SaaS Dads S2/E13: FBI Raided His House, $10M NFL Lawsuit… He Built a Two-Time Gold SaaS Business Anyway

SaaS Dads S2/E13: FBI Raided His House, $10M NFL Lawsuit… He Built a Two-Time Gold SaaS Business Anyway

Most people have one rock bottom moment. Russ Ward had several. Got his girlfriend pregnant on the first date. Flew to Las Vegas and got married weeks later. Got kicked out of three colleges. Joined the Navy at 21 just to force himself into a job he couldn't quit. Then built a bootleg DVD empire from his basement that made him $2-3 million over 10 years. Then the FBI raided his house. The NFL sued him for $10 million. The IRS hit him with a $119,000 tax lien. His merchant accounts froze. His marriage fell apart. His kids went to live with their mum. And he spent a week lying on the floor with a gun to his head. He got up. And now he's a two-time consecutive Gold SaaSpreneur. Standing on stage in a gold sparkly jacket collecting awards he spent six years working toward. This is one of the most honest conversations we've ever had on SaaS Dads. In this episode Russ gets completely raw about: 👉 Getting his girlfriend pregnant on the first date and flying to Las Vegas to get married 👉 Running nuclear reactors in the Navy until they found out he was colour blind 👉 Building a $2-3 million bootleg DVD empire from his basement while in the military 👉 The FBI raid, the $10 million NFL lawsuit and the IRS tax lien that froze everything 👉 Spending a week on the floor with a gun to his head and what pulled him back 👉 Writing letters to his kids apologising for being a bad dad and how that rebuilt everything 👉 Using a Cameo shout-out from Xzibit to break the ice with his estranged son 👉 How he went from bankrupt and unemployable to two-time Gold SaaSpreneur 👉 His 14-year-old daughter building an AI music business at farmers markets 👉 Why it took him six years to get his first Gold award and what he'd tell anyone still grinding 👉 The one piece of advice he gives to anyone hitting rock bottom right now This one is unlike anything we've shared before. Russ didn't just hit rock bottom. He built his rock bottom himself, brick by brick, bad decision by bad decision. And then he climbed out of it anyway. If you're in a tough spot right now, this episode is for you. 🙏 🎧 Watch this one. Then watch it again.   👉 This is where it starts. Join our community   🔗 Facebook group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycrmsim] 🔗 myCRMSIM Community [https://portal.mycrmsim.com/communities/groups/mycrmsim/home?invite=68a352f7317a226d854f0196]   🔗 Explore more: Get myCRMSIM Unlimited text messaging without the need for A2P. 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/ [https://mycrmsim.com/] Get Your Free Trial of HighLevel and see why the top marketers swear by it: 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level [https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level]   Connect with Russ: 🔗 https://qualifiedlivetransfers.com/ [https://qualifiedlivetransfers.com/] 🔗 https://www.facebook.com/TheLeadKing [https://www.facebook.com/TheLeadKing] 🔗 https://theleadking.com/ [https://theleadking.com/]

SaaS Dads S2/E12: He's Leaving Australia After 16 Years… To Give His Son Something Money Can't Buy

Most people build a business to afford a better life. Vit built one so he could actually live it. 16 years in Australia. Australian citizen. Thriving SaaS agency. The HighLevel Experience podcast. A life that most people in the HighLevel community would look at and go… that's it. That's the dream. And he's walking away from all of it. Not because things went wrong. Because something more important finally got loud enough to listen to, family. His parents. His wife's parents. His five year old son who's never really known what it feels like to grow up surrounded by people who love him unconditionally. The grandparents who are getting older. The date nights that never happen because there's nobody to watch the kid. So Vit made a decision. Pack up the house. Sell the stuff. Tell the son after Easter. And move back to Czech Republic in six weeks. And here's the part that makes this story different from most. the business is coming with him.   In this episode Vit gets refreshingly honest about: 👉 Why he's leaving Australia after 16 years and what finally made the decision easy 👉 How he tested running his business remotely by moving to Czech Republic for two and a half years 👉 Why the stuff you accumulate means absolutely nothing when it comes to the crunch 👉 The time zone strategy he's built to keep Australian clients and crack the US market from Europe 👉 Why he's never run a single ad in five years and built his entire agency on referral partnerships 👉 His honest take on HighLevel for beginners and why most people should go through an agency first 👉 The HighLevel Experience podcast origin story and why it started with beers in Dallas 👉 Three free tools every HighLevel agency owner should grab right now 👉 The vomit in the car story that every parent will relate to way too much 👉 Why being detail obsessed is both his superpower and his biggest weakness as a dad   This one is a little different from our usual episodes.   It's not a rags to riches story. It's not a comeback from rock bottom. It's something rarer than that.   It's a guy who built something great and then had the courage to ask himself what matters more, and chose family. 🙏   🎧 This one will make you think about your own priorities.   👉 This is where it starts. Join our community:   🔗 ⁠Facebook group⁠ [https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycrmsim] 🔗 ⁠myCRMSIM Community⁠ [https://portal.mycrmsim.com/communities/groups/mycrmsim/home]   🔗 Explore more:Get myCRMSIM Unlimited text messaging without the need for A2P: 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/ Get Your Free Trial of HighLevel and see why the top marketers swear by it: 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level   Connect with Vit: 🔗 ⁠https://standoutfromthepack.com.au/⁠ [https://standoutfromthepack.com.au/] 🔗 ⁠https://vitmuller.com/resources⁠ [https://vitmuller.com/resources] 🔗 ⁠https://www.successinspiredpodcast.com/⁠ [https://www.successinspiredpodcast.com/] 🔗⁠ https://vitfit.com.au/ [https://vitfit.com.au/]

