Built to Last: CEO Nick Greer on Resilience and Entrepreneurship

welcome to the know your ship podcast presented by ehub I’m your
host Frank doce Nick Greer I’m so excited to have you here thank you this is
the one and only a man who needs no introduction Nick Greer I can already
tell you I’m going to get way more out of this than you’re going to get out
of this so I appreciate your time I I’d say that to our listeners too I’ve
listened to lots of stuff that you’ve done it’s all so good I feel like I
want to listen to it again because there’s so many great oh you’re nuggets of
wisdom you should probably listen to a lot more stuff is there more stuff no
not of me I’m saying of others that would help your cause listen this is it’s
a great story and and I’m so excited for you to be able to tell it again to
maybe a little bit different audience and and so maybe we can start start up
front in the beginning where you grew up how you grew up because I think
that’s a fascinating story and I think that goes a long way to to building
the foundation that you live your life on today yeah no absolutely so I know
that at one point in your life you you grew up where Mesa Arizon Arizona yeah
Arizona and grew up in a nice big family yeah six kids four sisters uh one
little brother so I was surrounded by girls they dressed me up in uh leotards
when I was a kid there’s like pictures of that but I’m not going to go show
those on show those on the internet no that’s not but uh no we had a lot of
good times but great sisters great family great environment great culture
yeah very blessed and I mean I guess you would describe it as like a great
American Childhood growing up until around I mean you kind of had all the
stuff great family your dad had a nice career amazing mom and then you had
this event in your family that was super challenging you know what it was
great I mean you say an event people think it’s something tragic or someone
died um it it was just uh you know the late 80s the the stock market crashed
and and those who were highly leveraged and and uh maybe too uh confident in
what uh the future held um which uh which happened with a lot of people lot
of people in business um including my own father uh we lost everything and it
was the best thing that could have ever happened Baron hands down the
greatest thing could have ever happened of course you never want to go
through that but what a blessing it was to watch that as a 12 13 year-old
young man and uh and see the struggles the battles the fights the scratching
the crawling everything you can can’t even imagine of losing everything and
having absolutely nothing even to a point where yeah uh your your uh our
church at that time was helping pay for our food and uh it was great it was a
great experience people dropping off food to our homes uh our home and in
fact I I may have shared this story before but there was one time a knock at
the door and you may have heard this and I apologize if you have but uh we
open up the door and there’s two 50 lb bags of potatoes and uh and I think my
mom someone said Mana from Heaven it’s Mana from Heaven I thought potatoes
from Idaho are you kidding me like what is this I’m an Arizona boy like
potatoes man we had potatoes coming out of our ears like non-stop I mean and
my mom stored those potatoes in every cupboard every cabinet that we still to
this day I see a baked potato I’m like oh I just twitch I can’t I can’t do it
my mother-in-law’s learned that quickly by the way but uh she always
apologized I’m so sorry baked potatoes again I’m like it’s all right I’ll
just have the cheese over here yeah yeah do you are is there any type of
potato that you like oh yeah I mean Chick-fil-A fries of course French Fri
French Fri different type mashed potatoes yeah you’re still a mashed potato
guy yeah yeah but baked potato gra no gravy well yeah of course you got to
have a little you got to have sauce got to have the sauce the sauce yeah you
got to have the sauce okay so tell me about the lessons like you mentioned it
no one wants to go through that at the time but you said it and it’s this is
a recurring theme it was the worst of times but it was the best thing that
ever happened to you maybe to the family how did your parents how did your
family cope with that how did they manage that how did you come out of it I
don’t know I think anything anytime you look hindsight back on an experience
that you had that was troubling or I shouldn’t say anytime most of the time
um you look back with maybe fondness because of growth um because of
learnings um because of uh growing closer together being united in fact I
remember it was like the day before the bank was going to come and repo our
boat and we’re at the gas station and my dad’s like kids get whatever you
want and he had his texo gas card and uh and we were going one last time to
the lake and it was our summer vacation and that was considered our summer
vacation that summer man we were so excited going that gas station and I
remember the shirt my dad was even wearing he had some statement on it was
just this blue tight tight shirt on him and we’re like you know what let’s
just let’s just do this let’s enjoy every moment we can and we went to the
lake that day knowing that the bank was coming the next day to to repo the
boat and to take the boat but uh what an experience um it was something that
I will and my sisters we talk about this all the time as far as just with
