meant that I could be successful and live in a house double the size and drive a more expensive car or have a...

Branden Sewell (36:51.447)
you know, nicer boat or whatever, but I had to do all of that at the expense of my marriage. Like, what's the point? You know, it's like, you know, kind of go into like a biblical lesson, like, you know, the Bible says, what is it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose a soul? So it's like, you could gain all of this worldly possession, you could gain notoriety, you could gain possessions, but, you know, what does it matter if you lose everything else? That's more important.

you know, your faith, you know, marriage, being a great husband, father, being someone who invests in your community and gives back to others. if, if you can't be successful and still do all that stuff, I don't know if it's really success. And so I think it's important to like just put life into perspective and realize that there's there's more important things, you know.

So get there, realize it's a marathon, not a sprint, and do it in a healthy way.

Anthony P. (37:54.956)
Yeah, absolutely. It's something I see a lot nowadays too, is you see a lot of people that are, all they care about is the materialistic things. And then I feel like maybe for just people my age is kind of what I surround myself with. I see a resurgence in people that are going back to like traditional values. Like you said, like they don't care about the materialistic things as much as they once did. And they want that more family,

Branden Sewell (38:16.131)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (38:25.02)
the lifestyle is what they surround themselves with. So they work for the family instead of working for money.

Branden Sewell (38:27.001)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony P. (38:35.882)
It's unique for people my age, because I think a lot of maybe older people look down on my generation for being less traditional and kind of going astray per se from what they're used to. But there's like, is a resurgence of people kind of moving towards Christianity, moving towards traditional values. So it's cool to see that happening for people my age.

Branden Sewell (38:48.783)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (39:02.253)
Yeah, for sure. And I think I'm like on the maybe like the front end of that. Because I remember like just being it's kind of like, you know, I was a young house, a young surfer, you know, and I think part of that like surfing lifestyle is kind of like, you're you're seeking out, you know, like peace, and you're seeking out contentment, you're kind of trying to reject

the mainstream you're trying to go against the grain that's kind of like embedded in the surf culture. It's like seeking out to be more like, yeah, I don't know how to say it, but just like at peace. And of course, like I have faith that like provides that but just the lifestyle surfing in general is trying to like disconnect yourself from the rat race of life.

And so I think like even when I was like 18, I saw like everything around me was, you know, you look at people older than you, people who are really successful, I'd look at look at some of these people and be like, they have stuff but they look miserable. You know, you have you have success.

but all you ever do is work, you're overweight, you eat like crap, you've been divorced three times, you have no relationship with your kids, and sure, you live in a big house and drive a nice car and have a fancy job, but do you really enjoy life? And so I was very anti that even at a younger age.

You know, so like where I'm at now and I don't have any, I'm not saying I have anything against like people who are successful or, know, people who have nice houses or nice things. It's just, I think that there's a honorable way to achieve those things and something where you can like achieve it and be proud. And then there's a way where it's like, okay, well you achieved all that at the expense of what, you know, so I think it's.

Branden Sewell (41:20.451)
Where's your motivation at? Where's your heart at in all of it? And what did you have to do to get there, if that makes sense?

Anthony P. (41:27.636)
Absolutely. I think this is something you hear a lot in maybe like if you ever search up motivational speeches or entrepreneurial speeches and they always ask them what is your why it's something we hear all the time. What is your why and I think everyone has a little bit of a different reason why but always kind of in the background or something you find on everyone's I keep it on my whiteboard. So I'm gonna assume everyone has a whiteboard is that everyone

kind of it's around their family possibly. So that's that's kind of where I see is I'm taking a lot of work on now while I'm young because my why is that I want to have financial freedom, financial just stability. I don't have to be mega rich. I want to be stable. I want to be able to have time with my kids, my family, stuff like that. So

Branden Sewell (42:00.643)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony P. (42:24.534)
I can take this burden on while I'm young so I can live a fruitful life in five years or so. So I think that's kind of like a core of a lot of people's why is that they want to get back to just having time with their family. They don't want to work the nine to five away from home. And we all know how that kind of goes.

