REAL AF with Andy Frisella - Serious Millionaires Know When To Laugh, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO177

Episode Date: September 28, 2017

I've told a lot of you guys that when my best friend and I started our business, we were so broke we had to live in the back of our store and sleep on an old mattress from Goodwill. In this episode, I go into detail about actually sleeping on that mattress, how embarrassing it was, but what it taught me: Successful people know when they shouldn't take themselves too seriously. If you learn to laugh at yourself, you'll laugh all the way to the bank.

What is up guys you're listening to the MFCEO project I'm Andy I'm your host and I am the motherfucking CEO guys today before we get started on Thursday Thunder I have a couple things that I want to address with you little housekeeping things first off I want to thank you guys so much for all the love you've been showing the podcast, the reviews you're leaving that really helps us get ranked and stay among the relevant podcasts. So guys, if you find value, just remember that it really helps us by you guys leaving a review on iTunes and subscribing to the podcast. A couple little things. One, we will be starting a newsletter that we're going to do once a month that is going to go out and I'm going to have registration

information on that coming up on Tuesday's podcast. So keep an eye out for that. And the other thing is, is guys, another thing that we're going to do is we're approaching our 200th episode. And we thought what would be fun would be to do another contest. Back whenever we hit 100 episodes, we did a contest where we had people do some things and basically make a case for coming out. We flew some people out for the day, did a podcast with them. It was a lot of fun. We had a good time doing it. And it seems like it just was like yesterday. But here we are approaching 200 and we're going to do another contest. I'm not exactly sure what it's going to be, but I think we're going to talk about that on Tuesday as well. So if you guys are

interested in coming out here and actually sitting in on a full day here at First Form headquarters, listening to the podcast, be recorded, being a part of the podcast that we're going to record and spending a day basically brainstorming, going through your issues, having me help in any way that I can with your business and your goals and the things you're trying to accomplish, you're going to want to pay attention. This is something that we do very rarely. We cover all the expenses. We put you up in the Four Seasons here in St. Louis, which is the nicest hotel here in St. Louis. And really, it's a really, really good time.

So, guys, we're going to do a contest for that. And I'll have that announcement on Tuesday as well. And the last thing, housekeeping wise, before I get into what I want to talk about, is that as I mentioned previously, we are starting the Entrepreneur Academy that is going to be application based. It's not going to be available to everybody. It's going to be highly selective based it's only going to be it's going to be highly selective based upon how serious people are about what they're trying to do and what actions they're

taking I don't want to be the guy who's you know out there working with people that want the free ride and want to get rich in one day and make forty thousand dollars the first two seconds they're into fucking business. I want people to understand what it's going to take and are willing to do their part. And I want to help them personally be successful. The goal of this academy is to help people learn the actual skills that they need to learn about entrepreneurship. There's not a scheme here. It's not sell this product or do this exact thing or do this and make $5 trillion in one year. These are the real skills that you need to run a fucking business and build a company and build a brand. And I want to help people do that. So I will have

the application information coming up very, very soon for that. Last time I mentioned, I got seriously hundreds of DMs and emails on it. Thank you guys for your interest. I just want to update you right now. We will have that information available really soon. With that being said, I do have an important message for you guys today on Thursday Thunder, and it really has to revolve around a story that I want to tell you guys. All right. When my business partner, Chris and I were first starting supplement superstores, which was our first business together, um, in 1999, you got, many of you guys know that we were broke. We didn't have any money. We had $12,000 that we earned from painting the stripes on parking lots.

We had to spend all of that money to pay a year's rent up front to get somebody to actually rent to two 19-year-old kids because we had no credit. We had no history. We had no proof that we were actually going to be able to pay the rent. So we had to pay that rent up front, which forced us to go out and get credit cards to finance the inventory for our first retail store. We had to go to Home Depot and buy the materials to build a counter, to build a shelf. We did all the build out, everything basically at night in between other jobs that we were trying to run so that we could actually survive. And one of the things you guys know is that we spent a lot of time living in the back of that first store. And I want to talk to you guys about something that has stuck with me for a long time.

And I see this a lot with young entrepreneurs. Um, and, and basically anybody who's out there and has high aspirations of making, uh, it, you know, whatever it may be for you, it could be a million, it could be 10 million, it could be a billion, it could be just enough to be able to pay your bills. It is different for all of us. But when we first started our company, we, we had, we didn't have any furniture in the store. And you guys have heard me talk about the piss stain mattress before. You've heard me talk about, uh, you know, the, the, the bat, the couch that my dad gave us and the piss stained mattress in the back of the store. And I can remember us picking, going down to the salvation army and picking that mattress up and looking at the mattress and being like,

