How To Build Your Empire with Brent Wright - 101

Ready to build your empire? This is the episode for you.

In this episode, I'm joined by Brent Wright. Brent was a multi-millionaire by the age of 25 before becoming homeless at 27. He then started a house/animal watching business while homeless so he had a place to live, and restarted his life with a 1986 Mazda 626 that he sold/traded over 4 times and parlayed it into 10k + in profit.

From there on out he began to build his own empire that now consists of nine businesses, a working cattle ranch, and a happy family life with his wife and two children.

He is also the board president of a private Christian school that I helped pull out of failure 3.5 years ago that is now wildly successful.

What you'll learn in this episode is lessons on how you can begin to turn your life around or elevate it to a completely different level you never thought possible. Brent shares high-level business concepts that you likely haven't heard anywhere else.

Inside The Episode:

• Brent's incredible riches to rags to riches story
• How to create a 500 year legacy plan
• How to create stability in your life while still taking risks
• Why the way most people manage money in their business is wrong
• How to make the best possible business decisions
• Why Brent was homeless even while he was making a lot of money
• How to pull yourself out of the victim mentality
• How to have empathy without being empathetic

Connect with Brent

• Brent's Linktree
• Instagram

Connect With Bradley

• Bradley's Instagram

Transcript

Bradley Roth: 0:32

Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Not Most People podcast. This is your host, Bradley, and this is the show for those allergic to mediocrity group think and following the status quo. And whether you have been a longtime listener or you're tuning in for the first time, I would like to remind you of my one ask. And that is simply if you get value out of the show, if you learn something, if it makes you laugh, think a new way inspires you. Just that you help us out by sharing the show, leaving a rating or review on Apple, Spotify, wherever you might be listening, because that really, really helps grow the show and helps it get to people who otherwise might not see it. And I know lately I've been seeing some new reviews, so thank you for those of you who have been doing that. I greatly, greatly appreciate it. And for those of you who haven't, again, if you don't get value, don't leave one. But if you do, That's all that I ask takes you just a minute and makes a big difference. So that's my one ask. I don't run ads on this show, and uh, I will continue to keep it that way as long as you guys keep helping me grow the show and doing your part. So that's my one ask. Otherwise for not most people, we just had the first, not most people summit depending on when you're listening to this. Uh, so that was kind of a, a big step forward for not most people. We, uh, posted about that if you missed it on all of our socials and stuff like that. So make sure you check it out. You're not gonna wanna miss next year. So, uh, keep an eye out for that. And we got a whole bunch of other stuff going on with not most people. We have the Alliance, which is our community, our mastermind. So if you want to get around more people who are not, most people who kind of think different, who want more outta life, that's the place to do it. And you can find all of those links for everything, not most people in the show notes. So that's it for housekeeping. Without further ado, we're gonna get into today's full length guest episode. With special guest Brent Wright. Brent, welcome to the show. Thank you. Appreciate it, Brad. Yeah, so I'm gonna, I'll try and condense his, uh, his bio, all his different titles. It's, he, he's kind of one of those people that. Like in the social media space is a relative unknown compared to a lot of guests I've had on here, but I know that's gonna be changing here very soon. Brent, a little bit of background. He was a multimillionaire by 25, homeless at 27, started a house in animal watching business while homeless, so he had a place to live. And restarted in 1986 with a Mazda 6 26, which he sold and traded over four times and created over 10 K in profit from that. So I'm, I'm curious to ask about that now. He has nine businesses, a working cattle ranch six year old and nine year old, and a wife half his age, and he's the board president of a private Christian school. They help pull out of kind of, you know, Bordering failure three and a half years ago and helped to make it successful. So he's kind of built this, this empire and, uh, we're gonna talk about, you know, learn how he did that. So, I mean, we kind of touched on a couple of those key points, but in your own words, what was that, you know, how did you become a multimillionaire by 25? How'd you end up homeless at 27? Kind of, can you give us some of those, like highlight points? Yeah,

Brent Wright: 3:45

yeah, for sure. So, I was a. Certified painter, car painter. And, uh, I was one of the top 10 paid painters in the state of Oregon for a number of years at a very young age. I was making excess of a hundred K a year in high school. Oh, wow. And, and, uh, so parlay that into real estate. Uh, owned a number of homes, rental homes commercial properties, et cetera, uh, with my ex-wife. And, uh, as you, as you can probably imagine the next step, uh, ex-wife. Ex-wife. Right. So, uh, yeah. Lost everything. Uh, during the divorce, uh, the lawyers took, uh, You know what, what She didn't take out of the middle. The lawyers took the rest, so. Gotcha. Um, that's how I ended up homeless and living in my truck. And so, correction the, it just all didn't happen in 1986. I'm not that old. Um, the, uh, the, the Mazda 6 26 was a 1986 and it was brown. Oh, okay. Brown, on brown with a brown interior. So, uh, it was a, it was a nice$600 car that, uh, got, got me to the next step, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it, uh, divorce, uh, divorce happens and that's what happened to me and, uh, I shouldn't say happened to me. It happened for me as Ed, my last des right. So, yep. Uh, it definitely propelled me to a place of humbleness. And, uh, you know, when you go from being broke to To building things, you can appreciate it more, so. Mm-hmm. Uh, I, I can tell you that I truly might not have appreciated all I had prior, and, uh, probably was a little cocky being 20 some years old and having access to, uh, hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank at a time, and millions of dollars in assets, so,

Bradley Roth: 5:33

mm-hmm. So when that happened, when you had that divorce, were you, Because you can kind of go two ways with it. You can either be like, you know what, screw it, I'm just gonna build it right back. Or were you kind of like down on yourself for a while? Kind of like, you know, like you said, and now it's, you know, it happened for me, but were you kind of like, man, this is all happening to me. What was your mindset? Oh yeah, yeah,

Brent Wright: 5:57

yeah, yeah. I definitely played the victim card. And what I, what I had left, I sold and, uh, in, in a fire sale and. Put it all, uh, into uh, and bought a Harley and, uh, pretty much rode that. That was what I owned. I owned a Harley and a truck and that was it. So ironically, when I was homeless, I didn't have a place to park my Harley, but. You know, I would, uh, I would borrow, beg, borrow or steal places to keep it inside. Um, but yeah, just kind of checked out a life and rode and whenever I could afford gas, I would ride. And that was, that was my escape. And I tried every other form of escapism you know, beer partying. Mm-hmm. Hanging out at friends places, whatever I could to try to just escape. The process. Yeah. And you know, they say that's where the magic happens is in the process, and I was just trying to escape it. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 6:48

So how long did that phase kind of last before you started to try and move out of that?

