How to Start a Business With No Experience and Scale It Into a Franchise (w/ Alisa Sparks) [TJP Ep41]

How to Start a Business With No Experience and Scale It Into a Franchise (w/ Alisa Sparks) [TJP Ep41]

In this episode of The Journey, Leo sits down with Alisa Sparks, founder of Linden Creek, who went from managing multimillion dollar military budgets for the Navy and Marine Corps to building a 17-location home staging franchise with proprietary software, a feature in Architectural Digest, and a business that runs without her. She had no design degree, no sales experience, and a garage as her office. What she had was a military mindset, a creative itch, and the discipline to build systems in an industry that swore it couldn't be done. If you want to understand what it really looks like to build something that outlasts you, this episode delivers. 👉 What you'll learn:  🪖 From military finance contractor to home staging founder with no design degree  🏠 How staging a house she renovated sparked the entire business idea  📋 Building SOPs and systems in an industry that had none  🤝 How she attracts and keeps A players by being brutally honest about culture  🔄 Franchising an idea she originally said no to  ⏱️ The weekly time audit that changed how she runs her business  🧠 Working on the business vs. in it and how to know the difference  🎓 The best ROI she ever got: coaching that cost thousands and made hundreds of thousands // Timestamps //  00:00 Introduction  00:53 Biggest lesson of the past year: building a team of A players  01:44 How to attract A players and what culture fit really looks like  04:37 Transitioning from military contractor to entrepreneur 0 7:55 Building the business as a single mom and hiring out of necessity  09:32 The moment she realized her company ran without her  10:42 How franchising happened and why she almost said no  12:18 Building a network of business owners who get it  14:53 Why founders are the biggest bottleneck to their own growth  15:54 How she learns new skills including sales, HR, and AI  17:52 Delegating step by step and why a 300-page SOP is not enough  21:19 Running a franchise where you have never met your employees  22:17 How her military background shaped her systems-first approach  24:53 Common mistakes she coaches franchise owners through  27:38 The weekly time audit and how she optimizes her 24 hours  29:49 Working on vs. in the business and when to do both  31:06 Hiring before you are ready and using payroll as pressure  33:49 The hardest thing to delegate: charisma and customer care  36:11 One belief she had at 30 that she has since changed  37:07 Best investment with the highest unexpected ROI 🤝 Connect with Alisa Sparks Website:  Website: www.linden-creek.com Instagram: @lindencreek_ LinkedIn (Company): www.linkedin.com/company/linden-creek LinkedIn (Alisa Sparks): www.linkedin.com/in/alisasparkslc/ www.youtube.com/@LindenCreek  👋 Connect with Leo  linkedin.com/in/leo-young  instagram.com/leoyoungrealestate  Invest with us: tidycal.com/leoyoungrealestate/investor-alignment-call 👍 If this episode brought you value, follow, rate, and share. ⚠️ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or tax advice. All investments carry risk. Consult licensed professionals before making investment decisions. #Entrepreneurship #Franchising #HomeStaging #BusinessSystems #WomenInBusiness #TheJourneyPodcast #LeoYoung #AlisaSparks #LindenCreek #ScalingABusiness #MilitaryVeteran #Delegation #APlayers

How to Build, Scale, and Sell a Small Business for 7 Figures (w/ Ian Noble) [TJP Ep40]

Ian Noble spent 14 years inside a family dry cleaning business, starting by pressing clothes in 105-degree heat in a Texas summer. He eventually bought his father out, went seven figures into debt in his mid-twenties, scaled the operation to 14 locations and 95 employees, and then watched 85% of revenue disappear in a matter of days when COVID hit in March 2020. The reserves he had quietly been setting aside for years were the only thing that kept it alive. When the business came back, he sold it for seven figures in 2023. Now Ian is on the other side of the table. Through Run Steady Investments, he deploys capital into mobile home parks and private lending, and helps other business owners get into passive real estate for the first time. In this episode, Ian talks about: * How he thinks about vetting partners, and why he always invests his own money first before bringing anyone else in * What it actually took to survive COVID with 95 employees on payroll * Why he wishes he had let go of control sooner, and what holding on too long cost him * How his background as an operator changes the way he evaluates deals as an investor * Why mobile home parks make sense for business owners who want real estate exposure without the landlord headaches Ian is the kind of investor who built something real before he started allocating capital, and it shows in how he thinks about risk. If you're a business owner sitting on cash and wondering what to do with it, or you're trying to build something worth selling someday, this conversation is worth your time. // Timestamps //  00:00 Introduction  00:53 Biggest lesson of the past year: partnerships  01:21 How he vets partners and why he invests in them first  03:03 Playing investor before fund manager  05:03 Buying out his father and starting from the bottom  07:10 The daily reserve habit that survived COVID  09:30 Pivoting through COVID: delivery, wash & fold, restoration  12:56 Modernizing a legacy business from day one  14:19 Reviews, systems, and tripling profitability  17:27 Working in vs. on the business  19:16 AI and the future of small business  22:27 The emotional decision to sell  23:46 Removing himself as the bottleneck before the exit  25:48 Building a real estate portfolio while running a 90-person company  28:32 Why mobile home parks fit his post-exit philosophy  31:16 Helping business owners embrace passive investing  33:20 Debunking the mobile home park stigma  36:44 How to connect with Ian + free cheat sheet 38:03 Best advice he ignored too long 👇 Free Resource for Business Owners Curious About Passive Investing (from Ian): If you have ever wondered what it actually looks like to invest passively in real estate, I put together a cheat sheet that walks you through the whole process. What to expect, what to look for, and what a good deal looks like from the inside. 📋 Grab it here: https://go.runsteadyinvestments.com/the-journey-podcast [https://go.runsteadyinvestments.com/the-journey-podcast] 🤝 Connect with Ian Noble  www.runsteadyinvestments.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/iannoble1/ https://www.instagram.com/ian_invests [https://www.instagram.com/ian_invests] 👋 Connect with Leo  linkedin.com/in/leo-young  instagram.com/leoyoungrealestate  Invest with us: tidycal.com/leoyoungrealestate/investor-alignment-call 👍 If this episode brought you value, follow, rate, and share. ⚠️ Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or tax advice. All investments carry risk. Consult licensed professionals before making investment decisions.

