She Turned $10K Into $20 Million, Then Did It Again with Kim Perell

Most people wait for permission. But success belongs to the ones who take action without it. This is your blueprint for turning what you have today into the future you actually want. Kim Perell didn’t just build one multimillion-dollar company... she did it TWICE. Starting with just $10K, no safety net, and a baby on the way, Kim turned grit and belief into a business that sold for $235 MILLION. This episode is a blueprint for turning your next big idea into a breakthrough. And we're not holding anything back. I sat down with Kim to talk about the real steps behind her success, what it takes to bet on yourself when nobody else will, how to know if your idea is worth pursuing, and how to become the kind of person who finishes what they start. And I share my own perspective on what separates those who almost win from those who actually DO. Here’s what you’ll take away from this episode: How to use doubt as fuel for success (instead of letting it stop you) The mindset shift that allowed Kim to lead through layoffs, crisis, and billion-dollar decisions How to figure out if you’re meant to be an entrepreneur What happens when you "pick your lane" and what to do if you're multi-passionate Tactical steps to go from idea to execution, even if you feel like you’re behind The truth about failing, pivoting, and starting over without shame Kim also shares the exact moment she quit her job, what pushed her over the edge and how she took the leap before she was ready. This is your roadmap to resilience, resourcefulness, and rising to your full potential. Whether you're just getting started or looking to scale, this episode will show you what’s possible when you DECIDE to bet on yourself. #MAXOUT 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈 → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ INSTAGRAM ➡️FACEBOOK ➡️ LINKEDIN ➡️ X ➡️ WEBSITE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

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• 1:06Ed Mylett?

  This is The Ed Meyer Show.

• 1:11Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to the show, everybody. Okay, today, you're gonna want to lean in because we're just talking off camera. I have a legitimate, successful entrepreneur. I'm talking about not in a small way, but in a big way. Imagine this. You take 10 grand, you turn it into 20 million bucks. You have an exit from a company. That company becomes a publicly traded company, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This woman is the real deal. She has tremendous energy, by the way. But what's great, when you get someone on your show who's not telling you how to do something they haven't done themselves. This woman has done these things herself. And what I love about the book is she doesn't just brag about the things she did well. It's actually saving you the time from the mistakes she's made, which the book's called, "Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire." By the way, multi-multi-multi-multi-multi-millionaire.

• 1:55Ed Mylett?

  And so, we're gonna pick her brain today. You're welcome in advance. This is gonna be really good. Kim Perrow, welcome to the show.

• 2:00Speaker 01

  Aw, thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.

• 2:03Ed Mylett?

  Thanks for coming all the way here on your private jet. I appreciate you showing up to my little humble abode today. So, thank you. You've sold companies worth how much, over a hundred million, you think?

• 2:12Speaker 01

  Last company I sold for 235 million.

• 2:14Ed Mylett?

  That's all?

• 2:15Speaker 01

  That's it. I mean, what are you gonna do? Playing small ball.

• 2:19Ed Mylett?

  That's unbelievable. What made you decide, before we get started, I'm just curious, you've had all this success. You're, you're raising four children, is that right?

• 2:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, four, four little ones.

• 2:28Ed Mylett?

  Met your husband in college, so you've got a big, busy life. Why would you step in and start writing books and telling people how to do all this stuff? Why'd you decide to do that?

• 2:37Speaker 01

  I mean, to be honest, it's actually probably because of my four kids. I think that in today's world, we're taught that we want to be perfect and we want to do everything right. And I actually built my entire career on all of the mistakes I made. And we don't need another how to win book. We need another book to show the messy truth about what actually happens behind the scenes.

• 3:01Ed Mylett?

  Do you think most people, do you think most people would actually start a business? If they knew how really difficult it is? I mean, like, the real day to day, like the ups, the downs, the emotions, the people that steal from you, the takeaways, the false starts. Do you think most people, if we're being real, we'll get to the mistakes that's really gonna be next, but I've always wanted to ask someone who's had big old exits, everyone goes, that must have been amazing. But do you think most people would do it if they, if they truly knew how difficult it is? And how difficult is it?

• 3:33Speaker 01

  No, no one would do it, ever. Honestly, I wouldn't have done it.

• 3:37Ed Mylett?

  Me either. If I knew, if you knew what you do now, I'd be like, I probably wouldn't have done it.

• 3:41Speaker 01

  No, it's actually kind of nice that you didn't know.

• 3:43Ed Mylett?

  I would, I love that I didn't know. Yeah, you're right.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  You know, because if you know, yeah, you wouldn't, you'd never get into it.

• 3:48Ed Mylett?

  Ignorance is bliss.

• 3:49Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 3:50Ed Mylett?

  What was the hardest thing for you? Like, overall, if you said the one thing that was the hardest about all of this? Cause I think once you get to the 20 million, you're like, I can breathe a little bit now, right? Like, I'm not ever probably gonna, you could be, but I'm not broke anymore. Once you've got that type of money, right? That's a lot of money. So what was the hardest part, do you think? I know it's not in the book, I'm just curious.

