My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

BIO: Giuseppe Grammatico is the founder of GG The Franchise Guide, where he advises corporate professionals, executives in transition, and military veterans on evaluating and entering franchise ownership as a structured path to business ownership and income diversification.

STORY: Giuseppe explains how he reclaimed his marketing voice and shares a practical framework for evaluating franchises: understand the work, investigate beyond the excitement, and prepare for what can go wrong.

LEARNING: A franchise is not a job, and it is not your passion project. Start with the life you want, then evaluate the business model, financial requirements, and risks.

Giuseppe Grammatico is the founder of GG The Franchise Guide, where he advises corporate professionals, executives in transition, and military veterans on how to evaluate and enter franchise ownership as a structured path to business ownership and income diversification.

Giuseppe joins the podcast for the second time. In his first appearance, episode 762, he described outsourcing his content marketing to an agency that quietly buried his own voice. This time round, he discusses what prospective franchise owners should understand before committing their savings, time, and family’s future to a business.

Giuseppe likens a franchise to a high-performance car. The engine, design, and operational systems may be in place; however, the car will not get anywhere without a driver. This analogy challenges the common perception that buying a known model means instant success.

Giuseppe emphasizes that a franchise remains an operating business with systems owners must follow, performance they must manage, and meaningful attention they must give it. If they don't, then the business will struggle.

When advising an individual on what franchise to buy, Giuseppe starts by finding out what the buyer expects from the business. Having a favored brand might keep buyers from seeing obvious mismatches with what they need. They might end up hiring more employees than they expected, working extra days and even outside office hours, and making a bigger investment than their budget allows. All of those are deviations from the intended objectives.

Giuseppe warns against treating a franchise as an occasional side project, with an hour of attention here and there, because it is not a sound ownership strategy.

Giuseppe says that loving an industry is not reason enough to buy a franchise. Loving a fitness studio's workouts, for example, tells you little about whether you want to handle recruitment, staffing, customer retention, and operating performance as a gym owner. Giuseppe notes that prior industry experience is not always required. What matters is understanding the actual ownership role and the support the franchise provides.

Giuseppe describes how buyers can gradually abandon their requirements once they become attached to a brand. A person who wanted a small team suddenly accepts a large staff. Someone who wanted predictable hours agrees to weekends. The opportunity begins to dictate the goals instead of serving them. All this comes from the excitement of becoming a franchise owner.

He insists on spending enough time doing due diligence so that you can thoroughly vet the

franchise before you commit. This ensures you make decisions from knowledge, not emotion.

Giuseppe asks potential owners to slow down, speak with several franchisees, document special arrangements, and have a franchise attorney review the relevant documents.

From Giuseppe's experience, one can learn that passion does not automatically translate into a good franchise choice. Because he was passionate about soccer in his younger days, he considered investing in a soccer-related franchise. However, the franchise operated on a retail model, which was quite different from playing or watching the sport he loved.

His advice is to choose the business that supports the life you want. Figure out what the ideal business looks like from the standpoint of your skill sets.

• What are you doing day to day?
• How much staff do you truly want to manage?
• Do you want a huge brick-and-mortar, or do you want to run your business from home or maybe a small office?

In short, a business doesn't need to be your passion if it reliably funds the life you actually want.

A business that looks attractive under ideal conditions may become difficult to sustain when opening takes longer, costs rise, or revenue develops slowly. Giuseppe encourages buyers to examine those possibilities before committing. He adds that you have to have the end in mind. This could include setting aside three to six months of business expenses as a buffer instead of spending everything to open the business and then depending on immediate positive cash flow.

Giuseppe talked about a risk that rarely comes up in franchise sales conversations: what happens to the business if the owner is suddenly unable to run it. According to Giuseppe, a real succession plan has two separate parts: who takes over day-to-day operations (which might be a key employee rather than a spouse, if the spouse was never involved in the business) and how ownership of the underlying assets transfers.

