Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / From Startup to Significant Exit: Entrepreneurship, Fulfillment, and Legacy with Joe Elphick

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From Startup to Significant Exit: Entrepreneurship, Fulfillment, and Legacy with Joe Elphick · Beyond Fulfillment Podcast

• 0:04
  The timing was perfect.
• 0:06
  It was even on such a bad situation.
• 0:09
  But Covid was hitting and the pharmaceutical companies were gearing up.
• 0:15
  So at the time.
• 0:16
  In today's episode, we sit down with Joe Elphick, a true entrepreneurial trailblazer who launched his own company at just 22 years old and transformed a modest investment into a thriving business that spanned over four decades.
• 0:31
  Joe's journey is nothing short of Inspiring.
• 0:34
  From grueling 14 hour work days and overcoming industry upheavals to mastering the art of finding niches that led to a highly successful exit.
• 0:44
  After selling his business to a global competitor, Joe pivoted to a life focused on legacy, family, and giving back.
• 0:53
  In this episode, you'll hear Joe discuss the highs and lows of building a company from scratch, the power of putting employees first, and the unexpected turns that led him to write his book, True Fulfillment.
• 1:06
  We'll dive deep into Joe's practical wisdom on leadership, fulfillment and reframing life's big questions.
• 1:13
  Whether you're a business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or just looking for some inspiration on living a life with purpose, this conversation is packed with actionable insights you won't want to miss.
• 1:24
  As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.
• 1:29
  All right, Joe Elick, welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
• 1:34
  Thank you, Dave.
• 1:35
  A pleasure to be here.
• 1:37
  Absolutely.
• 1:37
  It's a pleasure having you here and we can't wait to get into your story.
• 1:41
  Thank you.
• 1:42
  So.
• 1:42
  So Joe, you've recently written a book, True Fulfillment, and you're a keynote speaker and you're in, at this stage of your life, you're very focused on the legacy that you're, you're leaving for the next generation.
• 1:55
  But you've got a fascinating journey up until then, which basically started with you becoming an entrepreneur at 22 years of age with a very small investment and growing that company significantly over many years, ultimately culminating in a very
• 2:12
  successful exit and then leading into what you're doing now.
• 2:15
  But can you just, just for our listeners, take us back to, to how the journey started and, and how it evolved from there?
• 2:22
  Yeah, we're talking about the, the entrepreneur side of this, I guess.
• 2:25
  Yeah, sure.
• 2:26
  Well, again, started early, one of one of nine children.
• 2:29
  If anything you want to do in life, you had to make your own money, so to speak.
• 2:32
  So everything from paper routes to short order cooking to chefing and things of that nature.
• 2:38
  Met a girl, you get married and you got to make real money and support a family and always had an interest in printing.
• 2:45
  So I found an old piece of equipment, didn't cost much money.
• 2:49
  And we started doing trade work for printing companies in the Raleigh area.
• 2:55
  Basically die cutting and just kept moving it forward, reinvesting and reinvesting and, you know, to the point when it was time to sell.
• 3:07
  Okay, okay.
• 3:08
  All right.
• 3:09
  And then.
• 3:09
  So you sold that company five years ago.
• 3:13
  Right.
• 3:14
  And after.
• 3:15
  Because you had that company, what was it, 40 plus years?
• 3:17
  Correct.
• 3:19
  So, I mean, let's just go back to the beginning when you first got into that business.
• 3:22
  Right.
• 3:23
  You spent just a few hundred dollars to get started.
• 3:25
  Did you have any idea what.
• 3:28
  What you were going to build and turn it into at that point in time?
• 3:33
  It's a great question, Dale.
• 3:34
  This is where dreams are bigger than life.
• 3:36
  Because sometimes dreams could get you way past stumbling blocks and things that will hold you back.
• 3:43
  And I don't know if I was too young and stupid or too excited to plan, but, you know, I just went along with it as much as I can.
• 3:49
  Had cash flow issues, every kind of issue you could name, but stayed with it.
• 3:55
  And we just started small and I kept reinvesting the money back in.
• 4:00
  We certainly didn't have a lot of exciting things to do in life.
• 4:03
  So I had to live and breathe that business literally 14 hours a day, seven days a week for two years, including holidays.
• 4:14
  Okay.
• 4:14
  And.
• 4:15
  And that's at the very beginning, Right.
