All right. What's up, everybody? Welcome in to
another episode of Vision Pros Live. I'm your
show host, Jackson Callum, founder and CEO of
First Class Business, and I got Vince Perry in
the house. We're going to be talking about the
great exit wave, why 63 % of entrepreneurs are
selling now, and it is not just the silver tsunami.
I had to ask that to Vince, too. I was like,
Vince, tell me about this. Vince, let's dive
into your vision, man. Welcome back to Vision
Pros. Thank you so much, man. It's a pleasure
to be here. Absolutely. So 63%, I had to ask,
where does that stat come from? And so go ahead
and elaborate for all of us on that. Yeah, the
easy one I think everybody knows about is the
baby boomers, right? They're all approaching
their 70s, I think. And they're, you know, they
don't have anything to do with the company. They
don't know what to do with the company. Their
kids don't want it and they don't just want it
to dissolve. So they'd like to exit. And they're
pretty good businesses, man. Like they're, you
know, some of them are multi, multi -million
dollar businesses and some of them are not, but
they run well. either lack marketing or lack
operations and just need somebody to go in there
and turn it around or just increase it a little
bit. But for the most part, these are pretty
good companies. Like a lot of the home service
industries, that's very, very hot right now.
And it's a lot owned by these baby boomers. But
the reason why it's such a high number is like
I told you off air, it's not just baby boomers.
My target for the most part, and obviously I
still get baby boomers and Gen Xers who are about
55 and they're also maybe thinking about retirement,
but it's also the millennials, which is my generation.
Millennials, if you know, I'm sure you do. we
can't focus on one thing for longer. We can't
focus on one thing for longer than five minutes.
So what happens is we start a business, we're
all in and we're just like, I don't want this
business anymore. Or I'm into work week. I want
to go do something new all the time. Or I'm into
AI. I want to do AI. I want to do Airbnb now.
I want to do something else. I want to sell this
business. So what I'm noticing, because I've
been on YouTube for over five years and my target
audience have always just falled into. the 35
to 45 year old, no, 25 to 45 year old range.
And I was like, well, I guess I better change
my content because I want the baby boomers. But
then I was like, wait, no, I don't have to do
that. My target could easily be 25 to 45 year
old entrepreneurs who are looking to sell. And
you'll be surprised. There's a couple of really
good entrepreneur, like not organizations, but
networking events that they have here, local
in Tampa. And one of them in particular, I'm
very impressed with where when I go to these
events, they are they are lively. They are energetic.
They are the youth of Tampa getting after it.
And they're all entrepreneurs. And get ready
for this. Most as soon as I tell them I'm an
exit advisor, their first thing is, oh, yeah,
I want to flip this. I want to sell this in two
years. I want to sell this in five years. Mind
you, it's like still a startup, but they're already
thinking with the exit mind. Of course. I mean,
look at what's happened with TikTok. Look at
what happened with Instagram. Look at what happened
with Snapchat. There's so much up. WhatsApp,
all these apps are selling so much faster. And
they've got the training from people like The
Profit and from people like Grant Cardone and
beyond. They've gotten to see that there's no
reason to wait for that type of abundance. And
so if they're in a business model based on Rich
Dad Poor Dad's cash flow models, whether it's
a dry cleaner or a laundromat or something. that
is further here now. Again, they've been influenced
by Tim Ferriss and other great leaders. They
know that the sky's the limit. They have the
whole universe right in front of them. So continue,
Vince. It's funny you mentioned that because
what I've noticed with the younger generation,
even younger than my generation, is I have noticed
an excellent, I've noticed an excellent like
surgence of not just entrepreneurship, but just
overall. I don't know if the word's intelligence
because that's not the right word, but they're
just so informed. Self -aware and aware. I mean
informed. They are so informed because they have
grown up in this social media age of all these
influencers giving it all away, like Tim Ferriss
said, like Gary Vee said. To me, that's... I
don't know about you, but that's kind of a new
thing where in the past people would kind of
like be reserved unless you were in their circle
and there wasn't really no social media where
you could hear all the secrets where now it's
just like that is the marketing method to get
eyes is to give away as much as possible. So
all these young people in their early 20s, you
have a conversation with them and it's like having
a conversation with like a 30 year old experienced
entrepreneur because they know so much already.
Correct. I am so lucky to be on the front end
of that as a millennial, because when I won,
I didn't get into the business because I cared
about the money. I got into the business because
I want to make a difference in the world. I'd
come off of a mission. And two, I was working
with Jake Larson at Video Power Marketing after
having been part of Y Combinator, where we learned
all about startups through. Paul Bukai, the mentor
of Gmail, Matt Kass, the search director of Google,
which is a freemium business model. And so as
they worked on those models and got to see the
advantage of it, to your point, it was an uphill
drag. It was such a difficult thing to relate
to everyday business owners and people want to
know what you're doing. Like, why do you do it
that way? That sounds stupid. And it was a very
awkward conversation. But nowadays we have so
much proof socially and through exits that we've
been able to see publicly transform. It's like,
okay, no, people are starting to get it and appreciate
it and move towards it. So that's a really valuable
aspect of what they're now growing up with. And
if you haven't opened your eyes to that as a
business owner, then by all means. today's the
day let's let's do it let's look at it so we're
going to be talking about um The concept of the
exit window and what happens if people miss it.
The hidden mistakes that can cost founders millions
during an exit. I know you can protect us from
some of those mistakes. The AI and how AI is
impacting valuations as a supercharger or a deal
killer. We've gotten to see both of those dynamics
play out many times. Why some buyers are moving
faster than ever. And what that means as well,
if you're in a position to where you might want
to sell. And really, guys, how to calm it all
down too. I know you don't have to live at a
pace where anxiety is your number one superpower.
