Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - Brandon Steiner: Creating Value is Everything - 085

Episode Date: February 6, 2019

In this episode, Bedros Keuilian interviews Brandon Steiner - founder and CEO of Steiner Sports Marketing. Brandon started his high-profile career by selling dirt, that’s right… dirt, and turned it into a multimillion-dollar empire! His secret? Creating value for the customer, client, and everyone in between. Watch or listen now to discover what strategies Brandon was able to use to outsell his opponents. “Pain is a great motivated to achieve any outcome ” - Bedros Keuilian Here’s what you’ll discover: 2:09 - What value proposition means; and how it can help build your empire 11:00 - Brandon’s mindset when it came to selling his product; and why you need to take risks when cataloging your product 13:15 - How you can develop your work ethic; and use it to win 20:40 - Why your ego is your enemy, and how it will stop you from success 32:40 - How losing can teach you valuable lessons; and how it is crucial for your personal growth “Dream big, sample small, fail quick” -  Brandon Steiner

A little tip in the book, maybe the best tip in the book, right? You're not going to see this coming. Leave your cell phone home on date night. You go out with your wife. You tell me you make all this money probably for your wife, your kids, and then you're out with your wife for the three hours a week, and you've got your phone underneath the table, you're in the bathroom checking,

and how much potential you're really paying her. This week, I want you, when you go out with your wife, when you say, honey, I'm not taking my phone in case the kids needs to get your phone. I want to just pay attention to you. Let me know the rest of that and I works out for you. You know what I will. I'm telling you it's a game changer. Hey friends, welcome to another great episode of the Empire Podcast show.

Today we're doing an inside look into someone who's a legend in the sports marketing industry. In fact, this gentleman has the largest, widest reach in sports memorabilia, Mr. Branden Steiner. How are you, sir? Welcome to the show. I'm great. Great to be here. It's fun. Listen, you're here obviously because you wrote two very amazing books.

You've got to have balls and living on purpose. of these books we're going to talk about in just a few moments. But let's talk about how we've met, and we've just recently met, and we met through a mutual friend who's also been on the Empire show, Randy Garn. How do you know Randy Garn? You know, I was, my phone was dying. And he looked like Asari Sapp. They had a lot of gadgets. You know, all kinds of power charges and boosters. I went over to him and I said, Randy, you think you could charge my phone? He just come out and sit down. And we've been best friends ever since, man. I mean...

How long ago was that? years ago. So I've had 10 years of Randy and you know you definitely need you know if you want to maintain a relationship with Randy you're going to need to eat your Wheaties every morning to keep up. Yeah. Yeah. Energy level. And he's really the state of the art relationship building playing the long game. Amazing. That's what I love about Randy. Yeah. Amazing. And speaking of playing the long game, you've been an expert at playing the long game. What you do is something very unique. You, uh, you've sold dirt from the Yankee Stadium. I mean, you sell stuff as sports memorabilia that

most people don't even, can't even wrap their brain around. How did this happen? How did you get started? Well, you know, the real thing starts when I was really a kid, because I think everything starts around value proposition, and everything does start with a purpose. When I think about the Snyder Collectibles, which is really the first empire I built for you when you get really down to it, I never saw that coming.

I was on the train. I'm in Scarsdale and taking the train every day. Underneath the word misery in the dictionary would be me on a train. I mean, I mean, just so unhappy. And I'm like, I got to go off this train. People are eating. They're talking on the phone. This guy's got his shoes off, and you're crammed in.

And half the time I'd miss the train. You know, my wife, like, you know, the train doesn't wait for you. You've got to get there a couple minutes early. And I just wanted to buy a car. So it was 1994, and I had started Steiner's Sports Marketing in 87. We were marketing athletes and booking athletes. And I still do that to this day. but I knew I needed to do more.

And when you say you're marketing athletes and booking athletes, what are you marketing or booking them for? Appearances, trade shows, commercials, speaking engagements. I mean, especially in the late 80s, no one was really doing that. And I had a Rolodex. There was no online, no cell phones, to be able to get a whole of athletes. I had thousands of athletes' phone numbers.

You would see me traditionally outside of a locker room or out in the parking lot waiting for guys to come out, but you had to get their phone numbers. Then you had to try to create work. Nobody was really using these athletes much. The whole athlete marketing craze happened more later in the 90s. So if I found, like, a Magic Johnson $5,000 in the late 80s,

that was a lot of money. But in order to get a whole of magic, you had to get his home phone number. Because even the agents weren't really worrying about that stuff back then. Right. So I'm grinding around, running around all over the country, taking players everywhere

from Roger Storback to Johnny Unitas, you name them. And, you know, things are not going particularly great. And I'm on this train. And my mother had just passed away. And by the way, my mother's favorite line, you got to have balls. This book's dedicated to her. And all the things she taught me, by the way.

And I made a shitload of money listening to my mom. If you get anything out of this conversation, like, listen to your mom. They never steal your wrong. And a lot of times if you do a good job, you can make a lot of money. I'm on the train. I just want to get off and buy a car. I've never had a new car. And I look down and I see this gentleman who's got the Daily News,

and it's got Mark Messier, hockey player for New York Rangers. And the Rangers just won the cup. They had it won in 54 years. And people are going crazy. I'm a little down, but I'm looking at that. I'm like, I think I could sell like 15,000 of those. If I can get Mark Messy to sign them. I don't know how I'm going to get that.

I don't know, Mark. And that's how my brain's working. I'm thinking I'm going to duplicate the back page of the Daily News to sell 15,000. And Mark writes, we did it. It was 54 years of waiting. Or we did it. He's going to sign those two. But at this point, you don't know Mark.