SaaS Dads S2/E11: She Nearly Had a Heart Attack… Then Built a Diamond SaaS Business in 12 Months

In 2024 Jay-cee Tan nearly died. Not dramatically. Not suddenly. Just quietly burning out trying to hold everything together while her VA business was falling apart around her. 100 VAs. Down to 50. Down to 20. Then gone. Her doctor looked her in the eye and said if you don't stop you will drop dead. She had two little girls at home. A husband who believed in her. And absolutely nothing left in the tank. Most people would've stopped. Jay-cee got back up. She opened her laptop, started teaching Filipinos automation for free just to keep herself busy, and woke up the next morning to 4,000 people in her community. Twelve months later she was on stage at a HighLevel event collecting her Diamond SaaSpreneur award.   In this episode Jay-cee gets beautifully honest about: 👉 1,800 applications over six months just to land her very first client as a VA 👉 Growing a real estate VA agency to 100 people in under a year then watching it fall apart 👉 Nearly having a heart attack and what her doctor told her that changed everything 👉 Building a Diamond SaaS business in 12 months while raising two girls aged four and six 👉 How she pulled 1,600 people to an event in the Philippines with government ministers in the room 👉 From mopping floors to mapping workflows — the janitor she trained who became an automation specialist 👉 Why she says being a mom didn't slow her down it made her better at business 👉 The mission to show the world that Filipinos are not just Filipino lang 👉 What she would whisper to herself during the darkest moment of her journey   This one is something special. Jay-cee isn't just building a business. She's changing how an entire country sees itself on the global stage. And she's doing it with two little girls at home who already know that mum helps Filipinos learn automation. 🙏 🎧 You will feel this one.   👉 This is where it starts. Join our community:   🔗 Facebook group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycrmsim] 🔗 myCRMSIM Community [https://portal.mycrmsim.com/communities/groups/mycrmsim/home?invite=68a352f7317a226d854f0196]   🔗 Explore more: Get myCRMSIM — unlimited text messaging without the need for A2P. 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/ [https://mycrmsim.com/] Get Your Free Trial of HighLevel and see why the top marketers swear by it: 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level [https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level]   Connect with Jay-cee: 🔗 Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/highlevelpilipinas [https://www.facebook.com/groups/highlevelpilipinas] 🔗 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@official.cecetan [https://www.youtube.com/@official.cecetan] 🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.cecetan [https://www.facebook.com/official.cecetan] 🔗 Website: https://ghl4beginners.com/ [https://ghl4beginners.com/begin?fbclid=IwY2xjawR7ZD9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFmNXp4bG5vbm1yMlYzc1M1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtU2W9ekCSMBpTaaStUJdfpq6ogH-Qo2XlGe1BXGzNbkQjWTsegm1iKCMInH_aem_REzSeqlnu0ZuZxWMWZubDQ]   Connect with more female SaaSPRENEURs 🔗 https://www.facebook.com/groups/ghlwomen [https://www.facebook.com/groups/ghlwomen]

SaaS Dads S2/E10: He Built a $100M Business… Then Lost It All to a Bad Partnership

