Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - The KEY To Building Your Own Brand With Tony Whatley Founder of 365 Driven Episode 153

Episode Date: October 5, 2021

Ever wondered how to find the confidence to build a personal brand and go after your goals? Well wonder no more! Today I have on the amazing and successful business entrepreneur, Tony Whatley to teach us just that. Showing entrepreneurs how to start and scale their businesses using his brand, 365 Driven, Tony helps early level entrepreneurs everywhere achieve excellence. He will teach us how to evaluate our ideas against each other and then go all in! Tony is impacting the generational legacy of millions by teaching confidence and breaking down the business principles for us. Tune in to get over your fears and break FREE from your excuses!  About The Guest: Tony Whatley is a brilliant business mentor, podcast host, and best selling author of the Side Hustle Millionaire. Tony climbed his way to success after he found himself in a terrifying car accident that forced him to reflect on his life’s work and how he would be remembered. He left his corporate lifestyle behind after about 25 years and co-founded his own company, LS1Tech, a growing online automotive community that is one of the largest of its kind today. Now, as the founder of 365 Driven, Tony has created a community for entrepreneurs to establish themselves and grow their businesses using his expertise and hands-on coaching. Finding Tony Whatley: Website: https://365driven.com/ Read Side Hustle Millionaire  Listen to 365 Driven  LinkedIn: Tony Whatley Instagram & Facebook: @365driven Youtube: @365 Driven Clubhouse: @365driven Join the Facebook Group 365 Driven Entrepreneurs  Review this podcast on Apple Podcast using this LINK and when you DM me the screen shot, I buy you my $299 video course as a thank you!    To pre-order Overcome Your Villains NOW and get the bonus bundle click here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and tribulations and experience, but I had to become the right person to carry that book. And I think that's where most authors fail is because they can write the book because they got the experience and they know how, but they don't ever become that right person to carry that book. And that's the thing that's missing

from Old Most Anything with podcasts or books. How do you build that personal brand? How do you gain that courage to do that? Hi and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet my guest today. Tony Wattley. He's a best-selling author, the side hustle millionaires' book, which went number one on Amazon immediately as soon as it hit. But this book isn't just fiction. It's based on Tony's actual story. Tony once led a successful corporate career for over 25 years. Sounds like someone I know. But that is less interesting than the side business that he created which generated millions in profit. As an act of entrepreneur himself he still owns a few businesses but his real passion is teaching entrepreneurs how to start scale and sell their businesses within his podcast and consulting brand 365 driven Tony. Thank you so much for making time to be here today.

Hey Heather, thank you for this opportunity. It's been a long time. I've been waiting to catch up with you. I've been enjoying your content as well and here we are today and I can't wait to give some value to your audience. Well Tony, let's first of all, I love your story because I love that we both started in that corporate America hustle and finally found a way out. Will you give us a little bit of background in what happened for you? Yeah, for me growing up, I grew up lower middle class here in the Houston area. My parents were both hardworking parents. My mom worked in the public schools as a cafeteria worker. My dad was a US Marine, Vietnam vet.

And after that, he got out and worked in the chemical refineries. So we didn't grow up with a lot of money. And we always hear about, I know you're going to hear about this and agree with it. Hey, you got to go be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer if you want to make six figures. So that was always the goal. I was actually the first person in both of my family sides to go to the university. I had to put myself through school by working labor as a welder and a pipe fitter and waiting tables at restaurants and things like that. And that's just who I was.

So when I started to get into the corporate, I spent seven years in school working full time, going to school at night, I was sleep deprived of the press. And really the college years were terrible for me, just because I was just not a bad relationship. So I was broke all the time, was stressed out. I actually had more gray hair in college than I do now,

and I don't dye my hair, which is kind of weird. But stress does, that sleep deprivation does, that bad diet, 99 cent double cheeseburgers do that to you, right? And I just was really intent on pursuing my corporate career as a mechanical engineering degree, and I got into the oil and gas industry here in Houston, which is the capital of that industry. And I just wanted to climb. I just wanted to climb. And I was a very aggressive type climber

because I'd already been working in the refineries on the tools. So I understand a lot about this stuff when I finally got to my degree. So, you know, we're comparing to people that graduated, you know, 21. I was graduating at 27, 28 years old, but I had a lot of field experience. And so I was ready to climb a lot faster. And I got tired of telling people, telling me to wait my turn and you're too young to be a manager and all these things are always trying to hold you back. And you're looking at the people that have the nicer office or the nicer cubicle than you do.

And you're trying to assess like how long is it going to be before they get out of that seat? And I can actually move into that seat. And you're looking at like five, six years on average to get to each level level and I was like, I don't know if I want to wait that long. So I actually started my first business in 2001 because I have a passion for cars. And I said, man, if I'm going to teach myself some things, I'm going to go build a little business and learn how to do things and accounting and marketing and make some decisions and take some risks because I had bills paid, you know, with the engineering job. And so I started a online community for racing cars called LS1tech.com. And that grew into the largest of its

kind on the internet. We had over 300,000 registered members and general motors performance cars. So my sponsors, my advertisers were like Cadillac and Chevrolet and Pontiac and things like that. And we took that same business model and I built PerformanceTrucks.net, which grew to 280,000 registered members for the racing truck guys. So I was able to duplicate that twice and I sold those companies in 2007, which went for millions of dollars,

which is kind of the basis that book you just mentioned, Side hustle Millionaire. So in a period of six years, I was able to start as a side business and grow those and scale those and exit those. But I was always driven also with the career, Heather, because you and I, we had that career, we had that drive. year was able to start as a side business and grow those and scale those and exit those. But I was always driven also with a career, Heather, because you and I, we had that career,

we had that drive, you were a C suite. You know exactly what it takes to navigate through that. And it was very easy for me because I had that confidence, another subvictory and expert on that. I knew that I always cared that parachute around with me that I could deploy at any time because nobody at any job was going to abuse me. I was definitely the hardest worker in putting out the actual results, but I had a lot to do with the confidence I was getting externally from those office settings.