Branden Sewell (42:30.937)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (42:46.319)
Yeah, it's funny because it's like, it's a weird like, what is the word like, it's kind of like, it's a catch 22. Like, when I was so I remember I was 18. And I was talking to my dad on the phone. And my dad was like, just because I was working as an ocean lifeguard, I dropped out of college. I was working as an ocean lifeguard. And I was kind of just trying to

figure out what I wanted to do in life. knew I didn't want to go to college. It wasn't for me. I wasn't content doing that. And my dad, I was talking to my dad and he asked me, he's like, Brandon, what do you want out of life? Like what is, what's your goal? And I was like, well, to be honest, this was when I was 18. I was like, well, to be honest with you, like I want to be married one day. I want to have kids and I just want to like have a family. That was like my motivation. And he's like, well,

Like, what do you want to do? Like, I was like, well, I'm honestly content just like working as an ocean lifeguard and, you know, surfing as much as I can and just being happy. And my dad was like, okay, well, how are you going to provide for a wife and kids as an ocean lifeguard? And I was like, I don't know. She's like, he's like, well, what he's like, what woman is going to want to be with you if you're just like a beach bum? And I was like,

I don't know, I guess maybe the right one. He's like, yeah, but you got to like provide you got to like take care of her and, you know, be able to take care of kids. and so that was like, you know, he asked me that and it really calls me to kind of like wake up and realize like, there's a balance to, you know, being detached from the rat race, but also like, I don't want to say having to like, be a part of it, but

just kind of playing the game of like, okay, well, you know, you do have to, I had to do something to be successful and, you know, take care of a family and provide so it was like, having that that balance. And I think what was I think what I realized when I was younger is I could achieve that if I didn't live outside of my means like

Branden Sewell (45:14.691)
you know, I hear people talk about like right now, how like housing for you know, someone who's like young 20 something year old or whatever. Or they can't like afford to buy a house or whatever. And, you know, I bought my first house seven years ago, I think was. Yeah, seven years ago. And

You know, I when I was your age, I was like living in people's basements, like Finnish basements, paying like 400 bucks. So was like 100 bucks a week to like live in a basement. You know, I didn't buy anything that I couldn't afford. So like if I didn't have the money in my bank account, I didn't buy it. You know, so, you know, I wasn't out there like financing cars and taking out credit cards to pay for stuff or, you know, whatever.

And I just lived very modestly. And I didn't have student loan debt. And so when I got married and, like my wife and I were combined, like making a decent, you know, I wouldn't say decent income, but we were making more than we were, you know, single. You know, we were able to like save up a bunch of money when we were in our early 20s.

And it put us in a position where, you know, we were able to buy a house. But I think the problem with some young people now is it's like, okay, well, you believe this lie that you had to go to college. So now you have like, let's say, you know, 60 to $80,000 of student loan debt. You lived off of credit cards in college. So now you've got, you know, maxed out credit cards that you're trying to pay off. you believe the lie that you had to have.

a nice brand new car, you know, as like your achievement for graduating college and getting your first big boy or big girl job. And so now you've got, you know, 20, $30,000 of a car payment or loan and making payments on that. And so next thing you know, like you're well, no wonder you can't afford to buy a house. You know, it's like you're freaking maxed out. So

Branden Sewell (47:42.499)
You know, like when I was young, when I couldn't afford a car, didn't go out and finance a car. I rode a bus in Baltimore city. You know, I, I walked, you know, I rode a bike. and so anyway, I just, I think that's a big part of it too.

Anthony P. (48:00.11)
Yeah, I think a lot of young people would benefit from more self education. So you grow up in the education system and then it kicks you out into college and then people are 22, 23 by the time they're graduating and then a lot of people think that's where education stops and it's not. That's when you got to start reading books and learning on your own. But I think if more people started learning about the basics, like personal

Branden Sewell (48:06.265)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony P. (48:30.124)
finance and learning more about what it takes to be a homeowner and stuff like that when you're young they'd be a lot more set up for life because you don't you don't really learn those things in college

unless it's a very specific teacher that wants to teach you a very specific thing. Other than that, you should take, I would like to see a lot more people my age reading books, listening to podcasts. I've adapted something that you've said before, Seth, you don't listen to music in the truck and you listen to educational content. So I started adapting that in my life and I'm thinking, well, these are 30 minute, 15 to 30 minute sessions that

Branden Sewell (49:03.663)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony P. (49:13.826)
now what's a micro learning and

Branden Sewell (49:16.836)
Right.

