Digital Social Hour - How I Built 3 Gas Stations Before 30: The Inside Truth | Kristofer Danielson DSH #1083
Episode Date: January 10, 2025how do you start a gas station business, starting a gas station business plan, gas station jobs in canada, how to start a business, millionaire mindset, tax advantages canada, how to start gas station... business in canada, how to start a gas station business in usa, gas station for sale, gas station business in canada, gas station franchisesFrom a government desk job to building a $40M/year gas station empire at age 26 - discover how Kristofer turned a $25,000 investment into 3 thriving gas stations on First Nation reserves in Canada. 🚀 Learn the inside secrets of the gas station business as Kristofer shares his journey from business student to successful entrepreneur. Find out why store profits matter more than gas sales, how he leveraged tax advantages on reserves to gain a competitive edge, and what it takes to scale in this capital-intensive industry. Kristofer reveals his unconventional path to success, including buying used gas pumps from Craigslist, working 16-hour days in -40° weather, and navigating unique financing challenges on First Nation land. Get real insights on profit margins, business strategy, and what it takes to build a multi-million dollar operation from scratch. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or business enthusiast, this candid conversation unpacks the realities of building a successful gas station empire and proves that age is just a number when it comes to achieving massive business success. 💪 Join Sean Kelly on Digital Social Hour for this eye-opening discussion about entrepreneurship, scaling businesses, and seizing opportunities others might miss. 🎯 #gasstationforsale #taxadvantagescanada #smallbusiness #millionaire #howtostartabusiness CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Gas Station Industry Journey 05:00 - ProLon Sponsorship 07:40 - Tai Lopez Insights 08:45 - Business Goals and Objectives 10:32 - Financing Strategies for Reserves 11:39 - High Reward Ventures 17:40 - Understanding Taxes 18:31 - Extreme Weather Challenges 19:48 - Future of Gas Prices 20:40 - Gas Station Profit Margins 21:53 - Business Model Overview 23:19 - Competitive Advantages Explained 24:50 - Passive Income in Business 26:20 - US vs Canada Business Comparison 26:40 - Gas Station Valuation Multiples 27:20 - Understanding EBITDA 28:27 - Cryptocurrency in Business 29:18 - Finding Kristofer APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: jenna@digitalsocialhour.com GUEST: Kristofer Danielson https://x.com/kccj12 https://www.instagram.com/krisdanielson1011 SPONSORS: Prolon: http://prolonlife.com/DSH LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Digital Social Hour works with participants in sponsored media and stays compliant with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding sponsored media. #ad
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Looking for the ultimate online casino experience?
Step into the BetMGM Casino app, where every deal, spin and goal brings Las Vegas excitement into the palm of your hand.
Take your seat at Premium Blackjack Pro, where strategy meets top-tier gameplay.
Hit the ice with Gretzky Goal Lucky Tap, inspired by the great one himself.
Or play the dazzling MGM Grand Emerald Nights, a slot experience that captures the magic of MGM.
With so many games, it's time to make your move.
Download the app and visit BetMGM Ontario today to experience the next level of gaming.
Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions, 19 plus to wager, Ontario only.
Please gamble responsibly.
If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact CONNECTS ONTARIO at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas.
That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM, and no matter your team, your favorite skater,
or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM.
Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season.
Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a celly, and
an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League.
BetMGM.com for terms and conditions.
Must be 19 years of age or older to wager.
Ontario only.
Please play responsibly.
If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please
contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.
BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Yeah, it'll be probably closer to 40 or more. Holy crap, you're only 26 years old.
Yeah.
That's insane, man.
40 million a year at 26?
Well done.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you.
All right, guys.
Digital Social Hour here with Christopher.
We're going to talk to gas station industry.
Thanks for coming on, man.
Welcome.
Absolutely.
So how did you stumble across getting into gas stations?
So I started in 2020, my first gas station.
It was actually a convenience store to start.
So I was basically in Ottawa in Canada,
which is the capital at the time.
I was in business school for business administration
at Algonquin College.
And I was in my last year, I was thinking about what to do next, what my big move is.
And I was working for the federal government
of Canada at the time.
And I moved up pretty quickly in my two years there.
And it was good, I enjoyed it.
It was just, one day I was just kind of taking my lunch,
and I was looking outside from the skyscraper,
and I was like, maybe this isn't something that I want to do
for the rest of my life, because I've sort of seen the progressions in the government.
