Key Points From the Interview
ou ever listen to Acquiring Minds and feel discouraged that you don't have an MBA or a background in finance?
This episode is for you.
Patrick Norris went from Marine, to garbage man, to manager of a local trash company, to...
...buyer of his own trash business.
He bought a small one, just $625k in revenue. A little family business with a burned-out owner.
Patrick bought it (for a song, by the way), grew it, and sold it for $4.4m five years later.
And oh by the way, he'd also generated $1m dollars cash for himself in the meantime.
Now, despite not being a finance guy, Patrick did have a distinct advantage:
He knew trash.
But! As you'll hear, that might have also been a bit of a disadvantage because it pulled him into the business when he may have been better served working on the business.
Lesson being: Just as important as the particular skill set you bring to a business is exactly how you leverage those skills as its new owner.
See what you think.
And see what you think of the trash business. We spend a lot of time just learning the industry, which was a joy.
I loved this interview and think you will too.
Here's Patrick Norris, former owner of Mr. Trashman.
