The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Born Or Made: Fear is a Liar. Defeat is Overrated. By Larry G. Dix II

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Version 1.0.0 Born Or Made: Fear is a Liar. Defeat is Overrated. By Larry G. Dix II https://www.amazon.com/Born-Made-Liar-Defeat-Overrated/dp/1960346431 Larrygdix.com Are entrepreneurs born with a special gift? Or are they made through hard work, failure, and perseverance? As it unravels this age-old debate, Born or Made showcases the paths of those who have reached the upper echelons of business, revealing the secrets behind their success. Illuminated by powerful scripture, these actionable strategies and expert insights from lifelong entrepreneur Larry Dix offer an inspiring roadmap to excellence. Inside, you’ll find: The unwritten “rules” of the top 1 percent of high-achievers. Proven strategies to turn devastating setbacks into money-making opportunities. The mental toolbox to harness your potential grit, perseverance, and growth. Personal stories of resilience and success from leading industry-disruptors and innovators. Hard-won sales techniques and communication hacks from Larry’s multi-venture career. Whether you’re just starting out, scaling up, or navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, Born or Made will remind you that success isn’t just about talent—it’s about the tenacity, faith, and legacy you build along the way, guided by the wisdom of God’s word.About the author Larry Dix is an accomplished entrepreneur with decades of experience building and scaling businesses. He has turned setbacks into success and now dedicates his mission to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs. Through his Born or Made Podcast, Larry shares insights from top industry leaders and offers actionable advice for navigating the entrepreneurial journey. A sought-after speaker and coach, Larry is committed to helping others grow their businesses and reach their full potential. With a focus on faith, perseverance, and continuous learning, Larry’s work equips entrepreneurs to thrive in today’s competitive world.

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Because you're about to go on a moment. Monster Education Roller Coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks, is Voss here from thecrisp Vos Show.com. Ladies in, when the earliest things that makes official, welcome to the big show. As always, Chris Foss show is the family that loves you and helps you become better. Most of your other family, you know, they're just, they're just bad influences or some of them might be, and they might help you do worse.

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Today we have another amazing young man on the show, and of course, he's not full of shit, it's just me. He's the author of the latest. The audience is like, yeah, it's Chris is full of shit. His book just came out March 11, 2025. It is entitled Born or Made. Fear is a liar. Defeat is overrated. Shots fired over here, folks. Larry G. Dix The second is joining us on the show. We're going to get into with him. His insights and all the goodies and knowledge that he has to. Once I said, make your life better so you can sleep better at night. See, because we care. That's what we do here. Larry G. Dix is a former yard dog, turn founder, investor, bestselling author, and host of the Born or Made podcast. He built a multi-million dollar company from the ground up with shortcuts without shortcuts or a silver spoon. Just grit, faith, and relentless work ethic.

He's the founder of Apex, a leading trust manufacturing company that will serve as the president of the structural building components association beginning in September 2025. Boy, our audience members that are a part of that association will love that. Larry is the author of Bordermaid. We have a huge contingency, by the way, a audience that listens to the show from that association. Larry is the author, Born or Made, Fear is a Liar. Defeat is a best-selling book that explores real stories, failures, and strategies by what it takes to thrive in business.

The book blends hard-won wisdom lessons from industry leaders and practical tools for entrepreneurs navigating the highs and lows of building something real. Welcome to the show. How are you, Larry? I am doing great. How are you today, Chris? I am doing excellent.

Give us your dot-coms. How can people find out more about you on the interwebs? Everything is pretty much tied to, not pretty much, is Born or Made Podcasts, which is all my podcast right. I have a website for that. And then also Larry G. Dix, I.I.com. It's known as the second, but it's I.I.com. And I've got them all covered.

I've got Larry G. Dix, L-G-D-I, you name it. But on every format of social media, it's under that. Larry. That's a lot of dicks, Larry. It is a lot. Yeah. I don't get to get to get.

to say that very often or like anything and for the record folks that is spelled larry d i x so everybody's supposed to know that automatically exactly there'll be links in the chris fos show but just to make sure because you know if you spell it differently you might get a different google result you could get that i've not checked that one i probably should it could be very interesting i don't recommend it i don't recommend anything yeah there's some wormholes you just don't want to open Don't want to open, yeah. But also, our sponsor today is the Chris Voss only fans. No, I'm just kidding.