• 4:10Speaker 01

  I think the hardest part is actually exactly what you're saying. It's the sleepless nights. It's what nobody sees behind the scenes. It's when I'm exhausted, I've done 16 hour days. You run up, you can't make payroll. It's when something terrible happens in the company and you think this is it. And you're just there alone.

• 4:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  I mean, it's the worst and you just wanna go in bed.

• 4:33Ed Mylett?

  That is what it feels like. You feel alone a lot.

• 4:35Speaker 01

  Alone. Yes.

• 4:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you do. Even when you have people working with you, because as the leader, you carry the emotional burden of the company.

• 4:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, and entrepreneurship, you think is hard, but you never expect it to be that lonely. You know, it's, it is.

• 4:50Ed Mylett?

  Making me think.

• 4:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:51Ed Mylett?

  But before we get, it sounds like we're going really dark here. But, but now your life, was it worth it?

• 4:58Speaker 01

  Oh, a hundred percent.

• 4:59Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  Oh, yes. If I could tell my younger self how great my life would turn out. I wouldn't have believed it, to be honest.

• 5:07Ed Mylett?

  What's the best part?

• 5:09Speaker 01

  The freedom. I think it's freedom. Freedom to do whatever I want at whatever time, to invest in new entrepreneurs, to inspire other people, to live the life of their dreams and not having to worry so much about, I guess, the little things.

• 5:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I think you're right. I think it's the freedom. I think being wealthy may be slightly overrated, but I think being broke and poor, which we've both been, is way harder than, than even you think when you're young, you know, having to have the world dictate terms to you all the time.

• 5:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:46Ed Mylett?

  It's really, you had to look around like you barely remember. Look at you like.

• 5:49Speaker 01

  So funny. No, my dad growing up is, he gave me some great advice. He was an entrepreneur. He's like, listen, Kimmy, don't want to be a doctor or lawyer. There's a salad crap. All you need to do is make enough money. And he'd call it F you money. So if someone, you don't like what someone's telling you, you just tell them to F you. My entire being is just like, okay, I just gotta work hard enough that eventually someone tells me something I don't want to do. I don't have to.

• 6:15Ed Mylett?

  I love that. That's so true. Okay, the book is riddled. It's basically written about the mistakes you made. And you, the stipulation of the book, the premise is basically like, these are the things that actually made me wealthy. So one of my favorite proverbs, this Chinese proverb says, if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back. And what I love about you is you've been down the road and you're like, I'll help you, I'll come back a little bit and let me help you. One of the things you say in the book that only someone who's made it would know is that the threshold to take action for most people is too high. They think they need to know more than they really need to know to take steps. And so they never take the appropriate steps, right? So discuss that for a second, like not needing to know 100% of the info.

• 7:01Ed Mylett?

  You used to think that, right?

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Hundred percent.

• 7:03Ed Mylett?

  You talk about this in the book. So just go ahead and riff on that a little.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think when I was young and first starting out, I was waiting to feel 100% ready.

• 7:11Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  I think everyone does. And people listening right now, they're waiting to feel that they've got the perfect website. They got the perfect pitch. They got the perfect social media. Once you realize it will never be perfect, and just having the courage to take action is the key to success. And I remember early on, I was listening, and I write about in the book, listening to a Marine Corps general talking about the 70% rule, which is if you have 70% of the information to take action, you should act. And I started using this very early on. 70%, go, go, go, go. Even if it didn't feel, because it gave me an opportunity to balance analysis and action. And I mean, I still use it today.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  Because you'll never be 100%. So you have to make an educated decision and move forward despite not having all the information.

• 8:02Ed Mylett?

  What was the first exit?

• 8:04Speaker 01

  First.

• 8:04Ed Mylett?

  I know, I read the book.

• 8:05Speaker 01

  Yes, the first exit was in 2008. So.

• 8:09Ed Mylett?

  What kind of business was it?

• 8:10Speaker 01

  Internet marketing company. So I had started that in 2003. And I started with a $10,000 loan from my grandma, because no one would give me a dollar. They were like, the internet is over. It's a fad. Do not, you know, get a real job.

• 8:23Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 8:24Speaker 01

  I was like, okay, I could get a real job, but I had just gotten a real job. I got fired from that job. I, you know, at some point, you're like, well, nothing, there is no job security. I think anyone out there is thinking, I have a secure job. You don't.

• 8:36Ed Mylett?

  You're right.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Like, you just don't. The only thing that's secure is whatever you can create. That sounds terrible, because I thought I had a secure job. Just not the case.

• 8:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. After you had that exit, would, I'm just curious, because all these mistakes are in there that we're going to talk about. But like, why didn't you, like, you're, I got 20 million bucks, I'm stopping. What was the next thing you did? And why'd you do it?

• 8:56Speaker 01

  I mean, at that point, I had the freedom.

• 8:59Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  Right?

• 9:01Ed Mylett?

  So I think a lot of people go, I get 20 million, I'm clipping coupons.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I clip and I just go to the beach. Well, I was actually.

• 9:05Ed Mylett?

  And you might have thought that at one time, too.