Brent Wright: 6:54

Yeah, that was about a two or two or three years, I would say. Mm-hmm. Um, really felt down and out in Beverly Hills and, uh, was depressed and, and really didn't, uh, try very hard to participate in life, uh, and engage and really make a difference or anything like that. And then, uh, got kind of called out by a boss. He's like, Uh, you know, do you enjoy being homeless? You know, you're, you're on a Lear jet during the week, like, and then you come home and sleep in your truck. Are you, uh, you know, are you, do you want to be the victim forever? Or what are you gonna do? So,

Bradley Roth: 7:26

Hmm. What were you doing on the Lear Jet, or what was your job?

Brent Wright: 7:30

So I managed, uh, a large conglomerate, uh, two locations of the seven location, uh, body shop, uh, conglomerate. And they would fly me all over the country looking to buy other places, guiding and coaching other body shop owners. We had a.

Bradley Roth: 7:48

Uh oh, so this, this was while you were homeless? Yeah. Yeah.

Brent Wright: 7:52

Wow. Yeah, it's crazy. So I, I told this story on our, on our other podcast, uh, that I was on this morning. I would literally get off the company Lear Jet and take a a Lincoln town car to the shop and they would drop me off at the shop and I would get in my truck and I would drive to where I parked every night to sleep. Wow, so is a, is a weird dichotomy. Yeah. Uh, to be in and to, to visually see that there is a better life and then to, you know, play the victim card and go live in my truck just cuz it was easy and simple and I wanted to check out.

Bradley Roth: 8:30

So even though you were, you had this kind of like solid, successful job, you were still like, part of your mind was in this like victim like, I'm gonna be homeless.

Brent Wright: 8:40

Yeah. Scarcity victim didn't wanna, you know, didn't want to invest in myself, didn't want to invest in trying to figure out a way to get a house or, You know, do any of those types of things. And so, you know, it, it was a little bit of a debilitating. So, uh, probably about every three or four months, my ex-wife would try to take me to court for something. And so mm-hmm. I was like, well, if I didn't have anything, she can't take anything. Right. And so, right.

Bradley Roth: 9:07

I mean, that part almost makes a little more sense, but Yeah. It, it's still, it's interesting what you said before, how you were living that and then you had your, your boss or your manager call you out and be like, man, what are you doing? And I think. There's so many people who go through life who don't have that person. Yeah, right. Like, what? What if that guy never said anything to you? You know, like, how long would it have been before you woke up one day and decided to change, or someone else you know, said something or gave you that tough love that you needed? So I'm guessing, You, have you been that person for a lot of other people in their lives? I have, yeah. I have.

Brent Wright: 9:43

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Ironically, I still have the truck. I drive past it every morning on the way out of the ranch, and uh, it reminds me wow, to be humble and to also help. Uh, help others, uh, get on their feet and, uh, and hold them accountable to their own actions and stop playing the victim. So, Hmm, I, I did it, I did a really good job at it. So you can speak from experience, I can definitely speak from experience. Yeah. Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 10:09

So you said you, you took that that Mazda 6 26 and you traded it, sold it several times. Yeah. So,

Brent Wright: 10:15

I, I bought it for$600. I cleaned it up and, uh, detailed it and drove it. And, uh, that same boss said, you're gonna have to park that somewhere else. You can't park that in front of our business anymore. It's just ugly. You gotta do something with it. And so I found somebody that needed a car and, uh, kind of wanted to help them as well, and they didn't have any way to finance it or to purchase it. So I took everything that I had put into it and, uh, added about 20% to it. And then, They put some money down and I took payments on it, and so about 12 months in they're like, Hey, I need another car. Well, I took that money and bought another car and then sold it to them again on time, and then took that Mazda in on trade and I sold it to somebody else on time, and I did that at least four or five times with that same car, and it kind of pared into this. Loan dealership type thing, you know? Um mm-hmm. That, you know, obviously I wasn't licensed or doing any of those things, uh, properly again, you know, playing the victim and, uh, just doing my own thing. Mm-hmm. But yeah, that was, uh, that was something that kind of propelled me. And then being homeless, definitely. You know, being called out, I, I can remember the guy's name. I can remember his face. I can remember the meeting. His name was Jeff Smith. I'll remember it until the day I die. Uh mm-hmm. But he called me out and he's like, I don't understand. You could be living in a house on the hill. Like, why are you living in your truck? And that got me thinking, well, these people need. To have somebody watch their houses when they're gone and stuff. And so he had a bunch of friends that were wealthy and lived on the hill. And so I started working with those folks and I became licensed and bonded and insured. Mm-hmm. And I started watching their house and taking care of their dogs and their animals, and they were very generous. Drive my car. There's food in the fridge, you know, stay here as long as you need to. We'll be gone for three months. You know, those types of things. And so, Kind of changed my trajectory and being around those people and being around a world of excess. When you're trying to have a scarcity mindset, you can't have a scarcity mindset or play the victim for long around these people that are calling you out. Right. And helping. And then helping you too, so, mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 12:31

Wow. So it was almost like, um, Like, was house sitting a thing back then, or you just kind of came up with this? I

Brent Wright: 12:38

just kind of came up with it cuz I, you know, Jeff was saying, Hey, um, you know, I'm getting married next month and we're gonna be gone for 30 days on vacation. Can you watch my house? You know, and I'm like, well, yeah, sure, yeah. I, I could park my truck and stay in my truck. He's like, no, no, you're gonna stay in the house,

Bradley Roth: 12:54

uhhuh.