You become basically a senior team lead, then a manager, director, and then you can become an executive as well in the government.
And I sort of seen that pathway and I wanted to at least try and do something else while
I was young. I was 19 at the time. You hear big entrepreneurs all the
time say, do it while you're young. So I was like, yeah, why not?
So I first came of the idea actually.
So I'm from of the idea actually.
So I'm from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
That's where I was born and raised.
And I am a First Nation as well.
And I'm a part of a reserve,
Fort William First Nation in Canada.
I know in the US you guys call it like an Indian reservation.
It's the same thing.
We just call it reserves in Canada.
Uh, but, uh, yeah. So, you know, there's a lot of gas stations
on Fort William I seen.
Uh, and there was a prime real estate, uh, piece
of property.
And when I inquired sort of who, who owned it,
it was actually my great uncle.
Wow.
Who had a gas station there in the 90s before.
And, um, you know, it, it, it didn't really work out for
them just, just due to personal reasons, but I
acquired that piece of land off of them.
And it was basically all my money at the time.
I believe it was like 25,000 I saved up in the
government and just working various jobs, you
know, did other things as well.
But then I seen like there's massive gas stations
on my reserve because there's no sales tax.
Like we don't have to pay the sales tax on the fuel.
So that's why it's significantly lower fuel cost
on the reserve as opposed to in town.
So there's 13% tax in Canada, in Ontario.
It varies from province to province, but 13% in Ontario.
So on average, you know, we can be lower like 30 to 50 cents
a litre sometimes than in town.
So if you extend that offer to an entire city,
especially for something like a commodity like gas,
you know, everyone will take you up on that offer and the entire city of Thunder Bay
comes out. Basically, we turned the entire city around in seven days. So, wow,
it's quite large, the market out there. So, I seen the market and I was like, you
know, I could probably do this too.
It doesn't seem impossible to start a gas station.
So I sort of just went out on my own.
This was before the time of chat GBT.
So like, you know, you really have to dig lot on gas stations on the internet.
Like how you can even start them, how you go about doing it.
I had to learn just brick by brick.
I started just contacting big fuel suppliers that I could find in the area and started talking with them about it.
Basically, I was 19 at the time and I was just kind of learning but you know in my mind from my perspective It just didn't seem all that impossible to sell gas and
Smoke so yeah, and that's pretty much what gas stations do they do
Make most of the profit inside the store. I heard that so that's true. It is true. Yes, okay, and specifically on the cigarettes
Really? That's the highest margin item. Yes, cigarettes choose in
with cigarettes. Really?
That's the highest margin item?
Yeah, cigarettes, chew, thin, vapes,
all that's the highest margin stuff.
And then the-
Looking for the ultimate online casino experience?
Step into the BetMGM Casino app,
where every deal, spin and goal brings Las Vegas excitement
into the palm of your hand.
Take your seat at Premium Blackjack Pro,
where strategy meets top-tier gameplay.
Hit the ice with Gretzky Goal Lucky Tap, inspired by the great one himself, or play the dazzling MGM
Grand Emerald Knights, a slot experience that captures the magic of MGM. With so many games,
it's time to make your move. Download the app and visit BetMGM Ontario today to experience the next
level of gaming. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions.
19 plus to wager, Ontario only.
Please gamble responsibly.
If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,
please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.
Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.
Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your back
all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook
born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM, and no matter your team,
your favorite skater, or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about
BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season.
Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a celly,
and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League.
BetMGM.com for terms and conditions.
Must be 19 years of age or older to wager, Ontario only.
Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or older to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly.
If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact
CONNECT ONTARIO at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.
BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.
Infectionary stuff is just-
Shout out to today's sponsor Prolon.
If starting the year with a fast feels a little daunting,
you're not alone.
There's an entire community of individuals
wanting to make a meaningful decision
in their health just like you.
This is what makes group fasting so powerful
and why I'm joining in on Prolon's
January Longevity Challenge,
which is a coach-led program
to set you up for fasting success.
Prolon's fasting-mimicking diet
is a revolutionary plant-based nutrition program
that nourishes the body
while making cells believe they're fasting.
I got all five boxes here and I'm starting day one tomorrow.
It's researched and developed for decades at USC's Blongevilliers Institute and backed
by leading US medical centers.
It helps promote healthy blood sugar, enhanced skin appearance, fat loss, and improved energy
and focus.