No, no, Mark. And I don't have a collectible company. I'm just booking and marketing athletes. I chase Mark down. Like, you know, in college, when you have a crush on that girl, you're trying to find anywhere she might be. Brother, lawyer, sister, accountant. Where they eat lunch?

Yeah. Three months later, I signed Mark Messiae in my first collectible deal. And by the way, this isn't like the modern days where you can look at their Instagram and say, hey, they're eating at, you know, double-egal restaurant or somewhere. Like, you're having to stock them. And Mark was not a money grabber. There was a small dining room tape. He wasn't a guy if you had a few bucks, he was just going to do it.

He was very particular by what he did. I had to do a lot of convincing. It wasn't like any kind of platform to show him. Other than a good rap, a good story, convicted, about him signing that damn photo. And sure enough, six months later, he signed a shitload of photos. I got off the goddamn train and board a Lexus SC 400. And, you know, people said, how did you start Steiner collector?

I was like, honestly, I just wanted to get up the goddamn train. And it was a money grab. It wasn't for the betterment of mankind. It was like I wanted to do this and that. Now, I built Steiner up because I love. of bringing people closer to the game and all these crazy things I've created. But to get it started, the purpose?

Money grab. Get off the train, man, money grab. Sometimes pain is a great motivator to create an outcome, isn't it? And the pain of being on that train and having the rush to it. It was. It was a great... I think if you're an entrepreneur,

true and spirit, and you're really in that mindset, there's a lot of pain and a lot of dark places you have to go because where you have to go to find that solution or where you're trying to serve people with a solution

that you see the gap, but no one else sees it, obviously, is painful, it's lonely. And when you come out with it, nobody's agreeing with you. It's not like everybody's going, oh, that's brilliant, and that's stupid, I don't see that. How's that going to work? Then if you have a wife like mine, who then will give you 20 reasons why it's not going to work immediately, my accountability police, I call her. So immediately, you know, now listen, the best decision I ever made, marrying my wife.

Probably the last decision I ever made, but the best decision I ever made. But, you know what I mean? So, but that's the accountability. of the entrepreneur because my wife's a CPA by the book, you know, so like, I mean, you know, you're trying to fight through that. So you're going to support this family,

somebody's going to sign a hockey puck and a ball. And that's that. You know, back then that does sound fucking nuts. You realize that. But I knew being such a fan, oh, I really wanted. Imagine if I get Mickey Mantle on a baseball, I would be like,

imagine if I get that base on that field or if I can go get that jersey the players wearing. So that's what you're thinking when you go to go to? a ball game, you're like, I want that base, or if I could just get that ball and have him sign it. Yeah. And everyone else is just thinking, I want to watch the game and get the entertainment. And I'm thinking, what I really like to meet that guy, if God came down and said, whatever you want,

nah, I don't really want to meet it. That's how I decide if I actually want to go sign a player. But I'm thinking, like, the dirt. Mickey Mantle's been on that dirt. I see people go on the field, Joe DiMaggio, Ray Ruth, I'm like, people grab a handful of dirt. I'm like, I think I could sell that. Now, I'd love to tell you about how genius it was. But I was desperate.

The economy went for the shitter, was in the tank. I had bought Yankee Stadium for $18.5 million. Do not advise that if you're at home to do that. Not smart. But I knew I had to go give that stadium the respect. And the Yankees gave me the opportunity to partner with them. So things got tight. You know, the economy was terrible.

I need to come up with a low-cost, high margin. By the way, margin on the dirt's phenomenal. I can only imagine. Rate margins on dirt, if you would want to get to it. So I'm thinking, like, You know, what do I do here, you know? You're killing me. So, you know, you got the dirt and, you know, 200 skews later.

So you say to me, Brian, how do you get the 50 million of dirt? Yeah, wait, wait, wait, I got to get granular here. All right, go ahead. But the dirt is. You're getting this. Okay, how much dirt are you selling? 200 skews. So how much dirt are you putting in a vial and what is it selling for if you don't mind me asking?

Well, right, the initial products, you know, dirt coasters, dirt, there are coasters, there are key chains. I'm spraying an adhesive on a photo, putting dirt on there. the little capsules with a photo. And remember, we've got dirt now from every stadium. And the viscosity and the color of every dirt, which is very key, is different. Not all dirt is created equal. I'm just saying. You sure know a lot.

So I'm thinking, I'm selling thousands of these units, but at 29, 39, it's a little tough. And I say to people all the time in entrepreneurship, your first idea is not your best idea. You've got to keep grinding. You've got to keep going after it. Don't settle for some success. if you want to be extraordinary and significant, you've got to keep going. So my mind's going. I know I got something, but I'm really not sure where it's going to go

and selling $29 pens and key chains is not what I was hoping for my future. However, gratitude is so important. I'm writing Brian Cashman a thank you note. And I say to my graphic person, make me a nice poster with all the pictures of all the ballparks. I'll be a nice gift for Brian. Great general manager. It's so good.

me, I want to thank with something really nice, we'll frame it nice. Then I say, you know, Sam, we got dirt from all the teams. Put a capsule of dirt on this poster. It looks beautiful. And I noticed that, you know, the viscosity, the color, it's all different, of, you know, the density, everything.

So I write the note, Brian, thanks to everything. Now you have a little dirt on every team in your office. Bam! Boom ya! Done. $500. Get out of here. Now I'm selling dirt maps for $499.

Ah. And I'm making a dirt map for San Diego Padres, for Kansas City Royals, for the Yankees. Where the Yankees are always the top selling dirt. You know, the Yankee dirt is special. Special dirt. It's different. But everything else. Now I'm thinking for $500, we start, that's all of a sudden. And I said selling you a pen.

