REAL AF with Andy Frisella - A Young Entrepreneur In The House, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO51
Episode Date: March 1, 2016Andy Frisella loves all entrepreneurs, but he has a special place in his heart for those who are young or just starting to run a business for the first time in their lives. In this episode, he's joine...d by Nehemiah Davis, an entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist who is killing it at a young age.
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What's up, guys? This is Vaughn Kohler, and you're listening to the MFCEO Project.
Hey, guys, if you have listened to the project for any length of time, you know that Andy
has a real desire to help all entrepreneurs, but he also especially has a special place
in his heart for young entrepreneurs. And today, we're joined by Nehemiah Davis, who
you will learn more about in just a moment. but get ready for a great podcast. What is up, guys?
You're listening to the MFCEO Project.
I'm Andy, and I am the motherfucking CEO.
Guys, today we are going to do something cool.
We're going to do something special.
We've got a very, very special guest.
Before we get to him, got to say hi to my co-host, the pastor of disaster.
What's up, my man? Got to say hi to my co-host, the pastor of disaster.
What's up, my man?
I'm getting my PhD in Andy Frisella.
You are?
I got to tell you.
I mean, do you have any idea?
Why are you talking about my D?
I swear, you leave me speechless sometimes.
I know. Yeah, so do you have any idea how much stuff you've posted on the internet?
You know what?
Probably a lot more than I realize.
A lot.
Yeah.
Like I've literally, with some help, I've literally pulled off everything you've ever
posted on Facebook, Instagram, whatever.
It is a single spaced, well, right now it's almost a 300 page document.
Holy cow. Word document. Wow. So it's kind of crazy. Well, right now it's almost a 300 page document. Holy cow. Word, word,
word document. Wow. So it's kind of crazy. Yeah, man. You know, I've got, I've got quite a bit of
editing. You know, people don't realize that either. Cause a lot of people come up and they're
like, dude, you came out of nowhere and you got all these followers and you got all this, you know,
momentum going. It's great. And I'm like, yeah, man, I've been working on it for seven years.
Right. You know, every day it's just like just like you know we talk about starting a business here if you want to build a
brand on social media you know you're going to post a long time we're getting one two or three
likes right you know i can remember that and i remember just like when we started a business
when i started posting people would dm me or call me or text me and be like, dude, what are you doing? You sound goofy.
Right. You know, and we talk about social media and importance of it and branding and all these
things all the time on the show. And the biggest thing that I get back from people is, man,
you know, I say what I want to say, but it doesn't seem like it's well received, but
you've got to give that message time to find the right audience
because what's going to happen is you're going to find, you're going to come across one person
who really digs what you're saying, and they're going to have their circle of people who also
dig that info. So if you're a young buck and you're trying to get started on your social media,
you know, remember man, in the beginning, it's going to be slow. You're going to have,
you know, you're not going to have the attention of the attention of a of a you know somebody that's got four or five or a million followers four or five hundred thousand or a
million followers you're gonna have the attention of somebody who's got three or four hundred
followers but they're gonna grow right you know and um we can cover how to grow this more organically
in a different episode but it's just fun it's just a good point to make while you bring that up well
and another good point too is that you that you're not just talking the talk,
you're walking the walk, and as I've been pouring through all this stuff
to edit it and do different things with it.
Tell people why you're doing it.
I mean, you're not just doing it for fun.
Well, right.
We're doing it for the book.
We're doing it for the book, and frankly, we're doing it for multiple books
because there's no way this is all going to fit into one book.
But the thing that really just hit me as I was doing this is I was like, wow, you really are doing what you say to do because you have provided all of this stuff on the internet in different forms, whether it's podcasts or Facebook posts or Instagram posts for free.
Okay?
And I think people need to remember, keep the faith,
focus on providing value,
because now, you know, you are.
You are getting invites to come speak.
You are getting paid very well to come speak.
And I think when people are in the thick of it,
they're like,
man, I can't believe I'm giving out all this stuff for free.
Let's stop right there.
First of all, speaking, too, is a skill.
All right?
When you first start, you're going to suck.
You're not going to deserve to be paid.
You know, when I first started speaking, uh, you know, and it was around 2006,
2007, when I first really started speaking, I was terrible, terrible. And a lot of people are like,
Andy, you've got this gift. No, I don't have a gift for speaking. I failed my public speaking
class in college. I do not have a gift for speaking. I've got a skill for speaking that
I've developed. There you go. There you go. You know what I mean? I hear what you're
saying. No, no, no. It's not a gift, dude. I've just been really bad for a long time to know how
to do a decent now. No, I hear what you're saying. Yeah. When you first started talking, I was like,
yeah, okay. But I see what you're saying, dude, I would have failed your public speaking class.
You probably would have. No, I stuck. Well, I would have cursed at least every other line.
You know what I'm saying?
Well, you might have. Paul would have gave me a big F for multiple reasons.
Vulgarity.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, guys, today we're going to have a really cool show.
We're going to talk about specifically to you young bucks, all right?
And when I say young bucks, that means young entrepreneurs.
And young entrepreneurs doesn't necessarily mean physical age young it means you could be 40 and in your first day of business all right so when
i say young buck realize i'm not talking about your age i'm talking about your entrepreneur age
and that's what we're going to talk about today um and bucks could also be does yeah but but but
we've got tough listeners we've got badass badass listeners. I would even say all our females, they're bucks too.
They're badasses.
So guys, we've got a real special guest here,
a guy who I've been on his show, on his call.
I look up to him even though he's younger than me.
He's hustling.
He's doing a lot of really cool things,
and I think you guys are going to really like hearing from this gentleman.
We've got Nehemiah Davison in here.
He's the author of Step Into Greatness Journal.
Speaker.
I mean, what else do you do, man?
You're doing all kinds of stuff.
Philanthropist.
Yeah.
Understand, I listen to Andy a lot.
I was just listening to the podcast, and he's always talking about adding value to people's life.
And I realize as I continue to add value to others, so many people add value to me.
And that's probably why I'm on this show.
I could tell just from what I know of you,
and you could notice this from watching you from the outside,
even if we had never spoke before,
but you're big on karma, man, and doing the right thing.
Tell the people what you just did for Flint.
Wow, well, so I have a group called Boardroom Bosses
where I sit down with a group of people and help them with their business, whether it is young entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs,
and just people who want to develop personally, mentally, and as an entrepreneur. So this group
of people reached out to me like, Hey, Neil, we need to do something for Flint. As they know,
I'm a go-getter and I'm one who just want to get it done. Andy always talked about just go do it.
So many people talk about doing it, but I'm that you call me I'm gonna make make it my business that get it
done so we got a call about Flint and I said hey what should we do they said we
need to take waters down if you're not aware with Flint Flint's water system
is poison and thousands and thousands of residents have been poisoned with lead
water so our goal was to take 10,000 bottles down to Flint and what we was
able to do not only 10,000 we took 50,000 bottles of water to Flint
within the biggest storm that Philadelphia has seen this year
and was able to help so many people.
We was able to help our people in the projects, people in nursing homes, children, in schools.
And this is what we do, giving back, which adds value to other people.
That's why I feel as though I constantly keep getting recognized for what we do yeah man i think you know there's so much to to doing the
right thing i have yet to talk to an entrepreneur at any level who's had any level of success that
doesn't believe that even remember when we went to new york and talked to gary remember what he said
about doing the right thing will always be the right thing, you know? And I haven't yet to meet an entrepreneur who is successful at any level,
whether it's, you know, a top level guy at, you know,
the billion plus dollar mark or somebody who's, you know,
making great strides like you are, you know,
coming up through with what you're, with what you're doing.
That doesn't believe in that principle.
I just feel like when you do good and a lot lot of people argue this, they get really like,
oh, that sounds anti-Andy Fursella.
That sounds too fluffy.
Man, I've seen it too much, man.
You do the good shit, and the good shit happens.
Absolutely.
You know?
Yeah.
For the sake of our readers, because I know, excuse me, listeners, some of you might not
know how to spell Nehemiah's name
and want to look you up, so I'm going to actually spell it.
It's N-E-H-E-M-I-A-H Davis, D-A-V-I-S dot com.
And I know you're going to tell us your story.
I know you're going to elaborate on what you do, but I'm sitting here reading the about you on your website,
and I'm just going to give quick cliff notes, if that's all right.
So in 2007, you founded the Nehemiah Davis Foundation,
nonprofit organization, and Dent Worldwide Group, LLC.
And you've got all sorts of businesses from junk removal to,
I'm not sure what the Neo Davis So group is, but it might be a T-shirt line.
And then you've got vitamins and wellness.
So you're overlapping with Andy's stuff. But you've got a lot going on man and you're from philly
did i you might have said that and i didn't i didn't catch it but yes yeah that's awesome what
side of philly west philadelphia born and raised you know on the playground where you spend most
of the days oh dude little fresh prince right right college hoops-wise, who are most people die hard about with Philly people?
Because I know that whole area is big-time hoops, you know?
I'm going to go with Villanova.
Villanova?
And I believe they're number one.
They are number one.