He warns against assuming a spouse or an employee will take over. You may have gotten divorced in the process, or that key employee may have left. Update these details annually in your succession plan to make sure you don't miss major changes.

• Try the work before you buy to ensure that what you're doing fits.
• When you really want something, you're in danger because you've got an emotional attachment. You're excited, and you've got to dig deeper before committing.
• For your franchise to be truly successful, you must have acquired a solid cash flow.
• Plan for what can go wrong.

Giuseppe recommends his resources at GG, including the Franchise Guide, his Franchise Freedom book, his podcast, and a 20-minute "right fit" call.

Giuseppe's number one goal for the next 12 months is to continue helping approximately 25 families per year, giving each the time and attention needed to evaluate whether franchise ownership fits their circumstances.

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• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points

• Valuation Master Class
• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
• FVMR Investing: Quantamental Investing Across the World
• Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
• Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
• Achieve Your Goals

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Theory fades fast under pressure; if you evaluate your next deal without a physical tool in front of you, old emotional habits will instantly take over.

In this lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, puts you directly inside a real-world, high-stakes real estate flip gone wrong to test how the 5-step framework protects you in real time.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about bridging the gap between passive listening and active, disciplined deal execution using a permanent checklist.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• The Real Estate Flip Disaster: Walk through a true story where a lack of independent checks, hidden balloon payments, and misplaced trust turned a simple project into an 8-year financial drain.
• Test Your Decision-Making: Practice applying all five steps to a live deal scenario before hearing what went wrong, training your mind to spot hidden traps.
• From Theory to Execution: Learn why knowing the rules is useless unless you actively run them through a structured process before money moves.
• Arm Your Future: Complete the course by anchoring your strategy into a permanent, 1-page physical tool designed to make your next investment your smartest one yet.

Key Takeaway

"The process you have learned is only useful if you actually use it before the money moves."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episode Mentioned:

• Ep593: John Lawson – Turn Your Pain Into Motivation to Make a Change

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

Knowing the rules doesn't stop you from breaking them when internal psychological pressures hijack your judgment.

In this lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, reveals how brilliant economic experts and entrepreneurs ignored glaring red flags because of friendship urgency, ego, or recent financial success.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about recognizing the psychological danger states that cause you to abandon your own standards.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• The Three Dangerous States: Uncover the exact moments smart people compromise: when a trusted friend is involved, when they are already losing and want to prove they're right, or when they've just come into sudden money.
• The Danger of Urgent Deadlines: Learn why artificial deadlines and tearful pleas from trusted friends make a situation more dangerous, not safer.
• The "Get Back to Even" Trap: Discover how chasing losses and letting your thesis migrate causes you to pour good money after bad into failing deals.
• The Overconfidence of Success: See how a 50% winning streak or a sudden business exit can trick you into thinking your rules no longer apply.

Key Takeaway

"Enjoy your success and honor your relationships, but notice when they are loosening your risk standards and pushing you to make emotional exceptions."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episodes Mentioned:

• Ep618: Mike Michalowicz – Stay In Your Lane
• Ep624: Litan Yahav – The Risk of Investing in Single-Family Rental Properties
• Ep628: Shayne Heffernan – Stop Lending Your Money to Friends
• Ep647: Raghav Kapoor – Be on High Alert When You’re Doing Well
• Ep674: Jesse Felder – Don’t Rationalize a Lousy Trade
• Ep794: Michael Episcope – Investing Is About How You Behave and Not What You Know

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

Trusting someone who handles your money is not a control mechanism; when a relationship breaks down, your protections must still hold up.

