REAL AF with Andy Frisella - Sean Whalen's Critical Question, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO30

Episode Date: December 1, 2015

In business and life, are you a tugboat or a lighthouse?  That's Sean Whalen's critical question. A millionaire, entrepreneur, social media phenom, and founder of Lions Not Sheep, Whalen joins Andy Frisella for this episode of The MFCEO Project - and the two talk about everything from what ails American politics to a life that adds value.

Hey guys, this is Vaughn Kohler and you're listening to the MFCEO Project. Do you live your life as a lighthouse? Do you operate your business as a tugboat? Andy is joined in the studio by Sean Whalen, an entrepreneur, motivator, social media influencer, and a 2020 candidate for the President of the United States. If you're easily offended, stop listening right now. But if you're eager for intellectual stimulation, listen on. Hey guys, what's up? You're listening to the MFCEO Project. I'm Andy, and I am the motherfucking CEO.

I'm here with my co-host, Vaughn Kohler, otherwise known as DJ DJ God. Why two DJs? I don't know, it's just the way, it's like the effect. DJ DJ. Okay. Yeah, it's the bass. I like it. So, today is going to be cool. Uh, before we get going into our show, um, we're going to, it's going to be a, a content driven, awesome show. I'm excited to have, uh, my good buddy here, Sean Whalen. What's up brother? What's up man? All the way in from Utah. Boom. Utah. How many wives you got out there in Utah? I can't. I lost count. 47. What's today?

Tuesday? Yeah. I don't know. I have my Tuesday wives and my Wednesday wives. Yeah. So he's living a life out there in Utah while Vaughn is giving us lectures on religion here five minutes ago. Before we jump in, we got to hit the question of the day because Vaughn had a good one and

I wanted him to bring it up. So hit me with that question there yeah so we've gotten some people who are confused who maybe don't listen to the whole context of the show and they believe that you are hypocritical in saying that that on the one hand you need to be a good person and recognize that you're not the center of the universe okay the world does not revolve around you but then in another sense you tell people you need to be the mf ceo of your own life so what's the fucking question there so they think that that's they think that that's a contradictory contradiction in what way that i guess being the mf ceo of your own life means it's it's all about you you're the person who is the most important you and all your dreams and not doing being the the MFCEO of your life is about taking responsibility for your actions

and the results you produce and understanding that you are in control of the direction you go. Okay. And being diligent about that process on an hourly basis, not a daily basis, not a weekly basis, not three days of the month, on an hourly basis, being responsible for your own decisions. How does that equal a contradictory concept to putting other people first? If you're not in a situation that you could be your best, your most powerful, your strongest, okay, your most successful.

How can you possibly give the most or the best that you create to the rest of the world, okay? And if you can't understand that concept and you're sitting there wondering, you know, how Andy talked, because I think the exact words were Andy talks out of both sides of his mouth. If you're the person who wrote that in and you can't understand how it's important to be the best that you could possibly be so that you contribute the most that you could possibly contribute, you need to wear a fucking helmet while you listen to this podcast and don't hurt yourself. Well, and they clearly don't listen to all the episodes because the whole point is using

your responsibility to help other people. You probably shouldn't listen because they're too fucking stupid to comprehend the subject matter. That's true. Let's start with Dr. Seuss for you, homeboy. All right? Very true. All right. By the way, I also just got an email ripping on your xenophobia against refugees.

Oh, really? Yeah. Basically saying, Andy, your tirade against therian refugees is just the latest in the string of americans prejudice against you know at one point you know our guest today is irish at one point everybody was against irish and then another point in american history they were against this this this and so i mean they're essentially calling you a racist oh of course yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So moving on. And? Yeah. I mean, dude, what the fuck? I, you know, it again goes to the same subject that I just said two seconds ago.

I said, we've got to be our best. Just like I said, you've got to be your best to do your best for your people. We've got to be our best as a country and be strong the way that we can be strong. And we have 50 000 united states veterans on the fucking street and you're going to bring in these people from another country give them each 25 grand to get their life started when we've got these people who've sacrificed for the messages and the freedoms that we have here in the united states so that you know we can let them rot on the fucking street right we've got our own problems here.

And if you're a fucking bleeding heart and you can't understand that and you think that's racist, dude, you're fucking, you should wear a helmet too. Right. Right. Well, I'd like to also add his final words were get educated, bro. And I'd like to point this out is that there is a huge difference between immigrants and refugees.

And oh, by the way, he didn't even address the national security issue which is a very relevant component to the to the whole discussion so you get educated bro yeah all right you're the one listening to me brother not the opposite you know what i'm saying so if you don't like what i had to say stop fucking listening you know the reality is is amer America needs to stop being the knight in shining armor when their own shit isn't even in order. Right. Okay? If we get our own shit in order, if we have no homeless veterans on the street, we don't have problems with, you know, our own problems, which we have, fuck, what, 10,000 different problems here in the United States based on any given week? Let's eliminate all those problems,

and then if we get all that shit squared away, then we can talk about bringing in some refugees. Right. Let's talk about that. I think the thing that just... It's not a racist thing. No, I think the thing that irritates the daylights out of me is... Dude, the easiest thing now today is to point at somebody

and say, that guy's a fucking racist. Right. Because he doesn't agree with something. Right. You know what I mean? He doesn't agree that, you know, we should take in... You know, the dude who wrote that, he's probably fucking racist.

Right. You know what I mean? Well, honestly, again, the thing that drives me insane is that anybody who listened to you, how many times did you say, I feel bad for these people. I feel sorry for them. I do feel bad for them.

I want to show them compassion, but there are some objective issues you have to address. Well, there's ranks to the level of loyalty, compassion that I feel like I'm owed to people. I feel like we should show compassion to our own people first. Right. Let's get those people taken care of, and then we can take care of the other people. Right. Yeah. I don't

understand how that's hard to understand. Right. I don't understand. I mean, how does that make somebody a racist? Yeah. What do you think, Sean? It's true, man. I mean, my i mean how does that make somebody a racist yeah what do you think sean it's true man i i mean my philosophy with flying on sheep is a king eats first yeah plain and simple i mean why do you think when an airplane's crashing the very first thing they tell you to do is put your mask on first because if i'm dead i can't help my kids i can't help the guy in front of me the guy behind me and at the end of the day it's like you have to take care of you first period and so yeah you are the center of your universe i'm the center of my universe.

Right. Because if I'm gone, if I'm dead, if I'm done, like there is no more fucking universe. That's it. Right. So yeah, I am the center of my own universe. Well, and expanding that onto a macro level, you know, the United States needs to take care of the United States first. It's the exact same philosophy.

It's the exact same concept. If America is drowning and can't support itself financially, economically, socially. Let's put on our fucking. It's the exact same concept. If America's drowning and can't support itself financially, economically, socially... Let's put on our fucking life jacket before we start putting our belts on. We got to put our mask on, get out of debt,

take care of our own people before all of a sudden we open up to taking on everybody else. That has nothing to do with... It's not racism. No, it has nothing to do with... It's common sense. ...liking or disliking another race.

It has to do with, dude, we've got to take care of priority number one. And then once priority number one is taken care of, priority number two is taken care of. So bro, whoever wrote that in, if you can't understand those concepts, the problem with people like bro here who wrote in and wrote this thing

is that they think they fucking know everything. And whenever you think you know everything, what happens? You lose the inability to to listen you lose the ability to learn and i feel sorry for that person because they're going to go through their life believing a set of beliefs that aren't true and they're going to fucking be very frustrated and probably broke too right right so so who's this guy you brought into the studio this fucking bearded uh hipster the hipster dude he got asked this morning on aiscope if he was a hipster. Dude, I wore my skinny jeans just for today. You know what I mean?

There you go. So, Sean, real quick, let's, you know, a lot of people know who you are. There's a lot of people listening that probably don't. You guys are going to love what he has to say. I know that you're going to vibe with it. Just tell us a little bit about, you know, your background, your story and, and, you know, where, how you got where you are now. Yeah, cool, man. So I started back in the real estate game. I've been always been an entrepreneur ever since I was a little kid. I was the kid with the paper route and, and you know what I mean? Hustle in the neighborhood and I'd go knock on the

neighbor's doors and I'd say, Hey, we'll mow your grass for five bucks. And so then I'd pay my, my buddies $2 to do it. And I'd keep the three, you know what I mean? Hustle in the neighborhood and I'd go knock on the neighbor's doors and I'd say, Hey, we'll mow your grass for five bucks. And so then I'd pay my buddies $2 to do it. And I'd keep the three, you know what I mean? So I've been an entrepreneur ever since I can remember and built a real estate empire by the time I was 26 and made tons of money and fast forward to 30, burned it all to the ground, walked away from an 11 year marriage from 170 employee, $20 million a year company and spent a a couple years in what I like to call my wilderness trying to figure out who the hell I am where I fit in this universe how I'm gonna contribute to this thing called life and and here we are man I just I found my voice I found my message I got really comfortable like we've been

talking about authenticity right I just got really comfortable being authentic realizing like one of the things that I train my guys and teach my guys on is your mess is your message. Like that philosophy of understanding that your mess is your message. Most people shy away from that. Most people are scared about the things that they fucked up. Most people are scared to talk about their quote unquote failures. But at the end of the day, like there's no Ivy league school on the planet. I could have gone to Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford. There's nothing that would have taught me. There's no Ivy League school on the planet. I could have gone to Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford. There's nothing that would have taught me. There's no school that would have taught me what I know about economics, having built a multimillion dollar empire, crashed it all to the ground, burn it all the ground, went through a freaking bankruptcy, lost 12 and a half million dollars,

and then rebuilt it. There's nothing that would have taught me about love and marriage, about my own compassion to another woman, then spending 11 years with a woman, burning the marriage to the ground and ultimately, you know, figuring out how the hell to come back from that. So, you know, I'm kind of a living testament of what it's like to live life to the extreme and figure out both sides of the coin, both the successes and also the failures. You know, the one for those of you that don't know, if you're not following Sean on social media, you need to follow him. He's got a huge following on Facebook, Sean Whalen.