They're number one right now.
Then maybe Temple, but Villanova's pretty huge.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
That's a good point.
Vaughn is a huge college basketball guy.
Yeah.
What's your favorite team?
I'm going to get in trouble for saying this.
Okay, so I'm waffling right now.
I grew up a KU fan.
Okay.
I'm a Jayhawk.
How do you waffle between teams?
Well, because I lived in Manhattan, Kansas.
You're not one of those guys, are you?
I lived in Manhattan, Kansas, which is where Kansas State University is.
And they were good for a couple years when I was there.
But they're not so much good anymore. So I'm back to the Jayhawks. So you liked them when they were good for a couple years when i was when i was there but they're not so much any good anymore so i'm i'm back to the jayhawks so you liked it when they
were good uh yeah you're one of those guys yeah i'm a front runner yeah all right yeah you know
at least at least you like winning yeah that's a good sign but but historically i'm a jayhawk
yeah all right everybody email in and give von shit about being a waffler with this with his
favorite team so neo man what let's talk about your mission, dude,
because I think you're a pretty unique dude.
I did your call.
Tell everybody about your call and what your mission is
and what you're trying to accomplish.
Well, the Power Hour for me is like shortening up the divide.
You know, a lot of people aren't going to get to the Andy Frazellas
who company makes in the excess of $100 million.
A lot of people are not even going to get to someone who makes a million.
So my goal is to bring this information back to the people I can help.
A lot of these people are entrepreneurs.
A lot of these people are just starting out.
So I'm that guy in the center who can get on the call with Agent Stephen,
who can get to Andy.
And I will be persistent until I'm going to get to him so he can help our people.
And in turn, we're helping develop entrepreneurs and leaders around the world.
So I think it's just important that i create the power hour call the power hour calls ran by jamilia
and i it's every other tuesday where we bring on a different entrepreneur to just give their
expertise in their field and in turn encourage people and still get awareness about their brand
to our people i loved it when i did it it was really cool we got one of the best calls it's
it's it's the best one I've done.
If you guys want to call in on his call,
how do they call in?
Well, you can call in.
I think the next call is actually tomorrow.
Well, the next call is Tuesday.
I'm not sure if the podcast will be airing by then.
But on Instagram, check out The Power Hour
or go to thepowerhour.com.
You'll get the call-in number.
You can call right in.
Yeah, it's cool because you get to ask questions.
We answered a lot of questions.
It was only an hour, man.
I wish I would have went on like three hours.
As a matter of fact, this particular episode will air next Tuesday,
so this will be timely.
We'll have another call on Tuesday.
So, guys, thepowerhour, T-H-E-R, powerhour, H-R,.com,
and you can tune in Tuesday to hear who we have.
I should clarify, guys, that we're saying next Tuesday.
If you're listening to this on Tuesday, that would be February 28th or something like that.
Anyway, that's what we're talking about.
Yeah, it would be the 29th, I think.
Yeah, 29th.
Actually, it would be the 1st.
Oh, yeah.
March 1st.
So if you're listening to this on March 1st, there's a power hour going on.
Every Tuesday.
Every Tuesday.
But anyway, guys, it's worth a call in because I called in.
I mean, I was in as somebody that was answering questions and being featured on it.
But, I mean, I spoke to a number of people who were on the call.
And it's one of those cool opportunities to actually get to talk to some of these people directly.
I was talking to all your listeners and answering questions.
It was fun, man.
I had a really good time.
It's one of the more fun things I've done in the last six months or so.
Dude, thanks for having me on.
No, thanks for having me.
The geek in me wants to know what technology you use to do that.
Is it Zoom?
No, we actually use Freeconferenceandcall.com.
Freeconferenceandcall.com.
It's real simple.
And again, quick shout out.
I do want to just thank Agent Steven for actually setting me up with Andy.
Yeah, Steve Mayer, good buddy of mine.
Understand that becoming successful is a result of who you surround yourself with.
So I went to lunch with Steve.
We built a friendship.
He said, hey, you got to get with my buddy Andy.
But again, if that relationship wasn't built, it wouldn't be possible. So thanks a lot, Steve. We built a friendship. He said, hey, you got to get with my buddy Andy. But again, if that relationship wasn't built, it wouldn't be possible. So thanks a lot, Steve.
So let's say, man, you're a young entrepreneur. You're a young entrepreneur. And let's clarify
this. Entrepreneurship isn't for everybody. Everybody right now, it is a popular thing.
People are looking at it as an option, as they should, but it might not be for you. And,
and when, when I talk about the sacrifice and the hours put in and the time put in some people,
they, they, uh, you know, I've gotten a couple of comments in the last week or so where they're
like, man, the average guy is never going to be able to do that. Well, this being an entrepreneur
is not for the average guy. Okay. Um, a lot of people have misconceptions, especially when
they're starting out that, you know, things like in three years, I'm going to be millionaire and you, you very well
could be, but it's unlikely. All right. Uh, you know, I'm going to have much more free time. I'm
going to be my own boss. Those things are all myths. Okay. And you guys have to understand
those things as a young man or woman considering entrepreneurship because you
don't get to make your own hours you have far less freedom and you don't get
to be your own boss because ultimately the customers are your boss and you have
to understand that concept so if you're a young dude you know and you can hop in
here you know as a young man trying to build a business and build a brand for
yourself I mean what have you found to be the most challenging aspects because As a young man trying to build a business and build a brand for yourself,
what have you found to be the most challenging aspects?
Because I feel like you're past the beginner stage,
and you're in that middle stage where it's really fun.
I can see you growing by the day.
Your message is growing by the day.
It's gathering momentum by the day. I feel like you're in a really good place.
I mean, what are your thoughts for the guy who's maybe thinking like,
hey, this is the path for me,
but not sure exactly what it's going to take or how he's going to do it?
Well, first thing, whatever you're going to do,
whether it's entrepreneurship, job, you've got to be consistent.
A lot of these people want to hop in the game of entrepreneurship.
They get punched one time in the face, they out the game forever.
That's right.
You have to get in this game and give it everything you got every single day
or you're not going to make it, and that's across any business.
Right.
Similar to yourself.
It took you seven years, I think, to make profit.
That's right.
But most people would have quit after that day of making seven bucks.
I'm done.
Right.
So first thing is find out what you do and make sure you love it.
I feel like people get into something because there's money in it because Tyler's doing it.
So I want to go get in there because Tyler's making money.
That's his passion.
That's his dream.
Find out what you're passionate about.
I think that's the number one key to becoming successful.
Do something you love because it doesn't feel like work.
Every day we wake up and do what we love is not work when I'm helping people.
It's not work when I'm selling books or signing books.
I love it.
So my first rule was find your passion.
Secondly, stay consistent after and stay passionate after it runs out.
Right.
Like you said, endure the test days.
You talked about test days.
Right.
I feel as though you got to endure them and you got to go fight when you don't want to go to the gym.
You know your butts still need to do it.
Right.
So endure the test days.
Yeah, man.
There's so much truth to that, you know.
And a lot of people, when you hear the term or the phrase, do what you're passionate about, they hear like, they hear the wrong message.
They hear like, well, I like to play call of duty, you know? Well,
I mean, shit, man, you know, I guess there's some people that probably get paid to play call of
duty, but the reality is, you know, you, you have to find what you enjoy doing. And it might not,
you're not going to, even no matter if you enjoy it a million percent right now, there's going to
be days when you don't enjoy it. There's going to be, and that's why it's important to follow that because the natural, your natural propensity to like that thing or
enjoy doing that will carry you through those days. You don't feel like doing it. It'll carry
you through that time when you are not getting paid. It'll carry you through the time when
everybody tells you that you're crazy for following what it is that you want to do. And so, you know, following your passion not only is important in the beginning, it's
important because for you to become a real expert at something, it's going to take that
sort of interest to develop that talent, you know, or that skill.
10,000 hours.
Right, exactly.
And dude, 8,000 of those hours are gonna are gonna be hard you know
and you're gonna have to have something that carries you through besides money and a lot of
people will pick like you said something that tyler wants to do or what vaughn's good at because
they see them successful but what you don't realize is is that that person is probably very
passionate about that at some level that you may not be. And that gives them a tremendous advantage.
So a lot of people will disagree with the passion thing,
and they'll say, well, my passion is money.
No, you've got to be passionate in providing a skill,
at providing a service, at solving a problem.
I always use the butterflies,
like somebody who's passionate about butterflies, right?
Right.
All right, let's talk about this.
How do you turn a business out of butterflies?
Well, let's see.
You start researching butterflies.
You come out with a butterfly sleeping bag, a butterfly Snuggie.
You come out with the butterfly water bottle,
and you find these other groups of people who are passionate about butterflies, right?
And then all of a sudden you go from like this dude who's weird,
who likes butterflies,
to this dude who's got a website that's selling butterfly Snuggies
and butterfly cup holders and butterfly books, right?
And then all of a sudden you start making money.
And then all of a sudden there's some kind of outbreak that happens
with these endangered butterflies.
And who do they call?
