There are many factors that contribute to business growth, but one thing stands out as perhaps the most important consideration of all – relationships. Christopher Wick learned this the hard way as an acquisition entrepreneur. His first few deals didn’t quite work out that well. But it was still a win for Christopher because he learned the value of bringing value to the table and coming in with an intent to serve. That has been his secret sauce to creating wonderful partnerships that have helped him get to where he is now. Christopher now owns a dozen and a half corporation, but he doesn’t claim to have any superpower that we don’t have. In this conversation with Renee and Camille, he argues that it has always been and will always be about serving people. Tune in and find out just how powerful that seemingly simple piece of advice is!
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Grow Your Business By Adding Value With Christopher Wick
We are talking to Christopher Wick. He is a heart-centered entrepreneur with a talent for numbers. As an entrepreneur who won 14 awards and helped over 500 companies by the age of 30, Christopher has built, bought, and sold various companies related to marketing, eCommerce, real estate, retail, and investing. His business has been featured in the Huffington Post, ABC, NBC, and Wall Street Select.
Christopher is the Chairman of Say Yes! Enterprises, a Texas-based investment management company that acquires, builds, and sells companies. He has a tremendous passion for helping people thrive in their companies to grow their profits, therefore growing their teams and families and impacting their communities. As a sought-after speaker and teacher, Christopher has been featured at live events and on radio, in print magazines, online, and on live television. Here we go right now with Christopher Michael Wick.
In this episode, we are here with Christopher Michael Wick. He has a wonderful bio on LinkedIn and I want to read it real quick, Christopher. It says, “Helping entrepreneurs create truly valuable sellable businesses without selling their soul and achieving their freedom number by creating exciting exit plans that support their ultimate vision.” That is a mouthful. Tell us what this is all about.
It's so great to be here. Thank you for having me. It's wonderful to be with you all. It’s great to be with one of my partners, Cami. I’m so looking forward to working with you, Renee. I am an acquisition entrepreneur. What is that? An acquisition entrepreneur is an entrepreneur who buys and sells businesses. I truly view myself as a business mentor and my gift in this life is helping by teaching, speaking, and training other entrepreneurs to achieve outstanding results in their own lives and businesses as I have done for myself and so many others.
How did you come about the premise for the business or the concept? Is it something that you saw a need for in the industry or did something happen in your past where you needed that and you didn't have it? Tell us more about that.
I first became an entrepreneur at the age of twelve years old. I started a babysitting business and that was my first wonderful lesson, wonderful partnerships, and understanding, “If I do this and they do that, here's how we can make it happen.” The partnership was this. I had a babysitting business with my sister and she would change diapers and watch the kids. We both did the babysitting duties and we had a two-for-one special. You get two babysitters for the price of one and have two sets of eyes on your child. That was when I learned how to market, which is so much of who I am as a marketer. Cami can attest to that, but also to help position yourself as valuable in the marketplace.
When I went through school, I became an entrepreneur again at the age of nineteen. I started my first successful business at the age of 24. When I was 29 years old, I had an a-ha moment. As I share this, I hope that your audience would have the same a-ha moment that I had. From 24 to 29, I helped over 400 businesses grow their businesses, make more money, and grow their profits. I was a consultant and I was able to help all these businesses, which was so meaningful to me because I was able to help solopreneurs with $0 in revenue, all the way up to corporations with billions of dollars of revenue.
At the age of 29, my a-ha moment was this. I've spent my entire career at this point, half a decade from 24 to 29 consulting but what if I partnered with those companies? What if I co-owned those companies? What if I bought those companies? I started to make a connection. All the people that we love in the business community like Warren Buffett, Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Roland Frasier, and all these wonderful business entrepreneurs all own a portfolio of companies.
At the age of 29, I was like, “I'm going to go out and buy my first business.” As our friend Cami did, she went to go buy her first house and figured it out on her own with no education and training. Look at her now with over 40 single-family home properties. How impressive is that? At the age of 29, I went and bought my first business and it was very successful. The very first business that I bought, I sold within eleven months, I tripled my investment and I was like, “A-ha. I know what I'm doing because I've got this.”