And that's what I did. I just, I also had my mom's voice on my shoulder the whole time about the corporate career. Like don't waste your degree, you know, do these things. And honestly, I'm a competitive person, and I'm sure you are as well. And we just want to see how far we could go. We just want to see just curiosity, right? So that all changed in 2015. So what was that moment that really changed it for you? For 2015, we were always, we're already going through a willing gas industry decline. I've already been through three of those downturns

in that industry. It seems that cyclical. it comes around every seven to eight years. We started to do layoffs. I was managing projects worth $100 to $200 million. And had international projects. I was working at Africa and France and England and just doing a lot of international travel. I was like, rarely anywhere around. Like, little got to be my friends, thought I was an international spy or something

because I was never around and sometimes I'm off the grid because they don't have internet and Africa in some places, right? So you start thinking about that and I'll see the decline. I started to see the corporate people start to take advantage of some of their employees and also do some really kind of unethical things in the management ranks where I was at that level was having to make those decisions to put my name on those all of a sudden. And we're starting to lay people off because they're older and they're making too much money and it's starting to get into ageism and I didn't agree with that because I didn't experience that because prior to age 40 and I think you'll agree with this, it's pretty easy to find a job replacement when you get laid off because you're really at that point where you have a lot of experience and you're probably undercompensated. So you're like, hey cool, like if I get laid off, you know, three, four months, I have another job, no big deal. But when you started getting your 40s

and you're making multiple six figures and people are starting to lay off because you make multiple six figures no matter how good you are, they're just, you're a financial asset thing that they just like to push out the door and I started to see that. And I know this is highly illegal,

but those conversations do go on at that HR level, just not in writing. And I was like, you know, I don't know if I could be in this part of this conversation anymore. And so I was already kind of in that negative decline of that. But then I actually had a car accident racing cars late in 2015. And the thing is, I was racing a thousand horsepower Dodge Viper, trying to set a national record and a quarter mile drag strip. And everything was going well until the top of third year, about 130 miles per hour, something in the rear suspension

broke. And the rear wheel is essentially steering the car instead of the front wheels. And so I grazed the right side wall. And then as I started thinking that the worst was over, I started to slow down. And I came back off of that wall. And then the car went hard left.

And now I'm aiming at the other wall. And the left lane is concrete wall. And I'm at 130 miles per hour doing quick mental calculations that I got bad odds at surviving this and In that moment I even said to myself, well here I go. I remember that as clear as day I just remember saying that well here I go and here's the weird thing about that Other is that going through that it felt like an eternity when I was approaching that wall But the weirdest thing is that I felt an overwhelming sense of peacefulness

You would think that'd be fear or some kind of an overwhelming sense of peacefulness. You would think that'd be fear or some kind of screaming or just something like you see on the movies, but it's not like that. I just felt an overwhelming sense of peacefulness and warmth. And it was literally that Jesus take the wheel-tight moment for me. And I remember hitting the impact and the airbags deployed

and the cabin filled it with the white powdery smoke. And it's really dark at the end of the track and the lights are flickering and off. I get here, the tire car coming to pieces and glass breaking and carbon fiber and aluminum just ripped apart. The wheels are coming off the cars. And I just remember surviving the impact and thinking to myself, stay awake. Stay awake because I didn't know if I was injured or not.

I just knew that most people die from the fire, not the impact because all the fluids spill out and everything's flammable. And I just remember just, hey, when this car comes to a rest, I need to get out of the car. I just need to stay awake. Just stay awake and it felt like it was sliding forever. And it finally came to a rest. I had to pry that door open because it got smashed in on that side of the car. And I just got out of the car and I took my helmet off and I'm looking at the wreckage was literally wheels off the car. Every single panel this car is destroyed. It's smashed into the front up to the windshield.

And I can hear the ambulance coming. I hear people sprinting up the track to see what happened. I hear four wheelers approaching. And they put me in the back of the ambulance. So I'm sitting there looking at this wreckage of this car and the paramedics inspecting me and asking me questions to see if I was

had a concussion or not. And I was answering everything really clearly. And then at the end of her inspection, she goes, can I tell you something unusual? And let's go, great. It's like, here goes, like, what's she going to tell me? My leg is backwards. I got a rib poking out my back. Like, I'm thinking the worst, right? Because it's been calm up to that point. And she just said, no, it's remarkably calm. You're very calm. I've answered all these questions. You really calm. Your heart rate is an elevated. You don't have the adrenaline shakes.

You don't have the shortness of breath. You don't have the cold sweat. It's like you're just calm. And I said, I am calm. It was just as calm as when I was approaching that wall. I felt it. I just felt calm. And I was looking at the wreckage.

