This entrepreneurial couple charged their 401 (K) if they sold their $ 110 million company to possess a UK football team

• As the success of Wrexham by Ryan Reynolds, A north -American couple from Georgia buys in British football. Bryan and Shannon Miles sold their staff company for $ 110 million to buy the United Kingdom Walsall FC team and Irish Club Drogheda United FC, storing stages with their own brand of beer Nofo Brewery.

Many North -Americans romanticize the culture of football or football in the United Kingdom, who live vicarously Ted lasso and the famous Ryan Reynolds and Rob Melhenney Wrexham Club. But for Bryan and his wife, Shannon Miles, running football clubs is their reality.

The couple started their careers like any other: from 9 to 5 office work in immigration law and corporate America. But when they arrived in the mid -1930’s in 2010, they could not ignore the entrepreneurial itch, so they decided to make the leap, founding the remote team management company Belay and the Nofo Brew Co. beer company, along with their companies in international sports and business advice. Ag milles.

And, despite not having the same Hollywood salaries as Reynolds and Melhenney to support their clubs, they have been found against the record team. But the Duo de Miles has an advantage over the actors: they serve their beer Nofo on the tap in the stadiums.

“The point is that we are building a brand,” says Bryan Fortune. “The brand is pushing: we feel it in the European market. People love to wear our T -shirts there, they like to identify -and they really like our beer.”

Casca its 401 (K) s to build a $ 110 million company

To get the first of the first companies out of the field, Bryan and Shannon Miles played a great game. They charged $ 160,000 in their 401 (K) and founded the staff software company Biely.

“I am not necessarily a risk policyholder by nature, especially with money. But I thought,” Well, if it doesn’t work, we are young enough. We can always return (in our jobs), but at least we tried, “Shannon says.” At this point, he would prefer to choose the risk that regret. “

The beginning that induces the anxiety of your business now feels very far; 14 months after the founding of Belay, the company separated, kicking 40 consecutive to the growth of the market. The strength of the business lies in its virtual assistance services and the accounting provided in technology. After years of success, private equity began to take note and the couple believed that it was time to sell. A new CEO to take over Belay in 2020, and sold a majority participation of the company for $ 110 million the following year, keeping 18% for themselves.

“Let’s start to feel us.” This business is far beyond us. “We are like,” this does not define who we are. We will be fine. There is life after departure and we will find other things to do. “”

That Payday was a coin that changed the life that caused a new adventure for the entrepreneurial power couple: directing football teams and pouring their Georgia beer paintings for club fans.

Live the Ted lasso DREAM: SALE OF LEAVE BEERS AND SLAPE FOOTBALLS OF THE UK

The entrepreneurial couple wanted the most lively bars in their Georgia area to join the people, and at that time, the distilleries were rage. At the end of 2019, they went into their next passion project with their first brick and mortars brewery, NOFO BREW CO.

“When we started our distillery, we were already enjoying the wealth. We are” first generation “in terms of wealth,” says Bryan. They no longer had to do the heavy work as CEO. “We knew at that moment we were never going to run the business.”

The couple appointed a CEO to turn the brewer, expanding -three total locations of Nofo throughout the state: Cumming, Cleveland and Gainesville, Georgia. But Bryan and Shannon Miles found another unlocking with their beer businesses: connecting with sports fans, eager to throw paintings during a stadium tense. At the height of Ted lasso current Apple Television subscribers, UK football was at the helm of the Cultural Zeitgeist.

“We looked at England and also Ireland, and we realized that this was a rabid fan base that would follow this team outside a supporters club,” says Bryan. “So we are like,” well, and if nofo was in the shirt? What if we put beer in the stadium? “It is the Trojan horse that took us to this market.”

The Georgia Duo gathered investors and bought the United Kingdom Walsall FC team in 2022, just around the time that Reynolds made headlines with Wrexham. Then came the purchase of Irish Club Drogheda United FC in 2023, too invest in Team Denmark Silkeborg IF last December, and started the African Club Trivela FC Togo more recently.

He sells his beers at his club’s stadiums and dirty “Nofo Brew Co” on players’ shirts, Bryan and Shannon Miles live a “football” fantasy. She has been writing for only 15 years in writing to the work of her desk, and it is proof that having a tendency and a forecast of forecasting trends involves large victories.

“What we could do is accelerate and enter the markets where most North -Americans have no,” says Bryan.

This story originally presented to Fortune.com

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