Anyway, so Larry, give us $30,000 over you. What's in your new book? So what I'm trying to do is just help people to understand that entrepreneurship is hard. I kind of started down this path when my mom died and I started kind of realizing, you know, I didn't know as much about my, you know, growing up of what I was like. You know, I started trying to delving into this deep thought. And I realized that it was hard to what we were trying to do. give people life stories of the challenges, you know, the physical, mental, and financial challenges

that entrepreneurship really does bring. Because what you see in social media today is everybody's riding around in private jets, eating caviar and lobster tails. And that's just not the way it is in the real world. You know, 99% of us don't make the 1%. And I didn't know this until just the other day that, you know, 80% of the businesses out there are under $5 million a year in revenue. And so I just kind of want to bring a reality check to people, but that if you can be a guy like me that graduated 142 out of 147 in this high school class, that you can eventually get to something that whatever you determine is successful. Yeah.

And just don't listen to all the bull crap that you hear out there. This is a freaking hard job. Yeah. And it is hard. You know, a lot of people, sadly, you know, what's that old adage that, you know, people, people don't see, it seems like in this world, you know, in this Instagram sort of everyone's successful. And sometimes you don't even know if they're really successful. I've known people that look at all success and fodder that makes it look like they're successful. And they're

living out of the car, you find out. But, you know, the other thing is too is people celebrate the win, but they don't celebrate the blood sweat, the tears, as you say, the grit, those lonely nights when you're working 24-7, maybe you wish you were with your family or wish you had a family or you wish, you know, I've done those things where I'm up in the middle of the night trying to get my business to work, get the wheels, you know, down on the road and trying to make a profit or more profit. And it can be lonely because, you know, the buck stops with you. Like, there's no one you can really be like, well, it's probably the other guy's fault.

Wait, there's no one behind me. That's right. Well, I mean, it's exactly what you're saying. And I write about this in the book is that, you know, everybody wants to see you at the peak, right? but you're either going into the abyss or you're coming out and nobody sees that part they just see you when you're up there going oh i got a win and you have a lot more losses than you ever have wins and nobody wants to celebrate that my dad always used to say and still does is like everybody wants what you have they're just not willing to go through what it takes to get there that's a really true story because yeah let's see what it was there's a miss shot quote uh that i'm i got Here's a good example, I think, that nails it what you just said.

This is from Michael Jordan, the famed basketball star. I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games, 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I failed over and over in my life, and that's why I succeed. And you're right. Sometimes it's throwing a lot of shit up against the wall to see what sticks. You know, a lot of AB testing, a lot of, you know, sometimes I always liking it to like a dial on a safe and you're you're constantly trying to you know put safe crack it and you're trying to

find the right formula the right innovation the right analogy to to to get that safe open and you know you can spend a lot of time clicking those numbers and then one day just pooh it's almost like magic happens and the lights come on and the safe opens and and then you find out it was just all Capone's empty safe. Yeah, yeah, and there's a lot of truth because you finally get to those wins and then you're like, and it's gone 30 seconds later. And because then the phone rings and some breaks in your manufacturing facility and you've got to decide to make a $10,000 investment that you were just winning a few minutes ago.

Yeah. And that's tough. And that's where, you know, that's why I talk about defeat is overrated. You have to have the losses to appreciate the wins. It's true. And they will outnumber them unless you. You're just one guy to get, you know, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I don't know about you, but it hasn't happened for me.

And I still, there are nights I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning, that brain gets fired up and you don't know whether you're making payroll on Friday, you know, picking up checks and using company, you know, personal credit cards. Yeah. That's the stories that I try to talk about with people. And, you know, people don't. And then they see you. I'm 62 years old.

And now everybody's like, oh, wow, you're, you know, you're such a success. I'm like, yeah, I started working when I was 11. right i mean it's yeah it's like yeah mine was stomping cotton in south texas in the middle of the freaking heat and making a buck 25 an hour and having you know 20 15 ton combines come up beside you and dump stuff which you know you and i would go to jail for doing today and cotton and they were dumping them besides and you jump down in them and you know my buddy fell off the top of a tractor one of these trailers and it was 12 foot in the air you know i'm and like dang handy that

hurt didn't he's like I can't breathe you know for my whopping $60 that two weeks so let me ask you this like on a couple things born or made that's the title of the book it's the title of your podcast what does that mean for you and what do you what do you want people to come away with the understanding of that I'm trying to just dive in like I was talking about with my mom is like was I born this way like she said that I can remember since I was three years old I was a salesman I was talking to adults but then I was made into this person I believe that I'm a born or made guy I think you were either combination you were born with certain gifts and then you're made through the trials and tribulations of that life. And I just learned how to become extremely disciplined through, you know, hard knocks and getting my butt kicked and making hard decisions.