In this lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, reveals how a successful speaker and author trusted her accountant for years, only to discover blank signed checks led to massive forgery and a total account wipeout.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about ensuring you have independent visibility and a practical way to stop problems before your capital disappears.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• The Blank Check Disaster: Hear the shocking story of an international speaker who lost her entire liquid net worth because she trusted an accountant and signed blank checks.
• Beware of Fake Digital Proof: Learn why screenshots, WhatsApp updates, and dashboards sent directly by operators can be entirely fabricated.
• The Two Vital Control Questions: Discover how to evaluate whether you can see what is happening without asking the person managing it, and whether you can stop it if things go wrong.
• Guarding Against Sophisticated Fraud: See how even experienced corporate boards get fooled by fabricated numbers, and why independent external confirmation is critical.

Key Takeaway

"Make sure your money is in an account or structure you control, or ensure you have independent confirmation completely outside the system you are monitoring."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episodes Mentioned:

• Ep257: Justin Christianson – Listen to Your Intuition and Take It Slow to Enter a Partnership
• Ep271: Oluwatosin Olaseinde – Africa’s Financial Literacy Queen Says Be Careful Who You Trust
• Ep261: Tony Fish – CEOs Can Defraud a Business in Very Hard to Detect Ways
• Ep558: Priya Kumar – Don’t Trust Somebody With Your Money Blindly

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

You can buy an asset in ten minutes, but spend years trying to sell it—or discover there is literally no one on the other side to buy.

In this lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, reveals how a seasoned banker bought luxury overseas property based on hype, only to realize years later that the units were entirely vacant with zero market demand.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about verifying your liquidity and exit route before you ever hand over your cash.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• The Vacant Overseas Condo Trap: Hear the story of a banking managing director who bought large overseas properties that sat completely vacant for years with no buyers in sight.
• Choice vs. Trap: Learn the critical distinction between saying "I could sell, but choose not to" versus "I want to sell, but I cannot".
• The Danger of Multi-Year Lockups: Explore how institutional lockup periods and large ownership stakes can trap your capital when you need it most.
• The Three Exit Questions: Master the exact questions you must answer about your buyers, timeline, and liquidation costs before investing.

Key Takeaway

"Never assume that because someone made it easy for you to put your money in, they will make it easy for you to get your money back."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episodes Mentioned:

• Ep16: Frank Moffatt – Stock Tips Can Work Until They Don’t
• Ep63: Thao Quynh – Don’t Be Afraid to Take Some Gains Off the Table
• Ep245: Mark Moss – Diversify Your Profits to Protect Your Wealth
• Ep583: Eric Sim – Find a Buyer First Before You Buy Property
• Ep627: Brian Portnoy – Financial Wellbeing Is Your Gateway to a Meaningful Life
• Ep735: Swen Lorenz – Carefully Consider Liquidity in Your Portfolio

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

If losing a single investment forces you to change your lifestyle, delay retirement, or lose sleep, you have taken on a dangerous kind of risk.

In this lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, breaks down how an expert investment banker watched 70% of his net worth vanish into a failing major bank because he kept buying more as it fell.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about calculating your total exposure so that a 100% total loss never threatens your personal solvency.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• The 70% Net Worth Wipeout: Hear the staggering true story of an experienced financial professional who poured millions into Washington Mutual and walked around in a daze after it hit zero.
• Calculate Total Exposure: Understand why true risk includes hidden debt, personal guarantees, margin requirements, and emergency capital calls—not just your initial check.
• The Danger of Mental Accounting: Discover how separate trading accounts and options leverage can quietly create obligations much larger than your cash balance.
• Protect Your Sleep: Learn why physical and mental stress indicate that an investment position is simply too large for your financial life.

Key Takeaway

"You cannot control whether every investment succeeds, but you can absolutely control how much one investment is allowed to hurt your life."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episodes Mentioned:

• Ep602: Andrew L. Howell – Don’t Invest in a Business With Family
• Ep610: Conor Riley – Don’t Throw Good Money After Bad Money
• Ep662: Edward McQuarrie – Never Ever Sell Naked Calls
• Ep579: Tony Pawlak – Stop Trying to Get Rich Overnight
• Ep698: Shawn O’Malley – Geopolitics Can Take Your Investment to Zero

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

The moment you get excited about an investment, your brain stops asking if it's a good idea and starts actively collecting reasons why it is.