• 9:07Speaker 01

  I did. Actually, originally, I just thought, if I could just make a million dollars.

• 9:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, me too.

• 9:11Speaker 01

  Like, just one million, I will call it a day and live my life on the beach in Hawaii.

• 9:16Ed Mylett?

  Exactly what I thought.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  I remember so vividly.

• 9:19Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  But that, you know, that comes and goes. And what you realize is, and even now, because I'm starting new companies all the time, I love the love of the game.

• 9:29Ed Mylett?

  There you go.

• 9:29Speaker 01

  I know. It's so much fun to play.

• 9:31Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. I think it's easier to play when maybe you don't have to. The first one's the hardest because you need it.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:39Ed Mylett?

  Maybe afterwards you don't. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But I think in my case, like afterwards, I was like, I'm playing with house money. I, you know, dreamed I would be here, but I didn't know I was going to be here.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  Right.

• 9:49Ed Mylett?

  So I don't know. Maybe for me, that's true. I still make this mistake, and you write about it in the book. So it was really good for me to read. I still like micromanage and try to do everything alone. I don't know how many employees I have in all my businesses, but it's a lot. And I still find myself, maybe it's ego, thinking I'm better at things than other people when I'm truly not. But like, even with the podcast, I'll send Stephen, do this edit, make this here. I think this should be the cut. Don't you think this? Hey, flip. Like, I'm constantly doing that. And you say, like, the second mistake in the book is like, I was trying to do everything on my own.

• 10:22Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. Yes. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to trying to do everything alone. And to your point, was it ego? You know, and I think I had a lone wolf mentality growing up, just of how I was raised. But at some point, you realize, you will not scale. So yes, maybe you get to some sort of success, but ultimately, you'll crack under the pressure of trying to do it alone. And when you have the courage to ask for help, that is the game change. Like, my entire business took off as soon as I got over my own ego and asked for help.

• 10:57Ed Mylett?

  I love your answering style, by the way. It's like, very like, to the point in business. Like, no, I love that. There's no wasted words. I actually, it's more, fits me very well. I think the other reason that I try to do everything is, I think a good entrepreneur is a bit of a control freak, but then a weak entrepreneur is too much of a control freak. So I think people listeners are like, look, I, I do everything because I. I don't want to lose control, right? I think there's this illusion that when you give tasks or asked people to help you with things, you you lose control to some extent. Do you think that's part of the psychology that hurts? I just want to unpack for people, why do they have these blind spots? Like, why did you think that? Yeah, maybe it was our ego, but was it also like a control thing?

• 11:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think I was so afraid that the company was going to fail. I had to, you know, be part of every single decision. And I was so afraid of what would go wrong if I didn't make the right decision. There was a lot of fear, I think, and giving that to someone else to execute, because what if it went wrong?

• 11:53Ed Mylett?

  Are you trying to make this interview easy on me? Because the third question I have is about fear, because the third part of the book, you're like, it was paralyzing to you, the fear. It's funny, if you unpack like the mind of some entrepreneurs, I'm actually a fear-based entrepreneur. Like, I think I've done, I've spent more of my life moving away from what I didn't want. Sometimes, like, I was afraid to be broke. I was afraid of not being able to eat. It's even to this day, I still kind of operate out of fear. I don't think it's necessarily totally unhealthy. But then there's like, you can take everything too far to where then it paralyzes you. You say in the book, like, your fear was like a paralyzing fear.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, a fear where you just can't even move, right?

• 12:36Ed Mylett?

  You had that, really?

• 12:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:37Ed Mylett?

  That's hard to picture.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  I think that if you have something so traumatic happen where you are lose your job, or lose your, you know, your security or your identity, you're so afraid to make the same mistake.

• 12:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 12:53Speaker 01

  And so overcoming that and understanding that mistakes are essential to success. And if you don't try, like, that's the only real failure. And I think, looking back, trying to understand where the fear was coming from, and then how to move past the fear.

• 13:10Ed Mylett?

  Was there a massive failure at one point where you're like, this is a biggie, and I think this just did me in? Was there any moments like that in your career?

• 13:17Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. I mean, listen, I've had so many. Failures, I made so many mistakes. At this point, looking back, I think the first company that I'd worked for that failed, and I had called all of my friends to come work for me because I told them they were going to be dot com millionaires.

• 13:32Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 13:32Speaker 01

  And then they, I had to fire them all and they, many wouldn't talk to me. That, that hurt, right? You're young and if you've ever hired people that are really close to you and then had to fire people that are close to you.

• 13:44Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  That is scarring. So just having some of those, those points in your life that you don't ever want to repeat, I think puts you in a paralyzed state.

• 13:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I do too. The other thing that paralyzed me is if I'm being honest, the reason I think I'm in personal development in addition to the business space and become, you know, one of the tacticians in that space is that I needed to learn these skills to become like baseline functioning self-confidence, just to get baseline. Like I didn't grow up with it because of the way I was raised, I was undersized, I was not the smartest, you know, whatever. And so I've had to work really hard on my belief. And as I started to grow as an entrepreneur, I had this constant thought that this is a fluke. I don't even know how we did this. We can't repeat it again next year. We can't do it again next month. And I would say like massive imposter syndrome most of my career.

