REAL AF with Andy Frisella - 907. Q&AF: Overcoming Self-Doubt, Staying Sober In Business & Keeping Business When Relocating

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

On today’s episode, Andy answers live call-in questions on how to overcome self-doubt when you feel like you’re never doing enough, how to stay sober while growing a business, and how to keep finding customers when relocating to a new state.

What is up guys? It's Andy Purcell and this is the show for the realest say goodbye to the lies, the fakeness and delusions of modern society and welcome to Motherfucking Reality. Guys, today we have Q&AF. That's where you submit the questions and we give you the answers. Now you can submit your questions a few different ways. The first way is. Guys, email your questions in

to askandy at andyforsella.com. That's DJ. Hello children. You can also go on the YouTube video of the Q&AF episodes and go right the YouTube video of the Q and a half episodes and go right below the video. There's a link there. You click that link and you can call in live to the show. Other times throughout the week, we have shows within the

show. Okay, we call a little peanut butter and jelly. We we have some personal development and then we have some what's going on in the world. A lot of people don't understand why we have those two, but it's very simple. If we don't have the proper environment to sprout prosperity, which is culture and society, doesn't matter what rules we follow

in terms of being successful. So we talk about both here. So we're gonna have CTI, that's cruise the internet. That's where we put topics on the screen. We speculate on what's going on in the world. We joke around a little bit. And then we talk about how we, the people have to solve these problems going on in the world. Other times throughout the week, we might have a real talk.

Real talk is just five to 20 minutes of me giving you some real talk. And then occasionally we have 75 hard versus that's where somebody who has completed the 75 hard program comes on the show talks about how they were before how they are now and how they use the 75 hard program to drastically improve their life if you're unfamiliar with 75 hard it is the initial phase of the live hard program which you can get for free an episode 208 on the audio feed now the live hard program is the world's most famous ever mental transformation program and it happens to be free. You get it as episode 208 on the audio feed. It is not on YouTube. And there's a book you can buy. It's not required but

you can buy it. And it's pretty good because we can't keep it in stock. You can get it at andyforsella.com. It's called the book on mental toughness. So it'll outline the And it's pretty good because we can't keep it stock you get it Andy for seller comm It's called the book on mental toughness so to outline the entire live hard program plus a whole bunch of other information on mental toughness why it's important how you can use it to build your life and Take back control. All right break free of the matrix. That's what they like to say So we also have a fee for the show. The fee is very simple We don't run ads on the show. All right. I don't take corporate deals because I don't want to be told what

I can and can't say. And in exchange for that, I ask very simply that you help us grow the show by sharing it. All right. So if the show makes you think, if it makes you laugh, it gives you new perspective. It's something we're talking about. Do us a favor and don't be a hoe. Share the show. All right, what's up? Happy Monday. Yeah, what are you laughing at? You know, a little off camera action, that's all. What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about.

What's going on, man? Nothing, dude. Yeah, another beautiful day. Yeah, it sure is. Dude, I checked my forecast this morning for this week and it is rain every day. Bro, I feel like we've gotten so much rain lately. Like this whole, like since March to now, it's just been crazy.

A lot of rain, a lot of rain. Yeah. It sucks. Yeah. It sucks. We need a beach. Listen. Me and you, speedos, on a beach.

I am in. I'm in. I really, I don't care. What's the best, what's like, I don't know, what's the best beach to go to? Like, I don't know. Like I want white sand. You know what I'm saying?

The Gulf Coast, the Gulf of America Coast. The Gulf of America Coast, yeah. Up there in the north part of Florida, Destin area, that's some beautiful beaches, white sand. You know, if you're looking for domestic beaches I think that the the west coast of Florida has some very nice beaches. Yeah. Gulf side, Gulf of America side. Yeah. Yeah and then the on the other on the other side of Gulf of America in Mexico they have nice beaches as well. That's a decent one over there too. Yeah, that's a decent one.

I like the Mexico beaches on the Gulf of America. Mm. You know? What? No, we're being politically correct. Yeah. Actually, so it's fine. Yeah, dude, listen, I'm saying let's do it.

Okay. I'm down. Yeah. I'm down, you let me know. Sick, man. Well, it is Monday. So you guys know what that means. Q and a make some people better. That's right. That's what we're gonna do. That's right. And let's

get it started. Okay. Let's we got a call in. Oh, we do. Start with a call. Start with a call in. Start with a call in. Alright, let's uh let's give our boy Dylan a ring. I'm gonna call a ring. Dylan, what's up, my man? What up, DJ? What's going on, bro? Oh, dude. Fucking great now. Yeah. Oh, that's nice. That's nice. What you up to? Uh just

uh on my way back from a friend's wedding. Oh, sick. Sick. Awesome. awesome. I got the big guy here. What's up, Dylan? How are you, bro? I'm doing outstanding, Andy. Oh, dude, this is so fucking cool. This is sick. So how was the wedding? It was awesome.

Did he run off? He got there recently. I'll say it again. I said, did he run off? They were waiting till Mayer marriage so kind of a little bit Sick man, so what can we help you with bro? Yeah, so just some background so I played a division three football for a school in the Midwest called Wisconsin River Falls Yeah, they're all four. And then I luckily had the, an opportunity to play.