And where are you marketing these? Where am I not marking it? That's the point. Well, I mean, you don't have the Internet at that point. I look at every store. I look at every catalog with a question. Why aren't you carrying my product? Brilliant. until somebody proves me that's not.

But the problem is most people, when they're thinking about, they're never going to want my product. Now, I'm thinking like, you need my product. And let me prove to you why, until you prove to me, why not? Where did this level of balls come from? You're saying, why does your catalog, your store not have my product, while everyone else nowadays is thinking, ah, they don't want my product.

Where does this level of balls come from? My mother. My mother's not saying no for an answer. People are confused, and they're stupid. And you've got to convince them sometimes that they've got to take more of it, more time to realize what you're doing. I go to Neiman Marcus. I say, you know, I want to put a couple of skews in your Christmas catalog. I've got to collect closely. You know, we really don't want to do that.

I say, you know something you're right? I want to do my own catalog with you. Let's do a Neiman Markis Steiner catalog. So the guy says, absolutely not. No way I don't want to do that. Brendan Hoffman, love him, great guy. I go back to Dallas the second time. He says, you know, maybe I could put a couple skews in that's saying, you know, I really don't want to put a couple of skews. I want to put a couple of scues. Let's try a couple of skews. And I always say, dream big, sample small, and fail quick. Now, I said, okay, want to stab what sample? The two skews I gave them.

And that's the thing. When you get a window of opportunity, hit him with your best stuff. Not your high margin, not hitting with your best stuff. Was it the dirt map? Was that one of them? No, it was just two good items that I knew would do well, and the margins were decent, but it was a good play for them. Promotions are for people, not for profit.

I looked at it as a promotion, not as a sale. So I gave him something that was going to be good for him, and his customers, not so great from me. Year later, Neiman Steiner, catalog, our own catalog that we sent to all their customers, and that's the brand play you want. Who knows Steiner? But Steiner and Neiman, Neiman Marcus, was an upscale, beautiful.

Huge. You just align yourself with an upscale, beautiful brand. It's the only way to go. Why would your partner with anything? I mean, you're going to start throwing the P-word around, partner. It needs to be somebody who's going to increase the size of the roof over your head. Never partnered with anyone that is going to increase and broaden your horizons. Holy smoke. No way.

And that's what I love about my wife, American Express I was partnered with for years. I mean, you know, MBA, Derek Jeter, Yankees. It's not by mistake. Brandon, I got to tell you this. The two things that our mutual friend Randy Garn told me was that you are a curious person with a massive imagination and work ethic like no one else. Where does the work ethic come from first?

because I heard you talk about earlier off camera about making bagels when you were 12 years old. Is that where it starts? I think it starts when I was 10. I mean, you know, I was 10, I got called to the front of the classroom, and my teacher gave me an envelope of money. I was like, what's this?

You know, you're young, you really don't know what you have and don't have. I mean, I know we weren't rich, but I mean, I wasn't thinking we were as poor as we were poor. And he said, well, here's an envelope money. You need to buy some clothes. So why do you think I need clothes? He goes, well, you've been wearing the same pants

for three weeks in a row. I said, do you know that? he goes, well, there's a rip in your right knee. So I went home. I was humiliated, crying. I remember like it was yesterday. And my mother always had a story bigger than life. A woman, you know, that he's like, oh, no, we're just waiting for your, you're in between sides of some bullshit. And I went to sleep then and I said, you know, something that doesn't, that doesn't make sense.

I said to my mother at 10, I don't know if anybody out there's got young kids, but at 10, if I get my kid to come down and get dressed and eat, that's huge. At 10, I said to my mother, you don't have to worry about me anymore. I will go out and get a job on Saturday. I'll take care of me, and if I have some extra money, I'll add it to the family. I went out on Kings Highway. It was in Brooklyn. It took me about six, seven hours to go find this job.

And Freddie, the Fruitman, hired me to deliver fruit and vegetables to all the rich people around the neighborhood that would put these big orders in. You know, a little later on, I go to my mother. I want a career change. She said, career change. You're 12. I said, well, I want to play ball after school.

And the fruit and vegetables things is all day. Saturday. It's after school. I can't play with my friends. So it was my purpose. Like, how do I get freed up? Right. Get the paper route.

And the paper route was crazy because I've got 29 dailys, 34 Sundays. I tell people all the time, I've seen the light in an early age. Unfortunately, it was a refrigerator light because it was empty. So I love to tell you how I got star. I was starving, literally. I mean, there was no food. I don't know if you've ever experienced, like, having no food and no money for real. Like, borderline, like, I've looked at all my friend's houses who I can go over and I can get their cupboards.

So I'm going out. trying to sign paper routes because whoever has the most paper routes sign up, I'd win a box of candy bars. Bringing home a box of candy bars would be like bringing home a million dollar lottery winning ticket for a 12-year-old. Sure. I go to this lady's house, she's like 70. She's like, no, I don't want to get the paper delivered. I've been knocking on doors.

I mean, literally in the neighborhood, up and down the street, no one wants to buy the damn paper. Finally, this lady says, come back another time. I don't want to get the paper from you because I've got to tip you. I said, oh, man, I'm so close. I go to my mother, I said, Mom, why do we have to live in this neighborhood? People are so cheap. So I'm going to take you something right now. I want you to remember this.

And if you remember anything in this conversation, I want you to remember this. You've got to stop selling. You got to start serving and solving. If you're selling the same thing that someone else is selling, how are you going to differentiate yourself? And the way you do that is by trying to serve and solve a problem. Don't expect just to show up and sell something everyone else has. Now at 12, I was trying to get my arms around that.

So I'm fuzzling around, knocking on doors, nothing. What does your mom come up with so much depth of wisdom? She was a business woman back then. And, you know, she didn't mince her words. And I was kind of like this weird kind of, I was always a good student. And she had a great vision about business. You know, she owned businesses, and we always talk business. We'd always walk in.

