A WILD Story of 8-Figures at 29, 9-Figures by 31, Losing It All, and The Rebuilding Process with Branden Coluccio

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Side Hustle Pro. Today, we'll be sharing a wild story of eight figures at 29, nine figures by 31, losing it all in the rebuilding process. To drop these value bombs, I brought Brandon Coluccio into EO Fire Studios. Brandon teaches you how to unleash your inner savage and turn your life around when it all goes horribly wrong. And today, Fire Nation, we'll talk about business and financial success, how it can be deceiving.

0:42We'll talk about adversity being our greatest teacher. We'll talk about how we validate ourselves and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Brandon and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into.

1:16Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Wondering how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business? Get Belay's ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant today. Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Brandon, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What is up, Fire Nation? What's up, John? In my opinion, the thing that most people would disagree with is that when you become financially successful, everybody believes that there's a finish line.

1:59And I've seen it so many times with successful entrepreneurs that I've worked with. They get to the point where they have millions in the bank and they come to me and they go, is this it? Is this what everybody was losing their mind about? Is this what it's supposed to feel like? And then suddenly they realize that there's this emptiness, that there's something that's missing. And I've seen that happen so many times and I've seen that in myself. Well, that is why we have quite the interesting title, Fire Nation, of eight figures by 29, nine figures by 31, losing it all and rebuilding. Such a wild story.

2:32I want to talk right now about what it's like to have a nine figure business, to really have nine figures of net wealth at 31 years old and then losing it all. Tell us that story. So to be clear, I had built about nine figures of total enterprise value, Right now, my personal net worth was not nine figures, but it all started back in private equity, working on nine figure multi hundred million dollar companies in my early 20s. And then finding out that that wasn't what I was looking for. Right. I was becoming this corporate finance person and realized that I'm truly an entrepreneur and I want to serve the world.

3:14And I wasn't getting that itch scratched in that community and in that in that business. really. It's financial engineering and there's a little bit of entrepreneurship. But I was given the opportunity at the age of 26 to go out and build a business. I was recruited by a couple of guys out of the healthcare business. And they said, Brandon, look, if you can help us raise some capital, we'll give you a third of the company and you can pick any title you want. So we did that. We went out and raised several million dollars, went out and built a business and ultimately sold that business for just under$67 million in the next, it was probably about two and a half, three years later.

3:50And so I'm thinking I'm smart. I'm about 29 years old and I'm ready. I'm like, this is it. I'm going to go out. I'm going to build a billion dollar empire. And I was introduced by people, by guys in private equity that had bought our firm. They were like, look, this is Brandon. You got to meet him. He's a future billionaire. You really need to understand this kid and what he's up to. And so I went off and I started a real estate development company on the side as well while I was still working at the company after we'd sold. and we'd done about 40 million in real estate. So if you add it all up, and then I had a couple other seven figure ventures that were going on all at the same time.

4:23If you add it all up, it was well over a hundred million dollars in total enterprise value. And then one day my life completely changed forever. I was at my real estate development office with my partners there and I got a phone call from my lawyer and he said, Brandon, the investigation that was going on into that healthcare business that you sold about a year and a half ago has come to a head. And the government has decided that they're going to make a decision and they want to make an example out of this case and anybody who was deeply involved. Now, I was the CFO of the company. I was a significant shareholder.

4:55And so they viewed me as somebody of interest. And my lawyer said, to make things worse, you're somebody who is viewed as kind of the responsible adult. And you also have private equity background, some a little bit of pedigree. And that doesn't actually work in your favor. In this case, you're viewed as a trophy. And so unfortunately, there's a list of about 12 people who are going to be indicted. And your name is on that list. And in that moment, my entire life changed. My entire identity of who I saw myself as a law abiding, positive, productive member of society, a transparent individual who was just really out to try to build businesses and impact community.