Let's not go there. Let's have a balance in life
too. And that's one of the things I like about
the way you show up, Ben. So let's pick one of
those topics going to right now. And then let's
take a little break and we'll come back and talk
about the rest. Which one? Which one? Oh, whatever
you want. I don't care. It's all valuable for
sure. So then let's dive into the founders' mistakes.
What are the mistakes that can cost the founders
millions that aren't just like, duh? I mean,
some of the founders' mistakes are obviously
the big one for me, which is related to another
topic that you mentioned just now a little bit,
is just selling at the wrong time. It's a lot
like the stock market, right? You want to buy
when it's... low and you want to sell when it's
high but the mentality just isn't like that like
you don't want why would you want to sell when
things are going so well oh that's a good point
and typically you end up wanting to sell when
things are going bad so a lot of times i get
a conversation it's usually because i'm tired
i don't want to do this anymore the business
is not doing well uh who do you think would buy
my business like it's just like a depressing
conversation where It would be a lot easier to
sell a business if it was actually things are
going really, really well right now. Everything
is happening. This could be a good time to at
least shop the market, get a valuation, see what
I can get for it. And then also get some advice
from someone like me to say, well, look, this
is what it is now. But maybe in a year you can
do this if you keep doing this, because I won't
allow it to go down. The funny thing about businesses.
Yes, there are obviously. different things that
could impact in the economy and stuff like that.
That obviously does happen. But for the most
part, the valuation of a business comes down
to the valuation of the business. It comes down
to the X's and O's and the numbers that are in
the business. That's it. It doesn't have to do
much with, with rising tides and different things.
It's what the value of the business is today.
Now there are trends and things that could cause
that valuation to go down in the future. But
for the most part, evaluation is just math. And
that's what it is today because you're making
this much profit and you're running the business
this well. And that's what your valuation is
today. So you want to try to sell it at your
highest. Woo. You crushed that. By the way, I
am in love with what you just said. The bromance
just rose, by the way. You just leaned into things
that other exit strategists I've talked to have
never leaned into. For instance, that poker mentality
mindset. They're like, don't get addicted to
the rising tide that you have. Don't wait until
it's too late. If you're in a business that...
you're not carrying into your grave. And some
of us are, and some of my initiatives, but some
of my initiatives, no, I'm definitely going to
sell those off as time goes on. So the person
who comes to mind with that, and I'm going to
find his name real quick. This is probably not
the coolest thing I've ever done, but man, Groupon,
the founder of Groupon, that poor guy. Yeah,
Andrew Mason. I hope he's recovered from what
he did, but he had an opportunity to sell his
company for billions of dollars to Google. And
he turned them down and it became one of them.
It became the greatest laughingstock of all time
for exit failures. His ego got the best of him.
And then he did something else really dumb right
after that, too. But I've done dumb things that
haven't cost me billions of dollars. Oh, thank
goodness. But or maybe I have. I didn't realize
I just didn't get it published. But my friends,
that is an extreme and very real example of exactly.
what Vince is talking about. We've got to be
aware of the opportunities that come our way.
And if we're too addicted to the high of a successful
moment, then that can put us in a position to
where we make a stupid decision that hurts our
family for generations. Let's not do that. Now
we're going to talk about AI as well. I'm going
to do something new and unique with this opportunity.
Those of you who don't know as a podcaster, I
have the luck on my end. I get to be the color
commentator. Vince comes up with all the hard
stuff. And then I get to fill the gaps and just
ask hard questions. So I'm going to give Vince
the opportunity to do the same thing when it
comes to this challenge related to AI. We're
going to take a short break. I'm going to talk
about some AI related to those supercharged opportunities.
And Vince can play devil's advocate and punch
me in the face, you know, virtually. He's like,
hey, Jackson, no, that's not it. Or he can also
become a color commentator and help us evolve
as best as possible. This is my gift to all of
you. All right. Welcome in to Vision Pros Live
with Jackson Callum. I'm your show host. We'll
be doing. interviews for visionary entrepreneurs
and guest leaders who are building fantastic
visions out there. Hey everybody, welcome in
to Vision Pros Live. I am super excited for Vince
Perry to be in the house. This guy hits hard
in the best of ways. And from what I've seen
with love, he speaks Spanish too, which helps
with my purpose to bridge the economic gap between
North America, South America, and the rest of
the world. I know he's working on that as well
because he has heritage and ties to that. So
for those of you who are listening in, we are
talking about... the great exit wave and why
63 % of entrepreneurs are selling now. And we're
going to give you as many tips as we can for
as well to help you prepare for selling your
business and creating your ultimate American
or worldwide dream. Um, or that shouldn't be
limited to one country. We should all be able
to thrive. And so with that, we're going to talk
about some of these sponsors up here. These are
entities. that we trust. And I'm going to tie
this right into the lesson on how AI can help
you either supercharge your business growth or
create a catastrophic reality where people don't
want to buy from you. So AI Mavericks, this is
actually the entity of... austin armstrong and
scott simpson and both of them have been mentors
to me over the last year pretty much passively
i did meet austin at social media marketing world
and i was super floored with just how genuine
and present he was with everybody that he talked
to him always studying does this leader have
the emotional intelligence to be able to lead
well and lead far i also challenged them on some
things on facebook in relation to ai and ethics
and it was interesting because some leaders when
you do that they will just block you or defer
and you'd be like i don't want to talk to this
guy he's he's a he's a hazard. No, Austin embraced
it and was excited about the conversation. And
that's the type of leader that I want to be working
with long -term. And they're always paying attention
to the most advanced techniques, which is why
I pay my $59 a month to be part of AI Mavericks.
