REAL AF with Andy Frisella - Are You Really An Entrepreneur Or Not? with Andy Frisella - MFCEO21

Episode Date: October 20, 2015

It's gut check time for entrepreneurs. Do you really want to run your own business or not? If it's not in your DNA, you are unlikely to succeed. In this episode of the MFCEO Project, Andy Frisella tells you how you can really tell you're an entrepreneur to the core--or not.

All I do is work, work, work. Never run the sidelines, I only hustle. I'll never take a day off, I only work, work, work. I don't mess around, kid, I only care. Nobody ever sees me. All I do is work. All I do is work. All I do is work.

Hey guys, what's up? You're listening to the MFCEO Project. I'm Andy Fristella and I am the motherfucking CEO. I'm here with my co-host, Vaughn the Impaler. What's up, Vaughn? How are we? I'm ready to get back at it, man. Yeah?

You've been gone for too long. Yeah, it's been a couple weeks. Your fans have been clamoring for you. Oh, yeah. I'm so sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man.

You know, sick for a week. Then I was in Virgin Islands for a week, and now I'm back. Yeah. What were you doing in Virgin Islands? I know Yeah we had a We had a Do it anyway boot camp

With Ben Ben and I And then Michael Gebbins And Randy Wells Former pitcher of the Chicago Cubs Did a boot camp For 50 people in Virgin Islands

It was awesome It was awesome It was one of the coolest things I've done Very cool So Yeah So yeah What were some of the coolest things I've done. Very cool. Yeah. So, yeah. What were some of the things you talked about?

You know, it was a total A to Z how to execute workshop. It wasn't a rah-rah, get motivated workshop. It was like, you know, walk away with some tools to actually get shit done. Yeah. So, it was a little bit different than, you know, just quote-un unquote motivational speaking, you know, you can go pay to hear anybody pump you up. But my feeling is if I'm paying, I want to take something away. It's going to be practical. Yeah. Something that I can use something that is going to help me move forward. So, yeah. And I think we did that. Um, the feedback was great. The people were great. Um, everybody there was, was somebody who, uh, was successful in their own right. So everybody was like-minded and on the same path it was

cool it was a lot of fun what does that feel like for you because this is I mean the whole MF CEO project and the you know the motivational speaker it this is kind of a new venture for you within the last year so starting something new how does that make you feel it's fun um yeah man it was it was well received it was good felt like we're trying to you know we're finally making an impact a real impact that you could see you know we have the podcast and we talk about all these things all the time but you don't actually see people or really talk to them about it yeah that was a situation where you get direct feedback see how it's affecting people get their feedback and and uh it was cool it was rewarding that's awesome

that's awesome you know i've noticed this in society over the last few years um maybe three or four years it's become super cool to be an entrepreneur um which i think is funny because it's like become like this trendy thing, almost like, you know, sitting in your computer with a Starbucks and a Mac and like, I'm an entrepreneur. Like, it's like this thing that people want to be and they want to call themselves that. And it's become cool. And I think it's funny because, you know, 17 years ago when I started my business, saying you wanted to be an entrepreneur was like saying you wanted to be a loser. It was like saying, Oh, I didn't want to go to school.

So I made excuses. And then I started my own business and everybody was like, Oh, he's an entrepreneur, which means he's broke. Right. You know what I mean? And now it's like, Oh, he's an entrepreneur. You know, that's so cool. And I'm just, I don't know where that comes from. Like, where the fuck is that coming from? You know what I mean? Because still, being an entrepreneur means you're going to be broke for a long time, usually. Right. But it's become this cool thing. I just, I don't know.

Do you think, in part, it comes from the fact that all the people who were being laughed at for being entrepreneurs are now killing it? Yeah, but that hasn't changed from the course of time. I mean, even, that's always the way it has been you know i don't understand if it's because the internet's started to glorify people or what it is but it you know it might have to do with the fact that you know 50 years ago if you held up guys who were sort of your your traditional entrepreneurs and you looked at them they would be the buttoned up nicely comb combed hair, you know, probably more traditional. Whereas now there's more personality. There's the Gary V's of the world. There's the MF CEOs of the world. And so there's a way there's entrepreneurs have almost presented themselves more now as rock stars than they used to.

Does that make sense? Yeah, maybe. I don't know. It's just, it's just funny. You know, I feel like, and the funny thing is, is I feel like all these younger, quote unquote, entrepreneurs have so many advantages over what people like myself had when I started, including, you know, including that they're not dumped on like they used to be. Right, right. You know what I mean? And there's all sorts of free services. Yeah, man.

It's crazy. The resources. You have all the tools. You have be right right you know what i mean and there's all sorts of free services yeah it's crazy you have all the tools you have all these you know apps you have all these these resources online you have social media you have all this shit and yet you still you still hear all the same bullshit excuses you know what i mean it's never been easier to actually be an entrepreneur than it is right now but because the people don't have the perspective of what it used to be like to start something from scratch without the internet you know without social media without a positive light shine on people who wanted to quit school and be a fucking entrepreneur you know and they think this is hard this is the easiest time in the history of earth to create an income developed around your own framework,

which is, which is essentially what being an entrepreneur is all about, you know? So. So then I suppose, because of the trendiness and the, and the easiness of it, it, that, that would explain why there are a lot of people trying to become entrepreneurs who really at the end of the day have no business doing it. Yeah. A lot of people say, you know, Oh, anybody can learn to be an entrepreneur. I don't personally believe that. I believe that it's something you have or something you don't have. It's got to be in your DNA.