Look at that business. Man, look at that business. It's got no balls. look how lazy this guy is. Look, this could be so much better. I mean, Mom, I'm eat. But, you know, we talk about it, a restaurant or a clothing store.

And I go back to this woman's door, the old woman, she's about in our 70s. It's 11 o'clock at night. I'm desperate. I said, ma'am, you sure, you seem like you want to get the paper delivered. I said, if I bring you milk and bagels on Wednesdays, every Wednesday and Sunday,

if it's torrential downpour, snowstorm, heat wave, a woman at your age, should not be outside in this kind of weather. I will take care of you. I'll make sure you get your milk, your bagels. You need something else. I'll take care of you. You would do that for me.

See, I was worried about you. I'm thinking, you're here if something happens, whether or otherwise you can't go out. I'm here to help you. And I'll make sure that paper's here by 7.30 every morning. That is so sweet. $199 daily, it was 234 Sundays later. My route, I mean, I had swagger.

That's big. That's huge. But what I really learned was, is that it's not about what you're trying to sell. It's understanding what your customer. needs and are you really listening, which most people aren't? Are you really hearing and really imagining what it's like to be that customer? You solved her, what you did is you sold the paper by solving her most pressing problem. I just want to make sure our audience is paying attention here

because I know sometimes they listen and they multitask to these podcasts. You went to sell her a newspaper. She says, no, go away because I don't want to buy the newspaper because I'm going to have to tip you and that's just not something I'm willing to do. You go back to your mom and you complain, mom, why are we living in this town? Why are people so doggone cheap? She says, you're selling, son. You need to be solving problems and serving people. You go back and you go, hey, lady,

there's going to be trenchal downpours, snow, cold, whatever, and you're going to need your bagel and milk. You buy their newspaper, I'm going to also bring you bagel and milk. Is that what I'm hearing? And you're solving her bagel and milk problem? 100%. And you've got to be authentic about it. And you've got to put yourself, I mean, as a 12-year-old,

you've got to try to imagine what it's like to be a 70-year-old and what kind of conditions that she's in. And I realize when weather gets her, it's bad and there's some issues. I may need to get us some coffee. I may need any stop the supermarket. I'm happy to do that. Now, I didn't know she was going to turn me on every one of our friends, which is why you always want to do as much good as you can,

for as many people as you can, as often as you can, and expect nothing back. Put as much good out there. I was just trying to put out some good out there so I can help the lady. And it came back 100-fold. I bring up this story because it's the game-changer for my life. Derek Jeter didn't need me when I signed him. The Yankees didn't need me. I mean, I can't tell you the players I've signed to deals because I wasn't jumping into these deals like everyone else that deals with a celebrity.

What can I get from you? No, what value can I give? And value is, what can you do for someone that they can't do for themselves? No one talks enough about value. Talk about the value really down and deep about what you can do for something they can't do for themselves, and that's how you go and make sales. So when I approached the Yankees, it was about the customer. How can we protect the customer?

How can we protect the most valuable? at the fan. And that's when we end up creating Yankees Steiner, which was a game changer. And that's why I end up signing so many different players. Was that a turning point for you? There's no question. I never approach any business situation unless I feel like I could really bring value. I mean, the money grab, if you're just in for money grab, it'll be just that. You're playing the short game.

The real long game, the big, big grown-up game, how do I put value in this thing? How can I really help this person? And then I let everything else through faith come around. to work out, as it always does. When you provide value and you're solving problems for people, who's getting rid of those kind of people? Who's getting rid of somebody who's hoping you solve a problem? No one. That's valuable. So well said. So I'm seeing the picture that your empire really started off, well, your work ethic started off at age of 10 when you realized that we are poor, when the school is giving me money to go and buy new clothes. It's humiliating. And you call the teacher,

and you go, well, how do you know? And she says, you've been wearing the same pair of pants for three weeks, and I know that because it's got a tear on the left knee. So you're realize at this point that, hey, mom, I'm going to go pitch in, I'm going to work, and I'm going to take care of myself. If there's anything left over, I'm going to help the family with this. And that's where the work ethic kicks in, and I get that. And I can see that it's carried through. What about this nutty imagination that you have, this ability to see things and opportunities of selling dirt and a piece of a basketball court? What does that come from? It comes from your ability not to compromise and not to let success get in the way. I think

success gets in the way. I think you have some success. You see teams. They win a bunch of at the beginning of season, and they don't finish out that way, because they actually started, the two worst words is, you know, good job, or you start feeling good. And I've never been someone who's day, I don't really have a real, I don't really have a real profound. I always help my employees, if you want credit, go to the bank. You're going to get it from me. If you can't, it's an inside job. If you can't feel that inside you that you're doing a good job, then you're probably not going to work out here. If you need me to come around, but my arm around you every other day, this is just not going to be the place for you.

I'm not afraid to go in some dark places and not settle for just success. I want significance. I want extraordinary. So for me, usually these things come. I never forget, in 1998, we were about to go out of business. We had put all my money into the Yankees. They were winning a lot. David Wells just pitched a perfect game.

So we had the whole team sign a piece for the perfect game to sell. I just started the collectible company, and I had all my money, several hundred thousand dollars out on this idea. except one problem. David Wells didn't want to sign. That's a big problem to have. Huge. The piece around him, he doesn't want to sign.

And he's like, I'm not signing. Matter of fact, what was he holding out for? I'm curious. He wanted more money, and then at some point when I didn't give him the more money,

stupid, he goes and signs with another company. Were you being stubborn? Yeah. I was being stubborn, and it was a valuable lesson. He was like,

don't worry about how much you're paying, more thing about how much money you can make. Sometimes you get caught up. I'm not going to give him that kind of money. No, no. What kind of value,

and what kind of money can you make off of a deal? How much of that was your ego? I just needed pry here. All of it. So the Brandon Steiner of today would have been done. You got it, man. Because I would have gone to, wait a minute, I'm not worried about how much I'm paying him.