I love having access to the advanced people who
are also always accessing the other advanced
people and giving me back the news report of
what's going on in this world and how can we
maximize those? Well, we also compete with the
AI Mavericks. We have the AI marketplace at First
Class Business. And this is super important because
there are two different levels, two different
stages, two different focuses. While they're
focusing on the tools like a lot of other people,
and they're doing a great job of working towards
productivity and towards profitability, I see
so many AI people obsessed with creating dumb
images with bananas. And I don't understand it.
It's not going to help your business move forward
to distract yourself and your team members with
that. We need to understand that all of you already
have a superior intelligence to AI. You've been
using it for more than two decades. of you more
than three decades these systems have been out
for a very long time and if you learn how to
communicate well then you're not going to get
replaced in this age of ai you're going to be
able to train it continually you're going to
be able to position yourselves you can position
yourselves right now by using the professional
resume audit that helps you see the shadows of
your resume and how you can revamp it revamp
your linkedin and revamp your ability to interview
to showcase that you already are an ai expert
your boss needs to know that they need to be
able to see it and then on the business side
The business bottlenecks are also what we showcase.
That way you can see what's truly possible and
pragmatic to implement right now. We don't want
you to end up like crappy companies like RingCentral
where I'm stuck in a holding pattern because
their stupid AI won't get out of my way. They've
spent millions on AI and they can't do it right.
We aren't going to be able to do it right either
unless we pragmatically see how do we create
systems that amplify our lives, amplify the way
that we serve others. And we do that in the AI
marketplace. Founding members can join us for
$50 a month or $500 for lifetime access. And
my friends, if you don't have the financial means
to join us, just apply for the grant. It's right
below that. And you can get a free grant to be
able to come in and work with us as honorary
members. We don't want to leave anybody behind
with the shift that's happening with AI right
now. The Water Project. I also want to talk about
that because we also don't want to leave people
behind who don't even have access to AI. These
people don't have access to clean drinking water,
my friends. Please tune in. to your heart your
ears your mind right now and think about what
would it be like to be thirsty or to not know
where you're going to get clean water for your
kids and your kids having to leave school to
go get water for the community you're having
to leave work it would disrupt everything about
what you're trying to build for yourselves and
these people have to deal with that every single
day well we have the opportunity to leverage
the water project just like crowdfunding and
i can commit twenty dollars or ten dollars to
a project whatever it is i'm able to and they
will show me the outcome of that specific project
there are hundreds of villages that they're helping
all throughout Africa in order to help these
communities get access to water so they can focus
on moving their lives forward. You can have a
generational impact on a very small contribution.
If you're really suffering financially and you
can't do that, my hope is you'll take this website,
you'll talk to your friends and family about
it, maybe somebody over lunch. And look at this
picture, my friends. These kids are celebrating
water like most of our kids celebrate Christmas
Day. how humbling is that so we've got eight
billion people to help in this world my hope
is that if you have something that's calling
your attention more than the water project drop
it in the comments give me the chance to take
a look at i will personally look at every cause
link that you give me and see what we can do
to help and support those processes as well and
i hope you join me on that we get back to helping
every single one of you right now with vince
perry vince perry let's dive right back in man
all right let's do it Awesome. So going into
the concept of the exit window and what happens
if you miss it, this sounds like major FOMO that
our AI created as we created this description.
I'm not putting that on you. It's on me. Also
the AI, I didn't give you a chance to hit back
on AI or to talk and color commentate about how
AI and supercharging the business or killing
the business sales, how all that works. So let's
just pull it all together. Sure. I mean, for
one thing is you're going to want to have a business
that's already sort of starting to implement
it a little bit. If you're going to want to sell
it, it's just becoming one of those things where
if you've got some, all right, I mean, I'll give
you even, I'll actually, I'll give you a great
example. IP, intellectual property. Like that's
a big one. When a business has an IP, has any
kind of intellectual property, increases the
value of the business like automatically. And
really what you're able to do with AI is you're
able to create. some different intellectual property
by creating AI agents and different things that
do things for you only for your business. So
it kind of creates some IP that could ultimately
increase the value of your business pretty quickly.
So I like that part about it. Yeah. So then,
and then also you've got SaaS companies, if they're
not. If they don't have an opening in their model
that integrates AI, which you would hope you
would assume their SaaS company that they do.
But if they don't, it's going to decrease the
value of that business because now the new person
in there is going to have to implement all of
those things. So it just has to be sort of AI
ready or already using AI to whether. And when
I say these things, I'm always going to say it's
either going to increase the value or decrease
the value. I'm never going to say that. it just
won't sell or it will sell because anybody will
buy a business if they have the strengths to
actually implement where that business is weak.
Even if they don't, that's another challenge
right there. A lot of athletes, for instance,
end up making really, really bad investment decisions
because they have the money to be able to do
it, but they don't have the comprehension. And
so there are people out there with money that
don't have that comprehension. And I would also,
let's not limit that to the athletes anymore.
If you're building business plans with AI on
your own and you have never done that before,
you are either driving a Ferrari into a wall.
Um, you know, with, with no, with no brake pedal
or you're putting yourself in a position where
you might hurt yourself and the other person
involved. So, uh, these are, there's an old saying
guys that the pen is mightier than the sword.
We have nuclear pens in our hands now. That's
what AI is. It's a nuclear pen. So be smart and
be wise with it. Keep going. Yeah, I completely
agree with that. Um, I don't know where I was
going with this, but yeah, it's just, I mean,
I'm just a firm believer that it's just very
important to, to. to be using the tool and i'd
like to just go on to say that that's what i
think it is all of this talk about people being
so afraid of ai and it's going to take all of
these jobs and it's going to do all of these
things I think to me what it boils down to, it's
a tool that is only going to get better. And
the only way we will be able to really just continue
the further development of the human race is
by using that tool. Use it with caution. Obviously,
you don't want any of your private or materials
or things that don't need to get out to the public.
