March 20, 2025 • 37 mins
On this episode, John shares the story of how he accidentally purchased a $20million company at the age of 21. Now, he's giving you free game on how to purchase a $20million + business on purpose! Get your pen and notepad ready. It's more achievable than you think!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaks to the Plannet.
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I go by the name of Charlamagne the God, and
guess what, I can't wait to see y'all at the
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Speaker 1 (00:45):
Welcome the Money in Wealth with John O'Bryant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey. Hey,
this is John Hope Bryant and this is Money and
Wealth and this is a very special episode where I
(01:10):
break down how I bought a twenty million dollar company
when I was about twenty one years old, and that
was by accident. By the way, I'll explain every bit
of it because that sort of stumbled into great and
it's just by I mean people. I love when my
(01:32):
loved ones told me that half of life is just
showing up. Half success is just showing up. This doctor
David Dalton, my father in law, and I think that
this story will prove that that's mostly right. You got
to show up with the right attitude, show up with
work ethics, show up with hustle, show up with integrity,
show up with leadership, show up with initiative. You can't
(01:54):
just show up. You got to show up and show out.
But you don't have to do anything extraordinary other than
what you promised. And I will explain to you, with
no money, how I bought a twenty million dollar company
by accident. I will then explain to you how you
(02:17):
can purchase a company two million to twenty million dollars
on average, How you can buy a company two million
to twenty million dollars in range for non recourse debt,
which means not personally guaranteed and do that on purpose,
and all of that's tied to a ten trillion dollar
(02:40):
plus generational, once in a lifetime generational opportunity coming your way.
This is John O'Brien and this is Money and Wealth
on the Black Effect Network. So when I was ten
years old, you probably know if you follow my story,
(03:02):
I started my first business, and I had several businesses
from age ten to age twenty probably try to probably
tried one hundred different business concepts, most of which didn't work.
But success is going from failure to failure without loss
of enthusiasm. I just never, ever, ever, ever, ever was
(03:23):
going to give up. And as a good friend of mine,
Tony Resterer would say, if you don't freaking quit, you
can't freaking fail. He didn't use the word freaking. You
can figure the rest of that out. This is a
PG podcast. Tony is a great entrepreneuri businessman, and he's right,
(03:44):
if you don't quit, you can't fail. So it wasn't
that I was the smartest guy on the planet, although
I think I'm reasonably smart. It was that I just
had a greater work ethic than everybody else. And well,
the devil is lazy. So as I was saying, love
is work, non love is laziness, an anti love is evil.
(04:05):
Evil exists, but it's very rare. Most people are just lazy,
physically lazy, financially lazy, spiritually lazy, intellectually lazy. They just
don't want to do the work. They want somebody else
to do the work for them. What would happen if
you're willing to do the work. Well, again, that's probably
(04:26):
half a success. Just showing up right tight and ready
to work throughout the night. An entrepreneur works eighteen hours
a day to keep from getting a job. Success is
going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. These
are not just sayings that I use in my life.
(04:46):
This is how I live my life. This is literally
the context for success in my world. I also take
note for vitamins. So here you go. I get to
eighteen years of age and you again, if you follow me,
you probably know that I ended up homeless for six
(05:07):
months of my life when I was eighteen years of age,
just taking too many risks. And yes, my mom and
dad would have taken me in if they had known
I was homeless, but they didn't put me in that situation,
and I didn't expect for them to bail me out
of it. I also knew that if I had told
my mother, who worked at McDonald douglas air Craft, hard
working black woman, if I had told my mother that
I was homeless, she would have forced me to come
(05:29):
home and live with her, and she would have got
me a job at me donald Douglas Aircraft, making X
dollars an hour like her. I think it was fifteen
dollars an hour, eighteen dollars an hour, which was which
was a really great wage back then. But I just
was not interested in being a W to employee. I
didn't want to be a ten ninety nine either a contractor.
(05:50):
I wanted to write the check, not cash it. So
I didn't want to be a W two employee. It
was all good. I just that was just not my
calling for my life. So I didn't tell my mother.
So in the course of me being homeless, and that
was again just too you know, too much month to
end my money and too many risks that didn't work out.
(06:14):
And I'll do it a separate podcast just to really
unpack in detail theless homelessness experience, because it was quite
a trip rainbows after storms. Really, you cannot have a
rainbow without a storm first. With all that drama, there
was just beauty in the midst of it, the relationships
I met, the experiences I had, the grit that I gained,
(06:35):
the resilience I mean, I mean, we do do tell
me no today, I had no and I walked in
the door. No, it's not so bad. So in the
midst of all of this, I ended up meeting some
special people. And I remember I had this investor named
(06:57):
Davel Mayra, and I'm a Maria owned Malibu Cinema, and
I had run through some money that he had invested
in couple of my businesses. I think it was a
mobile detailing business and a constant promoting business and a
marketing clothing marketing business, and they all went bust. And
(07:19):
I went with him with great integrity to say I'll
pay you back. And he said, well, you know, you're
not doing very good at this entrepreneurship and small business
thing at the moment. How about you go get a
job to pay me back. Because I also had bought
a car from Dable Mara. In addition to me being
my venture investor, he was my transportation. I couldn't pay
the car note either, so I was really forced to say, yes,
(07:42):
it's one of the few jobs I've ever had a
traditional job. But I felt I had to have the
integrity to say temporarily, I have run into a wall. Failed.
It wasn't I'm not a failure. It was a failed experiment,
and I need to reset myself and try again. So, yes,
(08:05):
you know I messed up. I'm going to now do
as you say and go get a job so I
can begin to pay you back. So he introduced me
to a guy named Stephan Codder Miller Way Cotter and
Company was the name of the investment company. And Steve
Miller can visualize him now in my mind's I actually
(08:28):
God rest his soul and he asked Steve to give
me a job. So Steve did that, gave me a job.
It was in the Westwood Gateway complex in West Los
Angeles at Santa Monica and Supovida and this beautiful marble
building that they occupy. Actually it was on Santa Monica. Actually,
(08:48):
Brian Group Ventures occupied the Westwood Gateway complex. Later this
was a block south of that in the Olympic Towers
at the four or five Freeway, and Olympic Boulevard for
those who know Los Angeles and Way Cotton Company was
there had, as I recall, you know, a court of
(09:11):
the floor, a private banking group. I didn't know what
that was, and they assigned me it was the only well,
it was one or two black people there. They assigned
me to go make equity loans in south central LA
with private money. I didn't know what that meant, but
essentially it was a hard money loan to people who
(09:33):
couldn't afford to pay it back, who had equity in
their houses and inner city neighborhoods. And these were, you know,
essentially little old ladies who had one hundred thousand dollars
a home with no mortgage on it. And they wanted
me to find these people because of course I'm black.
It wasn't racist, by the way, it was target marketing.
These were actually decent people. They just wanted a good
(09:53):
return on their money. This is where I really began
to learn the lesson of how capitalism is a gladiator
sport business. This is not emotional and the color was green,
like these were decent people. They just wanted to run
a successful business. They had to have a return on
the private money that had been invested in their company.