I got invited to the Colts mini camp in May. So went there, you know, did, was a little nervous at first, you know, just like how, how new everything was. Unfortunately, didn't make the team, left, got caught like that weekend. But I've, you know, I've been draining my ass off that weekend but i've you know i've been training my ass off staying ready because you know got that foot in the door and that just drove me back to you know try to get to that point and i've really just been lifting working my ass off since

since the season ended in november and my question is really uh so like i'm a really self like motivated and really like determined athlete to get to the, you know, my dream and my destiny that I think that was, you know, like designed for me, but I still struggle with, you know, self doubt and consistently thinking that like what I'm doing isn't enough. And I guess my question for you is like, when you first started your business, what helped you get through those times where like, man, I don't know if I'm going to make it. I don't

know like if what I'm doing to not like, is it all going to be worth it? Uh, yeah. Okay. Well, um, I got some bad news for you, bro. And that is this, that feeling really never goes away. If you are an ambitious person, if you wanna continue to grow, continue to get better, continue to evolve, which is required in entrepreneurship. If you want to continue to innovate, which is required, and adapt, which is required, you almost have to have a paranoid feeling about

not being good enough because what that does is that causes you to pay attention to every single detail and to make sure that all of your I's are dotted in your T's are crossed. And a lot of people look at this attitude because it's uncomfortable and it creates anxiety and it's not this peaceful calm feeling that you know you get to have when you're not working on important projects. They think that it's a bad thing. But the reality is bro is that having the feeling that you have is actually a very strong sign that you're going to be successful in business because the key to business long term is the ability to do the monotonous things at a high

level and then continue to evolve and create and adapt to the ever changing and fast changing way that business is done. So a lot of people feel like, you know, man, what's wrong with me because I'm always thinking about this or I'm always thinking about that or I'm always high strung or I'm always on edge. But dude, that edge is exactly what allows you to continuously get better, which is the requirement of being in the area of life entrepreneurship that you have chosen. You have chosen

to be an entrepreneur and to be a successful entrepreneur. You by default have to be a high level entrepreneur and to be a high level entrepreneur, you have to be detail oriented and to be detail oriented, you have to feel a high level entrepreneur you have to be detail oriented and to be detail oriented you have to feel a little bit insecure so that you notice the details that other

people won't. And so I would I think you should think about reframing this as a good thing as opposed to something that is hard to deal with. I had this happen to me when I was about 12 years into business. I was having a lunch meeting with a guy who was much further along in business than I was. And I asked him when we sat down I said dude when does it when does it stop? Like when does it when does that feeling stop? When does when does everything feel OK? And his answer was right before you're about to lose. And I'm like, fuck, jeez.

Yeah, I'm like, damn, dude. Like, that's that's some real shit. And and I think the awareness that you have, brother, is is an asset that most people don't have. And as a instead of you seeing it as something that you have brother is an asset that most people don't have and as a instead of you seeing it as something that you need to get past or work through or deal with I think you should look at it as man it's really good that I have this awareness because it allows me to see things that other people won't

it allows me to operate at a higher detail. It allows me to do the things that other people refuse to do or don't want to do because I want to win. And I think it's a great quality to have every single successful entrepreneur that I know personally that succeeds at a high level has the same doubt, insecurity, feeling of not being good enough, even when they're, you know, even when they're would be in a position that most people would say you haven't made, they still carry that with them. Uh, and, and what people fail to identify is that the reason they are in that position to, you know, be looked at and said, man, that person's got it made is because they carry this feeling of doubt,

paranoia, I'm not good enough. And then they take action against that. Does that make sense? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, I understand everything. Actually, you kind of said something similar and one of your recent podcasts with a guy with that had a construction company, I think. So this is definitely just to hear this firsthand is. Yeah, bro, this is just the way it is. I mean, look, I would love to be able to tell you, yeah, man, you know, eventually you're going to get this much money in the bank and you won't feel that way, or eventually you're going to get to here and you won't feel that way.

That's not been my experience. In fact, I actually think it gets a little worse because as you grow, it's not just about you anymore. It's about your team. It's about the company. It's about people's families. It's about their kids. And when that responsibility really starts to weigh on you and it's not just about yourself, I think that feeling actually gets a lot worse. Like you're always thinking, fuck, could I be doing better or am I letting these people down or should I be doing this or you know and by that time I think you're

a little more like I am definitely in a place where I accept that as part of my reality. a place where I accept that as part of my reality, but I do remember For a long time wishing that I didn't feel that way because it was so uncomfortable so You know, I think you'll acclimate more to it But I think you could acclimate faster by understanding how valuable it is to your path For the same yeah Cuz I go by something that Nick Saban always says that to get where you want to be it takes would take you on got you know, you're not going to Sometimes it takes less. Some people start off further along. Some people start off further back. Some people have a natural set of skills that allows them to move faster. Some people have to develop those skills.

So the answer to everything is exactly what Saban says. It's whatever the fuck it takes, man. Yeah, and that's different for everyone and we can't make that quote-unquote fair. It's just what it is. So Yeah, brother. I mean I I would say that you are very blessed For whatever reason to have that awareness in the beginning Because I think eventually you're gonna look back and you say the reason that I was successful is because I was paying attention to everything because I cared the way that I cared and It will become it will become something a quality that you very much so value and appreciate about yourself

Armstrong I appreciate it. Yeah, brother. I Go kick ass Yes, sir. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll say one thing. I just want to say that God bless you guys, man. Like I listen to your show every day at work. I wake up at five 15 and I listen to your podcast every day, every morning cutting grass at a golf course. And to say that you guys inspired me to think the way I think like Andy, like I just, I listen to you every day. Like DJ, thank you too. Like, Like your whole team, like you guys are, like you guys are doing and saying the work

that not a lot of people wanna say anymore because everybody's getting soft and shit. That's what you all say. So like I just wanna say I appreciate you guys and taking time out of your day to come talk to me and yeah, just keep doing what you're doing. Well, bro, we do it so that guys like you will go out and fucking build what this country is supposed to be. So, uh, that, that appreciation is neutral.