They call the motherfucking butterfly boss,
which is you,
because you followed your passion
and developed something around this.
Then all of a sudden,
your sales go crazy.
You come out with 20 other products,
boom, boom, boom.
And I know that sounds like,
people are like,
dude, you're just making this shit up.
And I am.
But that is how it works.
That's a very simple way
of how you could take something
that is not really business oriented
and turn it into something.
Right. So you guys have both been talking about, obviously, Andy, you just got finished up talking
about passion, but me and Maya, you talked about being consistent, actually doing the work. But
one of the things Andy says a lot, and I'm fairly convinced that you would agree with this, is that
for true entrepreneurs, it's in their DNA. They, they're born that way. And, yeah, they're responsible for developing it and nurturing it and cultivating the skill, but it's in their DNA.
So I'm curious.
Rewind for a little bit and just tell us, like, how did you get started in life?
What's your story?
Like, what were the first signs that, you know, you were going to kill it in business?
Well, again, named Nehemiah Davis.
Now I'm a 28-year-old entrepreneur, author, philanthropist.
But, again, it didn't start like this.
You got to understand, guys, I'm from the hood.
So I came bottom basement.
Dad been in jail since I was two because he got murdered.
So I was raised by my mom and grandma.
And typically when you're from the hood, you don't make it out.
That's number one.
You die or go to jail or live a life that's normal um when i say average i don't want to
say normal but i feel as though you're a direct result of who you hang around as well as what
you see you become what you were brought up in yeah right so me growing up my mom's objective
was yo i'm going to expose my son to as much stuff as possible like if some of the other kids could go skiing, I want to make sure my son could go skiing.
If the other kids can go to good schools, I'm going to make sure he could go to good schools.
So growing up, my mom put me in the best high school.
And at this time, I'm from the hood.
I had the opportunity to go to—I was the minority at this school.
Got to go to my friend's house.
They got pool houses, horses, four-wheelers.
So one of my favorite quotes is from Oliver Wendell Holmes. Once your mind is expanded to a new idea or concept, it can never
go back to his original way of thinking. So at that time, to me, I can't go back. I seen his
lifestyle like, hey, I can have a mansion. I can have these cars. I could have businesses. But at
that time, I was still young in my mindset. So I continued on, got kicked out of that school,
went to a new school,
which was better for me. Met my mentor who to this day still assists me with everything I do.
From that point on, I went to college. I guess you could guess what happened to me there. I got
kicked out of there as well. But from all that time, I always like to tell people like your
current situation is not your final destination. I don't care what happened in your past. You could
get better, me case in point. So went to college got kicked out and at this time
i decided to work my very last job mind you guys i've been fired from nine jobs to that point this
became my 10th which was the atlantic aviation i was just talking with tyler about flying private
jets and this job was my best because it really brought me back to my favorite quote once your
mind is expanded so i had the opportunity to get on donald trump plane got on this plane all white carpet 14 karat
gold around the whole thing i think it was a 737 converted for just him and his family
seeing bill gates get off his plane um just him 232 passenger plane just him been on the owner
of the cowboys planes TD Jake's
but some of these people came from nothing they came from how I grew up so
in my mind still to this day I'm getting a jet I studied jets I study these
things that I want because I know one day I'm gonna have it so fast forward
after I got fired from that job I started my first business which was a
fruit truck a lot of people make fun of me yep I used to sell fresh fruit and
produce on the side of the road.
But again, I told my mom, I always used to tell me,
don't despise small beginnings.
It's the ultimate hustle.
If you've ever seen somebody sell fruit on the side of the road,
they are hustling.
They are hustling.
And my mom always used to say, don't despise small beginnings.
Because like you said, you started $7 on the first day
and didn't make it for seven years.
That's after I failed six other businesses.
Right.
So case in point, that business did eventually get shut down, but that gave me my entrepreneur tick.
Like, yo, I could go out here and make it.
And I haven't looked back then.
Eight years later, I'm still running businesses.
A lot of them have, not a lot, but a couple of them have failed.
But the thing is, I'm still learning.
Now I'm an author, entrepreneur.
I have a vitamin store, so it kind of yeah it's not necessary supplements but holistic
supplements for senior citizens and people who care about holistic health um got that for my mom
so i was able to retire my mom and give her the opportunity to do what she loves as well as now
i get to travel around the world speak be an author and try to start businesses and see what's
going to actually take off.
There seems to be a little theme here, though.
You're getting fired from jobs.
You're getting kicked out of school.
So would you say in order for you to have any success whatsoever,
you would have to work for yourself?
No, I think you can have success.
No, I'm talking about your situation.
For me, I have to work for myself.
I don't mind listening to people, but all that time I was rebellious.
I mean, I grew up – I didn't have a father.
I'm not using that for an excuse, but I never had somebody to tell me,
you need to do this, you need to do that.
So I commend people with that.
I always wish I had that.
You took something that a lot of people will hide behind as an excuse
and use it to your advantage.
Exactly.
And that's a key for entrepreneurs.
That's something you will find that is a character of all entrepreneurs.
They are excellent, excellent, excellent at taking things that normal people would see as a negative,
that they would hide behind as an excuse, and taking that and making it an advantage,
which is exactly what you've done.
And on one of your podcasts, you say learn from your setbacks and use them for your advantage.
Right.
As well as every blessing sometimes is given to you in a lesson my dad been out my life but if he was here i might
have been doing criminal activities like he was doing so he don't supposed to be here for me to
be who for me to become who i'm supposed to be right so right man dude i love it i'm in awe yeah
i seriously like well here's the cool thing and and this is what I really like about Ne-Yo, man,
is that he's bridging the gap between people and almost between people like his upbringing, you're committed to bridging that gap between that socioeconomic class and the successful class.
I feel like you're really committed to that.
I really noticed that when I was on the call.
I thought that was really cool because, you know, I don't think anybody else is really doing that.
You know, you're trying to take the lessons you've learned and the expansions that you've seen and you're committed to bringing that value back to other people.
Let's turn this into a business adding value lesson, right?
Because I know you get the adding value thing.
But for you guys listening, so he's bringing value to these people and they're eventually end up following him.
And whatever business he ends up in, guess who's going to be spreading the good word of Nehemiah Davis
and be supporting Nehemiah Davis when he's doing these things
and putting these things in their minds for free.
And I don't think he's intentionally saying it's not a manipulation,
like, hey, I'm doing this just to make money on the long term,
but that's what will end up happening.
And, dude, as far as you having a private jet, man,
I don't have any doubts about it.
I recognize the hustle when I see it.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, man.
I'm going to be flying with you one day, man.
Hey, that's my goal too, man, a G650.
Yo, that's mine.
I want a G650, man.
It's crazy.
I got on Mark Cuban's G650.
The boy had the PlayStation in the bathroom.
Yeah, there you go, man.
This is six years ago.
This one, G650, just came out.
Right, right. Yeah, you know what's cool about those jets is that they're, in the bathroom yeah there you go six years ago this one g650 just came right right so
yeah you know what's cool about those jets is that they're they actually appreciate okay so
when you buy that when you buy one new they're like 15 million dollars cheaper if you buy it new
than if you bought because the demand's so high for them wow all right let me ask you a question
so you said that most people who grew up in the hood don't get out. Okay, so let me see if I can phrase this question right.
What are some of the obstacles to getting out of that situation
that you actually think mirror the same obstacles
that the starting entrepreneur endures or experiences?
Does that make sense?
Yeah, it does.
I really think exposure.
I mean, you know,
I think mentorship is huge, even with business. Like, if you want to be the best in supplements,
I'm going to come to him. I'm going to come to Andy and try to learn what he knows to try to
assist what I'm doing. Same thing with getting out of the hood. You have to see something else.
You got to see it's more. Most kids don't see it's more. They only see what's on TV or they only see what's on their next door neighbor.
Like I'm in West Philly, just say.
I made some kids never go to North Philly.
They never go downtown.
So their whole life is shelter but not being exposed.
That's why my goal is to expose kids.
That's why my goal is to build that bridge for the entrepreneur to people like Andy,
people like Steve, because they got to know
it's really people out here that's doing it and it's tangible for us to touch them. Like you,
they were able to ask Andy a question. How often are you going to be able to ask someone who runs
a company worth a hundred million? You're not, most people can't, but we're trying to make that
possible to encourage them to start their business and follow their own dream. There's a good book
on what you're asking and what you guys are talking about called
the third circle theory.
You guys have heard me talk about it, but it's good at understanding, helping people
understand why they are where they are and how they got there.
Because I agree with you a hundred percent.
If you don't see it and you're not around, if you had not gone to that school and seen
all the other kids with four wheelers and big houses and shit, you wouldn't be doing what you're doing around, if you had not gone to that school and seen all the other kids with four-wheelers and big houses and shit,
you wouldn't be doing what you're doing.
No way.
Because most people, that's why that's saying success breeds success.
It's not about the money flowing from one generation to another to another,
which I always thought.
What it is is that your attitude and your limits and your exposure
and what you believe is possible is taught to these kids by generation to generation.
