Next Level Pros - #77: Finding Success In Business Later Into Your Career: Bruce Cardenas, former Chief Communications Officer of Quest Nutrition

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In this episode of “The Founder Podcast,” we dive into the journey of Bruce Cardenas, a man whose life story takes us from the disciplined ranks of the military and the LAPD to building Quest Nutrition. Throughout the episode, Bruce shares the unexpected twists and turns of his career, emphasizing the power of finding one's purpose, the importance of resilience, and how genuine connections can lead to unforeseen opportunities. Join us as we explore the insights and experiences that shaped Bruce into the influential figure he is today. Highlights: "I hope everyone finds their 'why' in life." "It's never too late to start something new." "I just started bringing value and had no expectations." Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to Bruce Cardenas 00:35 - Journey from Military to LAPD 02:42 - Starting a Security Business 04:12 - Chance Meeting at the Gym 06:10 - Involvement with Quest Nutrition 10:27 - Quest Bars Changing Lives 15:11 - Learning from Failure 19:05 - Daily Motivation 20:34 - Success at Any Age 25:38 - Balancing Work and Family Live Links: 🚀 Join my community - Founder Acceleration https://www.founderacceleration.com 🤯 Apply for our next Mastermind https://www.thefoundermastermind.com ⛳️ Golf with Chris https://www.golfwithchris.com 🎤 Watch my latest Podcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2v... YouTube - / @thefounderspodcast

Really anyone can start a business. Yeah. It's not, it's not hard. Especially now when I see these kids that are doing like reselling stuff on Amazon and come up with these side hustles and you can now, you can literally call someone and say, Hey, can you help manufacture a protein bar for me? I don't want to even touch it. Just make it, make the label.

And I'm just going to sell it online. There's so many opportunities out there now. Figure it out. Like a side hustle is easy. Tell people, listen, you're in your cubicle for nine to five. I'm just a cubicle, but a stand you're in your nine to five job. What are you doing after five o'clock till nine? Right. I'm going to have a glass of wine or we'll maybe

figure out how you do that internet business or figure out how you start that side hustle fail fast if you're going to make a bar a cookie you know make it small get people to try it and see if it's going to work i love that yo yo welcome to another episode of the founder podcast today i am joined by mr bruce cardenas I'm pronouncing that correct, right? Cardenas, Cardenas, whatever you want to call it. Cardenas, whatever goes. So Bruce was the former COO of Quest Nutrition, or formerly known as Quest Bar. You guys have probably all eaten it and participated in it. And he's got a really cool background.

When I was reading through his bio and being introduced to you, Bruce, I was just like, wait, what? Like military and police background. Usually that doesn't turn into an entrepreneur, right? Right. Usually blue collar and you retire with 25 years. Or if it turns into some type of entrepreneurship, it's usually something related to that type of field, right? Like for example, my buddy, do you know Dan Caldwell? Yeah, Tap Out. Tap Out, yes. I know him well. Yeah, so Dan and I, big buddies, right?

So he's a background as a police officer. And because of it, he was into, like, you know, fighting and, like, hand-to-hand combat and that type of stuff. And so that kind of naturally turned into what it did, right, for him. And so for me, that was, like, the connection. For you, I'm like, wait, what? How does this even make sense? I don't know. I met him years ago. Nice guy. Oh, Dan's phenomenal. So dude, jump into your story a little bit. Give us some of the background. So obviously, you go and you've got this military background, so usually that breeds a lot of discipline. Right.

Breeds a lot of authority and those type of things. At what point did you decide, I want to go and be a corporate guy selling nutrition? I could unwind it a little bit because I was just a middle class kid from New Jersey, an average D.C. student. And one of five kids, I had no ambition to do anything other than be a cop, but I had no path to get there. I was just a daydreamer in school. So never, originally weren't an entrepreneur, didn't want to even go down that path.

No, my father was a contractor in his own business and wanted me to take over the business. But all I knew was I wanted to be a cop because, you know, my neighbor was a cop. My uncle was a cop. Yeah, what appealed to you about that? I think the service thing, the look, the appeal, not knowing a lot about it. And I did ride-alongs as a cop yeah what appealed to you about um i think the service thing the look the appeal not knowing a lot about it and i did ride-alongs as a cop when i was in high school they let me do ride-alongs

it was a little right two thousand person uh town with six police officers and i went to the chief when i graduated high school and said hey i really want to join the department in his own kind way he said listen you're young you're dumb and you're immature but if you go in the Marine Corps specifically the Marine Corps I'll hire you when you get out grab my best friend and so we're going to the Marine Corps and then I realized New Jersey wasn't so big after all got to see the world so I joined the Marine Corps did a did a powerlifting meet when I was at Camp Pendleton in down south here and it was a career day and I saw all these different companies and police departments and I said shit let's stay here beautiful people beautiful weather and you get paid so i joined lapd out of the marine corps nice and have you always been a big uh power

lifter i mean you look like you're you're i've always enjoyed lifting heavy you know different different levels what's the most you've ever benched uh 445 445 yeah you remember those numbers right yeah oh yeah yeah that was a single rep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I had a decent – 445 is phenomenal. The most I've ever gotten up is 305. Yeah, no, and I had a pretty good – almost a 700-pound deadlift. Wow.