And later on, I started to realize, what was I thinking in that moment? Because I got asked so many times. And it was a series of questions, pretty logical questions. I was looking at the records thinking, why am I still here? I could have died right there. Why am I still here? And then the next question logically from that is,

well, if I would have died, how would I have been remembered? And then you start to think about people that you've known that have passed away in recent or maybe in the same situation. How are they remembered? How did that compare? Was that enough? And for me, it would have been Rich Guy,

Nice Guy, Cool Cars, you know, gone too soon, right? And I said, is that really, well, with me, do I want to be remembered as Rich Guy with Cool Cars, Nice Guy, Successful? It felt really superficial. I felt like as someone who's a high achiever, that someone has always pushed themselves to do more, I felt like kind of like the neon sign.

You see, blinking over my shoulder. I felt like that it was a glaring neon response that that's very superficial and you didn't try it hard enough. Like there was more that you could have done. And so that's what I went on that mission. It's like, I need to go do something to create impact. I don't know. That's a big buzz word nowadays, but that was really what was going through my mind.

How am I going to go make impact in this world? And I went and I left that career and I didn't go back to it and people thought I was crazy. Like how do you giving up 20 something years of experience and you know, and all the multiple six figured income, you get other people that will hire you as a junior level executive at smaller supplier companies and stuff. And I said, I'm not interested in that because I didn't know what the impact meant to me. I just knew that I needed to do more than go work at a corporate job and waste all my hours and my time and my dedication and talents in some company that didn't care about their

people, industry that didn't care about their people anymore. So that's what I did. And really, I just kind of left and didn't do that. I just kind of left. Point, that's a big leap. Obviously, thank goodness that you are okay. And the whole experience is just surreal to hear what you went through.

I got fired, that's why I left. But agree with everything you said, when you reach a certain level, you see that things are going on, it's just not right. And it's hard to sit and just watch that and collect a page, I can be a part of something like that, couldn't agree more.

However, didn't you struggle with, even though you would had this near death experience that, wait, am I really gonna just stop working here and take a risk going off into the unknown? How am I gonna pay my bills? How am I gonna move forward? At the time, I did have an online business

that was making about $100,000 a year, and that's something I'd had for 15 years. So I know that was pretty stable. And I knew that that would at least cover my bills. And also I'd put myself in a financial situation where I didn't have to work for a while. And that's fine. I had to put in a lot of work.

And so I'd exited the companies, I had different investments going on. So I positioned myself into that. But I didn't think I was ever going to leave and go with that. I was really intent on being the CEO of these major oil and gas companies. And I know that's within my capabilities, it was just a matter of time and execution to with that. I was really intent on being the CEO of these major oil and gas companies. And I know that's within my capabilities.

It was just a matter of time and execution to achieve that. But it just didn't sit well with me because even if I had made an executive role at those companies, would that really have created this maximum impact that I had within my potential capability of doing, and the answer is no. I may have impacted the shareholders

and the dividends paid out and landing some large contracts and things like that and big numbers. I mean, that was my entire career and I understand all that kind of stuff. I love the numbers game and I love the game of business but I think what is the impact? What does that really mean to me? And does that mean I'm maybe create a nonprofit

or going to philanthropy mission or just something? Like what does that even mean? When you hear that it's a really deep question and most people unfortunately don't understand what their purpose is or anything like that when you ask them most people say oh I just want to take care of my family and you know that sounds very honorable but the problem is that that answer is so common that it gets repeated back and forth by people who aspire to be average that don't really want to confront what their true potential is. National security experts are warning. Our aging power grid is more vulnerable than ever.

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the special financing offer at NetSuite.com slash monahan. NetSuite.com slash monahan to get the visibility and control you need to weather any storm. NetSuite.com slash monahan. So they say, I just want to take care of my family. And it sounds great. And you're supposed to stop the conversation right there. When you challenge somebody about the purpose, and they give that, that's a wild card. But when you ask someone like me, or ask someone like you, Heather,

what is your purpose? And they say, family, I don't say that. I say, no, that's your duty. Taking care of your family is your duty. That's not your purpose. Your purpose is a lot bigger than your immediate family. You may not think it is. But you know, me and I didn't believe that it is, but it is a lot bigger than your family. So to me, family's always been duty. So what is my purpose? What is it bigger? How

am I going to go achieve that? And I said, well, it took me the next two years. I launched 365 driven in 2017, but the next two years, I was kind of on that soul searching mission. I was taking some consulting gigs and doing that and running my business to make the bills paid and I was experimenting and I sort of think about, how am I going to impact the most amount of people? It's possible, right? And it all goes back to my childhood and even the clues leading up through my entire career

is I was the kid that when my mom would go grocery shopping when I was kid, I would run to the magazine racks and she would go shopping and I would read my car magazines because that's what I was into. And then I didn't have any money. So I started noticing in the quarter mile these other magazines talking about money, fortune, entrepreneur success, like Forbes. And I said, well, maybe if I read fewer of these car magazines and read some of those, I'll figure out how to make money.