I believe that. You know, there's two schools of thought. There's either a school you can learn it, there's a school that you have it. I believe that you have it. I've not really seen anybody go out and try to learn it and really become successful. A lot of people argue that, but you know, at the end of the day, that's how I feel. It's what I observe. And it's what I

think is the truth. I think certain people don't have what it takes. Certain people can't live with the uncertainty. Certain people can't have the discipline. You know, I, you can always tell those people too, because they're the people who say, Oh, I want the freedom of being an entrepreneur. You don't have any fucking freedom. It's like the hardest thing possible. Cause you've got to design the framework, have, have the discipline to enforce the framework on a daily basis,

every single day for years and years and years and years. And the fact of the matter is most people are used to having people tell them what to do. So whenever they get the core quote, perceived freedom that they think is what being an entrepreneur is about, you know, they don't follow through on the discipline of executing. And then that's what happens. You know, they, they fail. This is, this goes back to what Tyron Woodley said last, uh, podcast, which I thought was, I don't know why it surprised me, but it

really hit me when he said it. And that was, he, he was talking about, you know, the importance of killing it and, you know, working hard and all those kinds of things. But then at one point he said, but you know what? You also have to be gifted. And if you're not built for something, then you shouldn't be doing it. And he talked about how we've got people who are judges that really should be school teachers or school teachers that really should be judges. So that's something people don't think about, you know, because we're told you can be anything you want to be, which is kind of true, but kind of also not true there's limits to that yeah okay and there's always an asterisk to everything all right everything I say everything everything I post everything you say everything anybody on the internet says there's an asterisk there's people

that it doesn't apply to their situation it doesn't apply to like when i say on the internet if you work your ass off as hard as you can for 10 years you could build the life you want be anything you want chances are you're not going to turn into usain bolt okay no matter how many fucking sprints you do no matter how perfect your workout is no matter how perfect your your diet is no matter how hard you work, you're not going to win the fucking Olympics in the 100 meters or the 200 meters. It's not going to happen because you're not built for it. You know, so that's that's what people got to think about, you know, and certain people are more adept at certain skills. You know, certain people are better listeners. Certain people are better natural leaders and you can learn those skills and improve them,

but are you ever going to be the best at them? I don't know. Right. But I know being an entrepreneur, I personally have not known or seen someone who doesn't have it in their DNA go out and be super successful at being an entrepreneur. Right.

I've not seen it. So obviously being an entrepreneur is radically different from being a pastor, but something one of my professors said in seminary is really applicable to this. He said in his very first day of class, he said, if I can talk you out of this, good. But if I can't, then go forward and be excited about it. Right. Be committed to it. So it sounds like that's what you want to do with people.

You want to either talk them out of it or help them to have kind of a gut check. Yeah. I mean, my goal here is to either A, my goal here is to fuck your goals up. It's to make you question them. It's to make you realize A, you're limiting yourself. Or B, this isn't for you so that you save time. So you don't run down this path that is so far, that is so far, you know, and so hard and so long with an unrealistic expectation that you waste 20 years of your life. You know, the reality is some people just aren't

meant to be entrepreneurs. I believe that. Right. So how do you know that you're an entrepreneur to your core just because you've been successful? Oh, it's because I love everything about it. You know, I started being an entrepreneur when I was like six or seven years old. You know, I was selling baseball cards. I was selling fucking lemonade. I was going door to door selling light bulbs. I was trying to do everything I could to be in business and earn money. And you know, that's something that, you know, people decide they want to be an entrepreneur for all these reasons. And they're usually wrong. They usually see entrepreneur driving up in a nice car or owning a business or having, you know, they come and see like their nice headquarters, like we have here. And they say,, man, I wish I could do that.

I want to be an entrepreneur. And that's how they decide that. When in reality, I've been an entrepreneur since I was five years old. You know what I mean? I've been doing this since I was literally five years old. That means for 31 fucking years, I've been practicing entrepreneurship in one form or another. Yeah. Okay? at one one form or another yeah okay so you're seeing the culmination of that much time of

failing learning lessons interactions with people making an ass of myself embarrassing myself failing you know you're seeing all those things come together and it's still fucking hard you know what i mean and i'm not going to be one of these people who paints, you know, myself, like I'm some sort of entrepreneurial God. I struggle every day with it and it's in my fucking blood. And so if it's not in your blood and it's not what you do, and it's not something that you're passionate about doing, it's not something that you should do. Yeah. Period. And I, and I think your pattern holds across all the people that I know of that are successful entrepreneurs. Cause that's what Tony Hsieh talks about in Delivering Happiness is like literally from the time he could remember he was doing something business. I think what did he did he sell like earthworms? Yeah. Yeah. And then he like from one thing to the next.

And, you know, it's kind of funny because, you know, sometimes we mock people who are like, tell me about your childhood. But the reality is if you look back in your childhood, that's a pretty good indication. Because I was recently just thinking about this as long ago as I can remember. Like five years old, I was writing. I was writing. I mean, as soon as, well, I should say as soon as I was able to write, I was writing. Right. You know, and the same thing with you is what you're saying is that you it's got to be in your dna so well and and so that ties back into what i was

saying about entrepreneurship being glorified now so now what you have is you have this glorification of being an entrepreneur which makes and draws people in who really shouldn't be drawn into that you know what i mean and you're having a lot of like and hey man if you're one of these people and you're listening and you don't feel like entrepreneurship was in your blood and you learned it, send me an email. Cause I'd love to hear the story. Yeah. Honestly. Yeah. But, uh, but from my experience, it's just not something that you should do. You know, it's not for everybody. It's not being your own. And you can always tell, you know, be, I want to be my own boss. No, you're never your own fucking boss. You're ruled by your customers.

You're ruled by your employees. If you're an entrepreneur, you're not your own boss. I don't get to decide what the fuck I do and not do. I have to do shit. And I have a lot of people that depend on that. And if I don't do that shit, guess what? Those people don't eat. They don't get to pay their bills.

You know? Your dad talked about that yes yeah so you know being this the sense of freedom that people are looking for to be an entrepreneur or it doesn't exist and the other thing that I hear that is just total bullshit is like oh you know I want to take this risk of risk of going out and starting my own career and starting my own and taking things in charge and blah, blah, blah. You know, an entrepreneur's mindset is going to look at that and say, no, the risk is sitting in a job that somebody else is your boss

that can fire you at any fucking minute. You know what I mean? Yeah. And like, I see that as the way bigger risk than being an entrepreneur. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So they're like, oh, that as the way bigger risk than being an entrepreneur. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So they're like, oh, let's go take a risk.