You don't want to be doing all of that. But for
the most part, use the tool. And what do I mean
by that is, employees that are concerned about
their job being taken. What I hear you saying
about that too, Vince, is don't be the lumberjack
who refused to put down the ax stubbornly and
pick the chainsaw up. Right. Exactly. I love
that. If you are a regular employee working a
nine to five job, and you're afraid that your
job is going to be taken by AI because it's very
automated or whatever it is. Start using the
tool. Start playing with the tool. Start trying
to implement the tool in your daily work and
increase your productivity by using the tool
to ultimately make yourself more valuable to
your employer. And the more you do that, the
better it will get. And if you do lose your job
for whatever reason, if it's AI or whatever it
is, I'm going to tell you one thing, that next
job that you apply for. they're going to ask
and want to know if you are using AI. Because
I haven't made a hire in a while, but I will
tell you, my next hire, that's going to be top
of the list that it's going to be mandatory for
my next employee to use AI. Very, very well said.
We're going to go back to that concept of the
exit window and what happens if you miss it.
And if you miss it, guys, you don't exit. So
obviously there's that answer. But Vince, let's
highlight a little bit more color in relation
to this. Why is the exit window important? What
does that look like? How do you prepare for it?
How do you recognize it? Yeah. I mean, you just
have to recognize it if you're, if the business
is doing well and it's running well. I had a
client just recently that it's just, it's just
going fantastic. And she was thinking about it,
but she wasn't really thinking about it. When
I gave her her valuation, she's like, Whoa, she's
like, Holy crap. I didn't know it was worth that
much. When usually I get the other reaction.
Oh, wow. It's not worth it. That's it. So. I
told her it's a great time, but I was just talking,
and she also has a business coach, and we were
talking, and apparently she's not going to exit
yet. She's going to keep. I said, oh, man, but
now is the perfect time, and the business coach
agreed with me. It's just when things are going
well, when the operations are running smoothly,
when leads are coming in, when you're getting
good results and customers are happy, when all
is going relatively well, you should at least
get evaluation and consider it because you never
know what could happen. You could always do something
else. Now, yeah, when you do sell a business,
you typically sign a non -compete where you can't
open that same kind of business within the area
for about three years or so. But for the most
part, you know, I mean, if the time is the time,
I mean, I don't know. I don't know how else to
say it. Right. No, no, that makes a lot of sense.
And you said two things that are easy for most
entrepreneurs to accidentally think that they
have strengths with. You said. I think about
the timing, but what really caught my eye was,
is the business running well? And I think there's
so many business owners who think that their
business is running well, but in reality, they're
just running their butts off. And it's them who's
running well, but the business is not running
well without their presence. You want to talk
to that? Yeah, that's huge. That's a big valuation
killer. We call it owner dependency. When you're
working in the business 30, 40, 50, 60 hours
a week and you're doing everything and making
a bunch of decisions, yeah, that's a big no -no.
Now, if you're a startup and you're in the first
year or two and you still haven't broke a million
yet, then by all means, you're the owner, you
do everything, do what you got to do to at least
get to that first million. But if you are beyond
that and you're still working in it and you think
that you have to work harder in order to generate
more revenue, I will be the first to tell you
that that's just not how it goes. Then you are
not a good leader and you are just doing too
many things. So it's time to actually take a
step back and really think about actually building
your people more than actually building the company
because that, to me, is the key. So is that a
good benchmark then? And again, correct me if
I'm wrong. No, no, no. The benchmark, the benchmark
of 1 million. So if I've got to a million dollars
in revenue over the course of my business or
over one year period, is that when I get evaluated?
Yeah. Oh, when you get evaluated, I would say
to probably at least give at least one year because
you could put a valuation. I could put a valuation
together based on 12 months of financials. So
you could do it the first year and you could
do it every year after that. I would recommend
just getting a valuation every year. And then
and then as you are. in business more and more,
I'll do evaluation over three years is where
I really like to do it. And some brokers and
some advisors do evaluation over five years.
And then you could just take the first three
years and see where you're at. But you could
do it year over year as well. And it's definitely
a great benchmark to understand. And one thing
that I want business owners to try to look at
their business more as an asset. as opposed to
sort of the way they generate revenue. I always
want now to convince business owners to look
at their business like almost a piece of real
estate, that you want to invest your efforts.
to increase its value. So like when you buy an
apartment building and you renovate it, and now
you increase rent and you do all these things,
you put all that work and you put all that time
into it in the beginning to increase its value
right away. I want people to look at their business
that way as well. Like what are the inputs that
you're putting into your company that not only
generates more revenue, but also generates more
value? Because at the end of the day, exit strategy,
which is increasing value, value acceleration.
is great business strategy. And what normally
happens when we have our 90 -day check -in, which
is I do a check -in with all my clients. Every
90 days, we go over the goals from the previous
90 days. And then the next 90 days, no matter
what, we're always... Oh, I lost my train of
thought. But we're always thinking about making
sure that we're increasing the value because
as we increase value, we also increase revenue.
That's huge. And so... Vince, I've had these
conversations a lot. My first startup was invested
in by Paul Bukai, the inventor of Gmail, and
Matt Kuss, the search director of Google. We
raised $10 million with them after almost bleeding
out. My second company, Restaurant Connect, we
ended up raising $100 ,000 in the Baylor Angel
Network. When I went to Video Power Marketing,
we worked with John Lee Dumas on his Kickstarter
launch. We worked with Michael Hyatt, T. Harv
Ecker, Lewis Howes, et cetera. The point I'm
making with this, my friends, all of you listening
as visionaries, I don't think I've ever had this
clear of a conversation on the value of exiting.