I've consulted and I've got the experience. I've sold this business. I've tripled my investment. I can't get that in real estate. I can't get that in crypto. I can't get that in the stock market. It's in business acquisition. At the age of 30, I did my second acquisition and it flopped. I lost all of the investment. I was like, “A-ha, I don't know what I'm doing.” I then went to go find professional training so I could become an acquisition entrepreneur.
Here is the gift that was given to me. One is the reason I tell this story. I like to come down a couple of notches when people learn about how I got started because I want people to know how much grunt work there was in the beginning. All the way from babysitting and then starting my other company when I was 19, starting another business when I was 24, consulting, knowing the ground, serving as many people as possible, and then doing it for my own business, doing all my consulting, all my magic for my own companies being successful on my first one and not being successful on my second.
As we speak now, I own over eighteen corporations. How does that happen? It's because of experience and trial and error. There's not a gift that I have that someone else doesn't have. I don't have a secret Master's degree in this. It's from serving other people and that is my mission. As you all remember from the beginning before we hit the record button, my question is, “How can I serve your audience the best?”
If I could share the a-ha moment of partnership, of making sure you own an asset that you can sell because if you're just consulting, you're only a dancing bear. If you're just consulting, the moment the consulting agreement is over, you've got nothing. That's a job. You become an entrepreneur because you want to be free of a job. That's it in a nutshell. There is a lot to share a lot from zero businesses to eighteen-plus as we speak, but I'm happy to answer any questions.
I want to unpack a little bit about what you said about the partnerships allowing you to have ownership in those businesses. Can you tell us a little bit about how that works?
During my very first acquisition, I did everything. I did the operations, finance, marketing, sales, and delivery. My second acquisition was my very first partnership and I thought, “This is great. This is going to be awesome,” and that was the first acquisition that failed. I say this proudly because I want people to know that if you have failed, you are learning from someone who has failed and made it to the other side and that's a gift.
I was seeing some of my students I mentored graduate university and I remember thinking, “I'm watching the kids now walk across the stage. I remember when I did that and my question was, ‘Am I going to make it?’” If you had that question, if you're reading this and coming to Renee hoping to get some inspiration or wisdom, you are going to make it. I'm going to answer that question for you now.
When it comes to partnership, my first acquisition was wonderful because I was doing all of it. Now, it's not wonderful because I was doing all of it. I was working 60-hour weeks. I was working like crazy. I had no life outside this business I had purchased. I was also consulting at the same time. I decided not to tell anyone about the acquisition because I didn't want my clients to think I was going to lose focus. I now know I should have told everyone because of what a success story it became.
When I experienced in my second acquisition the value of picking a great partner. We've got all partners in every facet of our life. We have life partners in the form of marriage or spouses. We have friends. We have colleagues. We have so many ways in which we partner with other people. Why do we not do that more as an entrepreneur?
Why do we say, “I'm going to do everything? I'm going to do operations and finance. I'm going to wear all the hats.” Why do we not partner? Is it about relinquishing control? Is it about money? There are lots of reasons why people don't want to partner and I'm here to be the partner guy and say, “Partner with people who have brilliance in other areas.” It's awesome.
We all have partners in every facet of our life. We have life partners, spouses, friends, and colleagues. We have so many ways in which we partner with other people. Why do we not do that more as entrepreneurs?
That is so true. Cami and I can attest to that. She and I had the opportunity to work together. It is magnificent to see somebody else whom you connect with work in their zone of genius. I love that about Camille.
One reason maybe we don't partner more, I don't know if we're ever taught how to partner in the general sense of you go to school. You get a degree. You go and work in your field of genius but we're not taught about business. You can take classes in college, but they don't teach you how to run a business. They don't teach you how to partner with other people and relationships. Also, relationships can be hard. They’re so much different from us and that's what we need. We need someone different than us, but we also have to learn how to merge those differences and work together. It can take a lot of work. It can be scary.
I love the parallel because that is very true. I think, Christopher, that when you have a partnership in business, some people refer to somebody as their work wife or their work husband. You are in this long-term relationship, sometimes for years. It's important that when you're going into the relationship, you understand what you're getting into. Is there a way when you're doing the partnering? Is there something specific that I'm looking for in the person or am I only looking for something in the business?
There is a lot to answer there and you both are so right. We're not taught to partner with other people and I have a business degree. I went to business school and they did not have a class on how to partner with other people. We look and follow clues. What I teach my students and partners is, “You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Someone's already done this.” We look at the Tony Robbins, the Warren Buffetts, and the Richard Bransons. What are they doing that we are not? One of those things is a partnership.
