#61: From Bankruptcy to 9 Figure Exits: My Time On The Bridging The Gap Podcast

Dec 26, 2023

Chris, an entrepreneur who went from bankruptcy to 9 figure exits, shares his story of perseverance and success. He discusses the lessons he learned around living for external validation, his insights on skills like sales, marketing, team building and culture, and what it takes to scale a business to nine-figure exits. The podcast also touches on the importance of pricing, reinforcing core values in an organization, the significance of business partners and teams, and the value of finding great mentors and embracing your own journey.

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

Introduction

00:00 • 2min

From Early Sales Jobs to 9 Figure Exits: A Journey in Entrepreneurship

02:01 • 5min

Lessons Learned from Bankruptcy

07:07 • 11min

Positioning and Value in Pricing

17:41 • 19min

Reinforcing Core Values and Consistency in an Organization

37:01 • 3min

The Importance of Business Partners and Teams

40:00 • 18min

The Value of Finding Great Mentors and Embracing Your Own Journey

58:29 • 2min

For this weeks episode of The Founder Podcast I join Bridger Rodgers on her show, Bridging The Gap! This episode features an inspiring interview where Chris shares his story of filing for bankruptcy at a young age with $2.2 million in debt, and how he was able to bounce back from that low point. He discusses the lessons he learned around living for external validation versus his own goals. Chris also details how he grew his solar installation company Soldier Energy to $233 million in annual revenue and a $100 million acquisition, becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the US. Listeners will learn Chris's insights on skills like sales, marketing, team building and culture that he attributes to his success. It's an empowering story of perseverance and what it takes to scale a business to nine-figure exits! Highlights: "I stopped caring about what other people thought., it's been a gradual process. It wasn't all at once. But, you know, early in my career, I was doing things to like, look at me, business owner, drive the nice car, have the nice this or that or whatever, create the facade of success rather than being a successful person." "I want to be the highest priced in any industry I ever operating from, there's really only two ways that you can operate an industry either you got to be the cheapest, you got to do a make a sliver of profits across large scale billions and billions of dollars, or you got to be the most expensive otherwise, you're screwing yourself." "As a business owner, you have to understand sales, and I'm not talking retail sales, I'm talking high ticket getting being able to identify pain, create a motion, and close based off of a gap of pain and a solution that you provide." Timestamps: 00:00: Introduction 05:01: Growing Up 10:11: Overcoming Bankruptcy 15:31: Skill Development 20:09: Building Winning Culture 24:16: Leadership 35:51: Partnership 45:08: Mentorship 54:30: Building A Business Live Links: 🚀 Join my community - Founder Acceleration https://www.founderacceleration.com 🤯 Apply for our next Mastermind https://www.thefoundermastermind.com ⛳️ Golf with Chris https://www.golfwithchris.com 🎤 Watch my latest Podcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-podcast/id1687030281 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2?si=dc252f8540ee4b05 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thefounderspodcast