5:33suddenly that identity crumbled. And the series of events that unfolded ultimately resulted in multi, multi-millions of dollars being frozen and seized to me having to ultimately accept a plea deal and take accountability for what had happened. And some things happened that are regrettable, and I took accountability. And what ended up happening is I had to resign from my real estate development business, sacrifice all of my equity. All of the other opportunities that I had in the pipeline essentially just fell apart. And so I went from the pinnacle, if you will, of entrepreneurial success to not knowing who the heck I was anymore.

6:12And that happened, John, like that. It happened so fast. And what I share with people is that if you're an entrepreneur, particularly if you're in a high, we'll call it a highly regulated market, healthcare, financial services, if you're selling products over the phone or over the internet, it's highly regulated by the FTC, you're inches away from a very similar situation. And I did not fully appreciate that. And what it's like for someone who doesn't see themselves as a criminally minded individual, it is the complete destruction of who you think you are. And it forces you to go back and to look deeply at whether or not your actions were truly in alignment with who you believe yourself to be.

6:58And that process, that process of introspection and that process of going and digging really deep and trying to understand who you are and are you really acting in congruence with that person, that's a difficult process. That's a difficult process for many people to go through, but it's through these moments of adversity when we are forced to find ourselves. And so, So, you know, it's not the full story, but after everything that happened, I decided that I wasn't going to stop my mission. My mission was always to serve. And so I simply was given this opportunity to reveal who I truly was, and that is to teach and serve others.

7:38And so I did that through various forms, which I'm happy to dive into if that's something you want to talk about. But it ultimately allowed me to reveal my true purpose to myself. And so that is what these moments of opportunity give us. But on the other side of things, these types of things break many, many people. I can tell you interviewing over 4 ,000 entrepreneurs over the past decade, it is just a fact, Figer Nation, that the destination is not what makes you happy. It's so much more than that. I mean, the journey to get to the destination can be very fulfilling and make you very happy. but so many times, and Brandon, I know that you've had this with friends of yours as well, my guests will tell me the worst day of their life was the day they sold their business, which for years they thought was going to be the best day of their life.

8:27So that is such a mind F that so many people have a hard, hard time dealing with that. And both business and financial success, Brandon, it can be incredibly deceiving. Tell us why this was the case for you. So your level of success will never exceed your level of personal development, right? And so if you're carrying around all this baggage, all of your failures, all of your insecurities, you might achieve a certain level of success, but that will most likely be temporary because you're going to self-sabotage. Now, how do I know this? Because it happened to me. And it wasn't necessarily that it happened.

9:06It was something that I had a hand in creating. Now, on the surface, I was a high net worth guy in my 20s, successful, this, that, and the other thing. But I was deeply, deeply insecure. I was struggling so much with imposter syndrome. I was a very young guy operating in the big leagues. We had a company doing eight figures in EBITDA. And I'm in an executive role, dealing with multi-hundred million dollar private equity firms regularly. So I'm going, wow, how am I here? I'm not supposed to be here. And if we don't resolve those issues, that's ultimately what's going to catch up with us. And how did I resolve those issues?

9:45I self-medicated with alcohol. I slept in, I partied, I did all the things that I thought made me appear to be successful, but inside I was deeply incomplete. That's why I say that our level of success is a direct result of our personal development. After I lost everything, many people viewed it negatively, and I certainly did it first. It took me time to really go through the process. Once I realized that I was being given a gift, that I was being given the opportunity to reinvent myself and begin from a blank slate, I had to realize that I had to create the man that was worthy of a certain level of success because my behavior was not in alignment with who I actually thought that I was.

10:35Fire Nation, that last line is really powerful. Create the man, or of course, woman, that's worthy. I mean, think about those words and are you creating that individual today with yourself? And adversity is such an interesting word, Brandon. So I want to talk about your belief that adversity is actually our greatest teacher. Expound upon that. Adversity can be an opportunity. It has the potential to become a defining moment, an opportunity to reveal ourselves to the world and who we are truly capable of becoming. And I say it can be an opportunity because it can also be an opportunity that breaks people.

