EntreLeadership - Real Business Owner Exposes “Business Influencer” Culture

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

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There's no such thing as an overnight success. What looks like overnight is usually 10, 15, 20 years of hustling and grinding when no one was watching. My first year, I was trying to figure out how to make payroll, how to keep the lights on, and how to not lose my mind all at the same time. There was a whole lot of pressure and a whole lot of primitive, basic mistakes. Here's the truth about growing a business. It's slow, it's hard, and it will take more out of you than you expect. But if you keep showing up and keep doing the work, you persevere, it will pay off.

And then you're going to look back and go, wow, that was a ride. And to show you what that really looks like, Entree Leadership's head coach, John Falcons, is sitting down with someone who spent the last 25 years building a business from a two-person operation to a multi-million dollar company. They're going to walk through the highs and the lows and the lessons learned. So you can keep growing your business even when it's hard. You're the founder and CEO of Advantage Tech IT? Advantage technologies, but...

Advantage... I've been called worse. Okay. How many folks do you have working there now? Just about 100. Okay. So, big company? It feels that way when payroll comes around.

I get that. That's a lot of people. It's a lot of payroll to make. Yeah. And it's IT has managed IT services mostly for... Healthcare is a big one, lots of dental practices, but law firms and CPA firms. So professional services. And I know it's obvious that we're sitting here in front of a jet.

We are. And it's your jet. And part of what kind of initiated this conversation was we were having breakfast the other day. And I was, I think we both were both like making fun of and annoyed with what I call the fast company culture, where it's like a get rich, quick mentality. And to the point where you surprised me and said, people have actually asked you to rent your plane. to take pictures to look like they're successful. Yeah, they can't afford to actually start it or pay for the gas, but they'll rent it.

I have friends who actually rent their airplanes just for an influencer to get the picture of going up the steps, sitting inside, pretending they're going someplace, and then walking down the steps at a different part on the ramp. It's a thing. It is a thing. And not only is it a thing that's ridiculous, it actually annoys me because I have,

known you for about 14 years. And I know that it has taken a lot to get to where you are. And I would love to just have that conversation today and just talk about how you got into business and what it's been like and the challenges that you've overcome. And so I'd love for you to just kind of recount even the story of when you got in business and why that happened and what you were intending to do before that one fateful day that changed everything. Well, I was working my way through community college, didn't go to a major university, and I was working doing IT systems for a roofing company, of all things. And I learned all the best things about business, about how not to do it from this company.

Like, you name it, they screwed it up. But I learned so much working there. And it got to a point where they weren't able to make payroll. They were basically going bankrupt, and I knew I wasn't going bankrupt. and I knew I wasn't going to get my last two paychecks. And so I said, well, I guess I'll take my workstation and the server and maybe a printer, and I loaded it all up in my dad's truck, and I started my company. And the owner was like, yeah, I can't pay you also.

I'm like, well, this looks like cool stuff. I'll take it with me. And that's how it all started. I was working my way through college and started doing IT for local businesses. and one of the electives when I was in school was ground school for flying. Okay. I was like, oh, that'd be a fun elective. I always had like an interest.

I'd grow up by a small airport in the middle of nowhere. And I just fell in love with it. I'm like, oh, this is so much fun. And decide, oh, I'm going to do this as a career. And so then I switched, you know, my college plans and was going to become a commercial pilot, started working on all my ratings and got all the way through, and actually had a job lined up as a first office. officer flying out of the Southwest.

And I got my acceptance letter saying, hey, here you are. You're off to the big leagues. And that letter was dated September 1st, 2001. And 10 days later, the whole world changed, particularly in the aviation industry. Everything just shut down because of 9-11. Correct. Yeah, 9-11 changed everything. Airlines were furlowing pilots.

So entry-level guys like me is like, you're going to be a few years. And so I was like, well, you know, this IT gig is actually working out okay. So I continued to build on that, and here we are 26 years later. As you started the business, talk a little bit about what that was like, how you got it going, how it grew, and was it like you thought it was going to be? Oh, man. No. This is the short answer to that. It's nothing like what you see on TikTok or Instagram.

