How Cameron Sold His 5 Companies For $100,000,000+

How Cameron Sold His 5 Companies For $100,000,000+ | Disruptors Podcast

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Cameron Boden: When the investor pulled out, I literally thought my life was over. I looked at him as, like, a huge figure of, like, validation because I've always suffered from just in my worthy, like, am I enough? And I'll never forget it. I called him, and I was like, dude, my life's I was little I was crying like a little kid, man. My life's over, man.

Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. And he said, Cameron, I've been trying to teach you this principle for the past six months now. Now that it's actually happening in your life, you will see that everything always works out. And I was just like, screw you, man. Like, how can you say that right now?

Like, I started all these companies. I shut them down. 4,000,000 in debt. I don't know if I'm gonna recover from this. Everything always works out.

Watch. And so, like, that's the best lesson I ever learned is everything always works out.

Steve Trang: Welcome, Welcome, and thank you for joining us for today's episode of disruptors where millionaires are made. Today, we have Cameron Boden with Hype Farms one percent club. And Cameron is another Phoenix local, and he's here to talk about how he sold multiple companies for over a $100,000,000. Now, guys, you know, I'm gonna mention create a 100 millionaires. The information on the show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire.

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Cameron: Let's go.

Steve: Alright. So super excited, to have you here. We didn't really meet that long ago.

Cameron: Right.

Steve: It's only a few days ago. But, Jeff connected us, and I thought, man, like, everyone needs to hear.

Cameron: I wanna hear that story, how that happened. I like

Steve: How I connected with Jeff?

Cameron: Yeah. Like, and then what Jeff said to get like, it's just such a funny thing.

Steve: Well, I mean so I show up to home services, was it Freedom Home Service?

Cameron: Yeah. Freedom Home Service event. Yeah.

Steve: Yes. Right. So I show up there. I'm there with Brian Apples. So if you guys watched the show a few weeks ago with Brian Apples with Floridaddy Okay.

He says, hey. You know, I'm telling him, hey. I'm doing these AI services, sales training. I like to break into home services. He's like, well, I'm going to Tommy's event in Vegas.

Why don't you go with me? Yeah. I'll get you in for VIP. I was like, okay. Done.

Cameron: That's fun.

Steve: Right. Let me go ahead and cancel my other trip to Dallas because we're supposed to be in Dallas for another event.

Cameron: Oh, dang. Okay.

Steve: So I searched my flights, go over there, and find out, like, couldn't get me VIP.

Cameron: Can't even get you in because they sold out.

Steve: Well, he got me in, but I couldn't get in the VIP because the fire marshal was on his way. Okay. Right? That's so I show up. I check-in, and Jeff is sitting there.

Right? And he's like Oh,

Cameron: because he didn't have a ticket.

Steve: He didn't have a ticket. So I'm sitting there. I'm checking, and he's like, you're Steve Trang. I was like, yes. I am.

Cameron: Right? Yeah.

Steve: And so he introduces himself. I was like, oh, yeah. Like, that's cool. Like, because he's also right up the street. He's in Mesa.

Yeah. Right? We were talking this and that, and, he couldn't get in that first, half a day.

Cameron: Yeah.

Steve: I eventually got in. But then we were talking, while I'm there, and he's like, hey. Like, you know Cameron? Like, no. I don't Yeah.

Who's Cameron? He's like Yeah. He's the Green Mango guy. He's like, I know those trucks. Yeah.

Right? Like, I know I talked to Green Mango when I used to go to, like, the Chandler Chamber of Commerce events. Yeah.

Cameron: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Right? I'm going I was showing up as a realtor talking about, like, short sales. Right? It's a long time ago. Yeah.

Right? And and I remember the Green Mango guy is like, yeah. You know, I do pest control. I was like, okay. Cool.

And then after he tells me what he does in Green Mango, you know how this works. You see those trucks everywhere.

Cameron: Right. Right.

Steve: Right? So it's

Cameron: Especially if you're in Chandler, where our office is.

Steve: So after that, I was like, so I said, it's the Green Mango guy. I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. I'd be happy to Yeah.

Cameron: Get the guys So that's the first point of contact day one Yeah. With Jeff.

Steve: Yeah. So and then, on the third day, you know, I'm kinda hanging out. Like, it's it's died down a little bit. Like, some of the people are they're leaving after lunch. Like, I think that's just probably how they plan, maybe their East Coast or whatever.

Yeah. So people are hanging out, on the on the afternoon or third day, and I see him. And I'm I'm mingling, right, trying to find someone who'd be interested in AI and sales. Yeah. He's like, hey.

Like, Cameron's, invited me told me I can bring up anyone up if they wanna, you know, meet. And I was like, okay. Again? Like Yeah. I'll check him out.

I'll check. I'll see what this is.

Cameron: So funny, man.

Steve: And then, I show up, and the view from your room is ridiculous. Right? So, you know, like, because when you fly in

Cameron: sick. Yeah.

Steve: Right? You could see the Mandalay Bay. It was really cool to see from the other side. Right. You see Mandalay Bay Yeah.

People flying in.

Cameron: Right.

Steve: But, anyway, this isn't about me. It's about you. So, you sold multiple companies. And the reason why I think this is so important is because I wanna put an endpoint here, like, the punctuation from, like, there are a lot of people here, that listen to the show that are in the middle of the journey. Yeah.

Building a company, maybe one day I can sell it. Some of the people are watching to, like, maybe I can get into the business. Yeah. But we don't have a lot of people like, I'm do I've done the business. I've sold the business, and I'm doing it again.

Yeah. Right? Which is a very fascinating, concept. So let's just go ahead and jump right into it. Yeah.

Right? So how did you get into your very first home service, business?

Cameron: Yeah. So to understand that, I I went on a miss I'm I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Mhmm.

Steve: And

Cameron: when you turn 19, you go on a mission for your church for two years.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And up until that point, like, my whole life is planned out for me. Like, hey. You're gonna go to high school. You're gonna get your Eagle Scout. You're gonna do this.

You're gonna go on your mission, you know, and then you go on your mission, then you come home.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And that was the first time I'm in my life where it was like, I didn't have a plan. Yeah. My plan was to do real estate because that's what my dad did. My dad showed people large parcels of land by air in a helicopter. And for the last couple years, like, we were pretty broke up until, like, my sophomore year of of, high school.

And then my dad started making a ton of money. Had the helicopter showing real investors. I was like, dude, that looks fun. Yeah. And so when I was 16, I went and got all my licenses, my single engine, my multi, my instrument, and my, my helicopter.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so the plan was when I got home from my mission, I'm gonna do real estate like my dad. But when I got home, it was 2009, and the market was trash. If you didn't have any money. If you had money, best time to get into it. But I didn't have any money.

Steve: Especially land.

Cameron: Yes. So a lot of return missionaries get recruited to go work, you know, do door to door. We're used to getting told no.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so I was no different. As soon as I got home, I was introduced to a couple buddies, which now they're my best friends.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: I'm like, hey. We're working for this pest control company. Come and recruit with us. And you don't make any money. It was just like, hey.

Recruit. We're gonna go at this time, it was, like, October, November. Mhmm. The summer sale starts, like, May, June when people get out of school. Yeah.

So for, like, three or four months, I was just, like, watching my buddy recruit. And what was cool, Jason, who owned Moxie Pest Control, just gave us a credit card and was like, here. Go I just need bodies. I like, come May, just make sure people are here. So we were flying the plane around, like, doing all these basketball tournaments, handing out t shirts, like, eating at all these nice steak restaurants, all this stuff.

And I was just like, this is crazy. You know?

Steve: All covered by the company card.

Cameron: This is all covered by company card. You know?

Steve: Wow. And

Cameron: I was your worst nightmare because right before the summer, I'm like, this isn't for me. I wasn't looking for a summer sales job. I was looking for a career.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: And although Jason Walton, who owns Moxie, was like, hey. There's you know, if you do this, this, and this, I'll consider you as a partner to go open up a branch. Mhmm. Like, there's a lot of, like, this, this, and that. Right?

Steve: Career path. So if you went and knocked on doors for a summer

Cameron: It could. Like, I would have to knock a couple summers, and I'd have to be a top rep. And even then, like, like, he might like you, he might not. And then who knows what location you'd get sent to. It's like, I love Arizona.

My whole family's here. And it just wasn't the right path for me. And so I stopped. I told my my buddy who got me into it. I'm like, hey.

You go ahead. I'm gonna stay here, figure things out. I started a a mobile car washing business that summer Mhmm. And quickly realized, like, dude, I do not wanna wash cars in Arizona summertime. Right?

And my buddy came back that that summer. So this was, you know, this is 2010, you know, probably around August, September, and he's like, I'm gonna start a pest control company, and I want you to do it. I'm like, no, man. I'm good. Like, no.

Thank you. And my buddy who I've ended up partnering with is one of the greatest salesman ever. Like, he's just like, dude, I'm a marketing and branding guy. I can tell you're like, he saw something in me that I didn't even see myself at the beginning, and this is why I love him, is that, like, he saw me as a systems and operations guy.

Steve: Got it.

Cameron: And he's like, I'm not that. I need that. And he's like, you need me because you're not creative. You're not you know, you don't understand, like, the touch and feel of things. And, he's like, we're gonna start the I'm gonna start this pest control company.

It's called Green Mango. And I'm like, dude, that name is so dumb. Like, what do you you know, like, green may like, what is this? You know? Anyways to you.

Steve: I got some questions about that brand, but we'll continue.

Cameron: Anyways, he's a great salesman. And October for like, 10/01/2010, we knocked our first door. Mhmm. And literally, like, he brought a truck to the table. I brought a truck to the table, and we started knocking.

And that's it.

Steve: October 2010, two trucks.

Cameron: Yep. That's the beginning of the business. Yep.

Steve: Alright. So, so we decided the the car washing things out.

Cameron: Car washing things out. I sold that business for, like, $8 and bought my wife a wedding ring, like, which is so dumb, but, like, that's what I did.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So so you start knocking on doors. How was that?

Cameron: So selling religion and selling pest control is completely different, and I realize that very quickly. And so what was cool is, like, Dusty, my business partner, is one of the greatest salesmen, like I said. Mhmm. I would I got to shadow him for for eight months, twelve months, and just watch how he would just Mhmm. Control the conversation at the door.

And I became like I was a shy, reserved person. Like, even after the mission, like, before the mission, like, no thing. I could not have a conversation with you. After the mission, it's like, yeah. He's doing alright.

But then it's like, go try and talk a mom or a dad into buying a, you know, a year contract on the door. Like, good luck. You know? And so I just watched Dusty and and, you know, I I was able to become one of the greatest salesman in door to door. Like, I'm knocking I've knocked for six years straight.

I've had multiple ten days. I I figured it out, but it was just by being intentional and watching. And I didn't know the foreshadowing that would come to play in that sense. But it's like I got to shadow one of the best salesman in the world. I got to duplicate it.

I got to replicate what, like, made me and, you know, me with my with, like, Dusty's twist but my twist as well and then just go kill it. And it was it was, like, a lot of fun to overcome that that first objection in life. Like, hey, if we're gonna make payroll, I have to sell at least four accounts a day on the doors period. And that's what I did.

Steve: You say multiple ten days. Does that mean, like, ten days ten

Cameron: Ten. Days? Yeah. So, like, in the door to door world, it's probably not a big deal any anymore. But, like, back in 2010, like, it was, like, it was pretty pretty unique to be able to sell 10 accounts in one day, let alone, like, do it.

So we would go like, we were technicians well as well. Like, we wore every hat. We were the tags. We were the routing manager. So we'd do all that until 04:00, and then we'd go knock doors from four till 10:00 at night.

And so, like, my claim to night. Yeah. My claim to fame was, like, 10 accounts in, like, five hours or whatever it was.

Steve: Yeah. So Yeah. I got a so my mentor, when I first got into business, was also LDS.

Cameron: Okay.

Steve: Obviously, his brother was. And, yeah, all they did was they would they were all in Tempe, and they all meet in Tempe, and they're all getting, like, trucks and vans and drive to Sun City, right, Sun City West. Yep. And they would just sell cable and Internet all day Yeah. And the security.

All day every day. And that's all they did. Yeah. It's like, this is the business. Like, that's it.

They just get in cars, trucks. They just knock on doors. Yeah. So that's what you guys did.

Cameron: I mean, that's what we did with the salesman. Unfortunately, if you're the owner, you have to you have to do a lot more than that. Mhmm. But, yeah, we, like, we bought a short bus, spray painted it flat black. We'd haul all of our salesman out to areas in a in a short bus.

Steve: Yeah. So now that, you know, you moved on from the company, I'm I'm I'm just curious. Green Mango.

Cameron: Yeah.

Steve: What was the idea behind that?

Cameron: So my business partner, Dusty, who who came up with the name, he sir he also served a mission in Brazil. Mhmm. And sometime I love Dusty. Sometimes he's a little he's a little dramatic. He's like, look, man.

When I was on my mission, I lived off of of off of mangoes. It's my way of life. Mhmm.

Steve: It's

Cameron: like how I survived. I didn't eat anything else. You know? It's like, our company, Green Mango, like, it's gonna be how we live off. Like, that's what we're gonna live off of in life.

And so, like, that's where the mango came from. The green in 2010, like, the industry was the nasty burns orking guy showing up in, like, a molester van with, like, an oil stain in your driveway, like, nasty beard, Carhartt shirt, like, just, like, overweight. Like, it was a grungy industry. Right? And and, like, this is when, like, natural organic products were starting to become popular.

Steve: Yes. And

Cameron: so we're like, dude, we're gonna name it green to give that, like, fresh, nice feel. Like, we're gonna change the industry. And what's cool is, like, we didn't know it at the time. Like, that was just that was a cool idea. Mhmm.

And now when you look at all most service companies in Arizona, like, they've tried to duplicate what we've done with our multiple service companies. That is, like, bring a nice fresh look to the industry. Like, no longer is it okay to show up in, like, a stock, nasty truck with, like, an overweight technician.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: You gotta be wearing Nike. You gotta be wearing, you know, slim fit pants, dry fit, gloves, like like, the whole nine yards, you know, custom wheels on the work trucks, like, things like that. Yeah. That's what we changed. And so our brand, like, a lot of credit to my business partner, like, took.

People love the clean look of Green Mango, and the name stuck. Like, people loved it.

