Firing The Man
THANK YOU TO OUR 25,000+ LISTENERS! We are so thankful to be one of the TOP E-Commerce Podcasts delivering high-quality authentic content to you! Serial Entrepreneur’s David Schomer and Ken Wilson share tips, advice, and insider knowledge about all things Amazon FBA, Walmart WFS, and E-Commerce. Discover how you can create multiple income streams by selling physical products online so that you can have the time and freedom to do what you love - whether that is spending more time with family or traveling the world. Ken and David have successfully created several six and seven figure online business ventures. During the journey, they have had major wins, losses, and lessons learned. This podcast will teach you about selling physical products online through platforms such as Fulfillment by Amazon, building a team, outsourcing, listing optimization, pay per click (PPC) advertising, driving traffic to your listings, and productivity tips / life hacks that will provide a path to be successful in building your online business. It’s a mix of interviews, special co-hosts and solo shows from Ken and David you’re not going to want to miss. Hit subscribe, and get ready to change your life.
Firing The Man
Building Generational Wealth for Those Who Served with Zack Miller
Transitioning from employee to entrepreneur is challenging for anyone, but military veterans face unique hurdles despite possessing extraordinary skills for business ownership. In this eye-opening conversation, Zach Miller reveals how his company is changing the game for veterans seeking financial independence.
Growing up as the child of two Marines shaped Zach's disciplined approach to life, carrying him through careers in sports, music, advertising, and eventually high-powered digital sales roles where he helped orchestrate multiple company exits worth hundreds of millions. When COVID hit, his innovative digital platform saved $105 million in collegiate sports sponsorships, cementing his reputation as someone who thrives under pressure and creates solutions where others see only problems.
What's truly fascinating is how Zach connects his personal journey to his mission at Patriot Growth Capital. Rather than leaving veterans to start businesses from scratch, PGC acquires established, profitable companies and creates a structured pathway for veterans to learn, operate, and ultimately own these businesses. Their "Practical MBA" approach pays veterans a six-figure salary while teaching them every aspect of running a successful operation over a five-year period.
The statistics Zach shares are striking: only 5% of America's 6.2 million small businesses are veteran-owned, yet these companies employ over 7 million Americans. By increasing veteran business ownership, PGC isn't just changing individual lives—they're potentially creating an economic engine that benefits communities nationwide.
Whether you're a business owner considering your exit strategy, an investor looking for purpose alongside profits, or someone fascinated by innovative business models that create multiple winners, this conversation offers valuable insights into how entrepreneurship can be structured to maximize success while serving those who've served our country. Ready to learn how business acquisition might be the smarter path to entrepreneurial success?
How to connect with Zack?
Website: https://patriotgrowthcapital.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patriotgrowth/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacksmiller/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriotgrowth/
Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and know you are capable of more, then join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your hosts, serial entrepreneurs David Shomer and Ken Wilson entrepreneurs David Shomer and Ken Wilson.
Speaker 2:Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast, where we dive into the journeys of entrepreneurs who've taken the leap from employee to business owner. I'm your host, and today we have a special guest who's empowering veterans to do just that. Meet Zach Miller, the CEO of Patriot Growth Capital. With over 14 years of experience in sales leadership and business development, zach is on a mission to help military veterans transition into successful business owners. Drawing from his own family's military background, he understands the unique strengths veterans bring to the entrepreneurial world. At Patriot Growth Capital, zach leads a team dedicated to providing veterans with tools, mentorship and capital needed to acquire and grow businesses. Their approach not only supports individual success, but also aims to create generational wealth and a lasting legacy for veteran families. In this episode, we'll explore Zach's journey, the vision behind Patriot Growth Capital and how they're changing the landscape for veteran entrepreneurs. Stay tuned as we delve into the inspiring story of Zach Miller and learn how he's helping veterans fire the man and take control of their futures. Zach, very excited to have you on the show, welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, david, very stoked to be here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so to start things off, can you share?
Speaker 3:with us a little bit about yourself and your path in the business world. Yeah, you know a little off the path of how I ended up where I'm at today. You know I'm the son of two Marines, both mom and dad. Interesting upbringing, definitely a lot of discipline Got to be organized, got to make the bed Chores got to get done.
Speaker 3:But you know, through my life you know I was pushed primarily into sports. You know both my parents had some, you know, challenges in their childhoods and really wanted to ensure that their kids, you know, got to live out kind of their dreams and, you know, be kids but also kind of sports was a main focus. You know, always growing up it was a big one for my father and my mom. So, you know, at the age of four we began to, you know, play sports and baseball, football, wrestling, and that really, you know, was a lot of my life up till I was 21 years old. But, you know, through my upbringing kind of traditional, I'd say like middle-class, lived in a great cul-de-sac and in a good community and had a lot of really good friends, and my parents, you know, had a really good social network as well. So a lot of grill outs, a lot of pool parties and a lot of socialization right, which I think helped me out later in life. You know being able to communicate with adults and managers and executives, and you know the people that would eventually be above me and the roles that I worked till I got into Patriot Growth Just a big advantage. You know being able to look people in the eye, communicate and develop relationships with people. You know, as I, you know again a not very non-traditional path, but you know I went to go play football in college and ended up having a few injuries that kind of stopped my career my freshman year.