There's lots of ups and downs. And I think that's part of what we were talking about. about at breakfast, that's so frustrating is if you look at so many of these business influencers, it's like, oh, this is what it should be. Or even worse, if you're not doing this by the time you're 22 and you're not driving this and doing this, then you've just really screwed it up. And I'm like, that is all completely untrue. And as somebody who's spent now 26 years on that journey, it's a little frustrating and a little insulting to a lot of people who are probably watching this who are in the middle of the grind.

who have done that. So there was no straight up into the right path. So we made mistakes. We tried to recover from it. We learned principles from, I mean, amongst other guys. I was at the, I think,

believe the very first Entree Leadership Master Series before Summit was a thing. 15 years ago or so. And we just learn and we keep working on it and we screw things up and we fix them and we keep learning and growing. What were we? are you doing it? Like, take me to the first year of business. Oh, man. So you're in,

you're staying up late at night, you're fixing people's computers. Like, what, what are you doing? So I'd go to, um, whether it's a trade show or an event or just networking with a partner, trying to do the sales, having somebody introduce me, knocking on doors, all of the things, right? And then, and then I'd be up at night quoting and putting together the whole system. Uh, and then actually going and running the cable and installing everything. And in the meantime, I'm getting phone call, well, at the time I was getting pages on my pager. And faxes probably. Yeah, I couldn't afford a fax machine with people needing tech support.

And so, you know, the marketing, sales, business, installation, and support, I was doing it all. And so that's what the first couple of years were like. I could just imagine you, you know, like, have you tried Control Alt and Delete, you know? Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again? It's a real thing. It's a real thing. I've said that so many times in my life. What part of the country were you in?

Michigan. Michigan. Yeah. I was based out of Michigan, started there, and then expanded to Ohio, Indiana, and then Chicago was our first major market in Wisconsin. And that's actually where flying got to be integrated with it, which I'm really grateful for, because it's a long drive from Michigan to West Coast. There's a bunch of water in between.

You know, you've got to go around. And so it really became really high. helpful. And I got to integrate those two passions, and it's been like that ever since. What was it like in those days where you got beyond being the one that was doing the sales, you know, saying hit control, alt delete, running the wires. Talk a little bit about building the team. And I know you said you grew your footprint, but how did you do that? Just continuing to find the right people and look for opportunities where it's like, okay, there could be an opportunity here

if we find the right person to be able to slide into that slot. And this is one of the, and I probably heard it from you guys. You've heard the phrase, you know, higher slow and fire fast. I've done it the opposite way. Zero stars do not recommend.

I've done it multiple times. Well, that's why we say that. I know. We don't say that because it sounds like a good idea because we've done the same thing. Yeah, and it's like where we've been successful is where we have looked for an opportunity. We've waited and we found the right team

to be able to expand. Where I've had challenges is where I felt pressure to, oh, we got to jump on this. Let's just find somebody, you know, it never works out. Never. And so, you know, how did we grow it? Opportunities came out. We waited for the right person.

The two intersected, and we were able to build them and build a team around them. And we've just done that over and over and over. And so now we have just about 100 people in about, I believe, 11 states. And it's the same thing. Just one after another, after another. There's no big shortcut or hack or...

No. You didn't download somebody's course that showed you how to be successful. Don't give me started. Because they showed you their limo and their jet on the runway in Vegas, and they had it all figured out. You know, this is the funny part,

and I'll go on a tangent here. Please do. For just a second. Because when you look at, like when you ask, Hey, can we shoot in the hangar? I have a little bit of apprehension about it, to be honest with you, because, you know, this is great.

I love this. It's like a little token when you're keeping score of your career. This is a big one for me. Yeah. Right? But there's a lot of other tokens along that scorecard that don't look as good on camera. Yeah. Right?

And I think this is, if people only hear one thing from me, who are, if I could talk to the me from 20 years ago, like the Jets great. I love it. But there's a lot of other. tokens along the way, right? So there's the token of my house in Florida when my wife and I moved and it was in the aftermath of the Great Recession. And that house is a token when I sat at the table with my wife holding back tears, signing papers to sell our home because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make payroll. And if things didn't dramatically change, we were going to be

facing layoffs. There's the little room that served as my office at the time where my wife came in one night at two o'clock in the morning and I was sitting in my chair just looking at this Excel sheet and I'm like, I don't know that I have it. I don't know that I have what it takes to do this because in that sheet where 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, and it was a list of names. And it was the people I'd no longer be able to keep if things did not change. And these people, I know them. Yeah. I know their family. I know their kids' names. Like, this is, this is not some employee number. Like, this was real. Yeah, it's not monopoly money. It is not. You're playing for real. And so there's, there's that token of that house or that, or the car that I sold because I'm like, shoot, we're, I can do this trade show or I can do

