Ep484: Jack McColl – Access Debt to Grow Your Business

Andrew Stotz 00:02
Hello fellow risk takers and welcome to my worst investment ever stories of loss to keep you winning in our community. We know that to win in investing, you must take risks but to win big, you've got to reduce it, go to my worst investment ever.com and join our Facebook group to connect with our community of guests and fellow listeners. Fellow risk takers. This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz, from a Stotz Academy, and I'm here with featured guests, Jack McCall. Jack, are you ready to rock?

Jack McColl 00:34
I am so ready, Andrew, let's do this.

Andrew Stotz 00:37
I am very excited to learn about yourself what you're doing, but also your story. So let me introduce you to the audience. Jack McCall, the founder of credit stacking has been featured on Market Watch, disrupt magazine, Yahoo, finance, and many other publications and podcasts. For his knowledge, an in depth understanding of the credit stacking strategy. Jack has mentored 1000s of entrepreneurs and been a part of growing multiple, seven figure businesses. He's accessed multiple six figures in credit lines is funded multiple business startups with this money. And he shown 1000s of other entrepreneurs, how to do the same thing. You can trust that the credit stacking, education and mentorship is in a class of its own taught by industry experts. Jack, take a minute and fill in further tidbits about your life.

Jack McColl 01:34
Andrew, thank you so much, man. I'm American, I'm 20 years old. I grew up in Washington States. I've been traveling full time for the last two years, but almost 30 countries. And so I love to get out there have a good time see the world. But I also love business. I love business for a couple reasons. One, I'm able to impact other people's lives. And yes specifically helped me make the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want. So I stay traveling, I do have a couple ecommerce businesses, I have a mentorship where I teach entrepreneurs on how to access large amounts of 0% interest capital, and specifically show them on how to invest that money. So it's compounding so it's multiplying. So other people can go, you know, enjoy an amazing dream life where they can travel, do what they want, stay who whoever they want, and you'll have that freedom. So that's my duty, I show people on how to get access to money, and also how to multiply their money. Hmm. It's interesting, you

Andrew Stotz 02:31
know, as an analyst, all of my career, I've analyzed 1000s of companies that I've either invested in or recommended people invest in. And one of my number one risks that I see companies expose themselves to, is that they over leverage, they borrow too much money. And when you borrow too much money, the bank comes after you, they take control of your assets, and you're in trouble. But yet, without dead, you can't really access the opportunities that you want to access. So from my perspective, as a financial analyst, I'm looking for companies that kind of, you know, they're using some debt, but they're not over leveraged, or else they could be in trouble. But that's like from the angle of a financial analysts. I know nothing about the type of debt that you're talking about where to get it, how to use it in the US. I know nothing about that. So tell me what's kind of different in your thinking about credit and credit stacking compared to like my traditional old guy view?

Jack McColl 03:33
Sure, sure, sure. I mean, I think debt in business is the most powerful tool to take advantage of, because it helps you accelerate so much faster, and enables you to start more ventures invest into more things. And really that turning point for me, I've been an entrepreneur for the last 10 years since I was 18 years old. And I would always fund my businesses with my own money, you know, start a business with five grand 10 grand. Now at that point, it was really hard to gain traction, because I only had such little money. And what a really big break for me was when we got a business loan for a travel company, and that business loan helped us accelerate to take market share, which eventually led to an acquisition. So at that point, I wasn't on business credit, I just did it alone. And so that actually led me into opening my eyes to learning about business credit. And so when you get a business credit card, that card actually does not report to your personal credit file. And so that allows you to actually utilize the debt, get the card, Max the card out, and it does not affect your score whatsoever. And so you can get back to back business cards and just keep getting more and more funding. And it's cool because these popular business cards there's 0% interest between 912 and 18 months and so if you have a you know, short term investment that's going to make you an ROI with a one to two year period. I'm the biggest believer is you know, get a 0% interest business card finance that deal with the business credit, and then putting your hard earned cash into longer term investments. So this way, you're accessing more money, and you're able to make more money because you have more working for you.

