Living The Red Life - How Marcus Lemonis Builds Billion Dollar Businesses

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

What separates businesses that scale from those that never break through? Marcus Lemonis, entrepreneur, investor, and star of The Profit, reveals the principles that have guided decades of building and transforming iconic companies. He explains why financial literacy, customer lifetime value, and hiring the right people matter more than chasing quick wins. Marcus also shares how artificial intelligence is reshaping decision-making, why entrepreneurs must think beyond transactions, and the philosophy that has helped him invest in businesses with lasting impact. From leadership and data to resilience and purpose, this conversation delivers a practical blueprint for entrepreneurs determined to build companies that stand the test of time.Key TakeawaysMaster your numbers before trying to scale your business.Build around people first, then strengthen process and product.Focus on customer lifetime value instead of one-time sales.Use AI as a strategic thinking partner, not just a search engine.Create a business that reflects the values and principles you admire.Notable Quotes"Most business owners that do not succeed have no comprehension of their numbers.""It does start with good people.""I'm only selling things that add value to their life, not mine.""Use AI as an enhancement to your brain.""There's no such thing as self-made. You could be homemade."Connect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

You've seen so many businesses that there's a common trend normally in successful people and businesses and also companies that struggle. Most business owners that do not succeed have no comprehension of their numbers and how money moves in and out of their business. And two, tactically, they don't have a plan. Why am I here? Why did I start my business? Where do I want it to go? And where do I see myself in the future? I think the next thing is Marcus Limonis is a visionary entrepreneur, business leader, and the co-owner of Camping World. an executive chairman of Bed Bath and Beyond.

Drawing from decades of building, investing in, and transforming businesses, he empowers entrepreneurs to scale with purpose through his people-first philosophy centered on people, process, and product. I'm only selling things to people along their journey of that first purchase, the extensions of that, that add value to their life, not add value to mine. If we're not thinking about the lifetime journey, we should not be in this business. This idea around I've met a lot of business owners who have said to me, I don't need AI yet, or AI is going to wipe out labor in the world.

I'm here to tell you something different. Well, most people are using it as a Google alternative. I need them to use it as an enhancement to their brain. If I'm going to buy a business, I want to give you this real life thing. And that is really important. I will spend time asking. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life Podcast. and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week.

If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Hello and welcome back to another episode. I know if you're watching this, you like the word profit. You're an entrepreneur probably and you're always looking at that. This has it always been money, by the way. No, no, it does not. But we all love that word.

And I am sat with the profit guy himself, Marcus, welcome. It's great to have you here. So you're obviously. known for the profit. You have this new show now, which I won't spoil. We'll talk about in a bit. But also, like, what I think less people know is you've been a CEO of a massive company, which, two, well, two massive companies, sorry, I was about to get to that. But two massive companies, and, you know, I've ran a company of 300 staff, and that was, like, crazy enough and a wild experience. So I always love to, like, speak to people that have ran public companies,

because, as you said, it's a whole other level. So excited to dive into all these things. But let's maybe just start, like, I know you've got this fascinating, actually very identical, almost mirrored childhood to me, but can you summarize? Don't we look the same? Yeah, can you summarize it? Because it's a great story. You know what? I was born in a foreign country, born in Beirut, Lebanon, adopted by a family in Miami,

Florida, grew up, ran nightclubs in South Beach and in Coconut Grove, had a candy business, moved to Milwaukee because I didn't like the weather or how beautiful people were in Miami. I moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, went to college, came back to Miami, ran for office. My office was in the Grove and Lincoln Road, decided to, I lost, clearly, got into the RV business. As I sit here today, the business I founded Camping World sells one out of every three RVs in America. I'm now in the bedbath and beyond business.