fondness with gratitude and uh and such a grateful heart to be able to
experience this together and knowing what it feels like to have what you felt
like as a kid everything to then feeling like as a kid having nothing and uh
being grateful being grateful in both areas so as you look back on that
experience are can you pick out a few things that this was the lesson this is
why I do this this is why I act this way today because of that particular
experience that I had to go through you know immediately right when you were
asking that question is grittiness and it’s the fight um you know uh the
fight ORF flight mindset um I would say maybe a little bit differently as far
as just that that greediness of if if you want something you can go get it
you can go fight for it and uh and so I had to learn at an earlier age in my
life um how to fight for things how to go pay for things if I wanted it I had
to figure it out I remember going to high school football games and going
around to people saying I wanted a125 Sprite and uh and so I I’m like I got a
quarter this sounds so terrible you’re going to think I’m a terrible person
but it was a challenge I’m like how much money can I collect tonight so I was
at Junior in junior high collecting money um during a football game for a
high school football game and I’m like I go up to someone hey all I’ve got is
a quarter I’m trying to get a drink do you have a dollar they’re like yeah sure
and then I go to someone I’m like hey all I’ve got is a dollar and I show
them the dollar I need a quarter to get a drink can I have a quarter yeah
sure I’d make like 156 $20 in a night and my friends are like this is
unbelievable all I was doing was just trying to challenge myself to see if I
ask like you shall receive kind of mind mindset and that’s what happened and
I realize hey if I want it I can go after it if I want it I can go ask for it
and so I learn at an early age well I’m going to go ask for it I’m going to
go get it and you can’t tell me I can’t um don’t tell me that’s impossible
because I’m going to make it possible and so it became in my life more of a
challenge To Go Achieve certain things and to go attack it when I wanted to
attack it when everyone else was telling me don’t attack it um but it wasn’t
about the Sprite it wasn’t about like making a lot of money it was about the
challenge of like you’re telling me I can’t get $10 tonight I’m going to get
20 I want to ask you about this at some point it feels a little premature so
maybe we’ll come back to it because I don’t think your like your kids are
probably not in a position where they need to they have a quarter in their
pocket and they need to go around the stands at the football game and ask for
a dollar to get the Sprite my kid aren’t in that position but how do we teach
our kids and these Generations about grittiness and attacking the day when
there’s not really that need for them to attack the day because they have all
of the stuff surrounding them I think that’s a difficult issue that we face I
I’m going I’m going to flip that because I think we say how do we teach our
kids so therefore um we almost put it upon our ourselves to be the ones
teaching MH um I’m going to give you an example of I have a daughter uh
married two little children and they’re in their first little home and uh if
you walk into her home today you see a kitchen table four chairs and one
couch and on the outside what everyone may think is and I’m getting raw here
is they may think oh she comes from a family that can provide so she just
gets everything automatically heck no but you know how hard it is for me to
walk into that home and see that she has one couch and a kitchen table on
four chairs every single week every week but what she is learning what she is
fighting for what he is fighting for my son-in-law these two rock stars of
parents what their kids are fighting for and realizing is realizing okay you
know what we have to go learn and so therefore I as a parent as a father with
my wife by my side we have to be disciplined in a way of allowing them to
fight without giving it to them because we ah it’s easier for us if we give
it to them no it’s easier for them in the future if we don’t give it to them
it’s harder today but much easier tomorrow let them fight it’s so difficult
as a parent to do that because you could provide another couch a nicer table
you how much i’ love to oh trust me every time you could give all that stuff
like oh just the place I can sit but the the lesson is in the struggle the
obstacle is the way and you’re saying your job as a parent and I’m going to I
I’ll extrapolate this your job as a parent your job as a leader is to provide
that opportunity for people to struggle and figure out where they have grit
my my son I’m going to give you one more example you ready for this so my son
calls me up Dad I screwed up he’s married newly married I’m like what’s up
bud he’s like Dad oh I bought this car off the auction repoed car off the
auction I thought I can fix it up easy easily and I’m going to make some
money off this Dad will you come save me what do you mean I need this much
money and I can get it fixed and I promise I’ll get you paid back I’m like
sorry bud I can’t do it what are you talking about you got to figure it out
you made a mistake you got emotional about making a quick Buck you’ve got to
get unemotional about saving that buck and saving that base of that money you