It all starts with their five-day program which contains snacks, soups, and beverages
designed to keep the body in a fasting state, no guest work or planning required,
which is a relief after a busy holiday.
If you guys are ready to make 2025 your healthiest year yet,
order your Prolon five day kit at prolonlife.com slash DSH,
and they're offering digital social hour listeners
15% off their five day nutrition program.
Use the code DSH at prolonlife.com slash DSH.
Feel pretty good to sell,
but cigarettes is the main profit center. Interesting, yeah,. Feel pretty good to sell, but cigarettes
is the main profit.
Interesting, yeah, because the gas prices are regulated,
right?
You can't charge whatever you want for the gas.
I don't think they are.
Oh, they're not?
No.
Oh, maybe that's a Canadian thing or something.
Yeah.
Because in the US, I thought they were.
Yeah, I've looked into it in the US.
You can't price your fuel below cost here, I think. Got it. So in Canada, that's not a thing? No, that's not really
a thing. Oh, okay. But you still got to be competitive because if you're way too
expensive. And everyone's pretty much buying. It's called at the wholesale rack
price. So like everyone's buying at the same price. So all it takes is one person
to lower the price and then everyone's in a gas war. And that happens quite frequently.
So that's why you got to have a good store
and not rely on gas.
So if you had a gas station without a store,
would it survive?
It is possible.
Those are usually called truck stops.
They usually only see them on the highways.
But I've only really ever seen it with truck
stops. Yeah because they're in the middle of nowhere so finding someone to work there yeah
gonna be pretty difficult yeah that makes sense but nah well done man and you've scaled this to
three locations now right? Yep recently I just acquired my third gas station on the reserve so
and you were doing 30 million million a year in revenue.
Yeah, that was last year.
So are you going to do even more of this here?
Yeah, it'll be probably closer to 40 or more than 40.
You're only 26 years old.
That's insane, man.
$40 million a year at 26?
Well done.
Yeah, thank you.
Saw you just went on Tai Lopez's show as well.
Yeah, yeah. Saw you just went on Tai Lopez's show as well.
He wanted to know, I'm part of a private client program with him.
I was talking on the phone with him and he was like,
hey, why don't you come on my podcast and explain all this?
He's been a pretty good mentor of mine.
He's pretty smart.
Sometimes helps me negotiate deals and stuff.
Like he's a good negotiator, Ty Lopez.
He is.
Yeah, shout out to Ty.
He's been on the show and it's cool to see him
have this impact in Canada too.
Cause I know he was big in the US obviously.
So you were watching his courses growing up?
Yeah, I think I seen him his garage video classic
You could have not see that. I mean that was every friggin YouTube ad if you're on YouTube in like 2015, bro
I used to get so pissed cuz by like the 20th time you're like, oh my god. Yeah, you know
20th time you see that ad you're like stop it, please like give me some ad block
That was before ad block even existed. I think so you couldn't even skip it So what's the goal with this you trying to scale locations? stop it please.
one a year right now. That's what I'm averaging. I like going after really good sites. I don't like going after really sites that are too, too small.
So I like acquiring gas stations on reserves in Canada as well,
just because there is an income tax advantage as well as a sales tax advantage.
Because you don't get tax on that right? Well yes and no there are there are some taxes so we still have to pay ten cents a liter to the federal
government and fourteen point seven cents a liter to to the province of
Ontario. Got it. And then there's also a carbon tax as well. Believe that's like
it goes up substantially every year. It's like 17%.
Holy crap.
17 cents, I mean.
Yeah, yeah, I know. That's crazy. So you're paying almost 60 cents just in tax.
It's about 30, 33 cents.
Oh, 33.
You're paying just pretty much straight to the government.
And that's still on the reserve as well.
But the income tax advantage is the main advantage.
So if your business is situated on a reserve under the Indian Act,
I believe it's section 87, used to be 86 I think.
If you produce income on reserve, it's basically tax-free.
Nice. Yeah, they have that in the US too.
Yeah, there's some advantages and disadvantages, especially
financing things.
Basically that's why you see all reserves pretty much on American and Canadian soil.
They're all like super ghetto.
There's like shacks everywhere.
You can't use a bank.
What I had to do in short is basically find private lenders
that trusted me pretty much.
Wow.
That is difficult because I could just go to a bank,
get a $50,000 credit card right now,
zero percent interest for the first year.