• 14:41Ed Mylett?

  Did you have that? Cause you seem so externally confident. Would this be the person I met then? And did you suffer with your?

• 14:48Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. No, similar to you. And I, I talk about this a lot. I mean, I'm a twin.

• 14:54Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 14:55Speaker 01

  There's another one of me. And, you know, growing up, I was not the smart one.

• 14:59Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 14:59Speaker 01

  No, I was not. She was smarter, faster, stronger. Everything we did, she always better than me. We took, you know, tests, she was always scoring high and I was like the dummy of the family. It was terrible, but I think early on you put limiting beliefs on yourself.

• 15:13Ed Mylett?

  So. Yep.

• 15:13Speaker 01

  I thought I was not the smart one, which I mean, to be a twin, our DNA was essentially the same.

• 15:19Ed Mylett?

  It should be pretty close.

• 15:20Speaker 01

  I got like the raw end of that stick. But I think you carry, you know, I carried that with me a long time. And I think women especially carry labels, you know, believing they're underqualified and believing they're not good enough and whatever you're, you know, those labels that you carry with you, which are simply not true.

• 15:39Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  And they hold us back from reaching our greatest potential. So. Learning from that, I can remember early on in my career, I got asked to be on this board, which is an amazing opportunity. And I turned it down because I just didn't feel like I was qualified.

• 15:54Ed Mylett?

  I relate to that, very much so. I think it's as good for people to hear two entrepreneurs talking going, hey, look, if you have these things, we've made these mistakes. We also had these. Here's the other thing I did. I had people stick around in either my personal inner circle or in my businesses. You use the word toxic in the book, which is probably a more descriptive word, but I knew would eventually do harm. But they were really good at something at the time. So, short term, losing them felt significantly like a top salesperson, right? Or a top this. And I keep trying to tell entrepreneurs this. It was the biggest mistake because the bigger the business gets, the more damage that person

• 16:37Ed Mylett?

  will do on their way out the door. And I want you to give me your opinion about it. But you do say in the book, it's like keeping, you call them toxic people around you.

• 16:45Speaker 01

  Oh, it's the worst. And you don't realize, to your point, that sales head that is so good, but he or she is so toxic to every single other person. But you have to balance, should I keep them because I want to keep my numbers up? Or do I let them go because they're terrible and toxic for the company? Obviously, you should let them go. But those decisions, because everyone is watching what, as a leader, everyone's watching what you do. So you're basically saying it's okay to be an asshole.

• 17:15Ed Mylett?

  Yes. Yep, you're right. It's the wrong thing.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  That's so bad from a leadership because that trickles down.

• 17:21Ed Mylett?

  You know what I'm surprised wasn't in the book, if I'm being candid, because the book is so good. There's basically what I would call 10 mistakes in the book. All of them I've made. My book would have like the 26 trillion mistakes I've made in business. But one big mistake I made is I thought that I just needed to work on the business instead of myself in the beginning. So I'm surprised that's not in there and I want to ask you about it because it isn't like I, I, I don't think your business eventually can exceed your own identity. It can exceed your ability, clearly, because mine did, because my abilities are limited. So a company should exceed your

• 18:00Ed Mylett?

  personal abilities, but I don't know that it'll exceed your identity, meaning your belief of what it's what you or the business is worthy of. And I think one of the things that entrepreneurs have to do is they're simultaneously working on their businesses, doing what everybody's doing today, which is listening to this show, which I think is the best in the world for this. But it was working on yourself. Did you do that? And maybe that's why it wasn't a mistake because you just did it. So it didn't need to be listed as a mistake.

• 18:26Speaker 01

  My mom is an expert in organizational behavior. And so from an early age, I was like very deeply rooted in my own personal values. And I, that red thread carried through my companies, having that, those, you know, values. And I'd actually bring her in early on, I'd probably bring, I mean, actually I asked her yesterday to mentor one of my friends. She's amazing. It's like having a little Buddha in my, you know, and it was amazing. So it was a gift that I got early on to have such an amazing leadership coach to come into my company, to, you know, to coach me, to coach, to coach my teams. So I maybe I had a little bit of unfair advantage.

• 19:09Ed Mylett?

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• 20:39Ed Mylett?

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• 21:14Speaker 02

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• 21:17Ed Mylett?

  I'm a huge believer that pivoting and adaptability is like fluidity is what I would call it as an entrepreneur. Has always been important, but now with AI and all the things are going to be changing in the world now. If you ever utter the sentence of this is just the way we've always done it. Or hey, this is the road we're going down. I even think long term planning may be a bizarre concept nowadays because of the way the world's turning. And you say one of your mistakes was not pivoting enough soon enough. Like which one was it?

• 21:45Speaker 01

  I think not pivoting fast enough.

• 21:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 21:48Speaker 01

  You know, early on I had an internet company and I remember saying, oh, the social media thing's going to be big. I mean, this is very early on, like, no, it's not. How big can the social media thing get, you know?