And I think,
you know,
and if you disagree,
tell me,
but I think that,
you know,
a lot of the people who are growing up in poor situations or in the ghetto or
in,
you know,
the hood,
wherever you want to call it,
they're broke.
They don't have any fucking thing to look forward to.
They're going to look around and they're going to say, look my dad's in jail my uncle's a piece of shit you
know my my aunt she's on drugs everybody's poor that i'm supposed to be poor and and then what
they see on tv they see you know nelly or they see whatever and they say, okay, the only way I could do this is to become this or that's for other people or celebrities. It's not for me. Right. Or sports. And you know,
it's just, you can't expect people that are at that level. And I'm guilty of saying, Hey,
anybody can achieve this. And I believe that, but first the exposure has to happen. You have to understand that it's a reality.
And for that to happen with someone,
they have to first expand their mind to see limits outside of what they
necessarily might've been brought up in. You know, um,
I agree with you a hundred percent, man. And I,
I really truly admire the mission you're on in that regard.
Cause I think it's a noble mission man
no i appreciate the opportunity just you even taking our calls and giving us the opportunity
just come and kick it and learn yeah i i would love to get more involved because i think it's
important appreciate it okay so neo's points for success are be consistent be exposed to somebody
who is already you're gonna have to work to expose yourself. Right, you're going to have to work. See, I talk to people all the time,
and they think I'm full of shit,
but I sit on DuPont Registry and eBay every night
looking at, and I got this little app called,
hold on, I forgot what it's called.
I got to look it up.
Because I want a jet, right?
Do you have the controller app?
No.
All right, dude, controller app.
This is like pornography for jet airplanes, all you're gonna look in here and it lets
you look at all the shit for sale right so here we're gonna look at gulfstream uh you know g650
extended range 62 and a half million you know like but i do that okay and the reason i do that
is to expand.
I can't afford that right now, but one day I'm going to afford it. Right.
You know, and you have to force yourself and create a habit of expanding your limitations
of what you look at financially as you could afford.
I've done it my whole life, man.
And it's worked out all right.
I believe in it, you know, and nobody's going to come to you.
If you're a young man or young woman trying to get started and you're thinking with, with
limitation right now and, and break those limits, that's for you to do. And you're going to have to
work to expand those things. And that's why people say, Oh, you are the sum of the five people you
hang around. That's why it's important to be purposeful with selecting who those five people
are and who you let in your circle and who you
look up to because if you just go with the flow you're gonna end up like the flow you know so it
is amazing though when you start exposing yourself to you know those goals that you want how quickly
you start changing even the tiniest little habit law of attraction yeah man it's it's it's it's a
lot of things that come together um you know when you i've heard of a lot of things that come together.
You know, I've heard a lot of companies are now actually employing a person to help people set their goals.
And we're getting ready to do this too, to actually work with the individual employees to help them define what their future is. Because if you ask people what their goals are,
a lot of them will say this.
They'll say things like this.
My goal is a nicer car and maybe a little bit nicer house.
And those aren't really goals.
That's not specific enough.
And that's not inspiring enough to actually create more action
so that you move forward towards that.
So a lot of companies are starting to employ a goal director,
which I think is genius,
for their employees to help them to define a picture for themselves
because most people just don't do it.
They think about what I'm going to be doing this weekend,
not what am I going to be doing 10 years from now.
Well, while you're on that topic,
it seems like a good time to reference your book,
which is the Step Into Greatness Journal.
You guys have been talking about expanding or knocking out your limitations,
and you've been quoting things. And obviously, it's clear to me that you believe that a huge
part of success is changing the way you think and overhauling your mental toughness. So tell us
about your book. Yeah. Changing the way you think, Vaughn. It's imperative to grow and become who you want to be.
We created the Step into Greatness Journal about seven years ago, literally, through all the books I wrote in.
I'm big on affirmations.
I'm big on writing your goals down.
I always tell people, if you don't write your goals down, they're not real.
I'm not going to say they're not real, but I look at goals like having a GPS.
If you don't plug them in, how will you ever get there?
We created this book to help people with affirmations effective goal setting
fade we have something called fade five who are the five people you hang around
the most affirmations are you saying things like I will win I will get that
g6 are you encouraging yourself because in this day and age man the world will
have you looking crazy or thinking you're crazy for thinking this way but most most people don't think this way, so I know it's important.
So we created this book really to help people.
We created this book to help people become the best that they can be through effective goal-setting affirmations and realizing who you're hanging around.
Yeah, and guys, we'll put a link on the episode page website.
So it's a manual.
It's a manual. Three parts. It's a manual so it's a man three parts
it's a manual to help people get on track yeah period yeah i think that's cool because there's
not much there's there's a lot of things out there they're like preachy and they they you know
and you know that's how i do it you know i'm like hey you should be doing this this but there's not
a lot of things out there that give somebody a practical guideline and that's what you've done exactly precisely like we created hey write down 100 goals it seems big but even andy he got new
goals i want a jet i want this i want that like you can never reach all your goals i don't care
who you are if you're ambitious i heard you say three people in the world we got bill gates i
think warren buffett and steve jobs steve isn't here, but these guys still have goals.
They're trying to change the world.
So they're still writing their goals down.
They're still trying to achieve them.
So goals is something that everyone must write down and go after them.
That's the only way you're going to get it done.
I always define goals, success as fulfillment of your potential.
And guess what happens?
Your potential is always expanding when you learn more and you
achieve your goals which ultimately means that you cannot ever truly become successful quote unquote
but if you think about and a lot of people get mad about that they're like well hendy
well if you could never become successful then what's the point well the point is is that if you
adopt the mindset of always contributing and expanding
and, and, and, uh, being consistent and committed to fulfilling your potential, you're going
to lead a fucking awesome life.
You're going to achieve tremendous financial goals, tremendous interpersonal goals, tremendous,
you know, family goals.
All those goals are going to be just so far past what anybody else was as
long as you could pull back and appreciate as you go the journey that's i mean what more do you want
you know what i mean it's success isn't i don't think i i don't i think people develop this thing
of this target of success right and and and they think like it's this place. And once they get
there, everything's going to be cool. And I'm kicking my feet up and just chill. But that's
not that you're missing the point. The success is in the process. The success is in the growth.
The success is in the relationships that you make along the way. Just like you and I get
to become friends or, or, or anybody that we meet and, and, and developing and growing in that way.
And, and you know, you tell, you talk to people about this.
They're like, yeah, that's easy for you to say
because you drive a fucking Rolls Royce.
Well, you know, I didn't always drive a Rolls Royce.
You know what I'm saying?
I've been following this plan of what I'm talking about.
And the cool thing about this is that, you know,
the further along you get down that path,
the further you realize shit like that doesn't matter anyway.
You know what I mean?
It is about the handshakes and the relationships and the fun shit,
the dinners that you get to meet,
you know,
like you dinner with Steve or whatever,
you know,
those kinds of things are become the things,
you know?
And,
and then because you've built financial success,
you get to help all kinds of people and do kinds of cool shit.
You know,
it's just so,
it's such a deep thought and it's so hard for people to wrap their brain around
as to what it is when you're in the beginning,
when you're at the bottom of Mount Everest and you're looking up,
and you're like, I just want to get to the top.
And once I'm at the top, I'm at the top.
There's no top.
There is no top.
That's the thing. There's no top. There is no top. That's the thing.
There's no top.
I love the fact that you've said so many good things over the last year that you've probably forgotten that you said this.
But at one point, Andy, you said that you really need to think of success as always in the present tense.
So you might have been successful, but if you're not doing anything active today, you are not successful.
That's it.
Every day is a win.
It's always a present tense thing.
You stack enough wins together and all the shit that you think is success just happens.
Right.
You know what I mean?
So success is not a thing.
It's today.
Did you win today?
That's how I think of it for myself.
I agree.
Right.
I mean, did you go to the gym?
Did you do your homework?
And your homework might be like you're sitting here taking notes.
Your homework might be taking notes and learning and expanding.
It might be reading 20 pages of a new book or a chapter of a new book.
Did you do something to expand?
Did you spend your hour on eBay looking at nice shit?
That's an important part that people don't do.
Do you really do that?
Yeah.
Ask my wife.
It annoys the shit out of her because I'm in a zone.
I can't hear anything.
Yeah, you totally stole my thunder, though, because what I was going to say is when I walked in here,
the very first indication to me that, oh, man, this guy, he's got it together, is that you brought a notebook.
I don't know.
I knew the minute I saw you.
You've been taking notes the whole time,
which goes back to what you say, Andy, about being a learner.
I've never done a podcast with someone
where they're actually taking notes as we do the podcast.
And we've had some heavy hitters,
but you literally are the first person.
So that speaks volumes.
I'm about learning.
And the funny thing y'all said,
a lot of people want to win but they
set these big goals like i want to get a bentley right away i understand it might take me three
four cars before i get to that bentley but we gotta celebrate the small wins like right me
come here today this is a win for me me hanging with my mentor et that's a win and eventually
these things continue to build up like andy said they become a big win but i think for the listeners
man focus on a small win stop trying to just hit everything out of the ballpark.