I happen to have a television show, which you mentioned, and I don't have a lot of free time. Yeah, well, and the only difference, I think, mostly in our childhood is I move to a a nice hot climate from a cold miserable climate and you just did the opposite did the opposite but you know there's a good story behind that too which we can get to so so let's dive in you know this is a show where a lot of entrepreneurs and we i talk more tactics that's kind of what i'm known for so one thing i think everyone loves to ask i'm sure is you've seen so many businesses that there's a common trend normally in successful people and businesses and also companies that struggle can we start maybe there well i i want to break it down to the tactics

And then we'll go to some of the philosophical. The tactical first is most business owners that do not succeed have no comprehension of their numbers and how money moves in and out of their business. And, you know, even if you're thinking about how to manage it at your house, we have cash flow coming in and cash flow coming out. So that's an understanding of that would be one. Two, tactically, they don't have a plan. Why am I here? Why did I start my business? Where do I want it to go? And where do I see myself in the future? which is the same as saying, what's my one, three, five-year plan, not just in my head,

not just with, you know, good logos and graphics, but what are the numbers behind it? And how much cash are you going to burn of your own? And how much cash are you going to burn of somebody else's? And what are the consequences of all of that? I think the next thing is this lack of understanding of the importance of people and how businesses really function. I could take a crappy idea with a crappy process, with an unbelievable problem. person and we can get that business to go. So not great people, not great business, not great product.

And if you could transform the person or transform yourself, those things can be reimagined. But more often than not, the best businesses are tactically, great person. Wake up early, go to bed late, super disciplined, love their employees, love their customers, respect money, respect their investors. But don't have the financial literacy, the process literacy, the product sophistication and just need subject matter experts to come in and fix all of that, that's the sweet spot for me. Because you, by nature, by definition, we want to do business. All of us want to do business with people that we like, whether we're consumers or

whether we're investors. So it does start with good people. Yeah, I'll touch on that because it's fascinating because I've not done as many partnerships, but like even on the employee side, I think a lot of CEOs say that, you know, you'll trade maybe the experience for the person of the core values and the soft skills and that's something I'm big on. And I've done some partnerships in the past where fascinatingly I like four or five X the company, but then the CEO where I came in and took equity wasn't the right, you know, wasn't ready for that growth or ready to run a business at that side. And then the business like fell

apart. I stepped back out. And it's kind of interesting because, you know, you figure that out. So you're really looking at the person now, not just the business model. Well, that's, That's what the investment is. Yeah. And whether you're seeking investment in or you're looking to put investment out, it really does matter. Like, do we want to do business together? Are we aligned spiritually?

And I know that may be too much for people, but are we aligned with how we think about the world and how we think about our customers? Energetically, right? Yeah. And do we, would we be willing to have a cafe con lece with them across the street? Would we be willing to introduce them to our family? And if the answer is no to both of those, they probably shouldn't be an employee. And they definitely shouldn't be somebody you invest in.

Yeah, that's great. And then what about like the, you know, more on the actual marketing and business side? Like, I've worked with thousands of people and, like, I personally teach so much, like, most people don't know how to acquire customers and build the marketing systems. That's my bread and butter. What do you see there? I have spent my life understanding how to build moats around specific industries. and understanding how to aggregate that industry

consolidated as fast as I can through shock and awe, literally doing as many deals and as many parts of it, building as big of a moat around the castle that I'm trying to build as deep as I can build it. And then understand that all I'm trying to fill that moat with is data, true customer data. And please don't tell me, like some people have, so you just want to collect a bunch of email addresses?

No. What I want to understand is I want to understand people's motivation to want to be near my brand, understand where they want to live inside of that ecosystem, how many things they want to touch, and how much information I need from them, and then what sort of analysis am I doing to understand the predictive logic around what a decision today is telling me about what they really are ultimately going to do? So I'm trying to build lifetime value. I spend money to bring them in, but I really need to understand if it's,

they buy product X for me, how are they going to use it? When are they going to use it? Why are they going to use it? And what are all the things along the journey from the time they come to me to the time they exit and how long can I keep them and how many things can I sell them along that journey that build value in their life, not build value in my life? Yeah. Yeah. I want to make sure I say that one more time. I'm only selling things to people along their journey of that first purchase, the extensions of that, that add value to their life, not add value to mine. Because the byproduct of adding value to their life is they'll do business with me and they'll add commerce. If I'm only doing it to benefit me, I'll get a quick hit and a quick drop. And so I

spend a lot of time talking to the 14,000 people that have been part of my organization saying, if we're not thinking about the lifetime journey, we should not be in this business. Yeah, I think it's so good. Like, you know, I was speaking to you about a business I was running for a while, big brand. And one of the first, I had no understanding of this business, right? I wasn't their avatar. But the first thing I did, one of the first things I did when I came in is I did a survey to everyone. And as a marketer, I added a coupon where if they did it, they got a coupon.