• 21:59Speaker 01

  Last word, few words on that one, but eventually, you know, and I lost some clients, you know, because they didn't have the capabilities. Eventually I then added the capabilities and I grew it to a $200 million business. So you can be adaptable, but I think failing to pivot because you just think you have to go one way. You think that. Has to be how you originally started out, but knowing, and I've invested in probably 150 companies, 99% of them have pivoted at least once, if not more, right? And so in today, to your point, in the world of AI, right now, if we were going to teach our children something, or any entrepreneur listening to this, the adaptability, flexibility, we don't

• 22:42Speaker 01

  know what's going to happen. The world's going to move twice as fast, but your mental state of being able to adapt, be flexible, change with the environment will be the key to your success.

• 22:53Ed Mylett?

  I can't even know what's talking about this. Like, we're in the midst of like, a complete revolution in business. And before this revolution, people weren't adaptable and flexible and pivoting enough. Like, the pandemic showed us all of this, right? And I gotta be honest with you guys, everybody, like even for me, five and 10 year planning right now, it's kind of like I'm doing it, but I'm like, I, and to me, you gotta be well read, well informed, and you gotta know what's going on. It's, it's, it's no longer good enough to go, I'm not really technologically savvy. Like, that's basically saying, haha, I'm going out of business. Like, it's not funny at all anymore. It used, I used to joke about it. And now I'm like, okay, you sound like an old

• 23:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:31Ed Mylett?

  archive of a businessman, like you're, you're, we should find your bones buried somewhere. You better be flexible. You better be pivoting. You better know what's going on. You better be fluid. And if you run a company with a bunch of bureaucracy that can't make decisions pretty quickly, like a small company, you're in big trouble in business, I think now.

• 23:49Speaker 01

  You think, yeah, even big companies, because they're

• 23:51Ed Mylett?

  I think big charities are in the most trouble.

• 23:53Speaker 01

  Never gonna make any change. But if you're a small company, the great news is, you can be nimble. The challenge is, do you have the mindset to be nimble?

• 24:03Ed Mylett?

  You're right.

• 24:03Speaker 01

  And to embrace technology, because a lot of people are like, oh, AI, like, guys, it's here, it's coming, and we need to embrace it as part of your business.

• 24:13Ed Mylett?

  Okay, I'm going to tell you guys, this is why I'm so glad you're doing the show. I actually think this is the one era that's coming, everybody, for what it's worth, that where small businesses may end up, by and large, having actual advantage over the bigger ones now. Because these big companies that are bureaucracies, that take weeks and committees and decisions and boards and all this stuff to make all of their decisions, in an era where things are going to be changing like at electric speed. Are going to be in big, big trouble. And so if you're smaller, you're nimble, as she just said, the word's perfect, which is nimble. You better be, you better be ready to pivot. This is going to be, I think, the most exciting time ever in the history of business. The internet made it the most exciting time. I think this is going to be even more exciting because I'm

• 24:57Ed Mylett?

  starting to understand what it's doing to businesses, going to put out of business. Okay, here we go.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  And don't you think, I mean, just to the pivot, everyone listening should ask themselves, when was the last time I pivoted? And if you can't think of it, that's a problem. It truly is. And I think that's, that is a mistake.

• 25:15Ed Mylett?

  I agree with you. What are the four Ps? I know them because I read the book and I already told my daughter about them.

• 25:20Speaker 01

  Good, good. Yes. So you can do a market pivot, you could do a product pivot, you could do a pricing pivot, and then you could do a competitor pivot, like where, where you're going to be. So I think if you look at every single company out there, they're pivoting quickly. It's speed that makes a huge difference, too. If it doesn't work, pivot again.

• 25:41Ed Mylett?

  Perfectionism kicked your butt for a long time, huh?

• 25:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:44Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Most people, that's their big crutch is like perfectionism is their reason for not getting started, or the reason for not making change, or what held them back. And you list it in the book like multiple times. What would you say to somebody who's listening, they're like, I do have this perfect addiction, like to doing things perfectly because I have high standards. And so which is better than having low standards. But what would you say to somebody who's got that?

• 26:08Speaker 01

  Well, statistically, now I'm going to tell them if they're trying to achieve perfection, they will not achieve greatness. So the only way to become very successful is to embrace the mistakes. So switching your mindset from, okay, if I actually make, if there's setbacks, challenges, if I make progress without perfection, I will be more successful. It's a mindset shift. Out of perfectionism.

• 26:35Ed Mylett?

  Were you learn, did you eventually, Tom Bilyeu and I have talked about this, were like individually at different times, I just sort of adapted, or adopted, rather, the mentality of I'm a learner, rather than an expert. And so it made, at least in my case, my perception of failures. Weren't that dramatic? Cause I'm like, okay, I picked a lesson out of this. I got, I learned something from it. I know that sounds hokey. Well, if you learned something, you didn't fail, but like, I really adapted that mindset into my thinking where even to this day, when something happens, like, okay, what do we, what are we getting? What do we learn from this? Let's just not do this twice.