11:23So I'll share a quick story. I went away during the pandemic and that had certain requirements and rules around people coming in and out of federal prisons. Where I was sentenced and I went to FCI Danbury in Connecticut. it. Now, during the pandemic, they were requiring that individuals do a stint in quarantine. Now, quarantine in federal prison means something very different than it did for everybody else in society. You're hanging out in your apartment or your house, right? Well, no. In federal prison, they place you in solitary confinement, right? One of the darkest places any human being can ever be.

12:07And I've never been in handcuffs at this point, never been in any kind of trouble in my life. And that was the first place I went when I walked into federal prison. And I spent 22 days in that room and it changed me. Now I share this story because I took that time to work on myself. I took that time to write. I took that time to read. I invested deeply in fitness because really these three things that I've just listed, that's about all that you have. What could you do on the fitness side of things? Imagine locking yourself in your bathroom, right? You know, that's pretty much as much as big as it is It's probably five by nine or five by eight or something like that So you're you really don't have enough room You have just enough room to get down and i'm not a particularly tall guy.

12:53I'm about five nine And so I get down and I do a push-up and it would be my head would be right next to the toilet My feet would be pretty much up against the wall, right? So it's just enough room to get down and do some push-ups do some burpees move your body jumping jacks moving your body in any possible way you can is a wonderful way to pick yourself up and out of that low frequency state the feelings of shame and guilt and loss and misery and all of that stuff you have to move your body and that's ultimately what the point that i'm trying to make in that it can be a teacher because it teaches you that our actions and when we were reduced to essentially nothing you still have the ability to control your mind And I share this because there was a gentleman in the cell next to me who decided to break and he ended up trying to commit suicide.

13:39Right now, what is the difference between him and me? Right. What is the difference? I made a choice. I made a choice to turn this moment into an opportunity. I made a choice. I made a commitment to myself that I wasn't going to allow this event, this horrible event that I never imagined would happen to me. I was going to find a way to turn it into an opportunity. And what I meant by an opportunity was I was going to use this moment and the lessons that I learned through going through adversity and having to recreate the man I am today. I was going to then use that opportunity to serve the world.

14:15And I did that. I went in and I taught entrepreneurship classes. I taught financial literacy. I taught guys how to build release plans. I was teaching grown men how to read. I taught guys and helped them get their GEDs. And so I have continued to try to serve through this because at the end of the day, I was not living in alignment with who I truly was. I was not at peace with myself. And so through this challenging moment and through these circumstances, I decided to serve others. And through the service of others, I found myself. Fire Nation, it doesn't have to take solitary confinement to really ask yourself, are you living in alignment?

14:52So ask yourself that question. And we have a lot of powerful things to talk about when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're anything like me, then you're looking forward to a lot of outdoor time this summer. I'm talking about hitting the pool, going on epic hikes, and maybe even getting in a few pickleball matches. But in order to do all that, you and your team need to work smarter, not harder. That's why we're so excited about HubSpot's integrated AI tech. It's helping teams automate the more tedious parts of running a business. With AI-powered tools built into HubSpot CRM, you can do research, pull reports, and write copy in a flash.

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16:39It's packed with helpful content about how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business. Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Brandon, we're back and you believe that how we validate ourselves is the important factor. What do you mean by this? I think when we're young, particularly young and ambitious and of the entrepreneurial bent, we want to prove something to the world. We've got this chip on our shoulder. And the world views success as we all know it does, right? Through that outward financial success, that perception of success.

17:21And so we place all of our self-worth in the view of a group of people that we can't control. And so we're placing validation in something that we have really no actual control over. And so when, not, not, I shouldn't say when, if that perception is taken, if that world crumbles, and as entrepreneurs, we all know what this feels like. We all know what it feels like to struggle and to struggle publicly, some more than others. That can crush you as it crushed me. And Nassim Taleb talks about becoming anti-fragile, right? And the way that I think about that is through validating myself through the man that I wake up as every single day.

