Mark: Everyone says to 'fail fast, fail often.' But what if the real secret to a nine-figure fortune isn't just failing, but understanding why you're a magnet for failure in the first place? It might be a sign you're an 'entrepreholic'—and it's a disease. Michelle: An 'entrepreholic.' Wow, that sounds... less like a badge of honor and more like a diagnosis. It has this dark, compulsive ring to it. I'm picturing someone frantically starting businesses in their garage at 3 a.m., surrounded by whiteboards and empty coffee cups. Mark: That's not far off. And it’s the provocative idea at the heart of Nine-Figure Mindset by Brandon Dawson. Michelle: Brandon Dawson. Okay, I’m intrigued. Mark: And Dawson knows a thing or two about both failure and massive success. This is a guy who bootstrapped a company, Audigy Group, with no outside capital and sold it for an incredible $151 million—at a 77X EBITDA multiple, which is just staggering for those in the business world. Michelle: Hold on, 77X? That’s astronomical. That’s not just a success, that’s a unicorn event. Mark: Exactly. But here's the twist. Before that, he was ousted from his own public company. The book is his story of that pivot, from spectacular failure to legendary success. Michelle: Okay, 'ousted from his own company' is a very polite way of saying he got fired. What happened there? Was that the 'entrepreholic' phase in full swing?

Mark: That was the peak of it. The story he tells is one of the most vivid illustrations of hitting rock bottom I've ever read. It takes place, of all places, on a pristine golf course in Palm Desert. Dawson had lost his company, Sonus, and was spending his days playing golf and complaining. Endlessly. Michelle: Oh, I know that guy. We all know that guy. The one who replays every bad beat and blames everyone but himself. Mark: Precisely. He was with his friend, Hector LaMarque, who was getting tired of the broken record. One day, Hector just pulls the golf cart over, looks him dead in the eye, and gives him this brutal dose of tough love. He tells him he’s stuck, focusing on the past, and that his words are defining his future. Michelle: That’s a brave friend. Most people would just nod along and then avoid their calls for a few weeks. Mark: Hector went even further. He scribbled something on a scorecard and handed it to Dawson. It said, "What you think is what you say. What you say is what you do. What you do is what you're known for. It's your legacy." Michelle: Wow. That's a mic drop on a scorecard. Mark: It was. Hector basically told him, "If you choose to learn nothing and stay this person, I can't be your friend anymore. You're better than this." And that was the wake-up call. Dawson realized he wasn't just a victim of circumstance; he was an 'entrepreholic'—addicted to the start of the business, the ego, the chase. But he was terrible at the follow-through, at leadership, at building something sustainable. Michelle: That’s a fascinating distinction. So it’s not about the love of building, but the love of the idea of building? Like a movie director who loves pre-production but walks off the set the moment the cameras start rolling for real. Mark: Perfect analogy. At his previous company, Sonus, he was the brash, ego-driven founder. He raised capital, went public, and expanded rapidly. But he alienated his partners, ignored his board, and ultimately, the very people he brought in to fund his dream were the ones who showed him the door. He was repeating a pattern of self-sabotage. Michelle: So the golf course intervention wasn't just about his attitude. It was about forcing him to see the blueprint of his own failures. He was the common denominator in all his problems. Mark: Exactly. And according to John Maxwell, who wrote the foreword to this book, this is a classic leadership problem. He quotes Maxwell's "Law of the Lid," which says your success can never outgrow your personal leadership capacity. Dawson's leadership was capped by his own ego and his inability to build genuine relationships. Michelle: It’s a painful but powerful idea. You can have the best business plan in the world, but if your personal operating system is buggy, the whole enterprise is going to crash. Mark: And that’s the pivot. He had to stop trying to be the hero of his own story and learn to be the guide for others. That shift didn't just save his career; it became the foundation for a completely new way of doing business.