Yeah, yeah. So I had a pretty good number for a power. Nothing great. You're not going into the worlds. So I still enjoy lifting heavy, but now I think it's more about the long game, right? Yeah. Staying alive. Absolutely.

So at what point – so, I mean, tell us more of the story, right? So you get into law enforcement, you're going down that path. Yeah, became a cop, LAPD, which was a dream come true. I mean, really great department. And quickly realized you didn't get paid a lot of money. And one of my good friends, I became good friends with him. He was a retired sergeant, had a bodyguard business, security business. I started working for him. So this is kind of a side hustle.

Side hustle. Make some extra money. Yeah. Side hustle. And I had had some experience because I was on a security detail when I was in the Marine Corps for the commanding general. So I enjoyed, I've always been a servant leader. I've always enjoyed serving other people. And I quickly figured out, let me start my own business. And it all equated to relationships. And one of my good friends owned a big transportation company limo company i said i started this business he said well let me help you and next thing you know i'm taking care of mariah carey and ricky martin and mark ant all the people in the energy so he already

had all these connections he was driving them all right and every time he needed something he'd call me and say i'm going to connect you with this person this person and i started literally it was overwhelming i was doing it myself so i i exited the police department after so many years to pursue the security and protection business and how long did you go go down that route i know i know currently you're still i still currently have a couple clients i take care of that are very well known and still some are entrepreneurs but you know it's funny now. When I first started out, the average, there was only a handful of billionaires. Now they're everywhere, right?

Right. But most of my clients are billionaires now. It's crazy. Right, right. So I still do that. It's like another side hustle, right? I mean, is that you personally driving or you're just making the connections? I don't drive really anymore, but I still personally, like this weekend's the Golden Globes.

I'm going to take some of the Golden Globes. That's awesome. Personally. They still, I think it's an attention to detail thing. I think people still want me. I've sent other people, and sometimes it doesn't fare so well because the level of service. I'm a high-level service person. Yeah, as I experienced it. I mean, he brought in, for those that are watching here on YouTube or Spotify,

he brought in a nice bag of snacks and little goodies and stuff like that. Never come empty handed. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I can already tell that's true. So I still do the security just as a side, but it's the strangest thing. Serendipitously, I'm in the gym one day and there's a woman that's, I always hear her doing cardio, you know, become gym friends, right? Hey, what's up?

And it turned out she and her husband had just started this company called quest nutrition shannon penna she goes by quest creator on instagram making the bars by hand in her kitchen literally making them by hand like rolling them out is this 2010 wow 9 10 man i didn't realize they've grown that fast it was quick nine years and we sold and she was literally making them by hand and taking them to the boot camps on the weekends. And the girlfriends were buying them. And the husband had like one of these light bulb moments because he was taking them to work. They had a software company and these tech geeks were eating them. And you know, they're the kind of guys eating Doritos and red vines and Red Bulls. And they actually liked the protein bar. So he's like, whoa, we might be onto something. Right. His partners had no interest in it. They're like, we're, we're software guys. You're out of your mind. We're not making the protein bar. So he's like, whoa, we might be onto something. Right. His partners had no interest in it.

They're like, we're software guys. You're out of your mind. We're not making a protein bar. He still pursued it. Put up a website. Started making them by hand at a kitchen space at night. And I met them. They only had two flavors of bars.

They were fairly new. So quick question. Yeah. Did the bars change very much over the years? or is it pretty much the same exact initial creation? Almost identical. Some formulation changes. We had a fiber source change, but overall it was a continual. Yeah, because I've always enjoyed the cookies and cream.

One of our top sellers. Yeah. Chocolate chip cookie dough and cookies and cream. It was always my go-to in a gas station. Yeah. Give me a question. And always high protein, low carb dough and cookies and cream. It was always my go-to in a gas station. And always high protein, low carb, and gluten-free.

That's always been our theme for the entire journey. We hit it off and became fast friends. I remember she gave me a couple bars and I saw her a week later and said, hey, if you're interested, I'm doing a celebrity golf tournament. I'm doing the protection, but my friend's running all the publicity.

If you want to get me some bars, and she said, they were they were great yeah let me give you a couple boxes of bars and i got them in the hands of the publicist publicist this was before any social media facebook just started and it was really just for business and uh i was smart enough i don't even know where this came from because i didn't know the word content meant i had a blackberry iphones weren't even out yet but i asked my friend i say i think we should probably get some pictures. And she was in charge of all the PR. So she had her media people. They did some videos of people taste testing like Mario Lopez was there and some different,

some decent names. I brought all that information. I gave it to them. And they were like, here's some content. Yeah, content. I had to look up what that meant. And they were like, whoa, like, how do you know these people? I saw there's people I do business with.