Brent Wright: 12:57

So I did and that kind of propelled me. I was sitting there sleeping in his nice bed and, You know, not watching my little TV VCR combo plugged into my 12 volts into my truck. Uh, I had a, a, the Top Gun movie. It was a recorded movie, so it wasn't like high quality. Yeah. And, and so I would watch that until the battery would go dead in the little TV VCR combo every night. So I watched Top Gun probably like 987 times over the course of two or three years. Yeah. It never got old. Well, it gets old, but that's what you have, right? Yeah. So, yeah.

Bradley Roth: 13:33

So what'd you think of the new one? The new tap gun?

Brent Wright: 13:36

Uh, a little overdone. But, but okay. You know, the storyline kind of followed and mm-hmm. You know, the effects were great, but mm-hmm. You know, the storyline kind of left a little bit to be desired. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 13:47

I agree with that. That's a, a fair assessment. But, uh, man, so that was kind of, Was that, was that the turning point, like staying in these houses and like not being able to have that scarcity mindset and starting to think bigger and you were already, it sounded like you had momentum and you were good at what you did and Yeah. You know, you've always been, it sounds like a big, big car guy and never really left that space. So was that since then, it's just been like a semi study upward trajectory or were there any other like major. Setbacks after the divorce and that sort of thing. Yeah.

Brent Wright: 14:20

So, um, I kind of checked out a life a little bit e even after that. Mm-hmm. Um, I started working for insurance companies and just did the corporate thing. Mm-hmm. And, you know, made my 60 k a year and, and, uh, you know, took six weeks off and rode my Harley across the United States a few times, uh, with friends and that was all good. And well, I, I, I'm not a good I, I want, I don't know what to say the, the word, but I, I don't do, um, I, I need something stable, ironically, as, as in unstable or unstable as a homeless person. Could usually be, I needed stability in my life. My job was my stability and things like that. And so, I didn't trek across the United States really well three times. Mm-hmm. Every time I kind of longed for home and wanted to back and, uh, I just, I don't do the vagabond thing really well. Hmm. And that's the word I was looking for was the Yeah, I know. And so, um, At that point, I decided to stop working for insurance companies and me and a friend of mine, we started a body shop and we built it to a very successful business. And then I ended up, uh, being forcibly Uh, coerced into selling to him to get away from him in a, in a very not so fun situation. And, uh, and then it, that started me on my trajectory to build my own empire for myself without partners. So, I would tell you partners, uh, partners don't work for me. They work for other people, and that's good, but not for me.

Bradley Roth: 15:51

Well, at least you've identified that, right? Or I mean, you learned the hard way. So how old were you when that happened?

Brent Wright: 15:56

I was 35 when that happens. Gotcha. So yeah.

Bradley Roth: 16:00

Okay. So since then from 35 it's kind of been, you've been running the show. Yeah,

Brent Wright: 16:06

yeah. Straight up as fast and as hard as I want to create it, I've created it. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 16:11

So you said you're someone who craves stability. Are you still like that? Like were you, are you kind of the, cuz a lot of entrepreneurs are kind of skewed towards the risk taking side of things, right? And yeah, it sounds like you kind of went like the. Like you did your own things, but you also had like that steady job in place or to fall back on. Yeah. So do you still kind of operate that way? How you do it. So

Brent Wright: 16:36

I create stability for myself. Mm-hmm. Right. And so, like, I do the same things every day, eat the same meals every day. I do the same exercise program every day until I need to change it and adjust. Mm-hmm. And accordingly, I get in the ice bath every morning at five 30 with my wife. I mean, we've been doing that for a couple of years now. Um, uh, year and a half-ish, something like that. Um, yeah. Yeah. I, I crave stability and I create stability, but in a business sense I'm a risk taker. Hmm. I, I, they're calculated risks, right? Yeah. And so, you know, there's been time when I've written my last check and it's like, this is it. This is all I got. Yeah. I'm going all in. I got no backstop, right? Mm-hmm. And it, and it has worked and I've been very blessed and I can tell you that, uh, that, you know, God is a big part of my life and, uh, I, I pray when I'm down and I pray when I'm up. Right? So, yep.

Bradley Roth: 17:31

That's inter so your per in your personal life, Stability in your entrepreneurial life, a little bit more of that risk taking. So you, you, is it almost, I don't know you, do you feel like you compartmentalize that a little bit or That I do.

Brent Wright: 17:45

Yeah. Yeah. I totally do. I, I, um, I. I definitely compartmentalize all of that. I time block my personal life, I time block my professional life, and then I compartmentalize and, and segregate my personal finances and business finances. No co-mingling, none of those things. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, and if I'm, if I'm really winning over here, I still take the same paycheck. Doesn't matter. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's, it's, I have to, I, I live at a certain level and I'm gonna stay at the certain level, but I really wanna win over here, so. Hmm.

Bradley Roth: 18:22

Gotcha. So now, like I said, you've been kind of this, you're built, you've built this empire where, you know, you have nine businesses, you got the ranch, kind of like a whole lot going on. Yeah. And now it sounds like you're kind of shifting gears to like wanting to start getting like, Telling your story, telling other people kind of how, how to do it and that sort of thing. Yeah. What tr what like, was it just kind of like, okay, like I feel like I have this handled and I need something new. Or like you just had a lot of people kind of asking you for help. What, what spurred that next transition to where you are now? Where you're kind of like becoming the, I don't know, the mentor or the. Yeah. Yeah.