Thank you, bro. All right, brother. We'll have the good rest of your day. We'll catch up with you soon. All right. See Dylan. It's an interesting thing. Cause I've noticed this, I've noticed this and I want to get your take on it because I don't know if it's a science to it, but why does it seem that like a lot of people who are successful in business have a sports background or something?

Like what is that? Like is that a real thing? I feel like, yeah, I think it's- You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but I mean, dude, I think it's a, I think it's a very real thing. Um, I don't know the numbers on it, but well, cause all of the skills that you learn in sports translate to business in a different way. You know, you've

got to do a million reps to get competent at something. You know what I mean? Like if you start off with soccer, you don't know how to dribble, you don't know how to, you know, take shots. You don soccer, you don't know how to dribble. You don't know how to you know Take shots. You don't you don't know how to pass the ball same thing in basketball same thing in baseball I mean dude to to learn how to hit a baseball is a multi-year process Like you don't just stand up there at five years old and hit a baseball like You start by hitting the ball off the tee and when you swing, you don't even hit the ball. You hit the tee 400 times in a row. Then eventually you hit the ball, right?

Then eventually you get to like where they toss it to you. Then they, you know what I'm saying? And it's a multi-year commitment to even be able to hit a baseball. Somehow people forget that when it comes to their lives or their business or whatever. But the reality of sports and business being parallel is about as close as you can get both on an individual level and a team level. To have a successful team you have to do your job and you have to trust that the people on the field are going to do their jobs. And if everybody does their jobs, you're going to win a lot more than you lose.

It's the same thing in business. Yes, you could have a small business and it could be one or two people and one person you could carry the whole team. But that does not work when there's 50 people. All right. Or 100 or 500 or even 15.

You have to do your job and then you have to teach everybody else how to do their job and then everybody else has to do the job together to win. And so the the lessons on a macro scale are the same and the lessons on a micro scale are the same. You've got a guy on the baseball team who's staying out till four in the morning and not fucking practicing and not hitting. Oh, and you know, at first he's still hitting 300, but then after two months of that shit, he's hitting fucking 180 and you got to go to him and be like, Hey, you motherfucker, you're fucking it up for all of us. Right. And those are the same things that have to

happen in business or on any team. Um, so yeah, dude, I think it's very parallel from both a micro and macro level and it's confusing to me how more athletes don't understand that. I was just about to ask you. I was going to, but my question was going to be, so like, I wonder why then so many athletes, even at the professional level or whatever, get out and then don't, like why are they fucking, you would think that they were just killing it. Remember dude, like it's not always as it seems in sports. Sometimes guys that are considered to be great

are really only great because the team around them is great and then they believe that it's them that's great and then when they don't have the team, they don't do as good. So, you know, not every every you know what I'm saying so like there's guys who get paid a lot of money in sports because their team is fucking awesome and they're pretty good okay and they just happen to be in a position where they get the credit but you remove the teamwork and they think oh I'm the superstar and then

it happens to be that they aren't so there's all kinds of things that happen But you know, it's very parallel This is why I think it's important for parents to really get their kids into sports You know like fuck dude even the physical Pain that you have to go through to be good at sports, the conditioning, the training. That shit all, it all translates to real things in life. Putting yourself in intentionally uncomfortable positions. I really think sometimes, bro, it'd be easier to teach

sixth graders how to be successful in business than it is adults. Because the adults have told themselves stories about why they can't do things, where these kids are just like, okay, I'll do it. You know what I mean? Yeah, they will, bro. I feel like if you had like a fucking,

like a little team baseball team, brother, you'd fucking crash. Yeah, but like, you know, adults tell themselves stories like this. Like you could take someone who understands the principles of teamwork, the principles of individual work, culture, leadership, mindset, and all these things. And you could take someone like that and, you know, pull them out of that environment and they will say, well, yeah, I was really good at baseball.

I was really good at football, I was really good at football. But business is just not something I'm good at. And so they tell themselves these other stories, even though the principles are parallel. I think the biggest thing about business and entrepreneurship is that people think there's some sort of third party approval that you have to be at your club that you've got to be invited into.

You know what I mean? Like, you don't, there's nobody that's gonna come along and say, hey, by the way, I see a whole bunch of good shit in you. You could be fucking the next best entrepreneur. That never happens. And I remember thinking like when I started in business that that would eventually happen.

Like the people who were further along than me would come to me and they would see something in me and they would say, I recognize that you and you got it. And that doesn't happen, bro. You've got to like, tell yourself that you've got to be able to look at other people and be like, I could beat that fucking guy. Or I'm as good as that guy. Or what's, you know, I could be as good as that guy if I did what he did. You know what I mean? So I'm going gonna do what he does and I'll get better like Kids will do that. You know what I'm saying? But adults will have a story as to why they can't you know adults are amazing Justifiers bro, they can justify anything

That's why you know live hard is such a valuable program at 75 heart is such a valuable program because one of the biggest things that it Does is it brings awareness to the bullshit that you tell yourself. It brings awareness to the internal dialogue that keeps you from doing the things you actually want to do. You can see it and identify it very clearly and then you know how to overcome it. You know, there's a reason we say win the war with yourself because that's really the only war that matters. That's real man. That's real. Guys, let's's get question number two. This is a write-in. Write-in question here. Question number two, guys.

Hello, A&D. A&D. Yep. Yep. I'm Anthony, 22, from Chicago. Andy, I've been a stoner for five years. Just graduated college, and I want to take my career in real estate and finance seriously.

How old is he? Twenty two. I'm in chief in four minutes. But as a self-proclaimed stoner, how do you maintain the discipline to stay sober in business? I wouldn't say that I'm a stoner. I would say I like to smoke marijuana occasionally I did go through periods of my life where I was smoking daily but that's not something that I you know I don't brand myself a stoner I don't think that's cool you

know yeah I just honest with you guys Like, I don't drink because I think drinking is very hard for me mentally and physically. So instead, I like to smoke weed. It helps with my anxiety. It actually helps me think a little bit more clearly because what it does is it declutters my mind. And to be honest, for me, I have some of the best organization sessions regarding the ideas that I have, because I'm not thinking about anything else.