Some things you got to do one at a time.
There's levels, like my mentor would tell me, one level at a time.
That's right.
There is levels.
So tell us just in practical terms, I mean,
what were some of the obstacles that you overcame in terms of your businesses?
Or even to go more fundamental than that,
how did you determine you wanted to do a fruit stand or you know waste removal or you know whatever well for me fruit
truck i used to always take funny star used to take my grandma all the time to get a fruit truck
and this guy was like he was talking about how well he did in the fruit truck um i'm like how
hard is it to do this and i just wanted to have a business so i started that he told me you need x y
z to get started one of my first struggles was i was like mom I need you to go down here get all my paperwork
and my mom told me no but that no might have been the best thing I ever got because I was able to go
down there and get it all on my own now I could implement that yeah now to do it and I could teach
someone else how to do it so one of my first things was just going and go get it done like most people we keep talking
about getting it done go get it done like nothing worked but work like it ain't gonna work itself
so that's one thing i would say just got curious was this in west philly west philly okay were you
were you mocked were you mocked i mean did people laugh at you oh yeah i think some people laughed
at me some friends funny i get friends now call a, I want to sit down and talk about my business.
I've been trying to tell you to get in this game.
This is seven years ago.
Like when I started, it's all fun and games.
Like you're a goofball.
You're selling fruit.
But now I'm doing a little better.
Now you want to sit down with me.
Now I don't necessarily, I don't have the time to sit down with everyone because I've been trying to give you these tools.
Right.
But you don't want to listen to me.
Yeah.
So I interrupted you, but go ahead.
And you started to say about developing the fruit truck business.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Which you had no experience in, correct?
You just fucking did it.
I had no experience in nothing.
And that's the thing, which, again, I don't like to call myself special or anything, but
I never had anyone positive to look up to.
I never had a mentor until I turned 21.
So I never knew. I just went out there
and tried it and just did it. So I feel as though like social media, I think Andy said, yo, our
business would have been a lot further if social media was created in 2001. If I had a mentor since
I was 15, I probably would be a millionaire right now. But I didn't have that. So I had to learn on
my own. And now I'm developing friendships and more mentors.
So find yourself a mentor.
That's an obstacle.
That'll save you tons of time, tons of money, and it's the quickest way for you to learn.
Get yourself a mentor and not just see how you can be of assistance to them.
It's not just a take thing.
Like, let me pick your brain.
No, how can I assist you?
Can I serve you?
Like, I'm big on service.
I understand the importance of serving people.
So one of my problems was not having a mentor.
So get yourself a mentor and go out there and make it happen on your own.
Stop waiting for people to start now.
Yeah.
I love it.
Like I said, I'm overwhelmed.
This is awesome.
So, I mean, you went from the fruit truck to dump removal or junk removal?
Junk removal.
Went to regular commercial cleaning.
Yeah.
And I kind of, I was talking to Tyler about passion.
Like, when I stop feeling passionate about something, passionate, I got to stop doing it.
So, we transferred from, I mean, from cleaning toilets to actually doing junk removal slash demolition. So we was able to do okay with demolition and junk removal, where I go in people's homes, remove their trash.
I'm like, you get to tell me you're going to pay me to get rid of this stuff.
And once I take their trash, I go sell it at our other spot.
So I had the opportunity to do that.
As well as now I'm just in multiple different fields, such as having a vitamin store.
I'm a co-inventor of something that will be released later this year.
So, honestly, I'm up at bat trying to hit it off the thing.
Period.
We talk about the people today, everybody's talking about hustle.
I'm a hustler.
This dude's a hustler.
Hustle is not you work 41.7 hours a week.
Hustle is you work from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep.
And you're committed at all times.
When I say work, I don't mean dig a ditch for 20 hours a day.
I mean you do your work, your regular work, your income work,
and then after you're done making the work that you need to survive,
you start working on what it is that you're going to do later.
And that could be an investment in reading.
It could be a phone call.
It could be emails.
But this dude's a hustler.
All right?
So everybody out there who said, oh, I'm hustling because I worked fucking Saturday.
Fuck you.
You're not hustling.
Hustle is a seven-day-a-week, 52-fucking-weeks-a-year deal.
That's what's going on.
That's why this dude is going to have a G650.
You know what I mean?
We're apart next to each other.
Isn't that right?
Yeah.
And, again, another thing I always tell people, you know,
a lot of my mentors, people, you should only do one thing.
I get that.
But since I got fired, I had to do multiple things to survive.
But as you're getting started, I would say focus on that one thing
for the people who are just starting.
I know most of the callers on here are advanced. But focus on that one thing for the people who are just starting i know most callers on here are advanced but focus on that one thing then expand and just keep trying
to go tell you figure out what's going to take you to the next level like andy said he felt six
businesses i felt several yeah did you have to have to come up with capital to like buy the truck
and yeah i did i had the job so i was saving money i was saving money while i worked at the
private airport so i was saving money and I guess maybe for that reason.
I didn't even know I was saving it for a business,
but I started doing the research and the paperwork while I still had my job.
So once he fired me, I'm like, cool, that was my thing to get started.
Most people never go full-time entrepreneur because they're that crutch of their job.
I said in my mind, like, I'm never going back to corporate America
or going to go work for somebody,
and I haven't turned back since.
So Nehemiah, I think you're wise beyond your years,
and there's always like a...
It cuts both ways sometimes
when people listen to other people
who are really killing it.
So on the one hand,
I'm sure there are people who are listening to this
going, man, that's awesome.
That's really inspiring.
I know I can do this too,
but I'm thinking about the older guys, guys my age, like in their 40s, okay? And they're listening
to you and they're going, man, I wish I would have been like that when I was 21 or even 28.
What do you say to those guys? I'll say it's not too late, first off. Start now. Our next book
I'm working on is called Start Now. Wherever you are in your life, get started. It's not too late, first off. Start now. Our next book I'm working on is called Start Now.
Wherever you are in your life, get started.
It's never too late because you don't want to live in regret.
You don't want to have to say, my biggest fear to this day is I don't want to look back 20 years and be like,
yo, back in the day, I was the man.
No, I want to still be that man.
Back in the day, I was doing well at 28, but now I'm 35.
I'm a multimillionaire doing X, Y, Z. So I want to still be that man. Like back in the day I was doing well at 28, but now I'm 35. I'm a
multimillionaire doing X, Y, Z. So I want to keep progressing. So I would say, you know, don't focus,
don't beat yourself up too much on the years you miss. Get started right now because it's never
too late. Colonel Sanders, I don't think he started KFC till he was 65. Don't quote me,
but it's never too late to get started where you are. That's a good word.
So this is a very weird analogy, but we all know people who have been addicted to alcohol and stuff.
And one of the things that they always say is they always say that one day in recovery is still—
or the worst day in recovery is still better than the best day in addiction.
And I think after hearing you speak, what I would say is the worst day of killing it
is still better than a lifetime of not doing anything.
Ooh, that's hard, yes.
I mean, it's...
That's big.
So that's what I...
Just tell people.
I like what you're saying.
Just start, and the moment you start killing it,
it's going to make up for it.
Yeah, well, and that momentum, man.
I think once momentum kick in,
you're just going to want to knock down walls like when you get them small wins that that's gonna be
want you to get that big one it's gonna keep propelling you to move forward so every day
i operate off of small wins like i said this is a win to me like i'm here learning growing on a
podcast with you two i mean with tyler all three of you guys and i'm just learning and growing so
this is a win i'm gonna to go home tomorrow focus on more
more more more so wherever you are
start now and just focus
and just grind and kick butt every
single day because there's no excuses
to not becoming who you want to be
you're the only person in your way
you're the only one that's going to have to pay that price
if you don't you know no one else
going to shed a tear for you
oh I could have been this no one cares man you're the only one that's going to have to pay that price and you know, no one else going to shed a tear for you. Yeah. You know, oh, I could have been this. No one cares, man.
You're the only one that's going to pay that price.
And, you know, if you're an old, if you're, if you're 40 years old, you're 50 years old
and you're like, man, I'm not where I wanted to be.
This isn't worked out how I thought it wanted to be.
Dude, you're a young buck entrepreneur.
Let's fucking get it.
You know, they said, when's the best time to plant a tree Vaughn?
Yesterday.
20 years ago.
20 years ago.
When's the second best time
now now yeah you know yeah that's a good that's a good point so uh let's just take a second why
don't you share your social media contacts all your all your relevant information so that people
can get a hold of you social media is neo diviso which is n-e-o-d-a-v-i-s-o and that's on instagram
I'm trying to change that to my name, which is Nehemiah Davis.
It's kind of long, but I just got on Snapchat, guys, so follow me on there.
That's Nehemiah Davis, N-E-H-E-M-I-A-H Davis, D-A-V-I-S,
as well as please support my book, NehemiahDavis.com,
and stay tuned for up-and-coming conferences we have around the country.
Dude, listen, man, you know, stay tuned for up-and-coming conferences we have around the country.
Dude, listen, man, I'm good with people.
You know what, Vaughn, you know I am.