And that's what I seen.
I seen the opportunity and I knew
that there were challenges to actually start a gas station.
Especially they're super capital expenditure heavy.
So it can cost like millions of dollars for one gas station to build,
you know, just one and I have three.
So I had to go out and find financing.
Basically, I can see why people don't get into it because it's a high risk,
high reward, right?
Yeah.
Or high risk and the margins are thin.
So I don't even know if that's high reward.
Yeah.
Cause you know, you say 40 million, 40 million, but we're making like a low single
percentage profit margins.
Right.
So it's a volume game then.
It definitely is, yeah, volume.
Yeah, because if you have 10 of those,
400 million make like 10 million a year, 20 million, whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's pretty good.
Yeah.
Now the biggest brands, they must have hundreds of locations, because I see them everywhere in the US. Yeah.
like SO in Canada. Like I know here in the US it's BP, it's Chevron.
So you have Chevron every corner.
Yeah.
It's sort of the same thing though.
It's all just owned by one or two major gas companies.
So is your long-term goal to get acquired by one of them?
I don't think acquired because I've thought about that before
and it's like I'm 26 and then what am I going to do after
sitting around on a beach? It's like, you know, I'm 26 and then what am I going to do after like, um, sitting,
sitting around on a beach, you know, sounds cool, but I don't think it actually, um,
uh, translates well into anyone's life doing that longterm.
You would have an, you would need another plan after you would go crazy if you just
got all that money at 28 or whatever and then sat around for 40 years.
Yeah.
And I like doing what I'm doing as well.
It's like every day is fun.
That's cool.
Every day when I wake up, I have my coffee, 15 minutes.
And then once I look at my phone,
it's like pretty much blown up every day.
Yeah?
There's always a new situation.
Running a gas station, who would have thought
there'd be a situation there?
There's always an employee issue.
There's always like, you know.
Yeah.
Do you have to pump your own in Canada,
pump your own gas?
Well, you don't have to.
I have both self-serve and full-serve.
Got it.
On my reserve, most all of them actually are full-serve.
And then the ones in town are self-serve.
OK.
Yes, where I grew up in the US is the only state left
that does full- service. New Jersey?
New Jersey.
Yeah.
I've looked into that.
It's sort of weird how it has to be like that.
But I'm not even sure why, maybe environmentally.
No idea why they do it.
But I wasn't complaining.
Those winters were cold, man.
So not having to get out of the car was clutch.
I'd be sure to tip them.
But you're not even supposed to or whatever, but I want to be nice.
Yeah.
Yeah, I definitely put in a lot of time pumping gas myself.
Oh, yeah?
Damn.
Were you pumping it at first when you first bought the place?
Oh, yeah.
So we started, and it was actually
an out of construction trailer.
It was literally just a shack.
And we had pumps, and we went on Craigslist, which is basically Kijiji, we call it
in Canada.
Yeah.
And I bought two used gas pumps for a thousand dollars.
We didn't even know if they would work or not.
Cause like we were working with limited resources
at the start.
And so we went, we went like drove all the way to,
I believe it was Niagara Falls, which is about a 16 hour drive from
Thunder Bay with a U-Haul.
And my business partner, Zad, went down there and
picked them up and came back and turned out they
did work.
And that was sort of the start of our gas station.
Wow.
Humble beginnings, man.
Yeah.
Just kind of just.
You've come a long way from your government desk job.
Yeah. Yeah, that is crazy
Yeah, I think you're living a more fun and fulfilling life with that route you've chosen. Yeah, definitely
I've always wanted to be you know doing something in the entrepreneurial space
I've always been interested in that even since I was a kid. I sort of
You know
Heard even you like sold Pokemon cards.
I did, yeah.
And candy and whatnot.
That's pretty much what I did.
Oh, yeah?
I love it.
I think I was in grade five selling candy.
Let's go.
So I've been doing this a long time.
Yeah, I think it's definitely genetic and environment.
Yeah, I think, yeah, exactly.
Environment and a bit of genetics as well.
Yeah, were your parents entrepreneurial? Yeah, my dad has had a of genetics as well. Yeah, were your parents entrepreneurial?
Yeah, my dad has had a few businesses as well.
Pretty entrepreneurial.
Same, yeah, he definitely inspired me.
He sold books on Amazon.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, he had a nine to five job,
but he definitely had an entrepreneur side to him.
