REAL AF with Andy Frisella - 283. Q&AF: Workplace Parties, Transition From S2 To 1st Phorm & Creating Momentum During Complacency

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

In today’s episode, Andy answers your questions on how to maintain professionalism while attending workplace parties with your co-workers, the story behind the transition from Supplement Superstores to 1st Phorm and how to create positive momentum in a state of complacency.

What is up guys, it's Andy Purcella 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 this is where uh you bring the cues and uh give you the afs and as always dj is gonna read your cues uh and you can submit your cues email them in to ask andy at andy for seller.com what's going on man what's going on man it's been a interesting day oh really yeah i wouldn't know i've had my head in my fucking own business for the whole day so uh has the world exploded yet entrepreneurship yeah i'm doing yeah actual business ownership not pretending to be a business owner on the internet you got a fee oh yeah we do have a fee the fee is very simple guys if you like the show if it makes you think if it makes show, if it makes you think, if it makes you laugh, if it teaches you something, uh, share the show. Okay. I don't run ads on the show. I'm actually a real

entrepreneur in real life. Um, so I don't need the ad revenue. Uh, I, I make plenty of money. I do pretty good on my own. Uh, and I liked it to give back. I like to give information to you. Um, and you probably wonder like, why the fuck do I do this? Well, here's the reason I do this because I realized that if I don't teach this information to you, um, who is going to teach to you? Because we have 80% of the motherfuckers out there trying to teach you shit. Aren't doing real shit in real life. They don't own a real company. Can't go online and buy their products unless it's coaching. Okay. So whose job is it to teach well it's my job and unfortunately uh for you i wasn't born to be a teacher i was born to kick ass and so you got to deal with a little bit different way of communication so hopefully you can appreciate it a little

profanity here and there yeah or a lot depending on how i fucking feel right so well man i got some good ones for you man yeah let's knock these out yeah and if this is your first time listening uh we do divide the show up into different shows okay uh when you come here and subscribe to real af you're gonna get uh well you never know what the fuck you're gonna get you're gonna get most of the time you're gonna get cti which is cruise the internet all right that's where uh we look at what's going on in the world and we make fun of it and make fun of you for believing it and then we have uh q and which is here, which is where I teach my entrepreneur content. If you want to learn more in-depth entrepreneur content, there's a lot for free in the MF CEO catalog, which is the number one entrepreneur podcast of all time. If you scroll on back to numero uno and start there. There's 330 episodes of pure entrepreneurial

goodness that you can listen to. If you want to learn more in depth, you can join our taste syndicate, which is a club that Ed and I let and I run that teaches people how to fucking win. Then we have real talk, which is where I get on and I yell and, and basically tell you all the shit. None of your friends will tell you and force you to look in the mirror and figure out that the problem is you. Uh, and then we have full length episodes where I get my famous friends to come on and we talk about how they kicked ass. And that's basically how we do the show. Um, I don't really give a fuck if you don't like the show. So don't worry about emailing me in cause I don't care. And I don't answer to you and I don't

answer to fucking anybody. So if you don't like the show, don't share it. But if you like the show, please share it. That's the fee. Sign me up. Hey, man. Is that not accurate? It's very accurate. Okay.

It's fucking accurate. Like these people, you know, people fucking email into my various companies. Oh, I don't like it. Well, guess what, motherfucker? I'm not going to fire myself. Okay. So fucking look away, away go away go buy someone else's shit i don't give a fuck all right anyway so how can we help people today we got some good

ones for you uh got some good ones for you andy question number one andy uh what are your thoughts on workplace parties okay not the you know i got coffee and donuts in the fucking break room for susan's birthday um but this person says my boss told me that i shouldn't go to parties that my employees host because i am their manager and need to maintain a level of professionalism so how do you balance professionalism and being a regular dude when it comes to your employees look man there's some truth to that i feel like it's a tough question yeah it there's a nuance right and nuance means there's no clear answer and the answer depends on the circumstances um you know i don't think it's now now listen i've been doing this since i was 19 right all right

so like i've gone through the phase where i've partied balls with all my employees like well you're all the same age. Yeah, that's right. And a lot of good things came from that, right? Like everybody got to see everybody make ass of themselves at one point or another because that's what happens when you go out partying with your friends. Everybody's got to be the dumbass every night, right? Everybody's got to be – it's always somebody's turn. That's right.