And that says a lot about the powers that you
have as somebody who's been doing this for so
long. So I want to thank you right off the bat
and say, holy crap, I've learned a lot. And two,
I want to dive into this. How much does it cost
to get the value business value? Are we talking
about, you know, I got to give you $20 ,000 every
year in order to do that? Or what does that look
like? So, I mean, typically, if you just want
a chicken scratch valuation, I'll do that for
free. I don't mind doing that at all. Anybody
that wants a quick valuation, it's not going
to be the most accurate because I would have
to do a deep research on the financials and everything.
But it's just a standard chicken scratch valuation.
I'll do that. Just give me your financials for
the last three years and I could put something
together. If you want to really have clarity
on your entire business, on your exit readiness,
on your business attractiveness, if you want
to establish what your wealth goal is. and what
the wealth gap is, and what the target number
should be for you to exit at, and exactly the
steps you need to take to get there, then I have
what's called a value clarity roadmap. That's
$3 ,000. Usually takes about a week or two to
complete, along with a two to three hour deep
dive where I sit with you and I undress you virtually
and find out everything that's going on within
your business. And I also go into the personal
life as well as to... What does life after exit
look like? That's a big one for the baby boomers.
You know, a lot of them are just tired and they
just want to retire. And they've been working
at this business for 30 plus years. And they
don't realize that this, for the last 30 plus
years, this has consumed their lives. And the
day that they let it go, I believe it's 80 %
of business owners that sell their business regret
the decision one year after. Hmm. I don't want
people who sell their businesses end up regretting
it after one year. And I'm assuming that's more
of the baby boomers because I have, I have a
client now that, you know, I'm very passionate
about this subject because I mean, I'll, I'll
be full disclosure with you. You know, I've learned
over the years, I learned with my mom, retirement
is overrated. She was a school guidance, elementary
school guidance, school counselor for 30 plus
years. She retired and all she wanted to do was
travel. And all she wanted to do was all kinds
of stuff. And within, within less than a year,
we started to notice the dementia. And then after
five, six years, I think maybe it's been seven
years or eight years now, you know, she's in
memory care because of, you know, very late stage
dementia. My aunt, her sister -in -law, same
thing, same exact road. a school teacher, 30
plus years, retired, dementia. We just visited
a friend in Miami, her husband, 20 some odd years
in the police force. Five years later, memory
care. He's like 65 years old. And I do believe
that it's that loss of purpose. It's that loss
of the mind working on a daily basis, making
decisions and so on and so forth that if you
don't figure out what you're going to do after
you retire, or in this case, after you sell your
business, you know you you're you're in deep
trouble that's something i'm actually very passionate
about we don't get that with the millennials
but you know that's with the baby boomers well
i get that well and there are plenty of millennials
who are still following roads to riches um you
know rather than roads to prosperity um and so
the The opportunity that exists for that is so
massive and important, my friends. I'm going
to drop a link in the comments as well for our
Passion Pro program. We have that available for
free. It's something that is super near and dear
to my heart as well because I meet so many people
who have not found their passion and therefore
they're not living with purpose. And we teach
them how to lead with love as well with what
they do. And that recipe for me would create
a very, very good future for anybody, regardless
of what stage you're at. I've seen it help so
many people. Passion Bro started as an assessment
that I did internally for all of my team members,
because I wanted to make sure that people I'm
attracting in my business are here for the right
reason. And I wanted to make sure I wanted to
find out where they're going and what they wanted
to accomplish, because it also tells me when
they're probably going to quit. It helps me see
what, like, oh, okay, they wanted that. It's
going to take them about three years. Okay, if
we helped them get there, cool. But now I can
start planning for their exit so we can create
more stability for what we're doing. But we also
get to have the cool story of like, hey, look
what we helped so -and -so accomplish. So there's
so many valuable options when you've discovered
what those passions are. And again, yes, we have
the upper hand as younger individuals who went
to schools where life was starting to... level
out our parents had a little bit more wealth
and so we were able to focus on things that we
liked and nintendo and video games and stuff
opened our eyes to all sorts of cool possibilities
so you you crushed that um as well but i want
to there was something that you said that i want
to go oh this this value opportunity guys I don't
think I've ever met an exit strategist who is
willing to say, I'd put a chicken scratch valuation
together. And I've met some great people, but
they know the value of their time and they know
the value of their skill set and mindset. So
thank you for being humble, open, and honest
and willing on that. Visionaries, figure out
your valuations. I'm going to. I'm going to be
talking to Vince about it. Like, okay, I'll give
him a shot. And like he said, that will then
allow me to know what is it that we lack? Where
are our weaknesses? Where are our threats? And
what are the things that we could be talking,
could be working on in order to make sure that
we're creating abundance with what we do? Not
because this is a get rich quick opportunity,
not because it's all about the money. What it
is, is there's an abundant opportunity to say,
you know what? My vision matters and the health
of my finances matter too, because that's the
vehicle for what helps my vision reach more people.
I will be more effective no matter where I'm
at financially. If I have another $100 ,000 come
in than if I'm where I'm at right now, or if
I have a hundred million come in, there's so
much more I can do for the world with that, even
if you just want to give it away. So please don't
overlook the importance of being a wise steward
as you move forward. So let's go to the often
overlooked. post exit identity crisis that you
talked about that founders are facing for younger
people? Is that, is that a thing too? Do you
see younger people end up in a position where
they don't know what to do after their exit or
the younger people tend to drive more purpose
-driven brands? Yeah. I mean, usually they already
have a plan on what they want to do, but here's
where I come in as well. So as a business owner
for 17 years, it's scaled five different businesses.
Um, I haven't, I have a client right now who
he wants to sell his company and, uh, and he
wants to start another company. Anyway, the point
that I want to make is where I come in with that
is like, okay, you want to sell your company.
You need X amount of money to sell your company.
And then you want to start, uh, this is, this
is X company. You want to start Y company. Okay,
great. Now what's the business plan for that?