In this lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, reveals why even seasoned economists and smart professionals fall victim to convincing bull cases while completely ignoring looming dangers.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about separating your return case from an independent downside risk evaluation so that excitement doesn't cloud your judgment.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• The Iraqi Market Trap: Discover how a serious economist with IMF and international banking experience lost half his money in Iraq because he focused entirely on the upside bull case.
• The "Grumpy Person" Strategy: Learn how major institutions like DBS assign someone to deliberately tear down proposals, and how you can apply this exact technique to your own deals.
• Stop Relying on Biased Sources: Learn why trusting seller-provided reports, unverified lawyer summaries, or friendly endorsements without independent verification is a massive red flag.
• Separate Your Work: Master the two-part process of building the return case first, stepping away, and returning with a completely different mindset to find reasons to walk away.

Key Takeaway

"Build the case for why an investment could work, then step away, come back with a different mindset, and actively search for the reasons you should walk away."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episodes Mentioned:

• Ep595: Taimur Baig – Don’t Let the Upsides Distract You From the Downsides
• Ep12: Stuart Leckie – The Cost of Friendship: How Your Friends Impact Your Investment Decision
• Ep585: Ted Leverette – Buy Businesses That Have Fixable Problems
• Ep661: Michelle Leder – Read the 10-K Before You Buy That Stock
• Ep736: William Bernstein – Never Invest Based on the Headlines

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

You can work hard, do serious research, invest in a "great" deal, and still lose everything.

In this opening lesson, twice-voted #1 financial analyst Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA, reveals the hard lesson learned from interviewing 600+ investors about their worst financial mistakes: Intelligence alone will not protect your wealth.

Reducing risk isn't about finding a magic trick to be right 100% of the time—it's about systematically avoiding preventable mistakes so that a single bad decision never alters your lifestyle or wrecks your financial future.

Why You Need to Listen to This Lesson NOW

• Hear the staggering true story of a 30-year veteran investor who did extensive research on a leading stock, watched it double from $80 to $160, and ultimately sold it for less than $1.
• Learn why standard research and high IQ can still leave you completely blind to catastrophic downside risks.
• See how analyzing 600 painful, real-life investment disasters across stocks, real estate, crypto, and private deals led to a proven 5-step risk-reduction engine.
• Shift your mindset from chasing returns to systematically eliminating the hidden traps that trap your money and hand control over to someone else.

Key Takeaway

"The goal is not to become someone who never makes mistakes. The goal is to make fewer mistakes that you could have avoided—and make sure one mistake does not change your life."

— Andrew Stotz, PhD, CFA

Episodes Mentioned:

• Ep597: Lance Depew – You’re Going to Lose Despite Your Best Efforts

P.S. Download Your Free 1-Page Risk Checklist

Don't evaluate your next deal on memory alone. Click the link below to download the 1-Page Risk Checklist. Print it out, keep it on your desk, and run all 5 steps before putting any money on the line!

[DOWNLOAD THE 1-PAGE RISK CHECKLIST HERE]

BIO: As an author, consultant, and international speaker, David C. Barnett has helped thousands of entrepreneurs avoid bad deals and close successful ones.

STORY: Seven years after his first appearance discussing tax-related business losses, David returns for his third visit to unpack the biggest myth in small business acquisitions: that a wave of retiring baby boomers is about to flood the market with cheap businesses for sale. The real numbers tell a very different story, and most of what actually kills a deal has nothing to do with supply and demand.

LEARNING: Value is never a fixed number; it depends entirely on who is asking and why.

As an author, consultant, and international speaker, David C. Barnett has helped thousands of entrepreneurs avoid bad deals and achieve successful business deals. His YouTube channel and podcast reach a global audience of small business buyers and sellers.