So, I don't have fucking Bob Marley pictures hanging on my fucking wall and shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, and some fucking incense. Little Bob Marley fucking ashtrays and shit like I'm not growing dreads bro like I don't think that I don't think there's anything cool about that whole Lifestyle like you know when you're making drugs or alcohol lifestyle, it's usually a problem So I'll start there the other thing is is, is like, bro, you know,

I didn't really start smoking. I quit smoking from the time that I was probably like 20 until I was probably 38 or nine. Wow. Yeah, because I was so focused on what I was doing now that at that time I was drinking which was probably worse But I Think had I not been drinking that entire time I probably I for sure would have progressed more quickly now I Will say that with I saying this

most of the time that I was drinking I was drinking with people from our company. And I have a lot of fun memories of that. And we had a lot of fun, a lot of good times together. And so I don't regret it because those stories that we have are irreplaceable. Like some of the guys that you guys follow, you know, up here at HQ, I got some funny fucking stories about those motherfuckers. And they got some funny ones about me. And those are my homies. And I enjoy that part of my life.

So I don't like regret it. It's just not good for me anymore. So I just say that. And I think that it's important for you young people to understand that like, dude, marijuana is very dangerous for your mental development until you're over 25. The studies show that. Dr. Amon, who is like the world's foremost expert on brain development, he talks about this. And after the age of 25, marijuana is

much less harmful for an adult. So like dude, what do you say was 20? 22. Bro, you need to quit that shit. Yeah. Like you need to fucking get the fuck off of it. You need to stop smoking weed You need to focus on your shit You know let your brain develop and hopefully you didn't completely ruin it for the last five years of fucking weed smoking So my advice to you is be to fucking stop smoking weed Because your brain will physically not develop the way that it's supposed to develop at that age Now what was the main question you had just maintaining discipline to stay sober in business Well, do you want to be fucking retarded?

I'm being dead serious. Do you want your brain not to work? Do you want your brain to be fucking less development than your death less developed than your competitors? Are you good enough to be able to smoke weed every day and beat everybody else at what they do? Be honest. Because the fucking truth is you're not. So it comes down to do you actually wanna win or do you not wanna win? Do you actually want the things you say you want

or do you not want the things you say you want? If I'm somebody who's not even in a fucking close to the stratosphere of where I wanna be in my life, I probably would stay away from drugs and alcohol completely. That's my opinion. I've seen way too many people ruin their lives with substance abuse to think that it's acceptable

if you're trying to be a high achiever. And in fact, most very high achievers that I know don't fucking smoke or drink Yeah, all right pretty straight-edge. Yeah. Yeah, so and you know why because they understand They are humble enough to understand that they are in a competition with other very smart people and all these people in real life in Society on the internet they try to convince people that you know this isn't a competition and you're not in a competition listen dude you are in a competition when you're in business you are in the biggest

competition that there is when you're creating content and you're trying to be the best content creator you're in a competition. All right? The nature of human existence is competition. Whether it be, you know, your personal life, there's probably other people that were competing for your spouse. Whether it be your business life, there's certainly other people that are competing for your job.

Whether it be really anything, okay? what's the nature of the Bible and church to be a better person? That's a competition with yourself, with God. Okay, so this idea that there's no competition and that nothing's a competition is a faulty, bullshit idea that's put out by people who wanna opt out of competing. They wanna say, hey man, I can just float through life and everything will be cool and

I'll be peaceful. And what they don't understand is that, yeah, that might work today. You could tell yourself that today. You tell yourself that tomorrow. But eventually you find yourself in the same position that you're in and everybody else has progressed because everybody else understands that it is. So you have to be real about your ability to compete. Are you the best? If you say you're the best, then

where are the results? If the results don't show you the best, then guess what? You make the fucking best, which means you need to focus all of your attention, all of your effort, all of your mental capacity on becoming the best, which you can't do when you're hung over or fucking stoned. So, and people can say, well, then why do you smoke if you're still trying to get, but I don't know, bro, like real talk, uh, I probably shouldn't. But at the same time, I do whatever the fuck I want. I go wherever I want. I fucking buy whatever I want. I live how I, how I, everything past where I'm at for me is fucking gravy because I'm so far past where I ever thought I would be in the first place.

It is what the fuck it is. So if you can go and say that about your life, then if you wanna smoke a joint once in a while, I don't fucking think it's a problem. But when you're sitting in a little shitty apartment and your life hasn't materialized yet and you don't know if it's gonna It's probably a good idea not to yeah I think that's a thing too man, like especially with the younger generation. It's a perspective issue, right because they're in it. They don't see

Where this is going to lead them in 10 years or 15 years. Well, you know i'm saying like there's a reason why I don't smoke weed On video. You know, you got all these fucking, these other little mentor dudes, they're rolling up cones on a fucking video trying to be cool. It's not that cool, man. It's not that cool. I like it, but it's not cool.

Like it's not cool to fucking make it cool to like kids and shit. And you know, maybe I should lie about it and say I don't do it, but dude, I try to keep it real with you guys you know, so I Don't think it's a good thing for fucking younger people to do and to be honest if I had kids I probably wouldn't I probably would never they probably never see me fucking smoke. You know what I'm saying? But you know

It is what it is I mean, I don't know like I I don't wanna sound like a fucking, I don't wanna sound like an asshole, but like I've given everything, I've given my whole life to what I have. If I wanna smoke some fucking weed once in a while, guess what? Fuck, smoke some weed.