They had to lend it out and get a return
(10:14):
on that and have profit for them. And one of
the few places that they discovered they could relent it
out and get a proper return was in south central
LA in the way in which I just described. So
after doing this a little bit, I realized these were
hard money loans. I called him the perfect eyesighte loans
(10:36):
twenty points and twenty percent interests, and after the loan
you went blind it was twenty I mean, in other words,
twenty points is twenty percent, twenty points is a fee,
and twenty percent interests. So twenty percent plus twenty percent
is forty percent. So if you're making one hundred thousand
doar loan, I mean, that's forty thousand dollars that in interest,
(10:58):
and then you'd have you'd ask the borrowed to pre
pay some of the payments, so maybe they would get
fifty thousand dollars out of one hundred thousand ur a loan.
They were happy because they got the cash and they
didn't have any payments for a year or two. But
to me, it was just it was ridiculous. So I
stopped doing that within a couple months. Once I realized
(11:18):
how bad it was and said, look, let me turn
you into a real business. There are these actors in
Hollywood that I know. That's another podcast I was doing
when I was in the entertainment business. The actors I
know in Hollywood have made some movies and had some success,
but they don't know when the next movie's coming, and
they don't know how long the cash has to last them.
(11:40):
So they have these properties, but they need a bridge
loan every now and then, a bridge loan, meaning a
loan between one bridge to another over a waterway. It's
not literally a bridge loan, but that's what they call it.
That's where the phrase comes from, a bridge loan. So
maybe now you understand when you hear these phrases a
bridge loan, where this comes from. And I was going
(12:02):
to make a bridge loan from these wealthy investors to
these wealthy actors in Hollywood and producers on assets, mostly
real estate that they owned. Although I did do a
loan or a collector horse and a horse trailer, and
I did some other had some paintings, but mostly on
(12:23):
real estate. And all these memories are coming back to
me now so I went to the owner of the
company and said, look, versus making these loans to these
(12:44):
little old ladies in south central a who can't pay
you back, how about we make a loan to these
wealthy people up north who can pay you back. They're
going to pay you the same interest rate, and it's
a and it's more honorable. And and they said, well
that sounds like a great business you could you know,
we'll we'll write you know, we'll give you the same
(13:05):
deal we did and go go at it. And said, well,
I actually want to be your business partner. And they
said what I want to be your business partner? I said,
tell you what. And I didn't have any authority from
the guy who gave me this job to say this.
Take the salary back. Remember remember I was only there
to pay back a debt. Pick the salary back, take
pick the car allowance back, take the mileage allowance back
(13:28):
on the car, take the expense account back. I don't
need any of it. What I want is half interest
in a new corporate entity with no assets in it.
But but I want your Rolodex, mister step Steve Miller.
Back then it was a Rolodex. It literally set on
the decks and it's it was a spindle on it
(13:48):
spinned when you rolled it over a rolodex. They called
it with business cards on it. I said, I want
access to your rolodexs for access to capital. I'll give
you acces to the marketplace. I'll go hustle and get
you the customers. And I basically won fifty percent of
every deal I close. And they looked at me and
(14:11):
shrugged their shoulder. Seeing a good deal of having basically
a free employee, said sure and laughed. They said, you
got to do this, and you got to pass up
the California real estate tests. Well, so I went to
I sort of went about what I was trying to do.
In the first year, I did absolutely zero in business.
The whole year zero in business. So I'm making no
(14:31):
money and I've done zero in this new business I proposed.
And I'm not paying the guy back yet either, so
he's not happy. The people in the office are laughing
because I've just I've just failed the California really Today
tests three times. Now. The law used to state, somebody
listening to this can tell me whether this is still
(14:52):
the case in California. But the California real estate law
used to state that if you failed the California real
Estate test, this wasn't a broker's test, this was a
basic real estate test. If you failt this test four times,
you're too dumb to be an agent. You couldn't take
it anymore. And I failed it three times. And so,
(15:14):
after no revenues and failing three times the office, when
I walked in, they would snicker and somewhat openly laugh.
I ignored them. To this day, I ignore the noise. I
walked consciously through life, oblivious of most things around me,
because it just doesn't matter. I failed the California real
Estate tests three times and passed it the fourth time,
(15:37):
walking right through the criticisms and sneers and jeers. The
second year I did nine million in business. The thirty year,
I did fourteen million or so in business. The third
year I did twenty million. I think it was twenty
one million in business. No one was laughing anymore, and
I was paying back my debts. I think I'd paid
(15:59):
back my debts too, the guy who had loaned me
the money initially. Now, even though I'd done these deals,
doing that volume does not mean that that was money
in my pocket. I was brokering loans assisionally, so I
was getting fees off of all of this volume that
I was doing. Of financing a deal here for five
hundred thousand, a deal here at the eight hundred thousand,
(16:20):
I'd get fees on that, and I'd pocket the fees.
Well in the last year or so, they couldn't pay
me the fees, and I couldn't figure out, at least
not all of my fees. They couldn't figure out why
this successful company wasn't paying me. And that's when I
began to really realize, and everything's not what it appears
to be. Everything this glitters not go. We had a
nice office building and the executives went home. They had
(16:41):
beautiful homes, they had nice cars, and they were wearing
suits and all that stuff. I didn't realize they were
in distress. And so I found out that they couldn't
pay me and that they were trying. And I found
out because they brought me an employment agreement to sign,
because they found a European buyer to buy the company,
and they wanted me to sign an agreement for employment
(17:02):
to this new European company. And so I went to
the owner, Steve Miller and said, well, mister Miller, now
I'm twenty something, you know, twenty I don't know what
it was, twenty twenty one ish twenty two. I'm not
an employee, Steve. I'm a co owner. I'm a businessman.
He says, you're not a businessman. You're lucky. He sneered
at me and snatched the employment agreement and turned in
(17:25):
his desk away from me. And I realized this didn't
go very well, and so I figured the only way
I was going to be free was to buy my freedom,
so to speak. So I was going to buy the company.
So I went to the Yellow Pages. This is a
Google search today, but I went literally to the Yellow Pages,
opened it to law firms, and I wanted to find
(17:47):
somebody who could represent me to buy Wade Codder and Company. Well,
my division was WWCC Funding Corporation and the division I
had a partnership interest in, and they couldn't pay me. Well,
they didn't pay me because they couldn't pay me. They
didn't have any money, and that's why they're selling the company.
So I opened the Yellow Pages and I found the
(18:11):
ads for the biggest law firm for business. I went
to business law law firms and then business legal firms,
and I found the law firms in Century City, California,
where all the ballers hung out, and the law firm
that had the biggest ad, which was Jeffer, Mangos, Butler
and Marmoro. I couldn't say Jeffers. I didn't want to
(18:32):
screw up Jeffers. I didn't want to Mango, Mangos or Mamo.
But I could say Butler. So I called and asked
for Jim Butler, who was a partner in the firm.
And Jim Butler answered the phone and I said, this
is John O'Briant. And back then I would say John Bryant,
and I want to buy this company and I want
(18:55):
you to represent me. And he said tell me about
this company and I said, it's way Cotter and Company
an WCC funding. He said, wait a minute, that Steve Miller.
