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Why Millennials Should Buy a Business to Grow their Wealth Fast | Josh Tolley

The C students hire the B students to manage the A students...and the D students own the business

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Wes Schaeffer
April 16, 2024

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Professional Sales Tips you'll learn today on The Sales Podcast ...

  • Josh Tolley is the founder and chairman of Tolley & Company, an organization that buys, builds, operates and sells companies in multiple industries including finance, spirits, birthing centers, professional sports and many others. Josh has built multiple multi-million-dollar companies over his career and has helped many other people do the same. He has appeared on national and international television, been featured in two documentaries, has conducted over 1,000 interviews, 2,000+ radio broadcasts and is regarded by many as the Global Voice on Business

  • The average American millennial makes between $52,156 and $62,244 a year, yet 74% believe they are financially behind. Some turn to side hustles, but buying a business is usually less work for faster and bigger returns.

  • In his new book Acquisitional Wealth: The Fastest and Most Proven Way to Create Life-Changing Prosperity (April 16; Matt Holt), Josh Tolley, Chairman of Tolley & Co. and longtime entrepreneur, reveals how millennials can use the money they're saving from their salary to buy a business that can grow in value far more than most side hustles or investments.

  • Josh’s client Bob was 10 years out of college, making $40,000 a year with $60,000 in savings, but felt uncertain about his finances. To increase his income, he tried side hustles like Uber and Etsy, but they failed to move the needle and added too much stress. Tolley helped Bob leverage his $60,000 in savings to buy a $500,000 company with an annual take-home of $160,000. That 375% return on investment allowed him to quadruple his annual take-home and become a business owner.

  • He owns 26 businesses.

Related posts

  • Most of us think of buying a business as something reserved for the wealthy. Why is it actually the best and most practical way for people with average or even low incomes to jumpstart their financial future?

  • How does buying a company beat current retirement savings norms for building wealth like using a financial planner, 401K plan, Roth IRA, and/or working as an employee for a company that provides a steady paycheck?

  • How much money do you really need to start this process and purchase a business?

  • What is the biggest preconceived notion about buying a business that you encounter when you try to help people do it?

  • If the idea of acquiring businesses is so great, then why isn’t everyone doing it?

  • How can buying a business help non-native U.S. citizens?

  • For what age group would buying a business be the right move to build wealth?

  • In the midst of economic uncertainty—high mortgage interest rates, multiple wars, and a volatile Presidential election—how is buying a business a better bet than staying where you are and not ‘rocking the boat?’ Why is now the time to make a change?

  • Is buying a business hard work or an easy shortcut to wealth?

  • Gen Z is reading more than Millennials

  • They also like catalogs

  • Colleges make us too indoctrinated for our own good

  • Your odds of becoming a millionaire go up as your grades go down

  • You don’t have your own morals; you have preferences

  • He was running numbers by age 12

  • It’s simple to buy a business, it’s older than real estate

  • Business transactions go back at least 2,800

  • Multiply your savings by 10 to determine what size business you can buy

  • Divide the purchase price by three to determine the SDE (Seller Discretionary Earnings)

  • You don’t have to know how to do the business you own.

  • Stay away from businesses that you know, like, or love.

  • You’ll put on blinders…then you’ll hate it.

  • You pay the price to do the things you love.

  • Statistically speaking, when you buy a business that is profitable, your odds of failure are low

  • If they’ve been around five years, they have five employees, and are doing $1 million/year…it’s quite likely it will succeed

  • If you start something, chances are high you’ll fail

  • If a business is making money, it should be sold. Losing businesses don’t get sold.

  • Business owners are old…health…divorce…they’re just done!

  • Unless it’s a legacy play, sell your business after five years.

  • Flip to Fortune!

  • 8 out of 10 small businesses (i.e., under $250 million) hate their accounting and bookkeeping

  • He owns his own accounting firm

  • Air, spark, fuel, or compression are the only reasons a car won’t start

  • Businesses fail for only one of four things: The Table Method

  • Stay off of Craigslist, BizBuySell, etc.

  • THE INTERNET IS THERE TO GET YOU!

  • If something is free, you are the product

  • Hire a good business broker

  • The SBA wants to see relevant experience…but you can work around it

  • The SBA wants to see you live within two hours of the business (give the manager a 5% ownership so “owner is on sight.”)

  • Buy something with no cash register, avoid income-producing real estate like a laundromat

  • Look for 5+ years in business with 5+ employees with $1 million+ in revenue

  • Then there are about 100 other things to consider, i.e.,

    • Construction

    • Tax abatements

    • Franchise rules

    • Avoid the “Insta-experts” who sell you classes…they have no legal obligation to you

  • He got tired of seeing all of the “douche-knots”

  • “I like people as a concept.”

  • “Price should be the easiest part.”

  • “The math should just math.”

  • A lot of business brokers come from the commercial real estate space, and they are about 2x off.

  • Where negotiations come in are in the terms, i.e., sweat equity, a statue of grandpa, eggs, season tickets, etc. The negotiations should be fun.

  • Price, value, and worth

    • Price is what will change hands, but that’s not what it’s worth to you.

    • A business may have an asset I value above the price.

❝

Be the chairman of everything, CEO of nothing.”

Josh Tolley on The Sales Podcast
❝

People have to want to take the long road.”

Josh Tolley on The Sales Podcast

Sales Growth Tools Mentioned In The Sales Podcast

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