Anthony P. (49:18.062)
It could just be something that maybe you're not super fascinated about if you're not super interested in, let's say, investing in your Roth or whatnot. But if you're just learning about what's out there at 18, 19, 20, I think you'll have a much better chance at early home ownership, early retirement, and being free.

Branden Sewell (49:33.571)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (49:43.821)
Yeah. No, I think that's good. mean, you know, the way that I look at it, even though I didn't go to college, I feel like I have a master's in business, you know, or like, you know, if if there was a college course verse, you know, listening to the amount of podcasts on business or reading the amount of business books that I have or the

you know, experience that I have as an entrepreneur. If there was a degree for that, I'd have a doctorate. know, it's like, so I think that it's so valuable. Like what you're saying is, you know, in two to three years, you're going to have the experience and the education and business and, you know, just personal finance and all of these things that you're learning about. You know, that would be equivalent to a master's in

Anthony P. (50:13.036)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (50:36.425)
you know, business, you know, I would venture to say that I know more about business management and running a business than, you know, most professors at a business college who have never owned a business, you know, I love like when Dave Ramsey talks about that. He's like, you know, you have these professors at business colleges, they've never, you know, owned a business in their life, and they're teaching somebody about business. And it's like,

What real life experience do you have on what it actually takes to run and manage a business? So I think it's, yeah, I think it's really, it's inspiring, like even for me that, you know, right now at 21, you're doing what you're doing. And it's, if you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to look back in, you know, five, 10 years and you're going to be like, Holy smokes, I'm so glad I.

didn't go the traditional route. And as long as you don't make any like super dumb decisions, but I think if you stay the course on what you're doing now, it'll be super cool to see where you're at in five to 10 years.

Anthony P. (51:49.528)
Yeah, absolutely. I'm pretty excited. think I say this in the humblest way. I think I have a level head on my shoulders for the most part. I may be a little crazy. Every entrepreneur is probably a little crazy to go and take on what they take on and do what they do. But it does take some rational thinking rather than.

irrational, just following what everyone else is doing, scrambling around. You gotta step back and be like, am I the crazy one or am I level-headed? So, yeah.

Branden Sewell (52:21.027)
Yeah. No, I think it's smart, man. I think you're, I think you're, you know, definitely on the right path. And, you know, like I said, I would not compare yourself to like anybody else. But, you know, do you and you're gonna probably make mistakes and, you know, have some failures here and there. And but I'm sure, you know, all of it works, works together for you where you're headed.

You know, as long as you have a positive perspective, you know, it's every every failure, every mistake, every everything will just be a lesson learned to help you get to where you're supposed to go. So it sounds like that's the path that you're on. And man, if I could go back, one thing that I will say is when I was your age, I did a lot of like learning about personal finance, but it took me a while to

implement a lot of what I had learned on the investing side of things. So, you know, like I read Rich Dad Poor Dad for the first time when I was 18. I read a bunch of Dave Ramsey stuff back when I was 18, 19 years old. So I knew all about like, you know, traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and, you know, all of these different ways to invest and

I think one of the biggest mistakes that I made was like I waited too long. So I was later in my 20s and you were but also like I didn't. You started your business a lot sooner. Well a couple years sooner. So but anyway hopefully you're doing that stuff now because I can tell you now it'll definitely pay off. So.

Anthony P. (54:09.184)
I definitely am and I tell my girlfriend to invest in her Roth now too because I don't remember who said this but they said well the best time to invest was 10 years ago and then the second best time to invest is today. I mean it's absolutely it's I'm a huge advocate for just just getting started like just go. I mean you'll figure it out just you have to put yourself out there.

Branden Sewell (54:15.652)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (54:20.609)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, just get started for sure.

Branden Sewell (54:33.645)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (54:37.836)
whether investing, business, even if you just want like, let's say a promotion at work, you just have to go for it.