• 4:16
  When you're just getting it off the ground and trying to grow it.
• 4:19
  That's correct.
• 4:20
  That's probably year one, year one and two.
• 4:23
  Okay.
• 4:23
  And did you have any idea, like, what you were signing up for, so to speak, in terms of becoming an entrepreneur, in terms of those type of hours and that type of.
• 4:33
  Of commitment just to get something off the ground?
• 4:36
  They've absolutely not.
• 4:37
  One thing I learned, it comes to being an entrepreneur and a leader, it's something you.
• 4:42
  You don't know you're going in that direction.
• 4:44
  It's in your DNA.
• 4:45
  You don't even know you have it.
• 4:46
  And all of a sudden people are calling you an entrepreneur or they're calling you a leader.
• 4:50
  It was really a sense of surviving and wanting good things in life for me and the family that really drove me to success.
• 5:00
  Okay.
• 5:01
  And you know, at.
• 5:04
  So year one and two.
• 5:05
  Right.
• 5:05
  Clearly just getting it off the ground.
• 5:07
  A lot of.
• 5:08
  A lot of challenges, a lot of long hours.
• 5:10
  Was there a certain inflection point where things really started to take off?
• 5:14
  And you realize why?
• 5:15
  I think.
• 5:16
  I think I got something here.
• 5:18
  Yes.
• 5:19
  You know, we.
• 5:19
  Once we're able to identify niches, and the niche we had was so Small because we were so limited in in equipment.
• 5:29
  I had to look for some sort of packaging that required zero printing but was only die cut.
• 5:35
  And maybe I could use a glue machine.
• 5:36
  Buddy, we did not have that.
• 5:38
  So basically would hand glue cartons with Elmer glue bottles.
• 5:44
  And the.
• 5:45
  The air we looked at this is prior to NAFTA were woven label and printed label companies in a very unique two piece box that required no printing.
• 5:55
  And it was a sleeve and a tray.
• 5:56
  And looking for all kinds of woven label companies.
• 6:03
  And most of them were in the Southeast.
• 6:05
  By luck I happened to move in that area which I didn't realize that was a niche I wanted.
• 6:11
  So we really mastered that niche really well.
• 6:15
  And it gave us predictability in the market and it afforded us to buy that first printing machine.
• 6:23
  It afforded us to get a reputation and have some cash where I could farm out printing and.
• 6:28
  And move beyond that nich to other niches.
• 6:33
  Okay.
• 6:34
  All right.
• 6:34
  And so once you realized that the power of that niche and then you got you like you said, you got to expand into to other niches.
• 6:44
  I mean what.
• 6:44
  How did you go about growing from them and kind of capitalizing on the momentum you built?
• 6:50
  Yeah, I think under predictableness and fear.
• 6:56
  When all of a sudden laws change and you're in the Southeast here and doing a lot of work for text companies and NAFTA comes along and all your customers either shut down or they move to Mexico.
• 7:09
  And looked around and I looked around, I looked at my competition and in North Carolina, pharmaceutical companies were starting to emerge.
• 7:19
  So I wanted to go down that path.
• 7:21
  And it was amazing.
• 7:22
  The first account took me eight years to get into because the only thing I could give them at that point were unprinted folding cartons.
• 7:31
  And there was not many of them, but there was a need here for small runs.
• 7:36
  And I was able to get some printing done in really major and small production runs which were again, it was a niche that was being ignored in the Southeast.
• 7:45
  And as luck would have it, or hard work.
• 7:48
  When you get in that niche, you do really well at it and you start adding equipment and you keep a good reputation.
• 7:55
  You, your customers become your friends and they need you.
• 7:59
  And if you.
• 8:00
  We did a good job at the entry level.
• 8:01
  We were invited to increase business as the years went on.
• 8:06
  Okay.
• 8:07
  And that's such a powerful principle, I think for anyone running a business, terms of doing good work on the front end.
• 8:16
  Right.
• 8:16
  And your customers become your friends and they need you.
• 8:19
  I mean, was that just something that was like innate for you in terms of like starting the company and wanting to grow it and just valuing the customer relationship that much.
• 8:30
  Two things.
• 8:31
  I think it was long term focus.
• 8:33
  But I think at the crux of the matter of my company was I was an employee for a while in different organizations and I really recognize the value of employees.