If I was in an apartment and I was paying 500 bucks a month with roommates and trying to build a business, I would have no problem not smoking weed because I would look around in my life and say fuck This sucks. I need to fucking fix this and this and this and I would fucking do that And you know if you want to develop discipline around being able to control yourself That's the whole point of a live hard program in the 75 hard program if you want to control your discipline and you want to take control of 75-hard program. If you want to control your discipline and you want to take control of the outside circumstances of your life with which actually give you

control of most of your life, do the program because it will teach you how to adhere. You know most of the problem that people have in life isn't that they don't know what to do it's that they can't follow the plan to do it and that's what 75-ard and Live Hard fixes. It fixes your ability to adhere and have discipline over the decisions that we are in control of day by day by day. And when we take control of the things that we can control,

we find out that we were 95%, 98% in control of all the important things that dictate our results. So if I were you, I would live the Live Hard program. I would live the Live Hard program every fucking year, but especially if I was fucking 22 years old, because it's going to teach you a skill set that none of your peers are going to have. And if I was 22 and I would have had the ability to control my external environment the way that I do now I would have been where I'm at now by the time I was fucking 30 that's the truth I didn't learn what I'm telling you until I was like 36 37 38 years old so yeah man

yeah that's my answer there There you go, Anthony. You're not as good as you think you are, bro. You need to calm the fuck down, and you need to realize that, and take control. Real talk. Yeah, quick. Yeah, quick.

I love it. I love it. We got one more, we got another question. Gotta call in. Call in, all right. Another call in. Let's hit Travis up. Mr. Travis. Here we go. Hello, this is Travis. Travis. What's up, dude? This is DJ. DJ, what is going on, brother?

What's up, Travis? It's Andy. Andy, how are you doing man? So good to hear from both of you. Yeah, it's good to hear from you too. Where are you calling in from bro? I'm calling in from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Oh man. I've been there before. Yeah. That's where the SEAL's base is right? Yeah. Yeah. We got a bunch of bases around here. SEAL bases is here. Norfolk's here. A a bunch of bases around here. Steel bases is here. Norfolk's here. A whole

bunch of bases. That's cool. So what's going on today, bro? How are you? It's cool. I'm good. I'm good. I'm busy in the workshop. I've got a couple builds. I'm just trying to wrap up and get delivered by Tuesday. So I'm out here getting my sweat on. It feels good today. It's a brisk 84 with the stiff breeze It's pretty nice to be outside and working So what's what business are you in? So I'm a custom woodworker, I've been doing it on paper since 2018, but I've been building

Really anything and everything since 2010 so custom furniture a little bit everything So that's what that's what I do. That's a that's my business. Well, what can we help you with, bro? Man, I've got a question I've just been distressing with for the past couple years. So a little bit of backstory for context for the question. So my wife is in the Navy. She signed up COVID-ish times. So she went to officer training school, did that whole thing, and we moved up here shortly after. So we move pretty often, being in the military.

She's an officer. So my question is, I'll read it so I don't misquote myself. So moving, when moving to a new area, what's the best way to connect quickly and find your ideal customer or customer base? And then my second question is, how can I keep my previous customers engaged and turn them into long-term repeat clients

even if I'm no longer local to their area? long-term repeat clients even if I'm no longer local to their area? Oh man, well it's, I can relate to this. When I moved to Springfield, Missouri from St. Louis to open our business Supplement Superstores, I didn't know anybody. I knew my business partner, a couple people from St. Louis, but I knew nobody for Springfield. And so I was in the same predicament. And this was in 1999 2000. Okay, so there was no internet. So I had to do the pressing, you know, the pressing the flesh, so to speak, you know what I'm saying the tummy sticks, you know, the pressing the flesh, so to speak, you know what I'm saying? The tummy sticks, you know, we had to, we had to go around, you know,

Springfield, Missouri, shaking hands, meeting people, making friends, introducing myself, hey, I'm Andy, we just opened this vitamin store right down the street, this is what I do, if you ever need something like that, you know, we're here and that, you know, usually you get shooed off and, and, you know, we're here and that, you know, usually you get shooed off and, and, you know, it doesn't come of anything. But we did enough of that where we had, you know, a few people willing to come in and give us a shot. And off of those few people, we did a good enough job to where those people would then bring other people. And that is legitimately how we built

our first company, Supplement Superstores. And to be honest, it's still the way we try to operate today. We try to make sure that we service the customer the best that we can in hopes that they will recommend other people to come to us. And that's the foundation of business. The foundation of good business is solve the problem, do it in a way that is remarkable in terms of them wanting to legitimately say something or recommend you to someone else. And then you do you repeat that

cycle over and over again, and your business grows. Now, I had a second experience with that when I moved back to St. Louis. Okay, so I lived in Springfield for eight years. I moved back to St. Louis to expand our business. Our first forms still did not exist. So when we got back to St. Louis, I had to sort of do the same thing again, where I had to go around, even though I was from here, I'd been gone for so long that people kind of forgot. So, I had to start over, you know, and that was lots of meetings and lots of, you know, lunches and lots of shaking hands and all that stuff all over again.

And it comes down to this, man. Make a friend, make a sale, all right? If you're friendly with people, people buy from their friends, dude. They buy from their friends more than they will buy from someone who isn't. And a lot of people on the internet in the entrepreneurial world will complain

and say, nobody supports me and this and that. Well, nobody's gonna support you if your product's not as good as what it should be. And you can't expect people to buy and support you just because you exist if you're not as good. So you have to fundamentally be as good or better than other people. But then when you are,

your friends and family are proud to support you. And if we're realist about why they don't it's because most people just aren't that good. So I've done this a few different times bro and you know it really comes down to the simplest of simple which is doing a great job, taking pride in your work, making sure that people are blown away with what you do, and then leveraging word of mouth story that that they tell their friends in a new business for yourself and then repeating that over and over and over again. And whether you're starting out from, you know, a new area or you're in an area that you grew up in your whole life, the principles of growing a business are the same. And if you think about it like this, dude, this is where a lot of people really mess this up is that they think there is unlimited amounts of customers.