put in for that car and figuring out how you’re going to get out of this mess
and so I think sometimes as parents at least this is what I’m this is just me
this is like so basic we try to get those kids out of their messes for them
as opposed to allowing them to struggle like the word you used earlier and
allowing them to navigate through those messes and guess what happened at the
end of the day after 2 months he figured it out he made $250 I think it was
now you would think off a $155,000 car 250 he didn’t lose any money yeah but
the lessons he learned guess what he’s not going to do next time get all
greedy thinking I’m gonna make a ton of money off this it’s like I’m going to
think about this and so I I don’t know I just think let’s let’s let our kids
get into Messes in the sense of like let them get dirty and figure things out
and uh and watch them struggle as adult kids as parents we got to watch that
even more it’s hard it’s super difficult yeah I didn’t know this me a podcast
about parenting so I maybe we can just a little bit well it’s parenting and
it’s running a business because I I’m guessing you do the same thing in your
parenting life and in your business Life as a leader if I’m wrong you can we
can go down that path as well but I’m just guessing like that’s how you and
and knowing a little bit about you that’s how you treat the people who who
work with you as well is you’re there to help provide an opportunity provide
a lesson provide an environment where they can succeed but if you make a bad
decision you have to figure out how to there’s consequences for that you have
to figure out how to manage that decision 100% let’s go back to your
childhood a little bit and your grit because you’re walking around the stands
you’re trying to get a Sprite and and you’re you’re trying to figure out your
path under these circumstances so I want to know about the things that you
did as a kid as you were navigating this and what about like what was you
know your parents kind of lost everything what what were they doing at the
same simultaneously as you’re both of you are are growing out of this oh my
parents they’re so great and I was so grateful for them and I remember
Thanksgiving my dad wasn’t there when Thanksgiving cuz he stayed back and we
went to my grandparents house in California and I didn’t realize he stayed
back but I realized later on he stayed back selling alarms door too at the
time fire alarms just to try to make money and and uh you know here’s a man
with six kids and um I look if I had to do that that’s sucking one Pride
one’s Pride up and realizing like I just got to survive and I got a sacrifice
and I’m just so grateful for them and their fight their constant grip but one
thing I I learned from my own father that I was so grateful for and I’ll
forever be grateful for is he was always positive about like we got this we
got this we got this we got this we got this even though like you may be like
just in the bottom of a pit and thinking there’s no way we’re getting out no
we got this we’re getting out we’re getting out and I saw that and I realized
that was instilled in me early on and I was so grateful for that because
that’s something that I’ve been able to carry through hopefully y um in a
good way where to continue on that that kind of mindset that culture of no we
got this like we’re going to do it we can go do anything we want we got this
we’ll get out of this and uh that was that was our culture and our family now
my mom may have been a little bit different like oh no this is like sky fall
and it’s great no we got this we got this we got this and I was so grateful
for the to see the both that ying and yang and and both of them and so
grateful for both of those examples yeah at this point in your life are you
thinking about when I grow up this is what I want to do based on these
experiences that you’re having you’re you’re pretty young at this point 12 13
years old yeah I mean you know and then I mean it’s all through Junior High
in high school this is happening but uh no I mean oh all through high school yeah
oh yeah okay yeah the fight um just trying to get back on our feet and it was
great um you know for me I just uh I’ve shared this before where I mean I got
to a point where I’m 13 14 mowing lawns and my dad uh had this old Dotson
truck it was a mustard yellow Dawson truck 1976 I think doson truck I think
my dad had one of those it was sweet wheels and RI those rims on there those
were so killer I love those rims but uh anyhow nonetheless uh I mean I I I’m
not supposed to drive well the car’s not registered and I look back and I
don’t know if I’ll get in trouble for even saying this I I would take even
just my Mom’s registration stickers off her license plate put it on that
license plate so I could go drive from job to job when I’m 14 years old mowing
lawns mowing lawns and uh and and I look back in those days I’m like like I
wouldn’t tell my parents and my dad wouldn’t ask questions like just like he
didn’t ask how I got to those homes The motal Lawns and he didn’t ask how
that lawnmower got in the back of that truck and the weed eat her different
things but somehow I was mowing lawns and I I I was I take her sticker off
and after like several months you could see those little four corners just
curving up you know all those years I just rip it off and I stick it back on
her car I what was I thinking like we actually the way I’m thinking about it