• 27:12Speaker 01

  Yes. Amen. Well, I mean, every expert was a beginner. So I, to your point, I'm going into, I'm a 20 year tech entrepreneur. Now I'm in beauty. I'm in beverage. I'm in web three. I am all over the map, learning new industries as fast as I can, because it makes me a better, more rounded, intelligent investor as well as operator.

• 27:33Ed Mylett?

  This is so good. Like we're light speed here. How do you know when you're looking at all these opportunities? Cause I know what it's like to get pitched a lot too. And most of where I put my money hasn't worked, but what, what makes you pick a company over another one? What are you looking for in prospective investments?

• 27:52Speaker 01

  I'm industry agnostic. So honestly, I'm looking at the people, having been an entrepreneur, I am an entrepreneur. I know what it takes. And back to the question originally, it is hard. So I'm looking for the person that when it gets really, really, really hard and you think it's over, you don't quit.

• 28:12Ed Mylett?

  That's a rare one. Cause eventually people throw their hands up in the air. Most people do, rather than just pivot, adjust, be fluid, et cetera. Let's sell the dream for a minute. Okay. So how many years did you spend struggling as an entrepreneur? Just first, would you say?

• 28:26Speaker 01

  I would say I spent first three years at my kitchen table alone, where literally every person thought I was nuts.

• 28:33Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 28:33Speaker 01

  So just at some point, think three years over and over.

• 28:36Ed Mylett?

  Every day.

• 28:37Speaker 01

  Every day.

• 28:37Ed Mylett?

  Every Monday, every Tuesday, every Wednesday.

• 28:39Speaker 01

  All weekends, never went, like I literally just sat there. So that was the first three years. Then it started getting like, I actually started making money. I'm like, this is amazing. So then it starts. But would you sit at your, would you sit wherever you are, your basement, your kitchen table for three years? Without any hope or sign that it's going to work out.

• 28:55Ed Mylett?

  There's no indication. You're right.

• 28:56Speaker 01

  No indication that it's going to work.

• 28:58Ed Mylett?

  Isn't that the big thing? I want you to talk about that. It's being like, there's no indication. Cause it's easy to watch a podcast. Hey, I struggled for two, five, 10 years. But when there's like, there's just no evidence right now, this is going to work or that it's working at all. That's a mind game big time.

• 29:14Speaker 01

  Your belief has to be greater than everyone else's doubt in you.

• 29:19Ed Mylett?

  Oh, that's good. That's good.

• 29:21Speaker 01

  It has to be because the critics, the naysayers, I mean, the dream killers, they're going to come and tell you why your idea won't work and you have to be willing to say and have the conviction why it will.

• 29:34Ed Mylett?

  Very good. I'm thinking about a friend of mine right now is going through it.

• 29:38Speaker 01

  It's hard, right? And it's hard.

• 29:40Ed Mylett?

  It's hard. It's it. I think business is the most competitive, difficult sport in the world. I really do because what separates you isn't giftedness. Like if you're six, nine and you can three sixty windmill dunk, you could play defensive end in the NFL. I guess that's a little tall, but you know what I'm saying?

• 29:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:55Ed Mylett?

  But in the business, it's like it's not really necessarily birth talent oriented. It's really grit, will, innovation, confidence, communication ability.

• 30:06Speaker 01

  It's a 365 day sport. Yeah, there's no off season for business. It's an everyday 24 seven, especially when you're early entrepreneur. But I think if it was easy, I mean, honestly, everyone would do it. Like my dad grew up and he was, Kimmy, eight hours is a half day. Go, go back to work. Am I all right? I better get another job, Pop. You know what I mean? It was just a mentality which no one wants to hear today. Fine. But like, if you want to be average, do what average people do. If you want to be successful, do what successful people do. And they're out there hustling.

• 30:40Ed Mylett?

  I love your intensity. I also, you come from good stock. It's obvious between your mom and your dad. They, they, I think things as kids are caught, not always taught. And you caught a lot from mom and dad. That sounds like it's different stuff, too.

• 30:53Speaker 01

  Gosh, yes.

• 30:54Ed Mylett?

  But, but really a good combo. It's kind of explained some of your, your business genius.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. But my dad, my dad was like close to bankruptcy every day. So we had a very, I mean,

• 31:04Ed Mylett?

  You know, you know what the other side looks like.

• 31:06Speaker 01

  I did not want to be an entrepreneur, to be honest. I thought I saw the roller coaster ride and I thought, I'm going to get a secure job.

• 31:12Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. But you got the, you got the work ethic, grind, grit thing from dad. And it sounds to me like you got the people skills, emotional regulation and stuff like that from mom.

• 31:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a great balance.

• 31:21Ed Mylett?

  It actually is a pretty good combo.

• 31:22Speaker 01

  Didn't work out for them, but it worked out for me.

• 31:24Ed Mylett?

  Right. There you go. Well, that's, then, then technically it worked out for them because everybody wants their kids to be more successful than they are. What's life look like now? Sell us the dream a little bit. So today I see, she walked in and I came in the studio. I go, I said, where'd you come from? She goes, I just flew in. I'm like, oh, so you have your plane. She goes, yeah, I flew in private. And so what's just, I think it's important. Every show's like grind this, do this. It's hard. I wouldn't have started if I knew. However. It's unbelievable.