David joins the podcast for a third time to discuss his newly released book, Business and Asset Values, and the realities of buying and selling small and mid-sized businesses today.

There is a lot of buzz right now about a coming wave of business sales, driven by baby boomer owners hitting retirement age. David has heard the pitch many times, and he does not buy it. The theory goes that this surplus of retiring owners will flood the market and drive prices down. But supply and demand only work that way if the pool of buyers stays fixed, and in small business, it does not.

David uses his own 17-foot aluminum canoe to make the point: he already owns one, so no price will convince him to buy a second. Most consumer goods work that way. Small business acquisitions do not.

Successful buyers that already own profitable businesses have no limit to how many other new businesses they can also acquire. And so the competitive forces at play when a good private business comes up for sale are just as vigorous as they always have been. The businesses that struggle to sell were always going to struggle, tsunami or not. BizBuySell, one of the largest business-for-sale marketplaces, reports that roughly 70% of listed businesses never sell.

According to David, most listed businesses never sell due to dead capital. These businesses have equipment or assets that cost money but do not generate a return, which makes the business harder to finance and harder to sell. If a buyer would have to borrow money to pay fair value for those assets, and the resulting cash flow doesn't cover the debt service, the deal simply doesn't work, no matter how much the owner believes their business is worth.

David adds that public companies are often valued on their future because investors are buying an experienced leadership team along with a plan. Small businesses, on the other hand, are valued almost entirely on their past, because when the owner leaves, most of the knowledge and relationships that made the business work leave with them. Buyers want to see the history proven out, not projected forward, which is one reason small businesses trade at much lower multiples of cash flow than anything publicly traded.

Another factor that affects a business sale, David says, is seller's discretionary earnings (SDE), which is EBITDA plus the owner's salary. A healthy SDE margin usually falls between 10% and 20%. Above 40% is a red flag worth investigating, and below 5% requires looking for what is off, whether that is pricing, high costs, or high gross margins. Often what turns up is unrecorded sales or personal expenses run through the business to lower its tax bill. That kind of underreporting can make an otherwise sellable business unbankable, since no lender will finance a deal built on numbers the owner cannot legally document.

Financing also shapes a business's price. A business worth $800,000 with only $400,000 in tangible assets might get a loan for $300,000 in Canada or Europe, leaving the buyer to bridge the rest with their own equity and seller financing, often 30% to 40% of the deal. Easier access to credit pushes prices up. The same business in Ontario, Canada, and across the water in upstate New York will typically sell for around 25% more on the American side, simply because more buyers there can access the financing to pay for it.

David's advice for anyone in a conversation about "small business" is to stop and ask for a definition. The Harvard Business Review Guide to Buying a Small Business describes a small business as one with $10 million in revenue, a number that would strike most of David's own clients as anything but small.

He prefers to define businesses by EBITDA rather than revenue. He notes that, mostly, main street businesses run under $500,000 in EBITDA, and the lower middle market stretches up toward $1 to $1.25 million. Revenue alone can be misleading, since a business with high cost of goods sold could post $30 million in revenue while the owner takes home only a couple hundred thousand dollars with a dozen employees, a small, family-run operation in every practical sense.

David drew a distinction between two very different relationships people have with their businesses. Many main street business owners started out simply needing an income, built the business to the point where it supported their lifestyle, and then settled in, sometimes for 15 or 20 years, focused on sustaining what they built rather than growing it further.

An entrepreneur, by David's definition, never really stops adjusting the business, always trying to make it better, faster, leaner, and more profitable. A business that is not growing can still be a perfectly good source of income, but it is playing a different game entirely from one built to keep compounding in value.

David says reading his book Business and Asset Values: How Owners, Buyers, Sellers, Lenders, and Advisors Should Think About Small Business and Equipment Values will help business owners avoid bad value conversations. This is something that David has consistently seen throughout his career, where people will have different advisors give opinions on value, and they'll start arguing about the numbers when, in reality, they need to understand what someone's going to do with the asset. The book will help you think about your purpose, why you want something, what you're willing to do, and how far you're willing to go for it.