Yeah.
So I saw how excited he was going to book sales
and things like that.
And then even when I was a teenager,
I was doing like online affiliate sales. into book sales and things like that.
Yeah, it didn't seem very real when it first started, but I got good at that and then it sort of ended
the algorithm, I guess, and I had to find something new.
So I just went to college and then had my
gas station idea, basically.
Yeah, did you graduate college?
So I went to Algonquin College for business
administration three years. I was in the finance program and actually in my last semester,
I had this opportunity to start my gas station.
So I was like, you know, maybe let's just put this on pause.
I only have one semester left and, you know, I'll give it maybe a year,
see what I can do and I'll give it my all for one year.
And so I did that and ended up working out.
So I had to leave college to start my gas station.
But I think it paid off pretty well.
These days, I don't think you need a business college degree.
Yeah, it's not needed.
Although I would say you do need to have
an understanding of accounting.
If you're going gonna start a business,
like, you know, your accountant can show you
a financial statement.
And if you don't know the, like,
if you don't know what net income or gross profit is,
you're gonna have like a really difficult time
scaling and growing.
Agreed, yeah, you need to know the basics.
Plus you're probably doing the accounting at first,
because you can't even afford an accountants.
Yeah, I was doing mine at first too. So you gotta know the basics for sure. And taxes, you need to know the basics plus you're probably doing the accounting at first because you can't even afford in Collins Yeah, I was doing mine at first too. So you got to know the basics for sure. Yeah and taxes you gotta know taxes
Yeah, they don't teach that in school. Yeah. Oh man my first year that one hurt
Yeah, I've heard that from a lot of first-time small business. Yeah
How to structure the tax absolutely were you prepared that first year?
I think I was yeah, like I I was pretty organized the first year,
but I would say the most challenging was actually doing the work itself.
It was like we couldn't really afford too many employees at the time.
Yeah.
And me and my business partner, Zia, basically just had to work 16 hours a day every day for about
a year and a half straight.
Damn.
Almost two years.
And that's physical work.
That's you on site, not even just sitting at a desk
type work.
Yeah.
Yeah, and that's like negative 40 below in the wintertime.
Holy crap.
That is nuts when you put it that way.
It gets that cold up there?
Negative 40?
Yeah, actually, our first winter was like,
our first winter in business
was the coldest winter in a long time.
Oh my gosh.
Talk about timing.
Yeah.
Does gas even freeze?
How does that work?
No, gas doesn't.
I mean, it technically could, but the fuel in Canada
is made so it doesn't freeze like that.
If you have super high ethanol like in South America,
I believe it's like 50% ethanol inside of the fuel,
it could freeze technically I guess,
but the fuel that they sell in Canada,
like it doesn't freeze.
Interesting.
What's your top seller gas?
Is it the regular premium diesel?
Is it like?
Yeah, it's definitely regular.
Regular?
Regular is about 80% of fuel sales.
Wow.
Premium is about 10%.
And mid-grade diesel and Mark Diesel
is about the rest of the last 10%.
Dang.
Diesel's like 2%.
Mark Diesel's like 2% as well.
That's crazy.
Regular is 80%.
So 80-20 rule.
Yep.
Interesting.
It makes sense, though, because most cars run on regular.
Yeah, most do, yeah.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Do you think prices are going to keep going up for gas?
I'm not really sure about the macro economics of gas.
And also, it doesn't really matter for me,
because my margin stays the same.
So whether gas is like $5 a liter or it's $1 a liter,
like I'm still making.
You make the same amount?
Yeah.
Wow.
Basically like $0.05 a liter.
Oh, that's all you're making?
Yeah.
Holy crap.
Because it's so competitive, like any one gas station
could just collapse the margins to zero.
Yeah, $0.05 is nothing.
Yeah.
I mean, on one customer, you're making what, like two bucks?
There's a lot of trucks in Canada.
Oh, OK, so trucks, yeah.
But yeah, there's like, you know, on a small car, yeah.
That's nuts.
People don't think about that when they're buying guys
because you see a lot of pissed off people on social media
talking about gas prices.
Yeah.
But you're only making two to three bucks off them.
Yeah, and that's why in the gas station world you need volume
You could have a highway location. I've seen where they charge like 40 50 cents a liter
But you know, that's like pretty rare to find
Yeah, you would need basically a monopoly in that whole area to charge that 40 cents a liter
Holy usually you only see that on highways in the middle of nowhere though.
