An exclusive community and data backed acquisition system to buy your first or your next business and build a lasting legacy.
You're not stuck, you're just alone at the top. Most entrepreneurs hit a ceiling, not because the opportunity isn't there, but because you're solving $10M problems with $1M strategies.
Unsure where to start?
Try our concierge
START HERE
Carmelo's career never moved in a straight line.
Engineering. Nightclub bouncer. Forklift operator. But no matter where life took him, it kept pulling him back to one field: security. "This is what I was good at," he said.
His business partner, Alex, is a military veteran. Calm and measured, where Carmelo is energetic. "He is a legit, bona fide war hero," Carmelo says. "He doesn't brag about it much. I do."
The duo was running separate security operations when they looked to take a leap of faith and join forces. That leap became a private investigations and armed security firm based in Pennsylvania.
They launched officially in 2024. After roughly 18 months in business, Carmelo and Alex:
Here are 4 key lessons they’ve picked up along the way.
LESSON
Carmelo and Alex’s business nearly didn't make it past its first payroll.
That first payday, in 2024, a global cloud outage took down banking systems across the country.
Airlines couldn't operate. Hospitals were scrambling. And their business, despite having a full account balance, could not move a dollar of it.
"The money's in the bank account. It's there. We have the money to pay our employees. We couldn't move it," Carmelo said. "We thought we were going to lose all our employees."
Thankfully, the outage resolved faster than expected. Payroll went out. Every employee stayed. But the experience didn't just pass; it turned into a policy.
The day after, Carmelo and Alex established a cash reserve minimum: a floor that stays in the account at all times, regardless of what is happening around them. It has never been an issue since.
"No matter what comes our way," Carmelo said, "we work the problem."
That line has become the operating principle of the company. Not a mindset they talk about, but a process they actually run.
When something breaks, they don't react. They assess, move, and build a system so it can't happen the same way twice.
LESSON
In the early days, Carmelo and Alex were involved in everything.
Scheduling conflicts landed with them. Shift swaps went through them. If something moved at a site, they were involved. It kept the operation tight, but it also kept a ceiling on how far and fast they could go.
Then they spoke with the owner of a security company they're now looking to acquire. This man had been running his business for 15 years, and he mentioned, almost in passing, that he was about to step away for an entire month. The business would keep running without him.
Perplexed, Carmelo and Alex asked him how.
"My people manage themselves," he told them.
"That was really reflective for us," Carmelo said. "We really had to look in the mirror."
What they saw was two owners who had built a capable team and then held on too tightly to let it function on its own. So they changed.
They told their staff: “Here's the schedule, don't create overtime, and work it out among yourselves.”
The first test came quickly. An employee ended up in the hospital mid-shift. But by the time Carmelo messaged the site team, they had already sorted coverage on their own.
"We didn't have to stress out. We didn't have to run to the rescue. It was wonderful to know that it can be done," he said.
The lesson extended beyond scheduling. In the security business, your product is literally the person standing at the site. Talent is inseparable from performance. You can close every contract in the market, but if you can't staff them with people you trust, none of it holds.
So they built a benefits package to match: medical, dental, vision, and 401K, all before the company's second anniversary. Competitors with 15 to 20 years in the market still don't offer any of it.
Word has spread. Employees at other security firms call them regularly, asking about openings.
"Even if we land 100 contracts tomorrow, if we don't have the men and women that we trust to run these contracts," Carmelo said. "It doesn't matter."
LESSON
Carmelo and Alex study how large companies scale the way other people study film.
“The Coca-Cola model. The Pepsi model. The patterns that separate businesses that stay flat from those that compound.” The conclusion they kept arriving at was the same.
"The fastest way to growth is acquisitions," Carmelo said.
They are currently in due diligence on one security company, with a second in early discussions. Both are off-market. And in both cases, the acquisition isn't only about adding accounts. It's about learning from operators who have been building in this industry far longer than they have.
"We're not just looking to acquire, thinking that we're better than them. We're looking to learn. How did they stay in business for 15 years? What systems do they have in place that let them do that?"
The deals may or may not close. Either way, Carmelo says they win. The diligence process alone has built legal infrastructure, financial relationships, and acquisition experience that carry into everything they do from here on out.
LESSON
When Carmelo and Alex decided to join the Growth Boardroom, they framed it the way they frame most decisions: “What’s the cost of not doing this?”
"The self-made millionaire, self-made person, is an absolutely preposterous idea because everyone's gotten help along the way," Carmelo told us. "We wanted to get in the room with those who have done it and are doing it."
What drew them to the Boardroom specifically was its range. "It's a mixture of all business types, all helping each other out," Carmelo said. "It’s owners from all walks of life."
Their results have been concrete. Through the Boardroom, they connected with a marketing firm now handling their SEO, a banker assisting with SBA loans, and an M&A attorney.
"The whole team’s been wonderful. If something's wrong with the business, they won’t sugarcoat it. They’ll help us think through it. And that's what we needed," Carmelo said.
"It's not the number of zeros in a bank account. It’s the number of zeros we can give away."
Every quarter, Carmelo and Alex have given back to their community: a full Thanksgiving dinner for a local church, book bags for over 100 families, Christmas toy drives, and uniforms for a youth flag football team that earned a trip to the championships but couldn't afford to go.
"They put our logo on the shirt and on the shorts," Carmelo said. "That's success right there. Not what our bank account says."
Two years ago, Carmelo and Alex were running separate operations and figuring things out on their own. Today, they have a $1.2M business, a team that can largely manage itself, and two acquisitions in the pipeline.
By the metrics that matter to them, they're just getting started.
Want to join our groups of thousands of smart business builders and buyers?
Get access to our live expert calls (and so much more) when you join our Contrarian Academy or Growth Boardroom.
The information contained here is educational, may not be typical, and does not guarantee returns. Background, education, effort, and application will affect your experience and the profitability of any business. Individual results may vary.
.png)
.svg)