You know, I'm 12 years old. Think about how weird this sounds now. So I got a subscription to a couple of those magazines with my car magazines, and I would read those cover to cover, and I didn't understand what I was reading, but I just knew that maybe I could unlock some knowledge about that kind of stuff that I've learned. And so maybe within a year I started realizing what they were talking about. I started putting the terminology in order and okay, I kind of get what that means, but I was a kid, you know, and I didn't understand all the details of it,

but I was the kid that was knocking on doors, washing cars, mowing yards, walking dogs, whatever I could to make money, because that's how I paid for my skateboards and video games and BMX bikes, because I didn't have allowance, right? And so I said, I've always been fascinated with cars and business.

And I always think of businesses like a game and rules and scores and all these different things. I said, well, maybe that's what my purpose really is. I'm going to go impact. I used to say a thousand of people because I didn't believe in millions, but now I say millions, but my purpose now is to go impact the generational legacy of millions of people by teaching them confidence and business principles. Because that's what got me the lifestyle that I have, the cars that I had. And so everybody knew about that stuff.

So let me teach them how to get their own. And that's what it became. And I'll tell you, even then, I hesitated getting into the personal development space because you and I know there's a bunch of frauds and things out there and people are selling stuff that never achieved themselves. And I had a really private life, and I was really insecure about things, and I hid from the cameras, and I had stage frights, and all these things, and I had to get over. But I didn't even want to get into that space

because I didn't want to be lumped into the same group as those people, like most of them. There's a lot of good ones out there. We know that now. But from the outside, it's probably 75% or kind of like your skeptical. And the rest of them, you're like, okay, they're good. Tony, that's such a massive shift over just those couple of years from 2015 to 2017 for you.

Tell me how when you finally understood the purpose that you wanted to live out in your life and this passion and commitment you had to helping others, what were some of those first steps that you took to get the company 365 up and running? This is the one that I think most of your listeners will relate with. We all have a book inside of us. We all have a book. We always think about hailing to write this book.

And I had this book in my mind for about five years on how to start businesses and help people that were on early-level entrepreneurs. And over the past 20 years, as a business owner, helped some of my staff members build seven, eight, and nine-figure businesses for past 20 years as a business owner helped some of my staff members build seven eight and nine figure businesses for over 20 years. And they were always telling me Tony, you should be teaching this, but I was how I had a bunch of convenient excuses. I just said, I'm busy or I've got businesses or I've got a family, I've got this career. And really it was just avoiding making myself public, right? I had a very kind of comfortable private life, excelling and entrepreneurship and corporate at the same time, but I didn't have to be on stage

and I didn't have to be on camera and I could do it all in the background. That was fine because I had those insecurities. I grew up half Japanese and a largely country town in Texas and I experienced racism, a kid. I have skin issues where I'm covered with vitiligos, I'm covered with white spots. So people used to make fun of those things when I racism a kid. I have skin issues where I'm covered with Vidal Igo, so I'm covered with white spots. So people used to make fun of those things

when I was a kid. So I understood that I didn't like being in front of the camera. I knew it. I'd said, well, shit, if I'm gonna make an impact, I kind of need to get over that. I need to figure out what I need to do to get my message out there.

So I really started admitting this recently about the book probably the last three months. After three years, it's been out. That it was the most cowardly way for me to get what was in my mind out to the masses, because it didn't require me to be on camera or recorded voice, which I didn't like at that time, or having to put myself out there. I said, man, if I could just write this book, maybe I can be one of those famous authors that nobody recognizes.

And then at least what's inside my mind will be out there. And if it does good, great, if it does bad, nobody will care. Because that's just the way it is, right? So here's the crazy thing about the Heather G. laughed. And it's so true because we all kind of processed this, right? We think the book is the gateway. And it is. It could be, it could be the key that unlocks doors that we don't even see that we don't even know exist and that's what happened for me but I'm writing this book in a

hired an editor that's helped other people that become successful writers and is giving me feedback and he's reading these chapters each time I finish a chapter and he's like man yeah early chapters this is gonna be a good book it can art till like cool thanks and I'm just don't go in but probably chapter four is like man this is gonna be a really good book I think this one's gonna launch really well. And they're probably going to want to interview you're probably going to be on podcasts or the radio or TV or this stuff. I'm like, oh crap.

There's that thing I was hiding from. It's coming back to confront me again. So I was like, man, I can't keep hiding from this fear of doing that. Let me let me get past that. Let me solve that. So I do what most people do. I go on Google and I said, how do you get over stage fright or how do you get better on camera? And I say, hey, join Toast Masters, higher speaking coach,

higher video coach, whatever those things are. And so, okay, I'm just going to go do it. I'm just going to hold my nose. I'm just going to go do it. I know it's uncomfortable. But I realized halfway through writing my book, this is in late 2017, is that I had to become the right person to carry that book.

The book itself, the knowledge itself was something I had for 20 years in my mind through trials and tribulations and experience, but I had to become the right person to carry that book. And I think that's where most authors fail is because they can write the book because they got the experience and they know how, but they don't ever become that right person to carry that book. To be the biggest cheerleader of that book and to campaign that book and to spread the gospel of that book. And that's the thing that's missing from old most anything with podcasts or books is how do you build that personal brand?

