You HAVE to talk about money
🍩 Fresh from Sunday Doughnuts. A new batch lands in your inbox every week. Subscribe free →
An entrepreneur's recipe for sweet success
2.19 min Read
I want to be super clear in this email with you— I am NOT where I want to be financially, BUT I am working my tail off to get there.
I’d love to sit here and write something to hype you up while humble bragging at the same time, but the reality is, I’m deeply in the grind.
Loving every minute of it, moving the needle every day, but my W2 still pays the bills.
And it will for a little while.
If you’re reading this email, most likely you’re in a similar situation.
And you might be curious on what it takes to build the bridge out of your day job and into full time entrepreneurship.
While entrepreneurship is not my full time gig, I certainly work more than full time hours doing the work on top of my police job… those hours MIGHT potentially overlap… don’t tell my supervisors ;)
Before I dive deeper and talk all about the numbers, you should read this post. I know Chris personally and he is the real deal. I talk a lot about NOT burning the boats, but the way he describes what he believes burning the boats to mean makes SO MUCH SENSE. This is what burning the boats actually means and in this case, BURN THE BOATS.
And then read my novel of a comment here
The Numbers:
Let’s get really real here. I’m sharing these things with you for two reasons
- I want you to see the full picture of entrepreneurship. No smoke and mirrors, no sugarcoating, just the truth of building and buying businesses
- In a round about way, I want to filter down those that really really want this. Everything that I’m doing and have done is within reach for anyone out there, BUT there’ a road of not very sexy bank statements that you have to walk down before you see the light. There are exceptions to most rules, but GENERALLY it’s a process. One that’s well worth it, but a process nonetheless. If you want it bad enough, none of this should phase you.
My W2 — This is out of date by a couple of years, but since I’m a government employee, this is all public information… and just like anything with government work, they’re a little behind updating things 🤣
I’m proud of this for sure, I grew up thinking just making $100k would be all I’d ever need, but here in California, this barely covers the basics. Wild.
As you can see, overtime is pretty minimal because my time is much better spent at home and working on other businesses than to be at work.
The "other pay" is my bilingual pay and education pay. Benefits and pension are strong in the cop world. That’s what keeps us in it honestly.
People will often ask what your “freedom number” is. The number that would give you the opportunity to leave the day job and go all in. $269,573.85 is the minimum freedom number for me.
Bookkeeping Business — I am beyond thankful for how hard my wife works! If it wasn’t for her business and the extra income that she brings in, I would for sure have to work some more overtime.
Her hard work allows us that extra cushion for me to work these businesses “on the side” and spend the time getting them going.
I don’t have her P&L in front of me but it’s enough to keep us comfortable. And if I’m being totally honest, she should make more. It’s an extremely premium bookkeeping service.
Storage — I’ve shared a similar scene shot of something similar, but here’s the full breakdown.
We are grossing close to $10k/mo on our Kansas facility, but that’s obviously not the full picture.
The operating expenses are a high percentage right now because we are just a little over half full after our expansion. When we get to full occupancy, the expenses will remain the same with double the income.
We found an investor to put in most of the cash needed so we don’t have any debt and have the wiggle room to invest in making it a phenomenal facility.
At this very second though, my equity return and management fee will be $2,100.75. Not bad, but not also not life changing money.
So what’s next?
We find another.
We copy and paste our operations, we negotiate a seller financed deal so that we don’t have any bank debt and we keep the train moving.
While the CASH isn’t a ton right now, we’ve already increased the value of the facility by over $500k.
This will return nicely if we refi or sell. That’s the kind of stuff that COMPOUNDS.
Lawn Care — Let me be clear, I did not start this, nor do I own it, BUT I am business partners with the owner and we are leveraging the existing skeleton of his business to
- Subcontract out all the work outside of actual lawn care (fertilizer, stump grinding, irrigation, snow removal, etc.)
- Purchase another lawn care/ landscape company in MN and potentially in Oklahoma. Hot tip of the day, those are both great areas for that kind of business.
Right now gross is close to $400k but most of which is allocated elsewhere. What THIS particular business is being used for right now is a very awesome stepping stone to help us reach the next level of acquisitions. I’ll report back on what plays out. Don’t worry.
Other Misc. Mentions
My VA Agency: Not a ton, but it paid for itself for a while, so that’s a win
Newsletter: $Free.99
Business Acquisitions Coaching Program: I’m launching this in January, so nothing is being generated from here yet. It’ll be fairly minimal at first though since I only want to take on a small group. 5 at the most.
There are SO many other needle movers I could be working on instead of putting together a coaching course, but I feel called to build this. Even though I am NOT where I really want to be yet, I feel the need to share what I do know.
I have scraped and clawed to figure out what I know about buying businesses like storage and other small businesses. It SHOULDN’T be that hard to learn this. You also don’t need to be wealthy to make this happen. As you can tell, I’m not rolling in the dough.
What people don’t teach you is 1) how to find these deals and 2) how to get creative with financing. If you can do those two things, you’ll be set.
Ok, so that was an open window into what I’m working with here.
These numbers will not stay this way forever.
We’ll land more facilities, other lawn cares, I’ll expand my personal branding, social media presence and online platforms over time to the point that people wont believe where I started.
But I don’t believe that the path to that destination should be shared after the fact; more people should be sharing the IN PROGRESS, UGLY, NON SEXY screenshots of the journey in real time.
But transparency is hard. Being vulnerable is hard. I’ll do my best to keep it real with you.
IF you made it through this email, you are my kind of person. I would love to help you reach your goals of buying a business. I’m launching a small group in January… I know I just said this up there up 👆 but there's a rule called “The Rule of 7” that states someone needs to read or hear something 7 times before taking action. And whether it’s with me or in some other way, I want you to take action. You are meant for more.
Hit reply and lets chat more on how I can help you buy your first business WHILE still working your W2 and raising a family.
Until next time...
Stay in the fight,
My best tweet this week:
@kevinasrx
I couldn’t have said it better myself— “Kevin is just a normal cop…”
People like to sell a SECRET SAUCE, and the longer I’ve searched for that sauce over the years, the more I’ve realized there isn’t one.
There’s no sauce or pill or course or coach or book or conference or…
https://x.com/i/web/status/1866878304554455258
My favorite tweet this week:
@MatznerJon
The irony and hypocrisy between his first and his second point is stunning.
Can I do a straddle?
LONG on people selling courses and masterminds to existentially confused white collar people
SHORT on people who listen to them.
https://x.com/i/web/status/1865389015970779348
P.S. This newsletter subject was inspired by my buddy Tim Forkin. He's a rockstar video / content creator, in the trenches, building BIG things and sharing everything about the journey. You have to respect that kind of vulnerability. Check him out.
Other places to find me:
🎙️ Podcast
🎥 YouTube
🧑💻 Medium
📸 IG
🙋🏻♂️ About Me
📚 What I'm Reading
✏️ What I'm Writing
🧱 What I'm Doing
📌 Pinned Article
Liked this one? Get the next one in your inbox.
One email every Sunday about starting, buying and growing small businesses. What's working, what isn't, and what I'm building right now.
Free. You'll get a confirm email first. Unsubscribe anytime.