Brent Wright: 19:07

So I think it's a natural progression. Mm-hmm. My wife has played a huge role in that. She's like, look, you got a big story, right? Mm-hmm. You've done a lot of things, you can help a lot of people. Mm-hmm. And you keep saying you want to help a lot of people, we'll do it. Mm-hmm. And she gave me that push. No different than, than, uh, working with the private Christian school. Uh, we were sitting in a meeting P t O meeting and I looked at their financial statement and I'm like, they're broke and like, A month or less. Yeah. She goes, fix it. Mm-hmm. Our kids are gonna go to school here, fix it. And so I can't tell you, it's all because of me. I've had a lot of great people that have helped mm-hmm. Uh, through the process. Um, a lot of people that have sacrificed time and effort and energy and money. I've had a lot of good people that have pushed me to stay there. I've, I've, uh, thought about resigning several times and I, in fact mm-hmm. I've offered that and threw it out at the board and said, look, anybody wants to take this position, you can definitely do that. Yeah. And, uh, And I've prayed about it and it's still me. I still have to do it, and I want to impact as many people as I can. Mm-hmm. Um, but you know, getting my story out there I think will help people to realize, look, social media pushes win, win, win. Right? Mm-hmm. And, and that's the big. E phrase, key word, cool thing to do is just win. Yeah. Well, I wanna share my losses so that way other people don't have to lose like I lost. Yep. Right? Yeah. And, and so even if I'm, even if what I'm not considered by them a winner at, at least consider me a loser who adapted and, and then take that and adapt it to your life, however you can apply it. Yeah. I wanna, I want to impact as many folks as possible. This coming up school year, we're gonna be impacting over 200 kids and 150 plus families at our private Christian Academy. Mm-hmm. And that is super rewarding. Like if you were to go see a bunch of first through third graders or preschool through third graders saying the Pledge of Allegiance, saying the Lord's Prayer Prayer saying the Christian prayer, and then. Praying with you and for you during a, during a chapel. Mm-hmm. I don't know how that wouldn't impact you in some way. Yeah. And you know, whenever I feel like burning it all to the ground, I'll go to chapel and, and spend time with those kids and it's a huge benefit to

Bradley Roth: 21:38

me. Yeah. So how much you said? Yeah, for sure. So you said like 150 to 200. Kids right now. How many, what was the size like when you kind of stepped in a few years ago?

Brent Wright: 21:51

So we went down all the way to somewhere near like 74 or 76, just shy of 80. Hmm. And that was three and a half years ago. And then we were impacted with the whole Covid shutdowns and protocols, and we did our best to Participate at the minimal level. Let's just put it down. Yep.

Bradley Roth: 22:12

That's a good way to put it. Yeah.

Brent Wright: 22:15

You know, we, we definitely tried to keep the kids engaged and entertained and learning and growing and prospering, and it's paid out in spades with my kids. Um, they're hugely diverse in, in their, um, education and it's because of this place, so.

Bradley Roth: 22:32

Hmm. That's awesome. I mean, I, I went to, I was homeschooled when I was younger, and then I went to a small private middle school eighth grade, and I went to private high school. And so like, and then my mom has been involved with a lot of kind of organizations like that, and it is, I feel like a very common thing for those types of schools or institutions to really struggle and Yeah. You know, enroll without public funding and all that kind of stuff. So, um, I'm sure there's not just that school, but other ones surrounding who have kind of seen what they've done and maybe modeled it or reached out to you, who knows? But, yep. Um, yeah, no, I think, I think that's important cuz again, like people who want to go start a school usually, or especially like a, you know, Christian and something that really stands for something like they're not usually business people. Yeah, right. But everything that you want to do, On a high level at some point is gonna come back to kind of understanding some of those basics and principles. So, you know, that that examples of school could be any sort of business. What were a couple of things that you went in and said, like, all right, like, we're gonna do like 1, 2, 3, a kind of action steps, turn things around.

Brent Wright: 23:46

We had to get participation up, families participating Not just dumping their kids off at a, at a. Daycare like facility. I mean it, yeah. You're paying$7,000 a month, so you're like, I am gonna wash my hands of it and they're gonna take over. Right. But, uh, you know, parent participation is huge and it has to be huge. Community participation is the biggest thing. And then quite frankly, we aligned with a new church. We were, we, we were disbanded, forcibly disbanded from the church that we were aligned with, and they kicked us out and we had to find a new place to go. And in doing that, we aligned, um, with City First church of the Nazarene, and it changed our trajectory. They, we signed a hundred year collaboration agreement with them, and they give us free rent. So it was, it saved us$26,000 a month. Wow. And. Ryan, pastor Ryan Green and his, uh, his group, uh, are very giving and very caring, and they are very supportive. I mean, Ryan's kids go there too. So again, he had a little vested interest in the situation. But, but the, the whole church as a whole is very supportive of all of us and we couldn't do it without'em.

Bradley Roth: 24:59

Hmm. So, I, I. Kind of two things stood out there. One was collaboration. Yep. Which I think so many, I mean, it, you almost see like forced collaboration when a business is struggling. Like, oh, we gotta merge. Or someone will, you know, buy us or something like that. Right. Kind of this, like, you don't want to be in that position. But then collaborations like all the, all the biggest, all the best businesses that are, that I see these days that are growing the fastest. Like they're all about collaboration. Whereas it's kind of this counterintuitive where like mo most businesses that you see, Are kind of like, oh, th they're our competitors, or they're kind of overlapping with us. We don't want to talk to them. We don't want them to know what we're doing. Like we don't wanna share customers, whatever it might be. Yeah. And I think, you know, in some cases, depending on what you're doing, that might be necessary, but I think in more cases than not, like collaboration is hugely underrated and something that like people, like people wanna support each other. They want to help each other. Yeah. But like we kind of have these like walls up. We're like, oh, you know, like I, we can't reach out to them. Like they're, they're doing kind of similar things, but people wanna help people. And when you can combine forces, it's. I mean, have you done a lot of collaboration, like in your businesses, like your car businesses and partnerships and that kind of stuff?