God, this is like the raddiest, nastiest hunk of shit that I've ever seen in my life. And I remember thinking like, dude, there's no way I'm going to ever lay on that. Chris is going to lay on that the whole time. Cause like, I'm going to lay on this couch that my dad gave us. And I was embarrassed. Like I was embarrassed to like get the mattress. And, um, I remember, you know, we took it and we walked it down the, uh, the sidewalk to back to our store and we threw it down on the ground in the back. And, you know, I spent a lot of nights on that mattress. Um, I was wrong. You know, I did lay on it and I, I did a lot of thinking on that mattress. I laid there and somebody else was fucking piss stain for literally, I don't know how many months, nights, days, um, thinking

and dreaming about the things that we're doing now. Um, you know, and at that time I had no reason to actually believe in that we would have any, uh, there was no indication. There was no reason to believe that we would be where we are now or on the path that we are, but I still thought about it anyway. And, you know, friends would come in and they would see the mattress and they would see the store and the store was ratty. You know, there was no, it wasn't like it was clean, but it was just, it was just rag tag put together and people will come in and I can remember like, you know, I could see it on their face. They were like, like, dude, one question that we used to get all the time. And I never understood what the fuck people meant. Like they would come in the

store and they would say to Chris and I, they would say, are you guys getting ready to go out of business? And I'm like, no, like, what are you talking about? And the reason they were asking was because the store was so bare, they couldn't actually believe that this was an actual store. And when I explained to you like how many people said that, I mean, literally hundreds of people over the first three or four years said that because it took us that long to make the store look like an actual store. Um,. The point I'm getting at here, guys, is this. I was embarrassed. You know, Chris was embarrassed. We weren't, we weren't quote unquote successful. We weren't looking the part. We weren't, you know, in a place where

people could be proud of what we were putting out. We had to literally build our customer base one by one by one. And what I see holding a lot of you guys back is the idea of that you're too proud to like be embarrassed and you're too proud to admit that you're just starting out or you're too proud to admit that you're at the beginning stages. And, you know, it's hard as an entrepreneur to like, take a look at yourself and say, God, man, I'm really, you know, I'm really on the verge of being fucking homeless, or I'm really on the verge of being broke. And I'm really, uh, like basically at the opposite end of the spectrum of what I see on Instagram with all these quote unquote entrepreneurs flying around and fucking private jets at

20 years old with $80,000 watches on and stacks of fucking cash. And I just want you guys to know that legitimately I look at all those people on Instagram and I know for a fact that I am a hundred times personally more successful than them for a fact. Okay. And I look at all that shit and I remember back to when I started and how embarrassed I was and how little belief I had and how little, um, you know, how many reasons I didn't have to actually believe I would eventually get there. And guys, I want to tell you, there's no shame in being humble in terms of where you are and admitting where you are and admitting you don't know things and being okay with being at the beginning Because so many of you guys don't ever get started. You never get your hands into the fucking dirt. You never get going because you're afraid of what

you're going to look like starting out to other people. And guys, if I had been afraid to look broke or look poor or look embarrassed or look basic, when I first started, I wouldn't fucking be here. I wouldn't be in this situation. We wouldn't have thousands of reps representing our brand all over the country and all over the world. We wouldn't have, you know, 120 employees here in St. Louis. We wouldn't have amazing facilities, all the shit you see. I wouldn't have the lifestyle I have if I wasn't okay with being a little embarrassed. You know, sometimes guys in the beginning, when we're just starting out, you've got to learn to just laugh at yourself. You've got to learn to understand this is what it is. This is what it's like.

And it concerns me with the image of entrepreneurship right now, because I see so many fucking fake motherfuckers out there posting other people's cars with stacks of cash and pretending to live this bullshit life, claiming to be successful. That is setting a standard for actual real entrepreneurs, which is unrealistic. Okay. And it's keeping you guys who would otherwise be great at what you do from actually doing it because you don't want to look like that. You feel like you're behind this guy or by dude, those motherfuckers ain't going to be anywhere. Those guys that you're, that you're afraid of looking bad to, they're going to be doing the same fucking bull scammy bullshit when they're 40,

when they're 60 and when they're fucking 80, they're never going to change. So guys, it's okay to be the beginning. It's okay to be the guy who has to go to Goodwill or Salvation Army and get a little help and start from like literally nothing. But what really matters guys is that you fucking start. What really matters is that you get your hands dirty. What really matters is that you actually go out and do the best that you can. Quit looking for the easy way. Quit comparing yourself to shit that isn't even real and whatever it is. And this goes for fitness too. This goes for your physical. This goes for your mental. It goes for your career. Quit comparing yourself against a standard that is total marketing bullshit

designed to take people's money for unethical fucking reasons. Okay. That's a bad standard to measure yourself against. Start measuring yourself against a standard of this. Did I get my five critical tasks done today? Did I complete my power list today? And if you don't know what the power list is, go back and listen to episode 107 in its entirety, and it will explain it. We talk about exactly how to create results that are guaranteed over the course of your life. Five critical tasks a day. It's not, oh, dude, I'm not living the life this other 19 year old kid claims to live on Instagram with this fucking Lambo and his Ferrari and his fucking yacht and his Patek watch and all this other shit.