an unlicensed driver driving an unregistered car I don’t think there’s
anything wrong with I don’t think you can get in trouble for that no you
can’t no in Idaho you can’t but in Arizona you can so but good days I good
memories yeah okay so you go through you and this continued through high
school I mean you’re trying to you’re finding jobs you’re working I’m buy I’m
buying fireworks illegal in Wyoming then selling them to kids there in
Arizona one kid let a lady’s backyard on fire and that was wild and I got
blamed for it um and uh you know baseball cards A Galore I buy pal uh not
pallets but boxes you know and just selling those cards and we tried everything
yeah we tried I I would hire my friends and uh they would do the manual labor
I would do the selling and I’d go door too and sell like gosh we were doing
um all the street addresses I’m in junior high like I’d sell the street you
know the street like kids do these days and and then I’d have my friends
painting while I’m just selling and I pay in per and they thought it was
great and uh yeah you just you just figure it out you just figure it out it
was fun yeah of all of those experiences before we get into your when you had
off to college what was the most lucrative of your childhoods so good is that
right such good margins serious what lesson did that teach you I mean cuz
you’re okay so you’re you’re doing the the address painting on the curb right
you’re doings you know what skim boards are of course absolutely we had
irrigation Arizona so we were I I created a company called billan Nick
instead of bab bongs and uh trying to sell the skim boards to the skate shops
and and uh where were you getting skim boards I was stealing plywood from
different construction sites using they were in the scraps Jan they were in
the scraps they were scraps back in the day yeah glad you clarified that with
Jan yeah yeah it was it was scraps cuz he’s super judgmental yeah um so but
yeah it was scrap Plywood And then just making uh skim boards um and uh
mowing lawns painting houses I painted houses and that was that that paid for
uh what later became my LDS mission at the time and um painting people house
exteriors or Interiors uh both out inside yeah you know I did a I did a job
like that once so but but my brother we were the same way like my parents we
were middle class my parents did well but and we had a small allowance but
you know some somebody down the street had the new Tony Alva skateboard and
that’s what we wanted Tony ala or Tony Hawk no no the original ala oh the Ala
okay yeah and so the comicazi that was like the cheapest one you could buy
well we had a skate park down the street where’d you grow up Culver City
California oh your C okay yeah and so we wanted the nice skateboards and and
so we were trying to we were trying to do the same thing earn money so we
decided that one holiday season we would paint the outside windows of
businesses with you know holiday themes and so we we lined up like a whole
block of businesses and that would give us that would earn us enough money to
go get so we did the whole block and um and we didn’t know anything about
painting or any of that stuff and I don’t know two or three days later we
went we went driving by or flying by the street and all the paint had peeled
off peeled off already all the windows yeah did you give like a money back
guarantee we did not and we were scarce we did not go around that area much
after that that’s probably wise that’s probably wise yeah yeah okay so you
learn there’s great margins in fireworks but you don’t go into the fireworks
business you went off to college yeah and you went to at the time Rick’s
College I couldn’t get into BYU I I tried applied for to briam Young uh four
different times it was my fourth try I finally got in so go figure after it
not getting in I go and teach there later on life but I don’t I don’t know
for sure but I hear that it’s really easy to get into BYU yeah I hear it’s a
lot easier to get up north um up at the U someone told me that like pretty
much you just have to fill out an application but we could talk about that
later if you want let’s okay let’s I think actually admission to either University
may be tied to an nil deal this year these days oh really maybe maybe not
okay so you went to Ricks did you go for a couple years and then go to go to
BYU yeah I had to meet my wife first and interesting enough interestingly
enough um I asked her to marry me on March 8th and that very next week I
finally got into BYU and so uh I was supposed to meet her first and so
grateful for that and in fact my very first date with her I dropped her off I
looked at my buddy I said I’m going to marry that girl he’s like what you
just took her out for the first time I said I know that’s the girl I’m going
to marry I just got to convince her so finally I convinced her and so
grateful for that but uh and then headed off to BYU yep nice okay now at this
point you’re you’re heading into to BYU what is your course of study what
have you determined you want to do for the your life I thought I was going to
be a stock broker I thought I was going to go work on Wall Street and I I
realized quickly that’s the last thing I ever wanted to do um so during
college started a business called Cowboy Inc and complete complete failure um
had a lot of fun uh had a partner in that we learned a ton went out of
business worked at a tech company called freeport.com we blew through a lot
