MI335: A Winning Combination: Cashflow, Car Washes, & Zero Taxes w/ Kriss Berg
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克里斯·伯格（Chris Berg）是一位拥有多元化背景的连续创业者，他分享了自己从早期的“脏活累活”起步，逐步建立起一系列在线业务并投资洗车业，同时巧妙利用独特税务策略的创业历程。他12岁时的第一份工作是在兽医诊所铲粪，随后又从事过农场劳动，甚至做过采矿工程师。他认为这些经历磨砺了他坚韧的职业道德。
他的创业之路始于27岁。2003年，他通过SBA贷款收购了一家土方工程公司。在四年内，他将这家价值18万美元的公司发展到260万美元，最终以65万美元的巨额利润将其出售。这笔“第一桶金”让他和未来的妻子得以实现一个由来已久的梦想：在科罗拉多州的乡村地区，一所由太阳能和风能供电的房屋中，过上了长达13年的离网生活。
2008年的金融危机挫败了他建造房屋的计划，但讽刺的是，这也让他发现了蒂姆·费里斯（Tim Ferriss）的《每周工作4小时》。受此启发，伯格转向了在线业务，收购了一个销售太阳能设备（或产品）的网站。这项可以让他随时随地工作的事业彻底改变了他的局面。大约在2009年，包括麸质不耐症在内的个人健康问题促使他深入研究营养学和私人训练，最终创立了一家成功的保健品公司。这项健康业务到2022年已发展到1800万美元，至今仍是他的主要重心，因为帮助人们改善健康的成就感是他最大的动力。
伯格进入洗车业务是机缘巧合。在疫情繁荣时期寻找自助仓储设施时，一位商业地产经纪人向他推荐了一个在市场上滞销已久的洗车场。他发现那是一个被忽视的洗车场——在谷歌地图上没有收录，定价过时，服务糟糕。通过实施简单的增值策略——使用更好的洗涤剂，修理损坏的设备，更新价格，并改善客户体验——他在一年内将其业务量提高了70%，几乎翻了一番。
真正的“顿悟”发生在2022年12月，当时他的会计师告诉他，他当年几乎不用缴纳任何税款。这得益于“奖励折旧”（bonus depreciation），一项旨在刺激投资的税收优惠政策。与典型的商业房地产折旧通常分摊在39.5年不同，洗车场几乎所有资产（不包括土地）在第一年即可获得加速折旧资格。这让他能够抵消其他盈利业务产生的数十万美元税款，从而使洗车业成为一个极具吸引力的投资。
伯格专注于自助式和无接触式洗车场，迎合那些喜欢自己洗车，或者拥有不适合自动化隧道的大型卡车/定制车的小众市场。他的“3M”策略包括：**现代化（Modernizing）**（升级设备，改善客户体验）、**改进（Modifying）**（提高价格，引入会员计划）和**营销（Marketing）**（谷歌商家信息，积极评价，更醒目的标识）。
他的长期愿景是实施“整合收购”策略：在未来十年内收购科罗拉多州的20-30家洗车场，统一品牌，并提供覆盖整个网络的会员服务。他旨在大幅提升这些合并资产的EBITDA，预期估值将从10倍资本化率提升到5倍资本化率，有可能将数百万美元的投资转化为一家价值6000万美元的企业。寻找优质资产，尤其是那些带有“小瑕疵”却能吓退经验不足投资者的项目，仍然是一个主要挑战。此外，从青睐洗车业投资的特定地方银行获得融资也是一大难点。
除了商业之外，伯格还是持续学习的倡导者，深受《富爸爸穷爸爸》和《准备，开火，瞄准》等书籍的影响。他积极活跃于Twitter（现X平台），学习并分享见解，通过讨论他的洗车和税务策略，积累了大量追随者。他还强调社区和心理健康的重要性，积极参与大师班和名为“突破”的静修活动，其中包括裸盖菇素辅助治疗（在科罗拉多州合法），他称之为具有变革性的体验。他从社交孤立到建立深厚友谊的个人历程，凸显了他对真正的好奇心和积极倾听的信念。
任何对他的洗车策略感兴趣的人，都可以在Taxfreecashcow.com上找到克里斯·伯格提供的见解和课程，他也在X平台（@ChrisBergTweets）上保持活跃。
Chris Berg, a serial entrepreneur with a diverse background, shared his journey from early "dirty jobs" to building a portfolio of online businesses and investing in car washes, leveraging unique tax strategies. His first job at 12 was scooping poop at a veterinary clinic, followed by farm work and even mining engineering, experiences he credits with forging his strong work ethic.
His entrepreneurial path began at 27 when he purchased an excavating company in 2003 through an SBA loan. He grew the $180,000 business to $2.6 million in four years, eventually selling it for a significant profit of $650,000. This nest egg allowed him and his future wife to fulfill a long-held dream: living off-grid in a solar and wind-powered home in rural Colorado for 13 years.