Well, you're taking a risk already. You're just not seeing it the right way. So yeah, I think that's a good, that's a good place to start. You know, people need to, need to kind of survey themselves and say, hey, is this for me? Am I an entrepreneur at the core? All right. And I would say like people, most people are like a percentage of entrepreneur. Like some people have like, let's say 20% entrepreneur DNA or 30%

entrepreneur DNA. When I say entrepreneur at the core, I'm talking like 70, 70% or greater entrepreneur DNA. All right. Like for me, I could not fucking work for someone else. I just couldn't. All right. It has nothing to do with, it has nothing to do with not being able to take direction because I take direction every day from my customers. I take direction every day from my employees. You know, it's not about that. It's just about, I do. I enjoy designing the framework of which I live my life in, which is what an entrepreneur is about. They design the framework of their life. They design the framework of their business. I enjoy that aspect. I enjoy building things. I enjoy seeing people who have invested in my company, meaning my employees, like investing their time and their belief.

I enjoy seeing them go out and succeed and buy a new house, buy a new car, put their kids through school. I enjoy these things. Those are the things that I love about being an entrepreneur. I, I think that, um, most people don't think that deep into it, but you know, I think it's a good place to start. You know, you want to survey and see where you are percentage wise. If I was going to percentage myself on percentage entrepreneur, I'm a hundred percent entrepreneur. I mean, there's no, there's no way I would be out selling, figuring out how to sell fucking dog turds right if i had to for real and you were you'd be miserable if you're doing anything else right exactly i would be

happier doing that than working as a assistant or a job at some fortune 500 company right you know what i mean right and because people constantly have this tendency to misunderstand because you've said this a billion gazillion times. You'd be miserable not because doing something else would be bad. You don't have anything against the guy that goes nine to five job or whatever. It's just that that's not for you. Exactly. Right. And if you're an entrepreneur, it's not going to be for you. Dude, some people should work a nine to five job. Some people are very successful in a nine to five job some people are very successful in a nine to five job some people are built for commission sales some people are built to work in a warehouse

some people are built to work at fucking fast food that's it we're all built for something different okay but the glorification of entrepreneurship has sucked in people that really shouldn't be and i i feel bad for these people because i get emails every day for sometimes of these people saying you know hey i've got four employees how do i manage them i'm like bro you know what do you mean well i got how do you manage four employees like i'm just like, dude, come on. You've got to be a problem solver. You've got to be able to learn certain shit on your own.

It's just basic stuff. And some people just don't have the capacity to do that. So there's nothing wrong with not having that capacity. Don't take it that way. Right, and at the risk of sounding kind of harsh, you can get four people in a car. If you can't manage the amount of people that you can fit in a car. You're not an entrepreneur.

Yeah, you're not an entrepreneur. Period. Yeah. So some questions or some statements that will help you identify that. Are you somebody who's not satisfied with the standard status quo or average or being typical are you are you this are you the guy who wants to drive to work every day in a minivan in a suit and say you know do your tps report reports you know and um just be a regular dude if you're not satisfied doing that that's probably because you have some entrepreneurial dna in you um there's nothing wrong with the standard life of go to

school get married work a nine to five job it's just that if you're frustrated with that and you're angry with that you're not happy there it could be because you have some of this dna inside of you and you need to explore how much of that you have um do you think because we get this question a lot, is sometimes people say, Andy, I am an entrepreneur to the core. I am very frustrated with my job, but just in practical terms, I think I have to stay with my nine to five job just a little bit longer to get where I need to be. Everybody does that. Yeah. I mean, that's normal. You know what I mean? But the thing, here's the thing is that if you're an entrepreneur at the core,

you're never going to be satisfied with the average lifestyle. You're never going to be satisfied with showing up, clocking in, clocking out, going home. It's not going to be for you and you're going to be frustrated and you might not be able to even recognize why you're so frustrated, you know? So maybe this question will help you guys figure out why you are frustrated with what you're doing You know, you have the desire internally to create a product to offer a service to build a business to build an empire You know, these are hard things. They're rare things and that's what makes them great things You know entrepreneurs at the core want to be fucking great

Okay, they don't want to live a quote unquote normal existence. They have the heart, they have the desire, they have the feeling inside that they want to be more. All right. Do you think a fair question to help people determine whether they are at the core, we'll say a repressed entrepreneur is if you are a person who is in a job in which you are getting paid really well and you are still miserable, that's probably a good indication that you're an entrepreneur. Or you're good at the certain skill set that your company is asking you to do. You're just not passionate about the product that's involved in your company or service in your company. Maybe you could take that same skill set, move it to something you're passionate about,

and succeed and be happy in another company. Or, like you just said, maybe you could take that same skill set, grab something you're passionate about, and run your own company and be 10 times more satisfied. Right, right. So I'm going to get you really fired up on this because what you just said is that entrepreneurs want to be great.

No, that's not what I said. I said they want to be fucking great. You did, you did, you did. That's a good qualification. You can't be Von Diesel without acknowledging at least the F word. That's true. That's a good point.

So here's my point. My point is that I can see the person out there going, oh, wait, so if I'm a a teacher i don't want to be great if i'm uh an engineer working for a large firm i don't want to be great and i would say actually in a in a sense no we throw the word greatness around too easily you could be a good person you can accomplish a lot of great things i don't know i'm just i'm curious i want you to defend what you mean by want to be, want to be great. What does that mean?

I would switch out the term, maybe want to be great with make a gigantic impact or make a gigantic dent in the universe. Okay. You're not going to be able, and I'm sorry if you're working in a whatever job and you said, would you say engineer or would you say right engineer and teacher and we are talking about business again yeah we're not talking about all of life right which we're gonna get emails said mother theresa made the biggest impact you know what you're right

okay that's greatness there's all different kinds of greatness right but you know your your ability let's say let's use the term teacher, for example. You're like, yeah, I'm making a great impact on students every day. Are you really? Are you? Or did you just sell yourself on that story? Because I know a lot of fucking teachers that are shit. They shouldn't be teachers.

