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My favorite business book of all time is Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel.
Here’s why:
Back in 2016, I had a six-figure job at JP Morgan.
The salary was cushy. And the position looked prestigious. I worked with some of the wealthiest people I’d ever met.
But in reality, I was miserable and had no purpose:
I worked 60 hour weeks at a minimum
I was stuck in an office with no daylight
I came home tired every day
I lived for the weekend, and dreaded Monday mornings
And worst of all, I was losing precious time with my family.
I barely saw my wife (not even over a cup of coffee in the morning). And though we didn’t have kids yet back then, we knew we wanted to start a family.
I could see the writing on the wall: if I chose to stay in this job for the long term, I’d be building a future where I’d be stuck, slaving away in an office, unable to be present for my kids during the most important years of their life.
If I didn’t take drastic action, I’d regret it forever.
So I started paying closer attention to how our wealthy clients were making money.
When I say our clients were “wealthy,” I mean ultra-rich. (Disgustingly so.)
But I noticed that most of them didn’t get there by climbing the corporate ladder. They got there by owning cash-flowing businesses.
I did some digging into how to buy a business... and that’s when I finally came across Buy Then Build.
It opened my eyes to a world I didn’t even know existed.
It showed me that there are millions of profitable small businesses out there, waiting to be acquired — not by private equity, not by billionaires, but by people like you and me.
And, I learned that I didn’t need to spend the next 30 years grinding it out in corporate, hoping to scrape by with promotions and bonuses.
I could buy a proven business, skip the guesswork of founding a startup… and start building wealth on my terms.
I went all-in on acquisition entrepreneurship from there.
Ultimately, this book was why:
I was able to leave JP Morgan...
I’ve been able to be 100% present for my family over the last five years, day in and day out, instead of watching life pass by from the sidelines
I’m now spending my time building a life I actually want, instead of just collecting a paycheck
You can grab a copy here:
This isn’t an affiliate link. Just something I wish someone had handed me earlier.
Onward,
— Ben Kelly
P.S.
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