Podcast Summary: The $100M Entrepreneur Podcast

Host: Brad Sugars
Episode: How $100M Entrepreneurs Build Wealth Beyond the Business
Date: December 3, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Brad Sugars, founder of ActionCOACH, delivers a solo deep dive into the foundational wealth-building strategies of $100M entrepreneurs. The key theme: real, lasting wealth comes not just from growing a business, but from intentionally building wealth across three dimensions—active, passive, and lifestyle. Brad unpacks critical frameworks, practical steps, and real examples to help entrepreneurs scale far beyond just running a business.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Three “Buckets” of Wealth (00:50)

Brad structures the conversation around three essential categories:

• Active Wealth: Building businesses as assets rather than just sources of income
• Passive Wealth: Investments outside the business (real estate, stocks, etc.)
• Lifestyle Wealth: Health, relationships, experiences—planned to ensure true freedom

Quote:

“You put in 20%, you now own 100%. Over 20 years, you got 400% ROI. It’s stupid that people don’t do real estate.”
— Brad Sugars [00:00]

2. Active Wealth: Building Businesses as Assets (01:30)

• Shift from Income to Asset Focus:
  Stop fixating on “income rich” and instead prioritize being “asset rich”—owning businesses that have capital value, not just produce cash flow.
• Business Valuation:
  • 1. Operate Without You: If your business needs you, "it’s not really a business yet. It’s a job, and you work for a crazy person."
  • 2. Profitability: The more profitable, the higher the multiple—$1M profit = 2–5x multiple; $10M+ profit draws strategic buyers and even higher multiples.
  • 3. Buyer Type:
    • Individual (buys themselves a job or investment)
    • Financial (looks at the numbers)
    • Strategic (acquires for synergies, products, or market)

Quote:

“If it’s an operation that’s 100% valued on you, then it’s not really a business yet...it’s a job and you work for a crazy person.”
— Brad Sugars [02:30]

Key Insight: The sale of a business typically requires at least two years of solid performance before you can go to market. Start preparing now.

3. Passive Wealth: Investments for Freedom (05:00)

• Types of Investments: Real estate and stock market are Brad’s favorites due to their dual benefits of capital gains and cash flow.
• Automatic Wealth-Building:
  • Set up a profit account—automatically siphon off profits regularly so they move into investments rather than get spent in the business.
• Capital Gain vs. Cash Flow:
  Every passive investment should have both.

Quote:

“If you haven’t got a profit account, check with your action coach, set one up. As you get bigger, you’re going to want to have a tax account as well.”
— Brad Sugars [05:35]

4. Lifestyle Wealth: Planning for True Freedom (06:48)

• Deliberate Life Design:
  • Plan and schedule family time, travel, fun, and hobbies just as intentionally as business meetings.
  • Example: Brad schedules a monthly 1:1 dinner with each of his kids, even as life and business grow busier.
• Relevant Programs:
  • 30X Business, 30X Wealth, and 30X Life: Key programs Brad designed to help entrepreneurs plan not just business growth, but personal life and wealth.
• Transitioning from Going Through Life to Planning Life:
  • Building systems for all three areas (business, wealth, and life).

Quote:

“If you plan your lifestyle wealth, it will happen. If you don’t, it’ll never happen.”
— Brad Sugars [07:21]

5. Real Estate as the Wealth Engine (08:20)

• Brad’s Real Estate Formula:
  • Example: Buy a $1M property with 20% down. Over 20 years, rents (covering the mortgage) will transfer full ownership to you:
    • $200K invested, $1M asset in 20 years = 400% ROI (not including appreciation).
• Your Business’s Job:
  • To produce deposits for investment properties on a recurring basis (e.g., “a house every two and a half years”).
• Leverage Principle:
  • “Do the work once, get paid forever” via assets that keep generating returns.

Quote:

"The minimum ROI, you put in 20%, you now own 100% over 20 years. You got 400% ROI. It’s stupid that people don’t do real estate if you ask me."
— Brad Sugars [09:31]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Building Companies:

  “True entrepreneurs generally own multiple companies, right?”
  — Brad Sugars [01:10]

• On Selling Your Business:

  “If you don’t know what your current business is worth, reach out...Let’s start working out what your business is worth currently.”
  — Brad Sugars [02:00]

• On Leveraging Profit:

  “If you leave it in the trading account, it’s going to get spent. If you have a profit account and it gets pulled out, then boom, it’s going to start moving into a different realm for you.”
  — Brad Sugars [05:25]

• On Living Well:

  "There’s no use being rich and dead. You gotta have that lifestyle as well. You gotta have the great health, wealth, friendships, all of those things."
  — Brad Sugars [01:00, 06:52]

Key Takeaways

• Wealth is holistic: Don’t be "income rich and asset poor." Incorporate active business building, passive investing, and lifestyle design.
• Businesses are assets: Focus on making them valuable, transferable, and not dependent on you.
• Automate investments: Regularly pull profit from your business into passive investments.
• Plan your lifestyle: Don’t let success in business come at the expense of health or relationships—put systems in place for life, not just work.
• Use your business as a wealth machine: Its job isn’t just cash flow, but to fund investments that pay “forever.”

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:50: Introduction to the Three Buckets of Wealth
• 01:30: Active Wealth – Building Businesses as Assets
• 05:00: Passive Wealth – Real Estate, Stocks, and Setting Up Profit Accounts
• 06:48: Lifestyle Wealth – Planning and Scheduling the Good Life
• 08:20: Real Estate Example, Leverage, and Your Business’s Job
• 09:31: Real Estate ROI and Creating Multigenerational Wealth

Episode Tone:
Straightforward, energetic, and motivational—Brad mixes practical frameworks with real-world stories, all delivered in his signature direct, no-nonsense style.

For deeper dives and supporting tools, Brad references his programs (30X Business, 30X Wealth, 30X Life) and ActionCOACH resources. He encourages listeners to reach out for personalized guidance and to keep learning through future episodes.

Ideal for entrepreneurs serious about scaling not just their companies, but their whole lives—and building wealth that outlasts any one business.