Join host Steven Pesavento as he sits down with entrepreneur and author Chad Price, who shares his journey from a sports-filled childhood to building a multi-million dollar fitness equipment business. Chad discusses how sports influenced his entrepreneurial mindset, the process of exiting a business, and the lessons he learned along the way. He offers insights into business strategies, brand building, and the transition from selling a business to starting new ventures. Discover how Chad navigated the challenges of entrepreneurship and what he's doing to help the next generation of entrepreneurs succeed.
Key Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
Interested in connecting with other like-minded individuals? Then join our VonFinch Private Capital Network. Learn more at http://www.vonfinch.com/invest.
About our Guest:
Chad Price is a seasoned entrepreneur with a background in sports and business. After founding and building a successful fitness equipment company with his college friends, he orchestrated a multi-million dollar exit after a decade of hard work. Chad's experience spans various industries, and he now focuses on mentoring young entrepreneurs and sharing his insights on business strategy, brand building, and community development. He's the author of a forthcoming book, where he shares the lessons he learned from the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Chad is passionate about guiding the next generation of business leaders and helping them navigate the ever-changing landscape of business and technology.
Are you looking for High-Performance Business & Mindset Coaching? Schedule a call now and see how we can be of service to you. http://www.investormindset.com/discover
00;00;00;12 - 00;00;08;29
Steven Pesavento
Welcome back to the Investor Mindset Podcast. I'm your host Stephen Vento. And today we've got Chad Price in the studio. How are you doing today Chad?
00;00;09;01 - 00;00;11;10
Chad Price
Doing great. Thank you for having me on.
00;00;11;12 - 00;00;31;21
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I'm excited to talk with you. I think you've got an interesting story. You've built some businesses, you exited them kind of at another chapter of your life. So we'll absolutely talk about that and what role investing has played in that. Before we get into all that, let's start by looking way back. What events your influences from your childhood shaped who you are today?
00;00;31;23 - 00;00;52;21
Chad Price
I mean, if I tried to, you know, pinpoint it to like what event or, you know, one actual experience, I don't think I could have one. it probably would be sports, you know, give me the the best reference points for just putting me in so many situations that I had to overcome with those as athletically, emotionally, you know, creating a team, teamwork, branding.
00;00;52;24 - 00;01;06;21
Chad Price
there's so many things I think you can learn from the world of sports. So, I try to encourage people to, to utilize whatever experiences you've had growing up to, you know, help you be a better business person. But for me, I think sports is probably the number one thing.
00;01;06;24 - 00;01;17;20
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it makes sense. You're in an environment, there's competition, there's challenges you're going to lose, you're going to have to grow, and you're going to have to do that with a team.
00;01;17;23 - 00;01;43;16
Chad Price
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I tell people all the time, the the first time I understood what branding was, was I had a new coach coming to my high school when I was a sophomore, and he completely changed not just the culture of the team, but also how that community saw the team. So it was a night and day difference between, you know, how the the business of the, the, the school and the the athletic program worked after he came versus before he came in?
00;01;43;19 - 00;02;01;05
Chad Price
I always, you know, for for me, that was one of the sparks where I, you know, I could see like, okay, it's bigger than just the words you say and the people you hire, you know, you have to have a kind of a consistent brand and, and really try to think about how you can build a community around, whatever concept you're, you know, product you're trying to serve people.
00;02;01;08 - 00;02;15;21
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. It's kind of like, whatever it is, people have to be able to understand that vision, understand the outcome. They have to understand what it means, what the emotions are behind it. And that actually in itself is a brand and it drives people forward.
00;02;15;24 - 00;02;40;20
Chad Price
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And and this is, you know, pre-internet, given my age away, you know, before people are really even worried about social media and, social businesses in general. You know, there were no online communities when I was in high school. So seeing someone be able to do that kind of on the ground helped me understand, like, I hey, whenever I start a company, that's the kind of culture that I want it to be behind it.
00;02;40;20 - 00;02;49;10
Chad Price
That's the kind of support I need to build in whatever kind of space I'm trying to take over. and, you know, I've taken that with me in my business or in my business ventures.
00;02;49;13 - 00;03;14;10
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think there's a huge takeaway. So I know you've built some businesses, and you exited, a business recently. I want to talk about that process of exiting, you know, the process of actually getting your business ready to sell, doing a merger and acquisition. and, and what you took away from that. So what led you to the point of deciding, hey, it's time for me to sell this business?
