How To Build a Self-Sustaining Business So You Can Pursue Other Passions

Casey Cavell is the Founder of Legacy 4:12, an entrepreneurial team consisting of advisors, mentors, investors, and experts who serve growth-minded entrepreneurs. After building over two dozen self-sustaining businesses, the team has turned its focus to helping its clients experience consistent and predictable growth and make an impact far beyond the profit and loss statement.

Casey is an award-winning entrepreneur, Jesus follower, and trusted advisor to those looking to reach their highest potential. At 21, Casey started his first company and has created, bought, invested, and operated over two dozen businesses in various industries over the past 15 years. His most recent venture is a Web3-based consulting company called Kingdom House.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Casey Cavell talks about Legacy 4:12 and its focus and vision
Who are the ideal clients for Legacy 4:12?
Casey explains where he gets his passion for helping entrepreneurs
Casey shares his entrepreneurial journey and how his life has changed over time
Businesses Casey started and sold, tips to overcoming failure, and lessons learned
What is the essential ingredient you need to make your business successful?
Commonalities among successful businesses and why every business owner should have an exit strategy
How Casey decides what businesses he wants to invest in and what makes him successful

In this episode…

Are you an entrepreneur that feels bogged down by the day-to-day operations of running your business? Would you like to learn a better way to get the growth you want and still have time to spend with your family and pursue other passions?

As a growth-minded serial entrepreneur, Casey Cavell knows what it’s like to have a vision and start a company of your own. However, when he got started in business, there were things he wished he had known and done differently. Learning lessons from people who have been in your shoes is invaluable. There’s a better way to get out of the daily grind and work on your business instead of in your business so you can focus on growing and scaling. Even when you’re having success, if you don’t have get the right team on board that you trust to handle operations, you run the risk of burnout. You have found true success when you’ve gotten to the point of having the business serve you rather than you serving the business. When you enlist a team of advisors, investors, and mentors to help you implement the right systems and processes, they can guide you to make your long-term vision become a reality, so you achieve your ultimate goals.

In this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show, Chad Franzen is joined by Casey Cavell, the Founder of Legacy 4:12, to discuss ways entrepreneurs can build a self-sustaining business that makes an impact and leaves a legacy. Casey talks about why he wants to help growth-minded entrepreneurs, lessons he’s learned over time, why the right people make all the difference, and what makes a business person and a company successful.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Episode Transcript

Intro 0:04

Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25 Media, we feature top founders, executives, and business leaders from all over the world.

Chad Franzen 0:14

Chad Franzen here Co-host of the Top Business Leaders Show where we feature CEOs, entrepreneurs and top leaders in the business world. This episode is brought to you by Rise25, we help b2b businesses reach their dream relationships, connect with more clients referrals and strategic partnerships and get ROI through done-for-you podcasts. If you have a b2b business and want to build great relationships, there’s no better way than to profile the companies and people you admire on your podcast. To learn more, go to rise25.com or email us at support@rise25media.com. Casey Cavell is creator and founder of Legacy 4:12, which consists of an entrepreneurial team of advisors, mentors, investors and experts who are called to serve the growth-minded entrepreneur. As a serial entrepreneur, Casey founded his first company at age 21. And since then he has started, bought, invested in and operated over two dozen businesses in various industries. He’s an award-winning entrepreneur, Jesus follower and trusted advisor to those who are looking to reach their highest potential. Hey, Casey, thanks so much for joining me today. How are you?

Casey Cavell 1:26

Yeah, great to be here. Thanks, Chad.

Chad Franzen 1:28

Hey, tell me about Legacy 4:12 and what you guys do?

Casey Cavell 1:32

Yeah, sure. So after buying, building scaling all kinds of different businesses, I just said, okay, what do I wish that I knew when I got started in business that if I would have done it differently, I would have maybe achieved my goals a lot faster, or gotten there with a whole lot less heartache or headache. And I kind of said, all right, what are all the things that I’ve learned over the first 15 years of my business career, then how do I package those and teach those to other people that were one day in my shoes, that are currently in my shoes. They’re are growth-minded entrepreneur, they’re running a business that are running the day to day, they’re like, stuck doing all this stuff and they’re trying to figure out a way to get out of the day to day, focus on growing, scaling their business, figure out a way to buy their time back so they can put their family first pursue other passions. Because, in my opinion, business should just be one aspect of our lives. But I think a lot of people, they structure their business in a way that they have to serve their business, rather than their business serve them. And that was my story. I was building growing businesses had a lot of success, but I was burnout. And until I figured out the right people and the right process to put in my business. It wasn’t until then, until I achieved true success. So yeah, at Legacy, we’re helping other growth-minded business owners that are like, is there a better way? I don’t want to be running this thing. I want to own this thing to get out of their business, get the right team around them that they can trust to get the job done on time, every time.