Andrew Stotz 05:13
So, you know, it's great clarification, you know, and I think the other thing is when people hear credit card, wait a minute, that's for me buying a TV and all that. And that is using borrowing for consumption, rather than investment. And when you're talking about accessing credit, you're saying, as you've talked, just said about getting an ROI and getting some return on that investment. So it's not like you're just saying, Hey, here's a way to get credit cards, the maximum out and spend all that money, you're talking about the difference really, between consumption versus investment to get a return?

Jack McColl 05:47
Yes, precisely. So there's good debt, and there's bad debt. So bad debt is when you're spending money or borrowing money and spending it on things that are depreciating or not making you money or good debt is when you're leveraged, leveraging borrowed money into things that are appreciating or cash flowing. So if you can borrow money to start an E commerce business, that's gonna be making you money, that's good debt, right? If you're using debt to buy real estate, that's appreciating and also cash flowing, you know, that's good debt. So there's a big line right down the middle, bad debt and good debt. And, you know, I'm here to teach people about the difference and really advocate the good debt side, and, you know, show people how to use it as a tool.

Andrew Stotz 06:26
So let's, you know, I think your business and what you're talking about is fascinating, and I want to just go through a little bit more, so the audience really knows what you're talking about. And also that they can follow and see how they can take advantage of what you know, and what you offer. You know, as a, I was born in 1965, so I guess I'm kind of an old fart nowadays, compared to, you know, the younger generation. And my philosophy at that, you know, being raised in that way in that time was, you don't borrow other people's money, when you're taking a risky bet, you know, you've got to use your own money, okay, maybe a family or friend or something like that. And you make something out of it before you go out and try to borrow money to do something. And, you know, I see some flaws to that for sure. I see sometimes that I had good ideas that I didn't take them, or I didn't move them aggressively enough. Because I didn't have the mentality to go out to get other people's money. On the other hand, I could have borrowed money from people and then crashed with my idea. And that would have felt bad. I'm just curious, like, how do you think about that kind of dilemma.

Jack McColl 07:34
So I do think when you have access to money, your chances of success in that business venture dramatically increases. So if you have more money to work with, and you're late, right, and your idea, if you have those financial resources, I think your chance of succeeding is dramatically higher. And then also, when you're using the 0% interest business cards, it also gives you the ability to buy yourself time. So if you can't pay it back in that introductory, 12 month period, you can also always get another business card and balance, transfer the debt to that second, second card. So you extend that 0% interest period. And at the same time, your hard earned cash is in a different investment, that's also making a return. So now you have more money working for you, you're making more money, which also helps out with, you know, being successful and adventure if you need more money from your other investment.

Andrew Stotz 08:26
Hmm, there's so much to this. And I could talk I could ask you a lot of questions. But you know, I think you've explained the core of it for the listeners out there. You know, I think it is, you know, valuable. And I know, in my own businesses that I've started being kind of conservative and not wanting to go to the banks until I really had something super solid, or access that also you have to accept the fact that I basically grew up my business life in Thailand, as you know, as a non citizen at the time that was just harder to access credit lines through the banks and all that. But I think that, you know, there's a lot to learn from what you're doing, what's the best way for people to follow you and keep in touch and access what you are doing? Yeah,

Jack McColl 09:14
so my Instagram is a really good place. My handle is king of debt, king of debt on Instagram, my website's credit stacking calm, have tons of awesome resources there. But we're gonna dive into that later, too. Right.

Andrew Stotz 09:26
Great. Okay, so let's get into it. Now it's time to share your worst investment ever since no one goes into their worst investment thinking it will be. Tell us a bit about the circumstances leading up to it, then tell us your story.