Brent Wright: 26:19

Yeah. Yeah. So I've created, in fact, where my car business is, I've created an area where there are other businesses that self-support each other. Mm-hmm. So, instead of my detail business doing p p f and ceramic, we, I, I rent a space next door to a PPF and ceramic guy. Hmm. So instead of trying to create that, Collaboration with internally. Yeah. I added it. And he's got a, a group of folks that come to see him that need my other services for my body shop and my detail shop. And it's hugely collaborative. Mm-hmm. And both of us benefit from it instead of me doing those services and making this. Right. He does those services and I have an opportunity to make this. Yep. And so I, I think a lot of business people are shortsighted and don't. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 27:11

It's a scarcity mindset in a sense. It is. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Brent Wright: 27:14

Exactly. Mm-hmm. You're right about that. I, I think that they look at it as a com, uh, competition and I gotta win at all cost. Mm-hmm. And I look at my competitors as like, man, what are they doing right? And what am I doing wrong and what am I doing right? What are they doing wrong? Right. And we can help each other. Mm-hmm. And there's, so, you know, there's probably a hundred body shops in Lane County where I live, and if we all just. Talked to each other and helped each other. There is enough work here for everybody, but everybody has this real super scarcity mindset. Mm-hmm. And you get all these people in the room at a training for ICAR or something like that, and they don't want to talk to each other and they don't want to, you know, mesh. Yeah. And. I really enjoy that. I ask them, Hey, you guys been busy? What's going on? You been slow? Like, can we load level and help each other out? You know? Mm-hmm. This isn't my niche customer. We will help them, but it's not my niche customer. Is this your niche customer? And if so, I can refer to you. Right, right. So, yep. And they don't know how to take that. It's a weird vibe. Mm-hmm. When you're interacting with those folks and Yeah. So from the school perspective, the collaboration is the only reason we're alive. Mm-hmm. We'd have been out of business without it. Yeah. Because the county where we live does not want to have churches and schools and in, in any type of zoning. And there's no zoning that's approved for it, and you have to get conditional use. And so it's a bit of a struggle and a bit of a fight. Mm-hmm. And the church had conditional use. Zoning. And so it was an actual fit for us to slide in there. Yeah. And then they took over another church that had been previously used for a school and they had no use for a school without us. Yeah. And we had no use for a building or we couldn't get a building without them. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, huge. Hugely beneficial. And we've impacted the local community. I mean, we had. Like 1400 people, uh, soft count, not a hard count, but like 1400 people show up to our Halloween celebration and our trunk or treat. And that was a group, a large group of them weren't from the church community or the school community. They were just from the surrounding community that only knew about it because of our signage and our advertising.

Bradley Roth: 29:30

Yeah, no, I love that. I think, um, and like sometimes you'll talk to people and. A lot of'em, again, in the scarcity mindset will try and take every customer or client that they can kind of service. But the really, really good ones will say, Hey, like, you know what? I could probably help you, but this person can help you better. Yeah. Right. And that's like another form of kind of collaboration and people, people respect the heck out of that too, when you're able to say that. Cuz now they know that you're truly acting in their best interest.

Brent Wright: 30:02

Yeah. And, and we, we, we call it not our people. Mm-hmm. So not, not the playoff, not most people. Right. We call, we call that customer. They're just not our people. Mm-hmm. We can't serve them properly. Let's get them to somebody who can, right.

Bradley Roth: 30:14

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then the other thing you mentioned there that kind of stood out was the community involvement. Which like from a business standpoint could be, you know, like I feel like every great movement or like, you know, we, we all know first form, right? And Andy and what they're doing, like the community aspect of it. Cuz when you tie in the community, you know, people buy in, like they're a part of it now, right? Whereas. Without that community, it's just kind of like, okay, here's, here's like our job description, here's what we do. And then like, that's kind of it. But if you get people involved and like, cuz I've always been like a CrossFit guy in the fitness space. And the one thing that's always different about CrossFit gyms compared to these other gyms and why people are so loyal and they'll stay forever is the community aspect. Like it's a, it's social. You're not going there lifting with your headphones in and not talking to anyone and everyone's kinda like judging each other like your typical gym, you know? And. Like CrossFit, they do, like this has been, I've gone to so many different CrossFit gyms every time I've moved all different parts of the country, east coast, west coast, you know, the south, the Northeast, and every single one has that community aspect. Like people hang out beyond just the workout. They have organized things and time before and after class, and it's just, It creates such a loyalty that you don't see in like all these other gyms. Like there's turnover, turnover, turnover, and like you still see that? Yes. But yeah, when you can like get people involved kind of beyond like, like they go there to work out and get fit, right? But then they stay for the other people in the community, right? And so I think whatever business you're in, if you can integrate some of that, you know, that's a game changer. So, I don't know, is, is that something that you. Consciously do with, I mean like the car business, I think you, you mentioned before actually that you have kind of like a car club. You guys get get together. Yeah. And drive club like. So that's an example,