The 2008 financial crisis, which thwarted his plans to build houses, ironically led him to discover Tim Ferriss's "The 4-Hour Workweek." Inspired, Berg pivoted to online businesses, purchasing a solar-powered gear website. This venture, allowing him to work from anywhere, was a game-changer. Around 2009, personal health issues, including a gluten intolerance, prompted him to delve into nutrition and personal training, eventually leading him to create a successful health supplement company. This health business, which he grew to $18 million in 2022, remains his primary focus, driven by the reward of helping people improve their health.
Berg's entry into the car wash business was serendipitous. While searching for self-storage facilities during the pandemic boom, a commercial agent suggested a car wash that had been sitting on the market. He discovered a neglected facility – no Google Maps presence, outdated pricing, and poor service. By implementing simple value-add strategies – better soaps, fixing broken equipment, updating prices, and improving customer experience – he increased its business by 70%, almost doubling it within a year.
The true revelation came in December 2022 when his accountant informed him he would owe almost nothing in taxes for the year. This was due to "bonus depreciation," a tax incentive designed to spur investment. Unlike typical commercial real estate, where depreciation is spread over 39.5 years, car washes qualify for accelerated depreciation on almost the entire property (excluding the land) in the first year. This allowed him to offset a mid-to-low six-figure tax bill from his other profitable ventures, making car washes a highly attractive investment.
Berg focuses on self-serve and touch-free car washes, catering to a niche market of individuals who prefer to wash their own vehicles or own large trucks/custom cars unsuitable for automated tunnels. His "3 M's" strategy involves: **Modernizing** (upgrading equipment, improving customer experience), **Modifying** (raising prices, introducing membership programs), and **Marketing** (Google listings, positive reviews, better signage).
His long-term vision is a "roll-up" strategy: acquiring 20-30 car washes in Colorado over the next decade, branding them uniformly, and offering a network-wide membership. He aims to significantly boost the EBITDA of these combined assets, anticipating a valuation uplift from a 10-cap to a 5-cap, potentially turning a multi-million dollar investment into a $60 million enterprise. Finding good deals, often those with "a little bit of hair on them" that scare off less experienced investors, remains a key challenge, along with securing financing from specific regional banks that favor car wash investments.
Beyond business, Berg is a proponent of continuous learning, influenced by books like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "Ready, Fire, Aim." He actively engages on Twitter (now X) to learn and share insights, having built a significant following by discussing his car wash and tax strategies. He also emphasizes the importance of community and mental well-being, participating in masterminds and "Breakthrough" retreats involving psilocybin-assisted therapy (legal in Colorado), which he describes as transformative. His personal journey from social isolation to cultivating deep friendships highlights his belief in genuine curiosity and active listening.
For those interested in learning more about his car wash strategy, Chris Berg offers insights and a course at Taxfreecashcow.com and is active on X (@ChrisBergTweets).
摘要
In this week’s episode, Patrick Donley (@JPatrickDonley) sits down with serial entrepreneur Kriss Berg to talk about how turns the cash flows from his online businesses to purchase car washes and utilizes a tax-savings strategy called bonus depreciation to pay almost zero taxes. You’ll also hear about the many entrepreneurial adventures Kriss has had, the books that had a big impact on the trajectory of his career, what it was like living off-the-grid for 13 years, and much more!
Kriss Berg has been an entrepreneur for over 21 years. He started out with a home service business and has since had start-ups in solar, ecom, real estate, and much more. Now he runs a portfolio of online businesses and takes the profits from those and invests in car washes.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:
00:00 - Intro.
02:26 - What some of the “dirty jobs” were that Kriss had.
03:53 - How an early-life crisis led to his first entrepreneurial venture.
05:36 - Why he decided to move off the grid and what the experience was like.
11:35 - Why being a continual learner has been an important part of his success.
13:14 - How the 4-Hour Workweek influenced him.
16:28 - How he got involved in real estate investing and increased his cash flow and net worth.
20:30 - Why his own health issues led to a successful entrepreneurial venture.
25:53 - Why he decided to pare down and sell off some of his businesses.
26:36 - How he got turned on to the power of Twitter.
31:16 - Why he choose to invest in carwashes.
33:55 - How he finds carwash deals, finances them, and increases profitability.
43:02 - What the 3 M’s of increasing the value of a carwash are.
44:08 - What his end game is with his car wash investments.
46:15 - What is the biggest challenge to investing in car washes is.
48:26 - How bonus depreciation works and how he uses it with car washes to pay no taxes.
51:57 - How his carwashes create tax savings through bonus depreciation.
54:44 - How mastermind groups have played a big part in his career.
58:41 - How to become instantly likable.
*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.
BOOKS AND RESOURCES
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Recommended book: Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
Recommended book: 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.
Recommended book: Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson.
Recommended book: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
Recommended book: The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.
Recommended book: The Millionaire Next Door by Dr. Thomas Stanley.
Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here.
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