of money um in 14 months and uh and then after that uh yeah started a company
called one-on-one while I was still at school and trying to graduate that’s
the marketing company it was yeah how is your family at this point two little
kids so I started the company and uh we had $126 in the account $126 in your
banking account the company person oh in your personal banking account SL
company company we got down to $126 two little kids and uh I’ve told this
story numerous of times this is where my wife like just just just she’s
incredible she just never questioned me never questioned me did she knew the
balance oh of course she was the balance in the checkbook she knew every bit
of balance but never question me she’s like let’s just go get him go get him
tiger and it was my mother-in-law that saw me twice in one week at Costco for
some reason she was there I don’t know why but she saw me eating samples and
she got really concerned and she called her uh her husband up and she said
you need to talk to to our son-in-law because I’ve seen him twice at Costco
eating samples during lunch M so I was tring actually I should probably ask
her why was she there at lunch eating samples at the same time but uh I would
love the fact that she was so concerned about us and so he called me in my
father-in-law and hey uh you doing okay you doing all right do we need to
talk I’m like I’m doing great doing great and uh you know we figured it out I
started that business with $2,000 it was just grew it organically and you
started with 2,000 how quickly did you get down to $126 oh within I like I
had to pay for the first month and last month of rent for our our office and
that was $750 on the front end 750 on the back end I’m down to 500 so I got
down to $126 that was our low point that was a low Point by the way Costco
samples are Universal so people who like maybe in your position like that
provided sustenance but also people who don’t really need the samples
everybody just loves the samples yeah they’re great that’s why your
mother-in-law was there cuz she just loved the samples yeah she was there cuz
she’s always cooking for us and she’s just incredible she’s the best
mother-in-law you could ever asked for you just pull up to the bar and she’s
got food there for you yeah okay $126 you’re doing marketing do you have any
clients at this point who yeah yeah so we had ancestry.com um I was doing
lead we were doing lead generation for them and at the time they would have
us Drive traffic to their online uh landing page and if you would get a free
trial of someone signing up for the subscription service and they would pay
us for that subscription service but I got them to eventually prepay us
$10,000 up front and uh um this was earlier on and long story short after two
and a half months we generated $90 and they prepaid US 10 grand and they
called me up they said we need our $99,900 back and we didn’t have it and uh
and that’s when I realized I got to figure this out that whole like mindset
of what we learn what I was learning as a kid and learning as I was starting
to grow up kind of kicked in like Nick if I ought to be it’s up to you like
you got to get this you got to get working and you can’t depend upon others
and that’s what I was doing I was depending upon other groups third parties
and saying okay can you guys do it sure we got this we can do it and that’s
when I realized I got to teach myself how to drive traffic online I got to
figure out how to drive traffic to a landing page I gotta figure I mean it was
just like I got to learn this and uh that was the the School of Hard Knocks
and realizing I I got to go out and figure this out for myself and I can’t
sit back and let others create my own destiny like if things are going to
happen I got to go happen to those things I can’t let them happen to me oh
it’s such a great lesson I I have so many questions surrounding that so let
me try and not muddle through this but first of all I I I knew someone one of
the higher ups at ancestry.com I may or may not have been related to him I
don’t want to tell you his name because I don’t want him to have been the guy
who called you who was it calling Tom stockum oh Tom great no it was ver no
Tom they were all great okay no I was so grateful because these guys who did
call up yeah um verl being the one like he worked with us and but yet so
after six months we became their second highest acquisition leader meaning we
requiring more leads and more um free trials than any other group besides one
group out of California and so they became great partners and it like because
they were partners because of verl and because of Mike and and others and
Andrew that was working there I’ll never forget I’m forever grateful to these
guys cuz they put total trust in me and they’re like Nick you owe his money
but we’re going to help you out we got your back and uh you’re fighting like
no other and we see this fight so we want to go fight with you and I’ll tell
you this lesson learn you go fight for everything you possibly can do not be
a victim you go own it yourself and when you can go own Own It other people
will recognize that they will see that they will want it they will crave it
and they’re going to surround you and circle those wagons like no other and
they’re going to go we got your back let’s do this together and that’s when
it becomes so much fun when people are rallying around you especially as a