Speaker 3:But through my earlier life, you know, I really fell in love with music. Uh, but through my earlier life, you know I really fell in love with music. Um, that was something where, again, being pushed very hard in sports, I always wanted to be known, uh, not just as a jock, uh, but you know, as you know something, somebody that has more to offer to the world. And music was always a really good outlet for me. Uh, writing, recording, played multiple instruments. Music was always a really good outlet for me writing, recording, played multiple instruments, always badgering my parents for different instruments or recording software, things like that and to a point they met me where I was at. But there's some funny stories of when I would ask my dad for a guitar or some cymbals, for the drum kit, and he'd get me a baseball bat. So it was always kind of pushing that sports back into my life.
Speaker 3:But through that, when the career-ending injury happened, I actually had an opportunity to chase my musical dream. So I'd always been playing in bands in the background but didn't have a lot of time to do it necessarily full-time because I was an athlete. But when that happened I kind of I felt like God had finally given me the gift of freedom, saying, hey, man, now's the time, go chase that, go chase that dream. So you know, one of the bands that I had been playing with for a number of years you know had the opportunity to go really full-time in that and had a bit of success. You know, got to open up for bands like Disturbed and some really cool you know hard metal bands that I grew up really loving playing some amazing venues, doing some tours and you know I thought that was going to be it for me. I felt like that's what God put me on earth to do, found my identity through that which, you know, later in life, you realize, you know there's also a reason why that didn't work out as well. But, you know, had a bit of success, tried to do the solo stuff once the band kind of winded down.
Speaker 3:Because, you know, basically playing with a band, living with a band, you know it's like having multiple lives right. Like everybody has their own lives, their own goals, their own wants and needs. It's very tough to keep the unit together and really, you know, focused on the main goal. So as soon as I saw that train kind of veering off the tracks, you know I had to kind of look internally and say, all right, well, what are my expectations of myself? And you know, again, growing up in a military family, you know being pushed very hard to be the best at everything I do. You know I ultimately being pushed very hard to be the best at everything I do. You know I, I ultimately. So I got to figure out a way to make money. Um, you know I do want to have a family one day.
Speaker 3:So I got back into school, I went to the artist two of Atlanta, um, and got an advertising degree, a bachelor in advertising. And the beautiful thing about the art Institute unlike SCAD and some of these other art schools, you learn the business side as well. So I got you learn the business side as well. So I got very proficient in the Adobe CS suite with Illustrator and Photoshop and all those things. But I also learned the business side and found out that I had a knack for communicating and commanding a room and you know, I wanted to be a creative director. I thought about Mad Men, I really wanted to own the room, pitch the big brands on my awesome idea and, you know, win the account.
Speaker 3:So that's what I set my eyes on and as I transitioned out of school, one of the prerequisites my last quarter was to get an internship and you know, months prior we had a few different advertising agencies come and speak. Again, I was older than everybody else in school at that time because I'd already, you know, I'd left the sports world, that college and chase music and then got back into school. So I was always prepared when we had speakers. I always had a resume ready. It's one of the only kids in the class, you know, that that would, you know, was there to approach the individual once they got done speaking. It's one of the only kids in the class. You know that. That that would you know, was there to approach the individual once they got done speaking.
Speaker 3:And, uh, ben Thomas, who was a um creative director at 22 square, the big full service agency here in Atlanta, georgia. Um, he said something about an internship and we have this opening up every summer, right, and it was very close to summertime at that. That time fit very well with my last quarter and that prerequisite I needed to meet. So I approached Ben and said I want an opportunity to intern with 22. He said, all right, well, you need to apply here. Gave me all the info of what I needed to do with that. But what I didn't know is that I would be thrown into a pool of about 200 people and only eight of us would be selected.
Speaker 3:Um, but again, growing up, the way I grew up, learning how to be social and you know, speak to people above me uh, older than me Um, I was able to work a room when they brought us all in all, 200 of us, um, for kind of the kind of open house you know section of the internship, and I saw what they were doing with that specific night, that they had us all there, right. That's all. The managers were kind of watching how these individuals, these you know prospective interns, would interact with each other and I just made it a point to talk to everybody that was executive leadership or a manager role at the agency and also mingle with some of the more interns. So I really worked the room hard and that got me into, you know, the top 20. And then from there, another you know rabbit I pulled out of my hat, if you will was again.
Speaker 3:I grew up within the social world, playing music. I was on MySpace running that for our bands, helping book the tours, so I knew how to use social media. We're talking 2009, 2010 era at this point. So I, you know I quickly found, you know who would be my managers the plate. You know who I wanted to intern for at 22. I figured out where they were at on Facebook, twitter, started kind of stalking them, if you will, and learning what were their hobbies, what were they into and just to who would be on this team that would eventually manage me.
Speaker 3:He was selling tickets for a really cool battle of bands called Collaboration. I love music. I saw that he was selling tickets for this. He was kind of one of the board of directors for this event and reached out to him on Facebook not via email, not just 22 squared, you know, specific communication. But I reached out to him on Facebook and said, justin, I'd love to grab some tickets, man, like you know, can we meet up? Well, he actually, you know, responded directly back to me like within a minute and said I actually live right where you live. Why don't we meet up and I'll give you the tickets there?
