In this interview I chat with logistics entrepreneur Craig Fuller, who owns a data company and dozens of media properties related to logistics and transportation. Over the last few years, he's acquired a portfolio of print magazine publications, including Flying Magazine. But his business model isn't just selling ads; its capturing an interested audience and selling them what they really want directly. One of those things is a fly-in/fly-out community in Tennessee with a runway, resort, several homes, and offices. Take a listen to hear how Craig makes acquisitions, how he raises money in a unique way, and why his partnership with Kim Kardashian didn't work out.

2:27 Craig's businesses and team
11:03 How to raise money and finance acquisitions in a unique way
17:40 Craig's portfolio of companies, real estate, and investments
19:50 The media business model - How magazines actually make money
28:40 The influencer business model, Kim Kardashian's credit card, and the economics of owning a magazine
46:00 Buying traditional publishing companies - Sieva's purchase of Scribe
49:50 Building a resort and pilot community
54:30 Is Craig the next secretary of transportation?

Mike Beckham built Simple Modern into a $200 million/year e-commerce brand. I chat with him about how he got started, another business ventures he had (including talking his brother out of buying $1 million of Bitcoin in 2012).

Mike teaches entrepreneurship and business to students and others, so watch this entire episode if you want to start a business. Mike will show you the way!

0:00 Intro
5:17 How did Mike become an entrepreneur?
9:10 Mike's entrepreneurship lessons
18:22 Entrepreneurial parenting
22:31 How to start a business
25:48 His brother's auction website ($1 billion in sales)
32:38 Almost inventing Candy Crush
35:15 Amazon suspending his account
42:06 How Simple Modern changed over the last 4 years
43:58 Treating employees well
59:04 Who does Mike look up to?



👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/

👉 Connect with Mike

X: https://x.com/mikebeckhamsm
Company: https://www.simplemodern.com/

In today’s episode Boring Businesses, I’m joined by Khai Nguyen, Founder of Powers Gymnastics, the largest multi-vertical acquisition firm in U.S. youth sports, and investor in several companies like OpenSea, Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, and Ignite Tournaments.

Khai shares insights from his journey from working on Wall Street to buying and operating 20+ businesses, his approach to building rapport with business owners, and how he built an empire of gymnastics studios across the United States. 

Timestamps:

00:00 Khai’s journey from homeless to business owner
05:29 Going into Wall Street
08:25 Transitioning to entrepreneurship
10:30 How to build rapport with business owners
15:50 What worked and what didn’t work for Khai
20:31 How Khai came up with the idea for Powers Gymnastics
26:10 Scaling the gymnastics business
33:50 Launching the Ninja Warrior program
37:00 Biggest lessons from growing a business 

👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/ 


👉 Connect with Khai

Instagram: www.instagram.com/passportkhai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguyenkhai/

Ankur Nagpal sold his business, Teachable, for $250 million. Now, he's focused on making people aware of tax optimization strategies (inspired by what he wish he know when starting his business).

I asked Ankur how he knew when to sell his business, how the process went, and for some tips on lowering tax bills when selling a business.

0:00 Intro
0:57 How Ankur sold Teachable
9:57 Structure of the Deal
11:40 Why he raised VC money 
14:45 How he went from retired to running his next business
20:29 Carry's business model
23:05 Tax loopholes
26:40 How Ankur markets his new business
33:32 Monetization
38:40 The VC business model
41:30 QSBS



👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/

David Rodnitzky sold his agency for $65 million - and then bought it back for $5 million. And then he sold it again for way more than $65 million. 

Listen to this fascinating conversation about how to scale a marketing agency, how much you can sell your agency for, and what his margins are. 

0:00 Intro
3:20 How David sold and re-bought his agency
11:05 How much can you sell an agency for?
13:50 Fire yourself from jobs before you sell
18:03 Raising his prices from $5k to $25k per month
22:10 What kind of agencies would you buy?
29:56 Pitching Apple (and why they didn't hire him)
32:40 Getting a $70k/month client
33:45 Multiple for agencies


👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/

Jameson Haslam left his banking & private equity career to start a boring, home deck business in San Diego. He's already grown it to $1.5 million in annual revenue in a couple years. We talk about why he chose a boring business, how he sold his first project before he even had a business, and how he plans to scale it up.

0:00 Introduction
3:15 Airbnb Arbitrage
5:55 Picking the home deck niche
13:45 Generating leads
20:29 This year's revenue & profit
23:10 The growth playbook
27:10 Collecting cash from customers
31:45 The team & overseas hiring
36:40 How Jameson uses Instagram


👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/ 


👉 Connect with Jameson

X: https://x.com/jamesonhaslam
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/west.coast.deck/
Website: https://www.westcoastdeck.com/

Please leave a review if you enjoyed this episode!

In today’s episode Boring Businesses, I’m joined by Josh York, founder and CEO of GymGuyz, the largest in-home and on-site personal training company in the world.

Josh’s entrepreneurial journey is a testament to relentless grit, vision, and an unwavering commitment to innovation. He offers insights into leadership, scaling a franchise, and maintaining a strong company culture, all while motivating others to push past limits—both in fitness and life.

Timestamps:

00:00 Trailer
00:31 Creating a culture with fuel and drive
04:21 Sending a tire to Nike founder Phil Knight
08:31 Building resilience
10.41 Getting obsessed with competition
17:24 Negative experiences fuel career change
19:53 Creating career paths for personal trainers to succeed
27:35 Scaling a fitness franchise
32:49 Core requirements of success
37:15 Learning from our mistakes
40:26 Owning multiple locations
46:16 Company culture, being present, and balance
54:25 Leading by example

👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/ 


👉 Connect with Josh

X: https://x.com/joshyorkgg
Instagram: www.instagram.com/joshyorkgg/ 
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshyorkgymguyz/


If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a review to support the show. 🙏

When buying a business, should you keep the old owner on or hire your own operator?

The short answer is we've done both. In this video, I go into some examples and the nuances of when keeping the old owner on won't work. Let me know if you have other questions for me to answer.

If you like content about buying companies, investing, and building holding companies, subscribe to my weekly newsletter: https://sievakozinsky.com


👉 Connect with Sieva

X:   / sievakozinsky  
LinkedIn:   / skozinsky

Today I'm answering questions from the audience. "How do I sell my business for the most money possible?" is one of the most common questions I get. Since I've bought 20+ companies at Enduring Ventures, I have a long list of criteria I look for when buying a business.

👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: https://www.sievakozinsky.com/
X:   / sievakozinsky  
LinkedIn:   / skozinsky

I spoke with Aaron Harper, who's turning a boring business into a national franchise. He found Rolling Suds, a pressure washing business that does $2 million in annual revenue with 37% margins, and has sold 200+ franchise territories in less than 2 years. And he's done this twice before, with a drywall patching company and a carpet cleaning business.

Highlights:

0:00 Introductions
0:35 Aaron's background
11:30 Turning around a franchise business
14:40 Generating leads for franchises
23:02 Economics of a franchising business
27:30 Rolling Suds' moat
41:30 How to operate a Rolling Suds franchise
54:40 Structure of his deal with Rolling Suds


👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: https://www.sievakozinsky.com/
X: https://twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/

👉 Connect with Aaron

X: https://x.com/AaronHarperCEO


If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to support the show. 🙏


#entrepreneur #business #personaldevelopment