How much can I make if I pay him that? If it's a nice size amount, according to the scheme that I have. And what is the future opportunities that I have? Here's what I'm giving him. What can you make from that? But I was digging my heels in. At that time, I was starting to get a little bigger. And I was afraid that other players are going to want more money.

I came up with all kinds of basically bullshit stories. that I started to believe. And sure enough, four in the morning, I looked at the phone at this time because I'd been on the phone with one of my key employees for four hours and 32 minutes. At four in the morning,

and I just left them at 8 o'clock at night. And that was an early night for us back then. 4.30 in the morning. My wife had gotten up about an hour early and said, we were on the phone with this all this time, and we were just sitting there just trying to think of a way to salvage it. And we ended up at four in the morning, coming up with

an idea of taking the scorecard from that game, and building a shadow box where we took a ball from the competitor of company and said, we're not going to put David Wells on the photo, but he's the key of the thing. We put a sign ball in the shadow box along with the photo,

so look like we were supposed to be exactly the way we were supposed to be. And then we sold all that thing and saved ourselves. Because we were done. If we had no money left, it wasn't even going to make payroll. And we came up with that idea and never look back. So your first idea is not always your best idea,

but the question is when it is a good idea, how you're reacting to it. Me, I've never been big on the celebration lunch. When I'm hot, I'm at the table, I'm rolling. I want to keep going. And I think that sometimes when you come up with a good idea, I think you can always be better. You can always be improved.

And that's where you will make really big money. Brandon, I got to stop you right here and share with our audience two really big lessons. There's been at least two dozen lessons here, but two really big ones here that you just dropped. One, ego is the enemy. And we've got a lot of young entrepreneurs who are just starting out in their journey. ego is the enemy and you're saying that if the brandon's standard of today was to negotiate with him you would have just said here let's do it because what is the profits that i'm making and what is the opportunity for working with this gentleman in the future or the organization and the other thing i see here is that when you when that opportunity fell apart when you ran out of resources you were able to get resourceful get the ball put in the shadow box because you didn't have money for payroll coming up yeah i think resilience is under underestimated characteristics but i also want to say with the ego, SOS, do not be stuck on stupid. And SOS is a very common thing just because you came up with an idea, you forecast it,

you felt it, and you, so what? And I think, you know, you said ego is the enemy, so is disappointment. And disappointment, I talk a lot about living on purpose about disappointment. It's a killer, because you come up with a forecast, right? Something you think you deserve. Some you think that you see it and you crunch the numbers or you felt it or a few people that are around you told you you deserved it, then there's what life gives you.

And the gap between what life gives you and what you thought is disappointment. And that'll kill you if you let that linger. If you don't resolve it and own up, you've got to be able to look in the mirror and go, Brandon, you're an idiot. Okay, no, no, that person's not an idiot. That girl didn't dump you. That boss didn't fire you. No, no, you fired yourself.

You got dumped because you deserve to be dumped. And that idea sucked. This just wasn't well thought out or wasn't right timing or whatever it was. Because if you don't settle that score, that disappointment will linger and will stop you from doing the next thing. Example, guy gets dumped by a girl. He's heartbroken. He loved her. She dumps him. He meets another girl six months later, what she said at first thing? You know, I like you, but we've got to take it slow.

And I'm not quite ready to get into this thing right now. Why? What does that girl have to do with the other girl? But because you're carrying over that disappointment, you're already assuming that this girl is going to treat you the same way. And we do that in business, right? You do it screwed up you. You know, we've got to move a little slow on this. Maybe I've got to actually go, hey, if you have no reason to feel any kind of disappointment of pressure, if you've resolved your past and you're confident in yourself, your confidence in your strategy,

you go about your business the same way. But it's amazing how many times things from the past will creep up for the future if you don't resolve them. Disappointment and ego are the enemy. I have to add on to your ego is the enemy. And by the way, where ego is the enemy, comes from that's my dear friend Ryan Holiday. He wrote an amazing book. I love that book. Ego is the enemy and you're right. Disappointment is the enemy as well. So let me ask you this. You've got so much so much years of wisdom beyond those listening to this and I'm such a big fan of

talking to people who've been there. You're where I want to be. Well thank you. Let me ask you this. You use the word resolving the disappointment. If someone's, whether it's heartbreak, but we're obviously talking about businesses and empires, someone comes out of a bad partnership. They're walking on eggshells now. Man, that guy screwed me. Things didn't go well. I almost lost my house. I have to file for bankruptcy.

So they pussyfoot into the new relationship, new partnership. How does someone resolve this stuff so that they can go in there with guns blazing? I talk a lot about that. I'm talking about that and I'm living on purpose. And I've even literally gone back recently and apologized to people, said I'm sorry. I'm a big fan of, you know, listen, even saying you're wrong, even though you're not wrong. You ever get into a fight with someone and you know you're right and you're both right? And you say, you know, so maybe I'm wrong.

the other person 90% of the time says, you know something, maybe you're all right, maybe I'm wrong. And then you work it out. Again, ego gets in the way. But I also think that sometimes you are dead right and sometimes you have been screwed. Sometimes life does give you a shitty hand. And that's where mercy comes in, which is giving forgiveness to someone that doesn't deserve it.

But either way you have to resolve. And so many people are holding grudges. And what's terrible is you think you're hurting the other person, but you're hurting yourself. And that negative energy stuff that's trapped inside is not enabling the positive stuff you need to do because it's taking up space. So you've got to go and give people mercy.

