Episode 1 Was A Complete Car Crash | Behind The Scenes

I’m standing there nervously staring back at my own face and the green dot next to my Macbook camera.

2 months worth of prep and I’m finally about to host my first podcast interview.

I’m nervous as hell… Joining me is 6 time business buyer James Richardson.

All I’ve got is my laptop, microphone, a list of questions and enough nerves to power a small city.

James pops up on the screen.

My heart instantly skips a beat, but before long it’s honestly not too bad. We’re casually going back and forth in small talk.

Convo is flowing.

But then I hit record…

All the calmness goes out the window.

My heart starts climbing faster than one of those freakish big horn goats sprinting up a mountain. I survive question 1. Phew!

But then I open my mouth for question 2…

I stumble for a second.

And then I freeze up completely. I’m doing my best impression of the Mannequin Challenge.

In a panic, I turn to my question list. It doesn’t matter that there’s 50 questions there, they may as well be written in Chinese.

Someone has taken a chainsaw and cut through the link between what my eyes are reading and how my lips are moving.

And then, just when I thought I'd hit rock bottom, James vanishes from the call.

Poof! Gone!

I'm staring at the screen like a lost puppy.

James has jumped ship to rescue himself from the sinking titanic this podcast has become.

One minute passes. I message him. No response.

2 minutes passes. Ok it’s done. I’ve messed it up completely.

Miraculously, he jumps back on the call.

Tech issues.

At this point I’ve got nothing to lose.

I snap out of the tense state that got me here in the first place and do the only thing left to get over the awkwardness:

Make fun of myself.

My mouth start working again:

“I froze in the first 30 seconds. Your computer drops out. It’s only up from here.”

James smurks, I laugh and we’re back in business.

We go onto have an awesome conversation.

James starts dishing out stories about his own mistakes back in the day. Turns out, he made his fair share too.

Although some of his cost 100’s of thousands of dollars.

All things considered, I’ll take my awkward freeze up any day of the week.

As I shut down the laptop, I couldn't help but smile.

Sure, I faced arguably the worse case scenario for my first interview.

I froze. I choked. But even that wasn’t that bad.

I recovered, and it actually made for a funny story.

Bring on the next 100 episodes.

Despite this car crash, the final episode came out strong!

James gave a business buying masterclass.

He shared the exact strategies he used to launch his career in acquisition entrepreneurship, the subsequent lessons learnt and how you can replicate his success.

Hit the link below to listen to James’ advice on:

• Start-ups vs buying established businesses

• Setting your business buying strategy: Solo-Biz Operator vs Multi-Biz Portfolio Owner

• What key business criteria to target in your search

• Pros and cons of different business types: service, manufacturing, etc.

• How to avoid overpaying for your first SMB acquisition

• How to build your investor network and bring on outside capital

• Financing SMB acquisitions

You won’t want to miss it.