Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - Will You Be Part of The Thinning? - 144

Episode Date: April 13, 2020

I don’t care what your opinion is on this virus. Covid-19 has created an economic disaster. No doubt about it. A thinning of the herd is happening RIGHT NOW! Many businesses are failing and only the strong and smart will survive. I know that you are one of the few. It’s time to pivot and focus on what really matters. It’s time to find a new problem and solve it!     Here’s what you’ll discover: 05:37 - Where you’re going to suffer from Covid-19 06:59 - You’re buying the wrong things 08:06 - Did you pivot yet? 08:12 - Where did the money go? 10:25 - The government is not going to help you   “Your biggest concern right now should not be the Covid-19 virus.” “Money never disappears. Money simply exchanges hands.” “You are the financial relief.” - Bedros Keuilian   --   Follow me on Instagram: @bedroskeuilian   My episode on the Impact Theory podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z2Kio2xlGI   Buy Man Up and get Bedros’ High Performance Leadership Course for FREE: https://manup.com/   Subscribe to My Channel for weekly videos: http://www.youtube.com/bedroskeuilian/?sub_confirmation=1 Youtube https://youtu.be/hjypHU4SOYg

And if you can't figure out where the money went right now, and if you can't figure out what new problems have been created in your industry that you can solve, oof, you are about to get thinned out. You're about to perish instead of profit. Hey, it's all gone to shit. Now what? Now what? Hey, my name is Pedro Kulian.

Welcome to the Empire Show. This is a solo episode because we're in quarantine mode and it's just me and Ed behind the camera. Listen, we're in a weird place right now. The COVID-19 virus. I don't care what your perspective is on the COVID-19 virus, whether you think it's just an over-exaggerated flu and people are freaking out over it and the government's making a big deal. Or you think it's a conspiracy theory and the man's trying to fucking kill you.

Or you think that it's a real serious thing that we should be taken more serious and, you know, we should be in greater levels of quarantine and lockdown. None of that matters to me. Here's what matters to me. You ready? We're going to get past the COVID-19. In fact, right now is freaking April 8th. And as I look at my phone, I can tell you that in probably eight weeks, the COVID-19 will be something that we're like, man, can you believe we just went through that crazy virus situation?

And aren't you glad it's behind us? You know what won't be behind us? The economic crash. The financial devastation. The restaurants, the gyms, the movie theaters, the libraries, the swam. small businesses, big businesses, hotels that have gone out of business and won't come back around for a long time. And on one side of the fence, I'm like, good.

It's a thinning of the herd. This was a long time coming. And it was. So many industries were saturated. But just this morning I saw a stat that 23% of Americans are unemployed, a 23% unemployment rate. Now let me share something with you about that. What you may or may not know is that Greece is the country with the highest unemployment rate on the planet.

The country of Greece has a 27% unemployment rate from their big economic devastation that took place after the Olympics, right? After the Olympics that they hosted a few years back. It all went to crap after that. We're at 23%. The United States is a 23% unemployment. Why do I share this with you? this virus, whether overreacted or not, and I'm not blaming the Democrats or the Republicans,

this virus has created an economic devastation that if you don't pivot and reinvent yourself, you are in for a rude awakening. Because if you are the mindset that, hey, once the virus goes away, we're going to be back to business as usual. Are you freaking out of your mind? You must be out of your mind. You must be so new to business. You must be living in some alternate universe and reality thinking that the virus going away means that the economic crash goes away. Listen, I'm no economist, but I can tell you this. I know business and I know how to make money and I know how to exploit bad times like this because I've done it in 2008. When the housing market crashed, I was the guy that went all in on changing the face of fitness.

and taking that outdoor boot camp that you would see in parks at beaches and bringing it indoors and turning it into the international fitness franchise that we have today, Fit Body Boot Camp. Like I took one of the worst economies of our time, the 2008 economic crash, and by 2010, I had created Fit Body Boot Camp, and by 2012 we had franchised it. And we hit the Inc. 5,000 list and Entrepreneur 500 Fastest Quaring Franchise list and all that stuff. And I did that during the worst of economies, and I'm going to thrive. out of this one as well. But what I see many people doing is they have this false impression that because the virus is going to go away, they think the economic devastation will go away

with it. It won't. It's going to be around for a while. Six months, 12 months, 24 months, 36 months. I want you to think three years at least of economic suffering. And I'm not here to be a pessimist. I'm here to be a realist. I'm here to be the guy that tells you that your biggest concern right now should not be the COVID-19 virus. Unless you have a compromised immune system, unless you're a baby that's a few months too early at birth, unless you're a senior citizen and you're at high risk, you don't have to worry about the COVID-19. A friend of mine, George Fox, just reached out to me and he's like, hey man, my wife just came out of quarantine. They're in their late 40s, maybe early 50s.