Speaker 3:So I made sure that we met at a pizza joint called Fellini's, kind of iconic here in Atlanta, and he showed up with Natalie Espanol, who was also going to be on the team that was going to be managing me if I got the internship be on the team that was going to be managing me if I got the internship. So this was a blessing and what. What transpired from there was I bought a pitcher of beer, they bought a pitcher of beer, pitcher of beer, pitcher of beer. I mean, you know, at the end of it they're like you got the internship, the guy. So I worked my way to that position and that was that was a huge door opener for me, because then I got to work underneath Justin and Natalie, but also Chris Tuff, who's who's a big name here in Atlanta and has, you know, published multiple books and was a partner at 22 squared, leading all the social strategy for all the biggest brands that they managed. Um, so in that internship I got to create all of the social content for Florida's natural orange juice, buffalo wild wings, pay less shoes Um, and I got to leverage some really cool technology. That was a part of that.
Speaker 3:Now that you know, this is the kind of the second tier of the story where you know I was working within Social Bakers and Vitru, which was a social relationship management tool so think Sprinkler or Hootsuite any of those platforms you use to schedule your social media. Well, vitru was actually a Atlanta-based startup, a really good founder and CEO, reggie Bradford had stood it up. He was from Anheuser-Busch, was a CMO at WebMD, had a really cool track record, and I found them on YouTube. Once I was using their technology, I got kind of intrigued with it. I found some job listings on YouTube that they were posting. This is kind of new school stuff. They were being very innovative where the managers were creating videos of hey, you know, I run mid-market sales we're looking for. You know we're looking to hire, you know 10 more employees like reach out and one of those was Steve Peterman, who eventually became my manager at Vitru.
Speaker 3:But a very funny story when I went to go interview with Steve I was still in school. I was interning at 22, bartending at the big catch here in Buckhead. And you know he's like when can you start? And I let him know I've got a few classes, I've got an internship, but you know I could work three or four days a week, work around my schedule, and he laughed at me. You know he was like this is a full-time job, zach, reach out to me when you graduate. So I graduate, I'm still interning. Now I've got an opportunity to come on full-time to 22 Squared and I get that job offer. But I remember Steve Peterman because really, where I wanted to work, I saw myself being more of a salesperson, sales leader and building that throughout my career. So I reached back out to Steve and said, hey, I've graduated, I'm ready to work. He never responded to me.
Speaker 3:What happens the following weekend is I'm bartending on a Saturday at the Big Catch, reggie, bradford. The CEO comes in with his wife and five kids after a soccer match. I hand my towel to my buddy, ben, and I say I'm taking that table. Do the best job I can do, you know wait on them, serve them, tell them about the specials you know, try to blow their mind with. You know how great I am at this service aspect of it. And when they get done, to pay the bill, holly, his wife, takes the kids to the van, reggie standing there. And I said, reggie, you remember me.
Speaker 3:I interviewed with Steve Peterman. I met you actually, you know, months prior, when you were building out the office and I really want to work with you. I know everything about your competitors and I just listed it off. I, you know. I know how to use your work, like, I know your capabilities, I know the roadmap and I work with some major brands that use your technology. Holly came back to wonder why Reggie had not paid the bill and gotten in the car, overheard me saying all this stuff and said Reggie, give him a job. And Reggie calls Steve Peterman right there, says make an offer to Zach Miller, I want it in his hands by Monday. On Monday I got the offer and that's how I ended up really into this career of sales, right and that's where I really started. So I worked with Vitru for three years. We were acquired by Oracle for $350 million and then what transpired from there was all the relationships I'd built prior, you know, mentors and just individuals where I showed up and proved my worth through working really hard. They started opening doors for me.
Speaker 3:I got a call from Chris Tuff when I was on my way to a call with Mizuno for Vitru that time Oracle and you know I'm in a call. I'm actually in the car with a new hire, who I'm he's shadowing me and I put on speakerphone, really thinking that you know puffing my chest up. I got Chris Tuff calling me like he's shadowing me and I put on speakerphone, really thinking that you know puffing my chest up. I got Chris tough calling me like he's going to listen to this call and tough, you know, tells me you're going to go meet with Dave Williams. He's the. He was the founder of three 60. I now he's running a really cool startup called blink media, their preferred market developer, and what that was was we were selling Facebook advertising before there was a backend to do it yourself self-service, and so I said I took it off speaker and put the phone in my ear and learned a little bit more about who Dave was and how I would go to meet him. But Tuff eventually set that meeting up for us.
Speaker 3:We had one of those scotch lunches that you hear about in the advertising world, and again it was just one of those beautifulch lunches that you hear about in the advertising world and again it was just one of those those beautiful moments where Dave Williams gives me a black Amex and says you're going to see her swim, you're going to be my road dog, you don't need to know anybody, I'll introduce you to everybody. But I need you to go, go, make it happen and build some big relationships with Facebook and the Instagram crew at this time was starting to develop and that became, you know, the kind of second win with us. We were acquired by Gannett for 80 million another 80 million in stock, and that just became my career, where I was just you know kind of a serial salesperson and then sales manager and building teams and the whole goal, you know, leading up through my old career, was kind of can we get the company to 30 to $50 million of annual recurring revenue? And if we could do that, we could sell for five to 10 X. You know, it's typically always SAS software. There were some managed service components, but always SAS. And I did that over and over again and it just, you know, right place, right time, working my butt off making things happen. But the beautiful thing about startups is you have that direct connection to the C-suite, right? You know, the founders like there are no walls, there's no silos, it's everybody wearing a lot of hats trying to make things happen, and what ultimately ended up happening was, you know, I rode this, this track till 2016, 2017.