Like I would never let that happen again. And that's the purpose of it is you listen. I interview these amazing founders of companies and you ask them the final question. Do you think you were born or made? And some people say born, some say made. most say in between, and I had one the other day that said built. And I'm like, boom, that's the first time I ever heard of that one. So it's just trying to get people to start thinking about this stuff and putting some real thought into the fact that, you know,

we are born as individuals, but life makes us into who we are. And there's some people that believe they are made, and I wouldn't argue with them, is like some of these artists and some of these people that are really have unique jobs and that's what we talk about and it's very fun it's actually very enjoyable i you know i i i would say i don't know anyone who's a born leader i think that's developed i don't know maybe i don't know i always used to say me and my brother were born kings because we always we always had a certain swagger about us and we questioned things and just very early on i figured shit out i don't know whatever but yeah i was definitely made i mean one of the things that happened to me was when I was raised.

I was raised in a religious cult, and it was very repressive, and I spent a lot of time learning to question reality, because somehow I had, like I said, some sort of awareness. I don't know what it is, but I was just born, like at three years old, I knew the church was full of shit. And that's one of my first thoughts that I remember having. And, but the hazing that I took from questioning the cult, from challenging the thoughts from trying to see outside the box and fortunately being stuffed into a box where I didn't have any sort of other awareness until people like George Carlin came

along and other people that, you know, had different thoughts. And so for me, it was a constant battle and fight over this data and questioning things. And, you know, that, well, I really would love to have skipped that whole experience in childhood, that created an innovative entrepreneurial mindset in me, always questioning things, always seeking answers, always trying to innovate, always trying to find what the truth is, what reality is, trying to get out of my own scotomous, my own blind spots. And so that really shaped me. And then gave me a lot of, and I guess somewhere in all the crisis and trauma, I picked up ADHD, which is a great CEO disease staff. I'm all about it.

I love that. Absolutely. Yeah, they were putting me on Ritalin when I was in the first grade and my mom took me off of it. She's like, he's not even the same kid. And this was in this, this was a bit would have been 1969 or 70. You know, they were trying to pump as full of that stuff. And now I'm just like, I think it's fantastic. It's great if you can master it. It's great if you can master.

Well, I think that's the, that's where you got to be busy. You've got to stay in there. You know, I write about, you know, on my, my, my website, Larry G. Dix, I, I. And, you know, seven shifts that got me unstuck. But it's that process of what you're going through, you're talking about through your life is, you know, and you, it would be, we'll never get to test this, but it'd be interesting to see if you came up in a different childhood, if you wouldn't still be the same guy. I argue that you would. I think you're born with these traits that you were probably going to be an alpha leader of some sort. And you just honed them in a way that over

time and that may have you may have done it differently if you had a different environment in 10 years it may have taken you 20 years to get there yeah that's kind of interesting i i i don't know that was such a shaping of me i mean that was absolutely that was definitely a blacksmith anvil i mean i went through hell and back for 16 years and to get away from that cold and i probably still care i still carry some of the psychological scars of it to this day especially the age but uh You know, I've often ponded that. Like, how would my life have been different? And I guess nobody has a pure panaceic, is that a word, perfect childhood, right?

You know, it's for anybody that has perfect sale? So it's interesting how, it's interesting how so many different things shape us in life, our stories, our experiences. And then, you know, you're like, I'm never going to use this. And then years later, you're like, geez, that was really helpful. Yeah, I mean, I think getting beat up and having some tough lives. life lessons does mold you into where you get to. And it's just a matter, you know, I, I, I like to say, you know, to decide whether you're going to be defeated or inspired. And clearly, you'd use that as an inspiration for you. So that's the difference too. And maybe that's, maybe that's our ADHD stuff that helps us kind of see that and then go to the next thing instead of just dwelling on it for the next 10 years. Yeah. And that. I've never done that. Maybe the ADHD thing is that makes us so we don't spend too much time focusing on the pain we can go squirrel yeah now i can screw you up too because then you got oh that's right i'm

running a business over here probably should start focusing on that instead of doing this and that's the that can be the pitfall yeah i was doing i was doing really well with my uh ADHD it had it's kind disappeared in my 50s and then i got checked for low testosterone and i went and i had it it was all gone and i was just enjoying my life and uh my focus of presence and then i got testosterone replacement And it came back with a vengeance. Isn't that, I mean, we don't even talk about that as much now. Because like when I go to the doctor, I found out I started really studying this about two years ago. And luckily, I had pretty high testosterone, which apparently like me, if you lose your hair,

that's somewhat of an indicator later that you have good testosterone. And it's a huge deal. And we, you know, I'm big in this wellness and fitness stuff. And I tell you what, I'm all about. I tell my buddies all the time, you had your testosterone change? Well, not really. You need to freaking get it checked. Get it checked, boys.