Chad Franzen 2:51

Tell me about the name.

Casey Cavell 2:54

Yeah, so Legacy 4:12 that comes out of the book of Ecclesiastes four verse 12, where it talks about a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. So it’s really cool just to kind of think the biblical reference behind that. And then how do we use that in real life and for me, life’s too short to do it on your own. And if you look at a business, there’s three people that you typically need to grow a business, you need a visionary and Mark Winters and Gino Wickman wrote a book called Rocket Fuel. And they talk about the visionary and the integrator. The visionary the person in a business, that they’re coming up with all kinds of new ideas. They’re trying to figure out, what’s next. What can they do a year from now, five years from now. They’re focusing on big relationships and partnerships and opportunities. But then you got like the integrator that’s trying to figure out a way to keep the business organized, keep it focused, keep making sure that they’re taking the best ideas, and making those best ideas and taking those things and making those reality. So you got your visionary, the big picture, big thinker, you got your integrator, the one that’s doing it day in and day out. And then you got Legacy 4:12, and we’re advisors, investors, mentors that help you implement a system, implement a process and make sure that ultimately, your long-term vision becomes a reality. And yeah, so that’s kind of what we’re doing. And there’s the 4:12.

Chad Franzen 4:10

How did the idea for this business came about? You kind of told me that you’d wished you had some lessons that you’re willing to teach other people now, how did the idea like for starting that business come about? Was it an aha moment? Or was it just kind of percolating in your mind for a while?

Casey Cavell 4:26

Yeah, so I had a business that I built, it was a baseball and softball franchise, and we had a big 35,000 square foot building. And in that building, we would have dozens of professional instructors and trainers and we had all kinds of different revenue streams. And I mean, we’d have thousands of people come through our doors every day, and build that business from scratch, took it to about a $2 million run rate, and I was burnout. I’m like, “This was great. It was fun. It was baseball, but at the end of the day, I was burnout and I was tired.” And I found a business partner, and his name was Chad and he brought all the things to the business in the equation that I didn’t want to manage. And it took somebody focusing on growth and opportunities and what’s next. But it also took the person to run the day-to-day. So we kind of developed the one-two punch the visionary integrator per se, where it was like, all right, these are my five things that I’m going to do. All right, these are the five things that I’m currently doing that I no longer want to do. I’m not even good at it. I don’t love doing it. And then he tried to buy me out because the business was for sale. But he goes, “Look, I’ll buy you out. But you got to stay on board. And you got to remain some type of equity owner, because I don’t want you to leave.” Because he saw my unique ability. And that’s where we created a beautiful kind of visionary integrator dynamic, he focused on what he did best, I did the same thing. And then we grew and scaled the business from one location to five and two to 10 million in revenue and a couple year period.

Chad Franzen 5:48

If it’s possible, describe your ideal client.

Casey Cavell 5:52

Yeah, so in Legacy, we’re typically working with companies that are doing one to 10 million in revenue, or at least they got a team of at least three to five people at the very limit, and they want to grow and scale their business. They’re doing a million, they want to double it or triple. They’re growth-minded, but they’re also like, “Hey, I haven’t figured this thing out on my own, I need some help. I haven’t been where I want to go. And I want to look to others that have already been there and allow them to speak into my life, to help me avoid some pitfalls, solve some issues before they even impact the business.” And if you’re open-minded, growth-minded, hey, you got a team of at least three to five people, and you want to grow and scale and double your business, hey, we’re here to help you, as a business owner, remove yourself from the day to day,

Chad Franzen 6:36

What makes you so passionate about helping entrepreneurs as an entrepreneur yourself.

Casey Cavell 6:42

I know what it’s like to wake up every day and want to shut down your business. Because it takes a toll on you. And I was a younger single guy, I couldn’t imagine doing what I was doing with a family. You know, I’m a dad now and married. And I couldn’t imagine doing what I was doing. Because back in the day, truly, I was the one that had to do everything in order for anything to get done. And that wore on me. So I know what it’s like as a business owner to be stressed out, right to try to figure out why is revenue not where it needs to be? Why is profit, not where it needs to be? These are the eight things on my to-do list that if I don’t do these things, the business isn’t going to reach to the next level. Hey, who can I trust in the business? Who can I hire? I just hired this person and they weren’t who they said they were. So I just know the pain that being a business owner can cause and I want to help people solve their pain so they can live a full life inside their business and outside of their business.