You know, as you get a little bit bigger and, you know, you start bringing in people that you don't really get to know as closely. You know, things do change and the dynamic does change. And that's unfortunate because I do think that the time when you're a smaller, a smaller company, you get to know your people a little bit better just because there's everybody. Everybody knows that you're a bunch of fuck-ups trying to do something right whereas when you start to actually do something people start to look at you a different way um which sucks it's not as fun it's not mfce it's just ceo now yeah right and it's it's not as cool dude it's not as fun yeah and unfortunately the atmosphere that we uh that we live in today, um, you know, people

like to hold things against people and judge people and act like, you know, uh, people don't make the same mistakes that you make. And, you know, for that reason, it's probably a better idea in most places to, to do what your boss said there and to really stay away from those things. Um, but man, you know, I think it all comes down to just knowing your limits and knowing where, you know, maybe you don't want to be the guy that's dancing on the fucking bar and putting a fucking lampshade on it. Maybe you do. Maybe that's the atmosphere you want. I don't fucking know. There was a time when I was that guy for our company,

bro. I was the wildest motherfucker in the company. It was Wolf of Wall Street shit. Right. And, um, and that was a lot of fun but you know nowadays it's it's it's a little bit different i don't like to party like that anymore i don't fucking i don't really get too wild anymore and so maybe it's just different for me but i think that's a delicate situation and i think you know approaching it with the understanding of you know okay these guys are my friends but also um you know i have to manage them and we have to get shit done i think the best way to handle that situation is to compartmentalize it you know i think a lot of people that are in leadership roles try to carry those leadership roles to the uh social events

right like they get to the social event and they keep they try to they try to keep their work code on right right like bro when you go to that social event it's just it's just you and the and the fellas or you and the and the and the co-workers or whatever right and um letting that guard down to show everybody that you're just one of them is helpful and harmful in certain situations so navigating that just takes some self-awareness um i like to operate where know, when we're at my house or we're out somewhere, we're all the same. We're equal. We're equals. And we are. And when business time to get business time, we're still all equals, but it's just my role to call the shots at the end of the day. And I think, you know, leaving your ego out of leadership is a good way to approach those

situations. It allows you to have a healthy balance of friendship and get shit done. I think, you know, leaving your ego out of leadership is a good way to approach those situations. It allows you to have a healthy balance of friendship and get shit done. I think most of my team here understands that like when we're out, we're out. And when we're here, we're here. And we don't hold things against people. Like there's been plenty of employees here that have like gotten too drunk or, you know, maybe got a little too loose at some of these. We don't hold that against people when they come back to work. That's not how we do shit here.

We treat people like humans. When we're friends, we're friends. And as long as you don't come into work acting like that, there's not going to be a problem. And I think that's the way it should be run. Well, I mean, would you say there's definitely ways to have those fun atmosphere parties, right? Like, 1P has Summer Smash every year, right? Yeah. I think that would be, I mean, I'm not saying everybody can atmosphere parties, right? Like, like, you do, 1P has Summer Smash every year, right?

Like, I think that would be, I mean, I'm not saying everybody can do that, right? And fucking get Steve Aoki in here, right? But like, there's definitely ways to fucking, to make those positive interactions, right? I think, you know, one of our core values here is building fun and positive relationships

and having fun and partying and letting off steam. That's part of that deal. So like, I don't, to me, you know, building fun and positive relationships and having fun and partying and letting off steam. That's part of that deal. So like, I don't, to me, you know, I feel like this whole, this whole, uh, can't hang out, can't do that. I think that's all to make up for a gap in your weak leadership abilities. I think you should be able to lead your team and still be socially friends with them. Um, you know, if we were all out on a on on a combat mission and there was life or death situations uh you know you guys and we i was leader and you guys we would be i would make the fucking call right if we're out at the bar and you know you guys say i want to go to this other bar i'm gonna be and you guys all there's four of you i'm gonna say hey all right well everybody wants

to go to the bar let's go like it's just knowing when to assert and when not to assert yeah um and i think a lot of people try to i think it's kind of a cheesy way to maintain a power structure over someone by, by limiting interaction. I think the better opportunity is to, is to, you know, participate in the interaction, be in control of yourself as much as possible. But dude, this is all leadership styles. Like there's a million different kinds that work for me. for me, you know, I just, I do what I said.