Scaling a Hardware Startup and Thinking Like an Entrepreneur (w/ Sam Berman) [TJP Ep39]

Sam Berman looked at a 4,000 year old industry built on wooden crates and decided to burn it down. In 2014, he founded Lark, a modular reusable crating and logistics platform, in California with no safety net, no co-founder yet, and no blueprint. When California made it too hard to build physical products, he moved to Tennessee, found a mechanical engineer from Vanderbilt, and started over. Today, Lark holds a patent in modular reusable crating systems and works with some of the largest companies in the world, including AI firms, aerospace companies, and hyperscalers. Along the way, Sam navigated personal loss, isolation, and every trial that comes with building something that has never existed before. He wrote about the psychology of surviving it in his book, The Militant Mind. In this episode, Sam gets into: * Why changing an industry isn't just about a better product, it's about overcoming thousands of years of legacy thinking * How he thinks about trust as the single most important factor in building a team * The difference between disruption and destruction, and why he only believes in one of them * What it takes to stay mentally sharp when everything is working against you * Why the least sexy companies are often the ones that quietly do the best Sam is the kind of founder who dropped out of college, lectured at universities anyway, and built a company that Fortune 500s call when they need a problem solved fast. If you're building something the world hasn't seen before, or you're trying to figure out how to keep going when the odds are stacked against you, this one is worth your time. // Timestamps // 00:00 Introduction to Sam Berman 04:00 Background, dropping out of college, and starting Lark 08:00 What to look for in co-founders and team members 13:00 When to hire and how to stay lean on purpose 16:00 How to attract and retain people without a big name 20:00 The bottleneck of credibility and how partnerships solve it 25:00 How the first email to Google defined Lark's entire market 29:00 Cold outreach at scale and how to get the big guys to respond 32:00 The Militant Mind and what the book is really about 37:00 Persistence vs. recklessness and how to know the difference 41:00 What Sam believed at 30 that he no longer believes 43:00 Disruption is dead and why creative destruction is the real game 46:00 How to connect with Sam and get your hands on the book 🤝 Connect with Sam Berman www.larc.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelberman/ 👋 Connect with Leo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-young Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leoyoungrealestate Invest with us: https://tidycal.com/leoyoungrealestate/investor-alignment-call 👍 Support the Show If this episode brought you value, please follow, rate, and share the podcast so more people can discover conversations like this. ⚠️ Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not financial, legal, or tax advice. All investments carry risk. Always consult licensed professionals before making investment decisions. #Entrepreneurship #Founder #StartupLife #Innovation #BusinessGrowth #MilitantMind #LogisticsTech #TheJourneyPodcast #LeoYoung #SamBerman #CreativeDestruction #BuildingCompanies #MindsetMatters #Bootstrapped

Startup Failure, Bankruptcy Recovery, and Scaling to 140 Employees (w/ Mike Chaput) [TJP Ep38]