Steve: Now that you mention it, that makes total sense. It has been a while since I've seen a molester van.

Cameron: It is a while. Hey, you know, maybe we'll bring it back now.

Steve: Okay. So now Green Mang, that was the first one you started. Yeah. Okay. So what was that like?

I mean, was it, like, a hit right out of the gate? Was there, like, what the heck are we doing?

Cameron: No, man. We made so many mistakes. Like, I laugh. One of the when you know, because now we're doing consulting, and we'll get into that. But, like, we didn't we didn't spend the money on a CRM, a customer management software.

Right? Like, we ran our billing off of a spreadsheet, and I didn't know how to do spreadsheets. And so, like, we didn't bill our customers for multiple months at a time. Like, every horror story you could imagine, didn't go to college, never worked for another person in my whole life. Like, there's like, the deck was stacked against me, and so I had to pay for all my lessons.

And that's what happened. Like, you name it, I guarantee I've been through it in business. And so, like, the first six years and I'm not proud of this. Like, I didn't make any money at Green Mango. Didn't take a dime.

And part of that was because we're investing a lot back into the business, but a lot of that because there was no money there. Like, I remember about four or five years in. So the second year, my dad invested into the company $75 originally.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And we wanted to run a door team. And so we went to him and said, hey. We need to front commissions for a door to door team. Can you loan us $75? Well, that 75 turned into over $220,000 because, again, we didn't know what we were doing, and we put on more accounts than than we originally anticipated, which is a good thing.

Right? But those first, like, by year 2015, so five years in, I remember being in Maricopa. It's a 115 degrees outside. I'm spraying out of this piece of crap Kia Soul, and it's hot. I'm allergic to the chemicals, like, that that we use because when you're spraying it, once they form, it's, microencapsulated.

But when you're spraying it, like, you can smell everything. And and, like, I'm highly allergic. So, like, my eyes are red. Like, all, like, all the things. Right?

I'm on a three way call with my dad and my business partner, Dusty, and we're like, hey, dad. I'm so sorry that this didn't work. Like, if if someone will give us $220,000 to pay you back, like, we're gonna sell the business, and we're gonna get rid of this. Mhmm. And luckily, no one would pay us $220 for the company.

Yeah. And so we I I didn't wanna let my dad down. We had no option but to continue on with just showing up every single day, and that's all we knew how to do. And Yeah. And luckily, we just kept showing up, and we kept getting better and better.

And 2016, 2017, we transitioned from the doors to traditional marketing, and that's when we exploded.

Steve: So all this time, first, you hadn't started a second company yet? No. Or I guess technically, this is your second. You haven't started a third company yet. Yeah.

You never went to college? No. So you're not even a college dropout. You just didn't even go. No.

Which is probably better than college dropout. I don't know. So you legit were you were learning every lesson through the hard knocks. Yeah. Was there, like, a group?

Were there, communities? Were there is there anything, like, no one else? Like, was there anyone else you're comparing notes with, like, in, pest control, alarm cells?

Cameron: I mean, maybe there was, but I was either too dumb to pay attention or what like, I feel like people and this is why it's so cool, like, now with what people are doing and what we're what we're doing is, like, we're we share everything. And that wasn't part like, I feel like Tommy Mello was the first person that came out and was like, here's my bag of tricks. Like, go. That's why I love Tommy so much, and that only happened within the last three or four years. Mhmm.

Before that, like, no one wanted to share their tips and tricks because they felt like, oh, if I share this, then they'll we'll take market share.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so, like, everything was really tight knit. Like, you could even if I wanted to get into that group, like, no one's sharing with me how they're really doing things. Things.

Steve: So five years in, it's like, this is awful.

Cameron: Yeah. I don't know how do you make money.

Steve: Yeah. What were some other like, what would you say were the top two or three moments where you're like, I can't believe, like, we did this.

Cameron: Like, once we actually did it?

Steve: No. Before then. Like, before before we figure things out, like, it's five years of suffering.

Cameron: Yeah. I did.

Steve: You didn't pay yourself for five years. Like or some other things you're like, I can't believe we did this. Like, if we didn't do this, we'd be in a better spot. Or

Cameron: I mean, the CRM was, like, number one. When we figured out, like, dude, if we're gonna make money at this business, like, we gotta bill our customers. How dumb are we? You know? Like, we're trying to track our customer search customers on a on a spreadsheet.

Mhmm. So, like, that was, like, the first one. Like, what are we doing? And then we are so attached to having this premium amazing brand that, like, there's multiple times and pictures that I have of me in my mom's garage with heaters where we're wrapping our own trucks. Like, we're taking the door handles off, and we're we're wrapping them flat black because we care about that.

And, like, those are just all the times where we're like, what it like like, what business owner spends time to wrap their own trucks? Like, imagine if we were knocking towards at that period or training a CSR of how to answer the calls or, like, do the billing of the business and all those little things. So Yeah.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So, thankfully, no one bought the company.

Cameron: Yep.

Steve: Did you guys even try listing it?

Cameron: I don't remember exactly, like, what we did, but, like, yeah, we were trying to, like who, like, who wants this? Like, please, you know, like, I don't know what we did. But, yeah, we definitely were trying to get rid of it.

Steve: Okay. But then at some point, you have an epiphany. Hey. What do we try marketing instead of door knocking?

Cameron: So our first break into traditional marketing, we are friends with, Nathan, who owns the zero res

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Carpet cleaning here. And we were talking to him like, hey. We need to figure out because Dusty and I were wearing every single hat. Like, we were the salesman at night. We were the billing manager in the morning.

We were the customer service rep. We were the router. We were everything. But we, like,

Steve: had just two of you at that point.

Cameron: Like, we had a couple technicians and maybe one one girl by February like, '14, 15 with door to door summer salesmen. And those of you that know summer sales, you know, like, they're just a bunch of children. Mhmm. Like, we really are a bunch of children that need babysitted. Like, they need to be babysat.

Steve: Yeah. And

Cameron: so we are having horrible turnover rate with our salesman because Dusty and I weren't fulfilling their needs that they needed to come back.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: Because we just one, we're not that great at it anyways, but, two, like, we're just wearing 10 hats. Like, we couldn't. Normal companies have a designated recruiter, sales manager, sales trainer, like, you know, fulfillment culture guy. And so we're like, dude, we can't keep up with this. And, by the way, paying $500 for a customer that pays us $600 on the year and not making any money the first year, let alone two years on this customer, like, something has to change.

Our acquisition cost was through the roof. Yeah. So with all that going on, like, we were talking to Nathan who owned this marketing company. I think it was PathTap is the company name. They're not in business anymore.

We're like, hey, bro. Like, we need help. Like, we need a we need to crack this code. One night, he called us and said, hey. John Jay from +1 047, John Jay and Rich Show.

He has ants at his house. You guys need to get out there tonight. His bug man told him he can't come out for two days. He's like, I promise you, John Jay and Rich was a game changer for us at Zero Rez. You need to get out there right now.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Dusty is, like, the closest one, runs out there, hits it off with John Jay at his house. Right? Like Yeah. The next morning, John Jay goes on, and this is the spot that no one that you can't pay for. This is when they're just on the radio riffing about what happened.

You can't buy this. Like, they're just talking as as the show. Right? John Jay is like, dude, this bug guy came out. You know?

His name's Dusty Green Mingle. Great Mormon guy, you know, does this thing and talks about us for, like, ten minutes.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Our phone blew up. Like, twenty twenty I say blew up blow up. Like, it was a big deal for us. 20 accounts in one day. Yeah.

For us, doing 20 accounts on one in one night and one day with the door team was like, it was a big deal. We averaged 10 to 15 with, like, 12 guys. So they do 20. And here's the thing, dude. People are calling us saying, we wanna sign up.

Mhmm. Like, we're not having to overcome objections with, like, other companies. I gotta talk to my spouse. Like, you know, all these things. Like, the easiest lay down sells you could imagine.

Mhmm. And Dusty and I were just sitting there these

Steve: are orders taken.

Cameron: These are thank you. Careful salesman and house salesman.

Steve: I was just gonna

Cameron: we're like, dude, we gotta figure this out. We don't have any money. The radio contract's $250,000. K? Wow.

And we're like, we have we have to do it. And so I'll never forget sitting down doing our dumb math with the calculator. We're like, hey. If we close seven accounts a day, we should be good. You know?

Like, let's go sign the contract, and we did it, man. Like

Steve: So with one zero four seven? Yeah. So John Jay gives you guys, signature praises, 20 accounts. And with that, that was enough to go sign a $250,000 contract.

Cameron: Enough evidence that, like, hey. Something here could happen. Yeah. Twenty twenty accounts was enough to pay for it by any means.

Steve: Of course not.

Cameron: But it was like, I think something's here. Yeah. And so, again, like, for two years, like

Steve: I love it. It's a bit of a gamble, but I love it.

Cameron: It's a huge like, looking back, I'm like, man, gosh, this is crazy. But so then it was like, I put on the salesman hat, and I closed, you know, 30 to 40 accounts a day. Okay. And I, like, I look back and I wanna puke because I probably wasted so many leads because I I literally couldn't keep up with how many leads were coming in.

Steve: Like, I

Cameron: didn't again, I didn't hire the CRM. I didn't have all the tools out there now, all the AI stuff that could have been, like, you know, create funnels for customers. I didn't answer. And it was just, like, it was crazy for two like, you know, we were doing 10,000 accounts a year. It was insane.

And, like, and when I say a year, like, most of that coming from, like, May when the crazy thing about pest control in Arizona, as soon as it hits a 100 degrees, like, it's on. So depending on the weather, but usually mid May, sometimes June till, like, October, like, it's game on. And we throw we throw on, like, 10 eight, ten thousand accounts this summer.

Steve: Wow. So it was a bit of a gamble?

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: When did you know, like, you know, like, day one, like, this is gonna pay off?

Cameron: I don't know, man. No. I don't I mean, I'm sure there's, like it was so long ago now. It was, like, over ten years ago. I mean, we kept the contract.

So, like, within the first month, I I mean, we could have canceled it if we wanted to, but we obviously kept it going. So it was doing something.

Steve: Where did you come up with the $2.50?

Cameron: We we did the we did the dummy math. Like, hey. If we close this menu every single day, we're good to go, and it worked.

Steve: Right. But, like, was soon It

Cameron: wasn't upfront. No. It was month it was every month.

Steve: Okay. Yeah. Alright. So then you Like,

Cameron: $20 a month. Did it

Steve: come up with 20 k? Because, I mean, you guys were poor, right, at this point? You go back to dad? Or No.

Cameron: Yeah. No. We we we've, like, we were figuring out just enough there to where it's like, yeah. Like, if we do I I think it was seven accounts a day. If we do seven accounts a day, at our current profit margins, we'll have this much money to pay the $20 each month.

Steve: Oh, so it was like it was doing 30. Yeah. So you're like, alright. We gotta hustle.

Cameron: Oh, yeah. Oh, our backs were against the wall.

Steve: Okay. Well, that's great. So then, obviously, that worked. So then after that, you finally got a C around. Is that what you said?

Cameron: Probably not till, like, two years later. I'll never forget, like, we're in the we're in the car and, I was taking the calls. I was with I was with Dusty and, like, I didn't close an account. And he, like, ripped me a new one because I'm like, alright, man. I should I tried my best.

You know, like, come to find out, you know, like, a 80% is a really good close rate.

Steve: Oh, yeah. Okay. So what were what were the big next steps after that? Because, like alright. So you're crushing it, you know, 10,000 accounts and so on, whatever, per month, you said?

Eight to 10,000

Cameron: accounts. Yeah.

Steve: Okay. So you're you're doing well there. What were the other lessons along the way?

Cameron: That's when I finally started to I had to figure out how to delegate. I had to figure out how to create managers. I had to figure out how to del you know, delegate to other people. Mhmm. And so that's when the service managers came.

That's when sales I ran the sales for a long time. I didn't take that hat off for a while, but, like, the routers, the billing specialists, all that. Like, we had to quickly get that infrastructure in place. And that's when I started making money for the first time. But it's that's what so fun is like.

As soon as I started delegating and, like, and, you know, giving people acknowledgment and, you know, giving them that that freedom and credibility to go, like, that's when we started making money, which is the biggest problem for entrepreneurs, as you know.

Steve: Yeah. So then did you have, at that point, hire consultants to, like, figure this out? No.

Cameron: We're still just doing yeah. We're still just doing it.

Steve: We're just making up roles. Yep. Like, you just you just do this. Yeah. You go do that.

That's kinda how that went.

Cameron: Yep.

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Cameron: Yeah. What I found with hiring is, once you get to a certain size, like, over 20 techs, it's easy to be like, hey, guys. Like, tell your friends that we're hiring. Like, come on. But before under that, like, it's almost impossible.

Indeed, as we got bigger, was a game changer for us. Mhmm. And so the like, the hire hiring is always a challenge with with employees. And we can go deep down into that how I feel like we I don't wanna say mastered it, but how we got really good at it.

Steve: Let's talk about your biggest blunders, and then we'll talk about how we fixed it. Yeah. But hiring, what were your biggest mistakes?

Cameron: Well, forever, we thought we looked at pest control as, like, an entry level position rather than a career. And so, naturally, we would go after 16, 17 year olds. Well, 16, 17 year olds don't have any responsibilities in life besides maybe a cell phone bill.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so who do you think is calling out most of the time? Those 16 or 17 year olds. Who do you think is texting and driving? Who do you think is, you know, no showing grouts? Like, all the things.

Right? And so, well, I didn't learn that hard lesson until probably, like, three or four years. Probably, like, 2017, which would have been seven years in. Our insurance carrier came to us and said, we are not auto renewing you. We're getting in, like, two accidents a month right now.

Because it just boneheads texting and driving young guys. They said, look. The only way we will auto renew you is if you only hire people with five years of driving experience. And I thought our life was over because no one was over 21 at our as a technician driving. But it it was the best thing in the whole world because we had to change our pay to attract a little bit more.

We had to, you know, change our culture. We had to do a bunch of changes to now attract 21 year olds plus. And now guess what? Like, our attrition went down for employees. Our tenure for customers went up, and, like, the accidents went down, you know, all the little things.

And so, like, that was our first big mistake, is hiring the right wrong person.

Steve: Two accidents a month. So, like It was So I have my brokerage. Right? I had my brokerage.