I continued to help them. I got on a set of extra with Mario Lopez. I got it. Jessica Simpson was a client at the time. I was taking care of her. So I just started getting in people's hands. And about nine months in, Ron, the chairman, founder, took me to lunch and said, listen, we're stealing from you.

You are doing all this good stuff for us and we're not doing anything for you. Either you're working for another company like a sabotage us or you're just a good human being and i guess they figured i was a good human being so you're like i'm just a a guy with a background in military and stuff and i'm not an entrepreneur but i just yeah naturally good at it but i like your protein bars right and i'm I guess I figured out I was a relationship guy because everything I did was relationship-oriented. Yeah. And I ended up – one thing I tell people is when I was helping them and I started hanging out in the office, even though I had my business, I had a nice office on the west side. And by the way, there was nothing glamorous about Quest. I would go visit them, and they were on the border of Compton in a little industrial strip.

Yeah. And there was no promise of a future. They probably had an office the size of this office. Were they manufacturing there? There, yeah. And did they have their own, did they have a proprietary wrapper at that point or was it still like-

No, they created a wrapper in it, but the machinery and everything was really old and antiquated. They always were breaking down every few hours, but they had like eight desks in an office like this, little kid's desk. And so, like I said, there was no, a matter of fact, I remember I told one of my friends,

I left one day and thought, I don't think they're going to be around. Yeah. It's just that there was no appearance of success. You know what I mean? Right. But what I liked is their passion and their spirit. And they're like, oh yeah, we're going to make this work. It's going to be amazing.

So what initially motivated you to even help them? Was it, did you, did you have an end game in mind? Like, or was it just like, I like, like the protein did you, did you have an end game in mind? Like, or was it just like, I like, like the protein bar? Zero. There was no end game. Literally. I like them. I like their spirit and I like the product. Yeah. And it's a weird thing. And I always tell people this, I hope everyone finds their why in life. It became my why. Because what happened is people started writing us on blogs and, and, you know, Hey, I lost 30 pounds over the last three months. And it's because of Bars or I've got diabetes or I've got celiac disease.

And this has been my go-to snack that's really helped me in the hard times. And it really became like, wow, like it was almost like, wow, we're changing people's lives. People are feeling good about eating our product. So at what point did they bring you into the business? After nine months, Ron actually said, starting Friday, we're going to put you into the business um after nine months ron actually said starting friday we're going to put you on the payroll and you're just kind of promoting at this point promoting just give me product i'll get in people's hands and i kept doing it and i said and they said we're gonna put you on the payroll it was a a stipend it was probably your average american salary but

to me it wasn't changing my life because i had my i was doing quite well with my business right yeah but once they started paying me and i think it goes back to a it was it must have been i instilled in my father like a work ethic thing right i was like shit i'm getting a paycheck now i really gotta oh my god now what do i gotta do i gotta start producing yeah yeah i literally felt like that so i started showing up at their office every day and after a while i mean the security ran itself i'd get calls and i can manage it and i staffed i started spending more time there and they finally were like hey you're here a lot more i said i just really enjoy it and i told them they asked me what i need what i was making and they're like oh we

we can't afford you but we like you being around and and i just i just started doing always tell people this i just started bringing value and i had no expectations i didn't ask for anything matter of fact there was a period of time where if they needed, someone mentioned we need trash cans, I would go to Ikea at night and buy them. I didn't wait for someone else to say, that's not my job. I would just do whatever it took. Matter of fact, over the holidays, they were talking about building out a studio, like a lounge. And I, we were shut down for like 12 days. I went and got the carpet, the paint, I bought the furniture. And when they came back from the holiday break, there was only two years into our relationship.

They said, Bruce must've been here over the holidays. I wasn't even around. I was traveling. So that's a value. I always tell people to bring value to your company. Don't just sit in your cubicle and think that's all I do. Just whatever it needs to do to make the company successful. And that's really what I did. And obviously evolved nine years later, I was the chief communication officer managing most of the relationships with GNC and Vitamin Shop and all our partners. And I literally – people thought I was the owner because I was out every – You were the face of this thing. Yeah, 40 weekends a year I was traveling and people assumed, well, you must be the owner.

I never said it, but that's what people thought. Wow. I call it pride and ownership. Phenomenal. Yeah. And then ultimately, what ended up happening with Quest? You guys sold it off? Sold it to Atkins.

Everyone's familiar with Atkins. So it's a big merger. It was sold for a billion dollars cash. Wow. Which I didn't know this until recently. I verified it, but Alex Ramosi had said this, that there's only been 1,500 billion dollar companies in the world. So we're one of 1,500. The interesting thing is the other company that I'm part of now, Legendary,

will potentially be another billion-dollar company in three years. That's phenomenal. So you go from there, the business sells, you get a little piece of the action because they ended up taking care of you because you served them so well over the years. That's phenomenal. And then you've transitioned into this new business. Tell us about that. So Ron, probably about a year prior to us selling, Quest started.

