When it comes to family businesses, there are a lot of different dynamics at play. And when things go wrong, it can be tough to cope with the fallout. Bankruptcy can be a very difficult and stressful time for everyone involved. The impact on mental health is often devastating and can feel like a personal failure. In today's edition of the Knucklehead Podcast, our guest, Billy Self, talks about the trauma his parents went through when their family business went bankrupt. He also shares the story of his journey to taking ...
When it comes to family businesses, there are a lot of different dynamics at play. And when things go wrong, it can be tough to cope with the fallout. Bankruptcy can be a very difficult and stressful time for everyone involved. The impact on mental health is often devastating and can feel like a personal failure.
In today's edition of the Knucklehead Podcast, our guest, Billy Self, talks about the trauma his parents went through when their family business went bankrupt. He also shares the story of his journey to taking over the family business, how he became a serial entrepreneur, and what the most significant turning point in his life and business was. Despite the many failures in his business, Billy realized how faith can make a huge difference in someone else's life and why mentorship is so valuable.
Billy Self is the President of Warehouse-Pro, a project and contractual provider of warehousing, distribution, merchandising, freight management, and specialized logistics services for retail, technology, and various other industry verticals. Its mission is more than shipping and warehousing – it's about giving your business the space it needs to grow and expand into new markets.
Enjoy!
In This Episode
03:22 - Backstory of Billy Self
05:39 - How Billy's family business recovered from bankruptcy
09:12 - The trauma Billy's parents experienced when their family business failed
10:33 - How Billy's father got involved in politics
13:42 - Billy's journey to taking over his family's business
19:05 - What motivated Billy to run the family business despite many challenges
25:42 - How Billy discovered that he's more of a salesman than an operator
28:34 - How Billy became a serial entrepreneur
35:48 - How Billy overcame his self-doubt
45:10 - One of Billy's most significant turning points in life and business
57:23 - Billy's thoughts on how things turned out during his most challenging times
1:04:23 - Billy's advice to his younger self
Favorite Quotes
19:05 - "I didn't have any other options at that time. But once I got into it and my frustration was at its highest, I didn't know what to do. I was crying many times about how to make payroll. My grandfather pulled me aside and said, 'you don't know what it's like to run a small business until you're crying on a Thursday night because you don't know how you make payroll the next day. And I experienced that quite a few times." - Billy Self
31:38 - "The trauma of bankruptcy for my dad in the early eighties always stuck with him. He never tells me what to do. He would go, "son, my experience is this debt is scary. Keep yourself out of court and keep yourself out of dangerous debt." - Billy Self
53:50 - "I was a functioning alcoholic. And so all the stressors, all the self-doubt of my whole adult career and the company was a lot of drinking - drinking at the office, drinking after the office, drinking at home, drinking again after that. It was bad. And it had gotten to where I couldn't remember the last time I didn't have a drink on a day." - Billy Self
54:43 - "I stopped drinking on September 10th, 2018. That was my last drink. It was a big deal for me, and that's when my faith leapfrogged. I got closer to God because there was a big piece of my life that I was giving too much to alcohol, self-doubt going, and self-medicating." - Billy Self
55:19 - "It was a year after stopping drinking that the warehouse opportunity to go across the street to the bigger place came with a handshake deal. I have never met anybody who could lease a warehouse space on a handshake." - Billy Self
59:40 - "I want my girls to know that it's okay to fail, and it's cool to fail greatly as long as you feel what God was putting on your heart to try." - Billy Self
1:04:53 - "Don't stop searching for the best mentor to help you walk through your career and your life." - Billy Self
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