Spell your name for him just so they know. S-E-A-N-W-H-A-L-E-N. Okay, and then it's at Sean underscore Whalen on Instagram, right? Yeah, so it's Facebook.com forward slash S, as in Sam Whalen is my Facebook. Yeah. So, guys, the thing is, him and I got to be basically just friends on Facebook because we were sharing each other's stuff, liking each other's info,

and I pay attention to everything that you do, and I love watching your Periscopes. And one of the things I think is interesting that I completely, 100%, want to slap people in the fucking face when they say this. They'll say, well, what do you have to know? You fucking lost everything. Dude, I would rather talk to somebody who's gone and built, lost, and then rebuilt shit than somebody who's started from the bottom, built shit, and then just maintained a certain level of you know complacency of success you know you have to go through these times to learn we talk about this on the podcast so much is that the value of life and the value of the experience is comes from the bad shit it

doesn't come from the good shit it comes from the bad shit you know um most's biggest experiences, most people's biggest breakthroughs in life that I've found, and this is true for me, have come in the darkest times. Oh, dude, I agree. So it's when they go through a divorce, when you have that coming to Jesus, when you lose money, when a loved one dies, when you have an accident, a fire. Those are the turning points and those are the experiences. But the thing that I tell my guys all the time, and I'm a firm believer in, is every day we're going to war, right? In one way or another, that's kind of my sign-off on a lot of my stuff on social media is wage war, and people ask me, why do you say wage

war? It's because every single day, I mean, I'm waging war against mediocrity, I'm waging war against my own mind, I'm waging war, and it really is a war. I mean, there is a good and a bad, there is a right and a wrong, there is an evil, and there's a light and a darkness, but the thing that I always consider is, if I had to go to war today, like literally to war, and I had two options, to partner up with and bring somebody into my platoon, if you will, all of these newbie, you know, West Point grads, they've got clean pants, their guns are nice and oiled, their shirts are pressed, boots are shiny, or I take the dude who just got back from Afghanistan who's got blood on his uniform, his boots are muddy as shit, his guns had 10,000 rounds put through it. Who do you want to go to

war with? Who do you want in your platoon? Who do you literally want by your fucking side as you're going out every single day? And that's how I live my life. I realized that I'm the dude who's been down that path, who's got the blood on his freaking uniform muddy ass boots and i've shot my gun a shit ton of times and so those are the guys that i want in my corner the guys who have had the experience of building it losing it building it losing him i mean in every single facet from relationships to money to sex to politics the people that have been involved and actually had the freaking experience right to to show versus theory. Theory is bullshit, man.

Theory is bullshit. Theory is total bullshit. Just like this kid's question of Mr. Fucking Bro Man five minutes ago. Good theory, bro. Just like I said in the podcast, it's nice to think that we can take care of everybody. It's a nice thought. It's not reality okay so if mr bro bro you know if you can't understand there's a difference between theory and real

fucking life you know and that goes for so many things not just politics not just business not just religion it's everything there's a there's a theoretical way to do it there's a theoretical way to run a government and there's a reality well that's you know and that's where we're at with our society that's where we're at with our government is theory is let's try all this let's do this dude it sounds good right this is all the shit that hey let's that sounds really good but none of it fucking works no and at the end of the day like you get people with practical application like guys who have i mean america is a company let's like not pretend that it's not it's the largest corporation on the planet plain and simple done and done more employees more revenue more taxes more the whole thing but yet we run it as like a social

almost like a handout a gimme a charity of you know what that is it's a fucking business so treat it as a business that's fucking that's dude all that is is smoke and mirrors it's like hey let's fucking throw out all these feel-good stories over here you pay attention to these stories these are the stories we pay the media to tell right okay uh gay marriage abortion uh all the shootings all shootings guns gun laws yeah all this shit pay attention here so that we can fucking steal it from you over here. Okay? And that's what people don't get. So everybody gets riled up about these social issues,

and they don't even understand things that are important to their well-being on this earth, like such things as income tax laws or a million other fucking things that would happen. There were, there were in 2014 and 2014, there were 44,000 new laws put on the books. That's not, that's not the gospel. According to me, that's like straight out of the government's website. There were 44,000 new pieces of legislation and laws put on the books in 2014. When you stop and think about that, like how in the, how in God's name does that make sense? I mean, we have a tax code that's what, 14,000, 15,000 pages deep? And at the end of the day, we're bitching and moaning about corporations going overseas.

I mean, you're a capitalist. I'm a capitalist. I'm going to business. You're going to business. So I care about what taxes I pay. And we have this society of- Dude, most people don't even know what fucking tax bracket they're in. No, they have no idea.

They have no idea. They show up and they go to H&R Block and pay him a hundred dollars to figure out who knows what about their money my two grand bags yeah exactly go buy a fucking stereo system geeked up like dude i'm getting my tax return back and they're like that's your fucking money like you don't understand like that's your money man and you're looking at it like a charity like a handout from the government that's your shit bro but like that's the thing that people don't realize is that we've built this massive institution of complexity in every single level social economic i mean religious it's just this massive ball of confusion our own politicians don't have any clue i mean you watch them be

questioned about what's going on with laws and regulations they have no damn clue but yet they'll vote up and down and this and that and the other and it's just like like, dude, we've created this monster and it's like the snowball rolling down the hill and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And at some point in time, like that shit's got to hit a brick wall and just blow it up. And that's kind of what my idea is. Like we got to build a brick wall so that this snowball smashes into it. And ultimately, like it's just like what we've talked about, bro. It's kind of like I had to burn my entire business to the ground to truly understand what capitalism was. I had to walk away arrogantly, egotistically, from an 11-year marriage, a 16-year relationship,

to truly understand who the fuck I was in a relationship, like what my job and role was as a man, as a provider, as a patriarch. We've got to burn this shit to the ground because at the end of the day— Wait, you mean you're not supposed to just get married and just fucking sit there for 60 years yeah which is what most people do you know your dick falls off after five years right you know i don't know about that like how does that work like six years then i'm just saying like you die a long slow agonizing yeah man yeah dude here's my thing like this is what irritates me is like how

to me like when i look at it and you and I have talked about this, and Vaughn, you and I have talked about this too, to how frustrating it is that the average American can't see what's happening to them in terms of the two parties, the liberals and the Republicans, trying to force people to identify with one or the other and then and then force people to communicate in a way that makes total division happen. Yeah. Instead of communicating in a way of making a logical, valid argument that takes into consideration other people's views. Like, for example, Mr. Bro again, I'll bring him up. This is a good theme. Dude, you're going to make him Internet famous. Dude, dude look don't put his name on here or else he's gonna

end up with more followers on facebook than me yeah so dude the thing is is like i understand what he's trying to say right but he just happens to be fucking wrong right you know what i mean like well he speaks from an from an educate quote-unquote education that is social which is what cnn fox abc nbc tabloids are teaching you right and and that's the problem is like when when when we start when we converse you and i are talking deeper level shit like most people believe what they read in the papers most they don't realize that that paper is a corporation and their job is to sell you shit like cnn's job is to get your eyeballs on their network

so they will tell you what they feel is going to be the most stimulating to get the eyeballs on there. So typically, 99.999% of the time, it's just inflated,

crazy shit. But the message is designed to fucking separate the American people. Exactly, which is why people use Fox News as quote-unquote the conservative, whatever. Dude, they're just as fucking corrupt and crooked to fucking separate the america people exactly which is why like people use like fox news again that is quote unquote the conservative whatever dude they're just as fucking corrupt and crooked

as cnn is the other way it doesn't matter dude the republican party the democrat party they're they're broken they're fractured they're fractured from inside communication and saying like hey don't you think all this is fucked up yeah you know i'm saying that's what you don't hear right you don't hear people and you don't hear smart people saying it either you hear it like you know you you they take the dumbest motherfuckers they can find and they put them on the tv like like that chick who was who was representing we both i think we both shared that video of this chick who was like we're demanding 15 an hour and we want this shit and we want that shit and dude that that dude ate her ass up he

goes who's gonna pay for that she goes well i don't know she goes well that's a good question yeah well do you think you should have but here's the thing that's crazy she's in college right i mean she's going to college she's spending money her parents are spending money to send her ass to college she's on the platform talking about economics and she has no fucking clue what she's talking about she literally doesn't even hasn't thought through any of that stuff but that's again the media just just creating this insanity and this excitement of dude jump on this bandwagon of go down this path there's no substance behind it there's no education behind it there's no sound logic or reason behind it and and it's just like that's the society that we live in.