Now, how I do partnership in my world is through our GAP Partner Program, where we bring in people to partner with us and it's a service that we provide. That was all created because years ago I saw the need in the marketplace and people needed help. They didn't need another coach or another consultant or another advertising buyer. They needed someone to speak with about the ins and outs of their businesses like relationships.
How do we find relationships in this world? We go searching for them. We run into them. Cami and I met at our local CrossFit gym. I have no intention of going to the gym to make money together and here we are now. We've made money together after being at the gym. As we look at someone to partner with, a lot of people have one question in their mind and it's not bad. It's not something negative. It is human nature and their question is, “What's in it for me?” It's natural. Our humanity depends on self-preservation. Here is where I want to take that question. I want to flip it on its head. How can I serve?
If you view every person as an opportunity to serve, you will win again and again. Even with my second acquisition that failed, in the end, it was all good. Everybody won.
If you view every person as an opportunity to serve, you will win again and again and again.
That's because when I approach a partnership, I'm asking myself, “How can I give as much value as possible?” Whether I have them for 30 minutes, 30 days, or 30 years, how can I give as much value as possible to this person?
This is not something that is counterclockwise for human nature. We're social mammals. We want to be together. Our race is all about collaborating, surviving, growing, and thriving but there's something that happens to entrepreneurs where you think, “Let me just figure this out myself.” Maybe they're scared and they're thinking they should be somewhere where they're not or they think they should be better than they are.
Maybe they're nervous but if we open up and say, “I'm not good at finance. I would love to find a finance genius who could do this. I'm not good at podcasting. I'd love to find a fabulous host to help me. I'm not good at doing sales from the stage. I'd love to find someone who can help me sell from the stage,” and to know that and to bring value to that person and not by getting them to help you for free in all of these ways.
We see this in networking meetings. If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours and that's not cool. We need to compensate people fairly for what they do and to invest in them. If you can change the question inside of yourself from, “What's in it for me?” to, “How can I serve this person?” you will get everything you want and more.
I say that not because I've seen it in other people. I say it because of what's happened in my own life, the awards that I won, the properties, and the businesses I own. It all comes from being a consultant at the age of 24, I had a job at $5 an hour, which was illegal at the time to pay someone that little. I said, “I'm going to make it my mission to help this client get everything that they need,” and I did. I did it again and again. I kept trying. In the beginning, I was like, “Am I building a business out of kindness? Is this what I'm doing?” It was because when the answer becomes, “How can I serve this person?” the answers just occur and it's not easy, but it is astoundingly simple when you focus on serving others.
It doesn't matter what business you're in. That's the same with real estate. If I can go, my number one thing is to find out what their problem is and hear them about what they need and if I fixed that problem, everybody wins. It's always about the other person and it's the same with our relationships with our employees, with whomever we hire, and our partnerships. It's in everything. You're right. I agree.
You mentioned Renee about relationships and a lot of people think, “Relationships are tough or they're challenging. Marriage is hard.” I don't subscribe to any of those beliefs. Here's what I know for sure. What I know for sure is that the moment I'm working with someone else, I'm getting a mirror about me. If I take 100% responsibility for everything that happens, arguments or disagreements, which are few and far between in my business world, I can grow. If again, I turn my focus on myself and making myself successful, I turn around and focus on them and make it about them.
I was telling my team members when I was teaching a lesson and I said, “What I'm about to teach you is a lesson about business, but all of you are going to go home. I know you're going to tell your spouse.” I know you're going to say, “This is how we should do our relationship. We should take 100% responsibility.” I said, “Sorry, not sorry for the conversations that this will inspire, but this is how to serve.”
Whether you're serving in your own household by being a great spouse or you're serving on stage to thousands of people, how much you serve is going to be a direct correlation to how much you get in return. That sounds a little nebulous and I'd like to quantify it by saying, “I've helped over 500 business owners one-on-one before the age of 30, and then here I am in my early 30s. I own eighteen corporations because of wanting to serve other people.