this thing, right? And don't tell Dave, but there's also the time where we were going to be just in a cash flow crisis and I ran my personal credit card for $20-something thousand dollars, which 20-something years ago was a lot of money. Yeah. Still a lot of money. Yeah. Not knowing how it's going to be able to pay that back, but everybody got paid that week except me. Like there's, there's that thing, that doesn't sell well on TikTok. No. Nobody makes a bunch of money off a course on that, but I think that's why you and I find that so frustrating because it doesn't, there's no, there's no do this and then you get, you're immediately there. Yeah. I've not found that path. It's a lot of this and there's a lot of scars that go along with that. And so I think if I could talk to the me of 15

years ago and, you know, to other people that may be helpful, it's like, man, don't, don't quit. Yeah. Like the market needs people who are tenacious and who have integrity. Yeah. And we're just like, I am not going to quit. Everything I would have given up if I would have quit. It makes me sad thinking about how close I got to doing that. So that would be the thing I'd say

to myself from, you know, however many years ago, is, man, just don't quit. Just keep that. There's a lot of people who are going to be positively impacted because you did what God wants you to do, what you're here to do.

Like, I know that's just, that's part of why I'm here is to create this, this culture, this team, this company, and to, to lead it to the best of my ability. And there's a lot of people that are going to be positively impacted because I didn't give up on that. One of my favorite things about hanging out with you is just your honesty about it not being perfect, it not being easy, the transparency about the tough times. It's just honesty. Yeah. And I think that's what, frankly, pisses me off when I see the mirage of, hey, just buy my course and it'll be easy. And, you know, here you'll be. One of my favorite stories or one of the stories that gets me the most maybe is a story that you tell about an unexpected tax bill that you got one time.

Would you be, could you walk us through that a little bit? Yeah. So it goes back to that same time, aftermath of the Great Recession. So there's already a bunch of stuff going on. And we went through a tax audit. And hopefully nobody from the IRS watches entree leadership. No, nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Chill on that.

Nobody from the federal government watches this. They have no interest in what we're talking about. Good, good. I'm glad we cleared that up. But, you know, we basically, we got a, an auditor who was just, it was crazy. My account was like, Brian, I'm having to explain cash versus accrual base accounting to this auditor, and they're not getting it. They're not tracking. Ultimately, we were handed a six-figure tax bill right after going through the Great Recession, everything like that, and I'm like, what do we, what do we do with this? And the answer was,

you pay it, you can't afford to fight it. So if it's okay, I'd like to revisit that moment. Like, how did that, how did that news come to you? What did it feel like when it did? Incredibly, incredibly angry. I remember feeling because of the injustice of it all. And like, this just isn't right. There was a bit of God, why me?

Yeah. Like, really? And there was also a lot of fear about, are we going to be able to pull this off? because we went from having, you know, a very small amount of debt and some cash in the bank to clearing that thing out to having no cash and a bunch of debt. And I had a lot of fear in that season, a lot. And out of that, that's where we came up with, and I think it's straight out of good to great.

We came up with the moving the mountain campaign and the B-Hag, the big Harry Audet, goal. Okay, talk about that. And it was the two things. And I just, I was very honest with my team. And I did it in a post, um, on our company intranet. I actually have a PDF that's now almost, you know, 20 years old, a printout of what everybody said. Because I was just, it was middle of the night. I was just incredibly raw. And I'm like, here's, here's where we're at, guys. This is the inning in the score. And I'm like, we're broke. We're in debt. And we're in trouble. And here's my plan. And if you'll go with me on this,

we're never going to borrow money again. We're never going to be in debt again. And we're going to have a mode of cash all around us. It was shortly after I'd gone through my very first master series and had kind of like integrated these concepts into what we wanted this to look like. And we spent, we were projected over three years to be completely, to pay off the debt,

pay off the line of credit, completely debt-free and have $100,000 in the bank, which is a lot of money, but back then it was a really, it might as well have been $10 million, right? It was just like impossible. And the responses I got from my team when I was just like, just completely raw, here's where we're at, still makes me emotional to this point because it was in a moment where I was probably the most scared professionally I've ever been. These people all rallied around me and we're like, we've got this. We can figure this out.