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: And one of the things that just happens having having a brokerage, because we had a a had over a 100 realtors. Like, every other year, someone's getting sued for, like, wage garnishment. Yeah. That was just kinda what it is. Right?

And then, like, the first couple of times, like, this is really stressful. And after I was like, I guess, this is just cost of being a broker. Yeah. And it kinda sounds like that was your experience. It's just two accidents a month.

It's like every other week, we just got in car accidents.

Cameron: Yeah. I had a system put in place so perfectly. So when an accident happened, I didn't even hear about it, but it was like, edge. I guess this is what happens when you have, you know, a 100 trucks on the road.

Steve: They have an SOP or car accidents.

Cameron: Yep. And which you should have anyways, but, like, yeah, it it got bad, man.

Steve: Okay. So that was a big, change. What were some other big changes in your, big mistakes that you you learned from?

Cameron: During that first, like, couple years? Yeah. Some big mistakes, man. We were, I I think I think the biggest mistake was that, but also the systems and the policies not put into place. That's what I learned the most.

We are always crazy about our service. We are a little bit too crazy about our quality, like, to a point where we would just fire a technician immediately if he made, like, one mistake rather than, like, trying to train them. Mhmm. I think that's that's, like, where we miss the boat a

Steve: lot. Yeah.

Cameron: Is that, like, hey. If we actually have a decent training program, like, one, these guys will actually have a better success rate. But, two, like, we I'm not jumping back on the truck again. I'd fire someone because I'd so I'd so frustrate them. Well, guess what?

That route needs to be taken care of, and so who's jumping on that truck? I would. And so that's why I was on the truck for over six years at Green Mango. Finally, it was like, hey. If you make a mistake, I'm gonna find your replacement before I tell you I'm firing you.

And, like, it sounds so basic, but, like, those little things save you as a business owner and then having to jump back in.

Steve: Got it. So then, you said now you're really good at hiring. So what do you do in your hiring process that, you know, you feel like separates you guys?

Cameron: Yeah. So I I got I mean, I love when I came into this podcast, you guys have my name on the front. So, like, it started with well, it starts with the ad. Right? And so, like, what are you putting on your ad?

What like, what is the actual copy of it? Like, you need to be very intentional with that. So that's number one. The touch point after that. So once they hit submit on Indeed or wherever you're getting your applications from, you have to put yourself in that person's shoes.

They're probably applying to 10 other companies. Right. So one of the things that I love about what we did is we we filmed a hype video that got them excited about the company. I would get on there. It's a short thirty to sixty second video, and it'd be like, here's here's what we're about.

Showing the truck, showing the culture, talking about the pay, talking about the office, talking about our swag. Like, here's who we are. Get excited. And then when and so that would be, like, the first touch point. So, like, I I I'll never forget, like, explaining it to my HR manager.

Like, imagine you're this technician that needs a job. You just submitted your resume to 10 companies because this is the problem is, like, we would we would have 10 people say, like, they're gonna show up tomorrow, and only two would show up. Mhmm. Well, why is that? Because someone else, like, was more attractive to them, and that's where they went.

So if I'm sitting at my desk at home, I submit my resume, and I get this sick hype hype video, and I get a contact within a couple minutes, just like a lead like a sales lead happens, like, our chances of that person showing up go up automatically. So that's how we improved our show rate for the person actually saying, hey. I'm coming in for the interview. Mhmm. Then when they come in, how do they feel?

I'll never forget when we first went into iHeartRadio Station, when we signed with 1047. As soon as we came off the elevator, two huge 65 inch screens, welcome green mango, Cameron, and Dusty Williams. And it was like, dude, like, simple. I felt so cool. I felt so good.

When I walked in today, it's like, dude, it's sick. I took up you know, it's like, welcome. You know? Yeah. And, like, so, like, making it personal for them Mhmm.

And then having the right person give them the tour. If you have a boring HR manager that's, like, old and nasty and whatever, like, hey. Welcome to Green Mango. Like, can't wait to have you. Like, how's that like, who wants to work there?

You know?

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: I would train my office people. When we walk through the office with someone that you don't know, I want you to get up. If you're not on the phone, shake their hand, welcome them, you know, make a little small talk with them. Like, I always I always tell people, like, yeah, Matt, you we all know what it's like to be in elementary school, going to the cafeteria. You have your tray in your hand, and, like, you're looking for your buddy's, you know, lunch table.

It's embarrassing. It's uncomfortable. It's all the things. That's how people fill their first day of work, their first day when they come into an interview. And then give them a little bit of swag.

Make it so they remember us. Like, set the tone right now of who we are. And so a combination of, like, all those little things made it so that, like, we set the tone right away. People showed up for it. Not everyone, but, like, again Yeah.

There's no perfect recipe, but, like, it increased our odds of hiring the right person, hiring that, having that person show up for the interview, and then actually bringing them on board.

Steve: And it makes you more desirable. It's like, I hope I get that job. Yeah. I hope they call me back versus, like, the other ones. Like, well, they call me.

I'm like, great.

Cameron: Right.

Steve: Yeah. I love that. So and then you continue Green Mango. Right? So, like, you figured out the radio.

You you got a business. You got people working there now. How much longer was it until you actually sold Green Mango and few other companies?

Cameron: So I just actually GreenMango in 2024. Started in 2010, so it's fourteen years total. 2018 and this is what's so funny. It's like 2015, 2016, started making money, made good money. 2016 to 2018 and thought I figured it all out.

I'm the smart guy. You know? It's like, let's start some more. Everyone's asking us, hey. Why don't you guys do pool service?

Why don't you guys do alarms? Why don't you do solar? Why don't you do windshields, the carpet cleaning? So we're like, we started five companies in eighteen months. And it was, like, it was crazy, man.

Steve: Five companies? Okay. So maybe a little distracted. A lot of distracted. And we all struggle with this, right, as entrepreneurs.

So, like, people that are watching, you know, the show right now, like, a lot of them are gonna be real estate focused. Mhmm. A lot of them. But we all can have our eyes over here over there.

Cameron: And the grass is always greener.

Steve: Right? I mean, I'll tell you. Like, hanging out with Bryant when I was in Vegas, I have I was suffering. I don't know what you call it. Like, you know, it's not quite shiny object syndrome.

It's not quite grass is greener. I'm looking at this room. I was like, what if I was just doing home services for the last twenty years? It's like real estate. Where would I be?

Yeah. Right? But I also know, like, I hate working with my hands, so, like, I never would've gotten into it. But there's this element of, like, hey. What's going over here?

What if I tried this? Yeah. Right? So you did it. Five companies.

Eighteen months. How was that experience?

Cameron: I always tell people it was the worst idea I've ever made in my life Mhmm. But also the best thing I ever did because Okay. Not all those companies were what I deem as, like, super successful. And the beautiful thing about service based companies is there's always an exit. So even though I didn't go sell, like, our solar company for tens of millions of dollars, I didn't lose money on that.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And that's that's what's beautiful about service. And so, with starting that many companies in a short time frame, like, I was I was back to working those eighteen hour days. I was back to being stressed out, like, all the things. Right? And, but, like, I learned a ton through it.

And it's made me, like, who I am today, which I'll never take back.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: But it wasted a lot. Like, I put a lot of time into those companies.

Steve: So what were those five companies?

Cameron: So we started with security. So Black Hat Security.

Steve: Love that name, by the way.

Cameron: You would because you're a AI. I didn't know what Black Hat meant when I named it that.

Steve: Oh, yeah.

Cameron: But then when I started to search, I'm like, oh, bro. I don't wanna mess with these guys, dude. This is crazy.

Steve: Black Hat is, that's the the wrong way to do things. So Yeah. Black hat security tells you you're gonna get protect yourself from the bad guys.

Cameron: It it always works out, man. That's one thing I learned. So, Black hat security, pineapple pools.

Steve: Pineapple pools.

Cameron: Yep. Okay. Agave, which is a windshield company.

Steve: Okay.

Cameron: Coconut Carpet Cleaning, and then we had Phoenix Power, which is solar.

Steve: So a lot of fruit.

Cameron: Yeah.

Steve: Okay. So it was it was Phoenix?

Cameron: Phoenix Power.

Steve: Phoenix Power.

Cameron: Which? One? That's a sick name. I would have thought that name was available. Phoenix.

Steve: Yeah. That was great. That's great. Okay. So that was five.

So starting with Black Hat. That was the first one. Yeah. How was that launching that business?

Cameron: So when entrepreneurs come to me now and they're like, hey. I wanna start this other company. I try and get down to the root of why. Mhmm. And if they're being honest, it's because they're not making enough money in their first business.

No one else wants to go start another company just because it's fun. Right. That in my opinion. And so I was lying to myself. Between 2016 and 2018, we got smart.

I told you we started hiring all these managers. We went from working eighteen hour days to, like, six hour days or eight hour days, and we're like, dude, I'm bored. Like, what what is this? You know? And so when we started all those companies, I was back to work in those eighteen hour days, but it all started because I'm like, I want to I want like, I I was only making I think I was making, like, $400 a year or something.

I'm like, I wanna make a million bucks, dude. Like, I wanna make that. Well, if I just go start these other companies and our goal was, hey. If we can just make $250,000 per company, like, I'll get over my million dollars. So that was, like, the thought process.

Steve: Trying to get to a million net at end of the year.

Cameron: Yes. And because, like, everyone's already asking. If you have a good which we did. Our name was phenomenal in Green Mango. Right?

People love the service. Hey. Why we could get it all the time. Why don't you guys do this? Why don't you do that?

And so we're like we're like, you know, like, we're like a drug addict. Like, man, are you sure? Like, yeah. This might might not be a bad idea. You know?

Yeah. And so that's what we did. And and so naturally, when we launched these companies, it was so easy to scale because, like, we had this track record, and we named them these fruit companies that were, like, close to Green Mango. And the branding was the same and similar. And, like, people just associate it with GreenMango.

It's like, hey. We came to know this quality of service at GreenMango. I'm sure it's gonna be the same at at Black Hat or Pineapple or Agave or whatever.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so, like, growth was never an issue with any of the other companies.

Steve: Oh, so it was to ride the success.

Cameron: It was so easy to scale those comp like, pools, we became the second largest pool company in Arizona like that. It was so easy. Okay. Servicing pools? Oh my gosh.

Like, it was in a nightmare.

Steve: What's the nightmare of servicing pools?

Cameron: Well, you just break down the profit margins of it, man. Like so at the time like, even today, I was talking to a pool company. Like, the average rate for a monthly service is a $150. You have to go out once a month. Mhmm.

When we're doing it, it was a 100. So if you think about it, we're making $25 a week servicing that pool.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: You gotta be out there for at least fifteen minutes. A decent tax making $18 an hour. You're $5 in chemical. Right? Let alone, like, gas insurance, all your cogs.

So on twenty five bucks, like, you might make a couple bucks a week, But $2 times four, you know, I'm, you know, it's like, you might make $10 account a month. You can't scale a company doing that. Yeah. Even at a $150, making $15 a week on an account. You can't you can't do it.

Right. That's why that's why the pool service is saturated. Everyone's attracted because it's so easy to get pool accounts. Mhmm. But it's ruined because we call them one pullers.

You don't need a light this is the craziest thing, dude, that you don't need a license to carry the chemical in your pool Mhmm. Like your in your truck. You mix two chemicals together, like, we've had multiple explosions in our office.

Steve: Like Really?

Cameron: It's it's dangerous. But a pest can and pesticide, you know, like, where some people can drink these chemo these products and not get hurt. Like, you have to have all these licenses, and it's regulated. So the barrier to entry in pools is very minimal Right. Which means any high schooler, any Joe Schmo can go get a piece of crap truck, put a couple chemicals in the back.

Mhmm. And for a guy that doesn't have overhead, that's making a $150 a month on on a pool, and he is the tech, a one puller, that that's great, man. He does 18 stops a day, you know, goes and makes a couple $100. Like, he's happy. He's making a $100 a year.

That's cool. As soon as you try and scale it, it's not possible.

Steve: Not scalable.

Cameron: So that's that's the problem with pools.

Steve: Okay. Got it.

Cameron: There is money in repairs, but you have to do the service to do the repairs, and even then, it's not worth it.

Steve: Got it. Okay.

Cameron: So start a pool company.

Steve: So that pool? Okay. What was the what was the first one you started?

Cameron: Black Hat Security.

Steve: Okay. So same deal, like, I guess, explain what is security. Because, like, parts of me is, like, warehouse security guys, like, walking around.

Cameron: Oh, no. No. No. So this is, like, Vivint. So, like, home security automation.

Mhmm. Automation was becoming really popular back in 2000 I mean, it still is today. Like Yeah. Hey. You can control your lights.

You can have a doorbell cameras came out in 2018, you know, ring and skybell. And so I was like, hey. I'll I'll for whatever re like, Todd Peterson, owner of Vivint, was like that guy to me. And he's like, I wanna do home security. Like, he killed it.

You know? And I love automation. And how hard is this? Like, you know, whatever. Yeah.

And so, I'm just deciding if I wanna go down that. So we can go so we went to this investor because with security, you have to, the equipment's expensive. I don't remember the exact amount, but, I think a panel is a couple 100. You're, like, $500 up front in a in, like, a system, which is, like, a a a panel on the wall. I think you it's usually, like, three door sensors and a motion.

Mhmm. It's, like, $500 up front. Yeah. You have to pay out of pocket before you make but what's cool after that is you have your $39.99 a month or $49.90 a month monitoring fee, And, like, you build that without sending out a tech, and that's beautiful. Mhmm.

Right? So, like

Steve: Lot better than pool.

Cameron: So downside, $500 upfront, positive. Every month after that, you're pretty much netting, you know, whatever your monitoring fee is minus your you pay a a call center to monitor, like, the twenty four seven alarms when they do go off to dispatch the police. Yeah. I didn't have enough like, you you do that. If you wanna put on 2,000 accounts a year or five thousand accounts a year, you times that by $500.

It's like, I don't have that much money to cash flow this. I went to an investor, and this investor was like, hey. Not only do I wanna be a like, it started with that. Let's do this, and we went out and killed. I think we sold, like, 3,000 accounts the first year.

Something crazy. Yeah. And it was like, hey. Now we wanna start Coconut and Agave and this and that. He's like, alright.

Let's go. Mhmm. I want market dominance in every single industry. The budget's $2,000,000 a, in marketing. No.

