Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - 187. The Middle Class Is Disappearing - Here's How to Make Money Before It's Too Late

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

42% OFF - Get your Digital Man Up book + Audiobook + 2 Exclusive MASTERCLASSES https://bit.ly/manuptribeLife has gotten brutally expensive. Homes up 145%, cars up 136%, rent up 300%, healthcare up 250%, and gas & groceries up 230% in just 25 years… while your paycheck only crawled up 74%. The middle class is gone. A regular job is now a disadvantage unless you’re in one of the few high-income skills. In this episode, I break down exactly what’s happening, why it’s designed this way, and most importantly — what you can actually do about it.If you’re tired of trading time for dollars that don’t keep up, it’s time to wake up and consider entrepreneurship.Watch until the end. This one might be the push you need. Let’s get after it.

Welcome to the Bedroft's Coolian show. I was rolling with Lorenzo and a Benzo. I was banging with a gang of instrumental. Life has gotten massively expensive in recent times, and having a job is not enough. In fact, it's not just the expenses and the cost of inflation. It is the unfair and unequal playing ground that you are on right now, and you may not even realize it.

Guys, welcome to the Bedroes Coolian show. I want to talk to you about why life has gotten so expensive and what you can do about it. because in recent years, when you think about how much things have changed in terms of what a household income could achieve and what one household income could do, as in one person working, let alone two people working, let alone each of them having multiple jobs just to make ends meet, things have gotten absolutely out of control. So I decided to do the research because I was curious. And I said, let me just look at one generational span. If you don't know this, one generational span

is about 25 years, right? So I said, all right, let's go back to 2001 and compare it to now, 2006, right? That's 25 years, one generational span. And so as I started doing the research, I saw that new homes, the median new home in 2001, was $170,000. Today, the median new home is $420,000. And if you live in a state like California, we're talking close to a million. but just the median new home in the United States went from 170,000 in 2001 to 420,000 in

2006. Here's the crazy part. That's a 145% increase, right? So you got that. And then you've got a new car. New car in 2021, about $21,000. New car in 2006, $22,300. That's a 136% increase for a new car on average in the United States.

And then you look at the median rent that people were paying back in the day. In 2001, the median rent was $483 a month. Today, in 2006, the median rent is $1,464 a month. That's a 300% increase in rent. It was about $8,500 a year. that your employer paid towards health care for you. Today, it's about $26,000 a year that your employer is paying towards health care for you.

And by the way, don't for a moment think that, why should I care about this? I'm not contributing to it. My employer is. Well, if you are an employer, you know what that's costing you and you know how it's chipping away at your profits, which are already razor thin.

But what you ought to know is that 250% increase, 250% increase in health care from 2001 to do 2026. That's not just a cost that your employer is having to handle. That means they're making that money up by giving you less pay, hiring less people, overworking you, and giving you, well, shittier working conditions because they have to recoup that money from somewhere. So your quality of life is paying for it.

And then you look at gas and groceries. on average between 2001 to 2026, gas and groceries collectively together have gone up 230%. So when you've got new homes that have gone up 145% in 25 years, new car prices have gone up 136% in 25 years, the average rent, median rent has gone up by 300% in 25 years, healthcare has gone up by 250% and then you look at groceries and gas that have gone up by 230% Do you want to take a wild guess? Do you want to take a wild guess what the average pay has gone up in 2001 versus 2026 today?

Well, get this. I did the research. And I said, show me the average pay in 2001 for an educated adult with a bachelor's degree. Not anything higher, just a bachelor's degree in 2001. What was their average pay? $65,000 a year. Now, in 226, adult with a four-year bachelor's degree is making $115,000 a year, on average. That's a 74% increase.

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So how is your 74% increase in pay going to cover the 145% to 136% to 300% to 250% and the 230% increase in all these things, from new homes, new cars, health care, rent, gas, groceries, it's not. So what in the world is going on? Well, let's be honest. The middle class is no longer there. There is no middle class. It is an attack on the middle class. And it is an absolutely massive gap that's opening up between the rich and the poor.

There's just no other way to define this. And I need you to start understanding that that has to be a lot of the rich. Having a job gives you a disadvantage. There was a time that having a career, having a job, when inflation was under control and housing prices and new cars and gas and groceries and health care, you could, you and your spouse, each having a decent career, actually pay for your quality of life, get health care, and live well. Those days are gone.