Love you. Love being here. And 18 months later, we were completely debt-free with $100,000 in cash reserves. And that was the moving the mountain campaign. That's awesome. And we celebrated that. Last year was 25 years of our company. And we took everybody in the company and a guest and we took them all on a cruise.

and I told that story. And it's amazing the impact moments like that have, but they don't make the Instagram highlight reels. But there's those moments, those moments where you're like, man, I don't know if I can do this. I'm really scared of this. I don't know that I'm the right guy for this. Somebody else could probably do it,

but he's probably selling a course on Instagram, right? Like I'm not this good. I'm not the guy. And those are the moments that really define who you are and the trajectory of the company. And if you try and find a shortcut around those, it doesn't work. Yeah. It just doesn't. Yeah.

And your team is watching how you handle that, you know. And you being transparent, you being raw and not trying to spin it or protect them from that is amazing. They knew what they were signing up for in that moment. Did they all stay? Did most of them stay? Every one of them. Every one of them stayed. Every one of them.

What was the trajectory of the company at that point? Did it still feel like you were just day in and day out grinding, which I know in some regards never goes away, right? But you mentioned good to great. At some point, I know the wheel starts to turn a little bit. That was at 20 years. That was at 20 years. Okay, so at 10 years, you've got a couple dozen people-ish. and getting everybody on the same page.

Even what's cool to me is it wasn't like you got up and said, hey, here's our core values. You know, like some kind of canned presentation that you put a slide deck together. You just shared your heart and said, y'all, we won't ever go in debt again. This is how I'm going to take care of this company. This is how I'm going to take care of you.

And this is what matters to me. And people are drawn to that. I mean, they just were like, we're in it with you, Brian. Yeah. So that's an aligning, you know, you said it. That's like this moment that brands everybody, right? Yeah.

From that moment, when does it start to, you start to get a peek into what this thing could be and the scale and the opportunity in the market? Yeah. It probably took us longer than it should have because you had the combination of the Great Recession and all this that all hit at the same time. Right.

Right. So that probably slowed the progress some. But you get past that 10-year mark. You learn a lot of lessons in those first 10 years, and you put a lot of foundational systems in place in that first decade that you really can grow and expand on. Right. And that's where probably 15 years in is when we really started to see not quite the hockey stick, but you definitely start seeing a continuous trend in the right direction. Yeah. And you have more margin and flexibility. to be able to do things that you didn't, didn't be able to do before. Yeah, up to that point. Yeah. There's challenges to capturing that, that opportunity, right? The hockey stick can actually, you know, kick you off the Merrigo round if you're not prepared for it.

Talk a little bit about your leadership team, the infrastructure that was the scaffolding that supported that growth. What did you have to do? What did you have to put in place or change? Let's take the sales process. Whatever you're building for, build it for three steps down the road. Build it the capacity for that. Our sales process is incredibly well defined. And I've got 10 people on our sales team.

The sales process and systems and everything we have supporting that, I could have a hundred of them. But was it then? When the gross started, was that all in place? No, we learned to do that. That was one of the lessons we did learn. Like in the latter half of that decade,

you start learning, I'm kind of getting tired of continuously budding up against limits that we've self-imposed, whether it's technology limits or systemic limits or even people. Just plan, let's just plan a couple steps ahead. Let's plan for what it could look like. You know, in the founder role, when you're doing sales,

when I talk to people just casually, they're like, how do you transition to that sales team? The rule I have is I build a process and I follow it myself. And if at any point, it's based on, what only Brian knows, that's a failure in the process, and something needs to be fixed. Same thing on the operations side or in finance and client care and whatnot. I want to pause. Why is it a failure if it's only in your head? Because it won't scale.

Why not? Because there's only one of me. And I can only be at so many places and so often. So I can, if it's the, I mean, this is Maxwell's law the lid, right? Right, right. If there's something that only I can do, the organization will only grow to the point at which my bandwidth is tapped to do that thing. And at that point, there is no more growth no matter what I do. I have to be able to take myself out of the picture and either take that information and teach it

to people or standardize it or find a way where it's not needed so that it can continue to scale. As you've done that, probably repeatedly throughout the company. Continuously. Right? Yeah. Was there ever a moment that you were like, but I was the guy that clients said nice things about. Or I was the person like closing the deal and fist pumping when I walked out of the room.

