Build an 8-Figure Business That Runs Without You with Reg Zeller, CaneKast
Beyond 8 Figures
From Corporate to Entrepreneurial Journey
This chapter chronicles the speaker's shift from the corporate world to acquisition entrepreneurship, detailing their struggles and the transformative decision to purchase a business. It highlights the necessary skills, resilience, and emotional intelligence required to navigate the challenges of small business ownership, including funding, staffing, and personal growth. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a long-term vision and cultivating a supportive environment for their team to thrive.
There’s nothing quite like watching a team take full ownership of their roles. Empowering employees means letting them make decisions, sometimes mistakes, and supporting their growth every step of the way. Talking with Reg Zeller, it was clear how he values giving his team real autonomy and stepping back to allow others to lead and learn. In this episode, he explains how this approach has led to a stronger, more resilient company culture, and it’s inspiring to see how much he trusts his team.
About Reg Zeller
Reg Zeller transitioned from a successful corporate career to building a thriving portfolio of small manufacturing businesses. Growing up in a one-stoplight town with friends in blue-collar trades, he knew early on that he wanted to own a business. After earning a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, he spent 17 years with Fortune 500 companies like Honeywell and General Electric, gaining hands-on experience in nearly every corporate function. But his entrepreneurial drive never faded.
In 2017, he acquired his first foundry and quickly saw how well the industry aligned with his values of resilience, hard work, and community impact. Today, through his holding company, CaneKast, Reg has acquired five foundries with plans to expand further. Known for empowering his team and building a strong culture, he’s on track to grow CaneKast into a $100M business while staying true to his small-town roots.
Have you ever noticed that the most challenging part of growing a business isn't the strategy or the market—it's getting out of your way?
My recent conversation with Reg Zeller blew me away because he's mastered something I struggled with in my entrepreneurial journey: building a thriving business without constant intervention.
After years in the Fortune 500 world, Reg has done what many dream of but few achieve. In just five years, he's built CaneKast from a single $2.7M foundry into a $15M powerhouse. But here's what caught my attention—he did it by systematically removing himself from the business. He even jokes about his "8-hour work month," but the results speak for themselves.
What fascinates me most is how Reg flipped the traditional entrepreneurial playbook. Instead of being the driving force behind every decision (a trap I've fallen into myself), he's focused on creating systems and teams that perform better without him. Having built and sold companies myself, this is pure gold for any entrepreneur feeling chained to their business.
Here's why this matters if you're building a bootstrapped company:
- Your business value multiplies when it doesn't depend on you (something I learned the hard way)
- Teams innovate faster when given real autonomy to make and learn from mistakes
- You create genuine scale through systems, not heroics
- You free yourself to focus on strategic opportunities
- Your stress levels drop dramatically (trust me on this one)
What makes Reg's story particularly valuable is his brutal honesty. He openly admits to being a "terrible operator" and shares how he built a team that runs the business better than he ever could. As someone who's been there, this level of self-awareness is rare and invaluable.
The practical takeaway? Start identifying where you're the bottleneck and systematically work to make yourself unnecessary. I know it sounds counterintuitive - I had to wrestle with this myself - but the less the business needs you for daily operations, the more valuable it becomes.
Want to hear the entire conversation and learn precisely how Reg removed himself from operations while growing his company's value 5X? Listen to the complete episode at Beyond8Figures.com. I dig deep into his strategies for building self-running systems and how he's creating a business designed to outlast him.
If you're wrestling with stepping back from daily operations or looking to build more value in your business, you should take advantage of this. As someone who's built and sold companies, I can tell you - Reg's insights are pure gold for any entrepreneur ready to scale beyond their limitations.
Having built and sold multiple companies, I understand the delicate balance of stepping back strategically while maintaining business momentum - it's why I now help other entrepreneurs create systems and teams that can thrive without constant owner involvement. Through Beyond8Figures and my consulting practice, I guide business owners in identifying critical operational bottlenecks, implementing the right metrics and processes, and transforming their role from operator to strategic leader - all while protecting and enhancing current business value. So, if you're ready to build a more valuable business that doesn't depend on your daily presence, book a call with me or DM me on X to explore how we can systematically increase your company's value while reducing its dependence on you.
Key Insights:
- Set clear, scalable processes. Develop systems that work for both small and large operations. Make sure all tasks—from onboarding to project management—have clear, repeatable steps. Document these processes and adjust them as you grow.
- Create a culture of learning from mistakes. Encourage employees to take initiative, even if it means they’ll sometimes make mistakes. Letting them learn from errors strengthens their skills and builds resilience. Make it clear that setbacks are part of growth, and support them in finding solutions.
- Diversify revenue streams. Relying on one source of revenue can be risky. Explore additional income sources that complement your main business, like offering add-on products, subscription services, or digital courses.
- Build strategic partnerships. Partner with businesses that complement yours. For example, if you offer products, partner with a service provider to create value bundles, enhancing your reach without additional resources.
- Hire for cultural fit and trust. When hiring, look beyond skills. Choose people who genuinely share your company’s values and are committed to its goals. By building a team you trust, you won’t need to micromanage, and you’ll create a positive, aligned work environment.
Reg's best advice for entrepreneurs:
“I need to make decisions that maximize the value of the company and maximize the most impact to our folks that work for us.”
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