Speaker 3:And you know, when Trump came into office, the advertising world got got to be a little tumultuous. It was a little different, right? Everybody had things to say and I started to look at myself and say you know, do I want to continue to operate in this capacity and have these, these relationships that are meaningful to me, but where I can't be authentic and I didn't. You know, I love everybody there's. No, I didn't see different sides of everything, but it felt like the creative community could, could speak out loud in a room about whatever they were feeling and I felt like I couldn't right Cause. Again, I'm I'm a salesperson and I'm trying to make sure our relationships are tight, but I don't want to overstep my bounds or say something that would get me blacklisted or something like that. So I started to look at different ways to make money, different career paths, and almost settled on being a wealth manager. And that was kind of the path I was going down in 2017, 2018, studying for my Series 66 and all the fun certificates you need to get.
Speaker 3:And I was a week away from taking the test and got a call from an old colleague that was the CEO of Omnicom, a massive holding company for a lot of agencies, ming Wu. He was coming to be a CEO at an agency in Larkspur, california, san Francisco. Basically it was called Mogo, and Mogo had built up a massive client base of educational theater departments. That was their big thing and they were starting to move into sports as well. So they would be the agency of record, help with ticket sales, all that sort of stuff, and they were going to be acquired by Learfield, which is one of the you know, nation's largest multimedia rights holders for collegiate athletic space.
Speaker 3:So Ming gives me a call, kind of pitches me on this idea. He's like we don't have a roadmap. We need to build out some digital capabilities. They own 12 different companies. They haven't leveraged any of the first party data. You know this really well. Would you want to? Are you interested in? You know helping me build this? And you know it sounded intriguing, but I kind of knew that I was already kind of halfway out the door, you know, trying to achieve something else in a different, completely different world. But you know, ming basically said why don't you design the offer letter, why don't you design the comp plan that works for you? And when I came back to him with it was very aggressive, like you don't got to pay me a lot in base, but I want the commission structure to be pretty aggressive and if I don't like this in six months I leave. Right, and that was kind of that was it.
Speaker 3:And what ended up happening was something pretty incredible. I mean, right place, right time again. You know, when COVID hit the digital product that I was building, you know it was all about first party audience and programmatic advertising and things that Learfield had not been able to leverage yet, and we built this product. Covid hits and now fans are not showing up to stadiums, right, they're not showing up to the schools even so. We don't even know if sports are going to go on.
Speaker 3:But Learfield had a big problem on their hands. It was how do we de-risk this revenue and not have to refund it? So the whole goal for them was all right, we are going to take these dollars that we have on the books, that are committed, we're going to put them into fan 365, the digital product that I built, and, uh, we're going to give you what you paid for for free next year If you, if you allow us to right. So my entire, like building a product, staffing a team you know it was. It was a lot of work in managing every region plus the national team that became, you know, an 80 hour a week love of labor, if you will. But I had to go into every call and I had to pitch the de-risking you know entire talk track of how we're going to do this and why they should spend money with us and allow us to leverage this in digital. And again, I just I was in the right place at the right time. So it ended up being around $105 million of revenue that I was able to book digitally and then cross my fingers that Fan 365 performed the product that I, you know, had birthed from the womb and brought into the world, actually performed. And it did. It kicked butt. The click-through rates were nuts. You know all the metrics that we wanted to see KPI-wise were incredible. The reach was awesome and our sponsors fell in love with it. So you know that's the story of how I got there, and what transpired through the next six years was a tremendous amount of success Me being brought into the national team to lead the SEC and ACC multimedia right deals, working with the biggest brands in the world, as I always had, but now in a much more leadership capacity and help guiding them and with more thought leadership on how they should spend the sponsorship dollars effectively and leverage the digital and all these things that they hadn't had access to.
Speaker 3:And it was an amazing, amazing ride. I always told myself you know, when this train comes to a stop, I'm ready to do something on my own. I always knew I wanted to fire the man if you will, and that just really came. It came to a cusp. The last two years I had five different bosses where I would build a book in telecommunications or build a book in the emerging market world Always a different vertical doing exactly what my managers said or asked of me and I just kind of got tiring of building a book, building relationships that took time to develop and then it being kind of handed off or taken away from me and me having to go do it again in a different vertical. So throughout that last year, you know, I met some amazing people through the different masterminds groups that I'm in and I'd known a few of them. I've been in, you know, the legendary mastermind with Tommy Breedlove, which I recommend to everybody. I've been in that mastermind for about eight years eight years now, but a number of years and met a few of these partners.
Speaker 3:But more started to pop up, you know, getting closer to this kind of end date for me at Learfield and one of the big goals that I threw out to the crew on a retreat was you know, I want to. I don't want to start a startup. I've done that. I know how it works. I want to buy a business that's, you know, already has systems in place, already is profitable and take it to the next level. Right, I would identify things within the P&L and within the business that I had a really big core competency in that they weren't taking advantage of, and that would be the business that I'd buy, and maybe I'd buy a few, but it's more of a lifestyle thing. But I kind of threw that out to the group. That's what I want to do. I want to get rid of these golden handcuffs.