Yeah. Less that, but an extension of that. Okay. Because the high off scaling kind of offsets that where it really becomes challenging as a founder where it's like I went in and did an amazing job. And we've had this client for 10 years and whatnot. and we hear a cancellation come through because they didn't like the person

or the job they did that I taught to take over for me. That's where it really sucks. When I'm like, oh, I remember this guy. We had a great rapport. He was a great client. Oh, by the way, so and so screwed it up and they're canceling. And I'm like, because then you do have the thought,

if I would have held onto it, this never would have happened. That's where it's really hard. And that's going to happen. Right. That's going to happen. But then, like you said, the flip side of that is, if you hold onto it. You don't scale. You don't scale.

Yeah. And you burn out. I think that's the other thing. Regardless of scale, you can only do that for so long. Yeah. I mean, I'm 46 at this point. I'm feeling, feeling, I'm way younger than you. Yeah, very young.

Very young. Decades. Yeah, yeah. High mileage, but younger. Yes. So much truth to that. So much truth to that. But I think that's what a lot of people don't.

don't realize is there will come a point at which you burn out. Yeah. If you're not able to really allow your team, being the hero is exhausting. It sounds like you're saying that from experience. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And the transition can be a little rough. My wife and I talk about the point at which I transitioned purely into leadership,

management, strategy, working more on the business. and I was no longer doing sales. And there was a summer where I wasn't sure what to do with myself. And my wife's like, she's like, it was really weird. I'd walk into your office sometimes and you were like playing Xbox at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And I'm like, don't you have like a job or something? And it was really, it was really hard because my deeply ingrained rhythms had all been turned upside down. And the things that we all have like these go-to tasks where it's all.

almost like comfort food. Right. Like I know I can do this. I can do it really efficiently, really fast, and I can check this box off, and I can do it really. And those get taken away from me.

It's like somebody took your security blanket away. Yeah. And now I'm having to think about, what does our marketing strategy look like for the last year? It's, for the next year. It's way easier to go do a quote. Right.

And it's that transition caught me by surprise. Yeah. I think as Henry Ford that said, thinking is the hardest work that we do. I don't do much of it, so I've, you know, but able to avoid it. Whatever. It is. It's so much easier to go and do something that has an immediate hit of productivity and evidence of deliverability than to, like, yesterday I spent a fair amount of time thinking about some strategic initiatives that we're going to be doing in the second half of this year and throughout 2027.

And that still feels, it feels like there's a lot more bandwidth that goes into that. And it's a little more challenging because at the end of the day, you're like, I don't have anything to show for it yet. The amount of, my wife and I have talked about this, that the amount of decisions and things that I touch now are significantly less. But they're significantly more important. Right. It's easier to do the smaller, quicker things. Yeah. Talking to a lot of people in your seat, I think I see that nobody in companies are thinking about where the company should be in three to five years, except for the guy or gal in your seat. Well, and that's one of the core responsibilities of being in that seat. I mean, people ask me at this point,

like, what does your job look like? I'm like, well, I have a few key priorities. One is the strategic direction of the company. Two is to act as a conduit between teams so that we don't have the silo effect. Like that's a big part of my job. Three is to relentlessly root out unnecessary complexity. And the fourth is to defend the culture. Yeah. Those four things is a full-time job. Yeah.

Yeah, you're in what we call the peak performance stage because you've gotten to... Kind of like that. You've gone through all these other stages. And the good thing about that stage is you can ride that for years, for decades, right? It's not about getting beyond that. It's about maintaining that and sustaining it. I knew you were going to say the last thing, the defender of the culture. It's easy to get comfortable.

Too easy. Yeah. What does it mean? Talk a little bit about defending the culture. What's that actually look like? I hired a sales rep a few years ago. guy was a monster, just absolute rock star. I fired him six months in.

He was 300% to his number, and I fired him six months in because he created chaos everywhere he went. And it's so tempting when you see performing. I mean, you see it in big companies all the time where the rock star performers can literally do no wrong if they're in sales and have no boundaries.

And the rest of the team suffers as a result. Defending the culture means I know this guy's impact to the balance sheet and he needs to go. Yeah, that hurts. It hurts. It hurts. I would say that's probably the biggest tangible example of it. It's like what is right for the entire team, not what is expedient or what is, you know, easiest for our balance sheet or the numbers. Yeah.

So you said how old you are. So you obviously have decades to continue to continue. to continue working. That's the plan. But when you look into the future and you think, what do I want this thing to be? What do I want my company to look like after I'm gone? How do you think about that?

I think about it more now than I did when my age started with a three. I can tell you that. I mean, so many companies in my space especially, private equity buys them up left and right. They're built to sell. Ours is not built a cell. Why not? I don't want to.