Chad Franzen 7:41

You mentioned your first entrepreneurial endeavor that happened when you were age 21. Tell me a little bit about that.

Casey Cavell 7:47

Sure. Yeah. So I just tried to learn from others. And that’s what I started doing. I started reading rich, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, where they talk about the Cashflow Quadrant, and I got it up here for me where there’s the employee, the person that’s getting paid a check to do a job, the self-employed, that they kind of work on their own. And then you got the business owner, you own a business, and then you got the investor. So for me, I was like, “How do I get to the business owner and investor side?” Because what I find is a lot of business owners are self-employed. And that’s what I was forever. Like you own a business, but if you take yourself away from the equation, like that business isn’t going to grow, scale, build, operate and run without you. So a lot of business owners were self-employed, and my first few businesses, that’s what I did. So I would go in and buy underperforming real estate businesses, we have some self-storage facilities, some apartment complexes, and I would go in and put in systems and processes and people on all that to streamline it. And I just saw other businesses and what they could do better. So that’s what I did for about a 15-year period. And those were the first businesses that I got in were underperforming real estate businesses where people were running these things, but they weren’t doing it to their best ability. And I just saw ways to fix it. And that’s where when we go into companies now, I can quickly identify the bottlenecks, the gaps, the opportunities, where they can generate more revenue, where they can minimize expenses pretty quickly, because I’ve done it a few dozen times in different businesses.

Chad Franzen 9:12

Sure. When you think about like the day-to-day back in those days when you were a young single guy, what did that look like when you did everything?

Casey Cavell 9:22

My goodness. So we had these baseball academies. And people would get there about four o’clock in the afternoon right after school, and we’d be packed until 10 or 11 o’clock. And then we have the storage facility. So I would literally be at the storage facility for eight in the morning till three in the morning, answering phone calls, selling self-storage units, cleaning out units, doing whatever it took, and then I would drive an hour to the baseball Academy. I would do the exact same thing there from four o’clock to 10 o’clock, answering the phones, checking people in, swiping their credit cards, and then from 10 to one I would write down everything throughout the day that happened that I didn’t like, that was broken, that was a problem, that gave me a headache. And then from 10 to one, I would put in systems and processes to fix that. So it never happened again. And then from 10 to one, I would write down the operations manuals of everything that I did that day, that one day, I did not want to do so I could teach somebody else to do it. And I think that’s what’s key as a business owner. If you want to hire somebody else to do your job, you’ve got to detail and document how to do your job. So then you can give that to somebody else so then they can do it. And that’s what I did for gosh, that was probably a year and a half period. And I was just running, grinding, fixing, implementing, but at the end of the day, building a system that could then replace me so I could plug somebody else into the system.

Chad Franzen 10:42

Is that what brought the year and a half of 8am to 3am to an end to kind of being able to plug other people in?

Casey Cavell 10:49

That was it? Yeah, all right, this is what needs to be done. This is when it needs to be done. And this is how it needs to be done kind of written and put together in a manual, then I can hire people to do that job. But as the business owner, you probably have to do it yourself to start or at least know so then you can hire the right person, train the right person and hold the right person accountable.

Chad Franzen 11:11

I mentioned that you’re a serial entrepreneur, what does that mean to you?

Casey Cavell 11:14

You sell a business and two days later, you’re like, “I’m bored, I need to do it again.” When we sold one of our businesses at this time, I was probably gosh, I don’t know 27, 28. I’m like, I’m done. I’m done. I went to Chicago, we were going to spend the weekend there and go to some baseball games. And a friend of mine at that time had a furniture business. And we ended up not even going to the baseball games, we ended up mapping out his furniture business. And we helped actually scale his business. And now he’s got a show on HGTV, like craziest thing in the world. And he was a husband and wife business at the time trying to figure this out and repurpose furniture. They would buy stuff at the flea market for 100 bucks, paint it, and then sell it for 500. And they were literally working in their basement. And now they’ve grown a multimillion-dollar business, have their own show on HGTV. It’s crazy. And looking back at it, I made some mistakes in that business. Now they were really close friends. But we had some headache and some heartache in our relationships. Because the one thing that I did in that relationship is I made them try to be somebody that they weren’t supposed to be. They were both visionaries. They were both the outside-the-box thinker. And I tried to get them to stay organized, stay efficient, stay on track and stay focused, and they were free spirits. And I stifled their creativity. And I wish I would have known then what I do now, because the story would have been much more different. Now long term, it worked out tremendously well for them. But really looking back at it, I think we could have gotten to where they ultimately got a lot quicker, with a lot less headache if I understood how to value other people’s talents, and then surround them with somebody else that could complement them.