Let's see. The budget's $20,000 a month, $250,000 per company in marketing spend. And so that's where we got our all of our financing to go blow up five service companies. Right. And so we're spending $2.54 $50 a year in every single service company.

Mhmm. And that's like, it just it just went crazy. Right. Well, nine month like, eight months in, this investor sat down at a conference room table one day and said, hey. I'm out.

And it was just like, I thought my life was over. Because the same validation that I got from him when he was like, hey. I love what you did at GreenMango. I'm backing you. Let's go do have market dominance in all these companies.

Like, you're my guy. Like, top of top of the world. Right? Eight months later, come in, like, hey. You're a piece of crap.

Get out of here. I want nothing to do with you. Like, now I'm like, all the insecurities, all the things. I've there's a lot. I I don't think he had con he didn't have confidence in us.

I think he looked at us as reckless. I think he didn't. He said he wanted to be involved in the companies a lot. He he goes he goes out of town for the summers and comes back, and so he was gone throughout the whole summer. I think he saw all the money that we are spending.

Mhmm. And to our credit, I don't think that we are being reckless with it. Like, it was intentional with all of our growth and all the things. Mhmm. But he came back, and I think it was just it definitely wasn't too much for him because he's worth probably more than a billion dollars.

It was just like, I don't I'm out. Like, you know, too much stress. I don't know what it was, honestly.

Steve: Direction.

Cameron: Yeah. Yeah. Hold the plug. And with our arrangement that we had is, like, anything over $250,000 that he invested, we are splitting it three ways. And so Dustin and I had to make a decision like, hey.

Do we keep running with all these companies that are in, like, their growth stages, or do we just shut them like, shut them down to us is us selling them?

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so, again, the beautiful thing about service companies, you can sell them at any point and get your money back pretty much as long as, like, you were in a healthy margins, which we were. And so that next year of my life was choosing the winners and the losers of, hey. What do I wanna keep? And at the time, I decided to keep, the agave and coconut. And for a minute, we kept the pool company, but got smart and sold that off.

Mhmm. So up until, like, two years ago, I sold Agave, and now I've sold everything except for coconut.

Steve: So black hat you kept or sold?

Cameron: You sold? I sold it.

Steve: That was a winner or loser?

Cameron: Well, I guess it like, winners is like, I didn't lose money on any of them.

Steve: But the one

Cameron: you sold them and got back. But, like

Steve: But but the moment when you were going through this, like, hey. We need to start selling.

Cameron: I didn't have the money to keep funding black hat. I couldn't even if I wanted to. Got it. So I had to, like

Steve: because that one it sounds like just the number we've

Cameron: done before. So I love that one. And he actually wanted to stay a partner in that business. And because I was a little bitter that he backed out of everything else, I was like, no, man. We're not partners on this either.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So he sold immediately, Black Hat, Phoenix Power, and then pool shortly thereafter.

Cameron: Not in the that direction, but yeah.

Steve: Okay. So, why

Cameron: You're like, where do I go with this?

Steve: Oh, no. No. I'm asking these questions because I think, again, like, for someone who's listening because I have no idea I had no idea how many people were in home services. Right? So, like Yeah.

There's gonna be someone listening to this that this will benefit them to kinda, like, go through this thought and also, like, which one do I wanna start? Stop. Keep it so I mean, I'll be honest with you. Like, I got a friend of mine, Xavier, and I was talking to him. Like, how's your business going?

Because, like

Cameron: What service is he in?

Steve: Well, he does a lot of marketing.

Cameron: Okay.

Steve: Right? So a lot of information marketing. He's always done well with that. Right? Like, we play a lot of basketball together, so, I consider myself an honorary Mormon.

Right? Because I play at a Constellation Way church

Cameron: There we go.

Steve: Until I ruptured my Achilles a few months ago.

Cameron: Dang.

Steve: Yeah. So, but I was talking to him, and I was asking how he was doing because, this is a not a great time right now in the education space.

Cameron: Mhmm. And

Steve: I was like, hey. I was just at this event. Like, why don't you do one of these things? And he's talking about, like, I wanna do it, but I don't know, like, I don't know which one to go with. And he suffers from analysis paralysis.

Right? And so

Cameron: the problem is like the exact opposite. I need to slow down.

Steve: Yeah. So the problem is, like, he's really smart. Right? Mhmm.

Cameron: You know,

Steve: you're really, really smart. You overthink things. Yeah. And so we're kinda talking through. And so I'm I'm curious, like, the fact that there's very little margin pull.

Something I never would have known. Never would have considered. Right? The, security makes total sense to me because I pay for security system. Yeah.

And I don't talk to them except for, like, every once I get a phone call from them. I was like, hey. Like, we tested. We're not connected. Right.

I get that, like, every three or four months. Yeah. But beyond that, like, I still pay the $50 or whatever. Yeah. So Phoenix Power, you didn't hold on to.

Why did you not hold on to Phoenix Power?

Cameron: I didn't like being dictated by the tax credits and the incentives that the government, like, decided for

Steve: me. Yeah.

Cameron: And the fulfillment. So in in solar, a lot of people made a lot of money being a sales company, and some people made good money being the installers. Very rarely were US sales and an installer.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so we were just a sales company. So we go out and kill it in sales again. Like, sales were never an issue for us.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: But the fulfillment of it was a nightmare. And that was that was really, like, what was frustrating the most about Phoenix Power Mhmm. Is is is just that. And so, again, it was just like, hey. We're distracted on this.

We can't figure out the fulfillment. We don't wanna go figure out the fulfillment because we don't wanna go down those at this time, like, I was finally starting to get a little bit smarter of, like, you know, like, there's lessons to be learned here on this side of the business. I don't wanna go down that. It's not worth it. But let's let's see, you know, separate from here.

Steve: Got it. Yeah. Because I got a friend. He's he was absolutely loving life until the interest rate hike.

Cameron: Oh, yeah. I mean, solar is not gonna I mean, unless they do something else, like, I got so many buddies in solar that were making millions of dollars a year Mhmm. That are now, like, asking me for help and where they should go next because it's just it's not there.

Steve: Right.

Cameron: And so imagine building this huge empire in business and have all this overhead, you know, leases for on buildings and trucks and all this stuff, and then someone just shows up one day and is like, hey. Like, you're not gonna get paid as much as you want, which is essentially what happened with Agave because I know you're gonna ask that next. No.

Steve: I didn't know about that. So what

Cameron: So Agave, I ended up getting out of because, again, the insurance companies dictate how much we can charge for a windshield.

Steve: I see.

Cameron: Safeway owns the market, and and so it's frustrating. It'd be like, hey. Like, you know, I can't dictate how much your pest control is. I'm being told how much I can charge. And and so it's like, hey.

You can only charge $50, and I'm going to them and saying, it's literally 85 to service this home. Like, the margin between 85 and $1.15 is, like, where I make my money. It truly does cost this much money. Mhmm. That's what happens in windshields is they say, hey.

If you do a Chevy Silverado, the you can only charge this much for the glue. You can only charge this much for the windshield, and you have $18 a paid technician or what you know, whatever. Those aren't the real numbers, but it's like, where are we gonna find a tech for $18? That doesn't exist. Yeah.

And so, again, you know, I still I'm owed, like, $800,000 in Florida from insurance companies that are just playing you know, like, ARs over two years that just don't care and trying to fight me on what they should pay out and what they can pay out. Windshields? On windshields. 800

Steve: k?

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: Wow. So I didn't know that. Because, like, one of the things that seems like on the outside looking in, roofing is great Mhmm. Because the insurance company covers it. Right.

Yeah. So the homeowner doesn't really care what it costs to fix it because it's not their money. Yeah. So in that regards, I I saw insurance is great, but insurance also dictates how much you get to make. Yeah.

Cameron: If you talk to any restoration guy or roofer, their biggest nightmare is fighting with the insurance company

Steve: Got it.

Cameron: To try and collect that money. So, yeah, easy sell, nightmare to collect. Right. So, And most of them settle for a lower amount.

Steve: Wow. See, I had no idea. Right? Again, I'm looking around at this event. I was like, man, everyone here is just rich as hell.

And then, you know, it's like anything else you see on social media.

Cameron: Right.

Steve: It's like, here's, like, numbers that are stated.

Cameron: Right.

Steve: But, like, what actually do you get to keep? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So agave didn't work out.

Didn't work out the way you wanted it to. Mhmm. But you kept Coconut. Yeah. Why'd you keep Coconut?

Cameron: All the things I say that I don't like about, like, Phoenix Power and Agave is, like, I can dictate my pricing at Coconut. I can dictate our marketing. I can dictate everything that I want. I can dictate the entire experience.

Steve: The economy. Yeah. Independence. Yeah. Same thing

Cameron: with pest control. I love pest control because when I need to raise my rates because of inflation, $5, like, I don't need to go like, I just send out a letter Mhmm. And I just change it.

Steve: You don't need to get approval from anybody. Right. Which is probably the reason why you never worked for anybody. Yeah. Might be a theme there.

Cameron: Yeah. I guarantee there is.

Steve: So then let's talk about, like, the commonalities. Right? Because, you were saying you didn't sell any of these companies for a loss.

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: Right? So if nothing else, you got your money back. What are the things he did? We talked about, you know, the victories, the lessons you learned at Green Mango. But what are the things you did to make all the other companies as successful as they could be?

Cameron: What did I what did I do with all the other companies?

Steve: In common, like, what were you doing? Because, like, were you using, like, one employee that was sitting in all the companies

Cameron: Oh, yeah. Okay.

Steve: Their own entity, like like, each HR, each one has a sales manager. Like, how do you structure all this?

Cameron: So we we had, so everything sat underneath the umbrella of Hype Farm. Mhmm. Which was our parent company that owned everything. Mhmm. And then we would have shared resources like HR, marketing, like fleet managers, stuff like that.

We didn't we didn't have the same salesman. We had individual salesman per company.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so there's there's pros and cons for all that, economies of scale. Right? But there's also a lot of overlap if you don't have all your systems and processes in place. But, I mean, by this time, we figured out how to how to market things, how to sell things, how to create great leaders with systems and processes. Mhmm.

And we had an amazing billing like, we've we figured out the billing side of things.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And so, like, we're a pretty well oiled machine, where we kinda halted our momentum is when the investor pulled out and we didn't have enough money to keep funding. Mhmm. Like, in the pool company, I wish I would have went back and said, hey. We have 3,000 accounts. Our average customer is a hundred and fifth or 100 and whatever, $10.

Like, hey. We're raising our rates to $200. And if 2,000 people cancel, who cares? Mhmm. Like, now I can make money on these thousand, and I'll take care of them at a better rate.

Steve: Right.

Cameron: You know? Windshields was the same thing. Windshields was great. I started to just do RVs because we can dictate the prices of RVs. Mhmm.

And then we had only we got paid more on at the time, it was, like, a 2,016 or newer vehicle. And so 2016 and under, we're not we're not doing you anymore. It's not worth it. Mhmm. And so we got smart.

But, again, it was like, hey. I'm only making a couple $100,000 at this. It's not worth my time. It doesn't hit that threshold that I want. I have greater opportunities, and that's what entrepreneurs need to understand is, like, your time has, you know, a money value associated to it.

Where are you spending your time? Where's the best allocation of that time? And so as I sold Agave, as we got rid of all these other companies, like, it wasn't just because we weren't making, like, crazy amounts of money. It's like, what time if this has taken ten hours out of my week, like, I can go build a $100,000,000 pest control company over here. Like, why am I not doing that?

And that's where I got and that's why I say starting those companies was the worst decision ever be but it's the best because I learned so much. Yeah. And so now with what I'm growing, like, it's positioned me to be able to mentor people in almost anything in home service and service based companies that I wouldn't have got if I was just a pest control guy. Yeah. But because I'm very diversified in multiple home services Mhmm.

Like, I've I feel like I've seen almost everything.

Steve: Got it. So then how did you recuperate or recover after this guy pulled out? Like, you sold some companies, but, like, was that enough to fund everything else you had going on?

Cameron: Yeah. So GreenMingle was, like, a self sufficient, great company. You know, I was making over $1,000,000 or I was at that when I sold them, I was making over a million bucks a year. When I started them, I was only making that 400 or whatever. And so, like, luckily, we

Steve: were frame because it was 18 that you started the five companies. When did you decide?

Cameron: Thousand eighteen. And then, like, by the time I got rid of most, like, the by the time we fire someone, like, 2019, 2020.

Steve: So, like, a year or so, you already started selling them. And you went from, at that point, making 400 to almost a mil at GreenMango. Yeah. So they were distracted on these other crazy.

Cameron: I don't even know how GreenMango yeah. Like, it's a testament to our systems and policy that we put into place, which is, like, what I teach now. Like, if it's literally, like, the ultimate testimonial.

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Cameron: Our books are a nightmare, dude. It was a it was, like, probably again, like, when I sold the company I mean, Clean Books is one of the greatest things that you can do to get your highest valuation.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Trying to extrapolate, like, all the nonsense of, like, Green Mango funded this, Green Mango funded that. Oh, they didn't have money. So, like, technically technically, we did a split. So if we had an HR person, we'd say, hey. This company is this size.

This company is that size. This company is that size. GreenMango is this size. GreenMango will pay 70% of her salary. The other three companies pay the other 30.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Well, what happens when this company doesn't have money and this company doesn't have money? Green you know, big daddy, GreenMango would always front end, then it'd be like a due payable account on the GreenMango books. And it just

Steve: So I had, at one point, I had my brokerage, a title company. I had a joint venture and some mortgages. It's wholesaling.

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: Still a realtor. Right? And so, like, the days are the days. The months where all five were profitable were, like, the best. Yeah.

Right? When they're all going well, awesome. But what happened more than not was, like, okay. Like, this company did really well. This company did so well.

Yeah. We got a due to from on this side. Oh, yeah. And then this company is doing well again, and this one's suffering a little bit. There we go.

Cameron: Yeah. Due to from

Steve: so you had a little bit of that.

Cameron: Oh, we had a lot of that.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So so, again, the investor forces the exit, but you're able to keep everything going. So it wasn't, like, a major setback or a major setback in any way then.

Cameron: It was because it halted growth, and we were, like, you know, from that point, like, we had to decide, like but it was a good week. Like, it was the best thing. I thought it was the worst thing ever, but it was the best thing because I had to analyze. K. I I'm not soup I'm not the superhero.