Like, I meet people, I can see where they're going,
I see what they're doing, and you guys need to be following this guy now because 10 years from now, 15 years from now,
he's going to be the Tony Robbins type of dude out there.
You know what I mean?
This is the next generation of that. And, of course, I want to be right Tony Robbins type of dude out there. You know what I mean? This is the next generation of that.
And, of course, I want to be right there with you.
But the point is, dude, this guy's got it.
He's got the skills.
He's got the hustle.
And if you guys aren't following me, you're one of my favorite followers,
if that says anything.
I mean, it's a great deal.
And I post a lot.
No, the positivity, dude.
The positivity, you know.
I'm not always positive, you know.
And I think that's the appeal. Like, people are like, dude, you're real., you know. I'm not always positive, you know. And I think that's the appeal.
Like, people are like, dude, you're real.
You know, and I'm not always, my messages are positive,
but my way of going about it is sometimes a little bit, you know,
it comes from a dark place.
And I'm not afraid to admit that.
I've got that dark place inside me that brings that fucking fire
and brings that fury and intensity that people are attracted to it
because I think a lot of people have it and they try to suppress it.
But, dude, what I like about your message is that it can help bring that light when you're kind of in that place.
You know what I mean?
It brings a good perspective.
So I really enjoy it.
Thank you so much.
It's complimentary in a different way to the same sort of messages that a lot of guys are putting out.
But, you know, it just helps you see the good side.
I like that.
I appreciate it.
And it's not just – it's not fucking words either.
It's his actions.
You know, him getting a truck loaded to go to – a lot of people talk about stuff.
They talk.
I'm going to do good.
This dude does good.
You know, what's the thing you're doing now?
Tell them about the ski trip.
We're about to take 100 inner-city youth skiing like i said exposure is key like they don't know
skiing is a sport like one of these kids might become sponsors for that we're looking for
sponsors our goal it's 80 a kid or 75 at the lowest a kid and we're trying to take 100 kids
fully paid for a luxury bus uh free food free skiing lessons so what's the whole trip cost
it's 7,500 how much do you have covered so far we got about i was we probably got
20 sponsors so far the trip is three six so we're taking on march which i'm called we still got some
ways to go so we'll hear it i'll do this for you i'll cover the rest of the trip for you wow yeah
wow so i mean dude that dang yeah man
i mean dude it's the right thing to do wow like you you go you do your thing you know um i don't
want you to worry about these kids aren't gonna be able to go you know i'm in a place where i can
do that and you're you're gonna go do it so um i'll do that small win that's a big win you know
what i mean wow man dude shout out to andy man. Oh, man. Look, man, it's the right thing to do.
But it was earned.
I mean, your hustle earned that.
I mean, not to take away from your generosity.
No, no, no.
No, it was earned.
No, but it was earned.
Your hustle earned that.
So, I mean, I really want to direct people as often as I can to your website.
So, if in the future they want to do something to support your foundation.
It's nehemiahdavisfoundation.org.
Same as my regular website, nehemiahdavisfoundation.org, same as my regular
website, nehemiahdavis.com, but my regular org is nehemiahdavisfoundation.org. You can see all
the work we do currently to this day. We have four free programs every Saturday, martial arts.
Martial arts, we teach kids how to play guitar, Spanish lessons in the art class, and we do all
these things to expose them, to show them, yo, this is possible. Later in the art class and we do all these things to expose them to show them yo this is possible
later in the year we want to take 10 to 15
kids abroad and just expose them
and immerse them into what's
possible for their life so
nehemiahdavisfoundation.org and everything
counts thank you so much Andy
for that information no thank you dude
there should be if there was more
if there was more people like you
the world would be a better place man absolutely yeah yeah so well so let's i mean we still got some ways to
go though for these young guys we've covered a lot of shit a lot of these young guys right now
they're probably like well you guys talk about all kinds of shit you know so what have we covered so
far vaughn we've talked about being consistent yeah we talked about being committed being committed
to the plan passionate yeah we talked about being a learner. We talked about, you said, exposure.
And I think, for me, that's the biggest takeaway
of what you said so far.
I think that's the biggest thing.
No matter who you are listening right now,
you have to actively expose yourself to bigger things.
If you never do that, you'll never win on a big scale.
There's no way you can.
Yeah.
And I would greatly recommend that Third Circle Theory book.
A lot of people see this book advertised on Instagram,
and they don't really know what it is.
It's a self-awareness book.
It's a book that teaches you to recognize why you are where you are
and why things haven't gone the way you wanted
and how you get things to go the way you
want by changing the way you think and changing the way that you expand and changing the way that
you look at the world around you. I have not read a book that helps bring more self-awareness than
that book. Um, so, and I think it's right on par with what we're talking about and, and I'm, you
know, it's one of my favorite books it really
is um what are your favorite books my favorite books right now of course my book stepping to
great of course yeah dot com big shout out to you guys just blessed me with the magic of thinking
big this is one of my favorites i have the i don't have the physical copy now i do but the audio so
guys you need to be tuned into the magic of thinking big. I agree. What you're feeding your mind every day is important.
It's my number one book.
One of my friend's quotes is, every day you go into work, you need to be listening to something that's going to get you out of work in terms of if you want to be an entrepreneur.
I like that.
You need to be investing in your mind.
Don't ride idle.
Don't ride listening to junk.
Listen to your music, but listen to something that's going to help you.
I like Who Moved My Cheese because it teaches you about that.
The book is called Who Moved My Cheese, I think, by Spencer.
It teaches you how to adapt, you know, once you get in this world.
A lot of people get stuck and get complacent.
So Who Moved My Cheese is big.
And, of course, Think and Grow Rich.
I like that one.
And one of my favorites, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.
Huh.
Yeah, by Rob Shemar, I believe. I haven't heard of that one. Oh, that's a good book. I have. I have a number of people recommend that. Yeah, by Rob Shamara, I believe.
I haven't heard of that one.
Oh, that's a good one.
I have. I have a number of people recommend that.
Yeah, that's a good one.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.
The point he brought up a second ago about adapting, you know, who moved my cheese,
that's another key thing for you young guys, all right?
You have to understand that you're going to create this plan to the best of your ability,
and that plan is not going to go the way you want.
I don't care how good it is.
It's just not going to happen.
And the guys who win in entrepreneurship are going to be the guys and girls who can adapt to things that happen.
You're going to step out and go two or three weeks, and something unexpected will happen.
For us, we got broken into.
Our store got broken into.
It got vandalized.
All of our protein powders. This is the first month we opened our store and everything got vandalized, dumped on
the floor. Guess what? That wasn't in our plan. We had to figure out what we were going to do to
stay going. Um, you know, I could think of a million things that happened, you know, um,
that, that, that caused us to freak out for a minute and then readjust our plan.
You know, whether it be an employee or, you know, I've had employees steal from us, you know,
I had, we had these three dudes steal almost $20,000 worth of product from us when,
when $20,000 was like 20 million, you know what I mean? Um, uh, you gotta figure those things out.
And, and so I think being able to pivot
and adapt is also one of those key
traits that you guys need to understand is just
part of the game because I get a lot of emails
from people who are like oh my god I started my
business and this happened and I'm like so
I'm like that's part of the deal
you need to learn to look at the lesson that you're going to
learn from that thing happening you know
and the perspective the ability
to see just like we mentioned about your father not being around you know, and, and the perspective, the ability to see, just like we mentioned about
your father not being around, you know, the ability to take that and see that as a benefit
and use the things that you learn as a strength, as opposed to hiding behind that as an excuse,
you know? Um, and that's a sensitive subject for people. Cause when you, when you call somebody on,
on using something like that as an excuse, they can very easily make you look like a dick,
you know, they'd be like, Oh, you're an asshole an asshole right look man i'm just telling you the way it is you know you've got to eliminate the things that you think are bad and figure out why
those things are good and i've yet in my lifetime found something that happened to me that i can't
find some good out of you know and, I've been stabbed in the face.
You know what I'm saying?
And there's a lot of good things happening because of that.
You know, one, I calmed down, you know,
on my little, on my, on my, my, my, you know,
willingness to get into scuffles.
You know, I used to like that.
Yeah.
You know, two, I became recognizable.
Three, I recognized the perspective of somebody who doesn't have, you know, who has a handicap or who has a disfigurement.
You know, I mean, there's all kinds of things, you know, that I can look at and say, hey, dude, this is a good thing to happen.
Right.
You know, part of your story now.
Dude, it's part of my identity.
It's my trademark.
Hey, you know, Andy, you mean to do with the do with the scars oh yeah i know that dude you know what i'm saying and i don't take offense to it because and like on instagram and
stuff you can't see they don't show up as well in pictures but i mean if you're in person you
can see them and uh you know there's all kinds of things man you know derrick derrick whitea you
know lost his leg uh in iraq good buddy of Wida, you know, lost his leg, uh, in Iraq. Good buddy of
our sponsored athlete. My first form got his leg shot off in Iraq. Um, the dude has become not only
an inspiration to millions of people, but his, he'll tell you, man, his perspective is better
now about life than it was then, you know, there negatives sure there's negatives he can't go
be a soldier anymore but the positives and he'll tell you will out they outweigh the negatives
you know and this dude lost his leg and it's so i think you know being that's a debt that's
adapting that's perspective that's just a lot of these same things that we're talking about
right you know what i mean because i'm going to tell you if you pick the entrepreneur path
you're going to get your head beat in hard it's just the entrepreneur path, you're going to get your head beat in hard. It's just the way it is.
