How To Build An 'Epic Empire'... Without Running All Those Businesses Yourself?
A while ago I gave a talk in Phoenix, AZ, for the "100K Group", a group of high level entrepreneurs who all invest $100,000 to gain access to the biggest ideas + insights from a hugely powerful network.
A while ago I gave a talk in Phoenix, AZ, for the "100K Group", a group of high level entrepreneurs who all invest $100,000 to gain access to the biggest ideas + insights from a hugely powerful network.
I was asked to present during this annual event, and obviously my first thought was...
About what?
Most of these entrepreneurs have yearly revenues upwards of 10 million. Some of them even generate hundreds of millions or even a billion +.
Hmmm… What to do.
I decided to talk about how, when you're a "brand", you can become a co-owner of multiple companies WITHOUT upfront investments and... WITHOUT being driven crazy 🙂
So…
Today I'll talk about something I don't talk about all that often...
The companies I've built.
And 4 important learnings gained from doing so. AND a bizarre bonus at the end of this page 🙂
Besides being "Eelco de Boer" (the seminar organizer, content creator, business mentor etc) I'm also Eelco the entrepreneur and CEO.
So if you're a coach, guru, trainer, seminar host or influencer, there's an enormous opportunity to build multiple companies without having to manage them yourself.
This is how, over the past 20 years, I've built a small imperium I'm proud of.e
A couple of the companies we built that I'm proud of:
Enormail (2005), an E-mail marketing company I started with 3 other guys, 2 of which I've been friends with since primary school. It celebrated its 20th anniversary recently. I've sold this company in 2023.
PayPro (2006), a payment provider that also includes an affiliate system. Founded with someone I met as an intern getting my degree. Also about 20 years old, and we only recently sold it!
Webchamp (2009), a hosting company. Built it with a friend I first met when he attended my seminar in 2008. We successfully exited a couple of years ago when we sold it off to a bigger competitor in the domestic market. We ran this for about 13 years.
Luondo (2010), an e-commerce platform that allowed you to build your own webshop. I founded this with Remi, who I've known for as long as I've been alive. Our parents were friends and we lived a 5 houses from one another. A friendship of 45 years and counting. We were bought out by CCV Shop about 5 years ago, after owning it for over 10 years.
IMU (2010), a software company with multiple online tools in its portfolio. Built with my former intern who then became my right hand man for years, before co-founding IMU together. I sold my shares a couple of years ago to yet another intern, who successfully took over my role. Has been around for over 15 years now.
Petje.af (2019). A (kind of) crowdfunding platform for contentcreators. I was a fan of the platform and coincidentally its founder approached me for a partnership, after which I totally fell in love with it. I joined the team in 2002.
And the last one I'll mention today is...
MemBirds (2020), suuuuper cool. This is an online learning platform that allows you to build amazing checkout pages, upsells, orderbumps, affiliate systems etc. It's amazing.
I built MemBirds at the start of the pandemic with Stefan, the founder of Petje.Af. Later on Bob joined in as a co-owner, a guy who started working for me in 2019 after attending my seminar, where he got up, took the mic and publicly applied for a job in my team.
In the near future I'll write more about the art of building companies with other people. I have enough knowledge, experiences and stories to write a book about it... (Should I?). Anyway, for now I'll stick to sharing a couple simple lessons I learned through years of entrepreneur and investor:
1: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together" (African proverb)
As a coach, selling online courses may seem like quick and easy money. Nothing wrong with that either. But often, it's not a business that'll sustain you for life. Every guru has an expiration date.
By partnering with people for the long term, you'll be able to start generating long term revenue as well, whilst also potentially experiencing BIG financial wins, for example by selling your company or your shares. As long as you do it right.
2: "A company is just a bunch of people" (Richard Branson)
The most important lesson I learned from Sir Richard Branson. A company is nothing but a bag of people thrown together. If you have the best people, you're well on your way to building the best company that's pure bliss to work in. If you don't manage to find those people, it can become Hell on Earth.
3: "C Players make A Players B Players" (Eben Pagan)
You are with who you are. Environment beats out willpower, always. People who are at the top of their game don't want to work with rotten apples. And if they're forced to do, they'll adapt themselves downwards, until they leave.
Make no concessions when it comes to hiring. Your business is as strong as its weakest link.
4: "It comes when it comes"
You might feel inspired after reading this page. If so... Nice. You might want to stop wasting time and immediately get to work finding the right business partners. But this is the reality: most business partners will eventually separate, and it could cost you years of your life. In most cases, things will go wrong. But if you manage to find the right person, it can work FOR you for years to come.
So that's my biggest lesson when it comes to an 'Epic Empire': Let things come your way, don't try to force anything. Start by dating, gradually move on to kissing before you share the bed together and then still give yourself some time before getting married. A shotgun wedding sounds fun and romatnic, but more often than not, things end in tears. If it's meant to happen, it will. If not, that's fine as well. Just don't be too dependent on this idea of (co)founding an empire and don't be needy about it. Surrender to serendipity.
Alright, you've made it this far, which is why I'm offering you an uber bonus, exclusively available here (or you'd have to invest $100,000 for a year's access to the 100K Group. In that case, you could also access this bonus 🙂)
I already told you that I recently presented a "10 minute talk" for this 100K Group and... I decided to give you the video for FREE. All you have to do is the following:
1. Follow me on Instagram: @EelcodeBoer or click here.
2. Like this post: LINK
3. Leave a comment on that same post.
4. Leave your name and email address at the bottom of this page
After you've done all that, I'll get in touch with you through DM to share the video link with you!
Eelco