That's the world that we've come to is literally like common sense is gone, bro. Like common sense, like one plus one doesn't equal two anymore in America. It's like, look, like going to the refugees thing. Look, here's the deal. These people need us. So we're going to spend billions of dollars helping these refugees. All the while, we're going into more and more and helping these refugees all the while we're going into more and more and more and more and more debt as a country logically common sense tells you

that's a stupid fucking investment that's just a bad investment from a capitalist standpoint from a democratic standpoint from a democracy standpoint that's just a bad investment you're going into more debt to do what to do what no because it feels good because it feels good yeah like the unfortunate reality of life is that sometimes like economics and feeling good don't they don't match they don't mesh up and that's the problem well and what it's built and that's where my my issue with people usually comes up is that they will pick like initially you've got okay two choices in front you've got you've got what's, two choices in front of you. You've got,

you've got what's good for what's good for the money. What's good for your, the, the country. What's good for the economy. You've got what feels good. Okay. So you got a B.

If you put those two choices in front of most people, including somebody like me, my initial choice is going to say, Hey, I really feel for these people. Yeah. You want to help people out. I feel bad for a lot of the refugees.

They're in a really, really shitty situation. Terrible. You know what I mean? But at the end of, you want to help people out. I feel bad for a lot of the refugees. They're in a really, really shitty situation. Terrible. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, the plane's crashing. Everybody's going down. Let's look at it from that scenario. The refugees are on the plane.

I'm on the plane. You're on the plane. Everybody's on the plane, and that shit is crashing. What do you do? Let's just talk logical common sense. Do you get up out of your seat and put everybody else's mask on and then collapse over dead? Like, this is real shit. This is common sense fucking conversation. Dude, I got it. The reality is and put everybody else's mask on and then collapse over dead like this is real this is common sense fucking conversation i got it the reality is i got to

put my mask on first to ensure that i have even a slight chance of helping these people before the fucking plane hits the ground but what the logic of the media and the logic of of the government is let's save and put everybody else's masks on first. And then hopefully, hopefully we're not. I'm not dead. So maybe I'll put my mask on. It doesn't make economic sense. Social sense. It doesn't fucking make sense.

Any way you look at it. The scary thing is, is that people really fucking believe that shit. Yeah, it's crazy. Like, right. Like, I don't understand how you could honestly believe that we don't need to take care of our own fucking people first. Instead of taking care of the rest of the world. That doesn't make you insensitive. It makes you more sensitive. I'm more sensitive to a man or a woman

who has volunteered and sacrificed their time and our armed services for us than I am for some motherfuckers from the other side of the world. I'm sorry. If that makes me fucking insensitive, you're a fucking idiot. Yeah, but here's the thing. Like, you could demify it. And I don't mean to disrespect anybody, but there's intelligence levels.

There's people that have actually studied and know certain things that other people don't. So let's create a really, really simple idea and a concept around this. We're all on the plane. Like, literally, we're all on the same fucking plane and this shit's going down. What do you do? You ask any human being, I don't care if you're black, white, Puerto Rican, Mexican, I don't care if you're a Syrian refugee, I don't care if you're an Islamist extremist, a Christian extremist. We're all on the same plane and we're all going, this shit's going down. What do you choose? Are you going to put my mask on first, or are you going to put your mask on first?

And common sense logic, logic, when people stop bullshitting themselves and stop bullshitting everybody else is, I'm going to put my mask on first. The black guy is, the white guy is, the Mexican guy is, they're all going to put their own masks on first. But see, right here is what you just said. When you stop bullshitting,

because the reason people fucking say, oh, I'm going to put everybody else's mask on first, is because they want everybody else. We talked about this at dinner last night. They want everybody else to look at them and say, oh, you're such a noble person. You're full of shit. Well, the reality is, what if the government came right now and said, okay, America, here's the deal, which is how this should work.

There's a bunch of refugees. Let's play the devil's advocate for a second. Like we're going to bring a hundred thousand people in and it's going to cost, you know, whatever it is, $25,000 ahead to do this deal. So here's, here's the deal, American people. And this is how it should work. We're going to tax you X amount of dollars per, this is what your taxes are going to go up. You're going to have to pay this out of your checks out of whatever whatever like if you if you bring that logic common sense into it what's what are people going to say they're going to actually try and educate themselves

they're going to be like well shit now i got to pay these people but instead we built a society and a culture which is dude just pass the buck to somebody else yeah yeah just put it on our tab like let's let china pay for that shit or let's let somebody else pay for that this is logical common sense bro this is economics 101 you go to an american and say okay cool you're all for bringing in the refugees great it's going to cost you a thousand dollars to bring in a refugee let's take this i guarantee you every single one of those people are going to go oh shit wait a second all these motherfuckers that are writing in saying oh it's a great idea blah blah blah all right you get to take care of one refugee and they get to come yeah let them come live in your house they come live in your house you gotta feed them and pay for their shit now let's see who fucking wants exactly that's common sense that's that's like

that's quote unquote what you know bro yeah so dude god bless america god bless america dude we've got this good talk going. You've got a cool story that I really enjoy, and I want you to tell everybody. You've got this cool tattoo on your... We're both fans of tattoos, good tattoos. I'm not a fan of bad tattoos, but great tattoos are awesome. Do you have a yin-yang somewhere, don't you? You were like that college kid who got drunk one night

and put yin-yang on your back. Do you have a tramp stamp bro yeah dude it says shoot here no dude it i've i waited till i could afford good tattoos before i've got any but be uh you got this cool tattoo of a lighthouse recently on your arm and there's a cool story that goes with it i i would like you to share the story with everybody now cool man we'll get talking about that yeah for sure so um about two years ago a good friend mentor a dear friend of mine jesse uh elder he he shared this story with me about the tugboat in the lighthouse and and it was this idea and this concept of of um at the time i didn't really apply it i didn't't really get it. It didn't make sense to me in the context of my own world. It just was like a cool story. And he talked about

what the tugboat and the lighthouse do, and both of them save ships. I mean, that's what their job is. Their job is to basically save ships, give information, I mean, help move them where they need to go, so on and so forth. And it wasn't until about six months ago, I was at Jesse's house in Austin, and he shared it with me again, and it was like that epiphany, right? Like the light bulb just went on in my head, like, holy shit, dude. This is my calling, because we've talked about this, like growing this social empire. And I've got all these followers now and a lot of people that are listening to what I'm saying, and it's humbling, it's flattering, and I'm trying to kind of figure out where I'm going with this. And, uh, and he shared the,

the, the story again. And really the concept is it's really simple. I've got an opportunity every single day to do one of two things. And I lived a majority of my life as a, as a tugboat. I was going out trying to save everybody, all my family members and all of my friends. And everybody's got this problem and that problem. And this guy needs money and this guy needs time and this guy needs this. And, and I'm going out and coming back and going out and coming back and going out and coming back, trying to save everybody. And really what I was doing is burning myself out. I mean, at the end of the day, the tugboats, their engines got to get replaced. They need shit tons of maintenance and all this kind of stuff because they're going out and coming back, going out, coming back, trying to save everybody. As opposed to the lighthouse,

where the lighthouse literally stands in one spot and it has one job, shine its light. And the cool part is the boats have the same opportunity. Like you can heed the light, you can see the light, you can experience it and you can realize there's rocks over here and you have the ability to make your own choice, which is I'm either going to heed the light and I'm going to follow the direction that I need to go to get around the rocks, around the danger, around whatever that, you know, that problem is, or I'm going to ignore it and I'm just going to, I'm going to crash. I'm going to run my ass into the rocks. And it really, really, really blew my mind. It completely shifted my paradigm. I'm a big Steve Covey fan and seven habits, finally affected

people. He talks about the paradigm and he shows that picture of, of, um, at the very beginning of his book where half the room sees an old lady and the other half of the room sees the young beautiful woman and and it just it I realized that like I've got as we all do as every single person listening to this podcast as you do as I do and you know I've talked about this I've got a daily option and and and the option is to go out and try and save the world one person at a time and just literally grind my ass off trying to save everybody, convince everybody, sell everybody, like have everybody believing what I'm saying and drinking the juice, if you will, or the path that's far more effective is

to stand in one spot and just shine my light. And dude, it completely changed my life. I mean, the story that it had so much impact on me that I literally tattooed it on my arm because I've chosen both in my, in my relationships, in my business, in, in what I'm doing in the world. And what I feel like my calling is, is to be this lighthouse and to just stand and to shine my light and, and let people use their agency, let people make their own decision. I mean, it's, it's, that's, what's cool about it is like, I love everybody regardless. You know what I mean? Whether you heat it, whether you don't, whether you crash, whether you don't, like I'm okay either way, there's no judgment on the decisions that people make, but I have a job and I have a responsibility. And instead of chasing everyone down and trying to solve every damn

problem, which I can't solve anything. And it's just like the airplane story. I mean, at the end of the day, I ended up crashing and I don't have my mask on. I choose to stand as a lighthouse every single day with, with what I feel, what I speak about, what I share, how I run my business, how I treat my children, how I treat my girlfriend, you know, how I interact with business partners, the whole thing. It's, it's, I realizing that like, it's far more effective to be a lighthouse than it is to be a tugboat. And, and, you know, it's, it's really, it's really changed my life, man. Yeah. I think, you know, there's so many, uh, ways to think about that story in regards to just, you know, personal life, personal relationships, um, leadership and business is one thing that comes to my mind when I think about that, because for a long time and being an entrepreneurial

podcast, you know, I've got to tie this back into the business aspect for a long time, and being an entrepreneurial podcast, I've got to tie this back into the business aspect. For a long time, man, I used to spend 80% of my time with the 20% of employees that were trouble, that had problems, that had issues, personal issues. And I would spend all my good time with those 20% as opposed to rewarding the 80% that are doing a great job with my time. Right. You see what I mean? Oh yeah. And I would burn myself out. I would be frustrated. I was miserable, uh, depression. I mean, everything you could think