It was a small nut butter and seasoned nut company called Legendary Foods. And didn't really go anywhere. Just kind of sold online and did some things. But I was helping them, again, on the side. And then once Quest, once we completely exited Quest, I dove into Help Legendary. And now we have kind of the same theme. Everything's protein, high protein, low carb, gluten-free.

But the good news is now we're making things that are more attracted to your everyday person. If you want to call it healthy Pop-Tarts, right? Everyone, if you grew up anywhere in the States, you had a Pop-Tart as a kid. Absolutely. So now we have a healthy version of a Pop-Tart, a sweet roll, and we just launched chips a

few weeks ago, protein chips. That's fun. And we have other exciting things coming. Awesome. So what are like, is this your main gig now? I mean, this is what you're running with? This is the primary. I mean, the security and I still, I help a couple other brands.

There's a company called BLK Water. Yeah. I like helping people grow their brands. That's my- Because I'm assuming you still have incredible connections within the influencer space yeah and a lot of them just rolled over a matter of fact people sometimes are confused like wait you're not with quest anymore and you don't have to explain the story but yeah it's the same space the same influencers and it's all relationships right

that's phenomenal what what are some key moments in your career that, you know, like where it was like extremely difficult and then you pushed through? Um, I think, uh, you know, I've been on the brink of failure a few times. Yeah. Tell us about that. And I think when I had the security, security company, I was not the most savvy when I knew how to service people and provide the protection and the planning and the logistics, but I wasn't good on the back end as far as bookkeeping and math and all that. And I remember it's a really good learning lesson for me and for anyone in business. My payroll was growing and growing. I remember my bookkeeper called me, which was probably the first problem. I only had a bookkeeper. I didn't even have an accountant.

So she was just a woman that worked at home and said, hey, your payroll is due on Friday at 75,000. I'm like, all right, cool. She goes, but you only have 30 in the bank. And I didn't know about, I realized payables, you know, people owe you money 30, 60, 90 days out. You had a ton in receivables. A ton that was out there. And the studios, which they love to hold their money, the big studios. So I was like, oh, well, what do I do? I cashed out my pension, the money I put invested for LAPD to pay my payroll,

which now looking back, all the people I know, I could have called up any five people I know. Hey, man, I need to borrow $50,000. How do I do this? Credit lines. I was too embarrassed to call my parents because I had to be a failure. I did. So I was like, it was more of a little bit of embarrassment. And also I ended up, I filed bankruptcy at some point.

Oh, really? Over that because I didn't know how to get out of it. Was it chapter 11 or chapter 7? 11. Oh, good. So yeah, restructured. I restructured. I covered.

I paid everyone back. But my point is now what I've learned is like ask for help, man. Like if you don't know what you're doing, ask people. And I didn't realize there's so many people that have money and there's so many variable ways to get money and borrow money. Anyway, so that was a real devastating. But I recovered. But it was really like, holy shit.

I didn't know what I didn't know. Yeah, I think that's such an incredible principle that everyone has to learn in their life is like, quit trying to figure it out on your own. Quit trying to be the know-it-all that like, hey, I'm just going to put my head down and grind through this. Because there's somebody out there that's been through the exact same situation that has a solution. I actually had to go through bankruptcy early in my career. So I filed bankruptcy in 2010, a couple of years after Yeah. Had I used mentors or someone else that could help identify the blind spots? I think that's such like a powerful principle that we have to all learn at one point or another. Yeah.

And the interesting thing is down as I've ever been, because I have talked to people that sometimes are down and out. Even when I was at my lowest, I'm like, shit, like, okay, I'm in debt. And what am I going to do? I still felt like, well, life is great, man. I can wake up. I work out. I still can feed myself. So I always encourage people, no matter how bad it gets, it's not, it's, oh, you're gonna be okay.

I agree a hundred percent. And the fact that you've been through that and I've been through that, I think it's like one of our superpowers because most people won't take the initiative to start something because they're so scared of the downside, the failure, the potential of like going through bankruptcy or whatnot. Only to realize that like, having gone through it, it's like, you know, life really isn't that bad. Yeah. Right. Like, and that, and if that's the worst it can get. Exactly. Right. Like then let's go risk it all. Yeah, exactly. And I think the people that I don't begrudge people to do nine to five,

I mean, God bless them, but I think they, they, they tell themselves a story that, and it, and it rationalizes it. Well, I can't do that. I'm not qualified. I'm not able to, and really anyone can start a business. Yeah. It's not, it's not hard, especially now when I see these kids that are doing like reselling stuff on Amazon and come up with these side hustles. And you can now, you can literally call someone and say, Hey, can you help manufacture a protein bar for me? I don't want to even touch it. Just make it, make the label. And I'm just going to sell it online. There's so many opportunities out there now.