And they became teachers because they couldn't do anything else. Right. Now, I do know teachers that are fucking awesome, and I've had some that have inspired me. I've had teachers straight up tell me, dude, there's no point in you even going to school because you're a fucking entrepreneur. You know what I mean? And I've had teachers that have pulled me aside,

and we've even went and had a beer when I was in college, and we've had great discussions and developed great friendships that have really helped me change my perspective on different areas of my life the people who put in the extra time the people who that's greatness you know what i mean so you could be great in any area i do believe but when i say great i think i'm talking more about making a gigantic impact on people direct i mean and they people say this oh you're making a big impact. Why? Cause you drive a Lamborghini and you make a lot of money. No, but I do have a hundred employees

that are all have a chance to be a part of something huge. They'll all have a chance to earn a tremendous living. They'll all have a chance to put their kids through school. All have a chance to do all these things in a practical day to day, you know, operation, you know what i mean right absolutely another synonym that i think is good for what you're trying to say is greatness in the sense of if you're an entrepreneur you want to do something rare something that nobody else has done not typical let's talk about this let's talk about this anyway let's Let's hit it again on the teacher thing. I want to be great. All right.

You're becoming a great teacher. What if you, which is rare. Okay. Great teacher is rare. I'm sorry to say that. That's true. You know, and I know there's teachers that listen and they're going to say, dude, you sound like a jerk because these people dedicate their lot.

A lot of teachers do like to glorify their fucking job choice. Okay. They like to glorify it. They say, Oh, I became a teacher because I wanted to change the world and I wanted to help all these young kids and I wanted to blah, blah,

blah. But in reality, the reason they came a teacher was because they get to work fucking six months out of the year. All right. They got job security. They don't have to do fucking a whole lot of work. And that's why they became a teacher.

Right. But they like to paint it with this fucking brush of like all glory and i'm so fucking good at heart and blah blah blah bullshit i think you're right and what i know i'm right no no i think you are and i i know you are and my uh my roommate you know i just went to my 20 year college reunion my roommate went into becoming a public school teacher. He just won like the best teacher award, you know, in their whole district. And I was talking to his wife and I said,

no, I'm so proud of him because, you know, I mean, he's a great guy, but he's not like a genius. Right. You know?

And she said to me, she said, I mean, he knows this stuff, but he said, but she said to me, he's rare because he cares. That's right.

He cares. That's right. But caring is rare in any area of life. Yeah. Okay. My charity of choice is my high school, which is St. John Vianney High School here in St. Louis. Chris and I have donated a lot of money to that high school. My business partner, Chris, otherwise known as El Ghosto on Periscope because he never wants to see his picture taken so elgosto and i

have donated quite a bit of money to our high school over the last few years as we've become more fortunate ourselves and we don't really give to too many other charities and we give a little bit here and there but that's what we give and the reason is is because i had teachers that fucking cared about me there every teacher in that school cared about us okay we didn't have these other teachers that are just trying to push people through we had people that would point their finger in your chest and say you're fucking better than that and you better start showing it and i got my ass kicked all through high school figuratively and sometimes literally because back when i was in high school that was allowed yeah but by people who cared and and sometimes i hated these people

you know i was like god these people are assholes but the reality is i wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for these people and they fucking cared about me and those kind of people they're some of the most noble people on earth so i mean i don't want to sit here and paint teachers with a broad brush right but typically the ones that brag the most about how noble they are are the ones that fucking suck. You know what I mean? No, absolutely. I agree. So, a little bit of a cheesy analogy, but as you were talking, we were talking about how greatness is being rare, how greatness is caring.

And to me, I love it that you guys, you've used around first form or us too, you've used that helmet, that Spartan helmet. And that's a good analogy. Like you have this massive Persian empire that's comprised of people who basically are paid to be soldiers. They're doing their thing. Right. But then you have the 300 Spartans who are passionate. They care. They want to change the world.

And so I think that is the mentality, the difference in the mentality between being a good, dutiful worker and being a life-changing entrepreneur who's just great. Dude, look. Being a great teacher is no different than being a great entrepreneur. It's no fucking different. It's coming in every single day. It's giving 100% of your heart. It's giving 100% of your energy. It's giving 100% of your caring.

And it's doing it every day for a long fucking time and if you do that as an entrepreneur you're going to be successful you're going to make a gigantic impact and by successful I don't mean money the more impact you make the more opportunity to make money you will have and that goes for a teacher too what if you're a teacher who makes gigantic impact and pounds awesome lessons into people's heads and changes them and they become so reputable for being such a great teacher that they want to design their own program outside of school and sell it. Now, all of a sudden, because your impact that you made for X amount of years has created this reputation for you, people are willing to pay because of the impact you made and you earn money. It's really no different. You what i mean absolutely so that's why entrepreneurship mentality is good for no matter what situation you're in you know i use the analogy of digging ditches

sometimes about have the entrepreneurial mindset for any job and they say oh andy but i dig ditches blah blah blah how am i gonna have an entrepreneurial mindset about digging ditches well here how about this how about a you go out and you work fucking harder than everybody all right so let's say you're the low guy and the reason i use dig ditches because usually that's like a laborer job it's a low guy on the totem pole hey new guy go dig a fucking ditch all right that's where that comes from. And you're the new guy. You got to go out and dig ditches. And you are in charge of digging the ditches.

And you've got five guys on your team. You go out and you dig three times the amount of ditch that the four other guys dig every single day. All right, eventually the foreman of your crew is going to come along and he's going to say, hey, fuck, that dude is hustling. You know what? I'm going to put him in charge of these other four guys. All right. There you create opportunity. Now let's say that doesn't happen.