It's legit. Get it checked. You definitely want to get it checked. It's changed my life. It's brought me back from I was just a mess and fog. Back to your book. And the second part of the title, Fear is a Liar, Defeat is Overrated. Show me on the dollar if you hurt you, sir.

No, I'm just kidding. Tell us what that means. Fear is a liar, defeat is overrated. Fear is the one thing that gripped me a lot. It took me until I was 35 years old to make the jump on my business because I had fear of making sure my three kids had roofs over their head, fear of not disappointing my wife, fear of listening to the people around me that say, oh, you're crazy, you have a great job, all these different things. And then you start getting into business and fear gets ramped up as like, you know, I always like to say is like, one day I feel like I can run a Fortune 500 company. And the next day, I don't think I can run a freaking, you know, lemonade stand. and that's fear, that's doubt, you know, that thing that just constantly is in your head

in trying to constantly work on defeating that, that's where ADHD people, I think, have a huge advantage because you have fear for 10 minutes and then you think you can conquer the world the next 10 minutes. I like your perspective on this, because I'm going to start thinking that way about my ADHD. I think it's a huge, I mean, I mean, think about running four or five, like I've got four, four different businesses that I'm running and people are exhausted like how do you do it I'm like I mean that's just how my brain works I don't want to sit in front of a computer for 12 hours a day you know I want to be out doing this and mixing it up and you know racing cars or you know Saturday

Sunday night I'm out there checking on cows you know because our water system wouldn't work until 830 at night wow and that's fun man I mean that's the stuff that makes you you know I'm out there by myself I spend a lot of time by myself and I'm okay with that yeah but fear grips you And I went to therapy during the downturn of the housing cycle and the lady told me this. And I'll never forget this. And listers need to, if you act like you have a gun pointed to your head, a fake gun, it doesn't, your body reacts like it has a gun to its head. And that's fear. That's all these chemicals that dump out of your brain.

And you've got to figure out how to get past that and move through. And that's why I called it a liar because it's freaking stealing from you constantly. Stealing your life away. Fear paralyzes. It'll lock you in. It'll make it so you can't move. And, you know, I have a lot of people that, you know, you probably get this a lot too. They go, hey, Chris, I'm going to start my own company just like you.

And you're like, okay, cool, man, when you get that launched? And they're like, well, I'm just waiting for the time to be perfect and right. And so I'm just lined up a few things. You're like, okay, well, you know, perfect, there's no ever a perfect time. You just got to do it. And then you'll see him years later. and you're like, hey, how's that working out? And they're like, I'm a star, just waiting for a perfect time.

That literally in my seven, you know, shifts, that's the number one thing is make a freaking decision, you know, before it's, before you're ready. I mean, just get in there and get it done. I mean, I have buddies all the time. I saw this really smart young man the other day. And I'm like, he's working a full-time job and he's trying to do this deal. He's like, well, I just, you know, when do you think I should do it? I'm like, now.

He's like, what do you mean? I'm like, dude, if you part-time this thing, you're never going to get there. you've got to because when you can't feed your family or you have a mortgage payment coming up next you know on the first you get real freaking motivated you do you do right yeah payroll on friday you will figure it out i've done that half inch thick signing every two weeks of uh payroll checks and yeah it's a hundred thousand dollar payroll yeah and you have to make your tax to pilot the next Wednesday or they charge you 10% penalty. That's a pretty big freaking motivator. Oh, yeah. And that's why it's just make the decision before you're ready, get in there and get it out.

You know, my dad always said, you know, people wait until they have kids, but they're ready. They'll never have kids. Just have them. Same thing with business. Just get in there and get it done. You will figure it out. And that's the, you know, the fear. That is fear is gripping people with that. Yeah, it definitely will. So tell us a little bit about your life. How did you grow up? What were some of the things that shaped you and some of the experiences you had that got you into some of the business and fields you're doing today? That's a great question. I bought my first dog a Cocker Spaniel. I don't know why I liked Cocker Spaniels. My parents let me buy a dog. I named it million. I'm 15 years old because I'm going to be a millionaire. This is back,

now think about this. This is me and you. We may get to. to see a magazine. Very rarely do we ever get to see a newspaper, but we see three channels and you kind of start thinking about these people have money. I didn't grow up anywhere where there was money involved. And I just had this deal that I wanted to own a business. And I wanted to be a business guy. We didn't even know what the hell entrepreneurship mean or entrepreneur didn't exist. And I just kind of was motivated in that direction. I knew I wasn't going to go to college, which was a challenge because I saw my father graduate from college when I was 12 years old. So we had a very high emphasis on this of going to school. Well, I tell