Christopher, do you think that as entrepreneurs, we need to have a paradigm shift when it comes to the way that we view our business? Because so many of us are solopreneurs, we consider ourselves lone rangers. We are taught to think that only the strong survive. You got to bootstrap it. You got to fake it until you make it and all these crazy things.
What I hear you saying is that if we shift the way that we think into more of a service-based thought mentality like, “What are we bringing to the table? How are we showing up to serve other people?” then it comes back to us tenfold because it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Is that the way that we should be viewing our business long-term? What can I do over the arc of the existence of my business to help others? The expectation may not come back in the same form that I gave it, but it'll come back to me tenfold. If putting out good, then it'll come back.
I'd love to put that on a billboard, Renee, going over the arc of my existing business, to go above and beyond. All I can speak about is what I know. I had my first client when I was 24 years old at $5 an hour. I was willing to do whatever it took to make that person successful because one of my mentors, Zig Ziglar told me, years ago, “You will get everything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.”
There I was, a 24-year-old student about to graduate college. I had no idea if I was going to make it in the world as an entrepreneur. I just said, “I'm going to help other people be successful and that will help me too.” Here's what I know for sure it is a paradigm shift from going internal from, “How am I going to make it? How's Renee going to make it? How's Christopher going to make it? How is Cami going to make it,” and then shifting it and be, “What can I bring into this moment?”
Cami and I met at our local CrossFit gym and our trainer is an outstanding guy. In our first session, I asked him about his business. I said, “Tell me more.” I was thinking of ideas to help him grow his business and it was completely natural. It wasn't like I was selling him coaching or consulting. I was paying him. I wanted to serve and I said, “Have you thought about product shelves here? Have you thought about this advertising campaign?” It's natural for me and I have to taper it so I don’t give all this free advice. What a great gift.
I have to rein myself in and not serve too much and not speak for three hours on something to help serve people. To know that every person that you meet is at the right time in the right place and that every person that you can meet is someone that you can serve. Instead of going to a BNI meeting or a networking meeting thinking, “Who can I sell something to next?” Instead of looking at this person, realizing this is a human being, I can serve this person and that was how I met Cami. I got to learn what she was doing. I said, “Have you ever thought about this?” We started working together and then something else happened.
She says, “I want to do that too.” I said, “Come on. Buckle up. Let's go on a ride,” and then served people every chance that we get. I asked one of my partners and I said, “How are you feeling about our partnership? It's pretty new,” and he said, “You are a total overachiever.” I said, “My goal is to bring value everywhere I go.” It's not about me. I don't want to be the value guy. I only want to be a great human being and a great partner to everyone I come into contact with and he is thrilled.
It's a brand new partnership. I helped one of my students. We released escrow on his first business acquisition and I called him after we had released escrow. I said, “How are you feeling?” He said, “I feel good.” That makes my heart sing when I know that people are happy because of the value I've been able to provide in the partnership, whether it's getting your first deal across the line or your 30th deal. I've seen it happen.
Christopher, breaking it down, if I'm an entrepreneur and I'm reading this episode and I'm like, “I'm feeling you. I'm picking up what you're putting down,” where do I start? Are there steps? I know you have a program, so you don't necessarily have to give away the house, but give us an idea of what should I be doing.
First and foremost, I want to give you both, wonderful hosts and every one of your audience members a gift to put some things down because there are things that you are doing that you should not be doing. There are things that you do that don't bring you energy. One of my mentors recently taught me that when you're doing something in flow, you get energy. When you're doing something menial, you're giving energy.
Ever since he said that, it's been like, “This gave me energy. This didn't give me energy.” I feel like I'm either in great energy or I feel like I'm giving it away. In the beginning, you're not going to be able to outsource or partner with everything, perhaps, especially if you're bootstrapping it but I want to give you permission to put one thing down that you don't like doing. You don't feel like you're serving the planet when you do this.
Sometimes I tell my wife, “I don't feel like I earn my spot on planet Earth by doing this task.” For me, that is things such as grocery shopping. I hardly ever go into grocery stores. It's not my mission. It has to get done. Someone has to do it, but I'd rather empower and compensate people to do that to bring the groceries to me or to do all the services I have so I can serve. I can serve in the form of my gifts, which are writing, teaching, speaking, and training. Wherever you are, the first step is to identify what gives me energy and what doesn't give me energy.
Identify what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. Then take those things you’d rather not do and empower and compensate someone to do them.
