#156: How I Built a 9-Figure Business by Outworking My Mind // Chris Lee // Next Level Pros Podcast
The Founder Podcast
Chris Lee
5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to a New Episode of Next Level Pros! Today, Chris Lee shares his powerful origin story. From humble beginnings in a small town to early business ventures, overcoming personal challenges, and finding his true path in entrepreneurship. Originally recorded for his first podcast, “The Founder Podcast,” this replay dives deep into Chris’s childhood, his work ethic shaped by necessity, how he found confidence through Cutco sales, and the pivotal decision to walk away from medical school and build something on his own.
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Highlights:"Sales is the root of every successful business. Learn it or lose.""Diabetes didn’t define me. It disciplined me.""I was making $65,000 in three months while my dad worked all year for that.""You don’t need to be the quarterback to win the championship."
Timestamps:
00:00 – Why This Episode Matters
00:38 – Meet Chris Lee: Early Retirement & Entrepreneurial Lessons
02:00 – Growing Up in Connell, Washington
05:10 – Childhood Jobs & Early Financial Discipline
08:10 – Discovering Sales Through Cutco at 18
13:00 – Lessons from Sports & Being Benched
18:00 – Diabetes Diagnosis & Life-Changing Identity Shift
21:00 – Serving a Mission & Developing Deeper Resilience
27:11 – Marriage, Fatherhood & That First $65K Summer
31:30 – Pivoting from Medicine to Entrepreneurship
Looking to scale your business? Want to learn directly from the same team that helped me sell my last business for 9 figures? Click this link below to check out how you can work with us. https://nextlevelhomepros.com/grow-home-service-vsl
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Apply for our next Mastermind: https://www.thefoundermastermind.com
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Watch my latest Podcast
Apple- Next Level Pros Podcast - Apple PodcastsSpotify- https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2
YouTube - @christhefounder
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Real quick, before we dive in, I want to give you some context on this episode. |
| 0:03.7 | This conversation was originally quoted back when I was running my first podcast, |
| 0:07.7 | the founder podcast. |
| 0:08.8 | It was before Next Level Pros even existed. |
| 0:11.3 | I sat down with some serious heavy hitters, entrepreneurs, operators, leaders, |
| 0:15.4 | and we unpack real tactical stuff that still holds up today. |
| 0:19.1 | So instead of letting these episodes collect dust, |
| 0:21.4 | we're bringing them back here on the next level pros channel. You'll notice the branding's a |
| 0:24.8 | little different, maybe the style too, but the lessons still gold, especially if you're in |
| 0:29.4 | the trades or home service space and trying to build something real. Let's get into it. |
| 0:40.3 | Today I'm going to be sharing my story. |
| 0:45.0 | I am 39 years old and unofficially retired. |
| 0:52.0 | When I say unofficially, it's because I'm still very active in investments, in consulting, |
| 0:58.2 | as a chairman of the board for my my business soul gen power and so over the years I have been involved in founding many different businesses now only two of them |
| 1:05.1 | have had rapid wild success outside of that there was some moderate successes, there were some failures, |
| 1:11.7 | there was a variety of different things. But before we get into the business talk, I want you to |
| 1:18.5 | know a little bit about me and who I am, what made me who I am today. Why in the world do I have |
| 1:25.3 | a paddle board back here? |
| 1:28.4 | Take a look at that thing though. |
| 1:30.0 | Man, that thing is beautiful. |
| 1:31.8 | So if you guys are listening to this, go ahead and look on YouTube. |
| 1:34.8 | You're going to be able to see this really cool paddleboard. |
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