Speaker 3:When we all got done sharing, my partner now Jonathan Bates kind of nudged me. He elbowed me right in the ribs. I remember it and was like, hey man, what if we bought companies that were profitable, just like you're saying, but we brought veterans in to own and operate those companies for us? You know that was. That was really the light bulb moment. I was like that's brilliant. I've never thought about that, I've not, haven't done that before, but I like, I like the idea. Let's keep talking about it. So in in January of 2024, burn the, burn the ships, ships. I already had kind of exit strategy. I was going to make it to August around kickoff and then really take the leap. So we started building for that first half of the year and I left corporate America in October to chase this dream full time. And that's the story, david.
Speaker 2:I know it's a little unwitted, but no, it's an outstanding story, and there's a couple of things I want to recap. One observation I have is there was a series of pivots right, you started as an athlete and then you went into being in a band, and if you were to ask me seven years ago, prior to starting this podcast, what does starting a band or being an athlete have to do with being successful at business, I would have said nothing. And now today, as I sit here, I would say everything. Simply, doing hard things and overcoming obstacles is critical. That is business right, and so that's observation number one.
Speaker 2:The other thing that I think people can take away from your story is the common theme of persistence, like not waiting for an opportunity to fall in your lap, but to go. I want that table, this is the compensation plan that I want and going out and getting it and being aggressive, and so I really, really like that, and I'm really excited to dig into the veteran component and what you're doing at Patriot Growth. But before we do that, I want to dig into the day that you decided I'm doing it, I'm burning the ships, I'm firing the man. Maybe it's a conversation with your wife, maybe it was with a mentor, but like, let's, let's go to that day, cause I think there's a lot of people who contemplate that day and they will work 40 years and never execute, and so talk to me about that.
Speaker 3:You're exactly right, never executing. Um, I've had a lot of ideas, but I have a lot of URLs I own, you know. I've many of ideas and I I've always looked at it as okay. Time, like, how much bandwidth do I have to achieve this with the job that I'm in, um and and coming from the startup world, right, it's like, well, you can bootstrap for only so long, right, but you're going to have to go raise money Eventually. This thing has to be able to. It has to be able to, you know, pay for your your, your monthly expenses, right, and take care of your family.
Speaker 3:Um, so you know, the biggest thing here was starting to build while I had a job and starting to get everything in place, um, it just started to reemphasize. You know, I was meant to do this right, it was, it was pushing me in the right direction. You got my mindset in the right direction. I was hungry, um, and I I've always had the initiative right. I'm always been persistent. I mean, that's a that is a big, a big um. You know, kind of key factor in my success. But you know, there was a conversation with our wife and a conversation with a lot of my mentors and the same thing kept coming out of all these conversations like, whatever you're going to do, zach, you're going to be successful at right, you just got to do it. Like there's. There's never going to be a right time. It's kind of like the conversation you have with with people about having kids right, you're never going to be ready, it's just you just got to go for it. And uh, you know that gave me the push. My wife, you know, said I trust you. Um, it's a little scary to think about, but I trust you. And again, I had enough success where I had a nest egg to be able to take the leap. And for me it was like do I have a year's worth of income to be able to do this? Um, and I had everything in place. So that gave me really the resolve to go after it and to not really stress out about it.
Speaker 3:So I remember talking to my boss. Well, you know this was this was actually the the boss before I had another boss at the very end, roy, who is an amazing leader, just a great manager, awesome human being, and you know he felt my frustration. He'd seen what was going on. He was kind of getting moved out as well, and you know, he gave me all the information I needed of what was coming down the pipeline and how they were going to reorg everything and what my next mission was going to be. And I told him plain, plain and simple, like I'll do it, roy, but you know I'm getting tired of this. And he said you know I'm getting tired of this as well, zach, but this is just the way it operates.
Speaker 3:So when I had that conversation luckily for me, when I started at Learfield, arnesha my HR coordinator she also started in the same kind of class as me at Learfield, so I had a good relationship with her gave her a call and said how how can I make this work the best for me? And, um, you know, she was just honestly, um, very generous with her time and and the way that she helped me, but helped me basically put in a notice that would allow me to have my compensation package and make sure that I left the business just as good in a position as I did when I exited. And it wasn't just you know, you're, you're done. You know, give us your two weeks, you'll see you later. So, um, there was a lot of moving parts, but I'd say you know, roy and Arnesha really helped me, um, just make sure the exit was smooth, seamless, and um compensated me, uh, to the best of their ability and allowed me to keep health insurance, all that sort of stuff, for a number of months afterwards. So, again, right place, right time, good network, knowing how to communicate with the right people and making sure they were on my side. So that was a lot about the day and I remember when I did it it was a breath of relief.
Speaker 3:I mean, learfield, you're on the road a lot. You know you're at a different. You know 174 universities across. You know North America, so SEC, acc, probably 44 schools I believe at that time. And you know I'm at a different university every week working with the sales teams, cause you remember I had, I had to coach and teach these individual sales reps that sold Tuscaloosa sports properties for Alabama. They were selling the local deals. I would help with the big national deals, right, and Alabama might be a component of that. I might be Michigan as well and FSU. So you know there was a lot going on there.