And if you imagine your business, uh, like just imagine you have a bucket. Okay. And in the bucket you have, uh, at the bottom, you have a bunch of holes. All right. you have at the bottom you have a bunch of holes all right and you go out and you spend marketing money on acquiring new customers and people go in the bucket and then you know they come in and then they just go right out the bottom because your product's not good enough your experience isn't good enough however you're doing things isn't capturing their loyalty could be a bunch of different things the customer experience is off

and People what people think is because they don't have the complete Formula set meaning they have holes in the bottom of their bucket People start to believe that whatever they're doing isn't working or it's this or you know People don't want my product or they won't become a return customer. Well if you just plug the holes in the bottom of the bucket meaning make sure your product's great. Make sure the customer experience is great. Make sure that you do things that make them feel valued along the way. Give them a story to tell, meaning like however you deliver the product should be, there should be a, you should be crafting your delivery,

your experience with a outcome of the story that you would like to be told about you when you're thinking about your business, right? How am I going to make this product, deliver it, make them say, holy shit, this is the best piece of furniture I ever seen with the intent of them telling other people, like, hey, man, this is where I got this. You guys need to check him out. If you think like that, it doesn't matter where you're from, you're going to be able to accumulate customers because the holes in the bottom of that bucket get plugged and

then the customers accumulate and then you create this giant momentum of word of mouth based off having multiple customers. Now as far as people being remote or further away from you, I'm sure there's logistical challenge that's there with with being a physical company, a custom company, custom woodwork. But the idea is still the same. If you can abridge those those physical motes, meaning your ability to deliver the product in a fast, efficient, quality way, it's gonna work the same for you there too. So, I mean, dude, I know that's probably a more simple answer than what you want me to tell you, but dude, it's really, that's it. It's all it is. So, if there's something more specific I could maybe

help you with here, I mean, you're definitely free to follow up with a question, but. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, mainly, dude, this is this is how it works. What what I'm working on is just an amazing product and amazing process. And I know with those two, if I can just really hone in on that, that works because what we do at my company, we use trees to space for natural disasters to build heirloom quality furniture, which is really really cool

We have an awesome way to build that but building that story where it's just easily digestible for a customer That's been kind of a challenge and then the other thing that I've this is probably dumb But I've been going to a lot of like pop-up places farmers markets and I've been told this a long time, you know You know don't don't sell Gucci at Goodwill kind of thing Uh-huh. So it's I don't know if that's the the right avenue to just Old-school methods work for new school tactics. So like I know Getting in front of people is the best way for people to know that I exist and that's that's the number one challenge is in Virginia Beach just trying to just let people know hey I'm here I'd love to help you if this is something that you

need so is that kind of is going to farmers markets like dumb or is it the right way to just find physically your customer base I don't think anything is dumb if it's gonna get you in front of people, okay Are there better ways maybe? And I'll give a few in just a second, but keep in mind When when we do events, you know We do lots of events at first form and s2 and and our goal is not to go do an event that just has The right kind of people in

it. Our goal is to go to an event and make one relationship, one customer out of that event. And when you do that, we know that, like, let's just say for you, you get one customer out of these farmer markets. If you can get one customer and you can deliver in a great job and you can document the job and the satisfaction and the experience and then leverage that through social media, that's gonna bring you more customers. So a lot of it is how you value each customer.

And I have not found a way in business to grow a business, even at the size of the companies that we operate now, where it isn't one customer at a time. If you came to our all company meeting that happens every single fucking Monday morning, we would talk up, you would hear me say, and you would hear Sal say one customer at a time, one person at a time. You would hear that a thousand times because that's how we've built everything. And I think a lot of people get hung up on the idea of grabbing a whole bunch of customers at once. Not really understanding that a lot of that shit that you hear on the internet is geared towards like selling a $2 widget or a, you know, a temporary or econ product that's going to change next week. Right. And we're talking about building a

real custom company brand like you're trying to build. You know, that's a different thing. And so you have to recognize the value of one job, what it was worth. You know, Hey, I spent three hours at the farmer's market. I met one guy, I did a cabinet for him, I documented the cabinet, I got him to do a little testimonial, and I put that on my on my social. And now that brought me two more customers. Well, that brings a complete different value than saying, you know, is this the right thing or not? And so when we look at when you look at that, that's how I would think about that if I were you. Okay. Now, where could you go to get in front of the right customers that you would like to be in front of? What is your ideal customer in your mind? My ideal customer? I think that changes from season to season because in South Carolina it was one person but here it's another person. I think it's a person who has just like a love and understanding for not even necessarily wood but it could be land conservation,

it could be just the natural beauty of wood but what I'm really gearing towards is the person who wants to have a dining room table or a conference table and just have family gatherings over there, just have tons of memories around that and then be able at one day to pass that on to someone. So then the memories kind of go with the family. That is my ideal customer. It's not you know they make x amount or whatever like okay my tables do start at certain price. So let me ask you this are you telling that story through your social media? Meaning when you show your woodwork or when you market yourself are you that's a first of all that's a great story okay and me

not giving two fucks about furniture if you told me that story I would be like yeah man that's how it should be and I would lean into that story appreciate that yeah no it's a that's a real thing and I could tell it was real coming from you so you know you need to lean into that story like hey man you know in a throwaway world where everything's instant, everything's cheap, everything's replaceable. We're making real American handmade goods that your family's going to sit around and have holidays around and some of your best memories are gonna be around

and this is gonna get passed down to your kids and they're gonna have their memory. Like bro, that's a real great story about what you do. Especially now in this time of the day where I'm in. Yes, right, exactly. Because everything's going so far the other way. People are craving that stuff. So first off. I appreciate that. Yeah, you should be telling that, dude.