00;03;14;13 - 00;03;31;11
Chad Price
I think, you know, and when you're in business, you know, some people are have the fortunate, wisdom or vision to be able to know, like, hey, I'm going to, you know, build this and sell it in three years. And then, you know, I think there's other people or most people like myself that, you know, you're trying to make everything work as much as you can.
00;03;31;11 - 00;03;50;14
Chad Price
And if the opportunity presents itself or if you get to a certain stage or milestone, you know, you take these considerations. And I think it was more like that for us, where we realize, you know, we had built something that was really big. The community was had huge support. But in order to get it to, what we consider the next level was going to take serious investment.
00;03;50;17 - 00;04;13;04
Chad Price
you know, it's a heavy inventory based business. there are significant factors to international expansion that you have to take into consideration. So if we really wanted to kind of do that in one swoop in and really see, you know, some benefits in our lifetime that would take us bringing on a partner or going through some type of merger or acquisition where we could have better financing for that situation.
00;04;13;07 - 00;04;15;13
Chad Price
And that's ultimately what we decided to do.
00;04;15;15 - 00;04;46;04
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's one of the things a lot of people overlook when getting into business is, you know, there's different pros and cons with being in businesses that have, you know, few assets for it versus, you know, something like your business where you had, you know, essentially you were selling, fitness equipment and you had to have that inventory on hand, and therefore you have to actually spend that money well in advance of being able to turn through and sell that product, which just means it's going to create and require a lot more capital to be able to do.
00;04;46;07 - 00;05;00;29
Steven Pesavento
What what did you take away that you would do different if you were going to start another business, knowing the knowledge you have? Obviously you have the advantage of that experience. But what what would lead you, or what takeaways did you did you have from that?
00;05;01;01 - 00;05;24;25
Chad Price
Well, I mean, you know, I, I started a business fortunately with, you know, a couple of college buddies. So I was I was able to, you know, lean on our personal relationships a lot more than I think most people are in their, in their, you know, business partner of choice. but if, you know, if I had to change something different, it would be trying to get through to everyone earlier that we need to take on investment.
00;05;24;26 - 00;05;39;27
Chad Price
You know, I think we talked about it, year two, year three. But then, you know, another year goes by and you're just trying to make everything work. You know, you're end up putting out a lot of fires for a couple of years before you realize, like, if we're really going to do this, there's no kind of getting around this choice.
00;05;39;27 - 00;05;48;17
Chad Price
The choice needs to be made. So bringing on some type of financing, at a stage where we've kind of proven that concept will probably be the number one takeaway.
00;05;48;20 - 00;06;08;24
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's it's interesting because capital is fuel to be able to grow the business, to be able to hire people, to be able to market, to be able to bring in, new inventory. And yet it is also we especially when you're starting a business, it's kind of a scary thought. Where do I get it? How do I get it?
00;06;08;27 - 00;06;30;22
Steven Pesavento
How do I show these investors or these partners that that have something that's worth investing in and and how much am I going to give away in the process of that? And what am I going to gain as a result? So for for you in this business in particular, let's talk a little numbers. What, what what was the business earning and what did the margin look like in that business before you let it go?
00;06;30;24 - 00;06;53;17
Chad Price
so we were I think around six, 6 million, but I think we were, you know, if you were looking at what we should have been doing, we should have been doing, you know, ten, 12 million annually. but, you know, that's that's going to be limited by inventory. So, every single year, you know, if you're talking about your margins, let's just say average 30%, you know, you can only really grow by that much without bringing on capital.
00;06;53;24 - 00;07;14;11
Chad Price
And that's that's kind of how we were forever. And I think, you know, you you kind of mentioned you, you get into this phase of just trying to trying to make everything work. and, you know, you also build up a sense of stubbornness to where making it work is what has gotten you here. And that's not necessarily what needs to be the next decision for, the next level.
00;07;14;11 - 00;07;36;04
Chad Price
And I think I see a lot of entrepreneurs, including myself, go through trying to figure out, when do you make that decision? I definitely think we waited too long to make that decision. But yeah, I learned a lot going through that process as well. So, you know, it's an expensive lesson, but I think it's also something that when you have done something without the help of financing, it gives you a certain perspective.
00;07;36;04 - 00;07;47;05
Chad Price
And when you've taken on financing too early, maybe it gives you a different perspective. So I think it's a balance that everyone has to kind of play. And you have to pick your spot on when you're going to do it. But it's inevitably in business.