Agreed. Side hustles. It's crazy. I appreciate that. I agree with you. What are like the biggest motivating factors in your life, right? Like you've lived close to 60 years on this planet, and you've accomplished a lot of incredible things. Like what gets you out of bed in the morning right now?

You'll edit that out about being 60, by the way. Are you kidding? You know, I love life. I get up every morning. I meet my training partners at 7 a.m. sharp, Monday through Friday. On weekends, I work out myself or I meet other people. But I don't know. I mean, life is short, right?

And I think Jesse Isler said it, right? He says you only have so many experiences you're gonna be able to do in this lifetime right yep and i know he does mountain climbing takes kids on ski trips and i feel the same way i want to have as many experiences as i can i've got three great kids and how old are your kids now uh my my daughter's a nurse locally she's 34 my son's a contractor he's 33 and the other daughter's 30. Fantastic. Any grandkids? Yeah, two. Oh, that's awesome. He's really aging me out.

Oh, man. This is great. Celebrate it. No, they're great kids. They're great kids. That's awesome. They just can't call me grandpa. No, I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. I get it. So I feel like we only have so much time, right? I don't know how I'm 60. I mean, I still feel... So I realize all that time went by, right? And there's a lot of things to still accomplish. I say, do we do things for money?

I don't do things for money. Money facilitates life, right? For sure. It has, pays the rent, pays the bills, helps your family. But there's much more to life than money. And I think it's the experiences and knowledge. And I'm working on a couple of books because I feel like, I feel like i owe it to somebody to say here's an experience i had here's here's what i learned here's what i suffered so what would you say

in your book what is your message to the world um well anyone so here's the thing i met the founders of quest when i was 46 right some people are already like their trajectories already set like 46 i'm already thinking about my 401k and we're talking about retiring i don't think it's ever too late to start anything i love that and when you google those names like uh the founder of mcdonald's and these names of guys that didn't really start doing anything until well past 40 right right yeah the uh so kfc uh yeah he was colonel sanders he was in his 60s yeah so a it's never too late and i always encourage people like i always get a song and dance for people well I can't do it. Of course, why can't you?

As a matter of fact, I've taught from my kids, if I can't figure something out, they'll say it's on YouTube. And literally everything is on YouTube. It really is. So I think I want to encourage people to pursue their passion and their dreams. That's my objective. So that's the message. Pursue your passion. Pursue it.

Pursue it. I mean, don't make yourself homeless over it, but figure it out. So that's the message. Yeah. Pursue your passion. Pursue it. Pursue it. I mean, yeah, don't make yourself homeless over it, but figure it out. Like a side hustle is easy. Tell people, listen, you're in your cubicle for 9 to 5. I'm just saying cubicle, but a stand. You're in your 9 to 5 job. What are you doing after 5 o'clock till 9? Right.

Well, I'm going to have a glass of wine. Or maybe figure out how you do that internet business or figure out how you start that side hustle. I love it. I love it. I love it. So what are your passions right now, like outside of work, outside of working out and whatnot? Are you a big travel guy or what? I love traveling. I don't do enough traveling, but I love it. What's your favorite place in the world? Oh, God, Australia. Australia. Really? I've never been to Australia. Yeah. Tell me about it.

The first time I went for the Arnold Classic, the expo, and it's just a beautiful country. I made some good friends down there. Awesome. Where else is great? Germany. The only place I haven't gone, I want to go to Bali. Bali. Yeah.

Nice, nice. Looks fascinating on all the pictures and videos. Bali does look fantastic. The Maldives is a place that I went. Yeah, all these fitness influencers go there for photo shoots. I got to get them. I'm going to bring the chips.

I love it. I love it. So you're working on this book. Do you have a title for it yet? One is, there's two books. One is My Quest, My Journey. Yes. Quest, Journey.

And the other one is, a lot of people don't know what this means, but i was really an entrepreneur at quest uh you know an entrepreneur yes but i really ran my own show and the unique thing about those guys was when i started helping them and i would say hey what do you do whatever you want like so i started the events department i started the ambassador program i started these a wow factory we called it you you know, which I learned from Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness. Yeah.

Fantastic book. Yeah. And I, and I've had good fortune to meet him. And I really believed in that, you know, and, and, you know, so I was able to create all those opportunities and no one stopped me. Yeah. And I, and at some point the founder, he said, Ron said, you don't need to ask. I mean, as long as it's like, you're not spending stupid money, like just let us know. But so I think it's important for, you don't have to be an employee. You don't have to ask. I mean, as long as it's like you're not spending stupid money, like just let us know.

So I think it's important for you don't have to be an employee. You don't have to be a W-2. You can still be an entrepreneur in a lot of businesses. Right. Take the initiative. Go outside the box. Do whatever. I'm not saying be a kiss ass.