You know, go back to the example we were talking about a minute ago where you document the entire thing. That story should be woven into how you show the projects that you built. Because just hearing you say that, never meeting you, never fucking seeing you, I felt something when you said that. So, yeah bro, you should be telling that

with your voice by the way, you have a really good voice. Yeah, for real dude. I have a voice for radio, huh? Absolutely, you must be ugly. Dude, on my best day I'm'm a four I married up to your hey joy to club brother. Hey, we can't get it all right so Yeah, so so I've been you're on the team with us, bro. It's We got it all would be on TV, right? That's it, but look every camera in front of me. That's right

That's why I'm not documenting anything on social media because all the cameras break when I start Well, we'll get you one of them ugly cameras like we got jokes like me So yeah, dude, I'd start telling those stories man and then you know get get one job You know, bro, all you got gotta have is one or two jobs. Do you have one or two jobs? You just said you did. Yeah, so the next job I'm working on, it's very complicated,

because being in a military town, so I'm delivering a completely custom Adirondack for a Marine officer that's gonna go on his ship. So I can. So, I can't really, I can't get pictures of it there but I'm working on trying to get a video with him outside maybe in front or beside the ship

because there's a lot of a lot of red tape. No, I get that. But but you can still tell the story like, hey, I made this for uh the admiral of this, you know, this is what he this is what he asked, this is what we did and you know, this is going to be something that after his service is done, he's going to pass down to his kids like there's a real story there. And once you get one or two of these stories

going bro, people will start to see you as like, oh, that's the guy that could create these amazing heirloom pieces that are high quality. And, you know, instead of you having to go to the farmer's market to get started, you're gonna start having people come to you. And that's where we gotta get you to. We gotta get you from the going out and getting leads to where the leads come to you.

And because the nature of what you're doing requires a lot of time, energy, and expense, and you only have so much of that right now to do. So the ideal thing would be for you to get some jobs, tell a story about the jobs, replicate the customers that you're already getting, create such a demand for your product that you can charge whatever you want because it's limited time. And now you're in a place of options. Now you can say, all right, I would

like to bring on an apprentice. I would like to start a little bit bigger of an operation where everything's still custom. That's the goal. Yeah. So dude, we've got to get you from that place where you're out acquiring leads to where the leads are coming to you. And that's only going to be done through you doing a really good job making an amazing product and then also telling the story, which you happen to have an amazing story that

goes along with the product. And then doing that, bro. It sounds like you've got it all figured out, man. Like, to be honest, it's just time. No, really, I know you probably don't feel, I know it doesn't feel like it. Cause like, I don't, I don't mind chasing leads cause I love talking to people. I love just seeing if I can meet someone's need cause there's been so much where like, they're like, I really love what you do. It's not going to work out for us. But I'm, I know a ton of people I can recommend you to, which has kind of been great because it's like, it's word of mouth

without earning the business, which is really rare for me. I think it kind of rare for a lot of people, but it hasn't like, it's, it's good some months and then it's like Christmas time is much money as I want to make Andy, I can make, but it's that January because it's because I'm so close to retail, but I'm not quite. So it's just January, February, March. It's just like, you know, a ghost town in the bank account, which is fine because you know, November, December, January, August, sorry, October, November, December is like, you know, harvest for me. Yeah. Well, here's what I would try to do this year is I would try to let these people know I would just straight up Tell them I would say hey look, I got a lot of extra business this year

I'm gonna have start booking for next year. Let's get you lined up in these slots If you're gonna want something next year, I'm gonna need you to tell me this year Cuz like dude your best customer is gonna be the guy who fucking bought something this year, I'm gonna need you to tell me this year. Because like, dude, your best customer is going to be the guy who fucking bought something this year. Right? So so yeah, like, my like, my the guy get my cigars from right? Like, cigars are a massive gift around Christmas. And, oh, yeah, you know, sometimes I can't get what I want. And he's like, you got to let me know way ahead of time. And so, dude, you got to use that timeframe to your advantage with the customers you already have. And so I would also,

you know, in addition to everything that, that we just said, I would start to, when, when you go through Christmas this year, I would let them know, I'd say, hey, man, I really love doing this for you. If you want to do something again next year for Christmas We're gonna have to put it on the books now and that way you can start to populate your books ahead of time And then what happens is the story becomes not hey this dude built me You know one-off piece. It's hey, this is my custom woodworker, bro He does the fucking most amazing shit and now you're starting to build a little bit of a of a legend around what you do just by pre-booking

the people who are already buying from you does that make sense yeah that totally makes sense yeah yeah and i think it creates a little bit of urgency for sure go ahead and get stuff in create create that totally makes sense creating urgency and FOMO is a big deal bro even if you have to manufacture it in the beginning meaning you've just got to say hey yeah uh you know i only have and dude it's not it's not even bullshit it's true with you you only have so much time yeah yeah so that's true um so yeah dude i i would i I think, bro, honestly, I think you're set to do really well.

