My Review of Codie Sanchez’s Contrarian Uncon and Notes
I first heard Codie Sanchez back in 2019 when I attended my first GoBundance Event. Immediately I noticed how a passionate group of skeptical high net worth men perked up when Codie walked in the room and began speaking.
The takeaway: Codie is a fast-talking, data-driven, thoughtful person who really knows what she’s talking about. There’s something special and fun about an insanely bright minority powerhouse millennial female entrepreneur keeping all these men on their toes. Her message was primarily about how to acquire a small business and how to find and connect with people who are playing at a higher level than you. Her message was direct that all of these men can and should be doing more in their lives and communities than what they’re currently doing. It was time for the group to all to step up and change the world. She was challenging us to dare greatly.
Fast-forward to today and she recently had her first in-person event, called Contrarian Uncon, in Austin, Texas. And it was… well…
Read to the end to see my feedback on the conference.
The 2-day conference was held in the Hotel Van Zandt, which is an amazing venue, and only a few minutes from the airport. I had been to this hotel before back in 2019 when I had the good fortune of winning an opportunity to attend Gary Keller’s Quantum Leap (which if you can get your kids into one of those classes, absolutely do so). It felt good to be back, with restaurants and live music venues right around the corner.
Why I attended Contrarian Uncon.
Overall, I went Contrarian Uncon for several reasons:
To hear more from someone I have admired from afar and followed on social media.
To get perspective from entrepreneurs outside of the real estate space. I feel that currently there is a huge group think of just simply acquiring as much real estate as possible using long-term debt due to low-rates. I was curious to see perspectives of those who play outside of the real estate game. I personally believe that completing a high level of retail real estate acquisitions at this point in the market cycle is like trying to squeeze a dry orange and make orange juice. Yes, some can squeeze hard enough, but chances are that many will fail. We really only hear about the wins, but there’s lots of losses going on too that are not discussed publicly. It will be fascinating to see how the market plays out when interest rates go up.
To get around more people who are actually doing big things. So many people talk about doing big things, but so few do. I believe that Codie would attract the people who actually do stuff. And, I really appreciate that because I can relate to the achievement/builder mindset yet do not commonly find the mindset in my market locally.
To summarize, I attended Contrarian Uncon to connect with other big action takers and get business and personal perspectives.
Contrarian Uncon Notes
The Contrarian Uncon event started off with Codie Sanchez laying the tone of the event.
Here are my takeaways from Codie’s opening speech:
Find those who do instead of those who speak. Very rare characteristic.
It's easier to change yourself than it is to change the world.
The man who damns money has gotten it unhonorably, the man who respects it, earns it.
Business builders with employees are 1% of the population.
Cowards hide when the light is shined on them.
Hard times create hardened leaders.
Face punch today is inflation. Plan: extend debt maturities, solidify fixed loans vs variable, open additional lines of credit, locking in commodity contracts.
Civilize the mind, make savage your body, protect your business (main theme of the event)
What's your plan for a recession? cash reserves, 10x while everyone else shrinks, expect the worst, focus on downside margin scenarios, diversification.
Bullies respond to strength, not rationality. States and cities are competing for businesses.
Plan: Own your own supply chain, so shortages don't go away, make a win out of going local, be careful with the partners you choose
Get your cash ready for acquisitions. Cash is a commodity to us now, but it won't be in the future. Wealth is created in crisis.
2.5M small businesses are for sale ($1M+ revenue), 10,000 baby boomers retiring daily, 19% own a small business, 1 in 11 will sell within 12 months. This leave 91% of motivated sellers with businesses going unsold each year. Instead, this 91% are just closing down.
Cheapest interest rates of our lifetime. Access to capital will be the differentiator between the winners and the losers in the next market.
Become a sovereign individual (never let anyone own you). Don't shrug, pushback, instead, create.
The Man in the Arena quote. Dare greatly. Don't be a bystander to life. Get in the game. Get in the arena.
Contrarian Uncon Breakout Sessions.
The conference jumped right into the breakout sessions with the other speakers. This conference was like being inside Codie’s mind for two days. It was non-stop, fast-paced, and you need to unforgivingly keep up. Thankfully, being a former ibanker, this is my natural pace, but I could see others kind of squirm in their seats about the pace of each conversation.
Feedback: I noticed that there wasn’t a natural introduction at the beginning of the conference between members sitting together at each round table. I think this was a miss (even though it’s an Uncon). I would encourage an icebreaker to build connection and energy between the attendees. Also the name-tags just had attendee’s names, but lacked locations and primary businesses of each person, which I thought also could be improved for the next event.
What these breakout sessions really felt like is Codie putting all her brilliant friends all in the same room and getting them to tell their stories. And, by the way, that’s a good thing.
Sam Parr (Creator of The Hustle)
Create a newsletter, community, and then an information product (paid product), you can create a $100M business via newsletters.
Copy the greats and then work on top of them. See the patterns of the greats.
Read Warren Buffett’s annual reports. 27 words per sentence to 19 words per sentence over time. Simple, effective language that is easy to understand is the most important thing. Be direct, clear, and short.
Look for what people are already talking about and then add an angle to it.
When asking other people, reveal your information first.
Mikey Taylor (Pro Skateboarder -> Investor)
You're always going to take a loss if you're investing, it's impossible to avoid.