One day you might have that shit. Like I have that shit, but you're not going to have it when you first start out. You're going to be like it was when I started out. You're going to be fucking living in the back of your quote unquote store or whatever that's that, whatever that story is guys, it's okay. Because here's the thing. That story is what makes your life great. Okay. That story is what's going to inspire other people. Whenever you finally do get some momentum, that's, what's going to show other people whenever you finally do get some momentum. That's what's going to show people that it is possible. That's what's going to inspire your family, your kids, your next generation of entrepreneurs, your story of struggling right now, the real shit that you're embarrassed of right now is going to be the shit that makes people say, fuck yeah,

I can do it. And dude, that's real shit. That's noble. That's noble. Okay. That's not, you know, Oh, Hey, let me make a few thousand dollars off these guys on Instagram by posting some fake shit. You can't be proud of that. But what you could be proud of is being man enough to fucking struggle through and get your five fucking tasks done on a daily basis. And in 10 years, be able to look back and be like, yeah, dude, that's why we started. This is how I started. And this means that you could fucking do it too. And people respect that they get inspired by that. They, they create better lives because of that guys. And so by trying to like, you know, two things can happen here. One, by trying to make

it look like you're amazing from the beginning. First of all, nobody fucking believes you. Second of all, you don't ever find real success because you're not actually out there doing the things that need to be done on a daily basis. You're too worried about your external image. So guys, when you're embarrassed and you feel like you're way behind, understand that that's the normal thought of an entrepreneur. People come to me all the time and say, Andy, congratulations on all the success. And if you listened to the podcast before, you know that I fucking hate that. All right. Because I don't feel successful. I don't feel like I've done what I need to do in my life. I don't feel like I've

achieved it or made it. Okay. And I always feel behind. I always feel like I should be further down the road. And guys, you have to realize that that's a great indicator that your mindset is in the right place. Cause the minute that you start thinking you made it, the minute you start thinking you have it made is the minute that another company comes up and slits your fucking throat and you're dead in the water. Okay. So stop worrying about, you know, making it and just understand that feeling like you're behind and feeling like you're a little embarrassed about where you are is a good thing because it keeps you hungry. It keeps you driven. It keeps you moving forward. And so when you deny those feelings and you try to hide them and pretend like you're something you're not, you're actually denying

yourself, yourself, the progress, and you're denying the world, your story. And guys, that's two things that you do not want to do. All right. You are here to make an impact and you're going to make an impact two different ways. One through your story, which if you deny your whole story, guess what? You don't have a fucking story. And two, through your results. And if you're too worried about your story in the beginning, you're not going to have fucking results because you're not worrying about your five critical tasks. You're not doing what needs to be done.

You're not winning the day on a daily basis. You're too worried about what the fuck you're posting on the internet to impress other motherfuckers that aren't doing shit. So guys, stop the nonsense. Understand we all, every single person who has started something that has achieved some sort of financial success that you look up to that's real. That means they can go out and write a seven figure or an eight figure check to make shit happen. Those motherfuckers, they started out like I started out. They started out in the beginning. They started out, you know, getting a shitty mattress from some fucking bullshit store or some other crazy story. And the reason I know that is because the only way that

you can develop the tenacity and the persistence and the drive and the determination that you need to have to succeed on a large scale is by overcoming those sort of stories, by overcoming those stories of hardship. Do you ever notice that all these successful entrepreneurs have this crazy story of how they started? Well, you know why that is? It's not because everybody goes back and manufactures a story. It's because these motherfuckers, that was their bootcamp. That was their training ground. That was the time they spent working to overcome all these obstacles, which made them strong so that now they could handle

what comes at them. And guys, by you not getting your hands dirty and you not jumping in and you not being willing to embrace that struggle, you're not developing the strength that you're going to need down the road when shit gets big and you're dealing with real shit. All right, so quit pretending. Entrepreneurship is not about your fucking watch. It's not about your fucking car. It's not about your stack of fake money that you bought on eBay to post on the internet to try to impress people. It's about what you did today and if you won the fucking day. And if you win today, guess what? You won. If you win five, six days in a row, guess what? You got a winning streak. If you win three or four weeks in a row, guess what? You got a winning streak. If you win

three or four weeks in a row, guess what? You won a month. Okay. You win a couple months in a row. Guess what? You're starting to create a habit. And guess what that habit is? It's fucking winning. And pretty soon it's not something you have to try for. It's just something that you are. So stop worrying about all the bullshit. Start focusing on winning the fucking day. Go back and listen to 107. Memorize the fuck out of that podcast. Execute it on a daily basis. Don't be afraid to look broke. Don't be afraid to look embarrassed. Don't be afraid to embrace the feelings of unsatisfaction and feeling like you're behind because that's what's going to keep you fucking sharp. that's what's going to keep you

fucking sharp. That's what's going to keep you moving. That's what's going to keep you hungry. And that's what's going to make you competitive in the long haul.