How much money are you going to need? Are you
going to need a storefront? Are you going to
have to buy materials? What kind of marketing
plan do you have? Are you going to spend money
on ads? So what I do is I actually help them.
How are we going to take the money from this
exit to put into your new business? And we want
to know exactly the budget for your startup.
So that you know exactly how much money you have
for that and how much money you have for everything
else. You want to take a year off. You want to
take six months off. Totally understandable.
And then at least you could have this money aside
already and all the plans and the business plan
and the marketing plan, all of it set up to go
so that you could start your next company. I
also help with that as well. Huge. So these younger
guys too, again, and we're going back to this
purpose and passion aspect. We're just going
to keep hitting so you guys can keep taking notes
on all this awesome stuff. mind boggled by how
many vape shops opened up over the last several
years. I talked to one today. Yeah. He came to
me looking for evaluation. I actually literally
had the conversation today. put the valuation
together, and he's like, ugh. I'm like, well,
here's how I can help. Well, and here's a big
piece on that. And most of them, I can't believe
that any of them are pursuing their purpose.
I just can't. And so with that, though, I'm going
to go back to the financial market. One thing
that really draws me about Vince is you guys
got to hear that his personal reason for being
involved in financing the business is tied to
what happened to his own mother. That is rare
for your market. The most people who are in the
financial industry, one, they're broke and it
drives me crazy. It's like, what are you doing
as a financial advisor when you can't even afford
your car? And like, that just doesn't make sense.
And it's a recruiting mechanism, very similar
to a multi -level marketing. My friends, I'm
not trying to dog you if that's the space that
you're in, but I am trying to inspire you to
say, go find your purpose, go find your passion,
go do something that you actually like love and
believe in. You have a reason to live for. Vince
is doing that with what he's up to. And that,
that truly inspires me. Vince, we're going to
go into another subject now. Again, those of
you looking to shift gears on businesses, well,
you can also talk to Vince about that and myself.
But we're going to look at a study that I just
did. This weekend, I designed our entire blog
for our company thanks to Claude. and got the
whole thing launched and implemented with 19
amazing blog posts. We're going to focus on one.
And I want you to push back on this one, Vince,
if you need to. So there's a study out there
that has never been done. And it blew Claude's
mind. It blows my mind. I've been dying to figure
this out for years. And the study that's been
done is about marketing spend and predicting
business survival. So we have the SBA and you
talked about marketing budgets and all that.
And I hear people over and over in this space
of, oh, you should have like 5 % to 10 % dedicated
to marketing. And where does that root come from?
What everybody tells you. And so the agentic
mind, the agentic state takes over and just convince
you, well, I'm not going to go where everybody
else says, but we've got the SBA who gives these
recommendations. We've got the BLS that tracks
the failure rates, but nobody's ever tied the
two together to ask. Are the businesses that
are investing 7%, 8 % winning or failing? And
at the end of the day, their track record is
only 66%. Oh, wait, no, it's only, what is the
opposite? 33 % success rate. So this is not working.
And we need to know the studies about this because,
and we're going to go through this article super,
super fast. This breaks down how I came to the
conclusions and what's there, but I want to show
you VC growth -backed ventures, my friends. They
suggest 20 to 50 % should be going to marketing.
Kellogg's boosted their budget times two during
a depression. Pizza Hut did the same thing during
the recession. And Dropbox put 100 % of its budget
straight back into marketing and became a $10
billion plus IPO. Let's look at this number here
real quick. New businesses. Guys, if you don't
have revenues, you got to invest anything that
you can. But if you're a new business here too.
The greatest minds in the world recommend 20
to 50 % towards your marketing, your advertising
existing, but stalled businesses. I know it wrote
20 to 40%. I got to fix this because if you're
a stalled business, you actually have an uphill
battle to resurrect your marketing. You might
need to invest more than the newer businesses
and establish and growing. You can go to 10 to
two. And I was arguing with Andrew Paytel the
other day at a great way. And he's like, Jackson,
that's totally wrong about dominant in your market
at 70%. You always keep the gas forward. You
invest as much as possible. And I was like, Yes.
Great point. Let's update that as well. And all
of this leads to a very important question. And
so as part of this, my friends, we've created
a petition so that all of you can send an email
to institutions, research firms, media organizations,
and universities to be able to say, we need this
data. We need to know if this works or not, because
everybody is telling business owners to stick
in this. play it safe, 7 % to 8 % range. Meanwhile,
it is absolutely killing businesses. And so we
put all of the email addresses involved in this
as well. So you can send this to media outlets
and AI companies and other universities and research
institutes because the AIs, they're all going
to tell you 7 % to 10 % and they've admitted
to me that they're doing it because that's what
the institutions say to do, not because it's
tracked based on actual growth. We have to protect
ourselves. Vince, your thoughts. Man, I am so
happy that you brought that up. And I'm so happy
that that number is that low. Like I'm so happy
that that is because I'm at about probably 50%.
I also think that if you're going to, I think
people underestimate the cost of building a personal
brand. The cost and the time. And I'll tell you.
Let me pick on somebody real quick. Like on Kajabi's
home website, I'm not going to call it who it
is, but the person who has. 500 ,000 plus followers
on their Instagram and she makes less than a
janitor's salary, but she tells you that she's
living like a queen. Yeah, this happens all the
time, Vance. They think that they're winning
big and you think that everybody who's saying
that they're winning big is winning big. It's
not the truth. So continue, please. Well, you
could go on my website, go to the, I think it's
the media there. You can see the YouTube channel,
but I was talking to a business coach. who's
also a personal friend of mine. And I told her
how much I was spending on marketing. And she
just about fell off her chair. Why are you spending
so much? You need to cut that off. If you're
not getting the results here, if you're not getting
the results there. And she had that seven to
8 % mindset where, you know, it's funny because
at the time we were having the conversation,
she really made me feel bad. And I was like,
oh man. But then after a conversation I had yesterday,
and then after you say that to me here. you know,
really tells me that I'm doing the right thing.