I just did, you know, my friends are my friends. And when we come in here and we got to do something, we take it serious. And if somebody treats, I've never had a problem with that. I've never had one of my guys who, who I consider some of my best friends in the fucking world, if not my very best friends, you know, when we're out, you know, and then they come here and they, I treat me like, like they, we all understand the dynamic. You know what I'm saying? So like, I've never had an issue with this. So I, you know, now, now I don't know. I just think it depends, man. I think it just depends on your fucking leadership ability. You know, I think if you want to have a good culture, a fun culture, a culture that,

you know, um, yeah, that people want to be around, you have to be willing to spend fun time with your team and enjoy it and have it be genuine. I think a big problem is too, a lot of these managers and CEOs think they're like in a different class than the people that work for them. You know what I mean? Like, Oh, I'm a fucking more important people. I'm going to go around, hang out with the, with the fucking pinky up crowd here in my, like, dude, I don't fuck around with those people. Right. Like when I hang out, I hang out with my people right here. I think that sends a better message than seeing me all over town with the who's who of our fucking community. Right. I mean, I don't agree. That's that's just my take man i don't think it's i think there's pluses and minuses and i think you learn i think it's just like everything else

you're probably gonna make a mistake um the one thing that i would say is uh a no-no for sure is like you know don't over consume when you go to these parties you know what i'm saying um you'll get yourself in trouble with that yeah just it just you just will and i've made my i've made those mistakes before where i've made ass out of myself in front of people i didn't want to you know what i mean and i learned yeah i was i didn't do it again right i'm saying like those are things that you have to learn as a business owner and um i would if you're after 23 years of doing this now, I don't regret any of the times, any of the good times, any of the trips, any of the partying or any of the fun shit that

we did with our team ever. It's probably the best times I ever had in my whole life. So, you know, I think just ignoring that because you want to maintain a power structure, it's kind of weak leadership. You know, I think you should be a strong enough leader where you're a leader at work and out outside, it's a chance to show the guys that you're just one of the guys and we've got a job to do. I think it builds respect with your team, not takes away. That's just my personal take. That's real, man. I like it. Does that make sense? No, it does. It does. It absolutely does. I think that's just something that people got to

kind of find on their own. Yeah. I think that that's it it's just a style of where you're comfortable and what's productive and how how it works but if all your employees are into some weird shit probably probably don't go to those parties well if they are they're probably taking their cues from you you know what i'm saying so all right question number two uh and let's talk about the transition from s2 to 1P. So you were 10 years in business. How exactly did the opportunity come around or the idea? Or when did you see that next move to transition from S2 to 1P? What did that look like for you? Well, you guys have to understand that.

Because you went from selling people's products, right, to selling your own. I mean, that's a big jump, right? For sure. For sure. You know, when we started the company, a lot of people don't realize how little of capital we had. We have $12,000. For us to get a space, because we didn't have any credit, we had to pay a year's rent up front, which was $ bucks a month so it's 12 grams all our cash that's everything yeah so we had to finance all of our inventory all of our shelving everything else in the store on credit cards and you know that's

how we started so for us to like go from that to having our own company uh was a mat it was a massive like it was almost it was almost an un believable goal if that makes sense because like dude you got to remember i was having this discussion with my brother a couple weeks ago and you know i got my dad found our first tax return from uh 1999 and he brought it into work and it was like negative 3500 for the year and uh it said supplies and we built out that whole entire store for 500 fucking dollars and it was on that line item and i had forgot that it was only 500 bucks for us to build for all the shelves everything all the plywood yeah we built it like with our fucking own hands right um cost us 500 and like that fucking table right there is eight grand that i'm pointing at so you

know what i'm saying it's a big jump yeah and we got like what 40 of those around the fucking building like it's just it's it's it's very bizarre when you really think about how much ground we've covered in the last two decades. Um, so getting that, getting to that next level at the beginning was an unthinkable goal for us. It was something we never really thought we could do. And, um, but, but what happened, what really happened was over the, over the first nine years of us having retail stores, you know, we learned the business very well. We got to know the owners. We got to examine which companies did things right, which companies did things not right, what could be improved. And so most of the conversations that Chris and I had in that store, because remember, 10 years in, we were still having days where we wouldn't see

anybody. Yeah. So, so I mean, it was slim dude. Like the first three years I made a $0 the next seven years I made $695 for a total over 10 years of $58,000. All right. For 10 years of fucking work, I made 58 fucking grand. People don't believe that shit. I got the fucking proof. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So how the idea came about was from us basically case studying all the other companies day after day after day after day. You know, somebody would come out with new packaging. We'd be like, yeah, I don't like this packaging. And we could tell it was bad packaging because it confused the customer.

Because you had that on the ground, grassroots. Immediately. We got immediate feedback from people. We knew what it was like to sell those products. So we got to learn a lot about the industry from being the person who actually had to sell it to the customer. Because most of these companies didn't do that. Most of these companies just made shit, and the distribution network was a completely different thing.