Speaker 3:But you know I had to figure out how is it going to make this work the best for me and um I, I was just tired of being on the road, so as soon as I made the choice, got it all put in place, it was a breath of fresh air. As soon as I was kind of off the clock with them, um allowed me to be more present for my family, and that's that's been probably one of the biggest wins, right Outside of waking up every day fired up, because this is kind of mine, right. I'm working with partners that are just as motivated as me. We're going to build something that has true purpose behind it. It's going to impact the right people, the core demographic we're going after All. That sort of stuff just gave me the energy to keep running, so it was an awesome day.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what. For anyone thinking about firing the man, you should go back and listen to that again. There are so many good lessons here, you know having a plan, getting feedback from mentors, establishing a nest egg. You know, this didn't happen overnight. There was a plan that you executed on. Uh, you know you, you talked about mindset.
Speaker 2:I think that's huge and something that I think a lot of people will blow off. It's not something you could learn in a textbook, necessarily, but it's so critically important. And two other things a supportive spouse or partner, or whatever that may be for you. I've said this a couple of times before if there were two identical twins one had an MBA and one had a supportive spouse I would take the one with a supportive spouse. I like it. That is so critical and and and so, and you know the.
Speaker 2:The last lesson here is going out and keeping good relationships, not not leaving the company in a bad spot, not giving Deborah from accounting the middle finger, even if you may want to, and so I really like that. And, yeah, great lessons there. So I want to turn the corner and dive into the intersection of veterans and entrepreneurship and what you have going on at Patriot Growth. So let's start here. You're working with veterans. You grew up with two parents in the military, and so what do you think makes veterans uniquely suited to entrepreneurship and to ultimately being a business owner?
Speaker 3:Grit and resilience, their ability to learn. You know, I think they veterans in general right, they're open to learning, they're open to being coached. When the bullets are flying right, it's not them, you know, standing up and being a hero. That's when the training, you know, really sets in Right. And so, you know, they have tremendous integrity, they've got the growth mindset, they've got the initiative. You know, I think that all of those attributes combined, you know, just make them perfect entrepreneurs, cause I think, you know, as an entrepreneur, you're a chief problem solver, right End of the day. Right, and you got to go learn what you don't know and you got to ask for help. You got to figure out where are your resources, like. You got to find a coach. You got to find somebody, a friend, anybody, a family member that has done something like this before to help you. And it's a lot of learning and a lot of taking from that wisdom and continually to put it in play. That's what I would say to answer that question.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. Now I think that makes a lot of sense, and you have a unique perspective on it in that you were raised in a family with two veteran parents, and so now one of the things I took note that you said was you were in Tommy Breedlove's Mastermind and when you stood up to present, you said I want to acquire an existing business, and I think that is it's an interesting approach. I think a lot of people, when they think about going into business for themselves, they think about starting from scratch, and so what influenced that opinion of buying an existing business with systems and processes?
Speaker 3:Well, systems and processes is like top of mind when you when you just say it like that, but I mean you know, being in the in the in the startup world, you know when you bring in venture capital, when you build a board you've now hired bosses that kind of lead you in a direction you dilute yourself in the equity side of it. Existing businesses, especially the ones that I'm constantly looking for and our team's looking for, they have been profitable for a number of years, right, so they've already got through the growing pains, you know. Another piece to this is, you know, like I said, I've got a lot of ideas. I got a lot of URLs, a lot of things that I want to do, but you got to. You know I always look at it as all right, well, here's my monthly expenses, like, how am I going to get it, you know, up to that monthly expense and how quickly will it take? When you're buying an existing business, especially within the buy boxes we're looking for, they already meet that criteria.
Speaker 3:So, you know, I think them having the systems and processes, them already being profitable for a number of years and scaling, you know it just, it makes it a great acquisition opportunity, especially when you can identify, you know, holes in the for me, the advertising armor of what they have. You know what they haven't even navigated yet right. Why are they not using Google display network or, um you know, putting more money into their social advertising or working with influencers, or even NIL? Um, again, I'm I'm always trying to look for, you know, how can I make this company better? Like, I don't, I'm not just trying to buy it and live off the money it's putting out today. How do I grow the business?
Speaker 3:So I just think you know something that's already profitable. You have the ability to take it much farther and scale it to a bigger, a bigger degree, without you know having a board of advisors around you, leading you and telling you what they want out of the business, because it's all about returns, it's all about the exit. You know they're trying to make money as well. I just believe something that's already built that you can take and make better, like what a tremendous opportunity and it can pay your bills every month and take away some of that stress. I mean that's a lot of startups die. 90% of them don't, you know, make it. So you got to kind of look through the lens of all that and me just again having a background in startups, you know I realized you know if I was going to do anything on my own and start it from scratch, it'd be more of a lifestyle business and I'd want some money in the bank to be able to continue to want to do it and be fired up about it, without stressing about the monthly expenses.
Speaker 2:Absolutely To any of our listeners who are debating this right now. There's a really good book called Buy Then Build by Walker Dybul. He's a broker at Quietlight Brokerage in St Louis, actually, and when I read that book it made a real statistical case for why you are better off buying an existing business, and it was all. I'm a retired CPA, so of course, the number side of it appealed to me, and just looking at the likelihood of success is tremendously higher when you're buying an established business that has already went five years and nine out of your 10 competitors have died, but you're buying the survivor, and so I really like that.