• 31:51Speaker 01

  Unbelievable.

• 31:52Ed Mylett?

  Right? Like it's better than you would think. So sell us the dream. What's your life look like today? Family, my, what? You probably take a lot of it for granted now, not granted, but I mean, like it's just, oh, we go to dinner where we want to. Or we've decided we want to go to Turks and Caicos for three weeks. We're going to set a trip up and we're going there. Like, most of the time, life doesn't function that way. So what is life like? Like to brag a little bit?

• 32:16Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 32:17Ed Mylett?

  Let us inside. Tell us what it's like.

• 32:19Speaker 01

  Well, the good news is my husband is a pilot.

• 32:21Ed Mylett?

  That's, that helps.

• 32:22Speaker 01

  We have a couple of helicopters and so he can land at the house, which makes, you know, commute really easy.

• 32:29Ed Mylett?

  By the way, everybody that doesn't know this, helicopter flying is actually more expensive than jet flying. Just so you know, the maintenance and all that stuff on helicopters is pricey, just so you know. Helicopters, people think, oh, I'd have a plane helicopter. Let me tell you something right now. Planes are expensive. Helicopters per hour to maintain are super pricey, but keep going.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  Super, but you know, but again.

• 32:50Ed Mylett?

  Does he, is he a jet pilot or helicopter pilot?

• 32:51Speaker 01

  Both.

• 32:52Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 32:53Speaker 01

  Both, both, both. So that helps, that helps. And he loves it. So it's fun. You know, that's a good investment, not really.

• 33:00Ed Mylett?

  It's a good investment in lifestyle.

• 33:02Speaker 01

  In lifestyle and fun and sport. Uh, we have a great vineyard in Tuscany. So we go there during the summers, which is fun to spend, spend some different time there. I want, but I think it's important.

• 33:13Ed Mylett?

  This is good. Keep going.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Yes, I think it's important. So we have four kids and they're very amazing little children. And I think, you know, really grounding them in hard work ethic. So like, we're all over them, but they're blessed and you know, so am I. So I think trying to find the balance, but make even now, because to your point, I could be just sitting on the beach. I'm always on.

• 33:34Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 33:34Speaker 01

  You're crushing. I love what I do. I love helping people like that. That energizes me.

• 33:40Ed Mylett?

  But you also have choice. Can I tell you something that I've noticed? And I don't, this is, this is concern, by the way, I'm not, I'm not big on men are this way, women are that way. I don't like that because it's general and typically not true. And there's exceptions to everything. So before I say this, I want to make sure I've phrased it this way. But in general, in the entrepreneur space, in the public sector, men, when they're financially successful, are very comfortable talking about the life they've built. I've got this, we do that, because I think in their mind, this is aspirational or inspirational for the people coming up behind them. What I have noticed with my

• 34:20Ed Mylett?

  very successful female friends is, there's a grace and humility that I respect deeply about it. But it almost sometimes transcends into the, their, their massive discomfort, almost guilt about the success they've had. And it's very hard to get female entrepreneurs to go, my life is really good. I've got a vineyard in Tuscany. We fly private. I'll say it for you, during the COVID, you're like, we want to get out of here. So you just picked up and moved to Florida, right? Like, you have choice in your life. So, just a little more, because I want, I want all these ladies listening to this, to also have

• 35:04Ed Mylett?

  heroes and role models of their gender. Not that I think genders, but you understand what I'm saying? Like, you're a baller. You've made tremendous inroads in your life. You've changed your family tree forever. You should be proud of that.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  I am.

• 35:18Ed Mylett?

  Because you, you're the one who did this. You busted your tail, you and God. So, a little bit more, what's it look like?

• 35:23Speaker 01

  Well, I think it's important to also remember how, like, my mom would be like, no one sees how hard you worked for so long. I mean, this is a 20-year overnight success, right? And I think that's really important. So if you're willing to pay the price, which is a lot of missed everything, then it's worth it. So I think someone, you have to decide if that's the price you want to pay. Yes, at the end, my life is incredible. I feel incredibly blessed, but that came with a lot of, you know, a lot of cost. And like costs you can't see, costs that I'm sure so many women right now are going through in terms of just trying to balance it all. And I think just recognizing that's really important.

• 36:05Ed Mylett?

  Do you think the other part of it too, maybe as a woman, is that like, The struggle continues even after you're successful too. Like you still have children to raise. They still have homework to do. They still have their challenges. You still have to be, you're still a wife. You're still a friend. You've still got businesses you're running. So perhaps it's hard to necessarily describe how great it is when you're still in the hunt of every single part of your life as well.

• 36:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, trying to find the balance and really making sure for me, my family is first on everything. So it's really prioritized, but everything else is kind of gets to the way like family first. And obviously I love what I do. So I love to build and create and innovate because that gives me energy and joy, but I don't do a lot of, I mean, my extracurricular activity. I don't have a lot of those.

• 36:48Ed Mylett?