How do you gain that courage to do that? Yeah, that's the hard work, right? And I totally relate to what you were just saying there. I remember hating hearing my voice at first. We know the first time that I heard myself as a guest on a podcast. And I remember the first time I saw video of me speaking, you know, at a large event. I cringed when I watched myself. So I totally relate to you. And I think a lot of people do, but the key for me, anyways, was even though I didn't like it, even though I didn't think I was good, even though I didn't like my voice, I just kept going. And over time, you start to quote unquote, find your voice or whatever, you know, make less mistakes or or show up as that real version of you. And it's, to me, it's been really that key of stepping into the unfamiliar, stepping into the uncomfortable, even when you don't like it, even when you don't like it,

even when you don't like how you sound and just keep showing up, was that sort of the same way how it panned out for you? It was a terrible start up, just like you said, because here's the thing, in our minds, we think we're gonna be better than we are. And even when you're recording this first bit as you feel like, oh, that was a good one,

and then you can watch the replay or like, oh, God, that's terrible. But to give you a perspective of how much I did not enjoy this, I was doing this consulting gig. So sometimes I had a tie on, I looked nice, and I said, okay, when I get back to the car, I'm just going to do a video every day on my phone. I just put it on the little dash holder.

And I have a message, maybe I wanted to talk about because I listen to podcasts and read a lot of books. So I always have a lot of ideas. And I said, okay, I'm just gonna do a video. And here's how scared I was. I would sit in a parking lot. And if somebody walked by, like two rows over, not even near my car,

and I thought that maybe they could see me, I would just turn the camera off. Because I didn't feel confident enough to do those videos. I was that scared about doing that. I felt weird about it, right? And it's also with men, especially when guys do selfies and videos, other alpha dudes kind of make fun of guys like that.

They're like, oh, look at that. You're acting like a teenage girl, you know? And initially when you're in that group, you're kind of like, yeah, they're acting like teenage girls selfies, like no man does that. And you start to realize that the people that are making impact, the people that you truly admire, like we talked about before fired up, one of my mentors is Ed at my let those guys are his alpha and jacked as it gets

Highly successful. What are they doing? They're doing selfies? So you start to have this weird mix of people trying to lead you the wrong way because they're uncomfortable with it equally uncomfortable with it They don't have the courage to do it But the people that you admire making real impact are doing the exact things that you're trying to be afraid of. So it was really awkward to do those original videos. And I said, you know what, I'm going to push myself because, yeah, you can go to Toastmasters and it's one meeting a week. And you can raise your hand and you might get two to three minutes in front of the room

once a week. I said, well, I'm learning all this stuff, but I have no stage to stand on. So why don't I just start practicing the things I'm learning from public speaking and just put it in the video. And that's what I did. So the first year, the 2017 to 18, I did a video every single day on social media no matter how bad it is. I'll do 10 takes and I will just pick the best one. And eventually I got to do them where I could just do them one take and I got confidence, but it's just repetition and you're not going to be able to skip this. If you're listening to this or watching this, you're not going to be able to skip this. If you're listening to this or watching this,

you're not going to be able to skip that. You only get better for repetitions. Oh, it's so, so true. And I wish I had understood that more, you know, earlier on. It took me finally getting some positive feedback from people that, you know, read the book or whatever or heard the podcast and said, wow, you know, great voice. And I'd say really, really you think so. It was so eye opening for me because when you're showing up as yourself every single day, you're not noticing that you're getting better. You're not noticing that you're standing up a little bit more confidently that you're sharing things you wouldn't have been able to before. So sometimes it does take those people outside of your innermost circle to tap you and

say, you know what, that you're really getting good. And then it's so exciting when you hear that. It reminds me of a story. This is a good one that people relate to, because actually the previous corporate job, right, it'd been two years after that, on LinkedIn, where you and I like to hang out a lot. Somebody saw my videos, one of my former colleagues,

and he reached out to me, he was, hey man, I'm enjoying your videos, and you got a good message. And he's like, so he said, man, I don't think I can ever do that. It's scary. How do you get the confidence to get on camera? That's, I don't think I can ever do that.

And this guy is pretty confident, pretty successful for himself. And so I had to put this perspective. So this is really gonna help people. I said, hey, Brian, do you still have the same boss that we worked with? Is she still there? Yeah, yeah, she's still here.

It's like, so if she were to walk up to your desk at eight o'clock in the morning, first thing in the morning, I said, hey, Brian, take out your phone, and if you do this one minute video, you can go home for the rest of the day. Would you do it? And he thought about it and goes, yeah, I guess I would. I was like, so you're saying you would do a video

if it was your job description, and you could have the rest of the day off. And he's like, yeah, I guess I would. I was like, doing videos is part of my job description now. Like, I don't do them because I love to do it and I have to do it and I feel like doing it because successful people are not driven by motivation. We're driven by results.

And if I'm redefining who I am and that's part of the roles and responsibilities I need to do, guess what? I'm gonna do it. That's so good. Yeah, and I love that you gave him that analogy because once you put a carrot out there, we're all willing to, you know, when it at least makes sense to us,

we're willing to step into that fear and take on the unknown. So what are some of the principles that you teach through the book and through all of your teachings that you really feel like impact people the most? The first two chapters of that book are actually on mindset. It's about getting over the excuses that people commonly have about starting their first business. They say things like, I got no time. I have no money, I have kids.

I don't have enough experience. I don't have education. Like all the, I mean, I've basically made a list of all the common objections and I gave really detailed responses for each of those. So yeah, getting over that is the hard part because everybody's got excuses, but she's start to realize that for every excuse

that you have, there's a million people that had the exact same situation as you that became successful because they were able to push those excuses away. They're saying that we hang around with the people that volley back and forth the excuses, they're the ones that keep you at that level, right? And when people ask me,

well, when did you start your business? How was your life? Like actually 2000 was my lowest point in my life. And that was when I had a failed relationship with my son's mother. He was less than one years old. We were broke because I got laid off a year before that. So we were living off of credit cards and racked up a bunch of $40,000 in credit card debt.