I think it's Ryan Pineda on Instagram yesterday
was going through exactly how much money he spends
just to build a personal brand and how you can't
ever stop. Like if you stop posting content and
posting stuff after a week, you are forgotten.
So you have to continue posting as much as possible.
I have not missed a week on my YouTube show since
2019. You know, it's just a slow build. I didn't
start with 14 ,000 subscribers. I started with
freaking zero, you know? So it costs money to
do that. You have the people who have to post
it. You have the people who have to do your thumbnails.
You have to edit your videos. You have to go
shoot the videos. You have to take that raw footage.
You have to put it and send it to the editor.
And then you have Instagram, LinkedIn, and all
these different things. And go ahead, use a tool
to just spread it out and post on all of them.
But then you're not going to get the same. results
as if you posted on each individual platform
so there's like a lot of work that goes in having
making sure that the title is catchy making there's
so much work that goes in that ai has made it
a little bit easier, but we're not even close
to having... Yes, can you have AI automate the
whole thing? Yes, of course. Anything that you
could think of with AI can be done, but you're
probably not going to get the same results if
you automate every single thing. Now, what I'm
getting, what I'm very excited about is one of
my employees figured out Cloud Cowork, and we're
getting beautiful metrics on how everything's
doing. So I get that updated on a weekly basis,
and I could take a look at how that's going.
But other than that, yeah, he's still... He's
still posting everything pretty much manually
because we get better results that way. When
he goes into the actual platform to post, we
get much better results. There's so much depth
and opportunity to highlight more of this for
you guys as entrepreneurs, as influencers. I
spent a fortune on marketing. I do too. And it's
an abundant reality once you crack the code of
compound effect. But most people don't understand
the reality of what that means. And so, guys,
if you put $100, me and Vince were like, you
know what, let's just put $100 in a savings account
together for the year. By the end of the year,
you're going to make less interest than the freaking
inflation hit. And so it's a really bad investment.
But if you can put the $300 million. into that
same savings account. And now the interest that
is coming in outweighs what your expenditures
are in the year. That's a phenomenal investment
and it's completely safe. So are there better
investments? Of course there are. And if you
just want to argue, that's fine. Feel free to
argue, put it in a blockchain or whatever you
want to. But our point with this in relation
to marketing and advertising, it is an investment.
It's not a line item that you want to scratch
off. And as Vince pointed out, nobody has done
these types of reports and it's been driving
me crazy for years. I'm so happy. I was able
to work with Claude to unpack all the research
that I knew was out there. I just didn't know
how to freaking find it on my own. I don't have
all day to do it, but I did have an hour. Go
ahead. Let me tell you something else about building
a personal brand. I was in a different industry
several years ago, and I built my personal brand
in that industry. To this day, I have an impact
on that industry that no one has ever had on
this particular industry. When you are able to
build a personal brand, the opportunities that
you never thought would have come your way start
coming your way of sponsorships, speaking engagements,
connections with people that you never thought
you would have connected with. Connecting with
people who are, just because you have a social
media brand, it almost puts you on par with someone
who's... making multiple, multiple, multiple
millions and super successful, but has no personal
brand. They actually want to connect with you
so that they can get some awareness to them because
of what you've been able to build. It's really
incredible the power that a personal brand and
a social media presence brings. And be super,
super careful with that power, my friends, because
I'm a huge fan of this quote and I've evolved
it. It's not what you know, it's who you know.
It's just exactly what Vince is talking about,
but then it's what you know. If you know somebody
and you get put on stage and you fall on your
face and you embarrass yourself, you show the
world that you don't have the depth. You don't
have the credibility. You don't have the authority.
You don't know what you're doing. You're going
to become like William Hung. And that's not a
bad thing. The she bangs guy, right? You can,
that story has empowered him to do new things
with his life that he probably wasn't planning
on doing. And he took it all very, very well.
But you don't want to become, you don't want
the class clown effect to be the reason that
makes you famous. It makes a lot of comedians
who I love and I'm grateful for. They end up
committing suicide. They end up feeling depressed.
They end up feeling like they didn't actually
fulfill their purpose. And that's a really sad
reality. So don't do that to yourself. Get the
authority. Get the credibility. Go do something
that's super powerful while also connecting with
the who's. You can combine both together. And
let's talk about a little bit further than that
same path. Vince, I'm going to show you something
else that's going to blow your mind a little
bit. It's something that's interesting that came
out between the time that you and I talked. Vince,
you may have seen on my YouTube channel when
you decided to become a guest that we only had
like 100 subscribers on it. Even though we have
600 plus videos, you may have seen that every
episode has like two to three views, or you may
have just overlooked it and known like, Hey,
if I'm talking, rocking the mic and helping people.
That's worth showing up. But that was something
that's been eating at me for the last couple
of months. And my team members have been like,
Jackson, we've worked so hard on this. We built
a quality platform, but it's just not taking
off. Well, we decided to implement a strategy
that we use on Facebook a while back. And we
asked a couple of our latest guests, Hey, if
you're willing to put in a hundred bucks, we'll
run $50 towards YouTube ads for your specific
episode. And then the $50, the other $50 goes
to our Spanish speaking team to be able to learn
to decide how they want to use that budget. It's
not for their salaries. It's for them to decide
how we're going to use that budget to create
organic growth or to do other things to grow
our channels. And it allows them to stop thinking
like virtual assistants. And to dive into strategic
mode and to start thinking more like an executive
of managing that budget. So we just launched
the first ad last week and we built a projection
with Claude. I'm always super safe on projections.
My friends do not trust AI with what they project.
Make sure to tell it like let's be conservative.