And we generated like $50,000 in sales from this coupon if they did the survey. So it created cash for the business. some marketing, but we got to learn so much about historic customers that especially me and other people that were newer to the brand had no clue about and what resonates with people. And I think so many entrepreneurs, like you think you know, but it's a never ending thing, right? Like, you never, your customers are always teaching you more and more and more. Well, your customers are teaching you, but I want to challenge one part of that. Your customers will teach you only if you ask them. Yeah. And a lot of people, including myself in the past, have been lazy. And we make this

assumption that because the customer gives us money and they're transacting with us, that they're going to stay there. And for me, it's transaction in, what could I do better? Transaction, what could I do better? What could I do better? And tell them why you're asking that. If you don't want to know how to improve your business, fine. Just don't ask anybody any questions. Yeah, no, I love that. Including your vendors. Vendors too. Yeah, very nice. important. Yeah. I think with entrepreneurs, I saw this, like the first few million, you're so focused on new customer acquisition, and then you realize to go to tens, millions and beyond, it's about lifetime value in this product suite that I call it an ecosystem. Like I teach a lot

on stage about Apple. Like, they've created an ecosystem where you buy a product, then you buy more of those, and then they make it sticky with the software and your family and all those things. but they do it in a way where your life is better for it, right? Like it has your iPhone sinks to your cloud. So how do you kind of do that with the brands that you're working in now if you're allowed to share the things? Aggregating data? Yeah.

So I historically have not been, historically in the past, have not thought about data the way I need to today. And aggregating data is about how what the intake is and what fields are you collecting that matter? how are you segmenting and augmenting that data to really understand how to de-anonymize it in some cases, build personas in some cases, and build garages. I think about data like in a garage, and how are you using systems like Snowflake as an example, use whatever you want, to understand who that customer is and how we're going to interact with them.

In the old days, you'd have other data companies that would say to you, we could slice and dice, and we could tell you like their zip code. I don't want to know any of that. I want to know ultimately what do I want the consumer to do for me and what do I want to do for them? Where are we going to engage in that process? How does that customer want to communicate with me? Are they more traditional?

Are they a little older? Are they young? How do they want to communicate? And what information do I need to gather from them or around them with either data partners or themselves to be able to effectively meet them? where they want to be met. Communicate with them the way they want to be communicated to.

And I think that's an art and a science because people would say, well, I can't have 37 million records and 37 million different ways to communicate with people. And I would say, sure you can. With artificial intelligence, you can actually build all these multiple personas and understand if this, then that in the simplest form. It's the one time where the calculus formula

that you studied in 11th grade, in 11th grade that you got an F on matters. Because if this, then that is really how AI is essentially built. Yeah, yeah. It's the logic. And this idea around, I've met a lot of business owners who have said to me, I don't need AI yet. Or AI is going to wipe out labor in the world.

I'm here to tell you something different. Data will be materially enhanced by the application of AI. and AI is nothing more than our brain on steroids and the ability for it to learn at a speed, it matters. But it only is as good of a tool as you know how to use it. Just like your body is only a good of a tool if you know how to use it. And this idea that people could just like download it on their phone

and all of a sudden tell people that they use it, well, most people are using it as a Google alternative. them. I need them to use it as an enhancement to their brain. So if I'm going to buy a business, I want to give you this real life thing. And that is really important to what I'm trying to do for my ecosystem. I will spend time asking AI in whatever platform I choose. I choose to use Gemini for some, co-pilot for others. It just depends on what I'm trying to do. And ask them to do an analysis of the business by scraping data from all sorts of places. Tell me where their stores are, where their services are provided, build ring fences around those areas. Tell me

the average home, the average income, the average credit score, see if there's a trend, see if there's a trend by the products that they buy, see if there's gaps where I'm not meeting certain people, understand who the competitors are in that area, understand what kind of home they live in, what their mortgages, what kind of insurance they have, how many cars they have, how many rooms they have, do they have a pool, do they have kids? How do they think about their life? And then I want to understand how they live their life. Do they travel? Do they take airplanes? So they take RVs or boats. And understanding all of that makes me warmer, smarter to the kind of business that I want to buy.