She's like she was fine. She got the COVID, went into quarantine, came out, she's fine. Most people are going to be fine. The two ends of the spectrum with the compromised immune systems and people in poor health because they did nothing about their fucking health, those are the people that are going to suffer the most from the COVID-19. You likely are not. You know where you're going to suffer? you're going to suffer most in your business.

You're going to suffer. Most people are going to suffer in their relationships. Divorce rates are going to go up. I'm telling you, divorce rates are going to go up. Alcoholism, drug abuse is going to go up. Addiction, depression is going to go even higher. In a country where addiction and depression was at the highest. Because no one is giving a shit about the business

because everyone's too busy buying freaking toilet paper. and hand sanitizer. No one's buying traffic. They're buying toilet paper. No one's buying weeds. They're buying hand sanitizer. No one's getting marketing squared away. They're buying face masks and filters.

If you would put as much time into your marketing, follow-up, and sales right now, into figuring out what new problem exists that you can solve in exchange for money as you are putting in in toilet paper and water and hand sanitizer and then suck in Netflix movies down your gullet, then you would be in a much better place. And guys, I share this with love. I'm telling you this with love and respect and with gratitude because I love you guys. And I come from the mindset of there's always someone trying to take me down. You can go back, go back and find Tom Bill U's interview of me on the Impact Theory podcast. And on that interview from four or five years ago, I said, look, Tom, I operate every single day like there's a gun to my head.

And I operate every single day when I wake up like there's someone sitting in their basement with a giant marker board that says, how can I take down bedroes, cool, and fit body boot camp? I operate from a place of someone's always trying to take me down. It could be the terrorists and doing another 9-11 attack. It could be the stock market crash. It could be a competitor. It could be a housing market crash. And lo and behold, guess what it was?

The COVID-19 virus. That's the realities, my friend. That's the realities. And that's why we were able to pivot fit-body boot camp in 700-some-odd locations, gyms running actual fitness programs. In 48 hours, we pivoted to online coaching. I'm not bragging about what we did. I'm impressing upon you that you better have figured out a pivot by now.

You better have figured out a way to reinvent yourself. You better have figured out where the money went because money never disappears, guys and gals. Money never disappears. Money simply exchanges hands. And if you can't figure out where the money went right now and if you can't figure out what new problems have been created in your industry that you can solve, you are about to get thinned out. You're about to perish instead of profit.

And I want to share that with you guys and I want to drive that point home. Three years from now we'll be okay. Three months from now the COVID-19 virus will be gone. Three years from now we will be okay. In between three months from now and three years from now, we are facing a financial crisis, a full stoppage of our economy, of a global economy like never before. And so many people are taking the old Netflix and chill route. I ain't opposed to chilling and Netflixing, not one bit.

But holy hell, what are you doing about your business, your clients, your kids, their schools that you want to pay for, the lifestyle you want to give your family? What about that car payment, that house payment, your rent? What about the experiences that you want to have? Do you really think the government is going to gallop in on their horse and save your ass? It's not, guys. Government's not going to save us. What?

They're giving us some $13, $14, $1,500 check per person. Shit, I'm not even getting one. I'm not even financially qualified to get one. They're going to give you what? $13, $1,400 per person and $500 for every kid you have. And then what? They're going to increase your unemployment, forcing you that if you're unlawful, unemployed right now to live its substandard life? Because if you were making $60,000

a year, now you're going to have to live off, what, $40,000 a year? If the unemployment's even going to give you that? Like, oh, but don't worry, you're going to get unemployment plus a $1,300 check plus $500 one time for your kid. What are we going to do with that? What are you going to do with that? Do not wait for financial relief from the government. You are the financial relief. I need you guys to understand that. You are the financial relief. I drive that point home to our Fit Body Boot Camp franchisees every single day. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I do a live to our Fit Body Boot Camp owners worldwide in a private Facebook group and I'm like, guys, here's what you need to understand. The man on the white horse is not going to gallop in and save

the day. Sure, there's the payroll protection program. Sure, you'll get some money eventually for some of your employees, but you might have to fire your employees by the time you get that money, unless you're creative and you're thinking of solutions to problems that you can solve in exchange for money. But if you're going to just take that wait and see approach, I'm just going to wait and see when that check's going to come in so I can pay my employees, could you imagine that? Now, I've committed to not firing any one of my employees. In fact, the day, the day that we all had to go on quarantine, we hired someone new, an accountant. And I'm looking for new team members now that are going to help us sell the new things that we have now.