Jack McColl 09:39
Yeah, I mean, I think for you know, a lot of people that are successful in business, they all have failures, right? I tell people, the people that are most successful have failed the most because those failures lead them to that success since I've had plenty of failures, but wanted to know on this podcast is I had a business. So you mentioned you move to Thailand. When you You were 26, when I was 26, I moved to Bali, Indonesia, I lived there for three months. And I saw an opportunity to create an Airbnb arbitrage business. So I would rent out villas with my brother. And then we hired some local Indonesians to help us do the day to day of the business. And when I finance that business venture, we use our cash. And so there's a couple of reasons why I really regret using our hard earned cash instead of our business credit. The first reason is because these people that we hired and paid with these with our cat, Ash didn't deliver on what they're supposed to deliver. And so something that really protects consumers with credit cards is if you have a contract that says you're going to get x, you know, for z, then they have to deliver. And if they don't deliver, you can charge the transaction back. And the bank will give you your money back if it's within a certain timeframe. So if I were to put that on a credit card, I could have had my money back based on the lack of performance. At the same time, I would have had these this, this money invested on 0% interest business credit cards, which would have allowed me to give myself more of a chance to make the money back to pay off the card, while my hard earned cash was in a different investment, also making me more money to help pay for, you know, this mistake that we are in. So I think when I look back on that one, it was really challenging to do business in a third world country. And I think we're you know, we're where I come from, for the United States, we have, you know, certain levels of expectations on how people operate in the work setting. And there was definitely a disconnect, because, you know, that I think they could have done a better job on what they were doing. And I probably could have trained them better. But the disconnect, or like the culture shock was new to me on how to, you know, work with people from a country like Indonesia, where I came from in the States. So I think doing business internationally can be challenging, I don't think it's for everyone, but just it's gives you an extra level of challenge, right, it's different from what you're used to, it's all possible and there's all opportunity out there. But for me, that was a bit of a shock. But if I were to do it all again, I would have done a lot more market research, I would have vetted, hot, more high quality talent on, you know, who I was bringing on to help manage the business. And then I would have financed the deals with 0% interest business credit, it's safer, because you can charge it back if they don't deliver. And then also it gives you more time because you're not paying an interest to you know, make a return and make it successful for you.

Andrew Stotz 12:45
Can you remember the moment the conversation or the time that you realize this was a failure, and I gotta get out? Ah,

Jack McColl 12:53
it was like we were getting so many bad reviews on our Airbnb ratings. And we were trying super hard to get good reviews, and we're trying everything we could and you know that we have issues with the landlords because you know that there's issues with all the houses. And at that point, you're in Indonesia, you just gave them you know, 1000s 10s of $1,000 in cash. And, you know, they're in control at that point, they have your money, they have the house and if things aren't going right, you know, it's up to them to fix it. And we had you know, very little power in the situation. However, if it was financed on a business credit card like a mentioning, you know, we could have essentially threatened them with like, you know, you guys have to deliver or I'm going to charge this transaction back and the bank is going to give me my money back. So that was a big wake up call. So now anytime I'm paying a contractor anytime I'm paying anyone, I'm always trying to pay it with my with my business credit card, whether it be over PayPal, or just any merchant processor, like PayPal is a really good way to pay people because you're contractually or you both are contractually obligated to do what's agreed upon and so if one party fails, then it gives the other party leverage to get the money back if Yeah, if

Andrew Stotz 14:07
this does pay pound divide the payout provide the same type of dispute protection?

Jack McColl 14:14
They do. Yeah, if you pay some pay via the product and services, not friends and family, then you're very well protected.

Andrew Stotz 14:21
The other thing I was thinking about is it oh it's probably not easy to find someone in Bali that's going to be able to take payments through credit card you know everyone wants cash but I thought that may have put you pushed you up the quality ladder or the reliability ladder to get find people that you know could have done them.

Jack McColl 14:38
Exactly anytime you're doing business with cash it's you know, there's another level of risk in my opinion.

Andrew Stotz 14:43
So let's summarize the lessons that you learn how would you summarize that?

Jack McColl 14:47
I like to finance everything on my business credit cards or any way that's protected, you know, through a PayPal account even if you have you know cash in your bank account. Instead of paying cash you can You know, send the money via PayPal, and PayPal protects that transaction, it's a major, major value. And so that was really the big takeaway for me, is, when you have the option to protect your payments through different processors like PayPal, or your Visa credit cards, you always want to do that, if that's possible, makes it way safer for you.