And if that business can add value to my life and if what I have can add value to the customers that that business serves. Yeah, I think we know that was a lot. No, that was great because we back when I was doing more course in education, we taught about 100,000 entrepreneurs AI. And I said, guys, to summarize everything and why I'm good with AI is I'm just, very creative. And that's what I just think of when you say that. Like you have the creative mind of like, okay, I want to learn all these things and understand these things. And then you put AI to work to do that, right? And, you know, I'll show people how to build a landing page and all their emails and ads and socials from this few bits. And I'm like, I'm not a prompt master. I'm just creative in speaking to it.

And I think more business owners need to just be more creative with how they use AI on a daily basis. There should be a truth serum class. Like I've been thinking jokingly about, you've seen hot ones, right? Like people sort of like, the water food they eat, the more they say. There should be like a drinking game of CEOs who have to acknowledge all the times

they use AI to help them run their business. Because most CEOs are trying to convince the world that they don't use that and that they're actually that smart. The real ones are saying, I understand what I want to accomplish. I understand my competitive landscape and where I'm trying to take the business strategically. But I need to be able to take the ideas in my head,

voice them in somewhere, have them organize my thoughts, do the analysis against my competition, tell me what the speed to market is, tell me what the tools I need that are, and be able to put a dossier together that you could say to people in my own voice, yep, I put all these ideas into the machine and this is what it gave me.

And own the fact that you're using it, like the Mad Men episode, where the head of the agency would say to his shorthand secretary, write all these things down and they would build the ad campaign. Yeah. It's a personal brain to borrow to make you look better if you actually put the time and energy into it. Yeah, and I think on top of that, the evolution for me,

once I'm kind of not mastered it, but got comfortable with it on a daily basis, is then we built a system internally where every employee had to use it once a day and do a log every night of how they used it. So it was a way to... How did you see them? You had an enterprise solution? Well, in Slack, we built a bot where they triggered at 5pm and they had to write bullet points of how they used AI that day

in their business. Obviously, they could lie, but they had to use it. I have to pay you for that idea? No, no, you'll throw them on the house. I'm going to give you credit for it. Yeah, because I've always, you know, like, if you can roll it out to 100 of your staff using AI, then the next...

$14,000. Yeah, and then the next thing is adheres. How do you actually make sure they do it? Sure, some can lie, but adherence goes up drastically when they have to physically ride it every day, because now they're thinking every day, oh, crap, I got to tell Rudy tonight how I used AI, right? And then they get comfortable with it. Then they start going, even like my HR person was like, there's no way out. And now she, like, uses it for everything, or my finance guy, right?

She can check labor laws in different states. Everything, yeah, everything. So it's like really, really cool. So anyway, back to you. And a second question that I had is, is you've kind of had this tenure with the profit and now the fixer. Yeah. Right.

And you said something that's really like that I'll remember is like you're doing it because someone believed in you, right? And it's not about the money or all these cool being on TV even though that's cool. I mean, I could get a dinner reservation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like let's talk about that, like the why, right? I felt like putting myself out there on television was an opportunity to not only get my voice out there, but it was an opportunity to democratize information and to democratize the idea that everybody

deserves a shot. You know, if I ever meet people on the street that say to me, oh, I saw the episode where you were with this crazy business owner, I always stop them. And I say, first of all, every business owner that ever came on the show should be given a lot of credit. You sign up for a reality show to put your business, your family, and your good and bad choices on full display while some guy comes in to tell you how wrong you are about everything. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of courage. And we're all crazy as entrepreneurs anyway, right? We're all. Like, I'm the leader of the crazy people. Yeah, yeah. But part of the reason why I've also felt like it needed to be done is that I wanted, I wanted society to recognize the importance of

giving people a chance where other people would not. And small business owners usually get one Saturday a year where it's small business Saturday where big banks and credit card companies like to, you know, like sprinkle, sprinkle fairy dust on like your local town business, which is insulting. And I've been asked to be part of that for 15 years and I've always rejected it because to me, every day is business day, big medium or small business. I decided to make the show because I wanted to give people a shot that other people wouldn't because people had given me a shot. Yeah. And that the recognition that every successful person or not successful person was brought to today

through other people's actions and whether that was our parents, our faith, our teachers, our neighbors, our peers, our friends, whoever it may be, that yes, I know you did the work and yes, you did it by yourself and all the things that you need to tell yourself. But if you like, close your eyes at night and you lay your head down on the pillow and you really you're honest with yourself, you did the work. And I'm cool with that. But somebody gave you a shot. Somebody opened up a door. Somebody gave you five bucks. Somebody taught you something. Somebody introduced you to somebody. And the greatest thing that you could do for yourself, for your employees, for people that are studying you as a successful person, is to just own that. There's no such thing as self-made.