And that's kind of what I've learned. Yeah, there's some people that have treated me really shitty. And I've gotten the raw end and stick on people outright, not even my opinion. But I give them mercy. I forgive them. I go to them and I forgive them. I may not want to be the best friend going forward. Sure.

But I forgive them. I go out of my way and say, you know, something, I'm not mad at you anymore. I understand what you did. Wasn't ecstatic about it, but I'm sure you had your reasons. And I'm grateful. You want to take your disappointments and turn them into gratefulness. Listen, you go back, you can always find the good of whatever you've experienced. Sure.

Matter how bad things end, there's always some good. If not anything else, it was a lesson learned. I think most of your disappointments could be turned into appreciations when you really think about it. And when you think about your biggest, I mean, the biggest learning lessons always come from the most painful. And the most, you know, the hardest stuff you go through always is the stuff that makes you grow, right? Absolutely. So when you go back and if you do that thinking process, really selfishly, it opens up the room for the next thing. take over. Otherwise, you just be clogging it up.

Now, let's talk about these two books real quickly. Obviously, this first one here is, you've got to have balls. Tell us about this book and the term you've got to have balls, which is a term that your mom came up with. Yeah, this is a book that, you know, so many people, I wrote this book mainly because so many people come to me and say, well, how did you build this business? Wasn't a business they existed, let alone an industry.

And I had a big part in building this industry. And this was the mindset and the thinking. And it really shows you how do you come up with the dirt? How do you come up with taking a broken hockey stick and making it to an ice scraper? I've sold more grass than anybody even listening legally. Legally. Well, now it's legal, man. Well, you know, back then, I lifted the grass off the field.

And I freeze-dried it and sold it. Get out of it. And I went to Notre Dame, Wrigley, Boston, and now for $99. Phenomenal margins on that, too, by the way. You know, freeze-drying grass. So, you know, people want to... You're just taking the clippings out of their lawnmores and selling it. Yeah.

People want to know how do you come about those ideas? So I elaborate on them. So if you're an entrepreneur, a salesperson, I really get into some really good sales techniques that are definitely out of the box. Like never go, like never go to a charity event. I mean, I don't know if you go to many charity days, but never go without an athlete on your arm.

I mean, how long are those charity events? You're sitting at a table that you beg nine other people to come that didn't want to come. Sure. And then at some point you're ready to shoot yourself. And you probably say, if I write a big enough check, you think I could leave. but I go with an athlete

the athlete comes in a much cheaper price I pay him a little bit of money to his charity or her charity and now everybody in the entire event comes over to my table it's a networking event for me it's like you show up with honey and all the bees come exactly and the person who's growing the event now recognizes that actually came

and appreciates because I made their event better like stuff like that out of the box Brandon for not for not a complicated process yeah Brandon that's nuts now the the reason you're here is for your newer book here living on purpose you wrote this why well i mean it's been a first of all i'm not complaining i'm explaining you know it's been a blessed life i mean the people i've hung out with from micky manel the joe damasio to derrick jeter to ily mangs been amazing how much dirt do you give out on

those guys in these books not a lot but there's a couple really good stories one on a rod when he was and this is really just about you're always better than your worst mistake well and it and people are always never what they seem to be you know so that's a lot about what this book is ARIG calls me. He's suspended for a year. He's halfway across the country. I pray, I need your help. I don't want to be that person I was. I got to own up to what I've done. Help me. And we go through that. I take through the process of how somebody who is basically 10 feet under is now above ground. Everybody sees what Arod's doing. And there's a great Mariano story. Some good stories there. But really at the end up happening is when I started finding some success where I really realized that if you believe, do you believe in losing is important? I believe it teaches us license, absolutely.

You know, and I do too, and I think that losing most people think is the opposite of winning, when it's a huge part of winning. But what I didn't realize, as I started to win more, you're going to have increased losing. And I just was not ready for the increase losing and be able to kind of battle that off. So I get to the top of the ladder, and I'm probably from being not very, having any money, to never have to work another day the rest of my life. And I get to the top of the ladder, and I'm like, wow, the ground underneath this ladder is very wobbly. and I'm not even sure it's against the right building.

My health sucks. I'm spiritually bankrupt. Definitely not the husband and father that I thought I was going to be. I was so focused on my business. Can I divert that a little bit? Can I get a pause in that? And this book talks about all the key people that I went to go meet to show me how to have better sex,

to be a better person, to be a better friend, to get healthier. I mean, I didn't know about church. I didn't know about nutrition. My faith was praying, to God that the Yankees would win at the end of the ninth inning and a close game on those bases. Isn't that what we all do?

That was like, that was the level of my faith and spirituality. Like, and I think you need that stuff if you really want to be, if you just want to be successful, then you're good. But if you want to be extraordinary and significant, you have to have faith. You've got to have your fitness. You've got because you got to have the clarity. You've got to want to do more good than want to do more well. And that's this book.

I love the way you describe this. If you want to have success, which is just money, sure, go have an off-balance life and grind your nuts off and neglect your family, your faith, your fitness. But if you want to live an extraordinary life, you've got to have what's in this book and the stories are going to guide you. The least use button on your remote, the pause button. Nobody uses the pause button. I'm not saying stop. I'm not saying slow down. I'm definitely not saying work-life balance.

Show me someone who's got work-life balance. They're probably ready to shoot themselves. I mean, go to work at night, come home with five. No, no, no, no, no, no. But you've got to respect those other pillars. And you've got to most importantly get educated and understand it. Because once you do, you can work it in, and you do have to use the pause button to make sure that the wife gets that extra time.

