Ethan Pegram

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@ConnorAbene Bundle

[Freddie New @freddienew]

My parents died suddenly in a car accident 25 years ago this year. I was 21, and became a guardian for my little brother and sister (10 and 12 at the time).

I've spoken about the accident and its impact on a couple of podcasts, but it's fresh on my mind as my brother just shared with me a handwritten letter I sent to him at his school. He's kept it with him ever since.

I've transcribed it below; he told me last night that it's helped him many times over the past two decades. Sharing it here in case what I said back then in an attempt to help a little lost boy is of assistance to anyone else.

23 July 2002

To Harry, From Freddie.

1. Don't panic.

2. You have many people watching your back. I am one of them and I am watching it very closely.

3. The accident was nobody's fault. Therefore we cannot legitimately blame anyone for it. We call it an accident for this reason.

4. We cannot bring Mummy and Daddy back – but this has important consequences:
– We need to remember what they taught us.
– We need to behave as they would have wanted us to.
– Because they are not alive, but we are, we owe both ourselves and their memory a duty to live as well and as fully as we possibly can, not to give in, not to give up. Because of the accident we have been given a very special insight into what it means to be alive – to live as fully as we can, to consider others, to work at what we are good at, and work even harder at what is difficult.

Something has been wasted, something has been lost. We must make sure that our lives are not. We shall always regret that Mummy and Daddy are not here – let us not regret anything we do, or know that we had a chance and threw it away.

Whatever happens, I have got your back. Even if I do sometimes hit you with cricket balls.

Run straight, look your foe in the eye, and never back down. Strength and honour!

I love you very much.

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@BoilerPlateCPA Quality

[M&A Focused CPA @BoilerPlateCPA]

Do you ever wonder how some entrepreners build multi million dollar businesses while the majority can't take a vacation without bringing their work phone to the beach in a plastic bag?

There's a specific set of steps that can be taken to build a company that gives you an outsized payday, freedom to work on what excites you, and builds enormous amounts of equity at the same time.

When you aren't clear on the framework to get there, it's easy to spend months, years, or decades fumbling around, while the strongest operators in your industry run away with your dream clients, the employees you wish you could afford, and a market presence that intimidates you.

After working with hundreds of business owners, doing over 150+ M&A deals (over $300 million in enterprise value), I decided to boil what the winners do into one simple framework:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.

When you do entrepreneurship well, you start to see things happen that feel unusual.

Your profits start to outpace your effort. When you open your banking app, you're pleasantly surprised by the balance.

You start to land record breaking customer accounts without having to slave away or discounting prices to land them.

Immaculate financial reports start landing in your inbox without you having to ask for them.

Your taxes are planned for. You pay quarterly and you file on time without having to pull your hair out.

When you decide you want to grow, you breeze through banker meetings and investor presentations.

Your spouse feels like they're falling back into the honeymoon phase again. They can't believe you have the time for date night and the flexibility to do the little spontaneous things that disappeared a long time ago.

And when all these fall in line, the business treats you so well that your market can sense it. when it's time to sell, buyers will flock to you before you even list publicly on the market, because the reputation of your business precedes itself.

Honestly, this framework took me about 10,000 hours of painstaking work before it crystallized. It took me thousands of client conversations, hundreds of diligence analyses, and an embarrassing amount of time fixing my own business before I could feel the power of what a high quality business really looked and felt like.

But the good news now is that you can benchmark yourself against it in about 4 minutes with our Quality of Ownership Assessment.

𝗥𝗧 & 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 "𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆" 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘇.

It's completely free, takes 2 minutes, and you'll get a detailed PDF report in your inbox as soon as you finish.

PS: I took this myself and scored a 70%. Getting my score above a 90% is my primary goal for 2026...

PPS: Welcome to Day 1 of Owner Independence Month. We’re releasing assets for you to inject into your business daily for the entire month to celebrate the 250 years of the most entrepreneurial country in the world!!

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@mattressguy_ Happy birthday!

[Dr. Julie Gurner @drgurner]

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass, anyway." - Earl Nightingale

Chasing "get rich quick" schemes actually puts people behind.

Just started building something meaningful...today.
Time is passing anyway.

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@jamesonhaslam And how into bourbon is this individual?

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@jamesonhaslam Blanton’s can be a good choice. Do you have a price range you’re aiming for?

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@ConnorAbene MRR

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@ConnorAbene Hire

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@ConnorAbene model

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@BoilerPlateCPA Report

[M&A Focused CPA @BoilerPlateCPA]

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗘𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗗𝗔.

And over the last year, 90% of businesses we've analyzed have had a DOWN TTM period compared to prior years marketed in the CIM.

For the buyers who didn't get a QofE, this is creating a phenomenon that I call a "distressed deal in disguise".

First time buyers are taking over thousands of businesses across the country, only to find out that they're walking into a trap that leaves them feeling blind, cash strapped, and over-operated.

If you bought a business and are struggling with cash flow + what to do next, I'd urge you to download this special report our team wrote.

You are in the hardest stage of the buy + build lifecycle, but I guarantee you there's a way forward. I've dealt with this w/ my clients + I've actually gone through liquidity struggles personally in my own business.

If you're going through this, you know that the stress can eat you alive.

Your working long hours but even when you're home, your mind is consumed with stress, and your spouse can tell. You've started forgetting important events, and you're getting questioned by people around you on "whether you care about anything other than work".

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙧, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

This special report has a free gift inside it that is only available for the next 10 days.

RT and Comment "Report" if you want a copy and I'll send it over ASAP

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@paulswaney3 INTEGRATION

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@BrentBeshore Do you mind sharing the book this came from?

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@BowTiedBroke Can't wait to checkout the views! @lorin_pegram @cpegr042 @bpegr112 @jnpegram in case anyone needs a new chainsaw

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@drgurner Fully agree with @DavidfCoyle, so much value added since following you!

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@nikitabier Business & leadership:
@drgurner
@STLChrisH
@RobertMSterling
@SecretCFO
@mhp_guy

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

@STLChrisH I really like the spirit of this tweet. Do you have a lot of 22yo employees making $75k? Dept, years of experience, etc will affect this but all things being equal $75k seems high.

Partially asking because I’ve been trying to help a struggling 24yo.

[Ethan Pegram @ethanpegram]

Stop waiting for perfect conditions. The obstacle itself is the condition. Move. Build. Act. This is what I'm working on right now.