you could be homemade but you didn't do it by yourself yeah I remember a smart person one day that I really respected kind of summarized it really well he says like you start at the top of a tree and then as you go down there's all these branches of the tree

and that kind of shapes your life and your entrepreneur career and I really like that every person you meet in that decision tree of life isn't going to be great but there's going to be a hell of a lot of good ones and you should pay attention to those people

who are trying to guide you to pick the right branch to go to next and not always assume if I have a fatal flaw and my family and friends would tell you this if I have a fatal flaw I lead with trust and I lead with the belief that everybody is good I think you have to right?

Like it bites you in the ass but I am the same I have to yeah yeah you have to yeah and I will touch on that because like that tree and those people that guide you. Some of my biggest, like, you know, I've had employees steal from me, like, ad accounts shut down. But my point is, is like, at the time, they feel like the end of the world. But, like, for me, actually, they've been, like, the catalyst for my best things. So it's not

just, in my opinion, about the great things and the guides and the people that helped you. But sometimes, you know, if you're listening to this, it's the biggest struggles and they're like, oh, what am I going to do now that actually create something awesome for you? Yeah, I agree with that. We live in a world where I think AI and fake news or real news or however you consume information has created a lot of skepticism. And it's hard to believe in certain things. And the one thing that I'm struggling with the most is starting to see people not necessarily believe in themselves.

And I do want to bring that back to center as one of the singular traits that is required to have successes, you have to believe in yourself. Because if you don't, other than your mom. Yeah, no one else will. There's not going to be a lot of people. Yeah, I didn't come from money, but my parents were very good professional athletes and high up. And I think the reason I became, one of the reasons I became successful

is as a kid, they've always said too. The only thing they wanted is that I could believe I could do anything. And I do, you know, for better or worse, sometimes I do. Does it always work? No, no, no, no, no. But you get used to it not working. at times, but it's like... Did it change for you in the beginning to now?

Like, it not working in your reaction and it not working in your reaction today? Yeah, I think definitely, like, yeah, yeah, but I've always been like okay with the quote-unquote fail or it not working out because I think I've just seen it's part of the journey. And I always, because I came from a family of pro sport, I always imagine the Olympian trains for four years

to get food poisoning the night before. And that's like, wow, four years gone. right, whereas in business you fail and the next week something works out, right, or the next year. So I've really became good of just learning that's part of the process and not letting it affect me over the, and that's a skill I've always tried to work on, like building a muscle in the last 10 years. It's easier said than done. Of course, yeah, for sure. For me, it's gotten harder.

Okay. Because the more public I was about what I did and the more on display, whether you're running a public company or doing it. it on television, the risk for embarrassment. And I'll use that word, because I don't know of a better word, is higher. Yeah, especially, I mean, public company as well, as you say, you're reporting to everyone. I still have all private companies, no investors, so I'm fortunate, I guess, in that sense. You know who you report to in that moment? Well, everyone, my customers, my staff, I everyone, yeah, still. And so for anybody, and I used to think the same thing, for anybody who is a private who says, well, I own 100% of my business.

Okay, we understand the economic strata, but every decision that you make impacts potentially one of your employees being able to pay their mortgage payment or their tuition for their kids. Yeah, I said this last night to one of my senior person, I was like, we got to fix a department, and I had to do some things they didn't like. And I said to the head of that department,

I said, Luke, my job as CEO isn't sadly for everyone to like me, it's to keep everyone in a job and to keep the company successful, and sometimes that means I'll make decisions they won't always like. Yeah, I said that earlier this week at a Christmas party, and everybody said to me, why at the Christmas party? Did you have to do that? I said, because it's the end of the year, and you guys decided to make it a Christmas.

