REAL AF with Andy Frisella - 255. Q&AF: Do You Need Money?, Playing Dumb Pro Tip & Navigating Business Through Inflation

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

In today's episode, Andy debunks the idea that you need money to make more money, elaborates an Andygram topic about the advantages of being really good at playing dumb, and provides you with the best way to navigate your business through inflation.

What is up guys, it's Andy Priscilla and this is the show for the realest sake of out of the lies, the fakeness and delusions of modern society and welcome to motherfucking reality guys today we have q and af that's where uh you ask the q's and i give you the afs uh how do you submit the q's uh guys as always email them in to ask andy and andy for seller.com now with that being said uh there's a fee for the show the fee is very simple share the show all right we do this shit for free i don't run ads i don't uh bombard you with a bunch of bullshit uh i don't pretend you're stupid and and have a conversation in the middle of the show as if it's not a paid ad all right uh fucking share the show i think that's a reasonable ask it's fair it's fair all right uh with that being said what else i mean what do we

got today today's q and a f right let's answer some motherfucking questions yeah let's let's do that uh if this is your first time listening we have multiple shows we have q and a f which is mostly education uh it's it's mostly non-political uh it's more so how to get fucking better how to build your company how to be better how to build your company how to be better how to build yourself how to kick ass which ultimately is the most important thing because if you are independent and strong and confident and self-sustaining you cannot be controlled all right so it is the anti-control all right so that's q and a f uh cti cruise the internet we're gonna we're gonna make fun of all the dumb people in the world.

All right. Yeah, for sure. Basically. Yeah. Um, real talk. I'm going to get on here. I'm gonna yell about some shit. All right. But it's going to help you because it's real talk.

And then we have full length episodes. We have a couple of different kinds. We have 75 hard and then we have a just interview guests and that's what we do here so you never know what you're going to get but in this case you get what you ordered who said that who said that you said that you get in this case people got what they ordered yeah common fucking here yeah all right so you order some good shit today so i'm gonna give you some good shit how about that fucks with it man yeah we are not politically correct on this show all right so if you're a sensitive uh you know sugar wall pussy fairy um sugar wall

pussy yeah i'm i don't i'm not gonna i don't care so save your emails i don't know what the fuck to call these you got trademark that shit bro that's sugar wall pussy fairy hey i love that i do you i love it i'm just i don't know what to call these people bro they're insane like the truth and logic and facts don't fucking matter to them all right so if that's you turn the station because you're gonna get real fucking mad yeah all right now culture or humor what's first question andy i grew up hearing to make no okay all right next question andy i grew up hearing to make money you have to have money well the answer is actually no that do you believe in that is that really a question that's a question oh the question is no the answer is no can you elaborate on that i don't believe that uh i you know do you know how many where do they come okay look i'll explain that to you first of

all um that that is a that's an ambiguous statement that can be used and seen in many different ways so i will explain it since that's what you guys are here to learn about um first off that is inaccurate uh it does not take money to make money it takes value to make money okay now lots of people and lots of broke people lots of people at the bars who are talking about the person who rolled up in the nicer car that costs more than their house those people will say oh it takes money to make money right right okay and they use it as an excuse that is not a valid that is not a valid use of this term that's that's the wrong use of this term that's how it's normally understood. Would you agree? That's how most people understand it. Okay. I don't have shit so I can't be shit so I'm not going to try

to do shit. But that guy had everything. That's right. Is that accurate? Let's figure. Okay. That's wrong. That's loser shit. That's bullshit. That's like I said, that's the guy you don't want to be sitting with at dinner. Alright? Those people.

Now, we can look at it a different way in terms of reinvesting in your business. It takes an investment. Like, for example, if I want to grow something here at First Form or any of the other companies that i run i have to make an investment in personnel and product and equipment in whatever it is that's the machine whatever the machine needs yeah i have to put money into the machine in order to produce money out the machine yes growing a plant yes you gotta give it water so now in that regard it's true okay now Okay. Now people tend to, people tend to believe the first one and not understand the second one. And it's really weird because to me it makes perfect sense.