Like a little tip in the book, maybe the best tip in the book, right? You're not going to see this coming. Leave your cell phone home on date night. You go out with your wife. You tell me you make all this money probably for your wife, your kids, and then you're out with your wife for the three hours a week and you've got your phone underneath the table you're in the bathroom checking.

How much potential you're paying her? This week I want you, when you go out with your wife and when you say, honey, I'm not taking my phone in case the kids needs to get your phone. I want to just pay attention to you. Let me know how the rest of that night works out for you. You know what I will.

I'm telling you it's a game changer. Fucking changed everything for me. When I go out with my wife on the date nights or for lunch, I leave the phone home. This way she knows, because I'm a little sidetracked. I'm externally extracted. I'm a little lunatic that way. So she knows on a day-to-day momentable basis,

she may get my attention, may not, but she knows when we go out for those lunches and the two nights we go out, she knows she has mind-divide attention to go over important stuff. And that's what keeps the relationship real. I love that. You leave your cell phone on day night.

That's just a small tip. There's probably a hundred of those nuggets in there. I love that. Now, let's talk about one more thing. I told you earlier before the camera started to roll. In June 16, 1980, we come to the United States. escape communist Soviet Union and we come to the United States. We're broke. We're foreigners. We're eating out, literally eating out of the dumpsters behind grocery stores because

we're that broke. In fact, one of the times when I got lice, we were living in Section 8 housing. The same year I got, we came here, I got lice. My mom and dad couldn't afford lice treatment. Do you think everybody knows Section 8 housing what that means? I've said it enough on the show, but I should say it again, the Section 8 housing, guys and and gals, if you're not listening, is when their government is assisting you in the rent. And usually these apartments are subpar at best by living conditions. And, you know, I had lice, man. And my mom's like, we can't afford lice treatment.

She had my dad siphon out gasoline from a parked car and washed my hair with gasoline. And in hindsight, I think back, and she washed outside, you know, in the front kind of grassy knoll area where all the kids were playing. And imagine now I think back this foreigner lady telling her foreign kid to close his eyes, double over, and she's washing my hair with gasoline. I imagine all those other kids were thinking, this lady's about to light him on fire as she's pouring gasoline on my head. But again, going back to what you said when you don't have the resources, you get resourceful in life. And my mom had to get resourceful.

My dad had to get resourceful and get food out of the dumpster. It was expired, but it wasn't fully rotten. We were able to eat it and live. So that said, but one thing we did, one way my dad and I bonded was he was flipping through the channels when we first came to the United States and found this old broken TV by the dumpster, and we found the WWF,

now known as the WWE, run by the WV. Vince McMahon. Genius. Now, I understand how you started off in baseball and kind of went into the other major league sports. But how did you get into the WWE and working with Vince McMahon in that world? Just starting to. I mean, I got to Vince as I've gone to so many different, when I come up with different ideas that are out of the box, and usually I get a no.

I mean, 99% of the, I mean, I couldn't get a team to pick up the phone and answer my call. Is that a starting point for you? Like, when you get a no, that's when you're really starting? Because everyone else stops. No, no, I'm just, I'm not even paying attention to the know. I'm just trying to think who else I'm going to call or who do I know that no is the person who can maybe get a better picture. Because people are busy. Timings off.

There's so many factors into what goes on in someone's day. At least that's busy that has a, you can't get caught up in a no. I mean, if you're going to get caught up at nose, you're better off just probably getting a bank job or, you know, behind a desk or teller. Sure. Because no, it just doesn't even cross my mind. But believe me, I called every team, you know, to get the answer. Yankees to pick up the phone, but once the Yankees and I did a deal, every team was calling me. You know, with Vince, you know, I've called him a bunch of times.

I love the WWD, his imagination and everything. And then all of a sudden, recently, they tried doing some collectibles. And then Vince said, you know, go see Brandon. We want to go do what he's done with the Yankees, but with WWD. So I'm literally right now as we speak, because it's one thing to want to do something. It's one thing to want to be successful. But you've got to do the things that enable you to be, which is, you know, you got to know what you're doing. Like, you know, you can't fake it.

So I've got to go to matches. I've got to now watch. I'm watching WW at home, which my wife is like, what's wrong with you? Why are you watching Raw? Why are you watching? Why don't you tell our audience how big the WWE ecosystem is? Yeah, I mean, the WWE is bigger than the NFL, NBA, and MLB altogether. I mean, people don't realize it.

It's got like four Super Bowls a year, and they're international. Their social media platforms is amazing. Now, I understand the sport is kind of, you know, some people love it, don't, but the entertainment value is that. It's insane. And I've grown up really start liking it. But you got to, you know, I think product knowledge and being great at something from an entrepreneurship standpoint is so important to do the work.

If you come to my office at home, you would think that I'm like a dog without a bone and I'm broke again, which I always think in my mind, I play the little game within the game. I always think that I'm going to be broke again if it keeps me kind of going. But I'm constantly digging, trying to find one little edge or one little angle. And I'm reading every book I can about Vince, about W. about all these matches. I got a lot of time to catch up on

so I can be intelligent because customers are smart. Fans are smart. You can't think them. So you can't start coming up with authentic, really cool products about something that's really meaningful to people and you're not really all in.

Right. So you're doing your due diligence. You're taking the time to watch and get involved. Yeah, before I just start going for the money grab. I mean, I want to be all in. I want to be able to sit shoulder, shoulder, with a WWE fan and know what I'm talking about. Folks, get out there

and get yourself a copy of Living on Purpose by my good friend here, Brandon Steiner. And you highly recommend, obviously, getting this book, your first book, which is you've got to have balls. If you go to Brandon Steiner, I think there's like a deal where you get both of them for a special price. But also, I answer everything on LinkedIn or if you message me on Brandon Steiner.