  Your, your sports business and your family.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  Business and I love doing it, but I'm not golfing.

• 36:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Do you feel like you have a couple more things I want to ask you because this has been so good. Do you feel like one of the reasons you're still in the hunt too, is you want your kids to see you in the hunt? Meaning, actually, actually I had a couple, you know, significant exits and stuff. And I'm like, I don't want my kids to think this is how I became successful, sitting around in my pajamas, watching Netflix in the middle of the day. By the way, Netflix, Mark Randolph wrote the foreword to her book, but do you know what I'm saying? Like there's also when you're still raising kids to be them being a, an example of work ethic too.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, I want my kids to have purpose and I think what I do is fueled by my purpose and showing that they get excited. I mean, I have a new beverage brand. They go, mom, can I bring a juni to school to show my coach D? I mean, he's five. I'm like, okay, buddy.

• 37:41Ed Mylett?

  Tell them who your partner is on the beverage brand.

• 37:43Speaker 01

  Yes. Oh my gosh. I'm amazing beverage brand with Jay Shetty and his wife Roddy. And it's an adaptogenic sparkling tea company. So it's good for you. Good for your mind. It's got ashwagandha and lion's mane and reishi. But I am having, and so is Jay. We're having the best

• 37:58Ed Mylett?

  Blast. You look like you're having a blast with it.

• 37:59Speaker 01

  We are having a great time. So it's really important for any entrepreneur out there. If you like the problem you're solving and you like who you're solving it with, and if you say no to one of those two questions, do something else.

• 38:13Ed Mylett?

  Oh, that's outstanding. Okay. We're a little over on the time that I thought we were going to go because I knew this is going to be too good. So.

• 38:21Ed Mylett?

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• 39:06Ed Mylett?

  the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com/ed for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com/ed. There's one thing you would say to somebody that we haven't covered today. By the way, first is "Go Get Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire," by Kim Perrell. Aside from that, if there's someone that goes, "I got this dream in my heart. There's no signs right now this dream's gonna happen or gonna work. And I've made a lot of mistakes myself." And they could get a cup of coffee with you, which probably wouldn't be cheap, but if they could get it, I'm gonna give them a free one right now. What advice would you give them that's different than we've talked about? And you can get second even think

• 39:49Ed Mylett?

  about it, because I think it's an important question. Like, what would you say to that person who's you, sitting at that desk and table of yours, and you're in year two and a half of the three, and there's just nothing happening yet? If you could go back and talk to her, what would you whisper in her ear and say to her?

• 40:04Speaker 01

  I'd say if I can do it, you can do it, too. That's what I would say. And I think, having been there at my kitchen table with no sign or no hope, and at rock bottom, I have no money, I maxed out all my credit cards, took a loan from my grandma, and everyone thinks I'm crazy. Okay, yes, but fast forward, I've had multiple exits, and...

• 40:26Speaker 01

  I was able to make that dream a reality, but I think again, it goes back to also adapting with the market. Don't just be so, be clear on where you're going, but how you get from A to Z could look totally different from where you are today. And so I think it's really important. Z, I know where I'm going Z. I have no idea. A, B, could go E, G, you know what I'm saying? Like be flexible.

• 40:48Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Really great advice. Like extraordinary conversation too.

• 40:52Speaker 01

  So fun, right?

• 40:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, like, like really extraordinary conversation. Did you pay your grandma back?

• 40:56Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh, my grandma, when I told her how much money I sold the company for, yes, I have some great photos. We took her on all these incredible European vacations. I've got her driving a Ferrari in Italy and a red Ferrari with top down. Oh, she is like.

• 41:11Ed Mylett?

  So you did it. You know, it's interesting. I can get you to talk about the things you did for other people, but I can't get you to talk about the things you did for yourself, which makes you even more wonderful. That's awesome. You did that for your grandma. And by the way, I need to thank my Grammy, Elaine, who loaned me my $5,000 when no one would give me any money when I was going broke in my business too. So I wish she was still here, but I did get a chance to pay her back and she saw a little bit of what happened in my life. So we both have our grandmothers to thank.

• 41:36Speaker 01

  Be so proud, right? I know. And that's why I want to, I mean, honestly, that's why I invest. I'm sure you do too, because you want to, I want to be that person to someone else. It takes one person to make a bet on you.

• 41:46Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  So you can just be that one person to change, like that domino effect.

• 41:50Ed Mylett?

  This has been so good.

• 41:52Speaker 01

  So good.

• 41:53Ed Mylett?

  I don't know why we waited so long to do this. I really enjoyed it today. You guys, Kim's awesome. She's legit. She's done it multiple times. She's still doing it right now. Go get her book, Mistakes That Made Me A Millionaire. By the way, I read that book in two and a half days. You probably take a little bit longer to read it, but it's readable and you remember tons of stuff in it. Kim, thank you.

• 42:14Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh, thank you so much, Ed.

• 42:16Ed Mylett?

  Really good. All right, everybody. So get on my email list, at mylett.com. Put your email in there. So you get the shows early and then I can communicate with you. Okay. All right. Max out. God bless you. Share this episode.