Yeah. Um, but in the second scenario, yes, you, you are better off reinvesting your money into your machine over and over and over and over again. And in that regard that statement makes a lot of sense all right but that's just not the way most people use it most people use it the first way right right dude rolls up can we talk about that guy because like yeah that's me he always i roll up in a fucking i roll up in a fucking cullinan that costs 600 grand yeah okay and most people in the restaurant don't have a house that

costs 600 grand yeah and then they start telling themselves a story about how the fuck i got there right that they don't even know that they don't even they don't even have any idea yeah they have they are making up assumptions to fill the gaps in their own insecurities okay uh they don't know that i financed the whole fucking company on a motherfucking credit cards right they don't know that i financed the whole fucking company on a motherfucking credit cards right they don't know that we built all the shelves ourselves with fucking two by fours and fucking particle board from home depot they don't know that we went the first nine years of business or i'm sorry the first 10 years of business uh and i made 58 000 total they don't know the first three years i made zero dollars they don't know the next seven years I made $0. They don't know the next seven years. The most I made was $695 a month.

They don't know those things. So they make up a story about how something aligned or I had something they didn't have or this or that or this and this and this and this and this based on their understanding of what they've done and what they're capable of. And I don't really fucking care. Yeah. Okay. of what they've done and what they're capable of and i don't really fucking care okay so i get out of my fucking rolls and i walk in i order the fattest fucking steak i can fucking order i eat the motherfucker i look at everybody looking at me and i walk the fuck out and i don't give a shit

yeah okay and that's how you got to be because people are going to attack you people are going to say shit to you people are going to fucking hate on you people are going to make up stories about you people are going to tell lies about you i don't care at least they're talking about me yeah because they weren't 20 years ago when i started oh shit all right oh shit so the the in the in the one in the one way it's bullshit in the other way it's completely accurate yeah that's awesome yeah is that better than just no yeah i think so yeah any question number two you know what dude i gotta get better i gotta remember like i have a and this is just me venting not venting but just self-realizing yeah dr bj i'm right here gotcha baby yeah bro i hate i sometimes

i forget and this is going to sound wrong to people but sometimes i forget that the shit that is really basic for me other people have no no concept of and they've never heard before yeah right so like i have to get better about just not giving smart ass answers and actually explaining shit explain that because because like dude i like to me that shit is so obvious yeah and i've been doing this so long that i i forget that most people don't know the difference between those two things yeah more importantly most people don't know that shit intentionally like that like it's yeah that was intentionally done yeah i didn't learn taxes so anyway make me explain myself and after i make the funny jokes gotcha all right any question number two man you motherfuckers love me i know you do you try to hate all you want but i'm like a fucking fungus bro like you fucking

people try to fucking hate and then they listen a little more and they're like oh fuck fuck this guy's right this guy's this guy is kind of right and then they listen like a little more and then like a year later they're like eddie you changed my shit bro holy shit it's actually awesome i mean like dude i tell motherfuckers all the time when they hate on me bro i said give it two years oh dude andy question number two for you so you uh you had an Enneagram that came out not too long ago before, and you said that this is a pro tip. You said that you should get really good at playing dumb. Yeah.

Can you elaborate on that? Yeah, yeah. Play dumb. Act like, don't be the first person to try to provide that answer. See, look, dude, here's the thing. Every single conversation that you're having with another human when you're in business is a tactical conversation. Okay. Very few conversation. And this is outside friends. Like you can have friends that are entrepreneurs and shit, have real conversation. I'm talking

about in the business environment, real business, tactical conversations. Okay. That we're trying to produce a favorable result for all parties involved if you're an ethical human. All right. So you have to understand that having a tactical conversation, what is the asset? What is the value? What is the currency of a tactical conversation? Well, it's your words. Okay. So the more words that you spit out,

the less currency you have. Okay. And because when you give the position away of what you think, or you're in a hurry to show what you know, which everybody is, right? Because everybody's trying to validate themselves and say, look how smart I am. Look how much I know. But really dude, the truth is, is that the P that's like a beginning phase of business. And you're, you're spouting off about stuff that you, what you're doing is making yourself look real dumb. That's usually the case. So by playing dumb and just listening and letting people talk, people will generally expose their motivation. They'll let you under, they'll, they'll show you what their intentions are.