Branden Sewell (54:47.203)
Yeah, yeah, a lot of a lot of things is taking action, you know, implementing what you're learning and just just getting started. So I think it's great to learn. It's great to listen to podcasts, read books and stuff like that. But implementing and taking action is huge. And so it sounds like that's what you're doing, which is awesome. And, know, I'll go a little bit further. You know, you said the best time to start was 10 years ago, like

because I've learned what I've learned and wish I would have gotten started a little bit sooner. Now I'm not, I'm not old, like I'm 32. You might think that's old, but it's really not. But like I have two kids now and you know, so I've already started investing for them, you know, like opened up investment accounts for them. So by the time they're your age, they're going to be, they'll be set, you know.

And hopefully, you know, I can, unfortunately, I didn't have someone like teach me these things. Like my parents didn't teach me about investing at a young age. They didn't come to me and say like, Hey, Brandon, you know, hey, you got your first job. Put that money away, save your money, invest it. Let's go open you up a Roth IRA and let's start funding your Roth IRA.

And I wish I could go back in time and have that ability. But now I know for sure that for my kids, they're going to know about that. They'll know like, hey, when you get your first job at, you know, whatever it is, 14, 15 years old, hey, don't go spend all your money, you know, save your money, invest it, you know, we have these accounts for you, let's decide how much of this money are we going to put away into your retirement accounts and

you know, really try to instill those things in them at a young age. So that's a definitely something I'm sure you'll be thinking of.

Anthony P. (56:53.666)
Yeah, I'm in a very similar boat as you where my parents didn't really teach me these things either. And that kind of cycles back to that self education. So the first time I even heard about a retirement account was from my brother. And he said, yeah, you should get this going. And then he didn't know much about it. He just kind of mentioned it. And then I took what he said and ran with it. And sometimes you got to, you have to do that. Cause if you're just waiting for everything to be told,

Branden Sewell (57:18.351)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony P. (57:23.64)
to you like do this, do this and this. You'll never be an independent thinker per se or maybe like a go-getter because everything's been told, your life has been told to you what you should be doing. So it's really nice for you to have your kids set up and that's what I would like to do as well is just, you know, there's a balance between here have this retirement account I made for you and teaching them the importance

Branden Sewell (57:32.985)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (57:53.66)
of what that retirement account is and then kind of what you said like how they can take it over and become independent with their money. So I think that's huge as a parent is to like set your kids up and let them know.

Branden Sewell (58:03.278)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (58:09.101)
Yeah. Emmett's four now. you know, when he was, I can remember when he was a baby, mean, literally like when he could, when he could walk around or like move his hands and like hold stuff and things like that, we would, we would get change and we'd give it to him and we bought him a piggy bank and we'd have him like go into his room and sit down on the floor with his piggy bank at like 18 months old and take this change and put it into his piggy bank.

And, you know, like I'd have, I don't know, I'd have like some extra cash, I'd have like 20 bucks and shove it in his piggy bank. I'd, you know, have 100 bucks and I'd be like, I don't really need this. I'm gonna shove it in his piggy bank. You know, I'd have like, he'd get money for, you know, it's like a, we'd have a birthday party for him at one years old. And people are, you know, giving him money. Like maybe there's $20 to like go in

get a gift for him or whatever. We're like, well, why don't we instead of going out and buying him a toy that with this $20 or $25 that's in this card, why don't we just put it in his piggy bank? So he put in his piggy bank. His grandma and grandpa would give him like bags of change, put it in his piggy bank. And so like, at four years old, the kids got money like

Anthony P. (59:32.62)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (59:33.895)
he's had an investment, we've had an investment account for him. you know, since he was, you know, born basically, and we've, you know, saved up all that change and, you know, birthday money and stuff like that over four years. Like I took him, last year, I think it was, and, we took all of his change. Cause I mean, we just had like, we would fill up his piggy bank and then we put it in like to make room. We put it into a coffee can and then.

we'd separate it out into like $100 baggies. So he just had like $500 worth of change that was just sitting there. And I was like, all right, we gotta do something with all this change in cash. So I took him to the bank with me and I took him to the like change counter thing. And I was like, all right, buddy, what we're gonna do today is we're gonna go open you up a bank account and you're gonna pour all your change in here and we're gonna find out how much you have.

and we're going to put it into a bank account for you, a savings account. And so he got to do that. He went in there with me and put all his money in. gave his little, he sat down there with the person at the bank and, you know, he's like, here, here's my little receipt with how much money I have in change. you know, opened up his account, sat there and talked to the lady with me. And, you know, but that's a learning experience that I wanted him to have.