Chad Franzen 13:01

What’s the name of the show?

Casey Cavell 13:03

It’s called magmate is the name of the company. I’m trying to think of the name of the show.

Chad Franzen 13:08

HGTV, we can figure it out? Hey, how many companies then have you started?

Casey Cavell 13:16

I don’t keep track, it’s probably in the two dozen range. Yeah. And then a lot of times now, I’m not even the only owner or founder, I’m going into other businesses that want to grow and scale. And we work with them for a period of time. Because for me, I made a lot of investments that failed. And a lot of people just want money. Now money will truly not help people run their business better. What will help people run their business better is the right system, the right process, the right communication system. So a lot of times I would just give people money and say, “Hey, I believe in what you’re doing.” But I didn’t give them what they needed. So now a lot of time, we’re providing advisory and services to people that want to get their problems solved. But we don’t just give them money because money will not solve their problems. So a lot of time after we get to know people, they like us, we like them, we trust them, we see that they’re open-minded and willing to make some small tweaks in their business, then, sometimes we invest in those companies.

Chad Franzen 14:11

How have you kind of overcome that failure? I’m sure most serial entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs have had to deal with that for a lot of their life. How do you kind of overcome that, put it aside and move on to the next thing?

Casey Cavell 14:24

I mean, I think you got to reflect on it. And really just think like, what went wrong and own your piece of it? Because a lot of time I think people in general like to point blame and look at, hey, it’s the economy, it’s the market, it’s this person, it’s that person. But at the end of the day, if you’re the business owner relies on you. I mean, you’re the one that ultimately the buck stops with you. So I think you’ve got to reflect back on your own piece of it, and then figure out a way to plan not to do it the same way and for me, it’s hard learning from your own mistakes. It’s really difficult. Oftentimes people don’t. But if you can surround yourself with people that won’t let you make those same mistakes, you’re in really good shape because as a visionary like, you’re a go-getter, you want to build, you want to grow, like it’s hard to not want to grow too quickly. It’s really hard. It’s hard not wanting to overhire, it’s hard not wanting to work on 10 things at the same time, and you should really just master three. But if you have somebody like a right-hand person or an advisor that can help you stay focused, you’re in really good shape. So surrounding yourself with the right people is key.

Chad Franzen 15:29

Would you say there are some elements or some common threads in the businesses that you’ve helped start or started yourself that were successful compared to the ones that ended up not being successful? Are there common threads among the two?

Casey Cavell 15:43

Yeah, it’s just the people, you got to make sure you have the right people that are in the right seat. And they talk about that right people, right, see where you got the right people that match the values of the organization. And then the right seat that there are met and built to do. I’m a baseball guy played baseball in college. And there’s certain people that are built to play shortstop versus somebody that’s built to play first base, I was a middle infielder, because, I’m five foot nine, and I’m fast. If I’m a first baseman, I’m not nearly tall enough. So if they throw it over my head, I can’t get it. But you got people like a Freddy Freeman out there that plays for the Braves. Or I guess now Dodgers like he’s built to play first. So just like in your business, you got to figure out who’s built for what role in your business, put them in that business. And don’t ask people to do anything that they’re not great at because that’s the goal, spend 70% of your time doing things you’re great at and you love doing. Anything you’re not good at, you got to be open with yourself, and you got to be open with others and ask for help. And I think a lot of business owners are doing things they don’t either don’t like to do or they’re not good at and that will lead to burnout and or underperformance.

Chad Franzen 16:50

You talked about how you’ve started businesses, and then they’ve been sold. Do you think that future acquisition or selling a business should be something that entrepreneurs should be thinking about immediately? Or is that a process?