00;07;47;08 - 00;08;10;09
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think that makes so much sense. It's like you don't want to take it on tour early when you don't have confidence that that money is going to go to work and be able to create the kind of returns necessary. And yet, you know, being limited, you know, businesses that are larger sell for higher multiples because the buyers typically, have more confidence in the ability to grow, and they're writing a larger check.
00;08;10;09 - 00;08;20;20
Steven Pesavento
And so those investors typically can can pay a higher valuation. What did a company like this or what's the range of valuation in in this space or what did you receive.
00;08;20;22 - 00;08;38;23
Chad Price
so, you know, out of respect for my partners, you know, I usually say, you know, it was a multi-million dollar deal, you know? So if you're talking about, you know, people are getting like 4 to 6 multiples on e-commerce brands during that time period. So, you know, it's a, deal that's in that ballpark.
00;08;38;25 - 00;08;40;21
Chad Price
But, you know, I think it's more.
00;08;40;24 - 00;08;42;06
Steven Pesavento
It's a great return.
00;08;42;09 - 00;08;59;01
Chad Price
Yeah. I mean, if you're for us, it was a ten year journey to get to that point. You know, for the first five years of the business, we didn't pay ourselves anything. So, you know, I don't recommend that to anyone. that's that's a hard grind. Luckily for me, I had, you know, more than one business. So I was able to lean on some other businesses during that time period.
00;08;59;01 - 00;09;21;18
Chad Price
But, either way, taking on financing earlier, figuring out how we were going to actually blow this thing out once we go to certain milestones. That's something that, you know, I think we all look back on and say we should have done sooner. We believe that, you know, we could have gotten, you know, this could have been a $100 million deal had we taken on financing for five years earlier.
00;09;21;20 - 00;09;43;17
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a really great lesson, and it's one that you, without a doubt, will be able to apply into your next business or the next iteration. so obviously you spent a decade building that business. You were, you know, living off of the income off of other businesses. Maybe you took some distributions. You had a 5 to $10 million exit.
00;09;43;24 - 00;10;09;17
Steven Pesavento
You are now in a position where you no longer have that business, but you got to see kind of the end road when it comes to the process of, of, selling a business. What were some of the lessons that you took away that lead to the valuation or the value of the business that now you could or would apply in future businesses to be able to maximize for that exit?
00;10;09;19 - 00;10;30;01
Chad Price
Well, I mean, I think when you're trying to get any business ready for exit, you don't necessarily know all the things that you need to do. I you know, I think it took us I tell everybody it was like getting a PhD in my, my own business during that time period, just getting everything prepared for someone else to evaluate and having every, you know, every answer that they might.
00;10;30;01 - 00;10;46;23
Chad Price
I mean, that they might ask you a question about trying to figure out, you know, any gaps in the presentations or just how you were going to position the business. So in doing that in itself, I think was a good exercise for us to really see the value of the business. and I, you know, I wish we'd have done that a little bit sooner.
00;10;46;23 - 00;11;08;16
Chad Price
So, you know, I would encourage people, if you are even thinking about selling a business, getting your books in order and getting, structuring the business in a way that makes it look appetizing to a potential owner or a new owner, a new investor is the best way to do it. you know, things like not paying ourselves didn't work in our favor when we were trying to sell the business.
00;11;08;19 - 00;11;20;11
Chad Price
so, you know, things had to be restructured, and we had to do things in order to make the business, favorable investment versus just doing whatever we had to do to to pay the bills and keep the lights on.
00;11;20;13 - 00;11;54;06
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's interesting because, like, when you're running a business and you're just doing everything you need to do in order to maximize cash flow on the business or whatever, that metric is for you. you often don't realize that what somebody is looking for is an investor who is buying a business is often slightly different. Right? And so that process of selling a business can, can often, if optimized, can take, you know, up to two years where you're your plans in advance, you're getting that growth happening so you can sell it at a higher multiple.
00;11;54;09 - 00;12;11;18
Steven Pesavento
And those things can, can really pay off. And so you invested heavily a decade of your life building this business. You had a great exit, you know, how did it feel to sell that business and know that, you know, your time with that company was, when it had come to a close?
00;12;11;21 - 00;12;33;03
Chad Price
I mean, I think, you know, anytime you transition from one thing, that means something, means a lot to you to another, it's a big deal. So you know, I equate it to, like, graduating from college, you know, stop playing football. You know, things like that in my life where you kind of know this part of it is going to the chapters come to an end and you're moving on to the next one.