That's not what I'm supposed to do. I mean, sure, the money's good, everything like that, but if I were to pick the destiny for this company, my hope is that one of these people that is working here right now that's maybe in their little bit younger than me or maybe a guy who just started here, a guy or gal who's in their 20s and is just getting into Advantage Tech, my hope is that over the next 20 years, we're going to identify that next generation of leaders. And ultimately, I take a five-year transition and I have that person walk alongside me and then I I hand it over to them.

Why do you want that as the future versus an ESOP or selling the company to somebody else? Yeah, so an ESOP may be on the table at some point, right? Because that's very, it doesn't materially change the experience for the employees. It's not built for private equity because this is really about, I mean, yeah, I want to make good money at it. I work hard. I want to do that. You know, jet fuel is expensive, you know, all the things. But really, if I can create this environment where these people can come and thrive and take care of their families and enjoy their career, that's what I'm supposed to do.

And in not all cases, but in every case I've come across, if you're building it for private equity, to sell it in a defined timeline, those two things are kind of incompatible. Maybe I'm wrong, and who knows? I don't know what the future holds. But if you asked what I want it to look like, I'd want it to look like that where it has provided a great life for me

and for a bunch of other people and that that environment that provides a great opportunity for a bunch of people outlives me. We'll get right back to our episode, but first I want to talk about company culture for a minute. A vision statement is important, but it's not a company culture. Friday pizza parties aren't either. Your company culture is what your team feels like when they work there.

And here's something I've learned. Overwhelmed leaders create overwhelmed teams. If you're constantly reactive, buried in your inbox, and running from meeting to meeting, that stress eventually becomes your culture. That's why I love Belay. Belay matches you with executive assistants who can take those repetitive day-to-day tasks off your plate and help you get some margin back in your calendar. And margin matters because when leaders finally have the space to think, communicate clearly, and cast vision, healthy culture gets built on purpose, not by accident. And

look, I know the people at Belay. I've worked with Trisha, their CEO, and their leadership team. They love small business owners. And right now, Belay has a free resource for you. It's called Culture Clarity. And you can download it for free by texting Entree to 55123. That's ENTRE to 55123. Now, let's get back to the episode. What has been your mindset or what has been your relationship with Advantage Tech

through all of these years that has brought you to a place where you haven't burned out? You're thinking about what's best for the team. You want to continue to serve customers. And it's the success is not something to be. apologized for. Sure. But it also, as I listen to you, doesn't seem like the highest goal that you have. Am I wrong about that?

No, no. So the things that keep me grounded, I guess, number one is my faith. I think all of this is a lot bigger than just me on a dollar sign, right? And so I view a lot of this, I view all of this through the context of, a larger plan. Like, and this is, when I say, this is what I'm supposed to do, I genuinely believe this is what I'm supposed to do.

I don't do it perfectly, but I give it my best effort. And I believe, I believe God blesses that. And so that has helped keep me grounded that. This isn't, this isn't some amazing thing that I created by, you know,

my incredible intellect and, you know, comment success in the, and I'll send you the link to my course. Like, I hate them so much. Because it's, why? Why do you hate that so much? Because it's a lie.

It's a lie. Because it's a lie. And for all the guys and gals who are out there right now, who are literally just, okay, I know I can make it. I'm pretty sure I can make it. It calls into question the integrity of what they're doing. It makes it seem like they're getting it wrong and they're wasting their efforts. And the exact opposite is true.

It's a lie. It's a scam. And so, yeah, I hate it. Because it diminishes the work that so many people are doing. It diminishes the work of the Brian of 20 years ago who would wake up in a hotel and look down at his Blackberry to figure out what city he was in. Like multiple, like it diminishes all of that. And it pisses me off because it's wrong. And so I think to go back to your question, I think my faith grounds me.

I think my marriage has been a big help in all this. my wife's been incredibly supportive in all of this. She raised four kids. At one point when I was talking about all of that that was happening, we had four kids under five. Oh, and by the way, we had just moved from Michigan to Florida, so we pretty much knew nobody, and then all of that hit. And she was just rock solid through all of that,

and we've been there for each other. So I think that's the second thing. And I think in the professional context, I look at Advantage Tech as a gift, and I look at it with humility and gratitude. I've learned that, like, I'm grateful that I say this to my team all the time. These are some incredibly talented people that could choose to work anywhere. I'm grateful, and it is the highest compliment I can give that they choose to work here and build this with me. We work together in building this, and I think they see that.