And you can't take the entrepreneur out of the entrepreneur. Yeah, people are like busking. Yeah. So last question, right? I have an American flag behind if you're watching on video. I know you're a fan of American flags and keeping them in their rightful places. mind how it summarizing that story is so the business that i founded camping world that we sell

uh RVs in america to see america and all the great things that go with it and when i came over to this country um from lebanon my family owned a car dealership on southwest a street in lejeune which is by the miami international airport and my family had a big flag and it was big and it also felt big because i was small and i used to say to my family all the time well i'm really really that i'm really the only one that's an immigrant and I'm really the American dream. This is like as a seven-year-old, smart-ass kid. And I said, and when I own a business one day, I'm going to have a flag, but my flag's going to be bigger than your flag because I'm better than da-da. And so I started putting up flags over a decade ago at my camping world business. You could Google it like Marcus

flag. I think you could actually just type in those two things and it'll show you like all the craziness. But several years ago, the flags that I put up are 130 foot tall, flagpoles. You couldn't put one up in South Florida because the hurricanes would never allow you. Not the Miami hurricanes, but the actual hurricanes. And it's 40 by 80, so it's 3,200 square feet. So it's massive. Like, it looks like something you'd see in Texas at a car dealer. And I put them all up, and I put them up wherever I want when we open up a store. And I had a few cities more now that have taken objection to me putting the flags up. They've sued me and told me they were going to take me to jail if I wouldn't take my flag down.

And over the seven or eight years that I've been fighting this, I've been sued in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven cities. I've never lost. I've gotten laws changed in certain states because I refuse to not put my flag pull up. For a little disclosure, I never put it up when it's near an airport. So if the FAA says you can't do it, I'm like, okay, somebody's going to get hurt.

But absent that, they go up. and cities sort of lose their mind. And I've had a fun time in the last couple of years where cities in North Carolina, in Tennessee, in California, and even Florida, oddly enough, have come after me and said, you have violated the ordinance.

If you don't take it down, we're going to find you, we're going to send you to jail, we're going to make you take it down, and my response is, thank you. No. Is that normally just that,

but I'll just... Sure, sir. So I now when I walk the streets, I'm either the prophet or the flag guy. The flag guy, okay. That's your mainstream name. Yeah. Okay, got it. The flag guy is actually more fun for me.

Yeah, it's a cool story. I mean, but it's just, you know, before we went on there, it's a story of principle, right? Like, you know, and a belief system that I have that this country did something for me. Yeah. When nobody else would. It gave me a chance to earn a living, hire people. It's the greatest country in my mind in the world. world because of what it did for me. And it's my love letter. You know, I love it. I mean,

we're both from immigrants and I came here with the American dream. I left real estate and everything in England with one suitcase. And here I am today and have an amazing life and great. What did you learn about America that most people would be surprised when I got out here? Oh, like right now. Like what have you learned about being in America that most people would be surprised to know? Well, America, when you're overseas, it's like seen as this almost gimmicky. country, but I think it's actually, like in England at least, they portray it, right? As this gimmicky country, I saw a reel on Instagram the other day of like living in America. But actually America to me is the best country of core values, which is so big for me as a

business owner too, like how they treat the military. I love that. And we have a military show actually called. Yeah, Operation CEO is vets that have businesses because I want to highlight that. You know, I'm not from a military background, but I just, I love that. So like, how they treat the vets, like the core values of America, but then also within it, the diversity, which I think is really, every state is like Europe. It's like a country, which I love. I have a question for you. Sure. And it's a question that I would ask every viewer. I want you to think about this for just a couple milliseconds after I ask you the question. But I want you to list off three brands in the United States that you believe define America.

Okay. Three brands that define America. I think, gosh, that's tough. Free brands. And if you're watching, you can post it. this answer to tell them where to post it. Yeah, just on social media, on Instagram and yeah, Instagram's best. Yeah, I would say one's got to be like a technology company.

I'd name it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Three brands. Okay, Tesla. Can't be one of your sponsors. Tesla. Okay. Innovation, cutting edge against the norm.

I would say there's got to be a clothing company of some sort. I'm trying to think what though. And something to do with sport. Again, I don't know if I can name. name a brand, but like athletes and success. Like I almost feel like the American Olympic team or some, if you can class it as a brand. But I think America is like born on success and like chasing that goal and dream. So, so I would say something related to the American Olympic team or sports team. Yeah. So sorry, I think I got one and a half. I'm not letting you up the hook.

Okay, all right. Good news is we can edit these. We can just let people see that. Okay, so the fur. Well, I was going to say I'm a fan of monster, right? So, uh, cuckoo-goy. Actually, McDonald's.