00;12;33;10 - 00;12;50;05
Chad Price
But I get excited about it just as much as anything. So I look forward to the challenge, to come more than anything, when, when I think about everything that I've experienced thus far, I'm only really ever doing that to get ready for harder challenges. for bigger and better things.
00;12;50;08 - 00;13;17;03
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. That's beautiful. So we talked about business. Let's talk about kind of the investing side other than investing time, effort, energy capital into this business. What other types of investments have you made? You mentioned you run a couple different businesses. Have you invested in private equity and real estate in the market? What's been your strategy for growing wealth or income outside of that primary focus business?
00;13;17;05 - 00;13;38;20
Chad Price
So I mean, I think people like myself, you know, sometimes even struggle with looking at investments from, the correct perspective. I know I consider myself in that category. Most of my other investments are going to be other businesses. That's usually how you know, my my thinks is if I diversify my business ventures, then I'll have multiple streams of income.
00;13;38;20 - 00;14;03;12
Chad Price
You know, if one likes are if I can lean on the others. And that's usually how I've tried to run. It is always trying to keep a portfolio of, you know, 3 or 4 businesses that I'm running at once. and some of those are because of the necessity. And I need to, you know, create cash and, and others are more of brand building, really trying to build something that I think can have, let's say, a global impact or, some type of long term value.
00;14;03;12 - 00;14;09;09
Chad Price
So I look at it as kind of juggling those two things is is my main investment strategy right now.
00;14;09;12 - 00;14;44;09
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think that can be a great strategy because the benefit is you're taking your skills in time and you're applying that to a business that you understand, and you can create a stream of income off of it. And if you can have confidence that it's going to come, you know, that can be great. with, with, with also the idea that, you know, if you could structure those businesses, right, you might be able to exit it at a 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 multiple, depending on the strategy, which then opens up another perspective where it's like, well, where would I put money if I had it?
00;14;44;12 - 00;15;20;22
Steven Pesavento
And so I think it's really valuable for people in your shoes to start understanding where that money could go, because I think somebody like yourself, you had an exit. You understand this particular niche of a business. There's probably an opportunity for you to make small or large investments in businesses that are in a very similar field, where you can bring your skills and expertise alongside some capital to help another company grow or, you know, being able to look at things like real estate or private funds or private credit, other strategies that you can get your money working for you.
00;15;20;22 - 00;15;41;00
Steven Pesavento
Because, for example, if you took 1.6 million and you invested it in something that's going to generate 8% a year, you know, that's $10,000 a month. And so it's not huge, but you can see how it can start growing, let alone, the ability to take, you know, $1 million and be able to double it in 3 to 5 years.
00;15;41;00 - 00;15;54;11
Steven Pesavento
And in something that you have a high level of confidence in. so what what's kind of held you back from looking at other investment strategies and, you know, just staying focused on the business side?
00;15;54;13 - 00;16;19;24
Chad Price
I mean, I think, you know, it's it's one of those things that's just it's hard for me to see the world through that perspective of an investor. You know, it's like a it's like a different perspective for me. It's almost like, I try to explain this because my dad and I talk about this quite a bit, and my dad is a much more, let's say, conservative spender or conservative risk taker than I am when it comes to entrepreneurship, money, things like that.
00;16;19;26 - 00;16;40;11
Chad Price
but, you know, it's almost like as you, you keep thinking that you can you have unlimited chances, you have unlimited lives, you know, you will continue to go out and make it the next day. and it's only a point. So I think that you come to like an acquisition where you realize, like, hey, maybe I need to have an investment strategy alongside this.
00;16;40;14 - 00;16;53;03
Chad Price
and that's something that go over, you know, over the past couple years, I have definitely been working on. But up until the exit, you know, my investment strategy was in new businesses and new businesses that I was involved in.
00;16;53;03 - 00;17;13;15
Steven Pesavento
You know, it makes sense. And it's a great place to be, actually, because you know how to run a business. So you can always fall back on that. But now that you've exited, I think one of the biggest things that you can learn for future exits, and you probably did in this process, I'd love to hear what you maybe did learn on the side, but is that tax side of the equation?