They're gone. And you know it. You're feeling it and you think you're the only one and you're not. and I'm here to tell you that there's something you can do about it. But here's what I need you to understand. It's not a career or a job, unless that career or a job is in one of like two or three high income skills, right? What are those high income skills?

Well, sales is one of them because you get to control how much sales you make and therefore how much commissions you make, right? You know, someone working in a cubicle next to you in accounting might be making $115,000 a year. But if you're in sales and you're on top of your game and you're making those sales and getting the commissions, you're getting after those leads, overcoming the objections and making those sales, you might be making $250,000, $400,000 a year. That's the beautiful thing about sales is you get to control to some degree your income. In other words, if you get paid for performance, there's still an opportunity to have a career and do well. Same with being in marketing.

say that you are working for some company and you are getting a salary plus a percentage of the profits that you generate above and beyond a certain dollar amount for that company because you learned how to run ads on meta and Google and all the different platforms. Well, guess what? You're getting revenue share, profit share off of your performance. That is a good thing. right say you're a brain surgeon say you're a heart surgeon probably making yourself good money close to a million million and a half a year not many of you out there are brain surgeons and heart surgeons most of you that have careers are feeling the pain of what I'm talking about you feel that it's never going to be possible for you to buy a home let alone keep up with your bills without having

multiple jobs and lowering the standard and the quality of your life and it shouldn't be that way It shouldn't be that way, but it is. And I believe it's by design, because I believe there's a massive wealth transfer that's happening. And that wealth transfer that's happening is happening very slowly, right? And so what's the solution? It's happening slowly because they're not just going to be like, ta-da, we're just going to raise the price of everything. Because watch what happened, right? This Iran war that took place, and I know that as you're watching this right now, you know,

there's that two weeks of ceasefire and who knows whether it continues or not. But you see what happens. Gas prices go up. Let's say they go up 100%, they come back down 80%. Then they go up another 100% go down 90%. Then they go up 50% come down 20%. And that's what's been happening. Here in California, gas prices went all the way up to almost $7 per gallon.

When this war is over and everything goes back to normal in terms of oil production, don't for a moment think that gas isn't going to be $5.5.6.6.25 per gallon here in California. And the same percentages transfer across the entire country. yet your level of income does not go up like that, does it? If you're lucky, the average cost of living raise is around 2.5 to 3.5% to 3.5%. Maybe you've really, really, really shined in what you do. You get 4% or 5% in annual pay increase. That doesn't even keep up with inflation, let alone the cost of housing.

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So what do you do? Because I want to see you win. I want you to understand that the world economy has changed. Careers are no longer valuable. They're not. AI is starting to replace a lot of careers anyway. one person running an AI account can cover the job of three to five people at any given time. Companies have to do this because it gets more and more expensive for us to run our companies.

The only difference is because we're entrepreneurs and we're running our companies, we can control our pay. We can control our expenses. We can control our pricing and raise the prices and increase perceived value to justify the increased price. As our cost of goods go up, as our cost of marketing goes up, as our cost of payroll and health care goes up. But what do you do as an employee?

You worked hard, got your education, developed a skill, got hired, and now you're barely getting by. You can't even think about starting a family, getting a home. And so I'm here to tell you that the answer is you've got to consider becoming an entrepreneur. You just have to consider becoming an entrepreneur. The upside to it is so, so fucking awesome. Now, I know what you're going to say, and I'm going to agree with you here, in that there's an inherent risk to being an entrepreneur. I get it. There's an inherent risk to being an entrepreneur.

And there's a level of safety and consistency to being employed. You can count on a safe, consistent paycheck every month, every couple weeks. But as we talked about, the drawbacks are you have to lower the standards and quality of your life. because things will continue to get more expensive. Groceries will go up in price, housing will go up in price, cars will go up in price, travel, entertainment, food, gas, health care, all of it. Rent is going to go up in price. And there is no way your level of income will keep up.

And so if you're willing to trade the safety and the consistency of that paycheck in your career and consider being an entrepreneur, you have many other upsides to the one risk of potentially not making money. But even that you get to control. And so I want to give you this visual picture because there was a time that I would say that, hey, not everyone should be an entrepreneur, that you could also be an entrepreneur and do well. I like to think that we pay our team well. I know for a fact that we pay our people better than average.

health care 401k, unlimited vacation. But that's not how the entire country is. We're very blessed here at our HQ with Trulene Supplements and FitBody Boot Camp and all the different brands and businesses that are under our umbrella. We do well. And I'm able to share that with my team.