Like, I can't do everything. I have to I have to niche down. Like, what am I great at? Where's my best time allocation? And so that's why, you know, it was like, we narrowed down to green mango, coconut, and agave Mhmm.

At the time. Like, k. Cool. And then a couple years after that, it was like, oh, dude. Like, I need a I need to get rid of, you know, agave.

And then it was like, k. Now I got green mango and coconut. And now I sold green mango, and now it's coconut. So

Steve: yeah. Got it. So why, so, you know, in selling the companies, how do you we're talking about, you know, all these companies combined. Right? Clearing over a $100,000,000, like, 9 figures.

Right? What does that look like to get to a position where, like, you know, someone's willing to look at this and say, like, hey. That is a company I want to buy. Yeah. Like, what are the what are the things they're looking at, to say, like, that is a company worth buying?

Cameron: Yeah. So when we first started GreenMango, I didn't think I'd ever sell it. The beautiful thing about GreenMango is it has what we call residual income. Yeah. And as long as you're taking care of that customer, they'll stay a customer for life with you.

When COVID happened, these multiples for service companies went from, like you got, like, a 12 or 13 times EBITDA.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: It was like, you got a really cool company. Like, you got a high multiple. Yeah. Come COVID, you're hearing of 17 times plus Mhmm. On EBITDA.

And that's when it was like, we'll sell. Like, this hey. Sorry, Banks, which is my little boy. Like, hey. Sorry, buddy.

Like, I'm not gonna have a company for you anymore. Like, daddy's selling. You know? And, and so what was cool is we went to market. Mhmm.

And we didn't get the offers that we wanted originally, but we got their playbook.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And what their playbook was exactly what you're talking about. What are they looking for in these companies? They're looking for companies that don't have key man risk. We buy the owner is are they gonna crumble? Are these companies running on themselves?

Do they have the leadership place, and do they have the leadership team in place

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: To sustain, you know, what they're trying to do? No one likes to buy a sinking ship. Are they growing? And growing and this is crazy. Like, growing is 10 to 15% growth each year.

It's nothing crazy. Yeah. Right? Those are some of the few things. Books are important.

Audited financials are extremely important for when you go to sell to get your highest multiple. I started to learn because we get offers for, like, 16,000,000, 65, 70, and it's like, cool. Like, what like and this is and this is when I had to analyze myself. Like, if you if I if you would have told me when I started remaining on 2010 that I could have sold my company for $60,000,000, I would have been like, you're crazy. I'm taking that all day long.

Mhmm. When it happens and you turn it down like that, you're like, you need to assess where you're at in life. You know? You're like, what's what's my priority or what am I doing? You know, like, $60,000,000, that's a lot of money.

So it was a cool time in my life, and this was going on between, like, 2020, 2022. And, and I was like I I learned their playbook, and and we I wanted more than that 60,000,000, and so that's why we kept saying no. But I interviewed multiple private equity firms.

Steve: So you're saying, like, you had to look inside you, say why you're saying no? Yeah. What did you come up with? By the way, this is this was a homework assignment that was given to me. Yeah.

Someone's like my my accountability partner asked me this question. It's like, hey. Someone offered you for 20,000,000. Will you take it? I said, no.

I was like, why not? I was like, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So what did you come with?

This will help me with my homework.

Cameron: So cool assignment on that is, if you take a sheet of paper and you write down if you had, like if I said, hey. Here's a blank check. Mhmm. K. Whatever you wanna buy, it's on me.

Go write down everything that you want. You want two house you want a house in California? You want a house in Montana? You want three Rolls Royces? You want a couple of sand cars?

You want a helicopter? You want a plane? Mhmm. You want you know, I've one of my things was, like, I want $40,000,000 in the bank account because if I can make 10% on, like 10% is, like, a, like, a good return, but also a very safe return.

Steve: Yeah. Right?

Cameron: So it's like, hey. I want 40,000,000 in this bucket because 40,000,000 means $44,000,000 per year in order to make you know, to live off of life and do, like, at your most extreme rate. Like, you can live off of $4,000,000 a year. Yeah. Like, that was one of my buckets.

So, like, I did this exercise where I wrote down, hey. All these things, k, cost this much money.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Right? And then the second exercise is go write down how much each of those things cost you per year. So, yeah, you want a jet? Well, guess what? That jet, it's gonna cost you, you know, $400,000 a year, a million bucks a year depending on which jet you get.

You want the sand cars? You want the Rolls Royces? Go look up how much the insurance is. So I made this list. My list came out to $96,000,000.

Steve: I've never thought about the how much does it cost to maintain?

Cameron: Yeah. So my list came out to 96,000,000. My second list was I think it was $2,700,000 a year to, like, maintain everything. And granted, like, this is stupid. I would never go do this all this stuff.

You know what I mean? Yeah. But then now it was, like, my north star is, like, okay. That's gotta be enough. The 96 has to be enough.

Mhmm. If I get to, you know, 96 and I say no, like, I got some problems. Right?

Steve: Right.

Cameron: So I did that exercise probably in 2021, 2022.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: That's how like, so 60,000,000 sounded great, but I'm like, dude, at the time, you know, what was that? What year are we in? 2025? So five years ago, I'm, like, 32 years old. I'm Like, dude, I got a lot more in the tank.

If you're telling me this thing's worth 60,000,000 right now, like, I get this thing to, you know, $102,100, no problem. You know?

Steve: All this while, you still have a partner?

Cameron: Yeah. So I still have a partner.

Steve: Okay.

Cameron: So 2023 happens. My business partner, he's, like, the ultimate entrepreneur. He's the branding guy, and he has the ultimate, like, shiny object syndrome. Like, at this time, we're eleven years and twelve years into the thirteen years into the company, and he's like he's just not come in that much, and it's not like I'm working crazy hard either. But, like, he wants to go start all these other companies again, and I'm like, dude, I'm good.

Hey. If I can present you with a number to buy you out with, that makes sense for you. Like, are you cool? Like, I got five more years on the team. Mhmm.

Will you take it? He's like, yeah. Like, I'll take it. And so we come up with this number, and I buy him out for that number.

Steve: Okay.

Cameron: My plan is to run Green Mango for five more years.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Because I'm like, hey. We're at, at the time I don't know the exact we when we sold, we were doing 29,000,000. We're, like, 22% EBITDA margins. I think we're doing, like, 24,000,000 when I bought him out, and we're at 22%. Mhmm.

And this is a cool story about Tommy. How old do you know Tom do you know Tommy very well? Tommy Miller?

Steve: I've known him since, like, 2019.

Cameron: Cool.

Steve: But, like, Tommy here that I saw on stage is not the Tommy I knew.

Cameron: Oh, really?

Steve: In 2019.

Cameron: Oh, yeah. You're saying he's changed so much. Yeah.

Steve: Not have his stuff together like he does now.

Cameron: That's cool. So are we going down the direction that you wanna go? Is this where you wanna go?

Steve: Like Let's do it.

Cameron: You said you wanna go deep. I'm going deep. Okay. So I buy my business partner out, and I'm like, dude, if I wanna turn this thing into the goal is 50,000,000 in revenue. Mhmm.

We're doing '20, 25, whatever, '24, '25. Like, if I wanna turn this into 50,000,000, like, I need I I need that, like, next little shot in the arm. And to me, I was hanging out with Tommy, and he was like, dude, let's partner. Like, I can help you pull this up. I just had my exit with my company.

Mhmm. I know what to do. Like, I'll teach you all the things. Right?

Steve: He had his exit already. He had it. Okay.

Cameron: I'm like, dude, this is kind of a dream come true. Like, Tommy's about a mentor of mine.

Steve: People probably should know what the reference is because not everyone knows who Tommy is.

Cameron: So Tommy Mello owns a one garage doors. I think I can talk about his does he talk about his multiple?

Steve: I just know two fifty for four 40% is all I know.

Cameron: Okay. You said it. I didn't. He made a lot of money. Okay.

But he stayed in the business, and he's doubling down. And he understands marketing and systems and processes and how to grow and and m and a. That for me, I feel like we hit market cap in Arizona.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: I needed to learn m and a. Tommy knew m and a, mergers and acquisitions.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: So I'm like, hey. A big part to get to 50,000,000 is gonna be mergers and acquisitions. I need to understand this. Like, will you buy into Green Mango and become my partner and take this ride with me for the next five years? Yeah.

We like, long story short, yes, we're 50,000 50 to I think the quality of earnings was, like, 50 to $80, which quality of earnings is when a third party company comes in, audits all the numbers that you're saying are true. Right? And then they come up with this valuation. So we were we were based we were done with it. Right?

Tommy paid the $50.80 grand, whatever it was for the quality of earnings. I get this knock on the door. K. This is this is December January 2024.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: My buddy calls me, and he's like, hey. I wanna buy your company. I was like, it's not for sale. And by the way, no offense. Like, I don't know if you think CreamMango's worth, like, $10,000,000 or a 100,000,000, but, like, I don't think you got the money for it.

He's like, no, dude. Like, I got this guy who wants to buy it, and he's got some money. Mhmm.

Steve: And I

Cameron: was like, at this time, I'll always like, one of those great things for whatever reason, like, I try and hear everyone out. I wanna meet everybody. That's how I got to be where I was at this point in life is, like, I wanna meet everyone, and I'll hear them out. So I'm like, alright. Let's see what we let's see what you got.

You know? It ended up being a broker. Mhmm. Right? He two t two timed me.

Mhmm. He gets on the phone. He said, I will get you the number that you want. Because I told him, I said, I want this I want this multiple. Mhmm.

I can't say it, but it's like it it equaled like, if you're watching, like, you can do all the math on everything. You know? It's like, I want the if you can give me this multiple, bro, like, I'll sell. Mhmm. You know?

And he's like, alright. And it like, I've had I have these calls every single week with brokers pretty much. Got it. He called me a week later, and he said, I got your multiple. I said, well, hold on.

I don't wanna be involved. Like, meaning, like, most when you sell your company, most people have to stay on for two or three years.

Steve: Or earn out. Yeah.

Cameron: Yeah. And I'm like, I don't wanna roll I don't wanna roll anything. Right? Like, they say whatever money you roll, you're just gonna, like, lose. Like, kiss that money goodbye.

Yeah. And so I heard all these horror stories. I'm like, I don't wanna roll anything. The only thing he came back with is, like, you have to roll I think it was 12%. Mhmm.

You gotta roll 12%. Everything else, you can walk. They'll pay you a salary for a year to be the you're like, you know I don't know what the right word. Not mentor, but, like, consulting, that's the word. And, like, we can close quick.

Mhmm. I went to I was scared, bro. I went to Tommy. I'll never forget. I was telling the story the other day.

I called Tommy. I'm like, Tommy, man. You know I love you. I look up to you a lot. Like, the fact that you've been wanted to partner with me means the world to me.

I just got an offer that will change my life. And by the way, like, kinda rewind a little bit. I knew the sacrifice that it was gonna take to take this ride with Tommy. Go from 25,000,000 to 50,000,000 is a different commitment than zero to 10.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: Right? And and I knew that, and my kids are 11 and eight now. Mhmm. And I didn't wanna take like, I just that's when I'd I'd looked at my number, and that's what goes back to 96,000,000. I was like, dude, I I'm there.

Mhmm. I gotta take this right now. And I'll I told Thomas, I said, bro, I'm sorry. Like, I'll pay you back for the quality of earnings. And he's and he and this is why I love Tommy because I've had this conversation with a couple other investors where it's like, they hang up the phone on me.

Like, pretty much screw you.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Tommy says, Cameron, I'm so excited for you, man. Like, in fact, if they try and screw you, if they try and negotiate with you, use me as leverage. Tell them that you have a buyer right now, and I will buy it and, like, go with that to the table.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And you know, like, I get I always get chills telling that story because, like, that's the type of people that you wanna hang around that are happy for you, but have your back. And the greatest thing that you can do when you're going through an acquisition is, one, like, not be attached to the outcome. And what I mean by that is, like, be okay with knowing that everything works out. I had this benefit of knowing that the biggest deal in my life was gonna be okay because I still had a great backup plan. Yeah.

And when you have that, like, it was just something special, and Tommy gave me that. And that gave me so much peace of mind because the sales process of a business is something that you can't explain to people. Like, I don't even know how to put it into words. It it's getting dragged through the mud a 100 times over backwards. But when you have a backup plan, you and you're not attached, like, it just makes it that much better and that much easier.

Steve: It's all about because of the the auditing, the the

Cameron: Auditing, the night like, nothing's for sure until the money hits the account. And then it's like, who what employees am I telling? You know, like, who do I who do I help? The the the quality of earnings, the reports that these guys ask for is crazy, dude.

Steve: Well, the fact you said it was 50 to 80 k. This is

Cameron: That was for Tommy's. Oh. The company that acquired us spent over $500,000 on their quality of earnings.

Steve: Really?

Cameron: It's a crazy

Steve: So maybe elaborate what quality of earnings means.

Cameron: Quality of earnings is, hey. You bought that mic stand. What did you buy it for, and why did you code it this way? Mhmm. Like, they go through everything of your business.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: You oh, you you guys bought this light two years ago? Like, how did you how did you book it? Why well, you know, how much is it? Is it an asset? Is it you know?

Like, they'd wanna know everything about your business.

Steve: So I have this problem. I imagine you might have this problem too. Having to justify my decisions is a massive struggle for me. Yeah. I do what I do because I wanted to do it that way.

Do you have that problem too?

Cameron: I'm sure I do. I mean, I no one I mean, the most I try I get nailed down is, like, turn into my receipts, and that's when I sold out. I was like, dude, this is getting crazy. I'm out. HR is, like, telling me that I gotta hire so many these people and that people, and that like, I'm I'm done, man.

Steve: Yeah. So how long was that process?

Cameron: So, when they first said that they'll give me the multiples, actually, on my anniversary on April 20, and then we sold October I got the money October 2.

Steve: So about six months. And you're saying it feels like getting dragged in the mud. So this is in besides the quality of earnings, what else was stressful? Was that it?

Cameron: I mean, the yeah. I mean, that's, like, you the amount of re the quality of earnings and the reports that they send over of everything and wanting to know just I mean, they're taking over your business. Like, they need to know everything. And a lot of it's, like, creating that system for them and creating, like, the why. And and so it's but it's stressful of, you know, like, hey.