You're going to get beat on.
And you have to be able to figure out, A, how to stop those beatings and start doing the beating,
and B, how to take that power and instead of, like, fighting it, you're redirecting it.
Turning the power into purpose.
Exactly.
And so you take those hard lessons and you, you know, and it's hard to, for somebody who's not, not started in business, this is something that might even be a few steps down the road for you. But I like to let people know the truth before they get going, because dude, it's not an easy thing. It's far easier to go out and just be a normal dude and work your 40, 50 hours a week and, and live your life. It's just easier. It's real easy. Yeah, man. And, you know, there's a lot of things about that sort of lifestyle
that I'll be completely honest, you know, I'm envious of.
The fact of coming home at 4.30 in the afternoon
and not having to think about work at all
until you get up at 5 o'clock in the morning the next day,
I have not been able to do that for 17 years.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And I don't – it would be nice to be able to do that, you know,
to have two or three days off where I'm not thinking about whatever's going on here.
It's just not – but that's not who I am.
You know what I mean?
It's not what my – I would go fucking crazy.
Right.
You know?
But if that's somebody that
that might a lot of people are getting sucked into entrepreneurship right now because it's cool and
it's hot and it's the thing you know when i started an entrepreneur you know being an entrepreneur was
gonna start my own thing it used to be like dude you're gonna be a loser you know gary v has said
the same thing you know and we're about the same age he's just a little bit older than me uh Uh, you know, when, when him and I started in business, it wasn't like, Oh, cool.
You're a business owner. It was like, dude, you're fucking idiot. Get a real job, you know?
Right. And now it's become the opposite. We're like being an entrepreneur is cool,
but you got to be careful because not everybody can do it. I can't, can't everybody do it? Yes.
Could everybody do it? Yes. Could everybody do it? Yes.
And I want to be careful when I say this because I don't want to say it the wrong way and discourage people.
It's just a lot harder than what people think. And it's not,
it doesn't take the same level of commitment as working somewhere else or,
you know, it's just different. And when people, you know,
when I say I'm literally working from the time that I wake up
or Nehemiah says that to the time we go to sleep, that's not an exaggeration.
That's reality.
You know?
I mean, it's something you have to commit to for years.
It's a lifestyle.
It's a lifestyle.
That's the way to say it.
You tease out what you were saying about the need for adjustment.
And you've also said there are certain things that if you don't love, you're not an entrepreneur.
And one of the things that I would say is if you don't on some level love change and love it when things are up in the air and not set in stone, then you're not going to be very, very successful in entrepreneurialism.
Because I think most people look at it.
Dude, my most fun at moments is being an entrepreneur or not.
Whenever I'm just killing it, I'm making the most money.
It's what I'm trying to figure out how to kill it.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
And I mean, I think, I think the, I think the vast majority of human beings on this
planet, they look at change as tough transition that they have to negotiate.
But I think entrepreneurs and people who really are born for that, they don't, they don switching up. Dude, it's like an algebra class, like an algebra, all right? And
you're working on a group problem, okay? And let's say it's a really fucking hard problem,
and you're looking at it, and we're all on the same team, all four of us. And we're all looking
at it, and we're like, man, I don't know. And then one of us clicks it, right? And we're like,
whoa, dude, wait. If you put this here, you put this.
And then all of a sudden we all see it, right?
And then all of a sudden you solve the problem and we're all like high-fiving like, dude, yeah.
Like about math.
Has that ever happened?
Everybody knows what that's like.
That's what entrepreneurship is like.
That's what it's like.
It's like being frustrated out of your mind.
And then you have these moments of like super high.
But most of it is during the time where you don't know what the fuck you're doing.
Right.
You're trying to figure it out.
Another thing that's funny you say that, frustration,
which makes most millionaires.
I think Richard Branson started Virgin because he was stuck in Puerto Rico,
and he said, hey, I got to get home.
Hey, well, everybody that's stuck, would y'all put some money up
so we could charter a jet?
The rest is history.
That's a billion-dollar company, Virgin Airlines.
So frustration creates a lot of millionaires.
You're right about that.
And your hardships right now, look for the solution and serve people,
as Andy said.
That's what's going to make it for you.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, man, that's a great point.
Looking for – I'll tell you one thing.
This is – all right.
So when I was like 17, 18, I had this girlfriend and we were out to dinner.
And this is how entrepreneurs think.
I mean, even though you guys will laugh at this because it's so bad.
But I'm like, this is how you have to think.
You have to always look for the problem, look for a solution to the problem.
So I'm like, this is how much entrepreneur DNA is in my blood.
All right.
I'm sitting there eating dinner.
And you know how, like, when you get, like, a piece of chicken, if it's real soft or a steak, if it's real soft, you could, like, just cut it with the edge of your fork.
All right.
So, like, I was, like, cutting with the edge of the fork, and I'm like,
I got the greatest idea ever.
And she's like, what?
And I'm like, it could be a fork with a knife on the edge of the fork.
And I'm like, this is the greatest.
I'm going to be rich.
And then I thought about it.
I'm like, I'll cut my mouth.
I'll put the thing in my mouth.
And then I was like, oh, dude.
I thought that was going to be great. All within like two minutes, because she was like, you cut your mouth. And I'm like, I'll cut my mouth. I'll put the thing in my mouth. And then I was like, oh, dude. I thought that was going to be great.
All within like two minutes.
Because she was like, you'll cut your mouth.
And I'm like, oh.
I thought I had like the greatest invention ever.
Everybody needs a fork that can cut shit.
Right.
You know?
And it would probably still work.
So there's your free idea.
But, hey, man, spork works.
Yeah, spork's nice.
Dude, whoever invented the spork's doing all right.
You know?
But anyway, you know, it's a million things like that. Like, you're going to come up with a million ideas that are nice. Dude, whoever invented the sports is doing all right. But anyway, it's a million things like that.
You're going to come up with a million ideas that are stupid,
and then you're going to come up with a few that are decent.
Right.
And then you're going to come up with some that are good
and they're more sustainable.
And those are the ones over a long period of time
that end up making the money.
Let me say something, Andy.
The one good thing about ideas is when most people come up,
you come up with any and every idea in the world.
It's only good if it's executed.
That's right.
Most people come tell me about all these ideas, but I say,
are you doing it?
So your idea is only going to get off the ground if you put the work and
action behind it.
So, guys, work your ideas.
Don't just talk about it.
Be about it.
Right.
That's the thing, too, is that, you know,
I think every single person
on earth has one or two or three multi-million dollars ideas you know by the time they're 30
years old but very few of them just do it you know and that's the difference and they say the
richest place i think les brown says i'm not sure but the richest place in the world is the cemetery
so many people take their goals and dreams there yeah because they're not people dying at 25 and stop actually living because life hit them one time knock them down
actually just came across your post where you quoted less that exact less less ground quote
i rarely ever quote other people but that is just an awesome quote yeah yeah hey tyler how doing on time? An hour. Oh, okay. Good. Yeah. So.
Sorry, I lost my train of thought.
Thank you.
I feel like I want to hear more about your story.
I don't know.
What haven't you told us?
I'm curious what you got kicked out for.
Oh, at the time, I just got kicked out for being a knucklehead.
Again, I was a minority at the school.
I thought it was cool to be cheating on tests.
I thought it was cool to talk back.
I just thought it was cool not knowing it wasn't cool.
So if I had to replay it, I wouldn't be a knucklehead anymore.
I would actually be listening and trying to learn so I could be a little further now than I am.
So that's what I got kicked
out of for college. I was hanging around the wrong people.
And again, that's a result that
they kept seeing me with my friend, but he
went and choked some kids up.
Neil was with them. I was in my room, but
that's why it's important. I take that with success
or just hanging around.
You have to hang around people who are going in the
direction that you're going if
you want to go there right like if you're hanging around nine broke people i'm sure you're probably
going to become the 10th if you're hanging around 10 millionaires and nine of them you might
eventually become one because you're immersing yourself in that and i mean it becomes the norm
norm yeah you know what i'm saying it's not this unobtainable thing. It goes back to what we talked about expanding.
You know, my normal day is most people's, like, dream.
You know what I mean?
It's normal for me now.
And, you know, when Bill Gates gets on his jet, you know, that's normal shit.
You know what I mean?
And it was normal for him before he had it
in his mind you know and that's the that's the part of and a lot of people just think that's
hocus pocus man i know you believe in the law of attraction as do i as does every other single
multi-millionaire billionaire that i know okay um i i just think it's something that people just overlook.
You know, it's so easy to do, but people think that it's like they'd rather play a video game.
Yeah.
Or they feel weird.
It's so deep to do.