Let's say that the guy never notices you, but let's say you get so passionate about digging so much more ditched than anybody else that you develop a new tool that allows you to dig at three times the rate that the other four guys can dig. Now, all of a sudden you develop a product out of your passion for digging ditches faster than anybody else. Now you could take that and you could show other companies or consult them or sell them the product on how you could be more successful digging a ditch. The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't think that way unless you have an entrepreneurial mindset of some sort and you've cultivated that thought process. So if you are a, no matter what job you are, whether you're drywall, painter, construction guy, teacher, public servant, firefighter, police officer, all this shit,

no matter what your job, if you take an entrepreneurial mindset that I'm in charge, I got to attack it with passion, your success rate is going to increase, your life is going to increase, your earnings is going to increase, and you're going to be in a better position than you were before you took that. Now, we always have, you know, and the opposite of that is, hey, I go dig the ditch, which is most people's mindset. I've got eight hours. I got to be here.

I'm going to dig the least amount of ditch I can in eight hours because it's fucking hard. That's most people's mindset. I've got eight hours. I got to be here. I'm going to dig the least amount of ditch I can in eight hours because it's fucking hard. That's most people's mindset. Now, if you have most people having that mindset and you have an entrepreneurial mindset, how much more of an advantage do you have? I mean, in terms of the regular person to be successful and people take that for granted. Most people are fucking lazy. Most people are trying to do the least amount of work. Most people don't care. And if you could separate yourself by doing that and having an entrepreneurial mindset, you're going to make it no matter where it is.

So absolutely. So this is a little selfish, but I'm also going to share this by way of thanking you. I love what you said about if you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you separate yourself and you're going to be good at no matter what you do. So in, so my undergraduate degree is in rhetoric and composition and my master's, I mean, I got a master's in seminary, but I also got a master's in English. Okay. So those are two, those are two degrees that are, that are almost laughable when people say, oh, you're never going to make any money. You're an English major, you know, so just get used to a life of, you know, you might

be changing people's lives, but you're not going to make any money. Well, about the time you and I became friends, I decided to get entrepreneurial in my mindset and say like, no, I can think business-minded. I can think in a business way about this whole concept of writing and creating content. Well, on Monday, and again, thanks in part to you, but on Monday, I'm flying out to South Carolina to speak to a bunch of English majors saying, yeah, you can make really good money writing. You just have to have an entrepreneurial mindset. I'm going to be able to tell them that since I started my own LLC, I have literally, I'm

just about to make six figures over the last almost year and a half, all in related things having to do with related to writing. Yeah, which you weren't making that work for someone else. No, I wasn't making that work for someone else. And the point is, and I think relative to the first point you made. We haven't even started this. This is a fucking baby. This is nothing, right.

And I think the point, your first point, and how do you know you're an entrepreneur? Your first point in how you know you're an entrepreneur is, do you want to do something different? Do you want to do something great? Do you have a bigger vision? And I, you know, people can argue and get offended all they want, but that is a distinguishing feature of people who want to run their own business. And I don't want this to get lost in what you just said, because I know that it's true, but you just didn't say it. You also thought long and hard and strategically about how you

could use your skills to create value for other people. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Okay. So remember that's like the key core concept of being an entrepreneur. How could I create value for other people and knowing that it will eventually turn into a monetization type situation. Right. So you didn't say that, but I know we've talked about that. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, so we covered that all right you're not satisfied with the regular shit all right you're not satisfied being a regular joe so let's get back on track here let's get let's let's hit another point okay do you prefer struggling and being successful even if it takes you a lot of time and effort and sweat and and pain or do you prefer being average, being safe, being mediocre,

you know, and having the regular life. And you have to ask yourself that honestly, you can't, you know, just say, Oh yeah, I want to, I want the big money. Everybody wants the fucking money, but there's a lot of things that have to happen for the money to happen. And if you don't love those things too, if you're not in love with the process, if you're not passionate about putting in the work, passionate about developing the ideas, passionate about executing, the money will never come. So it's just too hard. You can't just say, oh, yeah, I want the big house and I want the cars and I want to travel and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That's 2% of the entrepreneurial equation. The rest of it fucking sucks. And you have to love that suck, you know? If you're someone who prefers to take the easy road, you know, over going out and trying to risk something or trying to build something in the face of being afraid of it, being an entrepreneur is not going

to be for you, man. Entrepreneurs embrace the struggle. They take risks. They deal with the chaos and the uncertainty on an every single day, every single hour, every single minute basis. You know, they embrace this process because they know that's the only road to success. You said this earlier, and it's something you've said again and again. You mentioned risk earlier about taking risks and you said that the way that truly successful entrepreneurs think is they don't think, oh, what's going to happen if I take this risk? They think, what's going to happen if I don't take this risk? Exactly. Exactly. Man, I could go off on like a whole nother podcast about this but society

grooms us to be afraid and they groom us to think that success and entrepreneurship and all these things um and when i say success i'm talking financial success right now they groom us to think these things are for other people and they also groom us to have this fucking idea that like for you to go out and do something that you've got to be like certified or you've got to have this like approval or you've got to be like you know you've got to get the the special wink and a special handshake shake from the fucking secret the secret group the skulls you know there's an expert right exactly and there's not man you just got to go out and you got to fucking execute and eventually people will come to you for approval which is funny to me because people like that's the emails i get now you know it's emails when i went to um meet gary v and we

talked about about we talked about some of the emails that we get from people and it's like they're looking for this approval they're looking for this like um you know it's okay validation yeah yeah validation exactly thank you they're looking for validation of their idea or of their you know, it's okay. Validation. Yeah. Yeah. Validation. Exactly. Thank you. They're looking for validation of their idea or of their mission or of, are they good enough to do this? And like, it's very frustrating because there is no validation process. There isn't the validation process. The only validation process there is an entrepreneurship is the one where you look yourself in the mirror and you say, is this me that's it yeah you know you know what you just said could be a really awesome short uh periscope there is no validation process yeah let me put that in my notes here real quick because i love that because i want to uh i want to actually write that down because i

want to write i want to do a periscope on that. So yeah, so, you know, are you okay with feeling uncomfortable? Are you okay with living uncertain? Are you okay with not knowing if you could pay your fucking bills for a long time? Yeah, I don't want to get off on too much of a tangent, but I'm curious about something. Do you feel like our society is guilty