about bad because you're surrounding yourself 24 seven with negativity and solving issues and trying to fix things and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you just don't, nobody has enough energy to do that. Well, and you run yourself ragged. And that's something that I realized like in my brand and the company that I own, that I just launched Lions Not Sheep, I realized like I would go out and I would try and convince people why they needed to work with me. And I would go out and it's like every sales guy listening to this is out trying to gut out these sales, right. And trying to convince all of these people, whether it's lies or truth or whatever, you're just trying to sell somebody to give you their

money. And I realized like, why am I doing that, man? It was so frustrating. I'd get on sales calls and I'd talk to people that want to come to the lines on sheep experience. And it's like, you know, Oh, here's, here's all the great things that are going to happen in this and the other. And, and once this clicked in my brain and once, you know, the message from Jesse really like resonated with me, I realized like it's completely different ballgame now where I'm shining my light. And so when I get on sales calls now and I talk to people and people that are interested in consulting with me and working with me, so on and so forth, I mean, why should I work with you? Like it's complete paradigm shift in the sense that you've seen my

light. You're contacting me to work with me, talk to me. You, you want something that I've got. I'm shining my light to the point where you're attracted to that and you want to know more. So dude, my, my entire world, like from a business perspective, you know, when you, when you think about going out every single day and trying to gut out a sale, everybody, all the sales guys listen to this. Everybody's trying to build a business. You got two options. Try and chase every damn client down, tugboat, tugboat, tugboat, or stand in one spot, shine your light. And so when that person calls you to get your supplements, to get this, to get that for your consulting, for your sales, it's just like one of the best car salesmen I know. His name is Jesse.

He works in Mercedes Benz in Utah the coolest freaking dude ever has never asked me to buy a car has never whatever always sends me like the new cars that he's got coming in he's just always telling me about all the cool shit happening with Mercedes he's the guy like when I think about buying a Mercedes whatever I don't give a shit if somebody in China and wants to buy a car I'm like you got to call Jesse because he's the lighthouse of Mercedes that's just who he is how he is and so I look at it from the perspective of when I get on the phone now with clients and I teach guys this, I teach sales training. I talked to, you know, entrepreneurs about how to effectively run their business as a lighthouse versus a tugboat. It's so much easier to get on the phone and to ask

somebody, why are you calling me? What do you want from me? Then to be like, okay, bro, here's my sales pitch. Let me tell you how it's going to go down. But it's the same thing in our marriages and and and relationships and shit like that trying to like go home and all right babe i'm going to solve all your problems today versus standing in one spot as a as an alpha male as a masculine dude as a king as a lion and being like all right babe i got it i'm gonna stand as a lighthouse i'm gonna shine my light i appreciate that you had a shitty day but i'm not gonna chase you down the rabbit hole i'm not gonna go down whatever i'm gonna stand here and be that rock be that immovable lighthouse that immovable object it's the same thing with your kids with your

fitness every level bro the rabbit hole you know that's something that you know i think when i was younger and when i when we first started having employees to manage in my younger management years, I used to get that sucked in that gravel hole so hard, dude, because I felt for people. These people were the people who went to battle for my company. They went to battle for me. And if they were having problems at home, you know, I wanted to help them. If they were having problems with their kids, I wanted to help them. You know, if they were having problems with a substance, I wanted to help them if they were having problems at with their kids I wanted to help them you know if they were having problems with a substance I wanted to help them and so I would get sucked down all these holes and it would take away from me and what I could do for the rest of the people that

worked for us and where I thought I was doing a noble thing what I was really doing is a selfish thing because I was I was taking away from the people who actually deserve to have my time. Okay. And I was also taken away from the people I cared about, my close friends, my, my family, you know what I mean? Um, and I'd spent all this time, you know, when I first, when you first told me that story, I, I had already thought that through. I'd never heard it put in those terms. You know what I mean? And I remember I thought all the times that I've been the tugboat in terms of business where I've just spent all this time trying to save individuals. And when I stopped doing it and I just started being an example,

like everybody says, and Vince Lombardi's whole leadership style is, what's his quote? Leading by example is not the best way. It's the only way. You know, when I started building the best me in my career and the best things that I could do in my business, those other people followed. Yep. And they came along. And they strengthened themselves and improved themselves. themselves so instead of me having to go out and put all this effort into developing all these

young people one by one by one when they saw that i was developing and i was progressing and i was improving they followed by doing the same thing and i think you know the light to me the lighthouse in the tugboat ultimately represents setting the best example possible for other people to follow and that's how you and I connected with social media. I mean, I was looking at you in the first couple, first couple, I think it might've been Instagram, whatever videos I'm like, dude, who's this guy? He's kind of this cocky, arrogant, arrogant guy.

But then all of a sudden I'm like, wait a second, that's who I am too. I'm this cocky, arrogant guy, right? But then, you know, that's how you've built your company. And what people don't realize, again, this goes back to the conversation we've been having about like the social demographic, how things are changing is, is people think that me spending time with me, me building me is selfish and that I should be giving the world that i strengthen myself the the better you do with your fitness you know what i'm saying the better the better andy does with with the company with

everything else that's the lighthouse because all the employees have two options follow like heed the light that you're shining or run into the rocks and at the end of the day you're cool either way like i feel for you bro and i feel that you're going through this experience but my job is to stand as the lighthouse. And ultimately the reason you want to be a tugboat is because you want to help people. You know, it's in your heart to help people. Right.

You know, you know, people say cocky, arrogant. That's just my tone of voice. You know what I mean? Ultimately, dude, I want everybody. It's a gift though, bro. Like we've been given a gift that people call it copy your arrogance, but that's a, that's a straight up gift that you and I have been have been blessed with yeah i mean it's just it's just a different way of communicating than most people are used to but the reality of it is

is that you know if you're one of these people that wants to help everyone and save everyone dude what saves more a one one tugboat or one lighthouse exactly one lighthouse save a thousand times more exactly and be a thousand times more effective at finishing that job than just a single tugboat. So here's the question that I have. And you can't be a fleet of tugboats. You can only be one. Exactly. Here's the question I have for both of you.

And by asking this question, I'm going to risk being pedantic and restating the obvious. I don't even know what that means, Vaughn. Little words, bro. Little words. Sorry, man. I've got to get edumacated, bro. So we obviously go to great lengths on this podcast to avoid cliche, to avoid all the jargon that a lot of the other business and success podcasts use.

But as you were talking, Sean, with this analogy or this metaphor of the lighthouse and the tugboat, is this in marketing terms? Are you basically talking about inbound marketing and outbound? Dude, it's, it's, it's everything like what I'm realizing. And this is, this is applicable to every single person listening to this. You are your own brand. I don't give a shit if you work for the man or if you are the man that's new though. Like people, we talk about this before. Yeah. Everybody is their own brand. Okay. And you, you know, you hear Gary V talking about this all the time. People who are not and have not under started to understand that they're their own brand, okay? And you hear Gary Vee talking about this all the time. People who are not and have not started to understand

that they're their own brand are behind the curve, okay? What are you going to hire as an employee? Are you going to hire a guy who is- Looks the same as everybody else, talks the same as everybody else, is the same as everybody else? Shares fucking cartoon memes? Or are you going to fucking hire the guy

with the same skills skills except on social media he has influencer he's he's an influencer in his circle which one are you going to hire yeah last one yeah yeah right and that's the way it is and people are like well it doesn't matter to me because i'm just an employee no brother it fucking matters yeah and like you know i what i hear when i think about because like you know what i said said in the beginning, that story is so applicable to so many different things. I personally relate it most to the employee-employer relationship and the culture building. But you can equally apply that to, like we've talked, relationships with your spouse, your significant other, your friends. We've all got those friends that constantly are in shit,

that we love them, but they drag us down. You know what I mean? And eventually, dude, you've either got to make the decision that you're going to be a lighthouse or you're going to go down the fucking hole with them. And that's your only two choices. But I think in business, when you think about the lighthouse and the tugboat, and let's say like what he was talking about,

making the sales calls and this and that, I think there's, there's definitely a progression to that. You know, when you're a young guy and you're an outside salesman, if you don't go out and fucking hustle in the beginning and you're going to have to grow into being a lighthouse, you know what I mean? Um, a lot of guys will go out there in their hustle and they'll keep hustling and hustling and hustling and hustling and hustling, and they'll never let their reputation build them to a point of being a lighthouse where all of a sudden people are calling you. You know what I mean? They'll just keep doing the, I call it squirrel mentality.

They just keep looking for the nut, and that's it. Oh, there's one over here. Oh, there's one over here. Oh, there's one over here oh there's one over here there's one over here and it's short-term thinking as opposed to let's say you're a sales guy and you go out and you make 10,000 phone calls in your first two years okay and you see 10,000 people and you do such a fucking great job with these people that they all of a sudden are referring their friends now you don't have to go out and be the tugboat now you start working on becoming that lighthouse so that all these people that that you've worked with your first two or three years are residual okay and now you come you know you

become representative of that structure and that foundation where you don't have to go chase everything and i think i mean correct me if i'm wrong on that but that's how i tie that yeah no it's like i don't want people i don't want the young dudes i call them the young bucks here on the show yeah i don't want the young dudes. I call them the young bucks here on the show. Yeah. I don't want the young bucks thinking like, Hey, I could just be a lighthouse from day one because dude, it takes time to develop. Yeah. You got to hustle.