You this, you're doing this, you're doing it with me. And even though he was, you know, four years old, it's like, I'm hoping that he remembers those little things, you know. And that's something I never had, so.

Anthony P. (01:01:17.42)
Yeah, that's awesome and he probably won't know how lucky he truly is to have that set up for him until maybe like a decade from now, like 13, 14. But it's just awesome to know what you're doing for him. then I'm sure, yeah. No, I do not, so tell me about it.

Branden Sewell (01:01:26.841)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:01:33.379)
It's also scary to like as a parent, know like, I don't think you have kids but, but like as a as a parent, it's also scary. Like, you know, I know that one of the things that have caused me to be successful is like having to coming from nothing. You know, like, we had it pretty rough when I was a kid. You know, we moved around a lot, had a lot of financial struggles and

You know, but that kind of fueled my desire to like want to be successful, you know, and to want to like, hustle and do things different. It's what motivates me. Like I come from a broken home, you know, like divorced parents and that's what motivates me to want to be a great husband, to be a great father and all that. it's like. I don't want to like in my efforts to

invest into my kids lives, I don't want them to get to, like, let's say, 18 years old, where they feel like entitled, or feel like they, they didn't have to work for anything. And that they just are going to get all this money, right, when they're, you know, 1820 some years old. And so what's really important to me is that

and I'd really love to like talk to other parents who have achieved this already, who like have older kids who they, invested for and stuff that, they helped them to become wealthy, but still be like level headed, so hustle and stuff. So like the, that's why I try to like keep him involved in the process. And then I'm also going to, I probably won't tell him, like we have a custodial account for him.

and he won't actually be able to get access to it until he's like 25. But like, I don't know how I'm going to approach like telling him like, you have all this money. Because I don't want him to like get lazy or think like, hey, I don't have to work, or like go out there and contribute because I'm just going to get handed all this money. You know what I mean?

Anthony P. (01:03:58.262)
Yeah, I'm probably like the worst person to talk to about that because I don't have kids. So it's like I have no experience with it.

Branden Sewell (01:04:01.865)
Yeah, yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:04:08.107)
No, I mean, I'm just saying like it's it's something to think about, you know, like I know you're saying, you know, like, hey, that's awesome that you're doing this for your kids. But I'm just trying to say like, hey, here's the other side of the equation. Like I have to figure out how to raise my kids to know like, hey, yes, you know, your mom and your dad invested this money and, you know, wanted you to be set up financially. But that doesn't mean that

Anthony P. (01:04:12.236)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (01:04:20.695)
Of

Branden Sewell (01:04:38.241)
You can't, you know, get out there and work hard and put forth effort. And it's like, want him to understand. And even my daughter, we just started her accounts. And so we're starting to put money in investments for her, but she's only she'll be 10 months old next week. But it's like, I want both of them to know that we're not doing it so that you don't have to do anything. We're trying to do it for you to give you like a head start.

you know,

Anthony P. (01:05:08.704)
It's all about like instilling those values in them. and I think we, we see that a lot with, like I think of the Vanderbilts and they, how, how rich the Vanderbilts were. And they say that you lose the wealth by like the third generation. So, cause the values and it's like, if everything's handed to them, then they don't, they don't truly understand what it took to maybe. like, yeah, like, let's say your grandkids don't understand the sacrifice.

Branden Sewell (01:05:11.993)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:05:18.927)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (01:05:25.967)
because of our use.

Branden Sewell (01:05:34.233)
Get that.

Anthony P. (01:05:39.169)
that Paw Paw had to do to make this happen. but yeah, it's definitely.

Branden Sewell (01:05:39.727)
Mm hmm. You're right.

Yeah.