of sending a schizophrenic message? Because on the one hand, you're right. They do teach us to be afraid. They teach us that we need a validation. We need some other expert to approve of what we do. But then on the other side of their mouth, they're saying, you can do anything you want. You're special. You see what I'm saying? How do you navigate? How do you navigate? Dude, look, man, extreme messages. I just don't. I, you know, if I'm a young man or young woman right now and I'm like, you have to choose what to listen to, you know, you have to choose what to believe. I think that there's truth to, to, to, you know, there's truth to that, to certain people. We just talked about certain people were meant to work in a warehouse. Certain people were

meant to work in structures. Certain people were meant to, you know, have a regular job. Certain people were meant to have commissioned sales jobs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We just said that, right? Right. So that message that you just said is true for some people, right? You know what I mean? It is true. Some people operate better in a structure. Some people operate better in a structure that's designed by somebody else. Some people would rather be more comfortable in the structure of a, of another company where they could say, you know, Hey, this is what you do and you get paid. Some people are meant for that. And there's nothing wrong with that. Our goal here is to get you to analyze yourself, to become self-aware of how much percentage of entrepreneur DNA do I fucking have. Okay. You could go out and find this out really easily. Go out, set up a fucking lemonade stand

at the end of your driveway. Okay. If you could do that for a weekend and you talk to 20, 30, 40 people over the course of a weekend, if you enjoy talking to those people, if you enjoy making sales, if you enjoy conversating and making new friends with those people, you're probably going to enjoy being an entrepreneur. Okay. But most people can't even fucking do that. Most'll sit here and we'll say, hey, this is what this means. We did the episode on the power list on killing every day. And we give all these practical tips. And you know what? Most people don't fucking even do them.

They're success zombies. And most of the people that listen to this show right now, most of them won't do the shit that we say. They just listen. And I'm sorry if you're listening but am i fucking true how many of you guys are implementing the power list on a daily basis you know what i mean that's yeah you're right it's it's all talk and no action right and that's what it comes down to being an entrepreneur as well you fucking you don't just listen and take notes you go out and execute. And that's where people have problems.

So, you know. And it's like what you said, the last point being risk, is that, I tell you what, there is something that there's safety when you're part of the choir that you have that kind of safety that you don't if you're the director of the choir. You know, I mean, those are two different vantage points. It's perceived it's perceived safety yeah you know what i mean it's all how you perceive shit you know if you're the conductor of the choir you're the one making the decisions you're in control you know i would rather have that safety yeah then then being the person in the choir that can be replaced because they can't fucking, you know, sing.

Yeah. Well, and that that that is interesting. I mean, that's a safety that's based on you being in control. So that's that's probably something that's hugely part of whether someone's meant to be an entrepreneur or not is do you want to be in control? Right. And are you comfortable making decisions that affect other people can you do that you know what i mean yeah so um moving on you know trying to keep this on track because i i don't want to just keep beating the same thing over and over again but you know what you just said brings up a good point you know do you want do you want to be in control do you want to be your own quote-unquote boss not because, do you want, do you want to be in control? Do you want to be your own quote unquote boss?

Not because you're full of ego and you want to walk around and be like, I'm the fucking boss. Like half the bosses out there. Right. Okay. Or more than half, honestly. Um,

but because you have a vision for what you want to accomplish, that is yours and no one else's. Okay. You have your vision. You have your dream. You have your goals for what you want to see built and what you want to see materialized. And it's important for you to see those things happen. Okay. You have a solution. You have an idea. You have a product that can

help improve society or can help solve a problem or can help, you know, X, Y, Z do X, Y, Z. And you want to see that implemented because you want to see it implemented. Okay. And you know that if you could do that, that the money will come, that the growth will come, the business will come. And it's important you to accomplish that goal. Um, it's not about being in charge or bossing people around or walking around, you know, saying, yeah, I'm the boss. Get to fucking work. Because like you said, ultimately, that's not even really true.

No, you're not. I mean, you're still beholden to other people. Dude, if you're not, you're a terrible business owner and terrible leader. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. But like I said, most people who are in charge of their businesses are out of touch with this concept.

But, you know, it's just that that it's not about pushing people around it's about having the freedom to execute on your dreams your visions and what you want to accomplish in your mission in your life you know and that's what it comes down to it's it's a lot of people think oh i'm the boss i'm the boss i want to be the boss that's because the boss is like glorified be the boss. That's because the boss is glorified. It's glorified in media. You got Donald Trump. You're fired. Everybody thinks there's some kind of glory to that.

And that's like a caricature of what being a boss is. Right. You know what I mean? It's pretty much the exact opposite. You've mentioned the guy. I'm pretty much everybody's bitch around here. That's the honest to God's truth. That's the quote much the exact opposite. You've mentioned the guy. Like I'm pretty much everybody's bitch around here. That's the honest to God's truth. That's the quote of the episode.

Yeah, like if you're not comfortable being your customer's bitch and being your employee's bitch, then you're probably not going to be a good boss. You mean you're not the boss in Christmas Vacation? Right, exactly. Dude. That's great.

Jelly in the Moth Club? Yeah, I love the word you use, freedom. Entrepreneurs, I think, love freedom. And you know, it is a paradox. Because you're right. It's a different sort of freedom. It's not freedom in the sense that's glorified out there in the media. You just do whatever you want.