Speaker 2:Another point that you brought up that has not been discussed a whole lot on this podcast, but I think is super relevant, is people will fire the man. They will then start a company, they will accept VC funding and then they essentially rehire the man. They give themselves a new boss and I, you know, I would imagine, through all of the different sales positions that you had, like you experienced that. You experienced the wolf at the door from VC, and so, yeah, I really like that. So you know, talking about buying these businesses, what criteria do you look for when helping veterans evaluate a potential business to acquire.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we're looking for businesses that are, you know, cash flowing, you know EBITDA wise, you know a million to $4 million. It's kind of our sweet spot, right. We want to stay under the radar of the big PE firms, but we also want to find businesses that again, have a great track record but can also be scaled and grown right Via acquisition or, you know, adding a new SKU or, you know, going into a different platform, you know, to advertise. We want the business to be profitable year over year for a minimum of three we love five.
Speaker 3:Also want a seller that's motivated to stay within the business for at least 12 months, not 36. And we'll, you know, leave some meat on the bone for them via equity or, you know, via equity or some way we can compensate them to keep them in that role. That allows us again to bring our operations team in, start working within the business, learn the good that we want to take from the seller and get rid of the bad. But it also helps really transition that veteran into the role as well when we can have an operations team that's skilled and effective, like we have on our team, and then be able to pull some of that historical knowledge, some of those relationships that exist within the supply chain and you know administratively that the seller already has. I mean, those are beautiful, beautiful things that coincide to create the veteran, you know, into what we want him to ultimately become after the 60 months, which is, you know, the operator and owner of that business.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. I have never heard of a private equity model that has essentially created its own MBA program, but not you're compensated for it and you're learning, you're doing. You're not learning out of a textbook, you're doing, you're, and you're learning, you're doing. You're not learning out of a textbook, you're doing, you're running an actual business. And so what does that look like from a veteran standpoint? You know what? From day one through that 60 month mark, what are they doing on a day-to-day basis?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you said something really cool the MBA model, right? So we call it the PGC Practical MBA, right? This is where you know if you're going to Harvard you're paying hundreds of thousand dollars for that degree, then you. Then you have access to the network. But you're going into the workforce or creating something on your own, but you've got a great network. That's that's cool.
Speaker 3:But what you do here is you come into PGC. You know, typically month six of after we've acquired the business, we're going to pay you a six figure salary, we're going to start you in our mailroom and you're going to learn underneath our operations team, quarter over quarter. We're going to hand you more responsibility. We're going to have some tests for you. Make sure that you're you're understanding it and you're grasping everything and able to take more responsibility on for the next quarter. But ultimately, what happens within that fifth year? You know it's this 60 month track, uh, that last year. You know you're really working on the business. You're, you're, you're pretty much operating the business alongside our operators, um. But you know we give you the skills to fish, right, we're not giving you fish, um. And the beauty I see in this is that you know if you want to own and operate the business that you're working in you. If you this is that you know if you want to own and operate the business that you're working in you, if you, you know you don't have to love what we're selling or what we're doing, but you, if you know the business well, um, and you're fired up about, you know, making a million dollars for your family, um, you know that's the sort of position we put you in. But if that's, you know, if, let's say, you know wheelchairs aren't your jam, then you know we can also put you in as a serial operator for more companies within our business or introduce you to some of our corporate partners that work with our nonprofit Advancing Line of Veterans, get you into UPS or Coca-Cola, things like that. So we're going to build a ton of skills within you and a lot of core competencies and then give you the ability to dictate what does your future look like and how can we support you.
Speaker 3:So the network you know that we have is vast and got a lot of skilled operations team, financial literacy teams. I mean it runs the gamut. So if there's something you don't know, there's a hole in your armor in terms of accounting. We've got to mastermind this in you. We've got an individual that'll help come consult with you and teach you these things. So the way I really see it, david, is you know, once you're working within our world, if there's a business that you now identify that you want to buy on your own, then we can also hold your hand there and walk you through. You know the lending process, whether it's SBA or private lending or raise money. We can help you go acquire a business that maybe fits your hobbies or your passions a little bit more. And again, you know how to do it because you've already been running an operated company with an art portfolio.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I love that, I really like that model and to our listeners and there are likely a lot of you that have a business that you would like to sell in the next one to three years and you have a couple options. You can go with a strategic buyer, you could go with an aggregator, but what you have going on at PGC is different, and so my final question, before we get into the fire round, is two people that are considering selling around is two people that are considering selling? Why does it make sense to reach out to?
Speaker 3:Patriot and see if there's something there. What makes Patriot different? Well, it's a great question, david. So there are a lot of things you can invest within that will give you a great return. The beauty about PGC is the legacy component. Right, there are some cool capital gains, tax-free opportunities that we have built within our world and our model to make that attractive for an investor as well. But this is not multifamily investments. This multifamily, you know investments this isn't the stock market. This isn't buying land. This isn't, you know, creating more veteran entrepreneurs and owners, business owners.
Speaker 3:There's a crazy stat out there that at any given time, there's about 6.2 million small to medium sized businesses and they classify that as $50 million of revenue and below size businesses. And they classify that as $50 million of revenue and below the only 5% of that 6.2 are owned and operated by a veteran. But those 5% of companies that are owned and operated by a veteran employ over 7 million Americans. So where's you know? Do you care about America? Are you fired up? You know about the American dream Like we're creating that and the impact you can make by helping us? You know, do you care about America? Are you fired up? You know about the American dream Like.