Brent Wright: 32:08

right? Yeah. So we do, uh, we're, we started it last summer, um, kind of like the off of the, the a hundred dollars tip club or the thousand dollars tip club. Mm-hmm. Um, where we get a number of folks together and everybody decides on a place we're going and a, a venue that we want to support and we drive. Old cars and, uh, if somebody wants to go but doesn't have an old car, there's a number of us that have extra old cars. So, um, it's kind of, my addiction is old cars. So I, so we do that and then we impact the, not just the, the community. So, You get somebody who doesn't have an old car that wants to participate and, and then they end up liking it and they end up wanting to buy an old car, and then they're gonna need a place to fix it. And then they're gonna need a place to clean it, and then they're gonna need a place to store it. And then it's on and on, right? Yeah. And then, and then you get them involved with the hundred dollars or a thousand dollars tip club, and then they see that. That you are a person trying to impact the community in a positive way, and they wanna be a part of that. Mm-hmm. And they wanna participate. So they participate in that aspect of it. And then that really speaks to them like, what am I doing to make a difference? Yeah. I got invited to this thing. They let me drive one of their old cars. These are expensive, right? Mm-hmm. And then all they wanted to do was help other people when they went to this place. Like, I wanna most people, that's, that's a highly addictive to people mm-hmm. Who wanna participate and want to help. I, I think, yeah.

Bradley Roth: 33:34

So, yeah. Yeah. So I think those kind of, to sum, sum that up, for those of you listening who are, you know, whether you have a business or you're, anything you're trying to do, really, whether it's within your family or community, like create collaboration and then the community aspect, which they're almost kind of one and the same in some ways, right? If you think about it. But, uh, two huge principles there. And then one thing that you mentioned also is that you're building, you're building your empire, but you said you're taking 12 families along with you for the ride.

Brent Wright: 34:06

Yeah. So in talking with John Wagner who spoke at your summit Yep. Him and I have a, what we call our legacy meeting every, uh, every other Thursday, and we meet for an hour, hour and a half, and we talk about it. John's been instrumental in helping me get. My insurance l l c off the ground and, uh, and that product and, and building a, a vehicle to take my family to the next level, right? And so I, I've created a 500 year plan, a legacy plan for my family, and John's been hugely instrumental in getting that off the ground. And we were sitting there talking one day and I said, wouldn't it be cool if we could be more like Jesus? And I, and we could take 12 families along with us, right? Mm-hmm. I said, I'm not trying to compare myself to Jesus. I'm just saying as an example and how to lead, right? Yeah. Wouldn't it be cool if I could do that? And so that's what we're building out right now is uh, we call it our advisory council. And, uh, in our new social platform that I'm, uh, implementing next month we're gonna have 12 people, 12 families that will have access and be called to the advisory council. Not just in the social platform, but in, in other ways. And I'm gonna try to help them get to a spot where they can impact their family for 500 years or whatever they choose.

Bradley Roth: 35:26

Wow. Have those people been chosen already? We have four

Brent Wright: 35:30

so far. Gotcha.

Bradley Roth: 35:32

Very cool. Yeah, that's, I mean, yeah, most people can't even think out more than like a week or two. So to think out 500, 500 years, like, I don't, I don't even, I can't even begin to think about what that might look like. I'm sure we could talk a whole nother episode about that, but, oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's pretty wild. Yeah. And then another, another thing that you talked about was having empathy. While not being empathetic. Yeah. And so that it's like a paradox almost. Like can you, can you talk about

Brent Wright: 36:01

that? Yeah. So John actually brought this up on, on a call that I had with him this week. Uh, John is, he's kind of like a reverse mentor for me, right? So he wants me to help him and guide him and coach him, right? Mm-hmm. Cause he wants to get to a better place, but, The guy's just a bloody genius when it comes to the written word and the spoken word when it comes to articulating his thoughts and, and, uh, and being at a, just a next level. And so for me, it's this reverse thing. He mentors me, I mentor him. Mm-hmm. And he said that one thing that stuck out when we first met in our, one of our first interactions was that I told him that I, I don't have any empathy. And he says, and, and he goes, but you say that, but then you are the most empathetic person and are willing to help anybody. He's like, you'd take the shirt off your back, throw it down on the ground, and, and let people walk over it, or walk over you to help them. Hmm. But yet you say that you don't have any empathy. And I think a lot of that it. It comes from business and making decisions, you have to make decisions in an unemotional way. Mm-hmm. And so I tend to let some of that bleed over into my personal life. And I make decisions in a non-emotional way, but yet in the personal aspects of life, you have to be emotional and you have to care about other people and their emotions. And so it, it is a dichotomy. You know, like when somebody's dog dies, I'm like, okay, their dog. Your dog died. Yeah, but did you die? Right? Right. So that's that non-empathetic part of it, you know, is do the logic part first and then, you know, if you need to cry on my shoulder, just tell me you need to cry on my shoulder and we'll, and we'll cry together, right? Mm-hmm. But, I don't know any thoughts on that because I'm, I'm kind of at the end of that for me.

Bradley Roth: 38:00

Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's an interesting thought, like, cuz I think empathy or people who say like, oh, I'm an empath and I feel everyone's feelings and that kind of thing. Like, I think there's empathy where like you're, I don't know, commiserating with people, but then like you have empathy where you're helping them actually solve their problems. So there's kind of like two. Right, right. Two parts to that. Like empathy can be purely emotional in a sense, and it can be, you know, like you said, you kind of hit hit with the logic first. Yeah. Which is almost kind of this reverse approach. So you're like solution focused empathy. I don't know if that makes sense, but It could.