There's no question you have to hustle. But the thing that, the thing that every person, they're called Astro coals and the fucking Astro coal is somebody who will look at this thing and they'll say, Sean said, I could just be a lighthouse. I don't make any fucking sales calls. Yeah. That's what they'll say. Well, and here's the thing.

The hustle game, I mean, it's all applicable, but this is the beauty of the story, of the analogy, of the entire thing, is every single experience that you and I go through, and I don't give a shit if you're at the top of the food chain, bottom of the food chain, if you're driving the rolls, if you're driving a Toyota Camry,

it doesn't fucking matter. Every single person listening to this can ask themselves one simple question every day with every single experience, whether it's with your kids, whether it's with your wife, whether it's with your business, every single thing is what I'm doing right now. Lighthouse or tugboat is what I'm doing right now. Is this move? Is this email? Is this deal? Is this sales call? Is this, this action with my girlfriend, with my wife, with my kids? What I'm doing right now, is this lighthouse or tugboat?

Because you know the analogy. You know the difference. Am I trying to go out and save the fucking world, trying to be a tugboat? Or is this move right now shining light so that eventually the dividend is what? A greater, stronger relationship with the girl, a freaking increased business deal, a promotion, an additional sale. Every person, no matter what level you're on right now has the option and the ability to ask that simple question. Is this a lighthouse or a tugboat move? Well, think about it too. Here's something we haven't talked about. And we've talked about the story a few times you and I have,

you know, there's a lot of power in not reacting as well. You know what I mean? And like, dude, when you're in negotiations or when you're in business or when you're in a situation, like what I was always taught, and you just met my dad. My dad's the OG, man. Like, he's an old school business guy. And he always taught me, man, when you don't know what to do, you fucking do nothing. You know, and that's another example that could fit right on that lighthouse analogy. You know, you stay still. you know and that's another example that could fit right on that lighthouse analogy you know you well that's the thing if the boat comes in and crashes the lighthouse doesn't do anything it doesn't move it doesn't like get out the freaking save the boat kit it just stands there and that's

the thing that that a lot of people don't and we talked about this like with social media i'm realizing like the more lighthouse the more the more shit that i'm posting that's like lighthouse that's true authentic to me the more my following grows but at the same time you have to have i mean the storm's got to come for the lighthouse to be effective right if you stop and think about it the storm has to come for the lighthouse to actually have a place in use if it's a bright sunny day that's cool it's really pretty and it looks great standing there but it doesn't do its job the lighthouse does its its best fucking work when the storm is raging the lighthouse is the most effective when the storm is raging and this

transitions to what we've been talking about with politics and the country and the nation like when the shit is hitting the the fan when the storm is raging when the wind a hurricane the whole thing that's the time that the hurricane that the lighthouse becomes the most effective that's the time that every boat looks for one thing the lighthouse every boat out on the ocean when the shit is hitting the fan when the storm is raging every boat is looking for the lighthouse every boat's trying to find that light period now whether they heat it whether they whether they make their own decision but every single look person's looking for the light so i look at it from every single facet of life man to what i talk about with politics, with religion, with business, with sex,

with the whole thing. That is the job of the lighthouse is to be in the middle of that shit storm and shine its light. Dude, so many different ways we could talk about this. Another way I'm thinking of just as I'm sitting here is, you know, how many people are afraid to even be the best that they could be or to let their light shine for fear of what people are going to say about them. You know what I mean? You're never going to be significant in life unless you develop your own ability to shine your light in your own way. And I mean, we talk about that a lot too. You know, it's about how to handle criticism, how to handle,

um, you know, quote unquote hate, you know, all these things. I mean, it's just, it's just such a good analogy for so many things. I think, you know, I think in a business setting, I think the best way that you could apply it if you're listening in a small business is to understand that when you have employees, because I believe that managing employees is the hardest job you could ever fucking have ever. If you want your people to be effective, if you want them to win, if you want them to work hard, you have to set the example for that, for that progress. You can't just go out and try to, you know, pull every single person up to your level. It's just, it's, it's, it's, it's a battle of, it's a battle you cannot win. You know what I mean? Um, I don't know, man. I just dig, I just dig the whole analogy. It's just something that I

think resonates so well in, in every aspect. Yeah. That simple question though, man, I'm telling you it changed my world. It totally changed my world when i really understood it when it really like hit my brain you know what i'm saying that that light bulb when that moment when you're like holy shit that's what this means i've heard it before i've been talking about it but but i realized like everything that i do every single thing that i do every conversation i have every action that i make everything that i do i'm asking myself is this lighthouse is this myself, is this lighthouse, is this tugboat? Is this lighthouse, is this tugboat? And it's really simple. If it's tugboat shit, it's simple to make the decision not to do it. You know what I'm saying? But you break it down to the simplest form. It's a way to prioritize. Exactly. You literally ask yourself that

question on every single thing that I'm doing. This conversation I'm having with my wife. You wife, you know what I'm saying? With my girlfriend, is this, what am I, what, what the words that are about to come out of my mouth? Is this lighthouse or is this tugboat shit with my kids? My kids are losing their fucking marbles, right? They're bouncing off the walls and I want to like throw them through a window kind of a deal. What I'm going to do right now is this lighthouse or is this tugboat shit, the business thing. I mean, every single facet. The post that I'm going to make on Facebook. The shit that I'm going to post on Instagram. Is this lighthouse or is this tugboat? I mean, you've been really good at that, bro.

Like, you're posting lighthouse shit all the time, which is why you have the following that you do, which is why you put the business that you do. I didn't always do that. Exactly. Neither did I. Neither did I. I mean, that was a progression, you know?

I love you bringing up the social media aspect and i want to circle back to the aspect of everybody being their own brand you know we don't talk about that enough on is it and i kind of leave that up to gary because i think most people listen here also listen to gary v and he's very good at you know that's his bread and butter. But people, you guys have to realize, man, and I'm speaking to you. Yeah. Like every single person listening. I don't care if you have one follower or one million followers or a hundred million followers. You have to start thinking of yourself as your own brand, because I'm going to tell you something.

The first thing I do when people apply to come work here or say, hey, bro, I want to part of what you're doing you know what I do check their fuck yeah I check their social yep and I and the one thing I look for right away the first thing I look for is how much do they bitch okay because if they bitch if I see one post about the bitching or one negative post your fucking chances of being hired in my companies go to zero. Like instantly. Like, oh, I went to this tire shop and they fucking dicked me over on my car. You're not getting hired. You know why? Because it shows propensity of your mentality to let little bitty things ruin your fucking day,

which I can't have ruin my day. So I can't surround people like that. You know what I mean? But people don't think like that. They think, oh, well, that shouldn't count. Like, okay, here's a good thing. That's your mentality. Your mentality is your mentality.

It doesn't matter. Let's hear some more theory versus facts. Theory is, well, that shouldn't count, Andy. That's not nice of you. You mean you're not going to hire me on my personal beliefs? You're goddamn right I'm not going to hire you on your personal beliefs. Period. Yep.

And people don't think like that. Yeah. You know, and like all these stupid arguments they make, like you don't think that every time I post on the internet, I don't think like, hey, how's this going to affect my business? Right. You know what I mean? How's this going to affect this? How's it going to affect that? You know, am I being an example of this to these people?

You know, I think about those things, and I see so much fucking ignorance on the internet in every way possible. And then, like, these same people are like, well, I, you know, I'm having trouble finding a job. Well, no shit you are, because everybody that you apply to sees who you really are. Well, and here's the thing. We talked about this. Theory doesn't mean shit.

No, it doesn't. Theory does not mean shit. Your ideas and stuff, they're all great and fine and dandy but but results so you and i are perfect examples of the lighthouse concept yeah and and the results are what the results are you have a massive following i have a massive following on social media right but but sean you talk about like you you talk about sex and you talk about religion and you talk about god and you talk about this you say fuck yeah andy says whatever are you dude i get i get get all the Christians coming out hating on me because I can say fuck and God in the same post. And the reality is like that is my authenticity.

And that's what people like. And I guarantee you if you look through people's Facebook posts when they're applying to come work for you and you see that they're authentic, they might not believe what you believe. They might not be drinking the same deal or talking to Jesus the same deal or talking to Jesus the same way you talk to Jesus.

But if there's a level of authenticity, which is, again, shining that light, dude, that trumps all. Because that dude's got the balls to be able to say what he thinks,

what he feels, regardless of what the mass say. Those are the people that aren't working for me. Those are the people that you aren't working for you. Simply by being able to stand up and have that ability. Oh, I 100 agree with you but there's a

very thin line that you're talking about walking here all right and this is to all the young guys again see a lot of people say like because i'll put they're thinking they're going to get all ballsy now and start posting my last post get a job last post was about authenticity right and it was about having big balls and being able to say what you want be who the fuck you want to be and a lot of young guys you know they take that as like well fuck the man that's not what i'm saying you know what i'm saying there there is there is a positive way to be authentic it's it's like if you showed a perfect example for everybody listening all the business guys the young hustlers or whatever it would be the equivalent of you showing up at Gary Vee's office.

Okay. I respect Gary Vee. You respect Gary Vee. And you sitting down with the big set of balls trying to tell Gary Vee about social media. You've got a huge following and you've done really fucking well. Gary Vee is the guy that when I sit in the room, I shut up and I listen to what he's got to say. You're going to shut up and you're going to listen to what he's got to say.