Do I tell my my top team do I tell my my c suite? Do I do I not? You know? So walk me through it. Like, people are yeah.

So, like, you first of all, like, you can't fill out all these reports alone. And so when you start sending over reports to your manager to fill out that aren't normal, like, you know, we're like this has this local pest control company, and you get this, like, you know, whatever, like, corporate company coming in, like, with their fancy sheets and papers asking you to fill things out. They know. They're like, what's this about? You know?

And so then you bring it in. You're like, hey. Look. Like, everything's gonna be okay, but I'm gonna sell. And I need you to stay on, and I can't have you tell anyone.

And I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna take care of you, but, like, I need you to, like, maintain. And and here's it's like, we we gotta make sure we keep growing over the next couple months so there's that pressure. You know? And so there's just a lot, and then you're just hoping that, like, nothing comes out because pest control in all industries are like that. Like, they'll use as soon as GreenMango sold, it was, like, blood in the water.

Like, oh, let's go after their customer. You know? And so you just didn't want that getting out if you're not selling. Yeah. And so, like, yeah, it's just like, there's just a lot of, like, the emotional roller coaster that you go through.

Like, dude, I could be worth x amount of money in the next month, two weeks, three months. Like, what do I what do I or not? And, like so it's just crazy, man.

Steve: Yeah. What was, like, the worst, like, when you're going through this? Like, what was, like, the bottom? Like, because you're going on this ride, which is, like, looking really good, but, like, what was, like, was there a moment you're like, god. What am

Cameron: I doing? I think the

Steve: only moment

Cameron: like that is calling Tommy. Like, I was so scared to call Tommy because, like, the backlash that I've had with previous people like him in that position where I was raising money or or, like, deciding to be their partner and turn them down and how they reacted. Mhmm. And so, like, put yourself in my shoes. So I just took on this huge debt to buy my business partner out.

Mhmm. I have this, like, this light, this beacon of hope to get to $50,000,000, which would have validated me buying out my partner. If I just maintained for five years, like, my, like, my business partners are gonna laugh at me because it's like, dude, I you just wasted another five years in this pest control company for the same amount of money. Like, I had to grow to make it worth my time. Right?

So here, Tommy, is this beacon of hope to get to 50,000,000 because I, like, I knew I could get there, but, like, I was gonna I was gonna learn all the lessons, which is why mentorship is so powerful to me and why I'll spend any amount of money to be in the right rooms with the people that have walked the path that I'm wanting to walk. Yeah. And so Tommy was that guy that walked the path that I was wanting to walk. Right? I can get to 50,000,000 in the next couple years through mergers and acquisitions.

I don't wanna learn all the lessons that it takes to learn how to do mergers and acquisitions. Tommy's my guy. To be

Steve: clear on mergers and acquisitions, you're talking about, like, starting to acquire

Cameron: Yes. Hey. This company has 5,000 accounts. Go acquire them. Roll them up under GreenMango.

Steve: Right. So it wasn't like I need to get from 20 to 50 through growth.

Cameron: I mean, we'll continue to have our ten, fifteen, 20% growth, but that's not gonna get me to where I wanna be within the next couple years.

Steve: You needed to, like,

Cameron: I need to go buy five, ten thousand accounts at a time quick. Yeah. And so Tommy is kinda like that guy he's in. We're down the the road. Right?

And then this other cell comes in that's not certain. Hey. If you're saying that you really do have 29% EBITDA margins now and you really are doing this and doing that, then we'll pay you the multiple that we said, but nothing's guaranteed. Mhmm. So I'm gonna go, like, cut bait on this fish that's already on the hook, Tommy Mello, for something that might happen six months down the road.

Like, that's pretty scary. Yeah. And knowing that, like and so that's why I say that when Tommy said, I'm your guy, even if they screw you or because at the end, private equity tries to negotiate their terms because they know that you're $400,000 deep in a lawyer. Mhmm. They know that you've got excited about selling, that you've maybe already purchased the second house, the third house, the you know, whatever, and they play those games with you.

Luckily, PESCO didn't, which is why I love them.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: But it's like, and that so that call once Tommy said, hey. I'm your guy still. It's like, oh, thank you, man. If this fails, like, I still got Tommy. Like, that helped out a lot.

Mhmm.

Steve: And so then the hope then was before this company came along was you were working with Tommy to start acquiring.

Cameron: Yeah. That was the main thing that I needed to learn from Tommy as I'm in it.

Steve: Got it. Okay. I was unclear on

Cameron: that. Sorry.

Steve: No. No. It's fine. And then so buying everything you're buying a partner, it'd be you would he would say you waste your life. So, basically, you're saying you bought them out for, basically, for market value.

Cameron: Well, I'm just saying, like, if I like, let's just use fictitious numbers here. It's like, if I bought my partner out for 50,000,000, and I only sold for 50,000,000 five years later, like, I just wasted five years.

Steve: Right.

Cameron: I I wanted to grow so that I could sell it for a 100 and be like, yeah, that five years was worth another 50,000,000. Maybe you went and dusty would maybe you would have made another 100, but, like, at least I made 50.

Steve: Yeah. But you also you're also you heard you say you took on some debt to make that happen.

Cameron: Yeah. I had yeah. So I had to raise money in order to pay out my biz I didn't have the money to pay out my business partner.

Steve: This who do you go for something like that? Like

Cameron: So, my buddy James has a private equity fund Mhmm. And I went to a couple other people, but ultimately, it came back to James. Mhmm. And he took on 10% of the business. Mhmm.

And we came up with 14% interest on the money. Mhmm. So I got really creative, and this is, like, part of entrepreneurs is, like, one of my biggest thing is, like, there's no such thing as roadblocks for me. They're just detours. Mhmm.

And so without, like, saying exact numbers of how much I bought my business partner, I was like, I needed to come up with a large amount of money.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: What I figured out is like, hey. If I pay you a quarter of this end payout with a ten year balloon so let's just let's just let's just say $10,000,000. It's like, hey. I'll pay you 2.5 up front. The other 7,500,000.0, I'll pay in ten years from now in a balloon payment, but I'll pay you 14% interest on that money from now until ten years.

That's a good return. Fourteen percent's a great return that's in a safe investment, and he's getting money up front. That's the deal that I worked out. Yeah. So that's I only had to I don't have to raise the full 10, which that is not the number of the you know, I don't have to raise the full 10.

I only had to raise a couple, but I gave up equity in the company and then 14%. And so I had all this pressure to grow to offset the 10% that I just, you know, gave back to this guy and 14% interest on this money.

Steve: A lot of stress.

Cameron: Bro, it was the worst year. Honestly, it's the worst not I say that that's kinda dramatic, but, like, it felt like year one. Yeah. It was crazy.

Steve: How are things like and this might be awfully personal, but, like, how's your wife dealing with all this?

Cameron: Yeah. My wife's, like, my wife's a saint. She's the best. I had I had five different business partners, and four of them got divorces through all this. That that's how stressful it is.

I'm not saying, oh, they got divorced because of work, but it's like, that certainly doesn't help.

Steve: No.

Cameron: And so my wife was always there. She was always supportive. It's I always tell her, I'm like, dude, you need to, like I don't know if course is the right word, but it's like, you need to you need to, like, share your story of, like, how you are so great during this whole process and how you are supportive. Because there's so many entrepreneurs out there that don't have a supportive spouse, which if you do not have a supportive spouse, you will not be able to accomplish great things. Period.

Steve: One of the things I've said before, I love the quote about, like, you know, this this obstacle is just detours. The, things I've said before is, like, everyone says how hard it is to be an entrepreneur, and I say it's even harder to be married to one. That's probably true. Like, the stuff that we do to our spouses Yeah. It's not I was gone.

Right? I was gone for three days, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in Vegas. Mhmm. I came back for two days, and I went to Dallas for another event. Dang.

I left on Monday.

Cameron: Oh, dang.

Steve: Yeah. Last night. Right? So it was just

Cameron: You're like, hey. I'm gonna be home late tonight.

Steve: And I'm gonna be home late tonight. Yeah. So, like, there's all this stuff that we, you know, unfortunately, do to our wives or spouses. So, then I guess the other so, obviously, you know, Green Mango was the most attractive piece of all this. You talked about it grew while you were distracted.

Yeah. Right? So you're instead of bringing home 400, you're bringing home a mil. You were saying did you say it was leadership that you felt was the strong leadership in place that helped to grow while you were kinda, like, doing this other thing?

Cameron: Yeah. And even when I look back, I laugh because it's like, it wasn't even that strong. But, yeah, I mean, you you give someone the title of branch manager, office manager, tech manager, and sales manager, and you give them, you know, KPIs to hit with bonuses in place. Like, it's crazy what people can do. You know?

And and that's what we did because we had to do that because we didn't have we didn't have a, you know, a choice not to entitle people and give them that autonomy to go run and and be the greatest that they could.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So it was just clear expectations then Yep. Was enough to get the people you had there They'll hit the goals and given the the direction and clarity to go do what they need to do to do. Yeah.

How available were you? Because I can only imagine, again, like, with all the different businesses going on, how available were you still to, like, put out fires?

Cameron: This is why, like, when people tell me, like, I can't get back to you because I'm too busy, I'm like, dude, you're a piece of crap. Mhmm. Because one of the things that I pride myself on is a zero inbox policy.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: By the end of the day, I will respond to everyone via text. I don't care much about email, but I I, like, I do. Mhmm. Email might be, you know, maybe it's two days, but, like, text message, dude, or call, like, I got you. I I'll get back to you.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: And so I responded to everyone, man. And, like, that comes to working till, you know, 11:12 o'clock at night and waking up and getting right on your phone, which isn't healthy. Like, I don't I don't, like, promote that at all, but, like, that's that was the season that I was in. Mhmm. And, you know, not being present.

And and there's so many great lessons around that. And, you know, I finally hired a life coach in 2018 that changed my life, and that was one of the biggest feed he came in and he interviewed a lot of people that I worked with. Mhmm. And, you know, like, one of the greatest takeaways that happened is, like, hey. Even when Cameron's present, like, he's not present.

Mhmm. Because I felt like I had to like, I was responding to people. Like, you'd be talking. I'd be like, yeah, man. You know?

And it's just like and so I learned how to multitask. I learned how to, you know, be intentional with people when I'm here. Like, I'm here. Mhmm. And then when I'm gone and I'm in the car or whatever, like, that's when I'm getting back to people.

Steve: So you're talking about, like, a zero inbox policy

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: Which is impressive. I wanna say I live that way. I don't. I do have an assistant. It's like, here are the ones you need the response to today.

Okay. Yeah. And then I she responds I I respond to my night to her, and then she responds to them the next day. I don't have that policy. But I wanted to ask you this, because this is a struggle I think a lot of entrepreneurs deal with.

How do you balance the zero inbox policy with being present with your kids?

Cameron: Yeah. Yeah. So I have, like and, again, it's not like I'm perfect at this. Like, even my wife reminds me sometimes, like, even last month, she was like, hey. You know, like, your rule is phone down at 05:00 till 08:00.

You know? And so, like I said, times, like, I'm a time blocker. And so from five to eight, I got my phone down. I'm extremely intentional with my kids. From eight to 08:30, I'm extremely intentional.

You know? I I do my sauna and my ice ice baths in the morning. I do, like, a journal session that I I go through. But, like, before that, I tell my kids, like, hey. I I I need to do my thing.

But from 08:00 to 08:30, like, I'm all yours. We play tag every single morning. We jump on the tramp. We go on bike rides. I don't have my phone on me, and I'm there from 08:30 till 05:00.

Like, I'm work I'm working. I'm still going, and I'm doing my thing. And so then and so during that time frame, I need to get done. I need to get back to people, and then I tell my wife, like, hey. I usually jump on between, like, eight and 08:30, 09:00, and I respond to everyone that's text me that day.

And so, you know, Cody, who's our videoographer, has only been with us for a couple of months now, but he'll probably notice, like, there's a gap between five and 08:00 where I don't respond. And then it's like, I respond to all the group messages that he's in. And that he'll see between, like, eight and 10:00 when I'm, like, getting back to people. And then, like, I spend my time with my wife. And then, you know, I tell my wife, like, hey.

Weekends, I don't work on Saturdays anymore. And then, obviously, Sundays. And then it's pretty much like anytime my wife wants to go on a trip, like, I'm I'm always game. And, again, it's cool because she understands, like, hey. The first couple hours, even when we're on a trip, like, Cameron needs to go, like, work out, and he needs to go get a little work in, and he's just a happier, better person anyways when he does that.

And And so she allows me to do that, whereas, like, that's where I talked about a supportive spouse. A lot of spouses would get mad if they go take away two, three hours in the morning away from the family on vacation, where it's like, my wife knows that. Like, hey. He's gonna like, give him two, three hours in the morning. He's gonna show up a better dad for the remainder of the day.

Yeah.

Steve: I don't know if my family's happy about it, but that's definitely what happens Yeah. On vacations. Like, I have to take care of these things in the morning. I can't I can't just be relaxed the whole day.

Cameron: Well, what's cool, you know, like, peep people, you know, they misjudge the power of communication. Mhmm. And it's, like, having just a simple conversation with your wife, and, again, there's some crazy girls out there, crazy guys too Mhmm. That, like, it was easy for me and my spouse. And maybe it speaks a lot to her, but it's like, hey.

Like, I need a couple hours in the morning. And then going to my kids and saying because it was the hardest concept for them to understand. I was working like crazy, and I I always tell them, and it like, shame on me for this. But it's like, hey. As soon as I sell Green Mango, you can break my phone because I'm done.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And, like, that's how I had and so, like, as soon as I sold it, like, they're like, literally, like, where's your phone? I'm gonna break it. Like, I don't wanna see you on your phone anymore. And then I had to explain to them, like, hey. Part of dad's happiness is staying fulfilled and busy, and so I'm gonna continue to work.

But now I don't wanna work on Fridays, and we're gonna have Saturdays and Sundays, and we're not we're gonna go on, you know, pretty much any trip that we wanna go on. Mhmm. But, like, I still need this throughout the week.

Steve: Yeah. And

Cameron: so it's been cool to explain that to them, and I'm not saying they're like, yeah. Cool. Like, yeah. No problem. Dad, like, my little girl still comes into the sauna at 07:30.

Like, let's go play. It's like, hey. It's not 08:00 yet. Like, you know, and and there's give and takes there. But setting those boundaries and setting those time allotments for you to get back to people and respond, I think, is is extremely powerful.