Yes it is, and he said waiting, hold on, you're
buying this company. Yes, I am, And so I explained
it to him and he said no, no, no, no, I
can't represent you. You can't do this. I said, no, no, no,
this is racism, this is true discrimination. You can't tell
(19:15):
me what I can do and he said, look, hold
on a minute, wait a minute, let me call you
right back. Give me your number. And this is why
you should never assume or presume anything. When you assume,
you make an ass out of you and me. And
so he called me back and he says, look, you
can't buy this company. Yes, I'm telling you, I'm going
(19:37):
to buy this company over, you know, over the round
and threw what I'm gonna get to it. You're not
gonna tell me what I can do. If you want
to represent me, somebody will. He said, young man, calm down,
you can't buy the company because the company's broke, right,
And I've done a little research and it appears the
only asset in this company, the only people making any
money is your division. You. You're the only thing value
(20:03):
in this company, which is why they got upset when
you wouldn't sign the employment contract. How much they owe you?
And I told them the amount and he said, well,
they can't afford to pay you that, So you don't
want to buy this company. I'm not racist, I'm trying
to help you. You don't want to buy this company
because if you buy the assets, you buy the liabilities.
This is like an act of financial literacy lesson. I
(20:23):
don't know what an asset or a liability was back then,
and they got a lot of liabilities, and you don't
want to be saddled with any of that. You're the
only asset, So you want to basically use what they
owe you as collateral well as payment if you will,
to buy the company, to buy your division, so that
(20:45):
you release them from your debt. You are part of
their if they have to file bankruptcy or something, you're
going to be one of the debtors. I know the
debtor was either and it's gonna be very messy for them.
If you will some documents I presented for you, I
would developed for you. Jim Butler said, I'll negotiate management buyout.
(21:09):
I didn't know what that phrase was, either for you
to acquire your own employer and become a businessman, and
I said, yes, calm down, apologize for calling him a racist,
and he did the deal, and we used the capital
(21:31):
that was owed to me in fees to purchase the
company and wipe out any debt, any obligation I owed
to them and any obligation they owed to me. And
that's how I bought my first company. By accident that
then turned into Bryant Group Companies, Inc. A California company.
(21:53):
We moved into a fancy office place on the eighth
floor of the Westwood Gateway complex in West Los Angeles
on Little Santa Monica and Supovida Boulevard. Now I have
capital when I've got all this stuff, but I couldn't
actually sign the lease because the company that owned the
building and I can't mention the name of the company
(22:13):
because they still own the building, but your own research,
the company that owned the building had never seen a
meet before, and when I walked in to sign the lease,
they're like nah. And I don't think it was pure racism.
I think it was just a lack of familiarity with
a me, a young black capitalist who was credible and
like we we're good. And I was trying to release
(22:35):
out basically a quarter of a floor Florida ceiling windows, marble,
you know, beautiful building, and I realized the game that
was going on, so I decided instead to play the
game better than them. When you're being run out of town,
(22:56):
get in front of the crowd and made like a parade.
So I found a a guy who met who was
like a Central Casting. I found this guy who was
running an Australian publicly traded company. And I can't mention
his name either because I don't embarrass him. But he
was six', four beautifully Handsome australian white dude who was
(23:16):
running a publicly traded company that had gone. Bust he
come To america at least or bought this mansion In Pacific,
palisades had A jaguar convertible and lovely wife and, lifestyle
but he was going broke. SLOWLY i don't know HOW
i ran in this, guy BUT i had put the
word out and NEEDED i needed an. EMPLOYEE i need
(23:37):
a president for my. Company WHAT i needed was a.
Front by the, way typically if somebody is a white,
company they have a black or minority front to try
to get. CONTRACTS i was a black owned. COMPANY i
needed a white front to get this. Lease SO i
(24:01):
hired this, guy wonderful human, being made him my, president
gave him a company. Car he had lost his his
car by the time we cut the. Deal he had
lost his, transportation SO i bought. IT i bought him
A yugo because it's ALL i could. AFFORD A yugo
is a really crappy, car by the, way and this
(24:23):
car was so bad that he was on the. Freeway
and this a small Little yugo and this guy was
six y. Four this guy was on the freeway and
he called me one day in the windshield wipers and
one of the side of mirrors that had flown off
on the. Freeway that's how raggedy his car. Was, Anyway
i'm so busy running the, business doing my, THING i
didn't notice when he actually sold the company car and
(24:44):
pocketed the. Money so many, stories BUT i didn't care
BECAUSE i was winning the. BATTLE i wanted TO i
WANTED i was winning the. WAR i wasn't too concerned
about the. Battle SO i Needed Chris blacks in the
front from. Me and When chris walked, in he looked
Like central. Casting so Anyway chris went, in would, say
anyone's a mission's, name but it's actually it's actually embarrassing to,
(25:04):
me not. Him great, guy great, friend and thankful to.
Him this day he went and signed this. Lease he walked,
in the company immediately signed him, up same deal they
turned down for. Me don't get, mad get even business
is not. Personal so we signed the lease AND i
move in and learned another lesson between business and. Busyness
(25:29):
and when you're out for log see your, Inflow you're
overhead will be your. DOWNFALL i, STARTED i started six
divisions at the same, time had meetings going, on BUT
i didn't have any revenue coming. In and, anyway that
that all sorted out and worked out just fine over,
Time AND i don't have time to go into that
on this. Podcast, uh Maybe i'll continue the story what
happened with that company a little. Later, ultimately that's, UH
(25:52):
i got involved with philanthropical. WORK i was so interested
in philanthropical. WORK i was sort of missing an action
a little bit in my own. Business became a mentee
Of Tom bradley and created a city government agency for
the city Of Los angeles and still existed this. Day
by the, WAY i became the precursor for the idea
(26:12):
Of Operation, home which was created a couple of years
after that after The Rodney king. Riots, okay now let
me pivot to. You, now so why is my accidental
acquisition an opportunity for an intentional purchase of a business
from two million to twenty million on average for you
in non recourse? Debt And i'm gonna go one step.
(26:33):
Further this is actually easier to do than starting a
one hundred thousand dollars restaurant with bank. Money this is
easier to do than starting a little club or opening up.
Restaurant i'm not telling you not to do. That i'm
just saying starting a little business trying to raise one,
thousand two hundred, thousand four, hundred five hundred thousand crowdfunding
(26:55):
and personal guarantees and getting a bank loan and debt
and all this kind of stuff using this is much.
Easier listen to me, Now i'm about to give you
a little. Bit As JAY z would, Say i'm gonna
give you a million dollars worth a, game but nine ninety.
Nine but this is none ninety nine because as a
subscriber to this, podcast you didn't pay for. It all,
Right i'm giving you free, game all. Right write this.
Down the baby boomer generation is going to be the
(27:17):
first generation over the age of sixty, five more people
from sixty five than under the age of eighteen in
the next ten to twenty. Years this group of baby
boomers are all trying to retire and at the same
time they've collected about one hundred and eighty trillion dollars of.
Wealth that's about thirty five to forty percent of all
the wealth in the. World here in The United states Of.