18:13Now, before when I was on the top of the world, I validated myself by my perception of success. I validated myself by the apartment and the cars and all this other stuff and the big exits and all this, which is great for headlines. But deep inside, I was not complete and I was validating myself through something that was not real. And so today I validate myself by the routine and the disciplines that I stick to. And that is deeply pouring into my own mindset and waking up very early in the morning and concentrating on reading and learning the wisdom of the ages of those who've come before us and investing in my fitness and investing in my family and making sure that I hit all of those points every single day.

19:01And if I do, I am validating myself as a man, not because of anything that is outside of my control, but because I am in total control of myself. That now puts me in a position to become a better leader, a better leader in my community, a better leader in my family, and a better leader in my entrepreneurial pursuits as well. I want to talk about the word congruence because we hear this word used in many ways, shapes, and forms. But I want to hear your definition of being congruent. Yeah. So it goes back to what I was saying earlier on in our conversation, that although I was perceived as highly successful, and I even viewed myself a certain way, I was not acting in alignment with somebody who was truly successful.

19:50And when I say truly successful, a person who is complete, somebody who's acting in accordance with their beliefs, their values, and all of the opinions that they have about themselves. And so one thing that is a very helpful tool is what is called a rational self-analysis. And this is an audit. This is a daily audit that I engage in every single morning of my actions. And I always go back to the day before and I say, okay, did I act in alignment with the man that I believe that I am? The person that I truly think that I am and that I want to be, that person that I aspire to be. are my actions in alignment with that person.

20:28And almost always there are opportunities for improvement, which is why this has become a daily practice of mine. And so really it's a matter of constantly course correcting so that I never have to default to that person that I was, the person who was self-medicating with alcohol, the person who was completely out of shape, the person who is not taking care of themselves. The person who was lazy, was not motivated, was really just deeply trying to prove to the world that he was worthy. That is not somebody who's acting in congruence with success. That's somebody who's deeply, deeply incomplete.

21:08And so that is part of my daily process is to try to move towards that congruence and really act in alignment with all of my values and my beliefs about myself. Fire Nation, I hope you understand how being congruent can really take charge of your life. Going back to that thing we were talking about with alignment and everything else theme-wise we've been talking about here today. And Brandon, I want you to step back and think about the themes that we've been going over. The alignment, adversity, congruency. What is the one thing you really wanna make sure Fire Nation gets from our conversation today.

21:49If you are incapable of leading yourself, you are incapable of leading a team effectively. End of story. Whether that's your family or it's a team of individuals at your business, it all starts from within us. And it does not take extreme adversity like what I went through to be able to realize that. This moment right now, just hearing this is really a tap on the shoulder from the universe, that maybe there is an opportunity to introspect. Maybe there's an opportunity to perform that rational self-analysis and see if you are truly living in congruence with the person that you believe you are. And you have to look at yourself honestly.

22:31And the only way, the only path forward is through an honest response to that question. And that is what I've learned. And it's very powerful, in my opinion, to live and to learn vicariously through the mistakes of others. And so that's why I'm so open and that's why I share this journey. Tap, tap, tap Fire Nation. And Brandon, if Fire Nation wants to connect with you, learn more, what is your call to action for Fire Nation today? Absolutely. Yeah. So just for your listeners, because you've been so gracious in having me on, I would love it if everybody listening could please just pull out your cell phone, pop open Instagram and follow me at whitecollarsavage.

23:11And for the people who follow me and DM me the word savage, I am going to send you a free signed copy of my upcoming book. It's called Convictions. And I simply ask that you would cover the cost of shipping, but everything else would be free. And I will write a little personal message in there for you. So if you could please check me out on Instagram at whitecollarsavage. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with BC and JLD today. So keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Brandon, that's with an E, B-R-A-N-D-E-N in the search bar and the show notes page will pop up with links to all that jazz.

23:56Brandon, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you, John. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Brandon for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation. Over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom, to your fulfillment, and I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk.

24:37Fire Nation, this is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. Get your copy today and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into.

25:13Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Wondering how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business? Get Belay's ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant today. Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started.