• 8:44
  And I remember having a discussion, it wasn't an argument, it was more of a debate which is more, which is more important, should you value your customers or your employees first and foremost.
• 8:56
  And you see so many taglines.
• 8:58
  Customer focus, customer focus, customer focus.
• 9:00
  And I really took the other end.
• 9:03
  I really focused on employees and I felt and I still believe this strongly, the better the employees you have, the more successful your business will be and it'll perform better which is that's what do customers want.
• 9:17
  And there's a point in time where my company became an esop company where my company was owned one third owned by the employees as part of the retirement plan.
• 9:26
  And that that was a lot of fuel for my company to be successful when I could teach hourly employees and management that this is your business too.
• 9:35
  You can share in the wealth you help create.
• 9:39
  It was like having it went from an individual company to a very aggressive team of employees and manager that wanted success.
• 9:49
  Love that.
• 9:51
  Okay.
• 9:51
  All right.
• 9:52
  And then did you.
• 9:54
  When throughout the journey.
• 9:56
  Right.
• 9:57
  Because I know you had a lot of ups and downs.
• 9:59
  When did you realize that there was potential for an exit?
• 10:02
  And, and how did that come about?
• 10:06
  Well it came about as, as I became of age and you know nothing confidential about this but 30 year marriage all of a sudden ended and I'm at the 60, 64 and 80% of our wealth is tied to
• 10:24
  business and a great marriage but it was ending and still have children and wanted to do the right thing.
• 10:32
  I could give my ex wife everything I had but that would not fulfill the 5050 arrangement that we we promised each other.
• 10:41
  So I had to plan to exit the business.
• 10:44
  If your business is an e commerce brand, this message is for you.
• 10:49
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• 10:52
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• 11:00
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• 11:08
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• 11:16
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• 11:22
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• 11:32
  It was even on such a bad situation.
• 11:35
  But Covid was hitting and the pharmaceutical companies were gearing up.
• 11:41
  So at the time I sold and it's Irish luck or something, but I had the 12 best years of trailing profits which is what the value of your business is decided on.
• 11:55
  12 trailing months.
• 11:56
  EBITDA and I happen to have the best.
• 11:59
  And it was, the timing was perfect.
• 12:02
  I had to put a board of directors together years prior and I had somebody, a investment banker on my team and he was again applauding that this is the time Joe.
• 12:12
  You know, I could have kept on stalling, paying off my wife, my ex wife, what she deserved, but the timing was perfect to do it all right then and there.
• 12:25
  Wow.
• 12:25
  Okay, so perfect timing.
• 12:28
  You make this very successful exit and then like what, what happens next?
• 12:36
  Well again depending who you sell it to and how it goes.
• 12:41
  I had children working in the business.
• 12:43
  I was at a retirement age.
• 12:46
  So I decided to sell the business to non private equity.
• 12:50
  I wanted to sell to directly to a competitor that would take the company to the next level and use my employees and grow the business.
• 12:59
  And a company was a publicly traded company out of London was competing with us and, and we were just taking more and more market share from them.
• 13:10
  So it was a win win.
• 13:11
  They would be able to grab my company and add it to their, their team and, and it was very successful after that and I was able to bow out gracefully with a non compete for five years.
• 13:21
  And I wasn't sure what I was going to do but certainly going to learn how to enjoy life a little more, spend more time with kids, grandkids, golf, fish, all that good stuff.
• 13:30
  And you know that that doesn't end everything though, you know, with that enjoyment.
• 13:35
  I'm still one that likes to stay busy.
• 13:38
  I still like to work.
• 13:39
  So that's been the latest challenge of keep my hours busy and this book was one really give myself a productive boost.
• 13:48
  Okay, and, and tell, tell us about the book, the concept of it and how that all came about.
• 13:55
  Yeah, again I want to reiterate the book is based on 10 commandments, but it's not a religious book.
• 14:00
  This book is about mankind.
• 14:02
  And there were a lot of drivers to this.
• 14:05
  You know, born and raised Catholic, all that good stuff.
• 14:08
  And we live in a world of religions fighting with each other.
• 14:12
  And, and you know the spiritual side was it a holy spirit that drove me pragmatic side is about grandkids and papa being a papa, you know, is it the purpose of this book?
• 14:23
  Maybe to have more revenue to donate to my favorite charity, the Children's Flight of Hope.
