Selling a business can be one of the most rewarding milestones for an entrepreneur—but it can also come with a significant tax burden if the exit isn’t structured properly. In this episode of the Build with Blaze Podcast, Brett Swarts sits down with entrepreneur Michael Andes to discuss how business owners can think strategically about selling their company while potentially deferring capital gains taxes and preserving more of their hard-earned wealth.
Michael’s journey to a successful exit didn’t begin in the boardroom—it began in the United States Air Force, where he spent four years developing discipline and focus that later shaped his entrepreneurial path. After his service, he pursued his passion for woodworking and cabinet making before eventually purchasing a Closets by Design franchise in the Fresno area, building it from a small startup into a thriving company with 25 employees over the course of a decade.
In this conversation, Brett and Michael unpack the lessons from building a business from the ground up, the mindset required to know when it’s time to sell, and how thoughtful exit planning—including strategies like the Deferred Sales Trust—can help entrepreneurs unlock liquidity while delaying capital gains taxes.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward scale to billions and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want
you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to seeyour comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you.
Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me. Welcome to the build with Blaze podcast, where we got successful entrepreneurs and investors on the journey from millions to billions. And we believe the key to scaling and compounding your wealth and life starts every single day with the mindset practice of stewardship over ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. Our open goal is to be scale and compound your wealth and life, so you give more all the way to help MVPs the most vulnerable people. My name is Brett Swarts. Of each episode, we’re joined with some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, millionaires, billionaires, to share their stories and insights and wisdom with us so we can all level up and make a bigger impact. I’m excited about our next guest. He’s an awesome client of mine out of the great state of California in the Clovis Fresno area, where actually my mom my grandmother was kind of originally from, so it’s kind of cool with the roots. Cool with the roots, and he’s an entrepreneur who built a business and had a nice exit, and we’re going to be talking about that story today and so much more. Please welcome the show me, Mr. Mike Andy say Good. Mike, fine. Thanks, Brett. And if our listeners get to know you for the first time, I can tell a little bit about your story and what about your focus now and then, we can kind of dive into your journey to the deferred sales trust with our company.
Michael
Yeah, after being in the Air Force for four years, I got out and I wasn’t sure what I was going to-do, so I got back into the cabinet making field. That was my passion was woodworking. So, I just I worked in the cabinet making field for a long time, installing, then I moved into the, you know, more of the management side, and worked for larger companies, and just wasn’t going where I wanted it to go long term. So, I had an opportunity to buy into a franchise that was related to that business. It’s closets by design. After about a year of back and forth and each of us feeling each other out, we went with went for it, and so I spent the next 10 years building that business up. I started the franchise in the Fresno area. So, it was just me and the secretary at first and took about 10 years to build up to 25 employees and then felt like it was the right time to take the exit and see if I could sell it. And I was successful in selling it. And that’s when we’re Brett came in on that exit part of it, which really, really helped a lot. Awesome.
Brett
Let’s dive into the Air Force bar. That’s really cool. Your background, I used to you grow up in San Jose originally, right before the show. We’re talking about that. And then you went, you went, maybe, with the Air Force, and landed in Fresno and started to do the cabinet business. What was it? What was the Air Force like? And were you? Were you on your way to be Tom Cruise Maverick, you know, flying the Jets, or what part of the Air Force did you do?
Michael
No, I was enlisted, so I loaded the bombs on the airplanes for the pilots. So, I spent four years doing that, but I actually loved it. It was an awesome experience. I went in right out of high school. I knew at the time I wasn’t ready for college and wanted to do something different. So, So I did. And yeah, I went to I was 19 years old and spent my first year overseas in Korea. Got to go to the Philippines and Japan when I was there. So, it was just an awesome experience for 1920-year-old and then I moved back to California when was stationed at Castle, and that’s how I got back home and into that area. So, I worked on the A 10s over in Korea, and then the B 50 twos here at Castle. Wow.
Brett
Thank you for your service. And what is the, maybe the top you know, what are two things you learned about being in the Air Force?
Michael
Mike, it’s just discipline, mostly in every aspect of your life. And I, I’m one of the I’m on the side that I think if you don’t go to college, you should definitely have to go into the military for a short time, even if it’s a couple years, it’s it’ll never be wasted time. You’re always going to learn and, yeah, just to be able to focus on things and just get jobs done.
Brett
I love it. You know, being that you’re an entrepreneur, it’s interesting, right? Because, you know, college, even these days, a lot of folks are moving more straight to the trades, into the, you know, getting, getting training in the trades versus, you know, versus college and college debt, you know, changing of AI, I think you’re way ahead of your time, just to go directly into, you know, military, right, which I think is smart versus, versus, obviously not, you know, not doing it right. So that’s big. That’s big. That’s a big deal. So if you like this little, short clip of the interview I just did, click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much, everybody.
Watch the episode here:
Important Links:
- Michael Andes
- Website
About Michael Andes
Selling a business can be one of the most rewarding milestones for an entrepreneur—but it can also come with a significant tax burden if the exit isn’t structured properly. In this episode of the Build with Blaze Podcast, Brett Swarts sits down with entrepreneur Michael Andes to discuss how business owners can think strategically about selling their company while potentially deferring capital gains taxes and preserving more of their hard-earned wealth.
Michael’s journey to a successful exit didn’t begin in the boardroom—it began in the United States Air Force, where he spent four years developing discipline and focus that later shaped his entrepreneurial path. After his service, he pursued his passion for woodworking and cabinet making before eventually purchasing a Closets by Design franchise in the Fresno area, building it from a small startup into a thriving company with 25 employees over the course of a decade.
Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!
- capitalgainstaxsolutions.com
- Capital Gains Tax Solutions Facebook
- Capital Gains Tax Solutions Twitter
- Capital Gains Tax Solutions Tiktok