What am I wonderful at and what do I need to work on? You could decide, “I'm not good at finance. Let me go take these accounting courses,” or you could decide, “I'm not great at finance. Let me partner with someone who's a great finance person and bring them into my world.” I would rather choose the second option because that's going to give them energy because they love it. They love finance. I speak as someone who loves finance.
I love finance and spreadsheets. I seem like an extrovert, but I'm an introvert with all my little spreadsheets. I love it and I know what that feels like. The first step is to give yourself permission to put something down and especially for your audience. As errands, chores, children in school, field trips, and all the things that come along with being a parent and being an entrepreneur, put something down and say, “I need to find someone to partner with who can help me do this.”
The second thing is to provide value to that person. Now, a partnership can either be in kind like, “You're going to do this thing and I'm going to do this thing.” You're having a fair exchange or it's going to be through the form of money. Money is a wonderful thing. Money is not good. It's not bad. It's just a vehicle of compensation, a fare exchange.
Sometimes, you're not going to be able to do a partnership in kind if that person's got more experience. You might have to pay that person for a little while or to give them some type of deal but first allocate, what's working for your business and what's not. What are you great at? Maybe you're great at getting clients, but you're terrible at onboarding them or maybe you're great at giving great services to clients, but you're scared of sales.
You could go take a sales class and tell yourself, “I've got to be good at this.” In the beginning, I took all the classes. I took the sales classes and the finance classes because I had to figure it out. Later I was like, “I'm good at this. With my partnership with Cami and one of our newest partners, I'm good at marketing and speaking.” In our partnership, I am the marketing and speaking person. Cami is phenomenal at building relationships.
My schedule doesn't allow for all this chit-chat and stuff like that. Cami, you've got a full schedule too. I want to acknowledge that and not say, “She's got nothing to do.” She’s got single-family home properties and she's building buildings, but she's got a more flexible schedule. Cami's got all of the gifts to build great relationships. She is in our partnership. She is the person who is a relationship manager, what a gift that is.
Now, we can go sell them and we can go keep them with our relationships. Now, we only need someone who has structure. “Thank goodness we have our partner, Dan, who's great at systems and processes and technology.” We've got the three of us and we're going to be unstoppable because we're all operating from our gifts.
I'm not asking Cami to step on stage because that would terrify her. She'll probably end up on stage, but that’s not her role. Her role is her gift, which is connecting people, which is being a relationship person and that's only one of her wonderful gifts. I hope that helps with how to get started with finding a partner and then where do you go to find a partner? I wish we could have a Google search of partners. Maybe one day my company will create that. I don't know. I would love for that to happen.
My first suggestion is to start where you are now. If you recognize that everyone you encounter is someone to serve, you will meet people at the gym. You will meet people on the podcast episodes. You will meet someone as you're going and checking the mail. You will meet someone as you go to a fun concert. I had met some of the greatest people in my world when I wasn't focused on making money. I was working out or I was serving on a podcast interview. That's where you can start. Start where you are now. There's not yet a Google search for business partners. I'd like to create one, but for now, start with where you are and serve.
There's not yet a Google search for business partners. For now, start with where you are and serve.
All such good information and usually, what happens with podcasts or stuff, we hear all these grand ideas that sound good, but we're not sure where to get started. The information that you provided is so helpful. Just so that people know, the first thing I put something down, it’s like, “I have to do everything. I can't put anything down, Christopher.”
Yes, but we have to understand that it's a great place to start to realize that we need to get some help. When you say partner, does it mean necessarily like a partnership like equity in the business or does it mean you can partner as in hiring someone as 1099 that has a great skill set that you work with on an ongoing basis, maybe over a number of years, but they're not necessarily a partner in your business?
You can do it every which way. In the beginning, in my former partnership, the first assessment I ever hired was less than minimum wage for sure because that was all I could afford. In beginning, that was the first person that was doing things. Now, the game that I play is we do equity deals as I help people build sellable businesses because after you learn to put stuff down and collaborate, I want you to have a business you could sell because when I was in my twenties consulting with 400 plus businesses, 500 by the age of 30, I didn't have a business. It was only me. I was the business. I was the consultant and then I sold my first company.