You will learn how to read between the information to a point where then you can make a tactical decision back after you have the information. So playing dumb allows you to get all the fucking information that you need to make the best decision possible first. Does that make sense? Yeah. Whether you know the shit or not. Yeah. Because now you know where they're coming from. Now you know what their story is.

Now you know what their intentions are. Now you know, you know, you know, or you know what they don't know. Right. Right. Right. So let them talk, ask them questions, get them to speak, and then you absorb and then you respond. And so you can quickly identify, you know, is this person trying to genuinely help me, which is the case most of the time. Okay.

Or is this person have ulterior motives that serve him, not me or her, not me. Right. Okay. Right. And that information has to be discovered. And the way you discover it is by listening not by talking when you talk you're now giving the power to them to then make the decision does that make sense yeah so 100 you let them show their cards that's right and so the person

who shows their cards last typically wins so you have to be smart you have to be smart. You have to be tactical. You have to be truthful, but you also don't be in a hurry to try to look really smart and then end up making yourself, put yourself in a disadvantaged position because you wanted to be smart for 30 seconds or a minute or five minutes. Right? Right. So that's really what that means, man. People will tell you

all all the shit you need to know um if you just let them yeah that's real yeah so that's a business in life too everything yeah and dude i'll be honest i used to be the other way and the reason i know this is because i was that guy for a long time that would like want to make sure that everybody knew that i fucking knew shit and in reality looking back you know this is 10 years ago i didn't know anything you know what i mean so and i'm going to look back 10 years from now and be like you didn't know shit but that's the point you know but my point is is you get a lot further by listening than you do by talking that's real yeah that's real our third and final question for you andy send it home

andy with inflation and all the crazy shit going on right now what is the best way to navigate your business your company so that you're not pissing off customers and you're still taking care of your people what what tips could you give us, do the right thing and be honest. Customers understand what's happening. They're not stupid. They see it when they go to the gas pump. They see it on the news. They see it everywhere.

I think by making an effort to take care of your employees and then also tell the truth to your customers because there's price increases that have to be made. It's just reality. Otherwise, you'll sink your business. Customers understand what's happening and they know it's not your fault. So the way to handle it is just to be truthful with both your employees and your customers. And if they get upset with you, they can only be upset temporarily because you gave them the truth, right?

Where a lot of people aren't a lot of people will you know try to sneak these things in on their customers or they will try to uh you know they know all their employees are hurting so they don't like try to do anything extra for them they and they you know what i mean like there's no empathy there there's no help there there's no teamwork there yeah um and and that's that creates bad situations right so the the best thing you can do is to do what you have to do what what because like dude what people don't understand is that like when there's price increases that have to happen these business owners increasing their prices they don't want to increase their price right they understand that there is a price uh some shit's about to roll downhill.

Yeah, but what I'm saying is, dude, a lot of people get the wrong idea because the media paints these business owners as greedy. Right? Greedy. And they don't have a choice because if they don't raise their price, the employees that work for them can't get paid. They will lose business. They will lose. They can't pay the rent. They can't do this. them can't get paid. They will lose business. They can't pay the rent. They can't do this.

They can't do that. There's a balance that has to happen in an orchestra to keep a business moving. And to have proper margin in your product is not a luxury. It's a necessity. And if you deny that, you will be put out of business by people who make the adjustment. And a lot of people will put themselves out of business because they're too afraid to make a price adjustment because they're afraid of that one or two customers that's going to leave. But bro, if you're honest about it and you tell the truth, people are not stupid. They understand what's happening. And again, this goes back to like, have you earned the trust of your customer over the long haul? Or are you someone who every chance

you get, you're trying to put an extra dollar in your pocket, right? That goes a long way in situations like this. That's why it's important when times are good to not take advantage of people and to do the right things because you never know when things are going to be bad and you're going to need them to give you the benefit of the doubt, right? So you have to look at this long game and you have to understand and do the right thing even when you don't necessarily have to do the right thing, where you could make more money and you could do these things. That's the time where you're fair, right? You charge a fair price for a great product and you make your business work.