(27:38):
America they're going to take their stocks and their, bonds
and their real estate and liquid, assets and they're going
to give them as inheritance to their kids and their
wives or husbands or. Whomever and there's an old. Joke
the first generation makes, it the second generation spends, it
and the third generation. Loses it's not always, true but
(28:01):
it's a popular saying for a, reason meaning that the
kids and the family members don't really want the. Businesses
i'm gonna say that. Again it's one hundred and eighty
trillion dollars one hundred and sixty trillion dollars to, say,
conservatively of generational. Wealth about eighty eight to one hundred
(28:23):
tree of that training dollars of that is going to
transfer in the next decade to two decades when it.
Transfers the liquid versions of that and things that can
be made, liquids real, estate, stocks, bonds cash and cash
equivalents will transfer through inheritance to the, heirs the children
(28:44):
whoever that is bestowed upon in the. Wheel but the
thing that will get stuck in most, cases and ninety
percent of businesses do not have a plan for what
comes next when they stop running the. Business about ten
trillion dollars conservatively of these assets are successful, businesses the
basis of which created the wealth That i'm not talking.
(29:08):
About so we're talking about business that has in real,
estate in many, cases has a client, list has a good,
reputation has a good, name is a going, concern a,
popular successful going. Concern is nothing wrong with, it nothing
wrong with it except the kids don't want, it the
(29:30):
wife doesn't want, it nobody wants. It but you should
want it because that's your ticket into the big. Game
And i'm gonna tell you a little. Secret if you
can find one of these, businesses and most of these,
businesses you got to hunt for them. Now but most
of these, businesses they don't have an exit. Plan the
small business owner that owns it has made no plans
(29:54):
for what comes next when they're tired running that. Business in,
again in most, cases the kids don't want, it the
wife DOESN'T i, wanted the husband doesn't want. It if
the why it's running the, business the husband doesn't want et.
Cetera so they're, stuck and you can solve their problem
by buying it from. Them, now you if the business
Is i'm gonna make this. Easy the business is a
two million dollar, business and you can get that and
(30:16):
negotiat a. Price so let's say it's worth two million
dollars and you negotiate a price of one point nine,
million which is a reasonable. Negotiation by by the, way
a successful negotiation is where everybody leaves this negotiation slightly. Annoyed,
okay nobody got everything that they want. It so you
agree to buy this business for one point nine million
in this phantom example of a two million dollar business that's.
(30:38):
Profitable and Maybe i'll deal with valuations of how you
evaluate or create a value in a business in another,
podcast but that's less. Important now somebody can help you
get to an evaluation of the. Business, well let's assume
it's worth two. Million you get it for one point nine,
million but they want you to pay it in, cash you,
know because they're trying to cash out us intake that
(31:00):
To Wall. Street Wall street is producing three or four
times more cash flow Than washington D c ever does
in a. Year everybody's obsessed By washington D c is
on the news all the, time and nobody's talking About
Wall street In New York, city which is like a.
Country and you go To Wall, street you go to
a private equity. Firm sometimes it's venture. Backing but make this,
(31:22):
simple a private equity. Firm it is what it sounds,
like private equity and who is doing what in a
more sophisticated version of WHAT i did way back when
In Los. Angeles an EXAMPLE i gave you WITH wcc.
Funding they've got private money that's trying to get a
return right and they're looking for. Deals you've brought them
(31:44):
a business worth two. Million it's going to, grow continue to.
Grow it has a, history it has, clients it has
a balance sheet and income, statement has, assets there's nothing
wrong with. It it has an owner that's trying to.
Exit you're going to get the to acquire that business with,
you and they're going to finance it with non recourse,
debt which means you don't have to personally guarantee, it
(32:07):
and they're going to give, you if you're, lucky a
two twenty. PLAN i make this really. Simple let's assume
they give you ten percent ownership of this, business and
they're going to own ninety, percent and maybe you earn into,
more but you're going to get ten percent of this
business or maybe twenty percent of the business when you,
bought and they're going to own the rest of, it
(32:27):
and they're going to finance it non recourse to, you
so they're if it goes, bust they take on the,
debt not. You and you can, say, well Why i'll
get more than, That, well you didn't put up. Anything
you brought them the. Opportunity this is better than the finder's,
fee and you get to grow this. Business and as
you grow this, business any value you create over the
one point nine million dollars and you already, got you,
(32:48):
know just under ten percent of that in the original purchase.
Price by the, way when you negotiated, it you negotiated
a profit. Upfront and the better you, negotiate the more
profit you have walking into the. Deal and every dollar
that you earn after that you get ten, percent twenty,
percent whatever you. Negotiate and if you get, lucky if
you get really good at, this you own fifty percent
(33:09):
when you buy this, company and maybe who, knows maybe
some miracle where they just finance. It AND i don't
see this, world but maybe you own eighty percent of this,
business and they're just taking to take a small precision
percentage of this plus an interest rate. RETURN i doubt,
that but in this, example or they're gonna they're gonna
Take you're, going you, know own ten or twenty percent
(33:30):
of this. Business and if you grow this business from
two million dollar business over five years to a four
million or six million dollar, business what that means you
just became a, millionaire maybe several times over because you
might be to sell this business for multiples of its
cash flow and or profitability and or valuation over. Time
(33:53):
and SO i just gave you a short crash, course
uh here on how you can do a deal on.
Wash this is a ten trillion dollar opportunity coming over
the next ten or twenty. Years is happening right. Now
you should go hunting in your, neighborhood hunting in your,
county your, city and your. State hunting for businesses as
(34:14):
you drive by, them as you look, in whether it's
retail businesses or all the office buildings you, see or you,
know just if you see somebody who you. KNOW i,
mean don't go hunting for senior, citizens but you go
see somebody who seems to be more mature as an.
Owner and if you confirm they're the owner and inquire
if they have any, interest make sure you wear a,
(34:35):
suit make sure you look, proper that they have any
interest in selling their, business and you might be interested
as a buyer and look like somebody who might be
able to acquire this, business looks. Serious if they say,
yes you've got a. Deal and all you do now
is find a bank that has a venture capital, division
or a private equity, division or a private equity, firm
and you. LOOK i deal with capital structures in a
(34:57):
PODCAST i did last. Year go back and listen to.
That and now you begin to access. Capital AND i
believe you can access non recourse, capital which means no personal,
guarantee plus an upside or sweetener for. You so you
get a closing. Fee when the deal, closes you get
a piece of the deal and a. Salary probably you
(35:18):
pryably negotiate that AS ceo of this new. Company and
now you're well a, baller at least a mini. Baller
It's john. O'Brien this is money and wealth and there's
more where this came. From tell me what you'd like
to hear And i'll dish it out every. Week in
the episodes Of money And, wealth this is how you
(35:38):
buy a twenty million dollar company on, purpose with no personal, guarantee, honorably,
honestly where everybody, wins all, right love and, Light tell a.
Friend money And wealth With john O'Brien is a production
(36:07):
of The Black Effect Podcast. Network for more podcasts from
The Black Effect Podcast, network visit The iHeartRadio, App Apple,
podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite. Shows
Speaks to the Plannet.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I go by the name of Charlamagne the God, and
guess what, I can't wait to see y'all at the
third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival. That's right, We're coming
back to Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April twenty six at Poeman
Yards and it's hosted by none other than Decisions, Decisions Man,
D B and Wheezy. Okay, we got the R and
B Money podcast were taking Jay Valentine. We got the
Woman of All Podcasts with Sarah Jake Roberts. We got
(00:22):
Good Mom, Bad Choices. Carrie Champion will be there with
her next sports podcast and the Trap Nerds podcast with
more to be announced. And of course it's bigger than podcasts.