Andrew Stotz 15:18
That's, that's great, a great lesson and a great lesson for everybody that I think people don't think about, you know, if I summarize some of the things that I take away, I mean, first thing is, I know the the issue of culture, you know, shock and cultural differences. And really, to just come to a foreign country, and try to set up a business hard. You know, that is hard. And, you know, I've been doing it in Thailand for 30 years. And so I've kind of got it down. I know, you know, in fact, if I went to America, to start a business, the way I would handle Americans is nothing like the way other Americans handle Americans just because I'm so used to doing business in Thailand. So the first lesson, you know, to everybody is don't underestimate you know, don't be overconfident. All we can do it, come on, let's go. There are real challenges that you're going to face that, you know, not that you can't overcome it, but it's more than you may want to face. That's the first thing. I think the second thing is, you know, what I have a book on my bookshelf called The Four Hour Workweek. And many years ago, I got that and read it. And I started using Elance. And later Elance became Upwork. And I've spent now in my decade on the platform, close to a half a million dollars in outsources and the benefit of that platform, is that, okay, first, it helps me to find the talent that I want, but most importantly, is the protection of that payment. And I think what you're talking about is the exact same thing that you get through those transactions. And that is a great reminder, anything you would add to that.

Jack McColl 17:04
No, I think you nailed on the head anytime you can protect your purchase. Do it for sure. And then anytime you can borrow money for free, I like to do that. Because anytime I can borrow money for free, that just gives me more power to invest into more things. And if it's free money, I don't think there's a reason not to take it.

Andrew Stotz 17:21
Yep. So based upon what you learn from this story, and what you continue to learn what, what action would you recommend our listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate.

Jack McColl 17:31
The one action I really recommend to any person in business is to have as much access to capital as you can, the more access to capital, the stronger you are in any business negotiation or any business venture, you don't even you don't have to have money, you just need to have access to money. And so I found easiest access to large amounts of money is through the 0% interest business credit cards. And so for anyone listening, the main advice I can give you is build your credit, build the relationships with the banks, because the more you can borrow, the more you can make, and the higher chance of success you're going to see in any business venture.

Andrew Stotz 18:11
As such golden advice, ladies and gentlemen, and you know, here I am, you know, getting close to 6030, you know, three decades apart. And that's real wisdom, you know, that I can use and that I have not, you know, done to the extent that I probably should have. So that's valuable for me. And I know for the listeners out there, that's some serious value. So last question, what's your number one goal for the next 12 months?

Jack McColl 18:40
That's a great question. So I'm going to pre frame this answer. In the last year and a half, I went from zero business cards to getting approved for a half a million dollars in credit. And so over the next 12 months, I want to get approved for another half a million dollars, because I want a total of a million dollars of approved credit. And so I'm working on this every day, you know, strategies are consistently evolving. I'm consistently building new banking relationships, and getting approved from all or credit. And so my goal is to get it get approved for a total of a million dollars in approved credit. And then once I have that it gives me more power in the world to start more businesses to make new investments. And you know, of course, teach people the same strategies that have worked for me.

Andrew Stotz 19:24
That's exciting. And ladies and gentlemen, you can follow this journey that he's on. You can follow it by clicking by going to his Instagram as he talked about before, but also in the show notes. I'll have links to everything so that you can keep in touch and follow Jack's journey. listeners. There you have it another story of loss. To keep you winning, remember to go to my worst investment ever.com and join our Facebook group to connect with our community of guests and fellow listeners. As we conclude Jack, I want to thank you again for coming on the show. And on behalf of a Stotz Academy I hereby award you, alumni staff returning your worst investment ever into your best teaching moment. Do you have any parting words for the audience?

Jack McColl 20:07
Build your credit. Check out this link below. It's a case study that shows you guys the same steps that I've used to get approved for a half million dollars. Follow me on instagram i want to show you guys how to be more successful in business. I want to show you how to get access to money and be a part of the journey with you. So thank you so much, Andrew.

Andrew Stotz 20:23
Yep, appreciate it. And ladies and gentlemen, that's a wrap on another great story to help us create, grow and protect our well fellow risk takers. This is your worst podcast hose Andrew Stotz St. I'll see you on the upside.