289% growth in 18 months

A quick note before we jump on…

It seems there are an entire generation of people who no longer care about prestige, titles, work travel, fancy offices and lunches...

Instead, they're willing to put their ego aside and focus on what's important—cash flow, quality of life, and freedom.

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A 10-second MBA from a man who runs a 9-fig holding company with 7-8 portfolio companies:

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So, this is one very great video for entrepreneurs, business builders, investors… I think about it often.

In 2012, Deadmau5 (the world famous DJ) listened to a random vocal that someone did on his track. He decided to give it a listen.

10 seconds in, the moment that changed the folk's life.

Deadmau5 couldn’t keep his excitement in…

“Motherf%cker…It is so good…I am impressed right here.”

“It's got the theme and everything...he f%cking nailed it.”

He has a big smile on his face and almost starts to cry.

He listens another 2-3 times…

“Let’s do it. I'm about to begin this man's whole career"

“I’ll give you writing. I give you everything. Give your number. Dude let’s do it. That just made the track. That is amazing. It is really good.”

He listens once again.

“Done, let’s make it a track. My management listens to this — they're gonna sh%t themselves.”

They then released the track and it blew up.

Many say it’s Deadmau5’s best song.

The beautiful moment in music history.

This story I find so cool because it inspires other entrepreneurs to share what they build.

We all can all connect with the fear of showing our work. It ain't easy.

And to have unique skills like the artist on the video. Easy to copy, harder to have something unique.

Don't waste hours on packaging. Spend time living an interesting life, so that you have something interesting to say.

My point of sharing this video:

Be proudly yourself and share your journey publicly.

A LOT of people are interested in what you do.

So you can become famous within your bubble.

And a closed mouth doesn't get fed anyway.

Once you share all your – wins / losses / learnings / lessons – you'll magically notice that the more content you create, the luckier you get.

Your fans will know what articles to send you. What deals to invite you into. What event tickets to give you. What investor introductions to make.

Only good things happen.

So go for it.

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When it comes to acquiring a small $2-10m revenue niche business, the goal is simple:

Take a good idea and build it to scale—add resources and support where needed and just let organic growth occur where it has not.

The idea of building from small scale to large, is very exciting.

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How to get better at what you do?

One measure is financial – money.

There is one that is even more valuable…

People.

And making a positive impact on people.

How to measure it?

1. People want to work with you.

2. People want to partner with you.

This doesn't mean they will buy from you or invest in every deal you do. No, it doesn't work that way.

It’s more about the following:

• Do they take the time to listen to you?

• Do they read your emails and the monthly updates you send them?

• Do they reach out  and ask how you've been?

• Will they help you with an introduction if you need it?

• Will they find that 15 minutes out of their busy schedule to answer your specific questions that you had for them?

Because…

That's the ONLY thing that matters.

There will be dozens, even hundreds of conversations and interactions before money ever changes hands – whether it's a purchase of a product or service or an investment.

Building real trust takes a long time to build.

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Both poker and business teach you that low-probability events happen all the time, and you only win by continuing to play the game.

In poker, you can be like a 9-1 underdog against the top guys and still beat them! Same in business.

The beauty of entrepreneurship and poker.

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How has been the week in the small private equity world?

Last week I said I was having a meeting with the wholesale business:

We give it another try this week.

Consumer loan company (modena.ee)

In addition to the 3 ongoing DDs, I signed an NDA with a European fund that wants to put $1-5 million into our bonds. I sent them all the information they needed to make a decision.

We'll see how it goes, I'll keep you posted.

From May 1 to 15. We issue bonds publicly on following terms:

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With an outstanding reinvestor on your team, even an ordinary business can become a remarkable compounding machine.

Talked to a boring biz owner over the weekend, he sells trucks and makes about $400-$500k a year. That's how it's been for the last 10 years.

He said what made him wealthy wasn't the truck business but his reinvestments from those profits.

1. Startups (he has 2 homeruns out of 9 investments.)

2. Early investments in traditional service-based businesses in his town

"I'm lucky and that's all."

It turns out that he runs a very average company, but ALL of his above-average returns came from his reinvestments.

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Picking one specific industry or skill is better than trying to catch trends:

You can’t predict where your big opportunity or $20 million exit will come from — so pick one thing and figure out how to win at that.

Where can you be a big fish in a small pond? Get momentum winning in that small bond, then expand into the next bigger pond, and so on.

If you learn how to win at one thing, you’ll know how to win at your next thing.

If your current thing struggles, then learn and pivot, until you learn how/where to win.

Let go of knowing what the answer is ahead of time  — if you’re spreading yourself across multiple things, you’re just diluting yourself.

All this is VERY easy to say and write. VERY hard to do. That’s why you need to be able to ignore expectations of quick success. Just keep taking baby steps to keep moving.

Take care,

Mikk Markus / PrivatEquityGuy

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This week’s podcast:

The Cashflow King: “Here’s How I Acquired 8 Companies By Age Of 32 While Traveling To 20 Countries”

Here is the dream story of many entrepreneurs:

Owning a business that generates so much free cash flow that you can invest in/acquire 8 businesses.

I’d even call him Andrew Wilkinson Jr…

Started in 2017…

Today there are 8 companies in his portfolio.

We discuss:

• Building a list of companies to acquire

• Finding the absolute best off-market deals

• Growing businesses 2-3 times in 18 months

• A 30-day post-acquisition action plan

• One book that changed his life forever

(Links to Spotify, Apple Podcast and YT can be found in the comment section below.)

Thanks a lot for following the journey.