00;17;13;17 - 00;17;32;16
Steven Pesavento
That's what's really interesting about investments is some of them actually allow you to reduce taxes. So was there any strategies that you found? Of course, none of this is legal or tax advice, but was there any strategies you found when exiting the business that kind of help support you keeping more of that money, rather than, you know, passing it along?
00;17;32;24 - 00;17;34;26
Steven Pesavento
Uncle Sam?
00;17;34;29 - 00;18;00;29
Chad Price
I mean, yes, because like you talked about, you know, you can take you two years to kind of get things in, in, right, ready for, an investor or for a new ownership group to take over. we had time to kind of get our personal lives and personal books in order for their type of exit. And so the investments that I would make would be take into consideration that I probably will get as a lump sum of cash, you know, at the end of next year or sometime next year.
00;18;00;29 - 00;18;18;19
Chad Price
And so I was able to make some investments in my other businesses, small real estate investments, things like that, because I knew I had that future coming where I was going to be able to basically write off some of the losses or decrease my overall gains by doing that ahead of time. But, you know, it's a fine balance as well.
00;18;18;19 - 00;18;40;22
Chad Price
I didn't go out and like take a significant loan and put myself in a, you know, overextend it to do that either. So, you know, I don't I definitely don't think you know, I've nailed the the exit strategy. I think, you know, one of the things I, I think I have nailed is kind of building online communities around whatever product or service or niche you're trying to, to trying to take over.
00;18;40;25 - 00;18;55;11
Chad Price
but the investment of the after the acquisition, that's literally something that I'm super interested in right now. And, you know, I'm trying to even think about how I could have better prepared myself. That's some of the stuff I reflect on in the book.
00;18;55;14 - 00;19;25;25
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, well, it one of the biggest things that I just want to underline for the listeners is, you know, exactly where you are, Chad is where so many other people have been. And that the idea that you exit the business and then it's kind of like, what's next and what's the tax strategy? How could have I, structured the business in a way that I would pay no taxes or little taxes that are completely legal and actually encouraged?
00;19;25;27 - 00;19;45;06
Steven Pesavento
but the crazy thing is so much of this stuff is hidden. It's kind of like until you need it and you happen to connect to somebody who has used it, it is difficult to even know about what some of those strategies are. So happy to talk about that sometime. But well, what what I'm really curious about is you exited the business.
00;19;45;07 - 00;20;07;02
Steven Pesavento
Obviously, business has been kind of your key focus area, and then you've really stepped out into an opportunity where you can share some of those lessons. I know you wrote a book and I know you're working on a new book, so talk to me a little bit about what pushed you down that path to take the time to share the lessons from your journey with other people.
00;20;07;04 - 00;20;33;13
Chad Price
Or if I always kind of had to be the, you know, let's say, the spokesperson for the companies that I've been involved with. So, speaking in kind of painting the picture of the, of the company, the brand vision, the journey has always kind of been my purview. When I, when I finally got to the point where we had a decade and we had an acquisition, I realize, you know, this is a kind of a great end of one chapter, beginning of the next.
00;20;33;16 - 00;21;09;13
Chad Price
And I wanted to culminate that in a book, and that just kept leading to kind of more opportunities like that. you know, I went to Rice University in Houston, so I've, I mentor kids there for whether it's athletics or entrepreneurship. So I'm kind of helping, whether it's through, you know, lifestyle in, business choices and career choices, but then also helping, you know, young entrepreneurs see the, the world through the lens of what's actually happening on the business playing field versus, you know, what you're learning in a school or reading in books.
00;21;09;16 - 00;21;27;05
Chad Price
you know, I think there's a big gap. And I was able to kind of identify that really early on. when I was in college and when I was trying to be formally educated as a business professional, you know, I tell people all the time, I never read a book about social media, ever, because I was the first person with a Facebook page in my school.
00;21;27;05 - 00;21;48;20
Chad Price
So, there was no marketing lesson for some of the things like that. And, you know, that's just one reference point. That's not everything in business. But I think trying to figure out how to take your idea to a point where it can become a global brand is an area that I've had a lot of expertise in. And giving that back is, you know, it.
00;21;48;20 - 00;21;54;00
Chad Price
It comes naturally for me, and it's something that I've seen as a lot of need for, for young entrepreneurs.
00;21;54;03 - 00;22;21;24
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. Well, I think it's really good that you're, you're able to spend some time kind of delivering that impact because from I'm curious, your, your perspective of my perspective is the education system is broken. You know, people go to school, they go to college, they go get a job. And and I wouldn't say that from my experience, there are a lot of people that I know that it necessarily sets you up well to be able to go do the activities that you need to do.