We're bringing the Black Effect Marketplace with black owned businesses
plus the food truck court to keep you fed while
you visit us. All right, listen, you don't want to
miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at
Black Effect dot Com Flash Podcast Festival.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Welcome the Money in Wealth with John O'Bryant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey. Hey,
this is John Hope Bryant and this is Money and
Wealth and this is a very special episode where I
(01:10):
break down how I bought a twenty million dollar company
when I was about twenty one years old, and that
was by accident. By the way, I'll explain every bit
of it because that sort of stumbled into great and
it's just by I mean people. I love when my
(01:32):
loved ones told me that half of life is just
showing up. Half success is just showing up. This doctor
David Dalton, my father in law, and I think that
this story will prove that that's mostly right. You got
to show up with the right attitude, show up with
work ethics, show up with hustle, show up with integrity,
show up with leadership, show up with initiative. You can't
(01:54):
just show up. You got to show up and show out.
But you don't have to do anything extraordinary other than
what you promised. And I will explain to you, with
no money, how I bought a twenty million dollar company
by accident. I will then explain to you how you
(02:17):
can purchase a company two million to twenty million dollars
on average, How you can buy a company two million
to twenty million dollars in range for non recourse debt,
which means not personally guaranteed and do that on purpose,
and all of that's tied to a ten trillion dollar
(02:40):
plus generational, once in a lifetime generational opportunity coming your way.
This is John O'Brien and this is Money and Wealth
on the Black Effect Network. So when I was ten
years old, you probably know if you follow my story,
(03:02):
I started my first business, and I had several businesses
from age ten to age twenty probably try to probably
tried one hundred different business concepts, most of which didn't work.
But success is going from failure to failure without loss
of enthusiasm. I just never, ever, ever, ever, ever was
(03:23):
going to give up. And as a good friend of mine,
Tony Resterer would say, if you don't freaking quit, you
can't freaking fail. He didn't use the word freaking. You
can figure the rest of that out. This is a
PG podcast. Tony is a great entrepreneuri businessman, and he's right,
(03:44):
if you don't quit, you can't fail. So it wasn't
that I was the smartest guy on the planet, although
I think I'm reasonably smart. It was that I just
had a greater work ethic than everybody else. And well,
the devil is lazy. So as I was saying, love
is work, non love is laziness, an anti love is evil.
(04:05):
Evil exists, but it's very rare. Most people are just lazy,
physically lazy, financially lazy, spiritually lazy, intellectually lazy. They just
don't want to do the work. They want somebody else
to do the work for them. What would happen if
you're willing to do the work. Well, again, that's probably
(04:26):
half a success. Just showing up right tight and ready
to work throughout the night. An entrepreneur works eighteen hours
a day to keep from getting a job. Success is
going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. These
are not just sayings that I use in my life.
(04:46):
This is how I live my life. This is literally
the context for success in my world. I also take
note for vitamins. So here you go. I get to
eighteen years of age and you again, if you follow me,
you probably know that I ended up homeless for six
(05:07):
months of my life when I was eighteen years of age,
just taking too many risks. And yes, my mom and
dad would have taken me in if they had known
I was homeless, but they didn't put me in that situation,
and I didn't expect for them to bail me out
of it. I also knew that if I had told
my mother, who worked at McDonald douglas air Craft, hard
working black woman, if I had told my mother that
I was homeless, she would have forced me to come
(05:29):
home and live with her, and she would have got
me a job at me donald Douglas Aircraft, making X
dollars an hour like her. I think it was fifteen
dollars an hour, eighteen dollars an hour, which was which
was a really great wage back then. But I just
was not interested in being a W to employee. I
didn't want to be a ten ninety nine either a contractor.
(05:50):
I wanted to write the check, not cash it. So
I didn't want to be a W two employee. It
was all good. I just that was just not my
calling for my life. So I didn't tell my mother.
So in the course of me being homeless, and that
was again just too you know, too much month to
end my money and too many risks that didn't work out.
(06:14):
And I'll do it a separate podcast just to really
unpack in detail theless homelessness experience, because it was quite
a trip rainbows after storms. Really, you cannot have a
rainbow without a storm first. With all that drama, there
was just beauty in the midst of it, the relationships
I met, the experiences I had, the grit that I gained,
(06:35):
the resilience I mean, I mean, we do do tell
me no today, I had no and I walked in
the door. No, it's not so bad. So in the
midst of all of this, I ended up meeting some
special people. And I remember I had this investor named
(06:57):
Davel Mayra, and I'm a Maria owned Malibu Cinema, and
I had run through some money that he had invested
in couple of my businesses. I think it was a
mobile detailing business and a constant promoting business and a
marketing clothing marketing business, and they all went bust. And
(07:19):
I went with him with great integrity to say I'll
pay you back. And he said, well, you know, you're
not doing very good at this entrepreneurship and small business
thing at the moment. How about you go get a
job to pay me back. Because I also had bought
a car from Dable Mara. In addition to me being
my venture investor, he was my transportation. I couldn't pay
the car note either, so I was really forced to say, yes,
(07:42):
it's one of the few jobs I've ever had a
traditional job. But I felt I had to have the
integrity to say temporarily, I have run into a wall. Failed.
It wasn't I'm not a failure. It was a failed experiment,
and I need to reset myself and try again. So, yes,
(08:05):
you know I messed up. I'm going to now do
as you say and go get a job so I
can begin to pay you back. So he introduced me
to a guy named Stephan Codder Miller Way Cotter and
Company was the name of the investment company. And Steve
Miller can visualize him now in my mind's I actually
(08:28):
God rest his soul and he asked Steve to give
me a job. So Steve did that, gave me a job.
It was in the Westwood Gateway complex in West Los
Angeles at Santa Monica and Supovida and this beautiful marble
building that they occupy. Actually it was on Santa Monica. Actually,
(08:48):
Brian Group Ventures occupied the Westwood Gateway complex. Later this
was a block south of that in the Olympic Towers
at the four or five Freeway, and Olympic Boulevard for
those who know Los Angeles and Way Cotton Company was
there had, as I recall, you know, a court of
(09:11):
the floor, a private banking group. I didn't know what
that was, and they assigned me it was the only well,
it was one or two black people there. They assigned
me to go make equity loans in south central LA
with private money. I didn't know what that meant, but
essentially it was a hard money loan to people who
(09:33):
couldn't afford to pay it back, who had equity in
their houses and inner city neighborhoods. And these were, you know,
essentially little old ladies who had one hundred thousand dollars
a home with no mortgage on it. And they wanted
me to find these people because of course I'm black.
It wasn't racist, by the way, it was target marketing.
These were actually decent people. They just wanted a good
(09:53):
return on their money. This is where I really began
to learn the lesson of how capitalism is a gladiator
sport business. This is not emotional and the color was green,
like these were decent people. They just wanted to run
a successful business. They had to have a return on
the private money that had been invested in their company.