It's funny, I was listening to Shaq and I think Shaq was like asked in an interview if he was going to leave any money behind for his kids and he was like, no. I think he said something along the lines of like if they want to come and present like a business idea or something to him and he believes in it and thinks that they're like working hard and capable, he'll like invest in that.

he's not just gonna like give them money and so that's like that's a fear that I have so.

Anthony P. (01:06:18.049)
Yeah, yeah. I believe he also said that he didn't give any of his kids money until they got their master's degree. So, so yeah, he he is a very smart man and very smart athlete. listened to one of his little he did like a micro interview with school hard knocks like, yeah, yeah. So I love that guy. But

Branden Sewell (01:06:25.411)
Yeah, that's phenomenal.

Branden Sewell (01:06:32.889)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:06:38.423)
I just watched it, yeah.

Anthony P. (01:06:43.854)
Life is just a weird double-edged sword. For every situation, there's two things. There's a good and a bad. And that's how you have to navigate life.

Branden Sewell (01:06:51.311)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (01:06:55.309)
Yeah, you'll have to look up Paul Jamison. Have you heard of him? Paul Jamison, Green Industry Podcasts. I know you're not in the like green industry landscaping and lawn care, but Paul Jamison, he's a he's a friend of mine. I met him through Jobber and we were both on a podcast together in Nashville and I had the pleasure of meeting him there.

Anthony P. (01:07:00.814)
All right.

Branden Sewell (01:07:22.713)
but he actually got to work on a project at Shaq's home. I think it's in Georgia. And him and a, he has a friend who I guess has like a pond business where they build like these custom, like luxury ponds, custom ponds. And so he and his friend got to like go to Shaq's house and like meet him. And, but anyway, it's,

just through what I know about Shaq, he seems like he's just such a humble, kind person and smart when it comes to money. I know in that, I think it was in that interview, the School of Hard Knocks, where he said like, most, I think he gave like some statistic on how many athletes go broke after like three years of retirement. I think he asked,

like Shaq, like what his feedback or something was on that. And I think he just, you know, talked about, you know, having businesses and assets and, and being wise in that sense. And he just sold like what it, what he was in some restaurant business and he sold all of his.

Anthony P. (01:08:36.782)
It's like a hundred and fifty five guys I think. Yeah. Who knew? I would have never guessed. Yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:08:42.039)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, five guys and he sold them all. Yeah, I had no idea. Yeah, but I'm sure that was a pretty nice exit.

Anthony P. (01:08:51.98)
Are you familiar with Chase Gallagher? He- yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:08:55.363)
Yeah, I've heard of them. I'm not super familiar with like his content or anything like that, but I've heard of them. I know of them.

Anthony P. (01:09:04.526)
He's another young guy on the jobber team. That's well, I kind of saw him through social media and then I saw him on the jobber podcast. I just bring him up as cause you brought up the landscaping and I think about him and he said he started his business when he was 13 mowing lawns and now he's running a six figure hardscape and landscaping company.

Branden Sewell (01:09:19.119)
Mm-hmm.

Branden Sewell (01:09:23.737)
Yeah.

Anthony P. (01:09:30.988)
But it just kind of brings me back to like there's a lot of young guys out there that are really going after it. I would say there's a there's a lot of go-getters out there that are young. So.

Branden Sewell (01:09:39.161)
Yeah, yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:09:44.365)
I love it, man. It's super cool. It's exciting to hear what you're doing. you know, as somebody who's a little further along, I'm excited to see where you'll be when you're, you know, 10 years down the road sitting where I'm at and you're going to be like, hopefully you're doing even better. It sounds like you will be.

Anthony P. (01:10:05.07)
Yeah, 32, I think I got a long way to go.

Branden Sewell (01:10:08.333)
Yeah, what 10 years, 11 years. It goes by fast, man. It's gosh, man. When I was your age, believe it or not, I was in Madagascar. So, you know, just a different, different time in my life. But I was a missionary over there when I was your age. life goes by so fast, you know, you're going to blink and you're going to be 32. So

Anthony P. (01:10:10.538)
Yeah, 11 years.

Branden Sewell (01:10:32.651)
I would say enjoy it, make smart decisions, stay the course, keep doing what you're doing and in 10 years, you'll be like, holy smokes, man. It'll be really cool to see what you can achieve in 10 years. Just keep being smart. And I think that one big thing that I think keeps coming up is like live below your means. If you can do that and do what you're doing in 10 years, dude.