Dude, I've never seen that.
I haven't seen gas under $2 a liter.
And oh, sorry.
But I went, what I meant by that was like,
they make 40 cents.
Oh, they make, okay.
They just raise the price.
Got it.
Got it.
Making 40 cents, but they'd have to be
in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah. Most gas stations are only doing like five cents.
Okay.
So the location matters a lot then it does. Yeah. So you don't want to cheap out on that. Yeah you definitely need a
good offer if you don't have a good location. That's another thing I look for.
Location first it's got to be a decent location and then after that we kind of
analyze how much fuel we think we're gonna go through and then once you have
basically an estimate on your fuel,
then you can estimate your store sales, which are going
to drive most of your profit for gas stations.
Got it.
That's sort of how I look at it.
So what percentage of your sales are from the store
versus the gasoline?
You know, I've talked with a lot of gas station owners
about this.
Some say it's like 25%.
Some say it's like 33% store sales, 25% store sales,
and then the rest fuel sales.
But it really depends on the location
and how you do an offer.
But yeah, I would say it's generally like 25, maybe 30%.
Wow.
Are in-store sales, and then the rest of your revenue
comes from fuel.
Interesting.
And that's revenue, but you said a majority of the profit
is from the store.
So. Yeah, it is true.
Yes.
That is an interesting business model, man.
Yeah, I never thought about it like this,
but I don't think it's a business I'd want to get into
because you're spending six, seven figures
to make five, 10%.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a pretty heavy capital expenditure business
but like if you have a competitive advantage
basically like I do, it's definitely worth doing.
Right.
Because I've even heard Warren Buffett say like
he doesn't like gas stations
because of the reason that you said,
because it's like, it's very capital intensive
and you make super low margins.
And I've also heard Buffett say like, about gas stations,
your competitor can just lower the price
and then take all your customers.
Because the prices change every day, right?
They do, yeah.
Yeah, that's like the one industry I've seen
where like every day it's a new price.
So you gotta be on top of it.
Yeah, so I have a nice moat and competitive advantage
with my gas stations.
Basically, they're always going to be lower.
So and it's a commodity.
Like nobody cares that you're paying less for gas.
Like they would rather pay less because it's like it's the same gas that you would get in town.
It's just cheaper. Yeah.
And no one cares.
It's the same quality.
Right. So yeah.
And it's very close to the reserve, too, to Thunder Bay.
It's just across the bridge.
Nice.
So you're getting hundreds of cars a day?
Thousands.
Thousands?
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
OK, I can see why you're doing $30 million a year now.
Yeah, the whole reserve is basically, I don't know,
like $15,000.
I think I've seen the city of Thunder Bay, the traffic report,
like 14,000, 15,000 cars a day.
Damn.
So you're getting about like 7% of those
to stop in for gas every day?
Yeah, well, more now that we have the three gas stations.
Oh, okay.
There's six gas stations on the reserve,
so I have three of them.
Wow, you own half of them.
Yep, yeah.
So is your goal to get the other half?
I think I'm gonna take a break from that for now. It's just two, I think I'm going to take a break from that for now.
It's just to, I think I'm going to focus on other markets
because sometimes it's like you already have basically
like 90% but is that last 10% really worth all the work
and everything so I don't think so.
Got it, yeah.
I think I'm pretty happy where I am in my current market.
So that's why I'm kind of looking at new markets now.
That's cool though.
You sound like you built yourself to a point
where some of this stuff's like passive almost.
Yeah.
Like have you exited,
like have you separated yourself from the business now?
The day-to-day operations, yeah.
I'm not really pumping gas anymore, like out of a necessity.
I do like pumping gas from time to time. It's relaxing, right? Yeah, it is. It actually is
relaxing. Yeah, sometimes I just like shut my phone off, go outside, pump some gas. Just for fun?
Yeah, sometimes. That's funny, dude. It is like when you're driving for hours and you stop for
like a gas pump, it's like definitely refreshing though. Yeah, and I like to sharpen my skills at the pump. Yeah
Business partners. Yeah, we always kind of joke or out
You know you you got to really become one with the pump. You could do it from a distance
No, like I sort of mean that metaphorically like you got to like, you know become
I mean that metaphorically like you got to like, you know become
Like it's funny man. How many partners you got in this thing?