Mike Chaput bought a company at 24 with no management experience, no sales background, and no idea how to read a P&L. Three months after taking over, the dot-com bubble wiped out his entire customer base. He kept the company alive for four and a half years before it finally went bankrupt. Then he started over. Today, Insight has 140 employees, $35 million in revenue, 10 Inc. 5000 appearances, and 400+ clients across California and Hawaii. In this episode, Mike breaks down what he learned the hard way about leadership, performance management, and building a company culture that actually works. You'll hear: * How buying a failing company at 24 became his MBA in real life * Why the dot-com crash was just one of many near-death moments for the business * The neuroscience framework he uses to understand leadership and human behavior * How he thinks about managing underperformers without destroying team culture * Why great leadership is the difference between a mediocre organization and one where everyone reaches their potential * What he's building now with his podcast and the book he's writing on leadership principles Mike is the kind of operator who reads obsessively, shares what he's learned, and genuinely believes better leaders make better companies and better lives. If you've ever had to rebuild something from scratch, or you're leading a team and want a real conversation about what that actually takes, this episode is worth your time. // Timestamps // 00:00 Introduction to Mike Chaput 02:00 Buying a company at 24 with no experience 12:00 The first skill every founder must develop: sales 16:00 When PCS Networks collapsed, the reality of bankruptcy at 28 20:00 How Insight was born from the ashes 24:00 Why the bankruptcy system exists to reward risk-takers 32:00 Scaling from survival mode to a $35M company 36:00 Vision, values, and what most CEOs get wrong 42:00 Predator vs. prey mindset and high-performance teams 50:00 The First Principles podcast and what Mike is building next 01:01 What Mike wants to change about how the world leads 🤝 Connect with Mike Chaput Website:  https://www.endsight.net/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchaput/ https://www.instagram.com/thechaputperspective/  👋 Connect with Leo https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-young https://www.instagram.com/leoyoungrealestate Invest with us: https://tidycal.com/leoyoungrealestate/investor-alignment-call 👍 Support the Show If this episode brought you value, please follow, rate, and share the podcast so more people can discover conversations like this. ⚠️ Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not financial, legal, or tax advice. All investments carry risk. Always consult licensed professionals before making investment decisions. #Entrepreneurship #Founder #Bankruptcy #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #StartupLife #SalesStrategy #CompanyCulture #TheJourneyPodcast #LeoYoung #MikeChaput #FirstPrinciples #ScalingABusiness #MindsetMatters

How to Start a Business with No Money and Scale (w/ Chris Shurian) [TJP Ep 37]

Chris Shurian built a $15M business starting with $5,000 and a truck he traded his uncle for. He didn't follow a blueprint or raise outside capital. He learned construction by doing it, figured out management after getting injured, and expanded into restaurants and hospitality by studying Walt Disney. In this episode, Chris walks through how he scaled a construction company, survived the 2008 recession, and built systems that let him run everything without being on-site every day. He also breaks down the "Tahiti Report," a simple KPI dashboard that tells you if your business is winning from anywhere in the world. You'll hear: * How a back injury forced him to delegate and accidentally unlocked growth * The Walt Disney philosophy behind his restaurant concepts * Why fractional executives changed how he ran his businesses * How Ironman training kept him sane during the financial crisis * The $12M mistake he made hiring the wrong contractor, while being a contractor himself * What finally made him shift from pushing people to lifting them up Chris now mentors founders through his Founders Exchange mastermind and podcast, Bootstraps and Battle Scars. If you're building something and want a conversation grounded in real experience, this one's worth your time. // Timestamps // 00:00 Intro 01:15 The most significant lesson from this past year: a restaurant failure 03:00 KPIs, gut instincts, and trusting the warning signs 05:37 Bootstrapping the construction company with $5,000 and a traded truck 08:25 From flounder to focus: finding a niche in home remodeling 10:00 The back injury that forced delegation and unlocked growth 12:00 Managing employee culture as the company scaled 14:00 The "Tahiti Report": building a KPI system for every business 18:47 How to identify the right metrics for any industry 22:36 Learning to upskill: mentors, books, and fractional executives 26:28 The value of constructive disagreement and avoiding yes-men 27:22 How Chris fell into the restaurant business 29:00 The Walt Disney philosophy: engineering unforgettable experiences 31:31 Balancing entrepreneurship with family, fitness, and Ironman training 33:45 How Ironman training saved his mindset during the 2008 recession 35:32 Finding mentors and the Founders Exchange mastermind 38:48 Rapid fire: the $12M mistake from hiring the wrong contractor 40:21 The leadership 180: from pushing people to lifting them up 41:52 What Chris is optimizing for now: coaching, writing, and giving back 43:40 Where to find Chris: Bootstraps and Battle Scars 44:58 Closing thoughts 👇 Let's Connect (from Chris): If you are building a business and want to learn from someone who has been in the trenches, reach out directly. I am happy to connect. 📩 Send me a DM on LinkedIn or visit http://bootstrapsandbattlescars.com 🤝 CONNECT WITH CHRIS WEBSITE:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisshurian/ 👋 CONNECT WITH LEO 1. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-young/ 2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leoyoungrealestate/ 3. Want to invest with us? https://tidycal.com/leoyoungrealestate/investor-alignment-call ⚠️ Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not financial, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as such. All investments carry risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Any mention of investment opportunities is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities. Offers, if any, will be made only through official offering documents and only to qualified, accredited investors in jurisdictions where permitted by law. Consult your own financial, legal, and tax advisors before making investment decisions. #Entrepreneurship #Bootstrapping #SmallBusiness #WealthBuilding #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #Ironman #MindsetMatters #FoundersExchange #RestaurantBusiness #ConstructionBusiness #Mentorship