Are you on Instagram? Yeah, my Instagram, Twitter. I'm on over my social. I keep about, I have about a dozen, 17 to 19-year-olds around that are mentoring me, teaching me, and then I mentor back. And I believe I really have a big fan of reverse mentoring. I think that some of the teenagers out there are brilliant

and they've been able to really get me current so I don't become extinct. So to get a smoking deal on both of these books, just go to brandensteiner.com. Yeah, you get them on Amazon too, but yeah, brandstiner.com as well for them autographing and stuff. Do you have either one on an audiobook? Balls is on audiobook.

You know what's great about the Balls book? The guy called me three times on the audiobook. I should have done my own, but I was so busy I didn't. And the third time the guy called me and said, you know, I really didn't have a reason of Koi. I just wanted to say, I really enjoyed this book, and I really loved to meet your mother. I said, well, unfortunately, she passed away. He goes, this book has me crying. Oh, man.

And it was really nice to the guy to, and the guy's voice was kind of similar to mine, so I was very grateful. And the audiobook on this one, I've got to do, I have it on Kindle, and I've got to do the audio book in about two weeks. Okay, so you're recording yourself, the audio. What's great on the audio book on this one is, you know, there's a story on Mariana. I'm going to get Mariana to do that story in audio. as like three or four other celebrities and they're going to get to incorporate it to read their own story. I love that.

You want to hear a funny story about audiobooks? So think about this. Again, I'm a foreigner coming to this country, right? Don't speak English. English is a second language for me. Right around third grade is when you start reading books in class and they do that whole, all right, kids, you're going to read from this page of the chapter, then you're going to read it out loud.

And so now I'm anticipating as everyone's reading their pages. Now it's my turn to read out loud. Now being a foreigner, English being a second language, I just learned the language. Boy. I was literally my reading out loud was broken up and choppy and I couldn't pronounce the words right and everybody laughed. So earlier and this year about four months ago, I recorded my audiobook, the audio from my book, Man Up. And I'm sitting in the sound studio.

And I told my assistant, I said, Joan, I know they said it's only going to take two days, but I want four days. Just in case I have to read slower and read over and over again. Every, the first day was the most disappointing day ever. like I was letting down the audio engineer and the guy with the microphone and with the dials. I went back to that third grader, man, and I was reading. When I read books in my head, dude, I'm flying through. As soon as I went to reading out loud, Brandon, I'm that third grader again, chopping it up, screwing it all up.

And those guys were such pros by day two. I was back in my groove and we knocked that book app. It was such a great feeling. On day one, when I took a little lunch break, I'm sitting there talking about it. You can't let a bump on the road, put you on the side of the road. No, no. I just got to tell you a quick story. My story, when I was in third grade, I had a speech impediment, three or four letters I couldn't pronounce.

I finally come on my, I said, Mom, I'm not going to speak. I'm not going as pathologist. I don't want to know anymore. I used to talk like this, and I couldn't. And, you know, my mother could see she wasn't happy about that. So she picked me up, and my mother picked me up from school, maybe I think twice in all my years. So she picks me up. She says, I want to take you someplace. I want you to meet someone.

So we drive, and she drives right behind this sanitation truck and drives right behind it. We get out. She says, I want you to meet someone. John is my son Brandon. I think it's good to you guys meet. John's going to explain you about being a sanitary engineer and how to drive a garbage truck. This is going to be a great profession for you.

Because being the way you speak, this will probably be a good profession for you, probably the direction you're going, and he can explain all the things you have to do in order to become a garbage man one day. I'll go back to the pathologist, no problem. I'll get the speed thing going. That's how my mother pushed me back to this pathologist.

Sheared the shit out of me. Your mom didn't fuck around, man. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I remember going home at some mom, like my hubcap got stolen, like my first car. He's like, getting a car right now. We're going to go steal a hubcap back. You're just like, I don't have to take a hubcap off. Well, hop caps are now extinct.

That's like I think of the past. But my mother went out and got it. There was no filter. And, you know, something, the lessons you learn when, you know, that was not what women generally did. No. I'm glad I went back to a pathologist, though. Yeah. Right now you were glad.

You're glad you did. Exactly. Brandon, thank you so much for getting on the show. Again, folks, BrandonSigner.com to get both books for a smoking deal, or you can find it on Amazon. And, of course, you're recording an audiobook two weeks from now, so it'll probably be out. I'd say maybe a month from the time this episode is published. And, of course, where can we find you on social media platforms? I mean, the best thing, if, you know, questions off with LinkedIn. I like, you know, follow me on LinkedIn. I don't know why they max out of this ridiculous number, but, you know, follow me on LinkedIn and message me on LinkedIn, because I love communicating.

and I really do jump on LinkedIn every day. I put an hour a day into LinkedIn. I love the people. I have a really great, I learn a lot, and I try to give up a lot. And that's my favorite. And then Facebook's my second favorite. You see Brandon Stein.

I put out a lot of good content on both of those. And if you're into entrepreneurship and sports, you'll find a lot of lives that I do that are very unusual out of the box. UNC. comment on my Facebook page. Perfect. So you've heard it here, folks. Brandon, thank you so much

for pursuing your wisdom upon us, Taking the time to come out here, man, you are truly an empire builder. You're connecting to anyone and everyone in sports and entertainment these days. And the fact that you took time out to come to the Empire show means the world to me. I appreciate you. I appreciate the pain's not dry. I'm coming back. You're coming back, baby.

You're glad here. Love it. Thanks for watching the show, folks, and we appreciate you. If you like this episode, and I know you will, please like us, love us, share it, and tell your mama all about it. See ya. Hey, thanks so much for being here for today's Empire Podcast show. We would love for you to a quick little favor for us. Just go to iTunes and give us a five.

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