Let's look up real case studies. Let's make sure
that we prepare well. And we launched this advertisement
not to the American market. We launched it to
all the underprivileged markets where. people
don't advertise and where people need this information
the most. And are there people who live in those
countries like me, perhaps that are still qualified?
Yes, sir. I live in Ecuador, right? Advertising
to me is far cheaper than advertising to Vince
who lives in, who lives in Florida. And so we
ran that campaign on Thursday and on Saturday,
somebody asked me about their episode events.
They said, Hey, can you send me the episode?
I go to my YouTube and I about, I about pissed
my pants because we went from 100 subscribers
to 700 subscribers. And as I went into ads, I
was like, oh crap, how much is spending? $12.
$12 into that. By $15, we're up to like $1 ,400
now. And it is just going to continue. And all
these people who are watching, they're all subscribing.
We thought we were going to get 500 subscribers
over a six -month period and $1 ,200 spent. We
got it on $12 spent. And so that opportunity
allowed us to also dive into Claude and say,
you know what, Claude? Why don't we go ahead
and produce a quick... blog posts on that to
teach people about it. And so here you go. Blog
post is available for all of you to go and see
exactly how we do it. I hope you all go and model
it and say, you know what, how do we bring more
value to those that are out in the world? Because
there's a massive difference. It doesn't matter
how good our brand looks for some people. It
doesn't matter how high of quality the interview
is. It doesn't matter who the person is that
was on the show. If people go to that YouTube
video and they see four views, most people aren't.
watching. But if they see 2000 views or 3000
views, they're absolutely going to dive in and
take their time on that. So these are super important.
You can call them hacks, but my hope is it inspires
you to go hire new people to help you build your
infrastructure out. You don't have to do this
alone. You don't have to build towards your exit
by yourself. In fact, I think it's one of the
worst ways to do it. And I highly recommend talking
to people like Vince who are willing to give
you that chicken scratch valuation, but also
have the superpowers of planning out. All of
the things that we would overlook due to our
own blind spots. You don't know everything about
entrepreneurship. Nobody does. Not even Richard
Branson. He has people who helps him expand.
Let's move towards an abundant mindset. Vince,
you get the final words on this. You're welcome
to also color comment on that if you want. You
want to color comment? You want me to move to
final words? About, I mean, making sure that
you have a good team around you. I mean, it's
very, very important. You could start on, you
could start by yourself, but I always say the
first hire you do want to make is some kind of
administrative assistant, EA, you know, whatever,
virtual assistant, whatever you want to call
it. Somebody that can help you just take off
some of the mundane tasks that, you know, you
should not be doing. And other than that, yeah,
have a good team around. You have good people
and make sure that once you start doing that,
that you really focus on building those people
as much as you can. We have training every single
Friday for one hour and the whole team chooses.
what they want to train on. And that's how we
do the actual training. It's how we create our
SOPs. Once a month or so, I do leadership training
on how I can help them better themselves and
become better overall leaders to their market
and to their family and to their group of friends.
One of the great book I always go back to is
called The One by... I can't remember his name
right now, but he talks about, you know, are
you the one of your family? When you walk into
a restaurant and you see a family sitting down,
there's always that one person either at the
head of the table or at the center that everyone's
sort of attracted to, you know, and they're drawn
to. Are you that one that, you know, that people
really count on? And you have to be self -aware.
You have to, you know, you have to keep moving
forward, be positive in order to be that one.
And I try to train that with all my people. My
main focus all the time, no matter what, is always
my people. I love that. John Mars, author of
The One. I did not know. I do now. Thanks to
John Mars. No, it's someone else. Really? Maybe
it's not called the one. Maybe it's called the
one. John Mars, you get credit and you're now
on our network too. He's a motivational guy.
He's older now. He's kind of jacked. Ed Milet.
Ed Milet. Ed Milet. There you go. Okay, cool.
He's on my radar. So John Mars, welcome into
the club now. I'm going to drop the link for
Vince Perry's media page here as well. He mentioned
earlier, he's got some secrets on there as well.
Vince, we're at the top of the hour. So my last
question for you, if this was your last chance.
to provide wisdom, value, counseling to other
visionaries out there, what would the most important
wisdom be? I'm going to just piggyback to what
I was saying. I think we have to focus on making
sure that we're leaving an impact on as many
people as possible. If I were to die today or
die tomorrow, who have I left an impact and how
will I be remembered? I'm not one that cares
much about legacy, to be honest, even though
I do talk to a lot of people about it these days
because they're exiting their business. But,
you know, I'm also a stoic in many ways where
I know that in two, three, four generations,
you know, whether I'd be remembered or not. But
if you do have any chance of being remembered,
you're only going to be remembered by the impact
that you make on other people and what influence
you had on them to impact other people as well.
So you know my word of 2025 was to be impactful.
And I spent the whole year doing whatever I can.
And it's carried over to 26 to making sure that
anytime you have a conversation with somebody,
anytime you're talking to somebody, if you have
some wisdom that you can share, obviously if,
if requested, if not, if not requested, then
maybe they don't want it. But if it allows it,
you know, do whatever you can to try to make
an impact on as many people as possible, because
quite frankly, that's really the only thing that
will be left behind. It's not things it's not
even. memories because those will be gone too.
It's who you've made an impact on and how you'll
be remembered. So that's where I would probably
leave off. My friends, we all have an impact
or an impression on others, whether we want to
or not. It's always happening. And whether that
is a good impact or a bad impact is up to you.
I'm grateful for the good impact that you've
had in my life, Vince. We can all learn from
what you've been able to put together. Vince
Perry, P -E -R -R -I dot com. Go check it out.
Connect with them. Do yourself a favor and make
sure you're prepared for your exits as you're
moving your brands forward, not when it's too
late. We'll see you on the next episode. Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.