Michelle: Okay, so he has this dramatic epiphany on a golf course. He realizes his ego is his enemy. That’s a great personal growth story. But how do you turn that into a $151 million business? A lot of people have epiphanies; very few build empires from them. Mark: That's the genius of it. He didn't just change his mindset; he operationalized it. He looked at the traditional business consolidation model—the "cram-down" approach where a big company buys a smaller one and forces its systems on them—and realized it was fundamentally broken. Michelle: The classic roll-up strategy. It usually creates a lot of resentment. The original owners feel like they sold out and are now just cogs in a machine. Mark: Exactly. They become disengaged. So Dawson decided to flip it entirely. He created what he calls a "reverse consolidation" model. Instead of Audigy being the all-powerful parent company, he positioned it as a management firm that worked for its clients. He told them, "I will come in, give you equity in my management company, and I will effectively be your employee. I work for you." Michelle: Wait, hold on. He gave his clients equity in his company? That sounds… financially insane. How do you make money giving away the farm? Mark: It sounds counter-intuitive, but it's brilliant. It aligns everyone's interests. Audigy provided 360-degree support—marketing, HR, finance, operations—all the stuff small business owners hate doing. In return, they took a management fee and a percentage of the growth they helped create. Because the clients were now part-owners, they were deeply invested in Audigy's success, and Audigy was deeply invested in theirs. It created a powerful, self-reinforcing ecosystem. Michelle: So it’s not a zero-sum game. It’s a win-win built on shared ownership. It’s like everyone in the boat is rowing in the same direction because they all own a piece of the boat. Mark: Precisely. And this philosophy was baked in from day one. The story of his first hire is legendary. He needed someone to make cold calls, and he found this sharp young guy named Mason Walker working at a Ferrari dealership. Michelle: Prospecting for talent at a Ferrari dealership. That’s a bold move. Mark: Dawson walks up to him and asks what his dream is. Mason says, "To manage this dealership one day." And Dawson just challenges him. "Why settle for managing it when you could own it? Or own ten of them?" He then offers him a job at Audigy with a lower salary than he was probably expecting. Michelle: I can see that going poorly. "Come work for my unknown startup for less money!" Mark: But here was the pitch. Dawson told him, "I’m not looking for an employee; I’m looking for a business partner. Stick with me, learn everything I teach you, and I promise you, when we sell this company, you will make over $10 million." Michelle: That is an audacious promise to a kid at a car dealership. Did it work? Mark: It did. Mason took the leap of faith. And when Audigy was sold years later, Dawson made good on his promise. Mason became the president, and eventually CEO, and walked away with a life-changing amount of money. That story encapsulates the whole philosophy: it’s not "Having-Doing-Being"—the idea that if you have the money, you'll do the things, and then you'll be happy. It's the reverse. You start with "Being" the kind of leader who creates value, which leads to "Doing" the right actions, which ultimately results in "Having" the success. Michelle: The promise to Mason wasn't just about money. It was about a shared journey and a piece of the outcome. He wasn't hiring a cold-caller; he was recruiting a co-conspirator in his vision. Mark: And that's how you build a nine-figure mindset. You stop thinking about what you can extract and start thinking about what you can create, together.

Michelle: It’s fascinating how the two big ideas in this book are so deeply connected. The journey is almost circular. The brutal self-awareness from that golf course moment wasn't just about personal growth. It was the research and development for the entire Audigy business model. Mark: That's a perfect way to put it. You can't engineer a business model based on shared success if you haven't first confronted your own selfishness. You can't 'reverse consolidate' for others if you haven't first reversed the ego within yourself. Michelle: And it challenges that lone-wolf, hero-entrepreneur myth that's so popular. The book is well-regarded, but it touches on themes you see in other business classics. The unique power here is Dawson's raw, personal proof. He lived the failure of the old model and then built a new one from its ashes. Mark: That's the nine-figure insight. It's not about a single brilliant idea or a killer product. It's about building a human system—a culture—where your success is a byproduct of creating success for everyone around you. The money follows the alignment. As Dawson says, "Outflow amplifies inflow." Michelle: It really makes you think. It’s not just for CEOs. In any team, in any relationship, you can be the 'cram-down' person who dictates terms, or you can be the 'reverse-consolidator' who asks, "How do we all win here?" Mark: A powerful question to end on. It makes you wonder, what's one relationship, personal or professional, where you could shift from 'what's in it for me?' to 'how can we both win?' That small change might be the first step. Michelle: A great thought to leave our listeners with. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.