Brent Wright: 38:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But some people would take that as a bad way, right? Mm. And John was like, So that's kind of interesting. And then, and then we've, you know, as we, as our relationship grew, he, he kind of fleshed that out a little bit and, and he got to know, you know, the type of person that I am. But I am very direct mm-hmm. And very emotionless when it comes to business. And if you're gonna be successful, you have to be, you have to be able to make quick and, and, you know, Emotionless decisions to be able to be successful sometimes. And I think sometimes though, you have to have emotion, right? Cuz you wanna be emotional with your people, right? You wanna be cautious about being too direct with your people and not taking into consideration their feelings. And so it is a dichotomy that I'm, uh, working on and struggling with everything. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 39:32

no, it, it's tough cuz yeah. When you're making big decisions, That affect multiple people and your business and that kind of thing. It is. It's one of those things that's like much easier said than done in most cases, to remove your emotion from it. But then you do. You can't just be like an emotionless robot either. So I think it's kind of knowing when, is it mainly knowing when to flip that switch on and off? Like

Brent Wright: 39:56

as I've grown older, it's more of a permissive use, right? So you ask permission, you feel out the situation. And, and you talk to them and get, get where they're at, and you ask the, okay, you know, I'm a solution oriented person. Are you ready for the solution? Mm-hmm. Or can we cry? Can we cry together for a little bit? You know, what do you need? Yeah. What do you need from me? Right. Yeah. And in the past it was probably, which could have been why I ended up divorced, is because I was more solution oriented person. Mm-hmm. Instead of. Empathetic, right? Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 40:32

Yeah. No, I think that's something as a guy, like you're, you know, masculine energy, like, you're like, all right, let's fix the problem, right? Your wife, your girlfriend, whoever comes to you and you know, is venting or talking about something, and like your mind immediately goes to like solution, right? Yeah. But they may be, they probably don't want the solution. In a lot of cases, they just wanna be heard. Yep. And that's something that. Until it's told to you, you're probably like, most guys aren't gonna figure that out on their own, so, no, I know. Yeah. So I know for me, once we kind of learned that several years in now, it became to like, okay, you know, do you want me to just listen or do you want, like, are you looking for a solution? Right? Yeah. And then they can tell you and they kind of go from there, right? Yeah. And sometimes even as the guy, sometimes, you know, A lot of times we, we want the solution, but we also sometimes just need to be listened to as well. Right? Like get it out and talk it out. So it goes both ways, but that love that awareness to, to. Say that and to ask, you know, which is it that you need right now? And that kind of thing. Yeah. Is really important. Right. So,

Brent Wright: 41:39

well, we're just caveman. I mean, it just, you know, if

Bradley Roth: 41:42

Yeah. Caveman, some technology and Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brent Wright: 41:46

Opposable thumb. So we can run a cell phone now. Right. So, yeah. But, but just rudimentary, you know, we, we are not as men, we've just started. High, you know, becoming highly evolved. Mm-hmm. I would say in the last 50 years before that, it was survival of the fittest survival at all costs. Right? Yeah. And if you grew up in that mindset around those people, that's all you knew. Mm-hmm. So, like I grew up, it was the men as the provider. Right. And he's, and he's usually emotionless because as soon as he shows emotion, he's viewed as weak and mm-hmm. And all of those things. And you know what I'm, what I'm changing with that, with my son is, you know, it's okay to cry, right. But it's also okay not to cry. Right. And it's whatever you need to get, get you through this. Let's, let's go down that road, right? Yeah. Uh, and, uh, you know, I, I think we're just. You know, slowly evolving into more fine tuned beasts, but we're still beats, right?

Bradley Roth: 42:52

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's an important part not to lose either, right? Which, yes. You know, I think there's a lot of guys who need to exercise that side of, like, that masculine compete, you know, challenge, like that whole side of things that can get lost in modern society. So it's always this weird. Weird balancing act, right? We have more, more information than we ever have when it comes to these like subtleties and, and like you said, evolving in a sense. But then we also, you know, we don't need to, to fight or to hunt anymore. Like things are, you know, for the most part, protected and provided for us and that kind of stuff. So it's this like, And then you see that that whole side of things when it doesn't get exercise can come out in unhealthy ways too. And I mean, we, that's like a whole nother rabbit hole. We could go down and Oh, yeah. Talk about, but,

Brent Wright: 43:43

well, like Jordan Peterson talks about it the best, you know? Mm-hmm. And his, one of his talks about being a dangerous man that's controlled, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I want to be around dangerous people who know how to control it. Mm-hmm. Instead of controlled people that become dangerous. Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 43:58

Yeah. People who have the potential to be dangerous, but Right. Generally choose not to. Yeah. So, okay. Yep. I love that. I mean, is there, is there any other kind of business principles or things that you've learned on your, kind of like, you know, from, from being 25 and homeless to now running all these things that you think people need to know about or that maybe doesn't get mentioned?

Brent Wright: 44:22

So I made a decision when I moved to Eugene, uh, and was homeless that I'm always gonna do the right thing. Mm-hmm. Right? The, and not just the right thing for me, but the right thing. Period. Right? Yeah. Get everybody's take on it and do the right thing. Try not to step on any heads to get across the pond, right? Mm-hmm. And so I, I think if you go at life with that core value of do the right thing mm-hmm. And then ask the question, what is the right thing for each person in the situation? Yeah. Right, and then, and then work on that. Mm-hmm. I think if you just try to work on that, like if you just say, do the right thing and it becomes, it's just the right thing to you, then you're not serving anybody, right? Mm-hmm. And so do the right thing is a, is a very simple statement, but with a very broad application or, exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. But that's the one thing that served me is I have to ask, am I doing the right thing for this customer? Am I doing the right thing for this employee? Am I doing the right thing for the community?

Bradley Roth: 45:24

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's one of those things that's kind of fundamental or like a base level. You can, you can be going through all kinds of different things, but if you feel like you'll, you're doing the right thing, you'll be able to live with yourself and sleep at night and Yep. You know, have a little bit of peace. Right.

Brent Wright: 45:40

Yep. Because that's what we all is, peace.

Bradley Roth: 45:42

So, yeah. On, on a deep level in a sense. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Sun, sun

Brent Wright: 45:47

Sue the warrior in the garden, right? So. Yep.