That's a different thing. But create opportunities. And I think leadership will clearly see that if you want to do more than what's expected. And maybe look for holes in the business that you're working in even if you're an employee what uh so i'm a big believer that every human on this earth has a gift to give right a skill set something that like makes them extremely unique what would you say yours is uh i love giving with no expectation of return. Give us some examples. It's endless. I mean, giving product to people.

I mean, obviously you showed us the example with, with, uh, what you were doing with Quest. Yeah. Um, and I, I'm a big charitable guy. I mean, I love, uh, uh, I don't know if you know, Dan Fleischman, he got me involved with. I love Dan. Yeah. Oh yeah. So he got me involved with Trina's Kids.

So I do all, do all his charities, charities all the toy drives that's phenomenal nice at christmas christmas morning i was down at the midnight mission i think i was pretty fortunate i drew up i grew up very middle class my parent didn't let it we didn't know whether rich or poor we just okay we had what we needed right and we were five of us but i feel like when you see some of these kids that don't get anything and you're down to these toy giveaways toy that's what they're going to get for Christmas. I just feel like for me anyway, I don't care what other people do. I invite my rich friends. I invite my poor friends. Some show up, some don't.

But it's a feel good for me. I feel like I'm in a good position to help other people. Why not? And Dan's the same way, right? Dan is like modern day Superman. I don't understand how he does everything he does. No, he's great. And I've actually learned from him.

And I'm an investor in his ranch down at the Blacksite Ranch. Awesome. Down there with the Real Tarzan. Real Tarzan and Bedros Koulian. Yeah, very cool. Yeah. So giving back is really important to me. Yeah.

And I think leave some mark, you know. Yeah. Not to be famous, but just to leave a mark of what you've done to bring value to the world, you know. Yeah. What would you say your biggest regret is and what you would do differently if you could do it all over again? Probably time with my kids. You know, my two older kids I had, I met their mom. She was in the Navy.

I was in the Marine Corps. It didn't work out. And there was quite a lot of gaps of years where they moved. They were out of state. And I was working hard thinking I was doing the right thing in life. And probably much time I didn't spend with them. So, I mean, what would you do differently? I mean, obviously spend time.

Like, how would you change that? Well, you obviously manage time better, right? Yeah. I could have easily done it, but I always had a reason why I wasn't for some reason. So it's not a good quality at that. I mean, it's, this is something that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with, right? Like being family men, family man, family woman, right. Having kids, but like dedicating so much to their hustle, to the everything else. And yeah and yeah i mean it's really you justify it you know you rationalize it right hey i'm making it for them i'm doing it for them i'm making all this money and my dad was uh at the time he he would have been called a workaholic

now he'd be an entrepreneur right yeah but he still balanced his time like he was our scout leader he helped with the little league coaching so he found a way to balance it. So yeah, I wasn't the greatest at balancing it when I was younger. Now I'm much more sane about that. Yeah. What are your philosophies on balance? Like how does that work? I don't know. Work-life balance. I mean, it sounds a little whatever, but I think as long as you spread yourself evenly and if you see holes and hey, oh wow, someone needs more attention, Give it to them. Adjust your schedule. Maybe take a day off. I like spending more time with the kids than I did before. What is some advice that you give to a younger entrepreneur, maybe some habits that have changed your life

or things that you've done over and over again? What kind of advice would you give? I think come up, get in a routine, and have the discipline to follow it. A lot of people, I think, are know, come up, get in a routine and have the discipline to follow it. A lot of people I think are into pleasure early on, which is great. Everyone like, who doesn't want to go to Vegas? Who doesn't want to go to Cabo? But you gotta, you gotta find a balance and be disciplined. Um, I think, I think I wish I was more disciplined when I was younger actually to focus on the, on the things that are to make money, succeed, and then – At what point do you feel like you figured it out?

I'm still working on that, but I think I figured it out probably like 15, 20 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. So in your 40s. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But I've had my mishaps, my mistakes. I think to be disciplined enough – you know, listen, I think discipline is really important.

Yeah. And have a game plan. I mean, there's so many opportunities and I don't know, a lot of people say, oh, I'll get to that. I'll do it tomorrow. And, you know. Yeah. It's interesting that every single person, you know, I've interviewed close to a hundred entrepreneurs from my podcast and met, you know, thousands of others. Every single person's path is completely different. Yeah. Right. And, and I think one of the traps that we fall into as entrepreneurs is we try to compare ourselves. Yeah. Right. Like, let me look at Bruce's story. How am I lining up? Am I on track to be able to

accomplish what Bruce did over? But the reality is, is like, that's not how we should be looking at life. No, not at all. Right. What would you say to the people that are trying to compare themselves to you? I don't, because I even find myself sometimes, I see someone that's successful. What do they do differently? Just be yourself, right? Yeah.