Is the image, the brand that I wanted to create in business was that, like, I want people to know that they can count on me.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: Right? I didn't want an employee to ever come to me and be like, hey. I wasn't able to get this done because I reached out to you, and I didn't hear back from you. Like, that would never happen with me. Mhmm.

So when someone says, hey. I wasn't able to get this done because I didn't have this, this, or that. It's like, all you had to do is call me, and you can never use the excuse that I didn't get back to you because I always get back to you. Right? And that was powerful for me.

Now it's not as like, I still just had a natural habit. I get back to almost anyone everyone. Like, I've I feel like I still adhere to that zero inbox policy, but it's not as important to me because it's like, there's no one really relying on me except for my three people directly underneath me on the Hypeform team now.

Steve: Yeah. You're not really there's you're not a bottleneck for anyone anymore.

Cameron: Yep.

Steve: There's something interesting you said back when we were in Vegas. You you have these things that you put in each one of your companies to kinda create this moat. The other companies try to replicate you, but they can't. Like, you trademarked terms.

Cameron: Oh, I know what you're talking about. Do you want me to go into it? Yeah. You're talking about, like, the triblock technology and stuff? Yeah.

So, I mean, branding, like yeah. Branding in general is so important for you personally and for a business, but the way that you differentiate yourself is through like, I hate when people talk about, you know, how they can't charge a premium amount. It's like, it's because you're not a premium person. Like, you're not a premium person. You're not a premium company.

What differentiates yourself? So I think what you're referring to is the fact that, like, we had this amazing service. But if we're truly honest, like, it's the same type of like, we put down more product than anyone else. We spend more time there. Mhmm.

But what we actually do at the home, like, the way to service a house, like, there's only so many ways to skin a cat. Like, you do the foundation, you do the yard, you do the the fence line. Right? And so what we found is, like, hey. We need to differentiate ourselves to everyone else out there.

Steve: Yeah. How

Cameron: do we do that? We're gonna give our brand, our service a brand. We're gonna give our service a brand. So we called it triblock technology. And so what it is, bro, it's three massive barriers of protection.

It's the fence line. It's the yard. It's the perimeter

Steve: of the house. Yeah. And

Cameron: it's different than anyone else is doing. We actually go three feet up the wall, three feet. You know? Whereas another pest control company would come on, be like, hey. Yeah.

We go three feet up. We go three feet out. We service the yard. We service the fence line. They'd be like, we're with GreenMango.

They have triblock technology. You know? And so it's like, it's the same thing, and that's what's fun. Like, people would always and this is why I tell people, like, who cares what other people in your industry are saying? They're just jealous.

Right. It's what the consumer sees, and it's not a lie. It's just like, hey. This is who we are. Mhmm.

It is a trademarked patented technology that's proprietary to us. Mhmm. Not saying, like, you know, it's it's us. It's Triblock Technologies. It's what we do.

Mhmm. And so, like, that's powerful when you're trying to differentiate yourself in a in a, you know, saturated industry

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Of pest control or alarms or solar or HVAC or, you know, whatever it might be. Like, hey. Here's our formula for success. This is what we do.

Steve: You ever hear about how Schlitz beer became big? So the way they started or the way they blew up was everyone makes beer the same exact way.

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: You make beer, you make beer. Right? I don't know how to make beer, but, like, everyone does it the same way. Right?

Cameron: K.

Steve: And what they did was they took their process, and they made a whole story about it.

Cameron: Love it.

Steve: Here's what makes Schlitz beer special. Right? And they, like, we we take care of our hops. Is this way we do it? Like, you know, and they just went this whole thing.

If you make beer, they're like, that's how beer is made. Yeah. What's so special about it?

Cameron: One knows that if you

Steve: don't know what

Cameron: the beer made.

Steve: Like, oh my god. This is how they make their beer. This is what I want. And so they became the standard.

Cameron: Yep.

Steve: So they're famous for two different marketing things. Right? One, to blow up their brand in a positive way, and I want to blow up their brand in a negative way, which when they went with, like, you know, we're the man's beer, and, like, women are the ones that buy the beer at the grocery store.

Cameron: Brutal.

Steve: So they destroyed their brand with that. So then you've sold most of your companies, but you're still holding on to one.

Cameron: Yep. Why? Because it's not like I mean, that's I mean, you're, like, asking, like, I don't know. No. It's, so in each business that we started Mhmm.

We found a managing partner that was an expert in that industry. Yeah. So we brought the systems, the processes, the marketing, and the finance to the table. We don't wanna be jack of all trades, master of none. Right?

And because that's what it looked like too. Like, we're starting all these companies. Like, what the heck? Well, we partnered and gave that person equity of the business, and we gave them, like, the day to day responsibilities of, like, dealing with all the stress that comes. Here's the five things that we're bringing to the table.

You bring your expertise. So the partner that we had worked for Zero Rez, which is, you know, one of the biggest competitors in Arizona. We said, hey. Come over to us. Here's some equity.

We're gonna go build a carpet cleaning empire. Why have we why do I still have it? Because it's still growing, and it has so much potential to be huge. Like, we will turn the coconut into a quarter billion dollar company through the franchising model. Mhmm.

And so we're on our we're eight years in. Arizona is one of the largest or Coconut's one of the largest carpet cleaning companies in Arizona, but we we started franchising it a few four years ago. We had four salesmen come to us and say, hey. We're either gonna be your competitors, or we love the brand so much. We want you to partner with us.

At this time, I was so sick of starting all these companies funding them and, like, being financially responsible that I was like, I'm not doing that. The only way is franchising, which, like, allows us to can you like, give you the basically partner without being financially responsible. Right? And so all the people that got investors and we shouldn't have sold it to one guy because his investor backed out. Mhmm.

He's the only one that did it, hit over $1,000,000 in the first two years, which is unbelievable in the service industry.

Steve: Say $10,000,001,000,000

Cameron: in revenue within the first two years. K. Every the the other three, boom, killed it. And then and so one of the biggest challenges about franchising is the same thing that I was talking about with m and a. Like, what you don't know, you don't know.

Mhmm. And so there's horror stories of people getting sued and all this stuff of franchises. And so I'm like, Evan, which is my business partner, Coke, and I'm like, I don't know if I wanna go down this path, but we don't wanna lose these four guys. So we kinda, you know, we got dumbed into doing franchising. Right?

Mhmm. I said, sell them these sell these four to these top guys. You know, it was a $100 to do the FTD, which outlines everything, right, to franchise. Lots of legal stuff around franchising.

Steve: Franchise disclosure. Whatever. Yeah. Yeah.

Cameron: Yeah. So, like, hey. We're gonna but pause the like, hold the like, sell these four. Stop. Let's see what we learned from this.

And if it's viable, like, we'll keep selling. So within the past year, we're, like, we're ready to go again. Like, we we we'd certainly don't know everything from, like, what to look at the landmines of franchising, but we've learned a lot. Alright. And we've sold another three, and we're like, we'll sell 80 franchises over the next five years.

Like, I'm really confident in that. And we'll get like, the goal is to get each franchise up to a couple million, but I don't know if I can say that. There's certain all these legal things, but it's like the goal is I think I can say that. It's like the goal is to get our own up to $3,000,000 in revenue Mhmm. And, like, have 80 locations doing that 250,000,000.

Steve: Yeah. Wow.

Cameron: That'll be sick.

Steve: And then Hype Farm is a interesting name. You like you you like your names? They're meaning behind Hype Farm?

Cameron: I mean, besides, like, we wanna bring hype into the industry and bring excitement, and then, like, we spelled farm p h a r m because, like, not like we're not trying to, like, grow crops, but, like, we're trying to create, like, a farm. Like, that's what we do is we help companies grow. Yeah. We we bring in the sizzle. We bring in the sauce.

Mhmm. And then we and then we grow them.

Steve: And then, one of the things that, you know, Jeff was super excited about was the 1% club. Yeah. What's the 1% club?

Cameron: So the 1% club is cool, man. I've I've gotten really passionate about it just in the past month.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: I'm the type of guy that it's like, hey. There's a lot of people that helped me Mhmm. That answered my questions. And so, like, I wanna be that for people now. Couple years ago, advice that Tommy gave was like, hey.

You need to start a podcast, and you need to start doubling down on your personal brand. Because when you go to exit, if you are looked at as the king in the industry, one, you'll get a higher multiple, and two, like, they just won't negotiate with you as much. Yeah. And, like, the other thing that comes with that is when you start talking about business and start building your personal brand, like, people start to ask questions, and they start to reach out. Because there's a lot of people that don't have the mentors and help and all the things.

Right? And so people naturally started reaching out, and and I and, you know, I would take the phone calls. I'd be on the calls for, you know, three, four hours a day trying to help business owners. But what I found is there's a lot of guys that, one, are wasting my time because I know they're not gonna go take action.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: But, two, like, it became really exciting because people would call me, like, a week later and be like, dude, I implemented this one little thing, and, like, it's literally transformed my business. Yeah. Like, like, what do you like, what, like, what else could I want in life? Like, money doesn't really matter anymore. Like, I wanna help people.

I wanna I wanna help them grow. And and so when someone's, like, struggling and they call you and tell you that, it's like, wow. This is cool. But but, again, I wasn't wanting to be this mentor, this coach, this like, I just wanna help people, but it's not scalable. Right?

And so this is, like, this is a couple months after I sold. I'm trying to figure out, like, what's because Coconut Evan runs Coconut. I don't do much at Coconut. Like, he's the guy, and I just help support him. I'm a I'm a whiteboard for him.

Right? Like and so I'm trying to figure out, like, I know I need to stay busy because I understand, like, that's what makes me happy. Right? But I'm not trying to, like, get back into it. I'm just you know?

And and at the meantime, I'm taking all these phone calls, and I'm like, just like, this isn't scalable. I gotta I gotta I gotta figure this out. I wanna keep helping people. And so I was like, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna do a monthly Zoom call, and I'm gonna answer people's questions.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Anyone that reaches out throughout the week, I'm like, hey. So sorry. I'm busy right now. But at the end of the month, the last Wednesday, I do a monthly Zoom call, jump on.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And then I was like, well, the people that waste my time, I don't want them on that call because they're, like, they're, you know, they're just we call them ask holes. Right? Right. They just ask, ask, ask. Mhmm.

I'm gonna charge, like, $2.99 a month. I just I don't know where that number came from. Like, it's just enough to where, like, it gets rid of those people that wanna waste my time.

Steve: Mhmm. And

Cameron: it's a no brainer for people that are actually serious because it's it's $300, bro. Like, come on. You know? And so the first couple I at first, I was like, if I can get, like, 20 people on this call, like, it's worth my time to jump on for an hour. Mhmm.

Right? No prep. No nothing. Well, like, three months in, we got, like, 70 members. You know?

And I'm like, it's so much more like the hours flying by like this. I'm like, I'm a start creating playbooks for them, like, actual implementation playbooks that they can go, like, go implement in their business. And so at the same time and this has all happened in the past six months. Right? One of my buddies is coming to me.

He's like, dude, there's money and and, you know, rolling companies up. Like, let's go let's go let's go do these plumbing companies and roll them up and, you know, integrate them and sell them off to private equity. And I was like, sounds cool. Like, you know, you you integrate a couple companies. You can make another 100,000,000 pretty easy doing like, honestly, that path is pretty easy.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And, I start going down this path with him, and, like, he's having to call these companies and, like like, pretty much sell himself of who he is. Like, hey. I'm this. I did that. I did that.

Which he's had a ton of success. And and I'm just like, I don't wanna do that, man. And so I told him, I said and that's when it clicked. I'm like, I'm looking around. We have over 250,000,000 in revenue in the 1% club already.

There's over 70 members. There's, you know, there's guys that are just a solid community of people. Mhmm. They're showing up. They're doing the things I'm telling them to do.

I'm like, why don't I go grow this community to, you know, a minimum of a thousand members? Mhmm. And then when it's time, like,

Steve: hey.

Cameron: Who wants to like, who's ready to sell? Let me teach you how to sell. Right? But in the meantime, I'm giving them my playbook of how to grow a business that's sexy enough to sell. Mhmm.

And so, like, I'm kinda doing it backwards. So the end goal is, like, yeah. I think I can help integrate these companies and roll them up and sell them together if that's what they want. If not, they'll learn how to run a business that runs without them, that can get them the highest multiple acting, you know, increase their highest EBITDA margins in their business. And and this is what's most important.

Be around other people that are up to the same thing. Yeah. Like, that's what I wanna build in the 1% club. And so, like, now I'm busier more now than ever because, like, I'm telling my team, like, hey. We're gonna start running ads November 1.

The price is gonna go up because how can you say, like, this is a filet mignon when you're charging $2.99? Like, this course should be $10,000 a month. Right? Like, really? And, like, pace pace is like, dude, what what are you doing charging $2.99?

I'm like, I just want people in the community, man. Like, I don't care about the money, but we're gonna charge $900, upfront. It'll be a six to eight week course and then $2.99 a month. And it's a monthly Zoom call, and it's part being part of a community, and we're gonna hold quarterly events where you can get together and be around other people that are just killing it in business. And, so that's what the 1% club is.

And I I get fired up around it because it's like, I'm I'm checking all my boxes. Like, I'm staying busy. I'm helping other business owners. And then the endgame and I don't I'm not even attached to that, but if we go integrate and roll companies up in a year from now, like, not only am I winning, but the person that I wish someone woulda came to me like I am to them right now and said, hey. Roll Green Mango up into our portfolio, and you will be worth two times the amount of money.

Yeah. That like, I would have done that. That's what I was doing with Tommy. It's like, hey, dude. Come.

Let's go grab that's sorry. I, like, start geeking out about this because, like, the m and a is so powerful because a company that's worth, let's say, like, five times EBITDA margin. So let's say they're worth a million bucks. As soon as they integrate into a company like Tommy's, they now get the the multiple of Tommy's as long as it has a trailing twelve months of revenue. So as soon as they integrate to that company for twelve months, they're that that same company that was worth five times if Tommy goes and gets a 20, they're now worth 20 x, the same company just because they changed their name.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: Like, that's when Tommy I don't know if you heard him on stage. He's like, I feel like this is illegal. It seems illegal. And so when I go to a business owner a year from now and say, hey. You're worth 10 times.