Because we've figured out what new problems are created. Our supplement business is taking off. Our online coaching for FitBody Boot Camp is taken off. We do have other things to sell because we made that pivot. What pivot can you make? How can you reinvent yourself? And if you're like, wait a minute, Pedro, but you're in an industry where you can go from offline to online and you can thrive. I can't do that.

Let me tell you what I told my dentist when he called me. I said, look, man, you can't go anywhere near a person's mouth right now. You can't go anywhere near a person's teeth. You're not going to have your dental practice open for a while. But remember all those times you told me that you wanted to invest in real estate and you were saving up to invest in real estate and get that passive cash flow income coming? I said, well, now you're no longer a dentist. Now you're a real estate investor.

And home prices and apartment prices have gone down. And now you're in a position to start finding. and buying those apartments with the money that you had saved and plugging in tenants and getting cash flow going. That's what you might have to do, guys. You might have to completely look out of your industry. I was fortunate enough to be able to go from fitness to fitness.

We just went from, you know, in-community, local gyms to online. Maybe you don't have that blessing. And if you don't, then you might as well look at a, completely different industry, but don't think that you have to make your money today with the degree that you have, with the skill sets that you have. It is now time to get new skill sets. It is now time to learn how to sell over the phone. It is now time to understand how to telemark it because people are sitting at home. They've got nowhere to be. They're in quarantine. They're on lockdown. They're either on Netflix or they're in their cupboard eating.

They're sitting by their phone scrolling through social media. Now is your chance to buy ads and traffic, send it to an offer that converts. Get on the phone and telemark it. They are home waiting for you. They're not at work. They're not in the car driving around. They're not at a local amusement park or restaurant. People are home scrolling through this and waiting for you to call them or make them an

offer through an ad. And just because you think you're a dentist or you're some kind of other business that you can't pivot online, that's okay. Completely change your practice. completely change your practice. Because now the shit's hit the fan. Everything's changed.

And now what? Right? Now what? So guys just understand this, that the money has not disappeared. The money has only changed hands. It's your job to find out who has the money. And when I say that, here's a great example of that.

All the different apps that you're going to find here, like the grocery store apps, right, where people will go by, groceries for you, they're blowing up right now. So the people that work for those app companies, those drivers, they're working overtime. They have money to spend. Everyone who works for Zoom has money to spend. Everyone that works for Amazon, from Jeff Bezos on down, has money to spend. Are they going to spend it with you? That's the question, man. Are they going to spend it with you? Are you going to find out what problems they have and how you can provide the solution in exchange for money?

And that solution might be in the form of supplements. It might be in the form of food. I'll tell you something real quick. My friend Randall Pitch, Lift Fit brand. He's got another brand called Top Thread. And he made a very quick pivot. He started creating face masks because everyone's getting face masks right now. right i got an email from jaco willink right now his company origin jaco sent us an email i don't know

two days ago three days ago just checking in on us making sure we're good right i said jaco we're good man we made the pivot we're rocking and rolling i'm helping my coaching clients and our franchisees how are you guys he's like here's what i need to tell you man my gym is closed but i'm painting it freshening it up maintaining it and it's going to be newer nicer when people come back? Number one. Number two, everything that we did on Eschamont Front in person, we've now pivoted to online leadership training. And number three, origin that made jiu-jitsu geese and uniforms is now making face masks. And he signed off no factor. Right? True jaco-willink style. No factor, meaning this COVID thing is not a factor.

He pivoted. I pivoted. Rangel pitch pivoted by taking his brand top thread and creating really cool top thread gear face masks. It says fuck COVID-19 on it. Awesome shirts that says fuck COVID-19 on it. And people are buying it because people still have money. Just understand that.

The money has not disappeared. The money's there. It's just exchanged hands. People still have problems. you need to solve those problems. They need face masks. They need coaching. They need support.

They need supplements. They need clothing. They need food. They need to connect. Those are all problems that you could be solving right now. But if you're waiting on Uncle Sam to come in, galloping on his white horse to save your ass, boy, you're going to be sitting around for a long time saying, now what? Listen, I need you to do me a favor.

One episode that I wanted you share, I want you to share more than ever, it is this episode. Please, please, please, take a screenshot, share it on social media, tag everybody that you want to hear this episode. Give us lots of likes on this episode, on iTunes, on Stitcher, on YouTube. If you're watching this on YouTube, give us a five-star review. Leave comments down below. I'm here to help you. I'm here to serve you. I'm here to help you pivot out of this.

It's not the COVID virus that we're worried about. It is the economic virus that's coming because of it. All right? I don't know about you, but I was built for winter. And by God, it is winter right now. And together, we're not just going to survive, we're going to thrive. I'll see you later.