Just one. Okay 50-50 partnership. No, I have the majority of it smart
You know, I met the ad my business partner in Ottawa when I was going to school. Mm-hmm And you know, we're both entrepreneurial. We both wanted to start a business
He actually had a business at the time doing Intel com deliveries.
Sounds fun.
He had contracts with them and then I was sort of like, how about let's just do my gas
station instead and he moved to Thunder Bay and we basically got going.
You said you were looking into the US markets earlier.
Yeah, I've looked into it.
It's very different though. It's kind of like the NFL and looked into it. It's very different, though.
It's kind of like the NFL and the CFL.
It's the same sport.
It's just like all different rules.
Right.
So I think I'm going to stick to Canada for now,
but that's not out of the picture if a good opportunity came up
in the States.
So when you're buying these or when you're seeing them for sale,
what kind of multiple are these selling for? came up in the States.
just for other purposes. Like I really just care about how much money actually
am I gonna profit from this business,
not sort of all the other high-end fancy accounting terms.
Basically at the end of the day,
all you gotta care about is how much money
can I get out of this business?
Fair enough, they try to overcomplicate that thing.
Yeah, they really do try.
I was never a fan of EBITDA.
Yeah, yeah.
Like even just explaining it to someone is a process.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, yeah, they should just be profit, right?
Yeah.
I like looking at the net income.
So like, basically if I buy one,
I wanna make it back like in a few years.
Okay.
Like two or three years ideally.
Maybe a bit longer if it's like a larger gas station.
Yeah.
You got good patience, man, because a lot of people
these days want their money back right away.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
But you could wait a couple years.
Yeah.
And that's still a pretty good return.
If you buy a stock on the stock market, on average, I think,
most of them, on the Dow are trading for like 15 times
earnings.
So if you bought the whole business,
you would have to wait like 15 years just to break even.
Whereas if you buy a small business like a gas station,
you can make your money back in two to three years.
Wow, when you put it that way, that's
interesting perspective because people
don't think that way with stocks.
They think they're making money back quick.
Yeah, no.
You're saying 15 years.
Yeah, because they are overinflated, right?
Yeah.
By the time they're on the stock market. Yeah
Yeah, that's a good good little technique. What about crypto you get any of that? I
Think I got it like a few hundred dollars in Bitcoin, but I don't really focus too much on crypto
So you go all in in business? Yeah, I think I got on my coin base account like a few hundred dollars
But I haven't logged into it in years. I think I watched it be like a hundred K when she bought it when it was like 2000.
Oh my God. So dude, you're up. It's at 70 K now. 75 K.
So I'm probably like seven, eight hundred dollars from a hundred bucks.
You would be up 37 X. Yeah.
So you'd have $4,000. Yeah, basically. Yeah.
Imagine if you put in a while. So you bought it early, man.
Yeah. I made my mom buy a $50 worth as well, pretty much at the same time.
Oh, well she's got 2000 bucks. You should tell her about it. It might hit a 100K in the next few years, but Trump in office now.
It's going up a lot this week. Yeah. So we'll see what happens, but man, it's been fun.
Where can people find you and do you teach any of this stuff?
I do a little bit on Twitter. Yeah. I have have a little bit of a, a base that people are
interested in gas stations.
There's also another guy I follow and interact with
on Twitter as well.
Gas biz guy.
Nice.
He's like a, a gas station owner as well.
And he really goes into the nitty gritty of how to,
how to start gas stations and manage them and
everything.
Um, I'm on mainly on Twitter, although you can't find me on Instagram. into the nitty gritty how to how to start gas stations and manage them and everything
I'm on mainly on Twitter, although you can find me on Instagram cool. We'll link both below some people call it X these days Right. So we'll link that. Thanks for coming on man. That was fun. Yeah. Thanks for watching guys. Check out the links below
Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your
back all season long.
From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born
in Vegas.
That's a feeling you can only get with Bet MGM, and no matter your team, your favorite
skater or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about Bet MGM.
Download the app today and discover why Bet MGM is your hockey home for the season.
Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a celly,
and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League.
BetMGM.com for terms and conditions.
Must be 19 years of age or older to wager, Ontario only.
Please play responsibly.
If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling
or someone close to you, please contact
CONNECT ONTARIO at 1-866-531-2600
to speak to an advisor free of charge.
BETT MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement
with iGaming Ontario.