Take that. Like, you earned that. I'm not trying to get in your pocket. Let's share in the revenue that I get as we combine together. It's gonna be beautiful.

And the cool thing is, like, they're already integrating themselves over the next year or two years, however long they're in the in the club.

Steve: Oh, I love this. I love I love what you're doing. If someone wanted to get involved in the one percent club, how does that work?

Cameron: Yeah. So it's hypefarm.com is the landing page, the website, or you can go to Seabaughton, which is my Instagram. And underneath the bios right there, a link to the one percent club. It's super easy.

Steve: Oh, Hype Farm with a p h.

Cameron: Yeah. H y p e p h a r m. Oh, /one. See, I don't even know. I don't even care.

It's like, dude, if you wanna join, great. If not, like, if that you're missing out. Well So hypedfarm.com/one.

Steve: And then what Why do we

Cameron: why do we do that? Why not just hyped farm? Okay. Let's go.

Steve: And what about franchising? Someone was interested in franchising.

Cameron: So franchisingcoconutcleaningcode.com, and there's a tab on there for inquiries. We're super selective on that. But if you're the type of person that you feel like you have a couple $100,000, you're an entrepreneur, you wanna go, like, coconut cleaning is the way to go. Like, we could probably get 90 inquiries a month, and we yeah. It's it's crazy.

So we're super selective.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: But if you fit our criteria, like, we want you to be in it. It it's the company's amazing.

Steve: Yeah. It's pretty cool. And, like like I said, you know, I suffer from massive shiny objects syndrome. Like, you're all the number. So, like, there might be someone here that's listening.

It's like, you know what? Yeah. Maybe that just makes sense for me.

Cameron: Yeah.

Steve: So now moving forward, you got a lot going on. You've accomplished a lot. What would you like to be remembered for?

Cameron: It's a great question, man. Well, first and foremost, like, I wanna be a good I wanna be someone like a man of God. I wanna be a great husband and a great father. Like, those are, like, the things. And then I wanna be able to say, like, I helped a lot of successful.

Like, I want I helped a lot of people achieve success. Yeah. And so success could be in money. Success could be in, like, being a great dad, a great father. And so that's the thing in the 1% club.

We're not just talking about business. Like, I talk a lot about living, you know, a balanced life and what that looks like with with friends and family and money and, you know, kids and and God and all that all the all all those certain things because that's why a lot of people warned me when I sold. They're like, dude, you're you're gonna be depressed. It just happens. And and it might come.

I don't know. I'm a year in, but it's like, I'm I'm more on fire now than I've ever been because I understood myself. I understand balance. And so right now, I have the perfect balance of what I'm talking about, like business, family, money, hobbies, all those certain things. Right.

And it takes a long time to get there, but that's that's what I teach in the 1% club.

Steve: Well, I think you saw a purpose. Yeah. And I think that's probably what happens. I don't know about these other companies, like, entrepreneurs that exit, but, like, celebrities that, you know, make a lot of money because they got it on purpose.

Cameron: Right.

Steve: What is your biggest struggle today?

Cameron: Man, biggest struggle, not being able to go fast enough. Like, there's so many things I wanna do, and it's just, like, limited by Yeah. People and time. But, dude, I, like, I have the best life ever. You know?

I, sometimes I pinch myself, you know, when things are going so good. You're like, oh, man. Like, god, don't hit don't hit me with something too hard here. You know? Like so but I'll when I write in my journal in the morning of things I'm grateful for, like, some of the things that I'm most grateful for is all the trials that I suffered over the past fourteen years.

Steve: What would you do if you're going faster?

Cameron: What would I do? Well, like like, November 1 is our launch date for ads. Like, I would've launched those yesterday if we had all of our courses and everything in place.

Steve: Got it. I I wanna get this to

Cameron: a thousand members like like that, and then it'll be two, three, and four. And, you know, it's like, we're gonna create a community that's powerful, and we're gonna we're actually teaching things that there's a lot of coaches out there, and this is one of the reason why I wanted to get into it. It's, like, there's a lot of coaches out there that are giving people advice that haven't really done it. They haven't done the thing. And they just see, like, oh, I can I can make a lot of money off of these people, and I just think that's messed up?

There's, like, there's a lot of bad information out there.

Steve: So it's funny because I heard you say that before.

Cameron: Mhmm.

Steve: And I know that's true in the real estate space. Just figured that wouldn't be true in home services because that's more blue collar. Yeah. Right? Like, you can see what they're doing.

Right? Like, in real estate, like, you could see the cashier's check around my Instagram. Right? I'm in front of a Lamborghini. I got gold chains.

Whatever it is, I'm not proving that I've done anything. They're just props Yeah. Instagram. Yeah. But, like, for me, like, blue collar is like, hey.

Like, that guy doesn't have that many trucks in that city. Yeah. Is that isn't it harder to, like, lie in

Cameron: I don't know, man. I mean, you you know the big names in this space with business and stuff.

Steve: I only know And

Cameron: I'm not ragging on any like, I just I see it. It's like

Steve: But I don't really don't. Like, I only know Tommy, and then I recently met you. Like, those are the only two people I know in this space.

Cameron: You met the real ones, man. I'm just kidding. No. Yeah. I don't wanna I'm not here to, like, trash you.

I'm just saying, like I'm

Steve: not trying to trash anybody. I'm just saying, like, I just it's it's hard for me to understand because I'm not in your world. Yeah. You can visually see if someone's real or not Yeah. In your space.

Cameron: Well, it's easy to fake it, man. You know that more than anyone. Like, yeah, it's they're like, if you run an engaging ad Mhmm. Right, with the private jet in the background or the helicopter, like, unless you go do your due diligence and you just buy that course like that, like, you just made that $5 off that person like that. And unless you go and, like, truly research, which you know how like, most people aren't intentional that way.

Mhmm. They're not gonna go do the research to see if you actually did it. Yeah. Like, they're just gonna see the jet and the helicopter or whatever. Like, they're they're, you know, they're doing as their thumbnail.

And by the course of $5, they're gonna you know?

Steve: Yeah. Maybe I'm just still overly skeptical. I don't know. I have made the, you know, the joke every once

Cameron: in a while.

Steve: I was like, if I sound jaded and broken, because I am. Because I like that. I've I've seen too much. Yeah. What would you say is your superpower?

Cameron: I think that always changes, but right now, it's become more clear. Like, my superpower is staying consistent.

Steve: Yeah. Just showing up every day?

Cameron: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: What was it before you're saying it kinda changes?

Cameron: I used to, like, I used to think my superpower was, like and it's still kinda biz, but, like, just being, like and I hard worker and consistent is kinda the same, but, like, I'm I I classified myself for a long time, and I think you can hear that in this podcast a lot, like, as a systems and process guy. Not, like, really I I see the vision of why that's necessary, but, like, I'm the worst guy to go write an SOP. Yeah. Yeah. You know?

So, like, when I look at my success and when I look at other people with their failures, I think that it's because, like, they just don't say you know, like, my three things on this, you know, on this wristband are, like, intentional, discipline, and consistency. Yeah. You have to have those three things. So, like, right now, like, these are my superpowers being intentional. I know exactly where I wanna go with the 1% club with my family, with my finances.

I'm intentional. The people I hang out with, like, there's a there, you know, there's a time where I went on a ton of different podcasts no matter who they were. Like, I'm very intentional with the podcast. That's how we got here, and which is, I think, so cool. Like, I knew that I wanted to be on Pace's podcast because of his following and the the demographic of people that he has.

It fits in line with where I'm wanting to take the 1% club.

Steve: Right.

Cameron: When I met you, I didn't know who I didn't know who you were. He brought up eight random dudes. I didn't know that you knew Pace. Yeah. But somehow through our conversation, I mentioned, like, hey.

One of the things I'm trying to do right now is get on Pace's podcast. You said, Pace is a really good buddy. Within fifteen minutes, we were on a group message. Within thirty minutes, I was booked on Pace's show on Monday, which Yeah. Appreciate you, bro.

Yeah. You know? And so it's like, that doesn't come without being intentional, disciplined, and consistent.

Steve: Right.

Cameron: And so consistent, like, I coulda got home from the Las Vegas event, like, man, I don't need to work. I don't need to show up. Like, you text me last night. Hey. We had a canceling.

You know? I wanna be on your podcast. You know? Pace has talked so highly of your podcast. You have a huge following on your podcast.

It fits my demographic.

Steve: Right.

Cameron: You were like, hey. Can you be here tomorrow at 02:30? I was like I told the other podcast I was on. I said, I I need to cut this short. Mhmm.

You know? It took forty five minutes to drive here. You know? And, like, we made it happen because, like, I'm consistent. I'm gonna show up, and I'm gonna do the work that needs to happen, and I'm intentional.

Steve: Oh, that's that's a powerful testament. Right? Yeah. And it shows up, right, obviously, the results that you've gotten. Is there any particular lesson looking back?

Right? It's been, this this journey for sixteen, seventeen years. Looking back, was there any one lessons, like, man, like, that was the like, the one I learned the biggest lesson from?

Cameron: Yeah. So when the investor pulled out, I didn't go too deep into that, but I literally thought my life was over. Like, again, like, I have highs to low of lows. He thinks I'm the king to, like, now he just said, no. I don't want you.

You know? And and I looked at him as, like, a huge figure of, like, validation because I've always suffered from, like, imposter syndrome, but, also, like, also, like, just am I worthy? Like, am I enough? You know? And so when he said, like, I don't wanna be your partner, it was like, dude, I'm I'm back to zero.

You know? Like, I'm a piece of crap. You know? And so, I called my coach at the time. Luckily, I had him.

And and I'll never forget it. I called him, and I was like, dude, my lies. I was I was crying like a little like a little kid, man. I was gonna say a little girl, but girls are tougher than we are. Like, I was I was I was crying like a little baby.

And, I said, my life's over, man. Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. And he said, Cameron, like, I've been trying to teach you this principle for the past six months now. But now that it's actually happening in your life, you'll see that everything always works out.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cameron: And I was just like, screw you, man. Like, how can you say that right now? You know? Like, I'm my life is over, dude. I'm like, I'm taking on four I went $4,000,000 in debt pretty much that day.

And I'm like, this guy doesn't want me. I'm gonna have to shut down these five companies. Like, what's the world gonna think of me? Like, I started all these companies. I shut them down.

4,000,000 in debt. I don't know if I'm gonna recover from this. You know? Like, everything always works out. Watch.

And so, like, that's the best lesson I ever learned is everything always works out. Might not always work out the way that you want in that time. Mhmm. But always looking back for, like, everything always works out. So when you have that when you have that saying in your head whenever something bad happens, like, it's just kinda cool.

And and so, like, you write you have this journal, and so you'll have this journal that, like, everything always works out journal. So when, like, the worst thing happens in your life, you go write it in that journal, come back a month later, and you'll you'll almost laugh at it. Like, I can't believe that. I thought that was a big deal. Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Steve: Absolutely. I mean, those adversity is what builds you. What they say the invention is or, necessity is the mother of invention. Right? Like, you had to find a way.

Yeah. And you wouldn't be here if you didn't find that way. Yeah. So before we I want anything about last, I just wanna leave the listeners with. Guys, you know, if you guys wanna share what was your takeaway, comment below.

Let us know what you took away from this. You know, the like I said in the beginning of the show, like, to have someone who's actually gone through the gauntlet and then able to successfully exit, you know, I think is is is, what's the one I'm looking for? There are a lot of lessons there. Right? Because we've talked about being in a journey, but to be able to close a chapter and then start, or continue another story, I think, is incredibly powerful.

Again, comment here. Let us know what you're taking away from this, something that you want to actually go and implement, in your business. What are some last thoughts you'd like to leave everybody with?

Cameron: Well, this is the longest podcast I've been on, man. I love it. I'm fried right now. What is I gave you everything I got, man. What are my last thoughts?

One of the things I've learned about business is this. Like, the money will come and go, which is so cliche to say, especially as a in a position that I'm in. Like, the relationships and the people that you surround yourself with while you're doing your business or your work or whatever, like, your personal brand is worth more than any amount of money. And so what is your personal brand? If if you have an agreement that's fifty fifty, like, pay the commission, man.

Like, don't fight with people. Like, take care of that person because you never know what that person will do for you or mean to you or say to your kids or whatever it might be. And so that's the theory that I've always tried to live by. Just, like, just take care of the employees. And it's been really cool to see one of my biggest fears of standing up in front of a 150 employees and telling them that I sold Green Mango because I thought that they would feel like I was leaving them behind for dead.

The amount of support and love that I got from everyone was, like, you know, it started to make me cry because it was like, they were so happy for me. They're like, I can't believe you didn't sell out five years ago. Like, I can't believe you hung on this long. We're so excited for you. And that comes from, like, a really cool spot.

Like, if I was a dick to them, like, they'd be like like, they wouldn't have said you know what I mean? Like and, like, tonight, I'm going out to dinner with with an employee that worked for us for eight years, and he, you know, he just left Green Mango because it's just not the same anymore, and he has his reasons or whatever. You know? But it's like, I wanna take him out, and I wanna celebrate him for all the many like, we're talking eight years back. Like, he saw some things that, you know, you say, oh, I met Tommy Moe in in 2019.

Like, he didn't have his things together. Like, he saw me when I didn't have my stuff together. You know? And but he stuck with me. And so it's like, I don't have to take him out to dinner.

I don't have to do any of those things, but it's like, I love him, number one. But number two, like, I wanna go buy him dinner one last time.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: And I'm not not because of any other reason besides, like, thank you.

Steve: Yeah.

Cameron: And when you take care of people like that, maybe he's gonna help develop a relationship or bring someone to the 1% club or whatever. Like, who knows? And it doesn't matter if he doesn't do anything. Like, take care of people in business, end period, no matter what.

Steve: Yeah. Real lesson. If someone wanted to connect with you, what would be the best way for them to do that?

Cameron: Instagram is best. So in, c Bawden, the letter c, and then my last name, Bawden, b a w d e n. Alright.

Steve: Perfect. Thank you

Cameron: so much. Thanks, bro.

Steve: Appreciate it. Thank you guys for watching. See you guys next time.

Cameron: Shout out to Steve Train. Jump on the Steve Train. Disrupt us.

How Cameron Sold His 5 Companies For $100,000,000+

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$6M in Profit in 2025 with Only 12 Employees

How Cameron Sold His 5 Companies For $100,000,000+

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