Speaker 3:We're creating that and the impact you can make by helping us, you know, acquire companies investing in this or for sellers that want to, you know, have a lasting legacy for their company they actually they care about the clients that they've built up over the last 30 years or five years we're able to take that business farther, impact the veteran community further, employ more Americans while also giving great, great tax-free returns to our investor community.
Speaker 3:So we've got a beautiful model. There's a lot of really cool ways of how we really niched ourselves, but I would think the seller really cares about the business going forward, making the most money off the acquisition possible. Because we do care about the seller when we identify a business, we're trying to create a deep relationship with that seller and we want to make sure that we can give them as much money as possible in the most tax advantageous way possible. And that might be getting creative with the deal structure. But again, if we are going to do good by you, you're going to help stay on and help our veteran community. Our investors can come and fuse cash and make great distributions from those businesses with an awesome exit. I think it's a cool flywheel that, just you know, really feeds the beast of what we're trying to do, which is impacting a million veteran families, you know, in the next 10 years. So that's the goal, that's the mission and I think it resonates a lot with sellers, investors, veterans and the entire investment community.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it Now, if somebody is interested in talking to you about selling their business or investing. You had mentioned at the beginning or before we started recording that you guys do have a wait list right now for investors. But if someone's interested in either joining that wait list for investing or selling, what's the best way to get in touch?
Speaker 3:Yep, I would go to patriotgrowthcapitalcom. We do have an intake form there and I would reach out personally if you submit your information. But you can also find me personally on LinkedIn. You know my profile is open, so please reach out with a message, love to share more about the mission and dive into anything that you're interested in. You know I think those are two best methods, and always email as well, and happy to provide that. You know, if you want to put that in the in in the um thread below, you know of the video post.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yep, I will all have the website linked in in, uh, in the show notes to everybody who's driving. So all right, Zach, this has been a great interview. Before we end, we have something called the fire round. This is four questions we ask everybody at the end of the show Are you ready? Let's go All right? What's your favorite book?
Speaker 3:Okay, I love books, so I would have to say the Bible. Right, this is number one. But if we're going to go outside of that realm, the War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I think it's an amazing book.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I second that that's a great book. All right, Number two what are your hobbies?
Speaker 3:Family first. Right, I've got an amazing wife, two boys, four and six. They're my world, it's everything that pushes me to be the best I can be. Golf, I love golf. You can see the background it's, you know, I love the golf course. It's the one sport that I can still play, uh with young and old, uh individuals, and and still compete. Nobody wants to wrestle anymore, play tackle football, so I've resorted to golf. But music, still a passion, still writing, still recording, um, you know, just definitely a love and know, I don't know if it's a hobby or a need, but it feels like a hobby to me, like sleep, you know, with with kids it's, it's getting better the older they get, but sleep is, is number one right now.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Absolutely. Number three. What is one thing you do not miss about working for the man?
Speaker 3:one thing you do not miss about working for the man Politics, playing the corporate politic game man, you know it's, the beauty about what we do today is we get to choose who we work with. We get to choose who we partner with, we get to choose our investors, and I love that because I can talk about our core values. I can, you know, talk about my, my faith, and you know, if those things don't align, then you know, don't gotta we don't have to work together. Um, in the uh corporate world it's a little different than that. Right, you gotta keep a lot of things close to your chest. Be careful what you tell other people, um, cause you never know who's uh gunning for your position or doesn't, you know, doesn't want you in that role. Just, you know you got to wear a mask. So I'm not tired of the corporate politic game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that one. And final question what do you think sets apart successful entrepreneurs from those who give up, fail or never get started?
Speaker 3:entrepreneurs from those who give up, fail or never get started. Growth mindset, willing to learn, you know, I mean, I think that's it. You just got to be a forever learner. I mean that's probably one of the biggest things. But also being fearless, and I think I said you know chief problem solver, you know solving problems. I think you know being fearless and solving problems are going to be a big part of this, because when you're responsible for everything right, there's a lot, there's a lot of weight there.
Speaker 3:It's tough to go to sleep some nights. Right, so you got things. You might not have followed up on things. You wish you would have said better on this call, oh, we need to get these things done administratively. Or another fire drill, which you know is every day you're, you're constantly trying to put out fire. So I think it's just having that growth mindset, the willingness to learn, being fearless keep put your head down and go to work. If you're, if you are passionate about it, if there's a purpose behind what you're doing. That should not be tough. But you know, being an entrepreneur and out on your own will definitely make you sit back and reevaluate. Are you doing this for the right reason? Because money is one component to this. We can all make money in various ways, right, but what are you working so hard for? So I think a lot of those kind of variables come into play. But being fearless and solving problems and continuing to learn, that's it man. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. And to wrap up the show to our listeners if you're a longtime listener of Firing the man podcast, you know that last year and the year before, I had on a couple of aggregators and their mission was to deploy $1 billion worth of capital, and if you asked why, they would have responded well, because that's how much we raised, and I'd like you to contrast that discussion with the discussion that Zach and I just had about raising money, using that for good, for impacting veteran families. I absolutely love this concept. I am going to ask you a favor. I'd love to have a couple more members of your team on to learn more about this, but this is the future of private equity and it's something I can get on board with. Democrat or Republican, we support our veterans here in the US and that's something we all can get behind. So, zach, this has been an absolute pleasure and looking forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me, David. I appreciate you, brother. Thank you.