We're all uniquely ourselves and we're going to find our own way. It doesn't mean you can't learn from other people. Yeah. But everyone's, you know But everyone's an anomaly. Where would you say different things that you learned along the way, whether through books or school or mentors, what were some life-changing education points in your life? I would say probably I learned everything from practical application,

from being around people and seeing how they operated and the discipline and what they put into to making things successful. I wasn't a big book guy. I am now, you know, I listen to a lot of audio books, but I wasn't for years. And I didn't like learn a lot in school, even when I, in the Marine Corps, I got my degree only because my boss at the time was like, Hey, required it. Yeah. Like, Hey, money, it's free. Go to school at night. You know? So I think everything I learned from either watching people in action, including my father who had a great work ethic and then figuring it out so who would you say like are your biggest mentors or like examples of like

who you strive to be like um gosh that's that's that might be a tough question to answer yeah there's people i admire i want like you know Bedros Koulian, right? Yeah. I admire him. He's a friend, and I admire what he's done. Came here in the country when nothing didn't speak English, and now has a gym chain, and we're partners in that ranch together. Dan Fleischman. Yeah.

Ed Milet. Ed, yeah. Do you know Ed well? I've met him a few times at events, and we've talked. Yeah, Ed's a stud. Andy Frisella. Yeah, absolutely. And his brother sal who built built the first form from nothing i've i used to be part of their circle so i i still go out and visit them

i don't know if i want to be like anyone but i've taken away from everything they've done yeah and no no one got a free ride right that anyone any one of those guys you know no one no one inherited money and just so what what does a day in your life look like right now an average day what time you wake up what are you doing how are you how are you passing time um yeah i'm not a big ritual guy like all everyone's doing ice baths and meditation shit by the time you got all it done you'd be like three in the afternoon i literally wake up at six o'clock every morning yep and i drink uh i'll usually drink a a quart of water on the way to the gym no pre-work i've never had a pre-workout so it quart of water on the way to the gym. No pre-work. I've never had a pre-workout.

So it sounds like you are a ritual guy. The gym. Yeah, yeah. The gym is a ritual. Yeah, for sure. And then it's either, you know, there's either going to the office, multiple offices, whatever brand I'm helping. Yeah.

Podcast. I still travel quite a bit. Yeah. How often are you traveling? At least once or twice a month. Okay. I'm going down to Austin next week for Dr. Gabrielle Lyons. She's having a conference.

Are you speaking at these events, attending? Some I speak at, some I attend. I'm attending the Aspire events now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With Dan's partner. With Dan's, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I spoke at his event out in Atlanta. Oh, you did?

Yeah, yeah. As a panel or an individual? I was on it as a panel. Okay. Yeah. So that's what I spoke at his event out in Atlanta. Oh, you did? Yeah, yeah. As a panel or an individual? I was on as a panel. Okay. Yeah. So that's what I'm trying to get. Nice. I want to be on one of the panels at least.

Yeah, yeah. It's a good way to start out getting rolling with those guys. Yeah. So you were out there. So Clinton Sparks is a good friend. Yeah, yeah. Clinton Studd. Yeah.

Tim Story. Yep. I'm interviewing Tim tomorrow. Oh, here? Not here at this, but down by his place. Oh, yeah. We're friends. Okay. We belong to his World Shakers Society. Oh, here? Not here at this, but down by his place. Oh, yeah, we're friends. We belong to his World Shakers Society.

We speak on every... Good people. I found this actually one thing I do recommend, and that's one thing I didn't do early on, is being around the right people. I didn't even realize there was those kind of circles. They're out there, but I didn't realize until later on that, you know,

The power of a mentor. The power of a mentor and being around the great people. Because, you know, they say, well, you're the sum of the five people you spend most time with. That's definitely true. And I've found myself being elevated when I'm at these events because I'm like,

oh, shit, those guys are working hard. Yeah. I'm slacking. You know, you think that, whether you are, but my point is the more that you're around those kinds of people, the greater, I think you feel too. Yeah. What is a, a belief or an opinion that you hold that most people would disagree with? Oh gosh. A belief or an opinion. Um. That, that a lot of people would be like, what? Um, I don't know. You know, I'm, I'm a little bit of a libertarian now but i'm still a big gun

rights advocate yeah huge yeah me too i never got vaccinated yeah me hey let's go let's go um i'm just i'm a very patriotic guy even though now you're patriotic it's kind of like you're something other than that they people think you know right right so So, yeah, I just, I don't know. I have a lot of integrity. Yeah. I'm very loyal, loyal to a fault, probably. I mean, you sound like a very, like, conservative guy. Yeah.

Classic values. Classic values. And don't get me wrong, even though it's interesting, even though I was a cop and I have all these beliefs, I still have seen people who have gone to prison. Like, I have friends of mine and clients that are doing prison reform. Absolutely. And I admire that because there's people that probably in prison that

shouldn't be there absolutely yeah i think that's the uh libertarian yeah kind of like even though i was a cop i'm like whoa that yeah that didn't sound good right and you know when i talk about police work i i was very unique i learned i was more of a public relations cop than a you know like in the academy to teach you rules and regulations and i learned that there's a spirit of the law there's a spirit of the law. There's a letter of the law. I always worked within the spirit of the law. Right.