And I am incredibly grateful that I get to do that. that is a very different perspective than, you know, I've created this thing and I'm going to put it through this grinder so I can get to this number so I can just sell it and hand it off to somebody else. Maybe I'll sell it someday, but I don't see that in the past. Yeah. That's not why you're doing it. No, no, it's not why I'm doing it.

You've obviously, you know, just knowing you, you don't need to work anymore. Dude, I got four kids to get me honest. Come on now. I don't, okay, fair enough. You know, you don't need to work like you did, right, when you stole the server and the computer from your former. It was given to me, I didn't steal it. KCRS is watching.

Requisitioned, that's right. You weren't going to get paid, so that's fair, right? So why keep pushing so hard? Why keep driving forward? Yeah, I mean, A, I love what I do. B, I love the people I do it with. C, I feel really grateful that I get to do it. And D, I find a lot of purpose and meaning in it.

Like, I enjoy what I do and I, it makes an impact. What's the thing? Like, I know you've heard us say, our success is seeing somebody like you succeed. And I know we only play a small part in that, but still it drives us because we love. seeing it. What do you, what's the moment with your audience, with your, with your customers that you love to see happen between your team and the customer? And so, I mean, when we get either an

email or something where they're follow up and they're like, you guys took what was an incredibly stressful situation and you just, you made it that much better. I mean, think about, we do IT infrastructure, right? So everything, everything in every business at this point runs on IT. If I drop the ball, the entire business stops. And so probably the best story that I can use to embody this is we had a dental practice that had just transitioned. They were getting all new digital 3D stuff. And it was a massive investment for this doctor. And he owned the practice. He's an entrepreneur, just like I am. And we were doing the install and we were finishing up. And so everything's starting to come alive. And he's starting to realize. And he's starting to realize. And he's starting to realize. And he's starting to

realize all of the possibilities that all of this new stuff is going to help him deliver better patient care and new options. And he pulled one of my guys aside. He said, this was my Christmas present to myself. Like, I just made a huge investment in the practice. And like, seeing all this, seeing all this, I'm like, oh my word, this is actually going to happen. And you could tell that because we had done a good job and had done what we said we were going to do and made all of this work, He was now going to have people coming into his business and having a better experience built partially on what we had delivered to him. And I love that.

In an era where almost everything's dependent on technology, we're a mission-critical piece of keeping any business running. And so to be able to deliver that, there's a bit of a high that comes from that. And it's just kind of fun. A couple of random questions. You talked a little bit about the, the plane that we're sitting in front of.

I think I remember a moment you telling me that the plane was paid off. Yeah. That was a big moment for you, wasn't it? It was a big moment. Yeah. It was when we bought the Mustang. Yeah.

And I just realized I'm like, oh wow, this is, like, we're here. We've worked so hard to get here. And we're here. It was another one of those definitive moments. Yeah, another token. There's highs and lows. Right. Those definitive moments can be both.

Yeah. I have enjoyed the highs. I've learned more from the lows. I hate that. I know. It sucks so bad. But, I mean, a great example is, like, I had a friend asked me a while ago, like, what's the next plane? And I'm like, I don't think there is.

He's like, well, that's it. You're a type A. it was like, what's the next? And he said, here's the thing. Anything else I could get is going to materially impact the balance sheet. I'm going to have to go into debt for it. So unless things dramatically change, very happy where I'm at. Well, and you're a guy that loves to fly the plane.

Yes. So you get much bigger than this. You're riding in the back and somebody else is flying the plane, and that's not your jam. That's not real. Right? That's not your thing. I do remember you saying one time, though,

homie doesn't fly commercial. I probably was making fun of you as you were getting on a salis. Southwest yet. There's a good chance. Actually, I was stuck in Chicago because of bad weather and I called you and you said, I can come get you. You have to pay for the gas. And this is why homie never flies commercial.

Yeah, that is. If I remember correctly. That is true. It is rare if I can avoid it. It's one of the privileges of where I'm at at this point of my career. Yeah. And I don't take it for granted. I know that that's true and it is a privilege.

but you have gotten to the place and it's a part of who you are to fly. Yeah. But it's also a tool. Oh, it's an amazing tool. It's like a time machine in a way, isn't it? The number of times where, you know, I've gone and, okay, I'm going to leave first thing in the morning.