Right, right, right.
Like, I feel weird, like, you know, kind of investing in my spirituality or my mental game like that.
You know, they don't, because that's what it is, man.
It's spirituality.
Yeah.
And it makes people feel weird. So that's what it is, man. It's spirituality. And it makes people feel weird.
So I don't know, man.
I think one day they're going to find a direct physical link between those two things.
Because, dude, it's so true.
And once you train your mind to become focused on these things that you want to become or things that you want, it just happens.
And you can't feel stupid.
I mean, like, I'm going to be riding my jet,
parking my Bentley in front of them.
I believe that.
You can't feel like, yo, this is stupid.
You can't tell everyone because everyone,
I can talk about this to Andy.
I can talk about this to you guys in this room
because you understand that.
But I can't go back to the hood and be like, I'm going to get a jet. Are you sure you're going? Yeah, I can talk about this to Andy, I can talk about this to you guys in this room because you understand that, but I can't go back to the hood and be like,
I'm going to get a jet. Are you
sure you're going? Yeah, I am.
I can't even talk to you because you don't
understand that. On one of your podcasts,
I heard you say, every day I'm on the phone
or I know multi-millionaires
like all my friends.
I don't have time to talk. I'm not saying
you don't have time, but this is
what I've grown. I fill my time with those connections. Exactly. I think that's important. That's why, yes, I didn't get there to talk. I'm not saying you don't have time. No, no, no. But I fill my time with those connections.
Exactly.
So I think that's important.
That's why, yes, I didn't get there yet,
but I'm making sure I surround myself with those people
because I'm going to get there, guaranteed.
Yeah, man.
I mean, dude, I can go through my phone right now.
I can go through my phone right now.
Okay.
Millionaire.
First guy, millionaire.
Second, my wife.
Right.
Okay.
Third, fourth.
Fifth guy, millionaire. guy millionaire seventh guy millionaire i mean you know yeah it's just that's what it is
you know and you are who you hang with man it's a big deal which is easier said than done where
you came from i mean i i hope that's not insensitive on my part to say, but no. Dude, it's a fact.
Yeah, so.
Facts aren't insensitive.
Well, no.
So here's my, I would love to know this.
So Andy talks a lot about how everybody makes excuses, okay?
It's no respecter of color.
It's no respecter of age.
Everybody's making excuses.
You've come from a background where a lot of people might say, well, you know what?
If you wanted to make excuses, you probably could have, but you didn't.
Right.
Okay.
So my question for you, since you have essentially made the transition into this life of success,
what would you say to other people, specifically to other people who are tempted to make excuses,
what would you say to them, and what would you also say to the people who have no idea
what you faced that might help them be a little bit more understanding?
Well, first, I will say, man, you got to just stop making excuses.
You got to find some sort of time that, yo, excuses aren't valid.
And the reason why I can't keep making excuses personally.
Even when society will accept your excuse.
Yeah.
Most people are going to accept your excuse because most people are making them. But when I realized I made entrepreneurship as plan A, I can't make an excuse because that A-max bill won't get paid at the end of the month.
The Cardinal won't get paid.
My family won't eat.
So you have to remove excuses.
So I would just say get out of your own way.
And that's another thing.
Get out your own way and believe in your mental abilities that you could become whoever you want to be. I feel as though what stopped most of us is ourselves telling ourselves why it won't work,
why this won't happen.
It's not going to happen because you just said it ain't going to happen.
It's that simple.
Like Andy said, we overcomplicate what it takes to become successful.
Remove the excuses, and I assure you, you're going to go some places.
And my life is, I don't even look at what I went through as hard,
because I grew up and it was normal.
Everybody grew up in those situations.
Everybody grew up without a dad.
So it was normal to me.
So I just, my mental toughness said, I'm going to become more than my dad,
and I'm going to make it happen.
I'm going to come from West Philly and be somebody.
So that's why I'm doing what I do now.
You know what's funny about what you're saying about it being normal is it's always normal until you start seeing everybody else
and then you compare your shit that was normal to somebody else's shit who was maybe on a little
easier path and then all of a sudden you're like well that's why i'm not there because it was
actually really hard for me when you in reality when you're in it, you're like, dude, this is just the way it is.
So it's not hard until you start comparing it to somebody else who had it, quote unquote, easier.
And then you start looking for that excuse.
Dude, society will accept a lot of excuses.
They'll accept an excuse of, hey, I grew up with no dad and on an income of $18,000 a year.
And I never saw any success and I was never around people successful.
So how am I going to be successful? You know, uh,
I had to go to public school. Uh, we were on well, I mean,
you could say all this shit and eventually people are gonna be like, Oh yeah,
well I can see why you're not.
But the point is is that you can't make those excuses for yourself, you know,
right. No matter how bad it is, no matter how bad it is you know and there's there's things that that i've heard before
and i'm like man that's pretty fucking bad but you got to get over it if you want to get past it
you know yeah i don't know i mean just to shoot it straight i mean you've gotten some people that
post on your instagram and a number of different people and I'm thinking of one woman in particular who basically is saying,
you had all these privileges.
Yes, you worked.
Yes, you did this.
But you had all these privileges.
And X number of students that she works with or young people that she works with,
they simply don't have those opportunities.
That's why I wanted to hear what you had to say, Nehemiah,
just because there are people that think, you know.
Well, dude, the thing is, yes, there are people that are going to have a harder situation than I had.
Did I have it easy?
No.
But there's people that are going to have it harder.
And there's people, guess what, that are going to have it harder than you, too, and they're still going to make it.
Guaranteed.
Yeah.
My story is nothing.
And they're still going to make it.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
So it's irrelevant, honestly.
Yeah.
It's irrelevant.
If you want to make it, you'll make it.
If you don't, you don't.
That's why sometimes I get real irritated with even posting motivational shit
because I feel like I'm speaking to – who am I speaking to?
Because the people that are going to make it are going to fucking make it anyway.
But then the excuse becomes, oh, well, they're the exception.
Of course.
But that's what I'm saying.
I spend all this time
writing these posts
and doing this podcast
and all this shit
and I'm like,
man,
is it all for nothing?
Because the people
are going to make it
or fucking make it.
Maybe I'm just
putting a little fire
to them or something.
But I think you help,
I know you're helping people, man.
You're motivating people
to start businesses.
You're motivating people
to become the best
that they can be.
Yeah,
just make sure I'm motivating
the right people
to start businesses because I don't want'm motivating the right people to start businesses
because I don't want to motivate the wrong people to start
and then go ruin their lives because it wasn't for them.
True.
So I don't know, man.
But you know what I mean?
Sometimes I feel like, do you ever feel like that?
Like who are you talking to?
Because you know the people that make it,
they're going to make it because they want to make it.
That's true.
So the way I try to look at it is I'm just pouring a little gas on it.
Yeah.
No, I mean there's actually a great, I'm going to be Mr. Preacher here,
but there's a great statement in the Bible by one of the writers.
He says, I'm going to remind you of what you already know.
And I think that's what you do when you motivate people.
I had a guy yesterday or the day before tell me,
you know, these average people, I said, look,
my job isn't to wake up these average people.
My job is to keep the fucking above average people on track right right you know remind them of what they already
know they just need that's right they just need a refresher we all need it we all need it dude i'm
writing that shit for myself let's be real yeah i'm like look dude be patient you know that's my
biggest problem is like i want i want everything today right so right anyway i think we're getting
long on time here man i want to i want to first of all tell you guys, hey, you guys need to be following this man.
You need to be following what he's doing and keeping up on him because he's going to do some big things.
Nehemiah, dude, I appreciate you coming by.
It's been awesome to talk to you, awesome to hear your story.
I appreciate what you're doing with everything you're giving back.
I think that's – I think it's tremendous, man. I just really appreciate you. Appreciate you, man. Thank you're giving back um i think that's i think it's tremendous
man i just really appreciate appreciate you and thank you so much yeah so yeah it's been great
man i'm i'm i'm we've had some really impressive guests on this show and i'm i'm speechless i'm
pretty overwhelmed it means a great day and it's a it's an inspiration to me too man you motivate
motivate me a lot so good stuff so guys make sure you're checking out his book,
The Step Into Greatness Journal.
Make sure you're following him on social.
Hit him up with your social one more time.
Neo Deviso on Instagram, N-E-O-D-A-V-I-S-O.
Snapchat is my full name, Nehemiah Davis.
I'm trying to make him uniform real soon.
Yeah, yeah.
So make sure you're following him.
Make sure you're giving him some love check out his book um and uh we'll have you back sometime soon man i've
enjoyed the time thank you so much i it was tremendous for me i only wish you guys the best
so billion dollar company coming soon for you yeah there you go i'll let you i'll let you close
it out man what what's what speaking to a young a young person right now what's the what's the
what's the one thing that you want to tell them don't give up man i i'm telling you i believe in
you and i don't even know you i know you have the willpower to succeed and become anything you want
but first it starts with believing in yourself second being persistent third finding something
you're passionate about and fourth getting up every day and kicking butt that's all i can say
you're going to become what you want to be.