So they didn't know what we knew. Does that make sense? They had no perspective on what actually the customers wanted, how they wanted it, what confused them, what they liked, what they didn't like. They were making products and then hoping that they did well. When in reality reality it would make sense to fill the need that the customers want which they didn't know because they had to rely on people like us to sell their products all right you got to remember e-commerce and shit

wasn't like what it is now yeah there was no instant fucking reviews or yeah and and by the way you can't even tell on the internet what customers true feedback is because you're not having a genuine conversation with them. Right. They're just clicking and buying shit. So really the only feedback that you have is the customers that choose to make, make reviews, which are one out of every, how many fucking a thousand. Right.

Right. And then, um, what sells, but you don't know like why other shit isn't selling. Like you just, you don't know like why other shit isn't selling like you just you don't know these things and so we got to see all of the shit firsthand for 10 years and our conversation always came up came like this um yeah man if and first it was if we ever had a company we'd do it like this and then after about three or four years it was like well when we have our company we're gonna do it like this and just kind of naturally progressed. And, um, and then we got an opportunity to consult on a product, uh, and build a relationship with a manufacturer. And we were

able to start manufacturing a very small amount and we took it from there. But, uh, you know, one of the best things that we had that we utilized was our knowledge of having conversations with the customer so we could understand what they actually wanted um what they liked what they didn't like why they bought things and over 10 years bro you start to learn a lot of shit yeah like if you pay attention yeah dude like i could look at anybody else's brand right now and fucking point at every single product without even knowing how it sells and tell you that's selling, that's not selling and why. And, and that's comes from experience, right? So, um, you know, it was just a natural progression of, of thoughts and conversations. And as our retail company grew and gained respect in the community, an opportunity presented itself

to consult, um, on a pretty big project. And then we worked with that company. That project didn't pan out for that company. And then we created a manufacturing partnership based off of that. And that's how we got going. And I mean, when we started first form, you know, people were making fun of us. You know, they were saying, oh, what are you making that in your fucking basement? You know, oh, you know, oh, you mean you're going to make a supplement brand made here in St. Louis and it's going to compete on the national level? Yeah, motherfuckers.

That's exactly what the fuck we did. And it's exactly what we're going to do. And so when I tell you we'll be the number one brand globally, just wait because we will. All right. So like, you know, when you're, I guess the takeaway here for people who are in the beginning is like, you may not be able to see the exact path of how you're going to get where you want to go, but you know, maybe pretend a little bit as if you're going to, as if it's going to work out and observe the knowledge from that perspective as you're going through what you're doing now, because it's going to give you a more comprehensive understanding of what you want your future brand or your future growth or your future company to actually be and serve. You know, one of the things that first form is based upon, um, is highest quality product that we can make. You know, we would have customers come in the store day after day after day after day and be like, why are all these companies just competing for the cheapest possible product? Like I'm putting this shit in my body.

I want the absolute best, not the fucking cheapest. Right. And that was, that was something that we committed to from the beginning. Like we were going to make a product that was the absolute best at whatever price point that ended up being versus trying to create a product for a price point that everybody else was playing at. Right. And when we first did that, everybody said, well, it's never going to work. It's never going to work.

It's never, well, we're pretty much the number one fucking brand in this in our whole fucking category so it fucking works i think it works okay um but all of that came from from just listening and talking and imagining and what could be and how we would do it and this and that and this and most of first form was developed during those conversations and of course now it's evolved from you know the 2009 version into this massive operation that now includes apparel includes all kinds of other ancillary products um and helps millions of people get get their fucking shit together it's really what it comes down to do you think that brick and mortar or the grassroots on the ground in your face way of business do do you think that like, do you see that making a massive comeback with all the e-com and technology stuff that we have right now?

I think it's the only, I think it's the most valuable understanding of how to do business you could possibly grasp is talking to people face toto-face. And I think that the biggest opportunity that exists right now in business is actually face-to-face type businesses, because people are really starting to reject technology. There's always going to be people that want face-to-face. There's always going to be people that want to support small business. There's always going to be people that want to get in their car and go and have a Saturday of shopping. It's an event for people, especially if you make your brick and mortar an experience. Yeah,

there's, I think there's a massive opportunity in brick and mortar and anybody who says they're not, I'll argue with you till the day you die. And I could probably bet that I'm more successful brick and mortar than you'll ever fucking be. So I'm just giving you my professional opinion. We're doing, we're setting record after record after record in our brick and mortar than you'll ever fucking be. So I'm just giving you my professional opinion. Uh, we're doing, we're setting record after record after record in our brick and mortar stores. It's not an accident, right? People crave it. So yeah,