small weak sauce entrepreneur like myself and realizing you know what I can
go accomplish these great things and I was so for and I will forever be
grateful to them I’m so glad that you said that especially about I think
today it’s difficult because we Face a lot of this victim mindset and it just
doesn’t align with M making yourself improving yourself getting better you’re
you’re not a victim you can take control and I’m so grateful that you shared
that lesson because people need to understand that and realize that is you
you saying look I I can’t rely on third parties I need to do this myself I
need to figure it out and when you do that it’s like you said people will
align and and get on board with you is that was the marketing thing something
that you just kind of looked at and thought hey I could make this work or is
it something you had been working toward before you started that company no I
no no I listen I I’m a firm believer that everything can be divinely led um
if you allow it and if you really truly listen and just slow down a little
bit and just listen um I believe in a loving God who truly wants to guide you
down the very best path for you for your family for your loved ones to teach
you the very most that you need to be taught and I really believe I learned
at an early age in my career to slow down and just listen what does he want
and I go and do just that period no questions asked as soon as I do that it’s
amazing to see how things exponentially grow like no other and that’s when it
gets super fun and then you start pulling on others who may be non-believers
and start becoming Believers in the way of doing things that maybe aren’t
done normally and uh and so for us like for me on the marketing side I was
very opportunistic and it was about just what’s the opportunity M Nordic
Track came to us and said we need mailers for our 76 retail locations done
have you done that can do that hey we need a point of purchase you know point
of sale um uh you know uh uh banners and signs can you do that absolutely got
that hey we need bill got it we can do that and so I was just like I’ll
figure it out I’ll figure it out I’ll figure it out and then it started
morphing into what the business should be and so once once we establish the
foundation of okay there’s cash it’s profit was profitable since day one it
was just like okay now let’s go create the business and so you get away from
the opportunistic side of just okay I just got to make it work right to now
it’s working but now let’s go create the not the lifestyle but the Legacy
side of the business and now let’s go create something that’s going to be
sustainable and that’s when it started shifting and started building it out
the way that we built it out at that point so I think your attack mentality
is really coming into play here like you’re just going out no fear you’re
going out attacking each day attacking each opportunity I want to touch on
one thing that you mentioned as a person of Faith because uh you said that
you believe in a loving God who will provide opportunities and that doesn’t
mean that a loving God is not going to keep you from struggle is that would
you agree with that or disagree with that Define struggle I mean it’s it’s
how you define it because what you may see as a struggle I may see as an
opportunity for sure and a blessing um I used to do this in the class that I
used to teach at BYU where I’m like don’t look at this as homework I’m going
to call these opportunities what what do you mean it’s just a paradigm shift
the way that you’re like oh I got to go check the bock get my homework done
or you can look at this as I’m going to look at this as an opportunity to
learn what do I need to learn that’s up to you so what you may call or
someone else may call struggle I may call is a it’s an opportunity yeah
what’s the opportunity so is it is it a struggle is he trying to get us to
struggle or is he trying to get us to stretch to learn to become who we ought
to be well I like the way you said it a lot better it’s an opportunity but I
think people would classify that as a struggle are are you familiar with the
the stoic philosophy a little bit there’s a great story the founder of
stoicism uh Chino of sidium Shipwrecked Lost all of his stuff and was you
know trying to figure out what he was going to do next when he heard some AR
someone talking about Aristotle and he thought that’s that’s my life’s
passion and then he he founded the stoicism the philosophy of stoicism and
later on he said I made a very prosperous Voyage when I Shipwrecked and so
nobody wants to go through the Shipwreck but what was created as a result of
that and it feels very similar to what you’re describing I would agree with
it yeah so what happened now with with one-on-one you guys are successful
you’re strategically growing the business and what’s the next step uh yeah we
grow the business and and uh it was awesome it was incredible experience and
eight and a half years into it we we end up selling it off and and uh a big
chunk of it to two private Equity groups came in and purchased a a large
portion of the business and you know really we grew the business into I owned
and operated about 7,000 plus web domains and web properties and just at that
time that worked for you know it worked I mean could you do that same type of
business today probably not but at the time what was crazy were people would
go to browsers