I know exactly what it took to put the systems in place to sell. In the beginning, it might be a little assistance. It might be a little 1099 and later, when he gets to do bigger deals, maybe you're going to share equity. Maybe you're going to share revenue. It’s all about co-creation because you can identify with where you're good at and get serious. As I gave permission about putting something down, there are things I forbid myself to do.
I will tell people around me, “Unfortunately, that is not a Christopher task. I'd love to help you with another thing, but that is reserved for this.” Maybe, in the beginning, it is getting your house cleaned or having someone get your groceries. Maybe it's getting your bookkeeping done. Maybe it then becomes someone's going to do sales on your behalf and then you get bigger and bigger, but start with where you are now and focus on what you're good at. That could sound fluffy but I choose to not hear that it's fluffy because if I listen to my own words and I put some stuff down, I'm going to be way more successful if I do what I know I'm good at.
It didn't sound fluffy. The whole point of me creating a women's group and me and Renee doing this show is to empower women, help them know that they can do this and that there's so much out there for them to do. They have so many gifts. I go give somebody 20% ownership in my women's group, but I gave too much too fast. It should have been an employee basis first. I’m like, “Why would I give all of this when it is mine?”
I'm opportunistic and I'm giving but you learn and that can be changed. Even with what you said, you said it starts with paying them, and maybe if they have a company that they've already built and they've already put this time in, you can go and help them build that company. Now, they've already put in that base and you're not only giving the whole farm.
We learn and in my second deal that didn't go well, I did the same thing. I was like, “I'll give them 25%.” I was like, “That was a bad idea,” but you learn and it's going to get better and better. In the M&A world, the fancy term would be a vesting schedule in which we would vest the equity base on certain milestones. I'll keep it high-level for the show but I just told one of my team members and this is so real. I do it every single day. Before this interview with you all, I was talking to one of my team members. We're about to bring on a vendor in one of our brands and they mentioned from the get-go that they wanted to have an equity opportunity.
I said, “Here's how we do that.” I told my team member, “First, we're going to pay them. We're going to pay them exactly what they're worth and we're going to make sure that they perform well. Once they do that, we're going to then do a revenue share or a profit share. Once they continue doing good, then we can bring them on as an equity partner or something like that.” You've got to also give people trials and give people a chance to bloom.
Sometimes, in the beginning, they don't have the resources they need and you all can probably hear from my language. I don't blame my employees when they don't succeed. I blame myself and see how I could improve by giving them more resources. People are usually successful if they have everything they need. They're not successful when something is missing. I have found it rarer that people weren't motivated or didn't have good ethics. It is most often a process thing and not a person thing.
People are usually successful when they have everything they need. They're not successful when something is missing. It’s rarely about people not being motivated or not having good ethic. It's more often a process thing, not a person thing.
That is good and very true. I agree. I always take responsibility as the leader because I feel like as the leader is, so goes the culture or the company, all of it. If you have bad people, then you made bad hires. You have to look in the mirror to see, “Why do I have the culture that I have in my business if I made better choices and I gave them better leadership?” I had better systems and I had better communication. Also, they're a good person. We could make this work, but I have to be a solid leader in order for that to happen.
I have a question for you about mindset and about stretching yourself because we were talking earlier about doing the video or speaking in front of the camera or speaking in front of people. For those of us who are uncomfortable with the thought of partnership or getting help, is there something in our mindset that we can do differently to stretch ourselves thought-wise?
How do we know we're good at something, we don't like something, or it's just outside of our comfort zone? My answer to that would be, “How do you feel after?” Even if it was outside your comfort zone, did it give you energy? If it gave you energy, that's a clue because here’s what's fascinating. I'll make sure to keep this a smaller soundbite. I'm passionate about neuroscience and psychology because our human bodies are incredible. Your body knows the truth. Your body knows, “This is a good person. These are good people. This is the task that gives me energy. This is a task that drains my energy.”
Now, can we predict the future with our bodies? I don't know. Can you predict if someone's going to be a great partner? I don't know, but I do know that when I meet people, there's something called limbic resonance, where I immediately resonate with someone because they seem like good vibes. I had been proved right more often than I have been proved wrong. Cami is a great example of this. Right away, we were like best friends and it was resonance. It worked.