00;22;21;25 - 00;22;43;03
Steven Pesavento
You end up learning a lot of that stuff on the job and, you know, learning how to learn as part of part of the program. But as an entrepreneur, so much of it is so far outside of the textbook. So what is that? What is your perspective on the education system, and how are you helping other people kind of see outside of that?
00;22;43;06 - 00;23;03;23
Chad Price
Well, I mean, I think it's it's better it's getting kind of closer and closer to reality as we integrate technology with the education system. But, you know, if you can imagine when I was in college, people were still like, you don't use a computer or don't use a calculator to do a math problem. It's like, what are you like, why am I doing math by a pen and paper like this?
00;23;03;25 - 00;23;31;03
Chad Price
I there's better, there was better uses of my time than just sitting here wasting it. And I think integrating what actually happens in reality to education has always been a problem, right? Like, it's always been like people, you know, those who can't do it teach. right now, I think it's one of the first times that you actually have kids, especially, athletic kids and things like that, where basically your business world starts when you go to college.
00;23;31;03 - 00;23;57;28
Chad Price
You know, if you talk about, like, you know, athletes, even young entrepreneurs are now kind of starting at that 18 year old age where that wasn't even really possible, 40 years ago, 30 years ago. So there weren't books written about, you know, some teenager becoming famous. And now I think just trying to put that into perspective for people is what I'm trying to do is, you know, I teach a workshop, like how to apply sports concepts on the business playing field, for example.
00;23;58;00 - 00;24;19;22
Chad Price
And there's literally just to try to get you to understand, okay, there's lessons that you've learned, but now you go into a new playing field. And to understand that, you kind of have to put yourself into this new game. There is no, there is no kind of preparatory course for the current playing field. You know, TikTok could be banned tomorrow, and everyone who has a TikTok strategy is now going to have to shift.
00;24;19;22 - 00;24;27;22
Chad Price
So, you know, I think that's more of the mindset that I try to teach is how do you get in the correct mindset to see the playing field for as it as it is now?
00;24;27;25 - 00;24;51;09
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, so that you can be adaptable to whatever strategy it is that's needed or useful at that time. Kind of like Facebook ads were incredibly powerful. And then Apple changed the algorithm and then that really hurt things. And now Facebook is back, but it's more expensive. And you know, you got to be able to adapt because what worked yesterday will eventually not work because everyone will find out about it.
00;24;51;09 - 00;24;53;24
Steven Pesavento
And it's time to move on to the next strategy.
00;24;53;26 - 00;25;18;12
Chad Price
Yeah. And I try to you know, to me education is almost like if you can, if you can build enough resources that you're able to run a lot of tests, then that's the best education you can, because you're not really educating yourself more than you're just testing over and over and over, and you're testing different strategy. So as you become better at making business decisions, you're checking off things that don't go well as at the same time.
00;25;18;12 - 00;25;35;29
Chad Price
So my ten years of experience is not me making all the right decisions is a lot of bad decisions in there. So a lot of wasted ads and a lot of, went down the wrong path here. Let's turn around and go back. but you create enough cash flow to be able to do this. So it's a strategic approach.
00;25;35;29 - 00;25;52;02
Chad Price
And and that's what I try to teach people is if you can take the mindset of tackling problems that way and tackling the business world that way, it becomes a lot easier than thinking. What I'm reading right now is going to make me a millionaire. You know? I don't think that ever really happens. Or at least it doesn't happen in my experience.
00;25;52;04 - 00;26;15;16
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. when it comes to building community, that's something you were really effective at. It was probably one of the core pillars of your business, you know, building this online community and then having the ability to sell that community product services that they wanted and needed. Talk to us a little bit about what what are some of those core tenants of building community?
00;26;15;22 - 00;26;46;11
Steven Pesavento
The reason I ask for context is I think community is one of the the most, things that are missing in today's society. We're so much more focused on individualism, and yet there's such a drive and a draw of people wanting to connect online, in person and be surrounded by people who are like minded and grow together. So I think regardless of what industry it is, it's applicable and it's especially applicable to investors who want to, you know, change the game and get around other people.
00;26;46;13 - 00;27;06;20
Chad Price
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, for for us, it kind of starts with sports, like I say, in having kind of a pure mission. I think once you once you find what that pure mission is, it's hard for people to get in the way of that. You know, it's hard to be, right or wrong about being healthy and exercising.
