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Receivership, Humility & the Joy of Rebuilding with Brian Keegan #126
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In this bite-sized episode, Paul sits down with entrepreneur Brian Keegan to unpack the wild swing from “Park Lane Paddy” highs to receivership lows—and the gritty rebuild that followed. Brian shares how a perfect storm (9/11, the dot-com crash, Enron/WorldCom) halved his business in months, pushed him to the High Court, and nearly into personal bankruptcy.
He explains the turnaround: swapping ego for humility, refusing to “sign it all away,” assembling a circle of counsel, and rebuilding with proprietary software, global ops, and a shift from vanity growth to durable value—ultimately leading to a successful exit in 2018.
Highlights
- Tailwinds to turbulence: Late-90s hyper-growth meets the 2001–03 crash; revenue collapses and receivership follows.
- Humility unlocks help: A spouse’s truth bomb and a barrister-mentor change the path at the eleventh hour.
- Rebuild blueprint: .NET platform + India back office = faster cycle times and software-like margins.
- Upgrade your metrics: “Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, cash flow is king—and valuation is emperor.”
- Counsel > solo heroics: Monthly cadence with legal/financial strategist, business mentor, coach, and spiritual director.
- Mindset shift: Stop tripping over the past; invest beyond “your own dollars” to fund the future.
- Second act clarity: Focus on profitability, cash conversion, and enterprise value laid the groundwork for exit.
Quotable
- “Every entrepreneur has a dark moment where they think, this might be it.”
- “Stop spending your own dollars—invest for the future in front of you.”
- “Don’t trip over what’s behind you.”
Links to full episode:
https://youtu.be/KJKR3KditoE?si=zFLEZfRP10NJaPG1
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3K1R285C3B4jyFABN4CFlt?si=el0i3OlFQAm3aqfsuYdwxw
About the host:
Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, 8 figure business owner, mentor, podcaster and creator of the 1-Hour CEO and Life Code Program. As a CEO, Paul has a depth of 'real life' experience of what it takes to be successful in business and life.
Connect with the host:
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