I was paying for her apartment. My apartment, I was waiting for her apartment, my apartment, I was waiting tables. When I finally got another job that paid less than my previous job, I was still waiting tables for the next two years while I was starting this company with a newborn son, a bad relationship, depressed, broke. I mean, I also broke that mistakenly picked an apartment

that was off of a tollway, and there was times I couldn't even drive anywhere unless it was going to work to get that paycheck on that Friday because I knew that I didn't have enough change to go anywhere, like to go hang out with my friends. I would just stay home. You know, so I've been there before

and I realized that that's not the life that I wanted to have. And I still started a business. And the business was because I needed to be focused on something that was positive. And I needed an outlet. And I could get books and learn and teach myself how to do Photoshop and create websites and photography and things that graphic design. I was just kind of interested.

I've always been an artistic type creative person. So I just taught myself new skills when I had the time to do that and I practiced those things. And soon enough, I was building websites for different companies and getting paid to do that. And I didn't have to wait tables anymore. You should know what that means already. That's the best kind of notification.

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Get started at TaukayaTree.com slash start. That's T-A-L-K-I-A-T-R-Y.com slash start. So you realize like if you're not where you want to be, ask yourself in this moment, what are you willing to do to get out of that? You know, what are you willing to do? Are you worried about what people are going to think about you? Guys, I had an engineering to graduate at an engineering job, I was still waiting table seven nights a week. Sometimes the people that the engineering job would see me at the restaurant, ask why I was there because I had a higher salary

than them. And I said, well, because I'm not where I want to be right now, this is a way for me to make extra money to put away, to do things that I want to do. So I can achieve what I want to achieve. So I've never been worried about what other people think about what I needed to go do. What are some of the keys once you get people down this path? They've got the mindset, right? They're willing to start the business, try and test different things to see what can make them some money. What are some of the directions that you give them once they're getting up and running to grow? I'd say that the most things that people fail at is because we leave a job.

We leave a corporate job or a career that is based on our skill sets or a knowledge base that we have. So maybe you're a programmer, you're an engineer, you're an attorney, whatever your skill and your knowledge is, you think like I'm really good at this. And maybe you're compensated enough to prove that you are good at that, but then you think I'm going to go start a business based on that same kind of skill set or knowledge base. And we already know that 50% of businesses fail within the year two and 21st 20% fail in the year one. And the reason why is because they don't understand the business process. They don't invest the same level of attention and to understand how to manage businesses.

They don't understand cash flow and accounting. They don't understand marketing. They don't understand salesmanship. The thing about if you're an engineer and you've never done anything in selling, you've never been a waiter before, you've never worked retail, you've never had the sale, that's a skill that you learn over time. You don't get new waiters that have never been a waiter that are killing it the first week. It takes them a few months and then they're killing it. They had to go learn that skill.

So I think that a lot of times people overvalue their skill set from their corporate career or they overvalue the knowledge base that they have, and they greatly undervalue the marketing, the financials, the all the business management things. So always think about that when people come to me and they're like, hey, I'm the best mechanic in town. I want to open up my own performance shop. I'm so good, I'm super good.

I'm like, hey, how are you going to do the marketing? Um, I don't know. Okay, how much startup capital do you need you need? I don't know. How much of your overhead cost is going to be? I don't know. Like, they don't understand that there's a whole aspect of business management. I'm not saying is to scare people. I'm saying is to prepare people because you need to go start reading those business books and understand marketing. To me, the number one skill most people fail at is marketing aspect because they think that if I build

this amazing product or this service, all these people are going to start showing up. If I build this website, all these people are going to start buying stuff up of it. But they don't understand the marketing and how hard that is and how much time it takes to yield that momentum and the confidence to go do that. So I think marketing to me is number one that's the biggest fail.

Yeah, and we live in a world right now where it's really hard to be heard because there's so much messaging out there. How were you able to break through with your companies early on? I mean, I was very fortunate from being in the entrepreneurship space and building brands and large brands at that, that I was just able to take the same knowledge and the skill sets that I have in a plethora what I'm doing today. So, I mean, literally that's what I help my clients is because they come to me and they have a skill set or a knowledge base, but they don't understand the business aspects.

So we teach them really simple stuff initially, like the profit first system, it's a great book. If you guys go read that about the financial accounting and putting money in different little accounts to make sure you're managing your cash flow for your business, because that's the other things most people starve themselves on cash flow. They can't float their bills anymore,

and they're having to take in new work to pay for the old work. So they kind of starve their company and go out of business. That's one of the biggest reasons people go out. So little things like that and understanding, okay, how do I do social media? What is personal branding even, what does that mean?