• 14:29
  Or was it just an obligation?
• 14:31
  I lived 70 years and I want to give back.
• 14:33
  So there's a lot of drivers.
• 14:35
  Very undefined.
• 14:36
  It was not a clear path.
• 14:37
  But I kept being driven to get this done.
• 14:39
  And my wife, my new wife, she kept pushing me to do something about it because it kept coming up in conversations.
• 14:47
  So, you know, we look at the Ten Commandments, and I send my daughters to Catholic school, and they can't recite the Ten Commandments in order.
• 14:56
  Some of them couldn't even say what they were.
• 14:58
  And I talked to theologians.
• 14:59
  They could not recite the Ten Commandments.
• 15:02
  Everybody is friends of mine that were Protestants could not recite the Ten Commandments.
• 15:07
  And it really was interesting because you just turned a page and they're not allowed in public schools and they're not allowed here.
• 15:13
  And I'm saying, man, what is the confusion about Ten Commandments?
• 15:17
  And I really think, because they are archaic, because they're tied to religion, they're not pragmatic.
• 15:23
  But in fact, if you look at the Ten Commandments, three of them pertain to the Creator.
• 15:27
  And I think every religion we have believes that a creator created this mankind.
• 15:34
  And the seven are about mankind.
• 15:36
  And then, you know, two of them tell us what to do, eight of them tell us what not to do.
• 15:42
  And I said, man, such a dichotomy here.
• 15:44
  And it just kept haunting me to dig into this, because they create great moral values, the Ten Commandments.
• 15:50
  And I think if I could spin them away from religion, maybe call it spiritual, but really about mankind, that if I could reframe each commandment into a commitment that would make us better human beings, make us truly fulfilled
• 16:04
  and enjoy our lives better, that it might be something to it.
• 16:07
  And it was, you know, something that kept driving me and driving me.
• 16:10
  And when you started the first Commandment, it got deeper and deeper.
• 16:14
  And I would sequester myself in a location where it's by myself every Monday, starting at 10 o' clock in the morning sometime, and then at 6 o' clock at night, just writing these thoughts down and just trying to
• 16:26
  get, you know, my arms around them.
• 16:29
  And I won't call it haunting, because that's not a good word used, but, you know, spiritually driven.
• 16:35
  Okay, and just tell us what those.
• 16:37
  Can you elaborate, too on what those chapter titles are and how you kind of reframed those commandments into the.
• 16:43
  The commitments, as you say?
• 16:45
  Yeah.
• 16:45
  So, you know, the first three really pertain to our creator.
• 16:53
  So I reframe the first one instead of have no strange gods before me into human mankind.
• 16:58
  Forgiveness.
• 16:59
  Let's practice forgiveness.
• 17:00
  We are all imperfect.
• 17:02
  Nobody is perfect.
• 17:03
  So if we're all not perfect, let's learn how to forgive each other.
• 17:07
  And the second one is, have no strange.
• 17:09
  Do not use the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
• 17:12
  Well, I change that.
• 17:13
  Refer.
• 17:13
  How about human kindness?
• 17:15
  You know, don't be vain to anybody.
• 17:16
  Let's treat mankind with kindness.
• 17:19
  And the third one is, you know, this pertaining to our Creator, Keep holy the Lord's day.
• 17:24
  And.
• 17:25
  And I pertain it.
• 17:26
  What do you do on that?
• 17:27
  You're always thankful for stuff.
• 17:28
  You know, if you go to church, you always think how lucky we are, how thankful you are.
• 17:31
  So the chapter was gratitude.
• 17:34
  And you go on, on that.
• 17:36
  The fourth chapter is on.
• 17:38
  The fourth commandment is, thou shalt honor thy mother and father.
• 17:41
  I reframe that into family.
• 17:43
  How we should focus on our family.
• 17:46
  The fifth commandment, Thou shalt not kill.
• 17:48
  Well, that's.
• 17:48
  That's easy.
• 17:49
  How do you teach your kids not to kill?
• 17:51
  Right.
• 17:51
  What should we teach our kids?
• 17:53
  We should teach them to nurture other human beings.
• 17:56
  Nurture other people.
• 17:57
  Nurture their career.
• 17:58
  Nurture what they do.
• 18:00
  Well, the sixth commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
• 18:04
  Again, don't.