Right. Oh, I'm sitting on the beach with a fucking corona. Right. That's not the freedom you get. But you do have the freedom to make decisions. And you do have the freedom to design your own path and you do have freedom to be creative. And those things are all important. If you're an entrepreneur, you know, you have freedom to do things your way. And that's what it comes down to. You know what I mean? And if you're one of these people who is not comfortable doing that you are

like zero percent entrepreneur and and what's interesting is that having the freedom to do that is scary I mean I don't know if you've ever heard heard anything about like some of these countries that were under totalitarian dictators and then they were liberated and then like five ten years later they went back under it because they're like that's what they're comfortable that's what they were used to and so I think it's there's some of that involved it's the same thing with people that go to prison people that go to prison they they get they get used to that structure they get used to the way it is they get used it sounds crazy to you and me yeah but they get out and they want to go back right because now all of a sudden

they're in charge and like they're not comfortable being in charge right and that's okay it's i mean it's pretty profound but i mean it's very applicable to right to this whole business and entrepreneur thing well and our goal is to get people to open their eyes like hey yeah is this a good idea that i do this because everybody has fucking ideas everybody right if you're listening right now you have had ideas that are multi-million dollar ideas but in the reality of earth in the reality of world and the reality of business ideas don't mean fucking shit it's about your ability to execute on those ideas it's about your ability to visualize and dream and design a structure and then execute on that structure it's about your ability to sell

people on the idea of your vision, of your dream and get them to believe so that they'll work for you. It's about learning how to be a good leader. It's about all these different things. It's about becoming a problem solver and having certain skills and knowledge about many different areas of business. You know, you've got to learn how you've got to know some graphic design about what shit should look like. You've got to know some accounting. You've got to know how to manage inventory.

You've got to know... I mean, there's just a trillion... You've got to know a little bit of HR. You've got to know how to communicate. You have to know about everything. And certain people just aren't capable of doing that. And if you don't know about everything... You be committed to learning right exactly so so greatness you know an entrepreneur wants to be great an entrepreneur embraces a struggle an entrepreneur you know

wants to take risks an entrepreneur loves the freedom to cast vision and take ownership. But let's face it. It's about money, right? Hey, man. Look, if you're one of these people who thinks that money is a bad thing and thinks that people who make money are evil and thinks that you're going to be an entrepreneur so you can save the fucking earth and all this other shit,

you're not an entrepreneur. Right. You know what I'm saying? Entrepreneurs enjoy making money. So I was being facetious. No, I get it. but how how would you what's the best way to think about money in terms of it's it how okay as much as entrepreneurs like money and like they like see you know because dude you got to remember most entrepreneurs spend a whole lot of time broke okay yeah so when you get some money coming in you're gonna fucking do shit that you've been like

that you want to enjoy all right so that's why people drive nice cars and fucking wear nice watches and go on nice vacations live nice house and shit it's not because they need it it's because it's like an overcompensation for the time they spent eating ramen noodles you know what i'm saying so like it's like back pay you know what i mean yeah? So like, it's like back pay. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. So like, you know, yes, entrepreneurs like making money, but they also understand a very important concept regarding, quote unquote, making money. You don't fucking make money, okay?

You earn money. Money is a byproduct. It's not the product of your business. It's a byproduct of the value you create. It's a byproduct of the value you create. It's a byproduct of the problems you solve. You're not an entrepreneur because of money. You're an entrepreneur because you want to solve a problem. You want to be good. You want to create value and you want to fucking win every single day. Okay. And if that's not you, if you're this person who just wants the money and you think that the money is just part of being an entrepreneur, dude, you're not a fucking entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is about the fight. It's about the battle. It's about the grind. It's about the hustle. And you've got to love that shit. And if you don't love it, it doesn't matter how good your idea is or how good your product is or how good this is because it's going to take so long for you to get to a point where you're actually turning a profit and earning money that you're going to burn out. You're not going to make it. So yes, it's about money, but not the way most people think.

And what you've also said a billion times is if you do make it about money, the minute you really actually start making something, your motivation is going to go to the toilet. Exactly. Exactly. And I see that happen a lot. I mean, you can definitely get to a minimal level of success being go to the toilet. Exactly. Exactly. So, and I see that happen a lot. I mean, you can definitely get to a minimal level of success being all about the money. You know what I mean? Being an entrepreneur. But the reality is, is that effort that you're thinking about the money should be, should be effort spent focusing on how you can make your product better, how you could solve a problem, how you can create a better service, how you can create more impact

on more people. And when you take the focus away from the money and you focus on that, that's when the money comes. And every successful entrepreneur understands that they don't think, Oh, I'm going to start this business. It's going to make so much money. They think, Oh, I'm going to start this business. It's going to solve this problem. I'm going to start this business. It's going to make people say, Holy shit, I'm going to start this business and it's going to improve this area of people's lives. Or I'm going to start this. I'm going to invent this product and it's going to change the world and the money comes. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. I mean that, that, that's an interest. There's another interesting periscope, um,

is how a little bit of success can actually prevent you from having big success. I mean that's, I love what you just said. I mean you get a little bit of money and then it actually ends up becoming detrimental because you're like, oh, this is great. I'm going to go enjoy the fruits of my labor. And then you're like, you think you've made it? Well, dude, and I think most people have that in them. You think so? Yes. I think very few people, that's why you see so many middle-sized small businesses because they make just enough to like live a little bit better than other people and a little bit better than what they were and then that's comfortable but here's the problem with

that when you become comfortable and you stop working and you stop grinding you stop hustling the people who are chasing you will pass you and then that little comfort that you created and your little bmw 5 series that you bought and your upper middle class home in suburban America, that shit's going to go away. You know what I mean? Absolutely. So you've got to go all the way or fucking go none of the way. Don't go in the middle because that's like a terrible place to be

because when you're in the middle there, you're in that minimal success. Oh, I'm doing okay. I've got a cool car. I'm balling at the fucking bar on Saturday night and I could buy a $500 dinner. And you think you got, maybe you got a boat, maybe you got a lake house,

who knows? But you're not fucking Donald Trump. Right. Okay. And you're that guy that's comfortable in that zone and you're not moving, you're going to fucking lose what you have. I really believe that a lot of people,

maybe the majority of the people who are listening deep in their hearts, don't believe what you're saying when you say, listen, you get to a point where, you know, having a Lamborghini or having a big, nice car, that that's not going to be enough. And if that's what you're driven by, it's just not going to, I don't think, I don't honestly think people believe you when you say that. But that's something you learn. Cause I wouldn't have believed that before I earned those things as well. But I'll be honest with you, you know, like those things to me, like I could care less if I had them or not now. I just it's not about that. Well, there are exceptions to this.