What does that have in tar? What is the customer have in tar? So these are all new terminologies for people who are just getting into business. So the book itself is really a hand-to-holding thing that's, how do I take the ideas that are rattling around in my school about business? Because everybody gives themselves too much credit for their ideas, the water cooler ideas, or they're at the lunch table. Oh man, I'm going to start a business this isn't this. And whoever is at the table has got the most ideas, it's kind of got the

clout, but none of them ever make any action or take any action to go do those things. It's like, what has it even matter? So you gotta realize that millions of people die around this world every single day with great ideas. But if they never did anything, what is it worth? They take these great ideas to the grave. They could have the idea that would have made them a billionaire

or changed the entire face of this world, but they went to bed and they just didn't do things the next next day they didn't go achieve or push themselves to go try those ideas or try to do anything. And that's unfortunate so I want to make sure we get the ideas and teach people how to evaluate those ideas against each other maybe best odds of success. And then I always tell people to go all in. And when I say go all in, I mean, if you're not going to go 12 months, minimum, all in on something, then you shouldn't even start because that's one. It's an indicator that is important to you. Maybe there's some purpose baked into that. But also, are you consistent and disciplined enough to be able to get the results?

Because you and I both know whether that most people quit in about two to three months, we see this on social media all the time. You and I, we have this content always coming out and you see these people that hit the content scene like really hard and you're putting out some good stuff and who's this newcomer? They're doing really awesome and three months go by and they disappear.

It's like, wow, did they go on a business or are they okay? I hope everything's all right. You're just kind of thinking the worst. We never think deposited when someone disappears, right? And then you see them six months later, like, oh, guys, that old thing I did, it didn't work out so well. And I got this new thing and I got this new business card

and I need you guys to do this. And I got this new show and they're always like trying to reinvent themselves like every six months and we all had neighbors like that or every time you see them at the mailbox or giving them other business cards or trying to get get rich quick and it doesn't work that way. Like to me, like when you first announced something different from your norm, like, I'm going to go on a fitness journey. I'm going to start a business like something that's

outside of your wheelhouse that's abnormal. Your initial audience, your family and your close friends, they'll give you the golf clap and they're like, yeah, you got this. Let's go. And so you give it a little fake boost of confidence because you go, how? Maybe this isn't going to be so bad. Look at all the support that I'm seeing. This is amazing. I didn't think anybody would support me.

I said I was going to start a business and lead my job. And all these people are saying cool. And about two weeks into it, nobody's saying that anymore. And I'm not saying that anymore. And you're like, wow, it's my content sucking of the video's terrible. Am I doing this wrong? Am I good enough to do what I'm doing?

And I'm sure that you went through this too. It's probably resonating with you a little bit. So six months in, it's still kind of ghost town. And you're like, man, I think I'm just gonna quit. Maybe I need to go back to get another job or maybe I need to start another business and that's where Miss people just kind of change their mind, they kind of pivot, they kind of lose that momentum. But here's the thing, I've started enough companies and failed enough times that I realized that

if I can just outlast people, that that is a strategic advantage. And I know that if I can just make it eight months, nine months, 12 months, that not only competing against 20% of the people that stayed in it, 80% quit too soon. And we always think about that. We think about like three feet from gold when you're digging, like you quit, and like you could have made it a little bit more and you would have got there.

That is so true. We see the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule, like you know, the 80% will try really hard, but 20% will get the results. So I know that if I can just outlast people and based on my 20 years of business, it's about 12 months. If you could just make it to that month

of showing up every single day, 365 driven by brand literally, you could show up every day and put some kind of a little bit of work in there to get towards your goal. You could just outlast people. And here's the weird thing about that because you and I are both experiencing this

in a big way now, is that once you make it past that 12 month mark, people start to comment again and like your posts, they're saying, wow, Heather, she's so dedicated. She shows up every day. You go and people don't like her posts. There she is. She's making the content. But that's admirable. Like that's some discipline right there. Like she's really into this. They start to see that you're, you're taking it serious. 18 months in, they're starting to tag their friends. Hey, you got to come here, Heather and Tony's, what they're saying, you got to come check this out.

This video they made a reminder of you are our situation and you're like, cool, two years in. You're starting to get tagged around the internet by people you've never met before. And it's really strange to see that and people are sending you letters, like many change my life. You really impacted my life.

Thank you for writing that book. Thank you for that video. You put out and really hit me at the right time. That's two years in, right? I'm in the year four now. So you start to see that where people are inviting or bigger stages. And I've been on hundreds of podcasts and I've been on TV, I signed a TV deal that's going to film later this year.

So understand that these are the things that take time, but she got to show up every single day and put some level of effort into every day. Oh, it's such a great point. And it's the hardest in the beginning, as you mentioned, obviously, the majority of businesses are going to film that first year or two years. But that's the commitment, like you said, make the commitment that you're not going to give up when you don't get that positive feedback when you aren't seeing the results, because that's when you get through that window those first two years, which you really articulated well, that's when you start getting the amazing feedback that for me, that's the reason why I don't give up

now, right? Because everyone has challenges, everyone has different problems they're going to face in business and in life. But when you're getting those DMs, saying, you know, you help me so much. I hope you know, the impact you had, that's really the purpose driven work that's more than just the paycheck that you say, I can't leave now because of these people. And you've got to get to that point and it's getting through that first hurdle, which is the hardest, but you just got to commit and just be relentless in your pursuit for

it. Tell the truth, were there times that you feel like you should quit. Of course. Even during the pandemic, there's been so many, right? Because listen for anyone who has gone into entrepreneurial space and then a global pandemic hits, you're saying, these are the times I wish I worked for a large company and I was just collecting my weekly paycheck, no additional stress, you know, other than just working virtually. No, I'm saying to myself, why is it that I went out now?