Most people build a business to make money. Leon built one to never be trapped again. 12 and a half years in the military working on F-18 fighter jets and explosive ordnance. Then 17 years growing a paintball business to nearly $100 million in revenue across 57 locations worldwide. Then COVID hit. A business partnership fell apart. And a payout he was owed never came. Everything he'd built with people he considered brothers.. gone. Most people would've taken a job. Played it safe. Licked their wounds and moved on quietly. Leon did something different. He took every system, every lesson, every scar and started helping other business owners avoid the same pain. And somewhere along the way, he realised that everything he'd learned about building businesses was exactly the same as raising kids. In this episode Leon gets deeply honest about: 👉 Growing a paintball business to nearly $100M across 57 locations worldwide 👉 How working with bombs and bullets at 19 years old taught him everything about systems 👉 Losing his mum at eight years old and how that shaped the man and father he became 👉 Getting screwed out of a major payout by people he trusted like brothers 👉 The five lessons from parenting that completely transformed how he runs his business 👉 Why being the sage not the hero is the most powerful thing you can do for your kids and your clients 👉 How he engineers his entire business around his life and not the other way around 👉 Why presence is greater than productivity in business and at home 👉 The social media catfishing story that every parent with a teenager needs to hear 👉 What he'd tell 19-year-old Leon starting out in the military This one is different. Leon has lived more lives than most people could fit into three careers. Military. Global business. Entrepreneurship. And through all of it he has kept one thing constant. The business fits around the life. Not the other way around. 🎧 This conversation is packed. Watch it twice. 👉 This is where it starts. Join our community: 🔗 ⁠Facebook group⁠ [https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycrmsim] 🔗 ⁠myCRMSIM Community [https://portal.mycrmsim.com/communities/groups/mycrmsim/home?invite=68a352f7317a226d854f0196] ⁠ [https://portal.mycrmsim.com/communities/groups/mycrmsim/home?invite=68a352f7317a226d854f0196] 🔗 Explore more: Get myCRMSIM — unlimited text messaging without the need for A2P. 👉⁠ https://mycrmsim.com/⁠ [https://mycrmsim.com/] Get Your Free Trial of HighLevel and see why the top marketers swear by it: 👉⁠ https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level⁠ [https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level] Connect with Leon: 🔗 ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonbubenicek/⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonbubenicek/] 🔗 ⁠https://connectwithleon.com⁠ [https://connectwithleon.com] 🔗 ⁠https://www.facebook.com/leon.bubenicek⁠ [https://www.facebook.com/leon.bubenicek] 🔗 ⁠https://www.tacticaldynamics.com.au/ [https://www.tacticaldynamics.com.au/] 🔗 https://www.instagram.com/leonbubenicek/ [https://www.instagram.com/leonbubenicek/]

SaaS Dads S2/E09: He Got Scammed, Hit by COVID & Built a VA Business From an RV… With Two Kids Inside

Most people wouldn't start a business in a 26-foot RV. Joel did. Two young kids. A homeschooling wife. A dinette table for a desk. And a brand new VA business launching in the middle of it all. But here's the thing nobody talks about when they romanticize the laptop lifestyle. It's not always a beach or a cafe. Sometimes it's your wife hiding in the bedroom six feet away so she doesn't interrupt your Zoom call. Sometimes it's your kids tugging on your shoulder mid-pitch. Sometimes it's getting scammed by a VA company, paying twice, and still doing the right thing anyway. That's how VA Hub Pro was born. Not from a business plan. Not from a big launch. From getting burned enough times to say "we can do this better" and actually doing it.   In this episode Joel gets refreshingly honest about: 👉 How getting scammed by a VA company became the spark that started VA Hub Pro 👉 What it's really like running a business from a 26-foot RV with two homeschooled kids 👉 Why he and his wife chose to fight in front of their kids and make up in front of them too 👉 The unschooling approach that has his kids blowing him away with how smart they are 👉 Why he believes impact is a bigger driving force than revenue 👉 The book that made him feel like someone was writing about his exact business 👉 What he'd tell the Joel who walked away from his job in 2019 full of hope This one goes deep. Not just on business but on parenting, leadership, emotional regulation and what it actually means to build something that matters. Joel is proof that integrity in business isn't just a nice thing to have. It's your actual competitive advantage.   🎧 This conversation will stay with you.   ⏱ Timestamps 03:30 – How VA Hub Pro Was Born From Getting Scammed 08:15 – Living and Working in a 26-Foot RV With Two Young Kids 13:40 – Homeschooling on the Road: The Unschooling Approach 19:20 – Stop Motion Animation, Foxes and Raising Creative Kids 24:45 – Screen Time, YouTube and Teaching Kids to Create Not Consume 30:10 – Self Regulation: What Parents and Kids Are Learning Together 35:50 – Apologizing to Your Kids and Why It Changes Everything 40:20 – Fighting In Front of Your Kids and Making Up In Front of Them Too 45:00 – How Parenting Made Him a Better Business Leader 49:30 – The Ripple Effect: Why Impact Beats Revenue Every Time 54:15 – Traction by Gino Wickman and What It Changed for the Business 58:40 – What's Next for VA Hub Pro and the Family 01:02:00 – What He'd Tell Himself When He Left His Job in 2019   👉 This is where it starts. Join our community: 🔗 Facebook group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycrmsim] 🔗 myCRMSIM Community [https://portal.mycrmsim.com/communities/groups/mycrmsim/home?invite=68a352f7317a226d854f0196] 🔗 Explore more: Get myCRMSIM — unlimited text messaging without the need for A2P. 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/ [https://mycrmsim.com/] Get Your Free Trial of HighLevel and see why the top marketers swear by it: 👉 https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level [https://mycrmsim.com/get-high-level]   Connect with Joel:  🔗 https://vahubpro.com [https://vahubpro.com]  🔗 https://dream.vahubpro.com [https://dream.vahubpro.com]