David's number one goal for the next 12 months is to get his second child through high school and out of the house, after his daughter left for university. Then he can start doing the things he loves without guilt.

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• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points

• Valuation Master Class
• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
• FVMR Investing: Quantamental Investing Across the World
• Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
• Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
• Achieve Your Goals

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• Threads
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• My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

BIO: Pierre Rogers is a founder and author based in Irvine, California. After his first company collapsed, resulting in federal prison and $1.6M in personal debt, he rebuilt from less than zero—launching a new company.

STORY: Pierre hired his best friend as CFO, ignored repeated warnings from his own team, and watched that one decision spiral into a PPP fraud scandal, a federal indictment, and 18 months behind bars.

LEARNING: What you tolerate in the people you lead says more about your judgment than anything you say or do yourself.

Pierre Rogers is a founder and author based in Irvine, California. After his first company's collapse ended in federal prison and $1.6M of personal debt, he rebuilt from less than zero—launching a new company and writing Built by Failures, where he publishes weekly, unedited chapters of his own recovery alongside case studies of famous comebacks like Robert Downey Jr., Martha Stewart, and Tina Turner.

Pierre's worst investment wasn't a stock or a property; it was trusting his best friend as CFO. He founded Yahyn, a software startup designed to let small and mid-sized vineyards sell directly to consumers across the US, a niche complicated by strict alcohol distribution regulations. Pierre invested his capital and reputation into the company. Then he made the biggest mistake of his life; he hired his best friend as CFO, believing that they shared the same values and goals.

They didn't. The CFO routinely showed up late, missed meetings unprepared, used substances during work hours, and went unresponsive for days at a time. Pierre's team members approached him individually to flag the pattern, at real risk to themselves, since criticizing the founder's best friend could easily have cost them their jobs. Pierre dismissed the warnings because personal loyalty clouded his judgment.

This behavior escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when his friend overstated the number of employees to receive money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). His CFO's fraudulent activity led to a federal investigation, the failure of his business, and Pierre's indictment. That fraud triggered a federal investigation, the company's collapse, and Pierre's own indictment. He takes full ownership: he hired the person, tolerated the behavior, and failed to supervise closely enough to catch it before it became a criminal case that sent him to federal prison for 18 months.

• What you tolerate in the people around you, especially in a leadership role, says more about your own judgment than anything you say.
• A bad hire in a leadership role can cost your company, your reputation, and more.
• If you reinforce negative cognitive biases, you'll see negative things in the world. Try to practice positive self-talk often.
• Make an active choice to focus on the positive things that matter to you, and the things that you can control. Say no to self-pity.
• Structure and daily habits—a five-minute nightly log tracking diet, exercise, and a simple self-score—can rebuild discipline and mental clarity even in the worst circumstances.

• Before you sign important things, slow down because once you put your name on it, it's done.
• When hiring people, try to find people whose values align with yours because misjudging a person's values, not just their skill, can cost you more than money.

Develop a simple daily habit of tracking your own signals-mood, focus, energy-to uncover patterns that influence your judgment and decisions over time. He says that the same structure works just as well for evaluating a business or a hire: track the small signals daily. Patterns that are invisible day to day become obvious in hindsight.

If you're bringing a friend or family member into a leadership role in your business, agree in advance on how you'll raise and handle performance issues, so the relationship doesn't override professional judgment later.

Pierre recommends his own project, Built By Failures, where he publishes weekly, unfiltered chapters of his recovery.

Pierre's number one goal for the next 12 months is to build a stronger, better-equipped sales team for his new company, so it can scale its reach into more enterprise accounts.

• Blog

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points

• Valuation Master Class
• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
• FVMR Investing: Quantamental Investing Across the World
• Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
• Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
• Achieve Your Goals

• astotz.com
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• My Worst Investment Ever Podcast