Why? Because he's the master of that domain. Where if you're talking about building a supplement company right anybody who comes in here that wants to freaking school you on that shit that's the beauty of what you're talking about the fine line i've got the ability to talk about anything anytime but when i know someone has something that i don't know that i'm not 100 certain on that's the time where you get to shut your shut your mouth it's called humility and learn you know what i'm saying? And that's,

you talked about the fine line, but I mean, that is the art of the deal. I mean, that's what we talk about, art of the deal. I mean, all the business books, that's the art of the deal is being able to have the confidence, the charisma, the pizzazz, whatever the hell you want to call it, to go out there, make your own mark, build your own brand. But at the same time, when you show up in Donald Trump's office, you're not going to tell him about the the condo that you flipped you're going to shut the hell up and you're going to listen to what he's got to say because he's going to teach you something you know what I'm saying dude yeah look at social media right now how many times a day do you get told oh yeah you're wrong this or that and you've got you know you look at people tell me I should cuss less and I

shouldn't post about religion or whatever whatever I'm I'm like, bro, you have four followers. I have 160,000 followers on it. I always, I always love whenever I get criticized on business stuff and I like click on their profile and they're like, they're like, you know, gaming in their mom's basement while you're driving the, while you're driving the rolls. I'm like, dude, you know, this would be a time for you to probably shut the fuck up and listen as opposed to continuing on the path of playing fucking grand theft auto. And, you know, so Andy, you were talking about the close connection between personal branding and business. But I'm curious and I'm sure people are who are listening. What would a post look like by a small business that was guided wrongly, let's say, by the tugboat philosophy of social media.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm trying to put this into really practical terms for people. So if you have a small business, let's say... All right, I'll give you an example. I see this all the time with small businesses because small business equals inexperience. I see all the time small businesses

mentioning their competition in their facebook posts okay and not just mentioning them usually usually it's like somehow whether directly or indirectly trying to make their competition look bad trying to discredit them that's right just maybe and maybe it's maybe it's it doesn't have to be this post like, hey, you know, fuck my competition. But even mentioning them at all, you are taking your attention, the attention that people are paying you, that you've cultivated, and you are putting it on them. Yep. You're giving them an option. Okay?

And that's tugboat mentality. That's mentality of, you know, I'm not going to be an example for everybody to come check out what I have. I'm going to be the fucking small-minded thinker, and I'm going to go out there and attack this. Because, like, dude, what they're doing is, when they post those things, is they've had one customer come in and say something that pissed them off. Or they've heard one rumor that said something that pissed them off. And they're attacking this one little thing with this massive, you know, they think is a massive attack. But what they're really doing is they're showing all their customers, A, they're insecure. B, they're worried about if they actually are better. C, they're giving them an option to go to.

You know what I mean? So it's just small-minded thinking which is you know tugboat thinking yeah is another legitimate analogy the difference between hunting and fishing so to to hold on okay if you own a small business and you wrench in your competition in an ad you you're making one of the biggest mistakes and i see medium-sized businesses big businesses doing this dude big businesses are doing it right now like Like the Apple and the PC. I never understood those ads. Why do you need to compare, bro?

Apple junkies are Apple junkies. We're going to continue to buy this shit no matter what you spit out, Steve Jobs. Why are you trying to compare this to that or the other? You know what I mean? Find your identity, shine your light, and the people that need to. Those are your best customers anyways. Be the best that you can be. Those are your best customers. The best customers are the ones that come in and say,

I saw your shit. I like it. I want to buy from you. But when you're like trying to haggle with your competition, well, I'll save you this or I'll do this or I'll do this. I mean, those are the typically the people that get a coupon down the road and they're like, well, shit, I want the refund or this or that or the other. You stand up and say, this is who I am. This is what I do. This is what I'm selling. This is what I stand for. You got one of two options. Work with me, buy from me, use me or don't. Dude, the time should be spent showing people how you can help them versus talking about your competitors. And dude, on a small business level, you can ruin your company like that. I've seen people do it.

I've had competitors do it of mine. Well, think about the psychology. I mean, to answer that question, I mean, think about the psychology. And this is where I can prove this because I did this. When I first, before all my stuff started going viral on Facebook, I was spewing all kinds of negative stuff about my divorce, right? It was when Facebook was just starting to blow up and just starting to get big. And I was just like negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, all kinds of dumb shit.

I had like a couple hundred friends, a couple hundred followers, if that, right? And then all of a sudden it shifted from that to starting my morning studies. So I started studying every single morning. And my challenge from my coach and my mentor was write down something positive that you learned from your study every morning. Well, that's turned into my morning insight, which I've done almost 850 in a row, which literally people will email me and be like, bro, I used your this or I used your that. Or people have like given talks and lectures. I had a guy in New York that just spoke in front of 5,000 people at a marketing conference and used one of my morning insights as like the keynote feature of his entire freaking talk. The consistency of that message

that I've put out there is what shows the authenticity. It shows the consistency, but it's also shown a positive vibe. So all these people see me giving, giving, giving, adding value, adding value. So if you're a business owner, small, mid-sized, big business owner, add value, add value, add value. What you're doing over the course of time is ultimately creating loyalty. Exactly. Okay. Because what they're doing, you're educating. Right. All right. And then what you do when you educate is a process works like this. You teach somebody something, you contribute something of value to where they say, oh, wow, I didn't know that. Or that was cool. Or I appreciate that thought. I already knew that, but it made me feel good. It made me think about something. It made me remember something that I was already thankful for. Okay. All of those things under the, go under the guise of

educating. All right. In this concept that I'm going to speak about right now, you educate people, read information. They find it to be truthful or relevant you educate some more they find the information to be truthful you do that process a number of times educate truth educate truth educate truth or validation okay people validate the information is truth guess what happens they become loyal all right they become loyal and eventually they don't have to validate your info anymore they just say dude sean knows what the fuck he's talking about and guess what happens they're like dude hey you need to fucking go talk to my boy sean you need to subscribe to my boy sean or you need and you could take sean and put the name of your fucking business in there and it works the

same way hey you need to go talk to my boys over at supplement super stores you need to go talk to my boys over at uh first form dude that's how businesses are fucking built and and you know like what gets me man is i see these people who like sell shit online like they're salesmen for other companies they get in a fight with their girlfriend or they got a something and they post some bullshit like you know poor me status somehow like you know you don't talk about like that shit it's almost like written in code you're like what the fuck is this dude even talking about you know and they they don't even stop to think like that all their customers all the people who

might be recommending them all the people who might say hey go see my buddy joe instead of saying hey go see my buddy joe they're like fuck joe's crazy dude that guy's fucking weird yep you know and you know you don't know how much you're shorting yourself by dude by putting the negativity out there yeah you know dude I've got a recipe for this and I wanted to share let me give this to you you know your listeners and stuff on this but the way that I've built my business and what I've discovered over the last couple years is is is basically like a three-step deal where it's it's real raw and relevant. We talk about results.

Like all I give a shit about are results. Do I have more money in my bank account today than I did yesterday? Am I more connected to my significant other today than I am yesterday? Are my kids doing better in school? Am I more, you know what I mean? Is my body in better shape today than it was yesterday? And so I've written on my bathroom mirror, because this goes along with the whole lighthouse and the tugboat thing,

you know, real, raw and relevant. Everything has got to be real. It's got to be raw. And it's got to be relevant. The real, real for me is the truth. What's the truth? Like, what's the truth of this situation? What's the truth right now?

I want to sell this. I want to do this from a sales perspective. It's massive. Like, what are we doing? Raw is the emotions behind it. So, so what are we thinking? What are we feeling? Like, what's the emotion behind this deal? Why do people want to buy your supplements versus these supplements, right? Truth is,

everybody needs supplements. Everybody needs to put good shit in their body. The raw component is why me versus somebody else? And then the relevancy is, how does this pertain to the marketplace? How does this pertain to the decision that I'm making right now, which is, I'm standing at the checkout line, and I want to buy some supplements. I want to buy some insurance. I want to buy this car. You know, the truth is I need to buy a car. The emotion is I really like this car. The relevancy is I need to buy a car today. And the result is going to be what I either buy your shit or I don't. So all the car salesmen listening, all the insurance guys listening, all the salesmen listening, like that's your formula to get the results. Be real, be raw, be relevant. That will get you the results. And that's your formula to get the results be real be raw be relevant that will get

you the results and that's how i built my social media that's how i build everything it's it's it's crazy like sales the sales training that these kids get today is still like from like the era of the dale carnegie era it's all mind manipulation trying to manipulate the mind it's all bullshit dude being real is the most effective sales strategy you could ever have. If you don't know, you say, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. Hey, bro, I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm going to go find it out.

I'm going to go find it out. Yep. You know how much respect I have for people that tell me that? Yeah. Like, even my employees. When I'm like, hey, you met Sheldon. I'm like, hey, Sheldon, what do we got to do to do this? I don't know man but

I'll and that motherfucker have an answer an hour yeah and so like dude now he's my boy right you know what I mean and I don't know man like the shit that these kids are still being taught for sales is so ridiculous it's like you don't need to manipulate your way into sales you don't need to manipulate into success solve their fucking problem exactly And you need to solve it in such a way that makes them say, dude, I went to Sean's Lions and that sheep camp. I've came out a better man. If you don't fucking go, you're crazy. That's what it means.