Bradley Roth: 45:50

Exactly. So I know I could probably. I could ask you business questions for the next three hours, but um, you know, I think that's been all super valuable. And it's funny cuz I've had so many people on this podcast, your episode 101 Oh nice. That have, you know, and probably 80 or so guests that majority of them are successful in business and. Every time I ask about stuff, it's never like specific tactics, right? It's always like, just these principles that I'm sure listeners are like, oh man, I've heard this a hundred times. And it's like, but did, did you really hear it? Yeah. You know, because until you, it's really drilled in to the point where you really get it and apply it, you know, all the tactics in the world aren't gonna matter. Yeah. If you're not doing the right thing, if you're not, you know, exercising your empathy or, you know, Removing your emotions when you need to. Like, if you're not doing kinda these basic things, you know, you can know all the things in the world about Facebook ads or like, you know, what to say in this situation or whatever, but it always comes back to the principles, right? Yeah. So,

Brent Wright: 46:59

well, one principle, uh, to follow up with that is a tactic in a business tactic of mine was I made a decision long ago that I was going to pay all my bills by the end of the day. Any bill that I could, I would pay. And so it, it's a struggle, but yeah, at the end of the day, I lay my head on the pillow and I know that all my bills are paid and I don't owe a soul if I don't wake up, right? Mm-hmm. And so I, from a risk reward standpoint, only risk what you're willing to lose, right? Mm-hmm. But also only risk what you have the ability to pay for today. Hmm. And so I wouldn't risk something early on if I couldn't pay for it. So I would never take something on credit that I couldn't write a check for. Gotcha. Super, super important. Especially in lean times, right? 2008, 2009, 2010, I prospered and grew 500 x because I had taken that approach to only buying what I had money for and cash. Wow. So like I just started doing 30 day accounts a couple years ago with some of my vendors and, and it's funny because the delivery people will be like, yeah, I need to get a check for this. You're on C O D, and I'm like, I'm on c O D because I have a cho. I made a choice to pay you guys every day and I took on a job and I'm in business and I'm writing the checks that matter. So that way I don't owe you at the end of the month. Right. And so, yeah, I think if you are starting out in business, starting from a, a low place of cash flow, I would tell you to only take risks that you can afford to write checks for. Hmm. That served me really well. So

Bradley Roth: 48:44

even later on, like more recently, will you finance like a building or like bigger projects like that? Or you try to do everything? Cash.

Brent Wright: 48:53

Both. Both. So I will, uh, I typically try to only owe about 40% of what something is worth. Hmm. And, uh, the rest of it I try to write checks for. And, uh, tactically speaking, if, if you own 60% of something and the bank owns 40% of it, they're gonna, they're probably not gonna try to take it away from you in lean times. Right. They'll be, they've been more willing to work with you. Hmm.

Bradley Roth: 49:19

Yeah. That's. It's interesting. I mean, like, obviously people say avoid debt when you can, but I've never heard of philosophy quite like that, so that's an interesting one to kind of,

Brent Wright: 49:29

so I don't things up with myself. I don't pay myself first. I'm the last person at the table to eat, so I'm leading from a servant's heart. I'm being a true leader. Mm-hmm. No different than the captain on the boat that goes down with the ship. Right. So, yeah, I, I, I eat last at my table. I eat last all my guests first.

Bradley Roth: 49:46

Yeah. Well that's, that's the book, right? Leaders Eat Last, is that what it's

Brent Wright: 49:50

exactly? Yep, yep. And I haven't read the book. I just lived that life, so I have to read that one.

Bradley Roth: 49:55

Yeah, definitely. Awesome. Well man, thank you for that. I feel like that's gonna have people like really kind of rethinking like. You know, cuz a lot of people, especially early on, will take on loans and, and credit and that kind of stuff. I have personally myself, so. Yep. Um, you know, makes, makes you stop and think a little bit. So that's always good. That's always good on this podcast, so. Yep. Uh, I have one question though that I ask everyone who comes on the show, and that is, what is your definition of not most people?

Brent Wright: 50:25

That is a tough one. I noticed that one wasn't on the questionnaire. Nope. So, I would say the definition for me of not most people is challenging the status quo every day and trying to make a difference where other people are not. Hmm. Or if you're gonna make a difference where other people are making a difference, make a bigger splash. Right. Yeah. So like I'm the kid on the diving board that's trying to get everybody and the whole around the whole edge of the pool wet, so love it.

Bradley Roth: 50:56

Yeah. Oh, that's a great answer. It's, it's amazing. Like, again, like I've said, I've had 80, 90 guests on this show now, and to still get like a totally unique new answer is always great. So I like that one. So thank you. And then, uh, you know, I know you're starting to. Kind of build out your personal brand and all that kind of stuff. So where can people find you when it comes to that? Social media or websites and all that?

Brent Wright: 51:20

Yeah, so Link Tree, uh, Brent Wright, pretty simple. And then all of my stuff's there. Everything I'm participating in is there. The school's there LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, all of that stuff. All my websites, all my businesses. It's all right there.

Bradley Roth: 51:34

Awesome. Well yeah guys, I will have those links in the show notes, so make sure you go check out everything else Brent has going on, uh, and I'm sure he's gonna be having a lot more for you to check out here in the near future as well. So, man, thank you for coming on. Uh, this is one that. You know, we had to reschedule a couple times, but we ended up making it happen and I'm glad we did. So thank you. Yeah,

Brent Wright: 51:57

likewise. Well worth it. I appreciate you having me on. Of course.

Bradley Roth: 52:00

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. And thank you guys for tuning in. Once again, like I said at the beginning of the show, I wanna ask, if you learn something outta this episode, which I know you did, if you're still here, here listening, please share it with a friend. Share it on social media and leave a rating or review if you haven't. That's my. My one ask. And for everything else, make sure you check out those show notes. We'll see you in the next one. And always remember, don't be most people.