Casey Cavell 17:01

I mean, everybody that’s in business should be thinking, okay, what’s my exit strategy? You shouldn’t even buy a business until you have an idea of what your exit strategy is. Because every business should be structured to sell. Now, whether you sell it to a family member or a friend, or you sell it to the highest bidder, you want to build your thing out where you can give this to somebody else, and it’s going to produce a profit without you. And I think a lot of businesses can’t be sold for the highest dollar because it relies on them. And that new buyer is going to want that owner to stick around. Well, if I’m selling a business, I want out. And just like our story that I shared earlier, like the buyer wouldn’t buy me out because he realized if I left the business would go down because I was the one that had all the information, and I was the one making it all happen. So the best way to do that is put systems and processes in place so it doesn’t rely on people, it relies on the process to be ran by people. And I think a lot of people mess that one up.

Chad Franzen 17:55

Do you think that that’s the most important thing that business owners should make sure are in place to make their business more valuable or there are other things as well?

Casey Cavell 18:04

Gosh, I’m sure there’s 100 things, but I think as a business owner, you got to figure out what’s the most important thing that will ultimately make your business more valuable? And the end of the day, the thing that people really want is they want profits. So you got to figure out a way to drive revenue, minimize profit, or just drive revenue so much that the profit is going to consistently go up. So I think any business owner, if you’re looking to exit or sell your business or raise its value, you got to have a really good way to attract new customers, a really great way to serve your current customers in a way to get your current customers to share the good news to everybody they know so you get referrals. Because if you can figure out a way to master that, where you got your current people loving you so much, they’re telling everybody else, you don’t have to spend a whole lot of money on marketing.

Chad Franzen 18:51

As an investor, do you have criteria for a company that you might, or a business that you might invest in?

Casey Cavell 18:57

For me, it’s all about people. So if the people are open-minded, growth-minded, and they’re like, “All right, I need some help,” we can probably build any type of business because for me, all businesses are the same. It’s all about your people. And it’s all about your process. And if everybody can stay focus, you’re in really good shape. So, there are certain businesses I wouldn’t get in just because if they’re unethical or immoral, or something like that. I like businesses that have that can be ran with automation and technology that you don’t have to rely on a whole lot of people to get the job done. But yeah, it’s all about the people for me.

Chad Franzen 19:30

I have one more question for you. But first, tell me how people can find out more about Legacy 4:12.

Casey Cavell 19:35

Yeah, sure thing. So Legacy 4:12. You can get a link, just go to my website, caseycavell.com. You can get a link there for Legacy. We have a nonprofit that we run as well. And another business that is focused on NFT’s and web3. And it’s the same process. It’s a lot of people in the NFT and web3 space is an upcoming new industry. There are a lot of visionaries without the plan and the process on how to execute the long-term vision. So go to legacy412.com. That’s just Legacy caseycavell.com is the site that you can see all the different things we’re doing, and we want to help you. So if you need anything, go there, you can actually book a call with me. I’m happy to spend 30 minutes of my time to get to know you, if you’re a business owner, figure out any issues that you currently have, and get you any tools you need to overcome your obstacles and make sure your vision becomes reality.

Chad Franzen 20:27

Final question? To what or who do you attribute your success?

Casey Cavell 20:38

So I think my parents a lot, because as a parent now, your kids are always watching. And that’s either really good or really bad based on the example that you’re setting. So I learned a lot from both my mom and my dad. My dad was very visionary, and was the idea person, my mom was very integrator and like, well, what’s your plan? What’s your plan? What’s your plan? And that’s where I think for me, I’m very visionary, because it’s in my blood. And I saw my dad, start, build, grow all kinds of things. But I also saw some of those things not work out. So I saw the benefits of somebody like my mom, which is, well, what’s your plan? How are you going to do this? This is a terrible idea. Have even thought this one through? So I think I learned a lot from my mom, and my dad, and also Jesus the Bible. So I’m a believer of Christ. And the principles that he teaches whether you have a faith background or not, he teaches some really amazing principles about life. And if you dig into that thing, you’ll learn a whole lot. The book of Proverbs is really good. It’s just all about literally life, wisdom from Solomon, the richest man in the world. So who else wouldn’t you want to learn from the richest man in the world, and you can apply those things and just the story of his life, which you can start reading in the book of John. You’ll really learned from one of the greatest leaders in the world and that’s who you want to learn from.

Chad Franzen 22:00

Okay, great. Hey, Casey, I really appreciate your time and all your insights today. Thank you so much.

Casey Cavell 22:04

Thanks, Chad.

Chad Franzen 22:05

So long everybody.

Outro 22:06

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