They had to lend it out and get a return
(10:14):
on that and have profit for them. And one of
the few places that they discovered they could relent it
out and get a proper return was in south central
LA in the way in which I just described. So
after doing this a little bit, I realized these were
hard money loans. I called him the perfect eyesighte loans
(10:36):
twenty points and twenty percent interests, and after the loan
you went blind it was twenty I mean, in other words,
twenty points is twenty percent, twenty points is a fee,
and twenty percent interests. So twenty percent plus twenty percent
is forty percent. So if you're making one hundred thousand
doar loan, I mean, that's forty thousand dollars that in interest,
(10:58):
and then you'd have you'd ask the borrowed to pre
pay some of the payments, so maybe they would get
fifty thousand dollars out of one hundred thousand ur a loan.
They were happy because they got the cash and they
didn't have any payments for a year or two. But
to me, it was just it was ridiculous. So I
stopped doing that within a couple months. Once I realized
(11:18):
how bad it was and said, look, let me turn
you into a real business. There are these actors in
Hollywood that I know. That's another podcast I was doing
when I was in the entertainment business. The actors I
know in Hollywood have made some movies and had some success,
but they don't know when the next movie's coming, and
they don't know how long the cash has to last them.
(11:40):
So they have these properties, but they need a bridge
loan every now and then, a bridge loan, meaning a
loan between one bridge to another over a waterway. It's
not literally a bridge loan, but that's what they call it.
That's where the phrase comes from, a bridge loan. So
maybe now you understand when you hear these phrases a
bridge loan, where this comes from. And I was going
(12:02):
to make a bridge loan from these wealthy investors to
these wealthy actors in Hollywood and producers on assets, mostly
real estate that they owned. Although I did do a
loan or a collector horse and a horse trailer, and
I did some other had some paintings, but mostly on
(12:23):
real estate. And all these memories are coming back to
me now so I went to the owner of the
company and said, look, versus making these loans to these
(12:44):
little old ladies in south central a who can't pay
you back, how about we make a loan to these
wealthy people up north who can pay you back. They're
going to pay you the same interest rate, and it's
a and it's more honorable. And and they said, well
that sounds like a great business you could you know,
we'll we'll write you know, we'll give you the same
(13:05):
deal we did and go go at it. And said, well,
I actually want to be your business partner. And they
said what I want to be your business partner? I said,
tell you what. And I didn't have any authority from
the guy who gave me this job to say this.
Take the salary back. Remember remember I was only there
to pay back a debt. Pick the salary back, take
pick the car allowance back, take the mileage allowance back
(13:28):
on the car, take the expense account back. I don't
need any of it. What I want is half interest
in a new corporate entity with no assets in it.
But but I want your Rolodex, mister step Steve Miller.
Back then it was a Rolodex. It literally set on
the decks and it's it was a spindle on it
(13:48):
spinned when you rolled it over a rolodex. They called
it with business cards on it. I said, I want
access to your rolodexs for access to capital. I'll give
you acces to the marketplace. I'll go hustle and get
you the customers. And I basically won fifty percent of
every deal I close. And they looked at me and
(14:11):
shrugged their shoulder. Seeing a good deal of having basically
a free employee, said sure and laughed. They said, you
got to do this, and you got to pass up
the California real estate tests. Well, so I went to
I sort of went about what I was trying to do.
In the first year, I did absolutely zero in business.
The whole year zero in business. So I'm making no
(14:31):
money and I've done zero in this new business I proposed.
And I'm not paying the guy back yet either, so
he's not happy. The people in the office are laughing
because I've just I've just failed the California really Today
tests three times. Now. The law used to state, somebody
listening to this can tell me whether this is still
(14:52):
the case in California. But the California real estate law
used to state that if you failed the California real
Estate test, this wasn't a broker's test, this was a
basic real estate test. If you failt this test four times,
you're too dumb to be an agent. You couldn't take
it anymore. And I failed it three times. And so,
(15:14):
after no revenues and failing three times the office, when
I walked in, they would snicker and somewhat openly laugh.
I ignored them. To this day, I ignore the noise. I
walked consciously through life, oblivious of most things around me,
because it just doesn't matter. I failed the California real
Estate tests three times and passed it the fourth time,
(15:37):
walking right through the criticisms and sneers and jeers. The
second year I did nine million in business. The thirty year,
I did fourteen million or so in business. The third
year I did twenty million. I think it was twenty
one million in business. No one was laughing anymore, and
I was paying back my debts. I think I'd paid
(15:59):
back my debts too, the guy who had loaned me
the money initially. Now, even though I'd done these deals,
doing that volume does not mean that that was money
in my pocket. I was brokering loans assisionally, so I
was getting fees off of all of this volume that
I was doing. Of financing a deal here for five
hundred thousand, a deal here at the eight hundred thousand,
(16:20):
I'd get fees on that, and I'd pocket the fees.
Well in the last year or so, they couldn't pay
me the fees, and I couldn't figure out, at least
not all of my fees. They couldn't figure out why
this successful company wasn't paying me. And that's when I
began to really realize, and everything's not what it appears
to be. Everything this glitters not go. We had a
nice office building and the executives went home. They had
(16:41):
beautiful homes, they had nice cars, and they were wearing
suits and all that stuff. I didn't realize they were
in distress. And so I found out that they couldn't
pay me and that they were trying. And I found
out because they brought me an employment agreement to sign,
because they found a European buyer to buy the company,
and they wanted me to sign an agreement for employment
(17:02):
to this new European company. And so I went to
the owner, Steve Miller and said, well, mister Miller, now
I'm twenty something, you know, twenty I don't know what
it was, twenty twenty one ish twenty two. I'm not
an employee, Steve. I'm a co owner. I'm a businessman.
He says, you're not a businessman. You're lucky. He sneered
at me and snatched the employment agreement and turned in
(17:25):
his desk away from me. And I realized this didn't
go very well, and so I figured the only way
I was going to be free was to buy my freedom,
so to speak. So I was going to buy the company.
So I went to the Yellow Pages. This is a
Google search today, but I went literally to the Yellow Pages,
opened it to law firms, and I wanted to find
(17:47):
somebody who could represent me to buy Wade Codder and Company. Well,
my division was WWCC Funding Corporation and the division I
had a partnership interest in, and they couldn't pay me. Well,
they didn't pay me because they couldn't pay me. They
didn't have any money, and that's why they're selling the company.
So I opened the Yellow Pages and I found the
(18:11):
ads for the biggest law firm for business. I went
to business law law firms and then business legal firms,
and I found the law firms in Century City, California,
where all the ballers hung out, and the law firm
that had the biggest ad, which was Jeffer, Mangos, Butler
and Marmoro. I couldn't say Jeffers. I didn't want to
(18:32):
screw up Jeffers. I didn't want to Mango, Mangos or Mamo.
But I could say Butler. So I called and asked
for Jim Butler, who was a partner in the firm.
And Jim Butler answered the phone and I said, this
is John O'Briant. And back then I would say John Bryant,
and I want to buy this company and I want
(18:55):
you to represent me. And he said tell me about
this company and I said, it's way Cotter and Company
an WCC funding. He said, wait a minute, that Steve Miller.