I don't think you need to go do anything else right now, except take the customers that you have, make them extremely happy, and start documenting the stories. And then when you start filling up for Christmas, which is gonna be soon, Yeah. You know, start letting them know, hey man, just letting you know,

this is my busiest time of year, I've got you in this year, no problem. But if you're gonna wanna do something again next year, a lot of my customers do, let's go ahead and get you on the books now, and that way we can meet, we can talk. Then, you know, we'll talk in March or right. Exactly. And and and that way it helps line up your business for the next

year. And so that creates the scarcity, right? Like, here's the story. Now, the story is, man, where'd you get that, that humidor? Oh, man, my buddy made it for me, you know, custom, it was amazing. Actually, you know, like like I get in with him every year he's really hard to get into but maybe maybe I could get you in with them you know and now the customers are starting to like create the scarcity demand for me yeah bro and and this is what I've seen work and other work very well in other areas where people are trading their time and skill for money,

like such as tattooing. Uh, my tattoo artist, you know, he, he's got a four year book. You know what I mean? Like he, if you want to get in with him new, it's four fucking years away. So, but, but then guess what he does? If he's, if you got the money, he'll say, I get you in next month. And then, you know what, you know what the story is about him? Hey man, my guy's the fucking best. And you know what? I might be able to get you ahead. He's got a four year book, which makes

me feel cool. Now you're the guy and him feel cool. Right. So, um, it's, it's a lot of, you know, it's a, it's a lot. It's putting all this shit together so that people value what you do and then they'll talk about it and then bring you their people. And, you know, I think you're in a good spot, dude. You love people, you love the work, and you understand the value of the work. And I think really do with just a few adjustments,

you'll be as busy as you wanna be, and then you're gonna have the options of how you wanna scale it. Yeah, that's the goal. Like really in the next two to three years, I wanna bring on an apprentice because you teach what you know, but you reproduce who you are.

And skills, you can go learn skills anywhere, but to be a good human, to just love the process, you don't always get to learn that anywhere. So if I can just find someone who's just, I mean, an inch interested in what I'm doing, I think I could go make robots of myself. And that's, that's kind of the goal. Yeah, bro, for sure. A hundred percent. I think you're on it, dude. I think you're good. I would like for you to check that. I don't feel it most days. Well, dude, nobody does. That's why you fucking get good at what

you do. You don't feel good. Nobody gets great at something. They think they're already great at No, nobody nobody nobody gets better It's something they think they're already the best at like it you to be good You have to think your shit like that's that's that's part of that's part of the recipe You know what I'm saying? Like you have to understand that you're not doing a really great job to even be great. You know, uh, when, when fucking Michael Jordan was kicking everybody's ass, you know, he didn't go to practice thinking I'm the greatest. He went to practice thinking, man, I gotta get better. And the reason he thought I gotta get better is because he thought, man, I

don't know if I know what the fuck I'm doing. So all winners think like that, bro. It's not just you. I feel like that. Everybody. I know, everybody I know that's successful feels that way. Right. Right. We're going to check in. That's awesome. Yeah, bro. Please check back. Yeah, check back in. I'd be curious to check back in in the spring, bro. I want to hear, okay. I want to hear how this worked out for you. Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I got two things before we leave. One, I know you talked about making trophies.

I've got a couple mocked up. I'd love to send you some and see if you want some trophies to hand out for your... Well, these guys... You had some ideas about sending trophies. These guys got to win them first. Yeah, yeah. You let me know. I got a few on back order actually.

Oh yeah. Oh. You got a few you owe back to me. That's what you mean by back order. The second thing is I just, I really appreciate you guys and what you do. 75 hard, just finished my second round. Absolutely has changed my life. I'm down 40 pounds since

March and dude, I had a had a very, very minor health thing come up and dude, it you know, Firefly came up, you know, we just had our son. He's 11 months old and I just I don't want another man to raise my son. So I was you know, I started looking at the thing in the face and you know, beat this face in every day. So that's how hard was able to give me that mindset to do that. So we're about to start round three. Once I get this injury healed up and we're just gonna we're gonna make it a lifestyle here soon. Good man. Good. Congratulations on all the success so far, brother. And congratulations on the baby. That's awesome, bro. Thank you. He's a ham. We love him to death. All right, brother. We'll check back in with this in the spring for real, dude. I want

to hear how it's going. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thank you guys so much. And thank you, bro. Thanks for the sport. Heck yeah. All right. Oh, good one. You too. Yeah, you know who I kept thinking about? You know who I kept thinking about in this convo? Jesse James. Oh yeah. Like prime example, man. He's fucking, I mean, you waited years for a bike. Yeah.

You're still waiting on a bike, dude. Yeah. I mean, but Jesse James. But then when I get it, I'm gonna be like, damn dude, look,, I don't think you you can't even get this. I can't get yeah I mean like it's a real thing. Yeah, and and yeah, that's a that's you have to create If you're gonna make a lot of money with something with your hands You have to do it in such a way where you stack people like that. Yeah, otherwise it's You can only get so much

You know what I mean? Or you got to scale it out like he's talking about. But there's a lot of people, you know, they say online too, they'll say, there's no way to make a lot of money if you're working with your hands or you're working a craft or you're this or that. No, there is. You just don't know how to do it. You know what I mean? Cause there's a couple of examples. Yeah, that's right. And dude, you know, marketing is part of that. Telling a story is a big part of that. That guy's got couple of example. Yeah, that's right. And dude, you know marketing is part of that telling a story is a big part of That that guy's got a great story beautiful story. He has some beautiful work to check it out. It's IG man

What's his IG? It's IG is reinvented woodworks Reinvented were works. Yeah, you guys go give it a give him a shout Travis. You got some phenomenal wood there, bro You would know I'm looking at your wood expert. Thank you. Yeah Thank you, yeah Guys Andy man, that's a hell of a way to start a week man. All right guys We'll see you tomorrow with CTI go out and kick some ass make the world a now my jewelry box froze Fuck a bowl, fuck a stove, counted millions in a coat Bad bitch, booted, swole, got her on bankroll

Can't fold, dust or no, head shot, case closed