Yeah. And I'm going to have some meetings and lunch in Orlando. And then I'm going to be in the afternoon and meet somebody and have coffee in Atlanta. And I'm going to be home for dinner. That's a three-day trip otherwise. Yeah. And to be able to do that as,

The productivity that it gives me and some leaders within the organization, it's massive. Yeah. It's a huge efficiency gain. Yeah. And I really love that. You agreed to do this and have the interview here, but we asked you to do it. At no point did you suggest, hey, could we do this in front of my plane? It was like we had to talk you into it because this isn't what it's about for you. It's about all of the other things that you've talked about. And I love that how that speaks to. to who you are as a leader and who you are as a man. And part of why I love hanging out. Oh, it's super fine.

You're right. It's not my choice of venue. Plus, for the record, it's like 90 degrees in here with a thousand percent humidity. They have an air-conditioned studio somewhere. I didn't realize you couldn't afford electricity that you, you know, you spend all your money on jet fuel. On a budget, buddy. On a budget. I just thought electricity and running water was kind of, you know, something that went with the deal. Yeah.

Well, you would think. You know, I think what I do enjoy about this is, again, speaking to certain people in your audience, but speaking to the Brian of 15, 20 years ago, who is flying around an airplane from the 70s, you know, that costs less than just about everybody's car at this point. Wondering, what does that mean? What is that noise? What is that noise? And your wife going, what do you mean?

What is that noise? She didn't really like flying with me in that one. It was a little rough sometimes. But if I would have quit, there are a little. lot of people who are raising their families working in an environment they love and they'd be stuck in corporate America. If I would have quit, I wouldn't have had the freedom as my kids are now getting older to be able to have some flexibility, to be able to do things with them. I would have been working someplace where somebody else dictated that schedule and it just wouldn't have

happened. If I would have quit, this wouldn't be here. It's a nice token of a certain level of success. I get that. If I would have given up, if I would have given into, to my fear if I would have just said, you know what, I'll go work in corporate America. There's a really nice salary attached to a guy. Right. This all would have gone away. And so I think that's the prevailing message

that I'd like to communicate to the me of 20 years ago is ignore the influencer on Instagram, ignore the guy on TikTok that's trying to sell you a course and is making you have that self-doubt of, am I doing something wrong? Am I missing it somehow? because that guy who's so supremely confident that he knows all the shortcuts and all the hacks,

he rented the seat in the plane. He rented the- He doesn't know it. He doesn't know it, yeah. I love that. Last question, just kind of your knee-jerk reaction to, what do you think holds people back? I think fear. I think fear holds people back.

Fear of what? Loss. Fear of loss, like, okay, am I going to, am I going to make the wrong decision and have a very bad impact on me and those around me? Like I know that's a very personal one for me. I think there's a lot of self-doubt

of, okay, somebody else might be able to pull this out, but I don't have that skill set. I don't have that level of that compare, especially in a culture as much as we've joked about it, where everybody on social media appears to have it all together. They don't have it all together. And I have at this point, known some people who have magnitudes of success way beyond anything that I'll probably ever achieve.

Guys who are worth 100 million plus that I've had the privilege to just get to know a little bit, they're not nearly as confident as your standard TikTok influencers selling you a course. They're still going through the thing of, all right, I might screw it up, but that's okay, I'm going to try. And this isn't going according to plan, but that's okay, I'm going to stick it through. Yeah, I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to quit. I can do this. This is what I'm supposed to do. And I am the guy. I'm the guy I'm looking for. And I think that fear, uncertainty, and doubt holds a lot of people, including me back. And it's something you just continuously battle and step into the next level of, no, I am the guy. I do have the talent. I do have the wisdom. I do have the right people. And I can take this risk. Thank you, Brian. Yeah, man. It's privilege. There are no shortcuts to success.

It takes years of showing up, doing the work, getting better, and refusing to quit. So if you're in that season right now where it's heavy, it's slow, and it feels like nobody sees what you're doing, you're not behind. That's the reality every business owner has had to work through, me included. Stay in it. Keep grinding. Keep learning. And if you want to learn how to grow your business the right way, our Entree Leadership coaching team works with business. day and we can help you get clear, get aligned, and move forward. So click the link in the description

to schedule a free 30-minute call with one of our coaches. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, share, and subscribe for more real-world leadership content. I'm your host Dave Ramsey, and this is Andre Leadership.