Most people aren't experiencing that kind of paycheck, that kind of 401K opportunity, health care, and, you know, paid vacations. And so if you might want to consider entrepreneurship, I'm here to tell you that that might be a great idea for you. And you can start it as you were kind of transferring out of your career. It doesn't have to be turn one off and turn one on. And I think this is where the greatest fear comes in for people who want to step into the entrepreneurial world. They go, I've never done it before.

Guess what? Before starting a business, I'd never done it before. And it's probably the same for many people, right? It's very few for people to be born in a family where entrepreneurism is at the time. where they take over the family business. They have this generational, you know, wealth that they've built. For most of us, you come up with an idea or a product, a solution to a problem that people have, and you figure out, is there enough people that have that problem?

Is the problem bad enough and painful enough for them to want to pay me for that problem to be solved? If the answer is yes, then maybe you start thinking about solving that problem. And I got a few levels of answers for you, right? Like I said, if you want to stay in a career, you might want to get into a career where, again, you're getting paid on performance. You know, you're doing the marketing for a company and you're getting a salary plus, you're getting, you know, some kind of bonuses on top of that for hitting these milestones.

Or you're in sales where you're getting a commission and your work ethic and your ability to close deals will determine how much money you make, right, versus just getting cost of living raises. But short of that, consider being an entrepreneur. because yes, there is a risk of not making money, but beyond that risk, the benefits are clear. You have literally unlimited income potential, right? You can raise prices when inflation goes up.

You can't just raise your income when inflation goes up, right? Gas prices go up, food prices go up, you can't just say, hey, boss, I need more money. You can, but they're not going to give it to you, right? Whereas if you're an entrepreneur, you can raise prices with inflation. You can build equity and not just income. When you have a job or a career, you're just being. building income. You just have income coming in. When you own a business, you have income coming in and you're building equity, meaning you're building something that has the ability to sell. It's called

enterprise value, right? And so you can build it enough where you can eventually sell it to someone who wants to buy it and absorb it into their conglomerate, their company. You can leverage other people to start making more money. You can leverage systems and technology to start making more money. So it just doesn't have to be you working for yourself, trading time for dollars. It's still better than having a career because at least now you get to work for yourself. But you start leveraging people and systems and technology, you can now increase the amount of money you make. You can create multiple income streams because every business should be able to solve at least

three problems for that customer. I'll give you a great example. In FitBody Boot Camp, right, our Fit Body Boot Camp franchise owners, they sell a membership, right? Like that's how I start a Fit Body Boot Camp. It's a workout, a group training program, a boot camp. boot camp, 30 minutes long, one trainer, many clients, therefore payroll is low and revenue is high. One trainer, many clients. Boom, got it. We're selling a workout for about $199 a month. But that client, that member that came in, also has another problem that they need solved,

in addition to their workout problem and the accountability to a coach. Their nutrition problem needs to be solved. So there's another additional fee on top of that to manage their macros, hold them accountable, do the check-ins, the body fat testing, and all the assessments needed to manage their nutrition. They also have supplement needs, and so we provide their supplement needs. There's your third source of income. They love FitBody Boot Camp. They work out there.

They get their results. They've got a community that they belong to. They want to wear the brand, and they buy the apparel. There's your fourth source of income. And then we also have our aging adult program called FitBody Forever and the regular members at a Fit Body Boot Camp all have parents who are getting older, and they bring in their parents to do our Fit Body Forever program, which is our training program that takes place in the middle of the day

for baby boomers and aging adults. And there's the fifth source of income, right? And so you see how when you have a business, you can create additional income streams. You can leverage it by having employees, systems, and technology. You get to open up more locations if you're a brick and mortar. And if you learn to manage and lead people, you can have two, three, four, five, ten locations of whatever business it is that you start.

And if it's an online business, well, now you have the freedom and flexibility of working from home and having a handful of employees that you're leveraging systems and technology to scale your business. One of my coaching clients, he has four other coaches that work under him. they deliver the same results that he would deliver when he was a coach. And the benefit is that he now does the selling and passes the client over. And so the coach makes money. There's a revenue share opportunity there for the coach and for my client.

But the client is making money off all of the clients that he's, customers that he's serving, plus all the clients that his four coaches are serving. And as he scales to five coaches, six coaches, seven coaches, Ultimately, when he brings in a salesperson who does a selling for him so that he can create more content and oversee the marketing and advertising, eventually he'll bring in a marketer and someone running the advertising. And so now he might have 10 coaches, two closers, and someone that oversees marketing in a business that's doing $130,000 a month can go to $1.3 million a month. That is the opportunity and potential to scale an online business, just like an offline business when you open up multiple locations. Right? And you don't have that opportunity when you are an employee.