And the natural economies of scale with capitalism, they usually weed out the people who price gouge and they weed out the people who can't run their business right by not adjusting the prices and the best survive that's the nature of the fucking capitalism right so yeah no our daycare just did that to us actually i mean they went up 60 bucks a week yeah and like she came out with a notice yeah i mean it's a i mean yeah it's a little bit over 200 bucks a month. Yeah. That was unaccounted for. But, like, she explained, like, hey, listen, you got to pay for food. We got to feed your kids. Yeah.

Food's going up. Yeah. How did you feel when you read it? I mean, obviously, like, I mean, fuck. Like, all right, cool. You know what I'm saying? But, like, what am I going to do? I ain't going to know what the choice.

Did you understand? 100%. Yeah. So I couldn't really be mad at her. No, and that's what I'm saying. And by the way, when you got that letter, imagine had they not sent that letter and been honest and just charged you. And just did it. What would you think then?

I'd be pissed. I'd have a problem. I'd also have a problem too if they lied about why I was going up. Like if I said it's poo. No. Then I would have really been upset. That's what I'm saying. You have to tell the truth.

Yeah. If you make it a political statement or a fucking bullshit, like, bro, I've gotten a couple emails from companies trying to say that because of the situation with Vladimir Putin, not understanding that I actually understand what's going on. I'm not gobbling up the mainstream media bullshit. Going back to point two. Yeah. Question two.

Yeah. Right. And so when I actually understand and you send me an email that says oh because of vladimir putin's actions if i got to charge more money guess what i'm not i'm not shopping with you ever again right because you're lying and you're not being honest beat beat tell the truth costs have gone up product things have gone up you don't have to cast the blame on whose fault it is right right because we all have we all have different feelings about whose fault it is but i i know whose fault it is okay and anybody who's able to critically think can see whose fault it is statistically

factually it's not arguable okay so when you send me a letter trying to fucking put your political position into that email you don't know that i don't agree with you i'm never shopping with you again yeah yeah dude dude the last two years i've seen so many companies completely fuck up navigating their customer relations because they've tried to take positions that they didn't understand whether it be black lives matter whether it be the vaccine whether it be covid whether it be mass whether it be uh you know fucking anything this ukraine shit bro the best stance you can ever take politically is pro-fucking america pro-freedom because everybody agrees with that and it's the fucking truth yeah okay 100 so stop trying to inject your little like you think you're like bro like carhartt

like like what carhartt did they're done was i mean i don't know if they are or they aren't but that was fucking so dumb those people who made that decision should be beat with a fucking rubber hose in the back of that fucking headquarters like for real dude like that is some dumb ass shit the fucking pandemic's over. It's completely over. You announce a vaccine mandate on your company when your entire fucking customer base for a hundred years has been blue collar, hardworking Americans

that statistically disapprove of those kinds of mandates. Right. You are fucking stupid. Yeah. Very, very stupid. On the flip side of the companies that that didn't do that they're doing pretty good they're doing way better and i promise you i promise you that decision will haunt them for years yeah for years because dude i tell you what dude it ruined my view of carhartt 100 like i i look at carhartt i've always looked at carhartt like america working man brand i own carhartt shit it's the best shit i've owned

in terms of like real shit but you know what now when i need some new shit i'm not buying carhartt right i'll buy something else or i'm gonna make it here see what i'm saying yep so uh telling the truth will get you a long way. Inserting your uneducated political opinions that have to do with geopolitical issues 10,000 miles across the fucking side of the globe and shit. You're a fucking idiot. Yeah. Okay. Oh, but Andy, but you talk about it all the time.

Yeah, that's because I have a podcast called Real as Fuck. That's what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I love it. Guys, Andy, that is three. So go pay the time. Yeah, that's because I have a podcast called Real as Fuck. It's what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I love it. Guys, Andy, that is three. So go pay the fee. Yeah. Pay the fee.