In the beginning, if you're still figuring out, “What am I good at, and do I like speaking? Do I like finance?” do it and try it so you can get outside your comfort zone and ask yourself the question after, “Did that give me energy?” I'll say this as a speaker. I teach every single day. I did an impromptu class for a community I serve and we'd over 30 people log in for a brand new topic I never taught before.
I remember thinking after, “I hope I hit everything.” I planned my outline and I remember having some thoughts after like, “Did I do that right? Could I have done that better?” All of that is natural because it's not that I wasn't good at it. It was a topic I had never taught before in a public forum and it's natural to have questions of, “Could I have done better?” If you're afraid of speaking or if you're afraid of finance, these scary topics, we've got the introvert and the extrovert scary topics. Ask yourself, “Yes, there are things I need to refine and learn that didn't give me energy. Is it right for me?”
That's how you'll know if this is a task or an activity you should be doing versus what you should not be. Now, will you get your energy drained doing tasks? Yes. When I teach an eight-hour-long seminar, do I get a little bit of energy drainage? Sure, and that's natural. They'll go back inside, go back into you and say, “Is that something that I want to do?” For me, the answer is yes. When it comes to things such as grocery shopping, it completely drains my energy.
I had done so little grocery shopping. Now, when I go into a grocery store, it's like Disneyland for me, because there's so much stuff I don't know that exists. Every now and then, I'll go in and it's like, “I didn't even know they had these products,” and that's how I know it's right for me because I'm glad I put down this task. I'm glad I don't do the grocery shopping because now I get to enjoy it when it's something pleasurable like, “Look at all this cool stuff on the shelf.”
I love that about grocery shopping. I'm like, “It's like Disneyland.” I’m like, “I don't think so.”
It's a new experience because you don't have to do it.
Christopher, we are going to get ready to wrap up, but I wanted to get some information from you about the GAP Program. Can you tell us specifically what it is and what it is that you do there?
The GAP Program stands for Growth Acquisition Partner, and that was created not because we had a wonderful marketing idea. It was created years ago when I met an individual who wanted to sell his business, but it wasn't sellable. It wasn't sellable because he didn't have staff, processes, and procedures. Instead of saying, “I'll buy you for pennies on a dollar. Just pay my consulting fee,” I said, “Why don't we go ahead and partner? You'll pay a reduced fee and then you'll also release some equity. I will help you exit.”
I said, “I need you to give me 12 to 18 months. I will help you exit.” He exited in less than nine and it was awesome. He got to celebrate. It was a wonderful story. That's when I created for real the GAP Program. The name came from one of my wonderful team members who came up with the Growth Acquisition Partner. I was like, “That's wonderful,” because if there's a gap between where you are and where you want to be. The answer lies in somebody else who can help you. Everything that we want is on the other side of other people, which is why we have to be great people.
Everything that we want is on the other side – where other people are. This is why we have to be really great people, people.
If someone says, “I'm an introvert. I don't like do relationships,” my answer is that's going to be a tough life to have because you're going to have to build value and great relationships. I've been doing that for several years. It is something I'm thrilled about. When I started buying businesses at the age of 29, I thought I was only going to buy all these businesses and now as I sit here, most of my businesses are partnerships and I love it. I love helping people reach their dreams. If they're interested, the readers can go to my website at Say Yes! Enterprises. Also, view my LinkedIn. I’m happy to connect and also, this interview has given you some clues on what to do next, even if it's not working with us or another great partner.
Thank you so much for your time and all the information. Camille Davis, thank you for making this connection. You were right. Christopher is wonderful and a great time for our audience. Thank you so much both of you. With that, we are going to say goodbye and we appreciate your time, Christopher. We hope to see you back again soon.
Important Links
LinkedIn - Christopher Michael Wick
About Christopher Wick
Christopher is a heart-centered entrepreneur with a talent for numbers. As an entrepreneur who won over 14 awards and helped over 500 companies by the age of 30, Christopher has built, bought, and sold various companies relating to marketing, e-commerce, real estate, retail, and investing. Wick’s businesses have been featured by Huffington Post, ABC, NBC, and Wall Street Select.
Currently, Christopher is Chairman of Say Yes! Enterprises, LLC, a Texas-based investment management company that acquires, builds and sells companies. Christopher has a tremendous passion for helping people thrive in their companies to grow their profits thereby growing their teams, families and impacting their communities.
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