You simply don't unless, again, you have a high-income skill of sales to get commissions or internal inside marketing to get bonuses and salary. So what do I share this with you? Because I want you to consider the idea of being an entrepreneur, of trying to figure out how you can go from trading time for dollars to starting to add value in a way that you solve problems. deliver a solution and make more money on the side. And I want to challenge you to not do food delivery services, Uber or Lyft. That's the low-hanging fruit. That's just having a second job. Let's be honest, right?

So you go from your careers an accountant or a cook or whatever to now also driving Uber or food delivery services. Well, big fucking deal. You're still trading time for dollars. I want you to think about something that you can do, start off. doing on the weekends and on the evenings after work that can start producing revenue for you, solving a problem. And if you're excited about fitness like I am, if you love fitness, you love helping people, you want to help people burn fat and build muscle and you're like, hey, maybe

I want to open up a gym, but I don't know how. You know, franchising is not a bad idea. And there's franchising in every industry. It's franchising in food services. If you're into food, there's food franchises that are blowing up right now. If you're into car, and you're like, man, I love the mechanics. You can open up a jiffy loop, right? And if you're into fitness like I am and you love helping people get fit and burn fat and you want multiple income streams,

you might want to consider opening up a fit-body boot camp. And I share this with you because when you go into franchising, you're now partnered with the franchisor. You have SOPs, standard operating procedures. You have marketing strategies that are given to you, no matter the franchise. Well, at least most franchises out there should be able to do that for you.

There's a lot of shitty franchises out there who don't, and you've got to do your research, right? You got to talk to the franchise advisors, and you got to do your research and see, like, is this really a franchise that has multiple income streams that is scalable, is leverageable, and allows me to create a good amount of revenue and profits for myself after paying rent and payroll. You check all those boxes off, move forward. And so I share that with you because, you know, look, we're growing. Fit Body Boot Camp bigger than ever, opening up more locations across the United States and Canada as we start heading into Australia here in the future as well. And so if you love fitness and you want to be

part of a franchise brand, I want you to join me on May 19th. I'm doing a masterclass. On May 19th, I'm doing this masterclass. And you get to not only meet two Fit Body Boot Camp owners who are actively running multiple locations that they own, but in addition to that, I'm going to teach you the five systems we use to ensure the success of our franchise operators. So you get to own a Fit Body Boot Camp location, if this makes sense to you. I want you to go to FBBCmasterclass.com and register for this free masterclass that I'm having. It's on May 19th.

You go to FBCmasterclass.com and you get to join me on a free masterclass because franchising might be the idea for you, especially if you love fitness. I want you to consider franchising with me in a Fit Body Boot Camp location in your town. You get to help people get in shape. You get to help them straighten out their diet and nutrition,

improve their health. It's reoccurring revenue. meaning they pay once and they pay monthly to keep getting that revenue. They're part of a great community and we give you all the systems and support and the coaching that you need and the brand recognition to ensure your success. But I'm telling you right now, if you think that you are going to be an entrepreneur on your own, you better come up with a product or service that solves a lot of problems and people have the money to afford that solution.

And if you're like, well, I don't have that, so I'm going to stay an employee, things will continue to get more expensive. This is not designed to scare you. This is designed to expose reality for you. Things will get more expensive. Housing will get more expensive. Rent will get more expensive. Gas and groceries will get more expensive.

Healthcare will get more expensive. Everything is getting more expensive and your pay will not keep up with the cost of living. And so that means you either have to create your own business or find a business model like a franchise that you like and that you trust and you want to be a part of. And if Fit Body Boot Camp is right for you, then I want you to go to FBBC Masterclass.com

and join me on May 19th for that masterclass that I'm holding. It's absolutely free. You get to ask me whatever questions you want about Fit Body Boot Camp. You get to meet two owners. I'm going to share with you the five systems we use to grow our Fit Body Boot Camp locations.

And who knows, if we're a good fit, you end up becoming a Fit Body Boot Camp location owner right there in your town. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode of the Bedros-Coolion show. I want to see you win in business and in life, and that's why I did this episode

specifically for you. And always remember this, that averages the enemy. Success is your responsibility, and change can take place in an instant if you are willing to flip the switch. I'll see you next time.