But if you think about the people there, I mean, think about like Bill Gates and then the way, you know, the late Steve Jobs, and you've said this before, it comes to a point where you've got enough money, but there's never a time where you, you've done enough good, right? You can always do more good for the world. You can always create more amazing things for the world. And if, and that's why that has to ultimately be your motivation as an entrepreneur. Cause if it's not, it's like you said, you had that moment where you had that sort of that gut check in your own life where you were watching Pacific Rim for 34 times or whatever. And you said. Look, and there is people.

I agree with you. But there is people out there just fucking greedy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's greed out there. For sure. But the reality is, is that the greedy, the greed era is coming to a close because of what we've talked about when we talked about small town when we talked on the small town america episode you know the greed era is coming to a close where people just can't fucking do

shit for money anymore there's got to be value created there's got to be problem solved there's got to be things more than just i'm doing this to make money otherwise it's going to be temporary you know and people argue that they'll argue with me and i just i usually don't even argue back because i'm like this guy doesn't fucking get it you know what i mean like one of the things my dad taught me was you know don't wrestle with pigs because you get covered in shit and the pigs like it right you know what i mean right right so like uh phrase i heard is uh a bulldog can whip a skunk any day but it just ain't worth it right exactly man you know so like you don't you don't see me arguing with people on instagram or the internet because honestly i don't give a fuck if you don't get it you don't get it yeah you know what i mean

yeah so but yeah to close it out you know guys look we're getting uh the point of this episode i mean we've been a little bit all over the place regarding entrepreneurship there's a couple points that i want to leave you guys with to think about number one not everybody is an entrepreneur and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with it. The media glorifies it. Like it's this awesome thing that everybody should be. And if you're not an entrepreneur, you're a fucking loser. Well, just remember 20 years ago, it was the opposite. If you're an entrepreneur, that means you're a dropout. You're going to be a piece of shit. You know, you're probably living in your, in your mom's basement. And, and it's just not, it's not what they make it seem to be you know you're

just seeing now instagram and facebook and like all these things glorify this thing called entrepreneurship when in reality guys you're seeing the two percent or the five percent of it that's awesome and you're in and you don't take into consideration 95 which is fucking hard work very hard okay and it's scary work and it's it's and it takes a special kind of person not everybody has it and that's okay if you don't have it you could still benefit in your position in life by learning how to think like an entrepreneur which is to constantly come at your task and at your company or at your organization with an idea of how do I improve? How do I make this better? How do I get more done and be more productive in the amount of time I

have? Because if you're in that mindset, you are going to create more value, which is going to create more, more value for you, which is going to ultimately command more pay for you, which is going to increase your lifestyle. You you, which is going to increase your lifestyle. You know, I always tell my guys every time we meet, you know, if you're one of these people who sits in the back corner of a, of a, of an organization and trying to figure out how to like get out of work and all this shit, you know, who are you really screwing over? Are you screwing over the company? Are you screwing over yourself? Because the reality is, is what you do on a daily basis is going to create habits and they're going to be good habits or they're going to be bad habits. And I have not seen one person ever in the history of

my experience of business be a half asser in our company or a fucking lazy, you know, motherfucker in our company who has gone from our company and then all of a sudden made success of themselves somewhere else. And people have the idea and they have the mentality of blaming them, the company for their position. When in reality, it's your fucking responsibility, whatever position you're in. Okay. You should be glad that you have a position to fill and you should come in at every day with passion, thinking of how to be more productive, how to add more value to your company so that you can earn more and move forward in your career and ultimately create productive habits in yourself, which are going to improve your life. Okay. And that's what being an

entrepreneur inside an organization means. So even though you may not, your name might not be on the building and you might not fucking have the magazine articles written about you. You're still an entrepreneur of you. Everybody has some sort of entrepreneurial DNA and unless it's 75, 70, 75%, you probably shouldn't aspire to be the dude with the name on his building because it's fucking really hard. But what you should aspire to do is to be the person who is the ultimate value-added person within an organization and you know what you can make damn good money doing that you can live a damn good life doing that absolutely i know guys that make millions of dollars a year being a super fucking value-added person inside an organization

because they took their role serious. And those guys also understand. Those guys I'm talking about that make millions of dollars a year within an organization, they understand that they're not the kind of person that should go out and fucking start their own thing. You see what I mean? But to your point, the key is you've got to figure out

what kind of person you are. Exactly. If you're an entrepreneur, then kill it. But if you're not, get out. Pretty much. Yeah. So listen, guys, I'm going to wrap it up here. I think we've given you guys enough to think about.

Real quick, I want to say thank you guys so much for the support with the MSCEO project. As we talked in the beginning of the episode, I just got back from our first workshop that we've done probably one of the top two coolest things that i've done um as an entrepreneur in my life uh the first the other or slash first one tied with would be summer smash that we did here at first form where we had all our customers come out but um totally productive weekend, guys. And I just want to say thanks for supporting what we're doing and being, you know, the lifeblood of what we're doing and actually just giving a fuck about what we have to say because I wouldn't have been able to have that experience if you didn't.

We sold out all 50 spots, like, within a day. And it was one of the most rewarding things i've ever done and i just hope that uh i hope you guys will continue to support we're doing and i just want to say thank you so much from from the bottom of my heart for for supporting us leaving us reviews recommending the podcast to friends uh reposting us you know it it's just it's starting to create a lot of momentum guys. And it's a lot of fun. And I think, I think it's a lot of good too. So absolutely. And if you want to check out this episode on our website, it's the MFCEO.com forward slash P 21. Cool. Yeah. So all right guys, we will, uh, we'll be back on Thursday. I'm not sure what we have coming up

on Thursday, but, um, we'll, we'll, we'll be back on Thursday. I'm not sure what we have coming up on Thursday, but we'll be back on Thursday, and we'll catch you then. Take it easy, guys. We'll be right back. Money never saves, gets you All I do is work