Yes it is, and he said waiting, hold on, you're
buying this company. Yes, I am, And so I explained
it to him and he said no, no, no, no, I
can't represent you. You can't do this. I said, no, no, no,
this is racism, this is true discrimination. You can't tell
(19:15):
me what I can do and he said, look, hold
on a minute, wait a minute, let me call you
right back. Give me your number. And this is why
you should never assume or presume anything. When you assume,
you make an ass out of you and me. And
so he called me back and he says, look, you
can't buy this company. Yes, I'm telling you, I'm going
(19:37):
to buy this company over, you know, over the round
and threw what I'm gonna get to it. You're not
gonna tell me what I can do. If you want
to represent me, somebody will. He said, young man, calm down,
you can't buy the company because the company's broke, right,
And I've done a little research and it appears the
only asset in this company, the only people making any
money is your division. You. You're the only thing value
(20:03):
in this company, which is why they got upset when
you wouldn't sign the employment contract. How much they owe you?
And I told them the amount and he said, well,
they can't afford to pay you that, So you don't
want to buy this company. I'm not racist, I'm trying
to help you. You don't want to buy this company
because if you buy the assets, you buy the liabilities.
This is like an act of financial literacy lesson. I
(20:23):
don't know what an asset or a liability was back then,
and they got a lot of liabilities, and you don't
want to be saddled with any of that. You're the
only asset, So you want to basically use what they
owe you as collateral well as payment if you will,
to buy the company, to buy your division, so that
(20:45):
you release them from your debt. You are part of
their if they have to file bankruptcy or something, you're
going to be one of the debtors. I know the
debtor was either and it's gonna be very messy for them.
If you will some documents I presented for you, I
would developed for you. Jim Butler said, I'll negotiate management buyout.
(21:09):
I didn't know what that phrase was, either for you
to acquire your own employer and become a businessman, and
I said, yes, calm down, apologize for calling him a racist,
and he did the deal, and we used the capital
(21:31):
that was owed to me in fees to purchase the
company and wipe out any debt, any obligation I owed
to them and any obligation they owed to me. And
that's how I bought my first company. By accident that
then turned into Bryant Group Companies, Inc. A California company.
(21:53):
We moved into a fancy office place on the eighth
floor of the Westwood Gateway complex in West Los Angeles
on Little Santa Monica and Supovida Boulevard. Now I have
capital when I've got all this stuff, but I couldn't
actually sign the lease because the company that owned the
building and I can't mention the name of the company
(22:13):
because they still own the building, but your own research,
the company that owned the building had never seen a
meet before, and when I walked in to sign the lease,
they're like nah. And I don't think it was pure racism.
I think it was just a lack of familiarity with
a me, a young black capitalist who was credible and
like we we're good. And I was trying to release
(22:35):
out basically a quarter of a floor Florida ceiling windows, marble,
you know, beautiful building, and I realized the game that
was going on, so I decided instead to play the
game better than them. When you're being run out of town,
(22:56):
get in front of the crowd and made like a parade.
So I found a a guy who met who was
like a Central Casting. I found this guy who was
running an Australian publicly traded company. And I can't mention
his name either because I don't embarrass him. But he
was six', four beautifully Handsome australian white dude who was
(23:16):
running a publicly traded company that had gone. Bust he
come To america at least or bought this mansion In Pacific,
palisades had A jaguar convertible and lovely wife and, lifestyle
but he was going broke. SLOWLY i don't know HOW
i ran in this, guy BUT i had put the
word out and NEEDED i needed an. EMPLOYEE i need
(23:37):
a president for my. Company WHAT i needed was a.
Front by the, way typically if somebody is a white,
company they have a black or minority front to try
to get. CONTRACTS i was a black owned. COMPANY i
needed a white front to get this. Lease SO i
(24:01):
hired this, guy wonderful human, being made him my, president
gave him a company. Car he had lost his his
car by the time we cut the. Deal he had
lost his, transportation SO i bought. IT i bought him
A yugo because it's ALL i could. AFFORD A yugo
is a really crappy, car by the, way and this
(24:23):
car was so bad that he was on the. Freeway
and this a small Little yugo and this guy was
six y. Four this guy was on the freeway and
he called me one day in the windshield wipers and
one of the side of mirrors that had flown off
on the. Freeway that's how raggedy his car. Was, Anyway
i'm so busy running the, business doing my, THING i
didn't notice when he actually sold the company car and
(24:44):
pocketed the. Money so many, stories BUT i didn't care
BECAUSE i was winning the. BATTLE i wanted TO i
WANTED i was winning the. WAR i wasn't too concerned
about the. Battle SO i Needed Chris blacks in the
front from. Me and When chris walked, in he looked
Like central. Casting so Anyway chris went, in would, say
anyone's a mission's, name but it's actually it's actually embarrassing to,
(25:04):
me not. Him great, guy great, friend and thankful to.
Him this day he went and signed this. Lease he walked,
in the company immediately signed him, up same deal they
turned down for. Me don't get, mad get even business
is not. Personal so we signed the lease AND i
move in and learned another lesson between business and. Busyness
(25:29):
and when you're out for log see your, Inflow you're
overhead will be your. DOWNFALL i, STARTED i started six
divisions at the same, time had meetings going, on BUT
i didn't have any revenue coming. In and, anyway that
that all sorted out and worked out just fine over,
Time AND i don't have time to go into that
on this. Podcast, uh Maybe i'll continue the story what
happened with that company a little. Later, ultimately that's, UH
(25:52):
i got involved with philanthropical. WORK i was so interested
in philanthropical. WORK i was sort of missing an action
a little bit in my own. Business became a mentee
Of Tom bradley and created a city government agency for
the city Of Los angeles and still existed this. Day
by the, WAY i became the precursor for the idea
(26:12):
Of Operation, home which was created a couple of years
after that after The Rodney king. Riots, okay now let
me pivot to. You, now so why is my accidental
acquisition an opportunity for an intentional purchase of a business
from two million to twenty million on average for you
in non recourse? Debt And i'm gonna go one step.
(26:33):
Further this is actually easier to do than starting a
one hundred thousand dollars restaurant with bank. Money this is
easier to do than starting a little club or opening up.
Restaurant i'm not telling you not to do. That i'm
just saying starting a little business trying to raise one,
thousand two hundred, thousand four, hundred five hundred thousand crowdfunding
(26:55):
and personal guarantees and getting a bank loan and debt
and all this kind of stuff using this is much.
Easier listen to me, Now i'm about to give you
a little. Bit As JAY z would, Say i'm gonna
give you a million dollars worth a, game but nine ninety.
Nine but this is none ninety nine because as a
subscriber to this, podcast you didn't pay for. It all,
Right i'm giving you free, game all. Right write this.
Down the baby boomer generation is going to be the
(27:17):
first generation over the age of sixty, five more people
from sixty five than under the age of eighteen in
the next ten to twenty. Years this group of baby
boomers are all trying to retire and at the same
time they've collected about one hundred and eighty trillion dollars of.
Wealth that's about thirty five to forty percent of all
the wealth in the. World here in The United states Of.