That's what we do. Your camps that you do, and they are this good, but they have to be, right? You get, what, six dudes that come in, six to ten dudes that come in. He spends three days with them, and it's expensive, man. to be right right you get what six dudes that come in six to ten dudes that come in he spends three days with them and it's expensive man it could be up to ten grand to go to this thing and it had you know how good a value you have to provide to justify ten thousand dollars a you got to overcome that b you've got to do such a great job that people walk out and they say holy fuck dude that 10 grand should have been a hundred grand.

Well, and the results are simple. I mean, the results, you go to my Facebook page and you look at the results. I mean, guys posting videos about how literally I get guys that come in. But that goes with any product. Exactly. It doesn't matter what it is. I get guys that are coming in that are like, literally, I'm against the ropes. I'm drowning.

I have this application form that the guys will fill out and I give them the option to answer that, you know, hey, I'm doing all right. Life's kind of difficult, whatever, whatever whatever or the last option is i'm fucking drowning and i get guys that flat out come in that are like i'm drowning i'm losing my business i'm losing my marriage i don't know what the fuck i'm doing i'm 30 something years old i got the house i got the car i got the whatever whatever and i'm fucking lost and whatever and and at the end of the day when they come out from this experience it literally changes their life i mean i've got guys that go on to like completely revolutionize their business.

Yeah, you've talked to them. You've seen that shit. And again, that's my formula. This is how I operate my business. This is how I operate the Lions Not Sheep experience. This is how I operate the Lions Den. Everything that I'm doing is literally real. What are the results?

How do we get the results? You get the results by doing three things. You get real. You get raw. You get relevant. From a sales perspective, from a life-changing perspective. I mean, fuck, apply this to your relationships. We've been living in this world of bullshit, right?

Wait, wait, dude. So wait, before you even go off. Like, the funny thing is, is like these guys who are, and there's a number of people listening right now, guys and girls. Dude, let me stop right here okay because the reason that people like you or myself or other people that have a perspective of like realness and like what it's really about is because we've gone through the fucking battle of life right like dude i've had shit happen to me that most people can't fucking comprehend. Just like you have. Yep. Okay.

And we lived, we came out and we got better because of it. Yep. And so, you know, anybody who's listening to this right now, you know, it's not your fault that you haven't figured it out.

It's, it's society's fault for imposing a lie of what life is supposed to be your whole entire life. It starts when you're a little kid. Hey, Johnny, what do is supposed to be your whole entire life. It starts when you're a little kid. Hey, Johnny, what do you want to be? Oh, I want to be an astronaut. Oh, good for you. Then you go to school, right? You go to school and you say, you tell your buddy at school when you're riding on the bus,

you know, hey, man, can I borrow a fruit roll-up? Yeah. All right, give him a fruit roll-up. Dude, guess what? Tony, I'm going to be a fucking astronaut. Tony looks at you and he says, you're a fucking idiot. And then he takes his fruit roll up back. Right. And then all of a sudden you're like, you go home and you're like, mom, Tony said, I'm an idiot for wanting to be an astronaut. And she's like, well, you know, it's really hard to be an astronaut. It's like

one out of a million people actually get to be an astronaut. So right there, when you're seven years old, you give up on your fucking goal to be an astronaut. All right? And this goes on from fucking grade school to high school or junior high to high school to college. And by the time you're in college, you're so afraid to be anything other than what everybody else is that you do nothing. All right? So what do you do? You go get married. You marry some chick that you've probably been banging for fucking three years. You say, ah, I've been banging her for three years.

Let's get fucking married. You marry some chick that you've probably been banging for fucking three years. You say, ah, I've been banging her for three years. Let's get fucking married. Oh, we're going to buy a house for $250,000 and we'll put up a little white picket fence. We'll have a couple of fucking kids. And guess what? We'll be 75 years old. But here's what they don't fucking tell you is that that doesn't work. That does not equal happiness.

That does not equal fulfillment in life. Okay? And people don't teach this. They don't teach you that what reality is. Just like we talked about bro in the beginning. It's a good thought. I agree with you. But you're a fucking idiot for believing that. All right?

And maybe you're just young. You don't know any better. But the reality is that life is fucking complex. And, well, actually, I take that back. Life is fucking simple. Life is simple, but society makes it complex. We fuck it up. We create complexity.

Right, because we tell people this bullshit story of what life's really going to be, and then they get to be 35 years old, and they're like, fuck, I'm not a millionaire. Dude, what did I do wrong? You didn't do anything wrong. You did exactly what you're supposed to do And guess what? Society's mission is to create cogs for the fucking machine So that you can be a cog

It's not to create you to be a millionaire Or to be a fucking significant person School, preschool, kindergarten, grade school, junior high, high school, college is all developed for you to be a minimal, functioning, human piece of the machine. And it's not your fault that you didn't get to be the president. It's your mom's fucking fault for telling you when you were seven years old that that dream was unattainable. You know what I'm saying?

And, dude, that's where we end up with people who need a fucking readjustment. Right. You know what I mean? Because I've gone out and fucked everything I can up, and so have you. Yep. You know what I mean? And it's not my fault.

You know, I was lucky enough to have a dad like I had. Like, you met him. My dad's a fucking OG, dude. My dad tell me, dude, my dad used to literally tell me when I was 16 years old that he thought i could beat mike tyson a boxing match like because i was a scrapper dude in high school and like he used to literally believe that he could like find me a coach

and he believed it and i'm like dad you're fucking crazy but like that's the opposite of what most parents are like most parents are like dude, you got a kid who's ambitious. You got the fire. Dad, I'm going to go box Mike Tyson. He's like, son, you can't even fucking box yourself out of a wet paper bag. You're not going to beat Mike Tyson. Right, right. But how about Mr. Asterisk Hole is going to show up.

The other thing your dad taught you is you got to work for it. No. Listen, I'm getting to that. The point is, is that I had, I was lucky enough to have a parent who fucking fuel the fire versus take fire away. And if you're a parent right now and you're one of these kids, you're telling your kids who are fucking under the age of 18 to be realistic, fucking stop, let them dream. Let them fucking shoot for big shit. Because just cause you didn't fucking do it doesn't mean that they can't fucking do it. Nothing annoys me more than when people tell people, dude, you're not being

realistic. You're not thinking you're, you're thinking crazy shit. I was told that my whole fucking life. You know what I mean? By outsider, I would come home beat. I would come home beat up, dude, crying, upset. My dad be like, Hey, fuck those people. You know what I mean? So I was lucky in that aspect, but most people aren't. Most people have the opposite thing. And so, you know, I just, you know, if you're listening to this and you feel like you're lost and you feel like you're in a place, don't fucking beat yourself up over it it just realize that you can take control from this point forward you know not just um you know you don't have to be a victim for the rest of your life just because you're upset right now you know now dude the interesting thing to me is that i'm fucking sweating now you're all fired up bro i'm gonna

move to the other side of the table i'm ready to fucking rock and roll here's the thing that i mean to just follow up with what you're saying man i agree 150 percent and and so so so let's talk reality like guys are 30 something years old 40 something years old listening to what you're talking about right now and they're like yeah yeah cool bro cool story like you're 36 years old you got you're driving a nice car whatever whatever you made it what the fuck because these are the guys that I talk to every single day. These are the guys that reach out, that apply to the Lines Not Sheep experience. And they're like, all right, cool. I'm 39 years old.

I'm 40 years old. I've been busting my hump. I'm married. I got the deal. I got this. I got that. It literally transcends right back to the childhood, which is like, I've never asked for the raise.

I've never asked for the deal. I've never gone out and ventured. I've never created that epicness with my wife or my significant other. Which is what's for the raise. I've never asked for the deal. I've never gone out and ventured. I've never created that epicness with my, with my wife or my significant other. What's created the problem. Exactly. And so that's the conversation. And dude,

I'm telling you, I was having a conversation with a dude the other day and we talked about this about, you know, intimacy with his wife and dude, how you do one thing is how you do all things. That's right. How you do one thing is how you do all things.

So the same reason that you're stuck making the money that you're making, not leveling up, not jumping into the business, not creating the epicness that you want to create is the same reason that your marriage is the way that it is. Which is it's mundane, it's the same shit, it's dry, it's lethargic, you fuck the same way, you earn the same way. It's exactly how it works, man. How you do one thing is how you do all things. And there comes a point in time where just like the kid letting that kid have that ability to dream to go to whatever whatever these these these 30

40 year old guys who come to my experience who reach out are just kind of like what the fuck do i do like what do i do like what do i do and the reason and they're waiting for permission well no oh yeah dude that's a whole nother they're waiting for permission but the thing is the reason that they're fucking in that position this is the sad part about it and this is the part that bothers me the most because i get this too this is these are dudes who have like by all standards done everything perfect yeah you know they're part of the box they're in the box and the box is like this is what it should look like they've won the box and they're like wait this isn't right you know what i mean they get to that level of of we talked about this last night with with money and arrival and whatever,

and what do you do? And I think this is the conversation that I love having with guys is taking that level of authenticity and truly doing what the fuck you want to do. Saying what you want to say. Taking off all of the reins, if you will, and just realizing,

just like a little kid, we put them into these boxes. Sit down, shut up, quiet down, don't talk too loud, don't run too much. I mean, nowadays, they're trying to, like, ban my kids from playing tag at school. Literally. And so now fast forward to when you're 40 years old.

No, no, no, no, no. Look, you got the safety. You got the deal. You got this. Don't branch out. Don't try and live your dream. Don't get excited. Don't start the business.