And the world's not black. You don't do things just because you're told to do it. Yeah. Right? Like you've got to actually interpret it. Yeah, I interpret it. And I'd realize that not everyone needs to go to jail. Not everyone's a bad person.

Right. And I was a little frowned upon at times. I took a different approach when I was a cop. Some of my partners didn't agree with me. You know, I'd say, this guy doesn't need to go to jail because he's got some dope in his pocket. And I'd say, the guy's 19. It will ruin his life. Tell me about a time when you were a cop and you were scared for your life.

Oh, several times. I was in a shootout in Hollywood, big running gun battle. I wasn't scared at the time. It's interesting. When the fight or flight comes into play, you're just engaged. You don't think. No, you don't think about it.

You just do it. But reflecting on it. Yeah, afterwards, you're kind of like, oh, shit. I kind of did. Yeah, so there's some times in the police where we got involved with some bad stuff, and it was rough. Yeah, wow, wow.

Or life-threatening. Yeah. Well, Bruce, man, you have a very interesting and colorful story, right? Like you've got so many different experiences. Who are some of the people? So you've obviously been involved with many influential people. Who have been some of the most non-entrepreneurial, but we're talking like some of the more famous people that you've been involved in. Like who are like the coolest people that you wouldn't even necessarily know

that they're that awesome? Celebrity-wise? Yeah, celebrity-wise. Charlie Sheen was a good guy back in the day. Charlie Sheen. Sorry about this cough. You're good. Yeah, yeah.

Interesting. What made him such a good guy? He's very humble and giving off the camera, but behind the scenes. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And would you – is that not the case with a lot of these scenes. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And, and would you, would you, is that not the case with, with a lot of these celebrities? Yeah, I think so. A lot of them are,

you know, a little pretentious and they think that they're God's gift to everything. Sorry about this coughing. You're good. You're good. You know, we're not going to, we won't hold you too much longer with, uh, you've got a bad cough going on. What would you say, if you were to recommend any book to our audience that would be a drastic life changer for people? Extreme Ownership. Love that one. Delivering Happiness. Yeah. Two of my favorites.

Awesome. What are a couple things that you love about each one? I think Jocko speaks the truth. Accountability. Right. You know, you got to look in the mirror every day. Yeah. Not lie to yourself.

Yeah. A lot of people do. Yeah, absolutely. And then delivering happiness. You know, I think I tell people that most people want to do business with people they like. Yeah. And that's really important.

I think a lot of people are fooled because, hey, I have great sales, but that doesn't mean they like you. Yeah. It's really important. If you have a business or a product, doesn't mean they like you. Yeah. It's really important. If you have a business or a product, you want people to like you. Yeah. It's important. Yeah, absolutely.

So for the listeners, where's the best place to follow you and get a hold of you if there's a way that they can serve you or help you out? Probably Instagram, Bruce E. Cardenas. All right. I have a website, brucecardenas.com. All right. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And then, obviously, you got the new product out, which is pretty exciting. Yeah.

With Legendary. This is actually the first time I've heard of it. Is it in a lot of stores and different things? Yeah, we're everywhere. GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, Amazon, Target, Walmart. Fantastic. I guess I just don't shop very much. My wife does, you know, pickup and delivery.

It's growing quite well. It's going to do well. It's doing well. That's exciting. That's exciting. So what are the big goals that you're going after? To make that a billion dollar brand. I love it. There's only a couple, two billion dollar companies in the world. So Elon Musk has made a couple and a couple other people. Right. Yeah. But the cool thing is you've created and you know, the recipe for success. I think just most people, once they found the recipe, they don't keep going.

Exactly. Or people go partway down and realize, well, it was really hard to do. And they, and they tap out. I'm just not willing to go through that. Yeah. I think we figured out with this and I think, you know, anyone that has a consumable item, I always tell them fail fast. If you're going to make a bar or a cookie, make it small get people to try it and see if it's going to work i love that before you expand i love that yeah my uh my son and his uh business partner i have a 15 year old boy and they they wanted to make like these little supplement gummies and and i was like man you got to figure out whether or not this stuff will even sell or will you know like make samples get them in the neighbors yeah yeah get your friends to try it And I was like, man, you got to figure out whether or not this stuff will even sell.

Make samples, get them in the neighbors. Get your friends to try it. And if you get excited, we did a quest. We got excitement and then we built it out. Yeah, that's beautiful. I love that. I love it. Bruce, I appreciate your time.

Thank you for coming out. I know it's extremely valuable. Thank you for the value bombs that you've dropped with the crowd. Any final words? No, I'm grateful to be here. I want to you've dropped with the crowd. Any final words? No, I'm grateful to be here. I want to continue to help change the world. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Until next time!