Anthony P. (01:10:32.726)
I

Branden Sewell (01:11:01.229)
You know, and then like think about what really accelerated, you know, like my financial journey, believe it or not, was getting married. You like you don't you don't realize like when you get married and you have that that second income come in, it's like and I don't know how you'll view finances, but my wife and I like we treat our finances like one. So.

We don't have like separate bank accounts. don't say it's like her money and my money. just it's our money. And, you know, when you have that, you have that team aspect. It's like you go to like you're able to move a little bit faster, too. So I think you I don't know if it was you or somebody else. You said they've been with their girlfriend for quite a long time. Can't I can't remember if it you or another young person I was talking to recently.

Anthony P. (01:11:58.232)
Me and my girlfriend would be going on two years in March, so not super long.

Branden Sewell (01:12:01.515)
Okay, now

That's super like no there's somebody else I was talking to recently and they've been. Is another entrepreneur who was it.

I can't remember. no, it's the guy who cuts my hair. It's my barber. My barber is like your age. But he's been like with his with his girlfriends since they were in high school. So but, you know, I don't I don't know like what your relationship is like. But if you guys like end up if you talk about marriage or talk about, you know, like I got married when I was 23. So I met my wife when I was your age, I think.

Anthony P. (01:12:18.091)
No.

Branden Sewell (01:12:43.439)
Yeah, I was 20. I think I had just turned 21. So I was around your age and then at 23 we were married. So it's crazy how that changes life.

Anthony P. (01:12:56.076)
Yeah. Well, the good old saying behind every strong man is a stronger woman. So and it's true. It's very true. mean, even going through this past November was our busiest month, as I kind of talked to you in private. And I have to have sympathy for my girlfriend at the time because.

Branden Sewell (01:13:02.797)
Yeah, very true.

Anthony P. (01:13:20.494)
I was working hard. mean 10, 12 hour days to get through this workload and she was there for me the whole time. I know a lot of people that would not like to have their significant other working 712s all the time and not having a lot of time to communicate and be there for them. So yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:13:23.021)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:13:31.715)
Yeah, that's great.

Branden Sewell (01:13:38.105)
Yeah.

Branden Sewell (01:13:46.255)
I'm sure she values that hustle though, if she's the right person.

Anthony P. (01:13:51.306)
She definitely does, she's there for me when I... I mean if you're working 712s you're bound to have one... I know we always say putting out the dumpster fires, you're gonna have one dumpster fire that's really bad enough to ruin your day so it is nice to have someone to lean on.

Branden Sewell (01:13:52.973)
skin.

Branden Sewell (01:14:07.907)
Yeah, that's good. Well, you're getting a lot of great experience and at a young age, so it's good stuff. It's inspiring. Well, I've got to bring this to a close. So I appreciate your time. I appreciate you being willing to jump on here and chat. know, I hope whoever listens to this, that you'll be inspired just as I am. I've been in business for going on eight years and I'm 32 and I'm inspired by your story, man. So.

I'm sure whoever listens to this, whether they're young or older, will find inspiration from your story and it'll be exciting to see where you are. And, you know, five, 10 years, we'll have to get you back on here. And if I still have this podcast, Lord willing, I will. Hopefully it's even it grows and gets better. But

Yeah, so anyway, if you're listening to this podcast today and you've enjoyed it, I would appreciate if you're watching on YouTube that you would like the video, comment, share your feedback, share it with somebody else and subscribe to the channel. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, I would greatly appreciate it if you could rate and review the show. That'll help get the show out to more people, help the show to get better.

And also down below in the show notes, I have different resources for you, whether you're interested in signing up for jobber or using call rail for your business, if you're looking for a payroll provider, I've got gusto down there, you can look at those if you're looking for a way to get more reviews and manage your reputation online, you can check out nice job.

If you use any of my referral links, I do get credit for those and they do help to support the show. There's also some new features where you can send me a message through fan mail. I'd love to hear from you, hear your feedback on the podcast. But that's it for now. Thank you so much for checking out this episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast and I'll see you next time on the next episode.