Why? Just stay in this little cocoon. Stay in this little box. It's safe it's warm it's comfy and yet guys are like i'm fucking miserable like i'm miserable i hate this shit like i love my wife but i hate fucking coming home i love my kids but i want to freaking throw them out the window half the time i hate going to work i hate my job and it's like dude you realize at some point in time you're going to roll over and be dead and you're sitting here and like my biggest fear my my personal biggest fear is that i'm laying on my deathbed

which chances are i'm not gonna be on my deathbed i'm gonna be going out like doing 200 miles an hour in a race car jumping out of an airplane or some crazy shit like that but my biggest fear is that that i'm on my deathbed knowing that i've got a brain and a mind full of ideas and concepts and things that god put there and a heart full of just passion to fucking live, and I squandered it. That's my biggest fear is that I did not do the shit that I felt. Because here's the thing. I've got a 50-50 chance of winning. I've got a 50-50 chance of losing, and I like those odds.

I do too. And at the end of the day, like, these guys that are listening to your show right now, bro, that are in their late 30s, in their 40s, that are sitting there going, what the fuck? Is this it? Really, is this it? Now's the time, bro. Now's the time that you need to align yourself with people like Andy. That's the reason you're listening to this podcast versus the other dry, dumb shit.

Dude, for the last 50 years, the problem was they had this same problem, and then they would go to their neighbors, and they'd talk and they'd be like dude we're all fucking miserable this sucks but you didn't have access to people who had actually done shit right now we live in this awesome age where you've got people who are successful and i'm not talking about just me there's hundreds of people out there successful entrepreneurs guys with real world success in life not just money in all different areas that are available to you via social media. Yep. And now you may not be able to actually talk to all these people, but you probably could if you were creative enough. Well, dude, I posted something the other day about coming out here and doing the podcast and sitting down with you.

And I was like, I'm going to go travel across the country to go hang out with a dude that I've never met. Why? Because I want to. Why? Because I want to level up. Why? I want him in my circle. Right. And he wants me in his circle kind of a deal. And people were responding like,

well, dude, I don't have any friends and I don't have any this and I don't have any that. And I'm just like, well, then... You said why. All you said was why.

You're quick enough. Yeah. And then she wrote back, good question. Exactly. So simple shit like that. Yay, yay, nay, nay conversation. But at the end of the day,

you literally have at your fingertips a social platform called Facebook that's connecting the world. That's how and i met that's i'm i'm doing all of my deals i'm marketing i'm driving my business through facebook and it's and it's a level of authenticity and that's if every single guy listening to this right now has the same 24 hours has the same access the same people they could message you and and i guarantee you there might come a point in time where you're going to be like dude this guy's messaged me like whatever whatever he must be who do you want you want hustlers right

that's the kind of guy that you want is the guy who's persistent who's like andy i want to learn from you dude josh josh josh santos dude josh santos shout out to you josh santos right now you don't work for me you don't work for andy and yet we both thought that he worked for the other he worked for the guy because josh was literally adding value it's what i said if you want to fucking dominate in your business if you want to dominate in your life, if you want to dominate in your world, then every single thing that you're doing, add fucking value. Let's tell a story real quick. So, like, dude, this dude, all right, he emails me out of the blue.

This is like, I don't know, maybe a month or two ago. Hey, Andy, I'm Josh. You know, I help arrange podcasts, like put people on podcasts. And I'm like, oh, okay. So I'm thinking like this dude's got like all these dudes that he works with, right? So he's like, oh, do you want to be on Mike Dillard's, you know, self-made man podcast? I'm like, sure. You know, so I go on the podcast.

I meet Mike. We talk. Awesome fucking dude. Awesome podcast. You're not listening to that podcast. Self-made man. Yeah, Mike's a stud. Dude, awesome podcast. He's listening to that podcast uh so my man dude awesome podcast

he's like all right cool um what do you think about having sean whalen on your show and i'm like yeah that's cool and like i thought it was weird because you and i had already been like talking right and so i'm like well i guess this is sean's dude who like they all belong to this dude who organizes this shit so so so yesterday uh josh emails me and he's like hey man can you uh send me the travel itinerary so i can make sure sean's got it and everything and i'm like yeah that's cool so we send it over sean gets here we go to dinner we start talking and i'm like so your dude josh and well he's like i thought that was your dude he was he was emailing me the same thing he's like listen i want to get you on on andy's podcast and i'm like all righting me the same thing. He's like, listen, I want to get you on, on Andy's podcast.

And I'm like, all right, cool. Like let's coordinate schedules. He's like, look, I'll figure out what schedule works for us. He was literally saying like,

I'll figure out what schedule works for us. Right. So I thought he was your boy. So we both thought that he was like the other guy's dude. When in reality, all he is is this guy that's out there hustling, hustling his ass off, man,

make a name for himself by connecting other people. That's how he's bringing value he did not get paid i did not pay him you did not pay him he got nothing but you know what he does have now he has two motherfuckers that are gonna do shit yep and set the world on fire he's got my respect think highly of him yep if if i if i literally i'm like so impressed after that story after we figured out last night that dude went up like a thousand notches totally it's exactly the way I feel

that's exactly how I feel he even commented when I put the picture of you and I did you see his comment like my work like his work is done he literally has taken

ownership of you and I being together sitting here right now which most people are like you didn't do that I'm like dude God bless America I fucking love this guy

and if I need to hire somebody like right now I'm calling his ass you know what I mean but that's that is hey bro when we do our'm calling his ass you know what i mean but that's that is hey bro when we do our tour dude i'm telling you he's that's actually a really good idea dude that's that is the epitome of what the hustle is that's what we need that's what america needs that's what people need that's what you got to look at a situation like that

like like what you said copy his shit you don't need fucking permission just go out and do it like dude you got... This guy had a dream. Like, hey, I'm going to put these two fucking guys together and it's going to be awesome. Yeah. He made that happen. And now in both of our worlds,

your world and my world, like, he is the guy. He's a freaking stud that we'd go to bat for. We would do whatever, whatever. Right. And who knows how many... Created it out of nothing.

Who knows how many other dudes out there that he's doing this with. Now, here's something to think, though. And everybody listening to this, this is a huge thing to consider. For instance, for me, I've done almost 800 and something of these Morning Insights, right? I don't get paid for them. There's no monetization per Morning Insight kind of deal. Josh didn't make one dime putting us together.

But yet, at the same time, what did he do? He added value to my world and he added value to your world. So the next time he calls and he's like, hey, here's the deal. This is what so many people, so many small businesses, mid-sized businesses, big businesses, entrepreneurs, hustlers forget is it's all about looking at the dollar. Give me the dollar. Give me the dollar. Give me the dollar.

Give me the dollar. You're not adding shit to anybody's world. Second, you start adding value into somebody's universe. I don't care if it's your question about marketing, inbound, outbound. Add value. Add value. Add value. You add value via Facebook, via social media, via everything that you do.

Add fucking value into people's lives, and those people will become lifelong loyal customers. They will become lifelong loyal fans. No, no, no. That's not what happens, Sean. What happens is the success fairy flies down magically from success land and shits $100 bills on these people. You know, it's just, it has nothing to do with the actions or reactions. It's all fucking magic.

If you just have a cool suit and a Facebook profile, you're going to start making millions of dollars. You don't have to do anything. Just sit there and magically make money. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like show notes for this episode, you're going to start making millions of dollars. You don't have to do anything. Just sit there and magically make money. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like show notes for this episode, you are out of luck because there is no way I'm going to try to summarize

this episode with show notes. However, if you'd like to visit the page on the website that at least offers some sort of detail of this episode, it's themfceo.com forward slash 30. We are actually up to our 30th episode. This is 30? Nice, dude. An even round number.

I can remember that. Yeah. Dude, congrats on 30 episodes, bro. It's good shit. Did Vaughn just say on the air he's not putting in the work? Hey, Josh. Attention, Josh. Josh is listening.

You got a job, bro. Guess what, Vaughn? You're out, son. Pack it up. Yeah, yeah. Well, look Vaughn? You're out, son. Pack it up. Yeah, yeah. Well, look, I think this is a good spot. You know, we're going to do another podcast here in a few weeks with Sean. We're going to talk about some other things.

But, you know, guys, I think the theme overall here, I mean, there's not little themes, but I think the biggest theme that we could take away from what we're talking about is to work yourself. Be selfish enough to create the best version of you because you're going to inspire and accomplish way more by doing that than by letting yourself be sucked down the path of the mediocrity of society. You know what I mean? I feel like a lot of people can relate to that. A lot of people, they want to help everybody. Like,

dude, I have a couple of my family members who are just such good people. Um, and they spend all their time trying to like put band-aids on like what, you know, we talked about last night, a gushing wound. You know what I mean?

Instead of like just working on yourself and, um, you have to realize that sometimes being selfish is selfless. Yep. You know what I mean? Instead of like just working on yourself. And you have to realize that sometimes being selfish is selfless. Yep. You know what I mean? Selfishness is not a bad thing. Society is has taken that word and made it a negative. But at the end of the day, like I would much rather be the dude on the airplane that's alive, that's able to save other people. Why? Because I put my mask on first. I'd much rather be that guy than to be the guy that can't help anybody.

Why? Because I'm dead. Plain and simple. Lighthouse tugboat, man. Every single decision you make, every single thing you do, lighthouse tugboat. Thanks for listening, guys. We're going to have Sean on again. Stay tuned.