I think it's a massive opportunity. That's real. Andy, uh, guys, our last and final question for you, Andy, question number three, Andy, what is the best way to create momentum in a period of complacency? Um, you have to force yourself through the first couple of days. You know, that's what people don't understand. Momentum is understood to be something that people catch on accident. Um, you know, Oh dude, I was doing really good. I had great momentum. Everything was going on. Then I, then I, whatever. And then fill in the gap. Right. Um, well, what would have happened to had you force yourself through instead of saying, then I bought and instead say, well, then I had this happen, but I forced myself through anyway, you would have maintained the momentum. Okay. So giving up the momentum is, is usually a choice

because someone had a day that was abnormally difficult and they weren't able to push through. This is part of what 75 hard teaches people. If they do it correctly, um, you are actually in 100% control of your momentum at all times. All right. Now we'll, if you were unaware of this, will you naturally catch momentum sometimes and then sometimes not have it? Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Everybody will. But if you were unaware of this, will you naturally catch momentum sometimes and then sometimes not have it? Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Everybody will. But if you pay attention, the reason that person caught momentum was because for three or four or 10 days in a row, they did the exact same thing. And what it did was force them into a feeling of, uh, of it being natural, which felt like momentum. Does that make sense? So you're in control of your momentum at any given time. It's out of their control for the next cycle of momentum

to catch i'll start monday yeah but how many mondays does that take right right if you're fucking fat ass like i was it was all the mondays right every monday i was telling myself the same shit and i felt powerless i felt like i was out of control i felt like i fucking had no strength and no discipline because i didn't all right but. But then when I figured out, oh shit, I can actually force myself through these things and I can actually catch the momentum and manufacturing momentum. I became infinitely more powerful in every single area of my life because now I know what starts it and what stops it. All right.

And this is what live hard and 75 hard does is it teaches you how to manufacture high level fucking momentum over the course of your motherfucking life. It teaches you how much of your life you're actually in control of, which by the way, and I hate to tell you this is way fucking more than you think. All right. A lot of you motherfuckers are out there playing victim just because you don't understand the simple idea of creating your own momentum and you're living like the plastic bag floating through the the sky in that movie uh american what's it called america beauty with where the fucking plastic bags just blowing through the whole fucking sky without that's how most people live hoping to catch a tree that's

yeah dude and that yeah eventually you'll catch some fucking wind but like it's where's it gonna take you wherever the fuck it wants your momentum should be focused and it should be manufactured and it should be intentional and once you realize that you have this power, nothing can actually fucking fuck with you at all. And that's something that most people will live their entire lives from now until the day they die, not understanding and thinking that their whole life is the result of circumstances. When in reality, it's the result of you not understanding that you are actually in control of your own fucking progress day in and day out you're just not executing and you'll live your whole life as a fucking victim thinking oh i don't know why this happened to me i don't know well i

know exactly why it's because when it got hard or when it rained or when you fucking got hungry or when you whatever your boys wanted to go out to the club or whatever the fuck it was, you did it and you didn't stick through and that's it. And dude, our life success comes down to little bitty tiny decisions that we make consistently over and over and over again. And if you're making consistent decisions to break your momentum over and over and over again, you're never going to fucking have any. So it's a, it's an important thing. It's a, it's,

it's something that you, every single human is in control of. And if they aren't in control of it, it's because they're not aware of it. Does that make sense? It makes fucking sense. That's why every single fucking human in the world should do Live Hard 75. Every fucking one. Every fucking human. If you did it the right way, it would teach you so much about what I'm talking about now

that you would feel infinitely powerful. You would feel infinitely confident. You would have the belief and the discipline to execute on anything that you wanted to do at any time you wanted to do it. And what's more powerful than that? What's more powerful than that? What's more powerful than being able to do anything you want to do as a human being at any given time and not having to wait around to catch the momentum. There's nothing more powerful than that. And that's what humans are designed to do. So fucking do it. And if you want to know more about Live Hard and how it works and what it does, go listen to episode 208. I give you the whole program for free. All you got to do is listen. All right. If you want to buy the book, it's on the website.

It's not necessary to give you an in-depth play by play description of how the fuck to do what I'm talking about doing But I would recommend that no matter what and no matter what you think of me and no matter what you think of my opinions Or whatever you fucking do this because it'll change your motherfucking life. Fuck man Well guys andy that is three. Yeah, go pay that fee. That's three. I gotta go and i'll talk to you guys next time We're from sleeping on the floor now my jewelry box froze fuck a bowl fuck a stove counted millions in the cold And I'll talk to you guys next time.