(27:38):
America they're going to take their stocks and their, bonds
and their real estate and liquid, assets and they're going
to give them as inheritance to their kids and their
wives or husbands or. Whomever and there's an old. Joke
the first generation makes, it the second generation spends, it
and the third generation. Loses it's not always, true but
(28:01):
it's a popular saying for a, reason meaning that the
kids and the family members don't really want the. Businesses
i'm gonna say that. Again it's one hundred and eighty
trillion dollars one hundred and sixty trillion dollars to, say,
conservatively of generational. Wealth about eighty eight to one hundred
(28:23):
tree of that training dollars of that is going to
transfer in the next decade to two decades when it.
Transfers the liquid versions of that and things that can
be made, liquids real, estate, stocks, bonds cash and cash
equivalents will transfer through inheritance to the, heirs the children
(28:44):
whoever that is bestowed upon in the. Wheel but the
thing that will get stuck in most, cases and ninety
percent of businesses do not have a plan for what
comes next when they stop running the. Business about ten
trillion dollars conservatively of these assets are successful, businesses the
basis of which created the wealth That i'm not talking.
(29:08):
About so we're talking about business that has in real,
estate in many, cases has a client, list has a good,
reputation has a good, name is a going, concern a,
popular successful going. Concern is nothing wrong with, it nothing
wrong with it except the kids don't want, it the
(29:30):
wife doesn't want, it nobody wants. It but you should
want it because that's your ticket into the big. Game
And i'm gonna tell you a little. Secret if you
can find one of these, businesses and most of these,
businesses you got to hunt for them. Now but most
of these, businesses they don't have an exit. Plan the
small business owner that owns it has made no plans
(29:54):
for what comes next when they're tired running that. Business in,
again in most, cases the kids don't want, it the
wife DOESN'T i, wanted the husband doesn't want. It if
the why it's running the, business the husband doesn't want et.
Cetera so they're, stuck and you can solve their problem
by buying it from. Them, now you if the business
Is i'm gonna make this. Easy the business is a
two million dollar, business and you can get that and
(30:16):
negotiat a. Price so let's say it's worth two million
dollars and you negotiate a price of one point nine,
million which is a reasonable. Negotiation by by the, way
a successful negotiation is where everybody leaves this negotiation slightly. Annoyed,
okay nobody got everything that they want. It so you
agree to buy this business for one point nine million
in this phantom example of a two million dollar business that's.
(30:38):
Profitable and Maybe i'll deal with valuations of how you
evaluate or create a value in a business in another,
podcast but that's less. Important now somebody can help you
get to an evaluation of the. Business, well let's assume
it's worth two. Million you get it for one point nine,
million but they want you to pay it in, cash you,
know because they're trying to cash out us intake that
(31:00):
To Wall. Street Wall street is producing three or four
times more cash flow Than washington D c ever does
in a. Year everybody's obsessed By washington D c is
on the news all the, time and nobody's talking About
Wall street In New York, city which is like a.
Country and you go To Wall, street you go to
a private equity. Firm sometimes it's venture. Backing but make this,
(31:22):
simple a private equity. Firm it is what it sounds,
like private equity and who is doing what in a
more sophisticated version of WHAT i did way back when
In Los. Angeles an EXAMPLE i gave you WITH wcc.
Funding they've got private money that's trying to get a
return right and they're looking for. Deals you've brought them
(31:44):
a business worth two. Million it's going to, grow continue to.
Grow it has a, history it has, clients it has
a balance sheet and income, statement has, assets there's nothing
wrong with. It it has an owner that's trying to.
Exit you're going to get the to acquire that business with,
you and they're going to finance it with non recourse,
debt which means you don't have to personally guarantee, it
(32:07):
and they're going to give, you if you're, lucky a
two twenty. PLAN i make this really. Simple let's assume
they give you ten percent ownership of this, business and
they're going to own ninety, percent and maybe you earn into,
more but you're going to get ten percent of this
business or maybe twenty percent of the business when you,
bought and they're going to own the rest of, it
(32:27):
and they're going to finance it non recourse to, you
so they're if it goes, bust they take on the,
debt not. You and you can, say, well Why i'll
get more than, That, well you didn't put up. Anything
you brought them the. Opportunity this is better than the finder's,
fee and you get to grow this. Business and as
you grow this, business any value you create over the
one point nine million dollars and you already, got you,
(32:48):
know just under ten percent of that in the original purchase.
Price by the, way when you negotiated, it you negotiated
a profit. Upfront and the better you, negotiate the more
profit you have walking into the. Deal and every dollar
that you earn after that you get ten, percent twenty,
percent whatever you. Negotiate and if you get, lucky if
you get really good at, this you own fifty percent
(33:09):
when you buy this, company and maybe who, knows maybe
some miracle where they just finance. It AND i don't
see this, world but maybe you own eighty percent of this,
business and they're just taking to take a small precision
percentage of this plus an interest rate. RETURN i doubt,
that but in this, example or they're gonna they're gonna
Take you're, going you, know own ten or twenty percent
(33:30):
of this. Business and if you grow this business from
two million dollar business over five years to a four
million or six million dollar, business what that means you
just became a, millionaire maybe several times over because you
might be to sell this business for multiples of its
cash flow and or profitability and or valuation over. Time
(33:53):
and SO i just gave you a short crash, course
uh here on how you can do a deal on.
Wash this is a ten trillion dollar opportunity coming over
the next ten or twenty. Years is happening right. Now
you should go hunting in your, neighborhood hunting in your,
county your, city and your. State hunting for businesses as
(34:14):
you drive by, them as you look, in whether it's
retail businesses or all the office buildings you, see or you,
know just if you see somebody who you. KNOW i,
mean don't go hunting for senior, citizens but you go
see somebody who seems to be more mature as an.
Owner and if you confirm they're the owner and inquire
if they have any, interest make sure you wear a,
(34:35):
suit make sure you look, proper that they have any
interest in selling their, business and you might be interested
as a buyer and look like somebody who might be
able to acquire this, business looks. Serious if they say,
yes you've got a. Deal and all you do now
is find a bank that has a venture capital, division
or a private equity, division or a private equity, firm
and you. LOOK i deal with capital structures in a
(34:57):
PODCAST i did last. Year go back and listen to.
That and now you begin to access. Capital AND i
believe you can access non recourse, capital which means no personal,
guarantee plus an upside or sweetener for. You so you
get a closing. Fee when the deal, closes you get
a piece of the deal and a. Salary probably you
(35:18):
pryably negotiate that AS ceo of this new. Company and
now you're well a, baller at least a mini. Baller
It's john. O'Brien this is money and wealth and there's
more where this came. From tell me what you'd like
to hear And i'll dish it out every. Week in
the episodes Of money And, wealth this is how you
(35:38):
buy a twenty million dollar company on, purpose with no personal, guarantee, honorably,
honestly where everybody, wins all, right love and, Light tell a.
Friend money And wealth With john O'Brien is a production
(36:07):
of The Black Effect Podcast. Network for more podcasts from
The Black Effect Podcast, network visit The iHeartRadio, App Apple,
podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite. Shows
Host
John Hope Bryant
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