• 18:05
  That's an easy thing not to tell your children not to do.
• 18:07
  But what should you tell your children?
• 18:08
  Do but teach them to be loyal.
• 18:11
  Loyal to even a baseball team.
• 18:12
  Loyal to the family, loyal to their friends.
• 18:14
  But teach loyalty.
• 18:16
  The seventh commandment, Thou shalt not steal.
• 18:19
  Well, that's easy, right?
• 18:20
  But is that what you want to teach your kids?
• 18:22
  Or maybe you want to teach your children and your.
• 18:24
  And live a life of generosity.
• 18:26
  Share your time, talent or treasure.
• 18:28
  You don't have to be wealthy to share and be generous.
• 18:31
  The eighth commandment is thou shalt not bear false witness.
• 18:34
  Well, don't lie.
• 18:35
  Well, that's good, but why not invert that reframe into honesty, Live a life of honesty, Teach honesty.
• 18:43
  Then we get the ninth, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
• 18:47
  Well, okay.
• 18:48
  What should you do?
• 18:48
  Well, you should respect.
• 18:50
  Respect other relationships.
• 18:52
  Respect other people.
• 18:53
  And the tenth commandment?
• 18:54
  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor goods.
• 18:57
  Well, don't come.
• 18:57
  It's being jealous.
• 18:59
  Let's practice being appreciative.
• 19:01
  Take time and show your appreciation to other human beings.
• 19:06
  Okay.
• 19:07
  Well, that's a great reframe too.
• 19:08
  And certainly putting those principles into practical what to do.
• 19:13
  Right.
• 19:13
  Which seems, you know, like you said something that people of regardless of faith or religion can, can wrap their arms around and get value from.
• 19:23
  Okay.
• 19:24
  And Joe, since you've been on this new path after you sold your business, right, you're.
• 19:29
  You've taken time at this age too, to enjoy life more.
• 19:33
  So and, and you have this passion project with the book and now you're doing speaking and, and other things.
• 19:40
  I mean, what's been the best part of, of all that in your later years?
• 19:44
  Well, I'm not.
• 19:46
  I do not like to read.
• 19:47
  So for me to write a book is this just ridiculous.
• 19:51
  And that probably held me back a year from doing this.
• 19:54
  I don't.
• 19:55
  I mean, I read books every now and then, but my attention span, I was adhd just doesn't hold me in long enough.
• 20:00
  So write this book for me to do this is a miracle.
• 20:04
  So not me.
• 20:05
  And I'll guarantee you I will never write another book because I can't imagine being moved like this has moved me.
• 20:11
  And it was a great project and just to finish it and you know, you write a book, it takes so long and there's so many renditions and then the last thing, you read the book and, and it really
• 20:25
  hit the nail on the head of what the message I want to give, you know, kids, grandkids, and mankind.
• 20:34
  Okay, all right.
• 20:35
  And Joe, people want to go get the book or learn more about your speaking or the other work that you're doing.
• 20:42
  What's the best way people can reach out to you online?
• 20:46
  Online will have a email, an email address dedicated to book, which is true.
• 20:50
  Fulfillmentastmail.com the book can be purchased on Amazon and that's pretty much it.
• 20:57
  The hardcover is still being developed.
• 20:59
  It should come out soon.
• 20:59
  Right now there's only a soft cover available.
• 21:03
  Okay.
• 21:04
  All right.
• 21:04
  And if people want to reach out to you for any other reason, too.
• 21:08
  Are you on LinkedIn?
• 21:10
  I'm sorry, you broke up just then.
• 21:12
  Are you on LinkedIn as well?
• 21:13
  Yes, I'm on LinkedIn, yeah.
• 21:15
  But LinkedIn has nothing to do about this book at this point.
• 21:17
  I'm going to put it on LinkedIn, but I am on there just for my past positions and I do currently do some consulting and things of that nature, but certainly on LinkedIn also.
• 21:27
  Okay, all right, well, we'll link all that in the show notes for everyone as well.
• 21:31
  Thank you.
• 21:32
  All right, well, Joe, thank you so much for taking the time to be here and sharing all this valuable wisdom from your journey with our audience.
• 21:38
  We greatly appreciate it.
• 21:39
  Thank you.
• 21:40
  Dave is my pleasure.
• 21:41
  Good luck moving forward.