It's ok not to know something. when things go wrong, doesn't mean you shouldn't ever not invest in it again, go figure out what went wrong and go back into it and improve on it.
Do not compare yourselves to others. Kill your ego.
Entrepreneurship is lonely and isolating, not many you can relate to. Go find your tribe.
Raising money is much harder than it looks.
Financial education is not being provided through the government (school), it is on other sources. There's a high demand for financial knowledge.
Rob Abasolo (Tiny Houses & Airbnb)
Don't take people who ask for discounts on airbnb.
Took him 6 months for his first youtube video to go viral (and it was a video posted in the first month).
Document your story (wins and losses) and people will follow.
Ryan Snow (Former KW Franchise Owner, Small Biz, Masterminds, M&A)
First off, shoutout to Ryan Snow for being a badass. I took his course with Codie called Unconventional Acquisitions and it was basically a mini-MBA. He also came on the Move with Momentum podcast and blew us away. Here are my notes:
In order to get what you want, help enough people get what they want.
Money is just a conduit. The number itself doesn't matter.
What's the most important thing reaching that financial number would mean for you? (creating in passive) - why is that important to you?
Front Row Dads - family man with businesses not businessman with family. (FMWBNBMWF)
Find ways to invest so you don't have to trade time for money.
What are 5 dreams that you would like to make happen? it's not just about a financial number.
There are millions of hows... pick a lane and commit to it.
Deals are everywhere, no two deals look alike, have faith in the system (unwavering faith + effort).
W2 - stuck to safety of salary, working too many hours, little to no flexibility in schedule, building wealth for someone else, start-up is scary. side hustle prison.
Small Biz - spending on marketing that doesn't deliver, trading time for money, hiring the wrong people or not hiring, working even when they aren't working, they don't yet understand M&A. Every dollar that is invested should bring 3-5x back in revenue. Average good small biz grows 10-20% per year.
Investors - more supply, less demand sub $4-5M, availability of OPM for leverage to 90% LTV, seller financing that isn't the unicorn, substantially higher cash on cash returns, similar skill set, diversification of portfolio.
Look for $2-3M revenue, blue collar / service biz's, profitable at least $100k, micro PE, LBO/Seller Financing/SBA Option
10% rule - company takes up the least amount of your brain power to run (less than 10%).
Go for easy, simple, hassle-free and non-complex as possible.
Every time someone says proprietary - RUN. We are looking for cash flow Simple > Sexy.
Has to make $10K+ in cash flow. Preference is $300k-3MM range profit.
Ability to run itself or enough cash to hire an operator.
Beware of seasonality (when does the cash come).
bizbuysell.com, flippa.com, ecommerceflippers.com, microacquire.
You either bring time and talent (operating), or money (passive).
Random Notes from Additional Speakers (Mostly from Vanessa Van Edwards):
Create an energy. Look for trends.
Know your top 10 keywords and have videos for each one of them
Hero content should be really sexy
Quarterly / annual reporting process for your businesses
People are looking for warmth (trust) and then competence (smart and capable)
In videos, show your hands, show gestures.
Show where you’re going and why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Metrics to measure success and failure - one page.
Ask enemy for a favor - Franklin Effect, ask for a book.
YouTube shorts - do a ton of YouTube shorts. One video every week or two weeks. YouTube shorts 2-3x per week. 10 hero 10 hub 10 help. Do thumbnails - can increase engagement 500%. Instagram - daily audience
Tiktok - followers don’t matter at all, have to keep up with popular trends and music.
Know your audience and stick on message. Have a hook - say YOU in the first few seconds
Teach something - value add, Testimonial - social proof, Call to action.
Build an audience and community. Followers don’t really matter, it’s all about engagement.
There is more money in telling others how you make money vs the way you make money. The education sector is SO big.
Your personal brand is everything. Be yourself.
Topic clusters - link the articles together.
You can compete against the giants by focusing on location
Own the list, it’s already carved up mostly unless you niche down and the algorithms are always changing.
Codie ended with a big message that consisted of the following:
The world badly needs builders and not sheep. We are going into a system where the wealthy and builders are vilified.
We have the people who are capable of doing big things and they need to step up and keep building and improving instead of living quiet lives of desperation.
Let’s get up and do something. It’s a serious problem. Stop being lazy. Go out there and make something happen. The world needs you right now. You can make a massive difference for you, your family, your community.
Fed purchased $9 trillion and is starting to reduce by $15 billion.
4% of the workforce unit their jobs because of crypto gains.
Don’t just sit there and watch life pass you by, participate, learn, grow, get after it. Take a risk.
Let them hate you. Let them tell you they’re wrong. Let no need to be loved or liked make you make your decisions. You’re not here to be liked. But to create that thing inside of you that no other can. You’re not here to make people comfortable, you’re here to make a difference. Actions scream, words whimper. The difference will be made by the few who do.
There are so many people in today’s world who want to tear things down. Building is 100x harder than tear things down. Go build.
One final comment is that I will absolutely be attending Codie’s next conference. My one last peice of feedback is that I was disappointed in Codie’s swag options. Codie is such a badass with great sayings but her swag did not show that.
Codie, get some good stuff with Codie-isms and send it my way!