00;27;06;20 - 00;27;23;00
Chad Price
You know, it's that that's a that's a good thing for everyone if you don't want to be healthy and exercising. This isn't for you. And we're okay with it. and when you have a community that's based around missions like that, I think it makes it very easy. If my community was, you know, how do I get more people to smoke cigarets?
00;27;23;00 - 00;27;41;05
Chad Price
It would be, you know, a much more difficult community for me. I think it can still be done, but it would be, you know, much more difficult for me to achieve that. so my background in, in sports and athletics definitely is something that, I think about when I'm building a community, is building a team, you know, it's it's inclusive.
00;27;41;05 - 00;28;03;24
Chad Price
It's trying to bring everybody, away from whatever issues and problems they're having outside of this mission and really focus on this mission for at least the time period we're here. you know, I, I used to be very good and, you know, have coaches that would train us to leave everything outside of the field, practice while you practice, you deal with that after you get down with practice type of.
00;28;04;01 - 00;28;27;15
Chad Price
And I think taking that mindset and trying to put that into your user experience where when you're here, you're getting a positive, really pure experience for whatever we're trying to pitch to you. So, before people were really into, you know, let's say giving away a lot of free things and building on our communities. I was we were doing that, you know, from the beginning of the company.
00;28;27;15 - 00;28;47;12
Chad Price
You know, we were giving away free workouts before we'd ever try to sell you a single thing. You might get free workouts for six months before you'd ever get pitched a single product. And I think when people see stuff like that, I don't have to argue about whether I'm on a positive mission or whether I'm trying to achieve something that's positive for a community of people.
00;28;47;14 - 00;29;01;07
Chad Price
It's our, you know, the proof is in the pudding, and now you get to either choose to be a part of something positive, or you can watch us be positive over here, and eventually you'll choose to be part of the positive experience. And that's what that's what I try to do.
00;29;01;09 - 00;29;26;17
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. And for context, Living Fit online fitness community, you're selling those products. But really where it started was how much value can I give to build this relationship with people that all have a similar mindset, mission, drive, and how can I bring them together into a space, in this case online, that they could continue to interact and build that relationship?
00;29;26;20 - 00;29;33;28
Chad Price
Yeah. And and it was both kettlebell canes and living fit. So yeah. So both both of those companies to two separate sales. Yeah.
00;29;34;00 - 00;29;54;06
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. Well this is really powerful. Chad, I know you just launched a new podcast. I know you got a book that you're working on and one that's already out available for folks. I've got one more question for you. Before we get to that last question, why don't you share with people where they can check out the new show or get a copy of your book?
00;29;54;09 - 00;30;18;20
Chad Price
You can find out everything about me. chair price dot coms. Probably the number one hub to start. but then I'm on our social channels, you know, social, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn. the podcast is the first episode will probably be released in about two weeks. So I'm, I'm actually filming a couple more episodes before we release the first one, but, we're adding the first episode right now, and I'm really excited about it.
00;30;18;20 - 00;30;44;02
Steven Pesavento
So that's awesome. so let's wrap up on this, Chad, for all the people who are listening, they kind of hear your story. You exited a business, they're in a similar position where they want to make a change in their life. They realize that it's time to go to that next chapter. What advice do you have to them about getting clear on what they want, and actually taking action towards making that a part of their life?
00;30;44;04 - 00;31;04;01
Chad Price
I mean, I think it starts with you, you know, adapting to, the a different mindset. You know, I think wherever you have found yourself, or find yourself, you know, the, the mindset that you had is what got you to that point. you know, once you accept kind of the responsibility of entrepreneurship, it doesn't really matter whose fault it is anymore.
00;31;04;01 - 00;31;28;24
Chad Price
It's always your responsibility to get it right and to fix it and make it go in the direction that you want it to go. And so having that type of mindset is what I try to preach to people is if you can adapt that type of mindset where even if someone else is, if all even if there's Covid outside, you know, there's there's no excuse for not making progress on your goals and chip away at the day after day in and day out, it's going to be really hard for anything to stop you.
00;31;28;26 - 00;31;36;25
Steven Pesavento
Well, Chad, thanks so much for being on and thank you for all you listeners for joining for another show. We'll see you on the next one.
00;31;36;27 - 00;31;37;18
Chad Price
Thank you for having me.