Okay, you got one of mine. Maybe Nike. Almost kind of, yeah, almost like underarmour, though. It's got this more rugged. Like, I feel Nike's a bit kind of polished now. Is it, though? When you go in, the story. I like the old Nike when I was a kid,

20 years ago now. It's like $200 track suits. It's more fashiony. That's the issue. So I liked how it was more an authentic sports brand, 20 years. Like champion used to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So like Nike, maybe 20 years ago. Okay, what else? Nike. It's not an easy question. No, no, it's not. Definitely Tesla. So we've gone Tesla. What about Nike 20 years ago? Is that a fair answer? You'd answer whatever you want. And then McDonald's. Okay. So what I would like you and everybody else to do is pick

the things on a piece of paper that caused you to select them because those are things that you admire and make sure that whatever you're doing is actually hitting those things because if it's not then you aren't even doing the things that you admire yeah no i like that i like mine is buckies bookies yeah i barely know that front yeah what yeah i'm like do you realize that everybody watching this is gonna yeah probably yeah yeah yeah so mine is buckies because they really understand the customer and they've created something that is so different in a very common place, which is like gas stations,

and they've changed like the way people think about it, and it's destination. Sure. My second is General Motors. Okay. Because it demonstrated that over the course of time, the business world will do this. It's like a microcosm of cyclicality in American business.

And it's so relevant to how we travel, go to work, do everything else. And the last one is Disney because it lets people of all ages sort of see what's possible. Yeah, I like that. Disney's a good one. And so as you're building your own business, right,

I think you have to think about am I putting the customer at the center of all of it like Buckees? Am I providing something that can stand the test of time like General Motors? And am I creative enough and innovative enough to keep people's attention for so many years and so many mediums like Disney. And if you can't answer those three things, then I don't know what the hell your business is doing. That's good. That's good. It's going in my smart person's quote with the tree.

So those two, two gems. I actually have changed my answers. Please go to Buckees. No, no, I know what it is. Have you been? Yeah, I don't remember I don't drive. And so it's like. I just need you. I don't know if I need to get you an RV. I need you to go just see. one and show people. Are there many in Florida? You can, yes, I think, I don't know where the closest one is, but it's probably right up by 95. Starbucks, I changed my answer from Nike to Starbucks. Because it's, it's, uh, they go big.

Yeah. People buy the grand A. Americans like it big. And being British, like you would see Starbucks in the movies. It's like, it's just a very American thing. Hey, let's go grab a coffee. So when you pick your company and anybody picks their company, I need you to tell me the single attribute you admire and whether you want that to be in your business. Yeah. So what is Starbucks? Well, I think the attribute there is the community and loyalty. Great.

McDonald's is the branding and standing out like I do. Over time. Yeah. And legacy brand that people, I always quote, I build actually my whole company on McDonald's, not for that, for systems. Actually, some change in that because I reference McDonald's in my company every day because they have a system that feeds 1% of the planet on a day. daily basis. Wow. Yeah, it's a crazy fact. One percent when you think about it. So systems for

McDonald's, but also branding, Starbucks for the tribe community that pay $9 for coffee every day. That's too. Right? And then... I'm going to say, did some cases dumb? Because people can't spend $9 times 30. It's $270. Yeah, they can't afford to, yeah. It's $4,000 a year. It's too much. Yeah, we can afford to, but you... But I don't even want you because I think I could be giving it to somebody. Yeah, sure, sure. So yeah, I think, I think, and then what was my third Tesla? Because innovation. I think it's Tesla because I think you like the fact that it goes against the grain as well. Yeah, innovation, going, like different, being different. A little bit of a few moments. That's why I went with red, because actually in everyone, the story of it is favorite color as a kid,

everyone in Marx didn't say, don't use red, it's too conflicting. And I said, my whole life is a story of doing what others said not to do, being different. Like, I was a different. Like, I was a different. different child, totally different, moved to America. So it's like a story in my life. Love it. Yeah. Thank you. Anyway, well, thank you for asking me those questions.

It's rare that it's in reverse. But guys, we're out of time. I hope you enjoyed that episode and watching me struggle to answer a question, which never really happens. But that was me struggling for sure. But awesome episode. I'll see you guys soon. Take care.