Why of all times? Am I out as an entrepreneur, trying to figure out everything in a darkness, having no idea what I'm going to do? Why is it now that I'm on my own? So yeah, I've really struggled with that a ton. I think anybody has. You know, but now we're looking back after that past year. I wouldn't want any any other way,

because here's the thing. I always think about this is like when people are hesitant to leave their corporate job, it's because they believe that they're in a certainty situation. I think that that's certain paycheck and that's guaranteed and it's steady income, you know, things that our parents programmed us with go get that 40 hours, work 40 years, and then die, right? It's, you think that you have the certainty, you think that it's predictable. But the thing is, is that during the COVID pandemic, we completely saw the opposite of that, because it was a matter of your local governments and you're non-essential. Whether you like it or not, whether you're doing something good or not,

to me, I think everybody's essential because if you're paying for your food of your family and your shelter, you're essential. Unfortunately, government and politicians don't always agree with that. So we got to see people with that that have to leave and lose their job against their will. And to me, that shows that there's a lot of uncertainty and higher risk because if you own your own business in that situation, maybe they say, hey, you're not essential. You guys need to shut down your business. Well, you know what, you can look across your team and go, hey, what skill sets do you have? What tools do we have? What apps do we have? Do we have a way to get paid? Do we understand marketing? Do we have enough money in the bank reserve to go do something? Well, let's pivot. Let's regroup. Let's do something that's essential in this moment.

And we have the option to go do that. You may struggle for a couple of weeks to figure out all that routine and the process, but you know what, you're not unemployed because you have the control if you're going to really shut your doors down or not. Whereas an employee that could be like, hey, I know you've been here 30 years,

but you got to go. And realize when you work for somebody else, your employment is only one decision away from not existing anymore. And most of the time, that's not even your decision. And it's so true, the certainty that you're gonna have, the only certainty you're gonna have is a certainty within you, not outside of you.

I definitely used to sign up for and believe everything you just explained. As long as I'm in corporate America and I perform and over achieve, I'm always certainly gonna have a job and certainly get paid well, that's not real. And if, you know, your company can be bought out tomorrow, technology can ship,

your industry can decline, and suddenly there's layoffs and cuts. None that has anything to do with you, however, you can be left out on the hold versus what you just explained, which is when you do on the business, when you are the owner, you are going to swing it and reinvent and change and test and try and keep going.

And the good news is that's when you really start finding that certainty within to say, okay, I was able to survive during a global pandemic. I'm sure this is gonna get easier. I'm sure it's gonna get better and I'll keep finding ways. So I love, I thank you for sharing that. It's so true. My clients and myself, we had record financial year last year, given the pandemic's going on because when you start realizing that there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of fear that's going on out there,

people are looking for beacons of light to give them some positive hope and give them some steps to get out of that and keep them encouraged and keep them motivated to push forward. So, you know, we see a lot of people that were in the influencer space that kind of just disappeared, which is really weird. Like in the time that people needed them most, they kind of just disappeared.

And people are gonna remember that. And people, hey, you were a big thing that I followed and then you disappeared, you canceled all your events, like, what's going on with that? Like, they needed you in that moment. They're looking for true leaders to step up. And so the people that went double down and went harder and actually started to help other people and just push even harder, we're getting all the rewards from that now because people saw what our true character is in tragedy and type in time to turmoil, right? So,

now Lava, you said there. Well, Tony, anyone who's listening right now is at least going to explore the idea of starting a side hustle on some level now that they know they are not certain or if they are already starting a side hustle and they want to scale it, how can everybody find you? How can they find the book? Yeah, the easiest way. I keep it real simple. Just one location.

My website is 365 driven.com. So 365 driven.com. And from there, you'll find my book. It's called Side Hustle Millionaire. If you want to go look, it's up on Amazon. And I'm very active on Instagram and Clubhouse and Facebook and LinkedIn. So, everything's in that one website. So yeah, I appreciate it if you guys check it out. And also, my podcast is called 365-driven. You can look it up if you're listening to this. Well, Tony, thank you so much for the work you're doing. Thank you for stepping into

the unknown, and into the fear and showing work you're doing. Thank you for stepping into the unknown, into the fear and showing up with that confident version of you as a leader because you're helping so many people find that certainty for themselves. Well, Heather, thank you for this opportunity. And I love your energy and what you're doing out there in the world, you're really creating your impact yourself. And I can't wait to have you on my show in a couple of weeks,

but thank you for this connection. Thank you. And for everybody listening, keep creating your confidence. We will see you next week. Hopefully some people happen. No one succeeds alone. You don't stop and look around once in a while. You can miss it. I'm on this journey with me. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. I'm Jennifer Cohen, host the top ranking business and entrepreneur podcast, Habits and Hustle, apart the YAP media network,

the number one business and self-improvement podcast network. So most people live the life they get and not the life they want. And I'm here to change all that. My goal with each episode is to give you the habit and hustle tips you need to show up to your life better, bigger, and bolder. Tune in now, and I'll not only help you answer the questions like what do you want most in life and why don't you have it, but we'll also help you make it a reality. I also picked the brains of top thought leaders on how they've gone to the top and the advice they have to help you get there too. Head over to Happets and Hustle once you've done listening to this episode and get one step closer to boldness, one episode at a time.

Once you've done listening to this episode and get one step closer to boldness, one episode at a time.