my dad, I'm not going to do it. And he says, okay, well, what are you going to do? I said, I'm going to be a framer, a carpenter. He's like, good for you. So I go and I get this job, and I'm walking across a soccer field when my brother was playing soccer. Soccer was just coming into Texas. And he's this college graduate guy. He works for my dad. He comes up to and goes, hey, Larry, how are you doing? I'm like, great. You know, I just had a good attitude. I was a good kid. And he said, I just want to talk to you about something. I said, what's that? And he said, I just want you to tell you, you're the dumbest. And he called me an MFR to my face. I'm a 17-year-old kid. this guy's in his 40s or 50s for not going to college.

And I'll never forget that. And I was like, dude, I'm going to make more money than you've ever thought about making. And I'm thinking this to myself. And I wore that as like this chip on my shoulder for a very, very long time. And, you know, fast forward, I go to work for a lumber company because the guy was bouncing checks because I didn't realize the guy, apparently cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol is very prevalent in the construction industry in Texas in 1980. So my dad is pissed.

He's like, you can get a real job. I'm like, yes, sir. So I go on and I move to the youngest outside salesman in a $100 million company by 21. And I'll never forget this store. I'm sitting in my little bitty office and this kid comes into me. This is another one of those moments like, aha. And he looks and he goes, Larry, he goes, you just got my job. And I said, okay, I didn't know.

I'm 21, right? He puts his hand up and he shows me a finger of his ring from the University of Texas. He goes, I have a degree from the University of Texas, and you got my job. And that's just another one of those moments where I'm like, it's hard work, it's perseverance, it's determination, showing up early, no, not on time, you know, on time is late, right? I mean, you were learning this stuff. And those were things that just continued to shape me. And then I started seeing people with nicer cars and different living in different houses,

and it just kept motivating me to go for that. Because at first, I was highly motivated by money that shifted much, you know, later in life, I really just realized money was a tool. And I got into the excitement of closing the deal, getting the next job, getting the next new car or something like, it was just about getting. And then you get the car and you're like, well, okay, they all have four wheels. They still burn gas and there's the more expensive the car is, the higher the maintenance, you know? And it's like, eh.

So really I just got, and I really found that I just got excited about doing deals all the time. You know, the next sell. I call it making the cash register ring, you know, making that next cell. Making the cash register ring. I like it. Yeah. I like it. And that just kind of shaped me through my life.

And then I got into running and athletics. And I was, I was a, you know, average athlete that I started realizing mental capacity. And I could start out working these guys. And most, you know, most people just are average. I mean, I saw a guy yesterday. I said 50% of the people out there are average. all you got to do is just show up. Yeah, yeah.

What's the old line from George Carlin? We referenced earlier. Think about how dumb the average person is and realize 50% of people are dumber than that. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Not to be little people too much. No, I'm not trying to do that. We have to have people out there.

Yeah, you can. I'm a motivator. But yeah, but you know, it's a good aspect to tell people, you know, hey, think about it. Am I really applying myself? Am I just being lazy? Am I not going for it? Am I not, you know, putting my fear aside, as you put it, and going after my hopes and dreams.

And, you know, people will take and hold themselves back out of, out of, you know, the fear of, well, what if it doesn't work out and all that good stuff? I remember my father when I was growing up, he had a, I was raised in Beverly Hills. I was born in Beverly Hills, and we lived next to Bob Barker from the Price is Right and we walk the dog with. No way. Yep, yep. And the first Adobe House there. There's apartment building next to it.

My parents just managed the apartment, so they got free rent. They weren't rich. But my whole world was opulence. It was Rolls Royces on every corner, BMWs, Mercedes-Benz. It was all this stuff. Well, my dad was just a cheap, kind of a survivor-type dude. Yeah. He loved VWs, buses.

And, you know, he always had these janky. He had like three janky BMWs, or not BMWs, so three janky VWs. And, you know, he was always fixing them. They're always just kind of ratty. One he used for newspaper delivery. He used to own like a franchise of the newspaper coin-op machines when that was a thing. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And so, you know, I would see his car and I would see the other cars at every, at every stoplight. And I'd be like, Dad, how come we own our Mercedes or B&W or Wells-Royce? And he goes, oh, the bank owns it. And those guys don't really own those cars, the bank owns it. And I was like, okay, well, my dad told me, he wouldn't lie to me, you know, right? and then after asking that question enough and getting enough shit thrown back finally one day i said to him does the bank go in your car too dad he got really angry shut up so i discovered that my dad was full of shit that was one of the things that was one of the

things that helped but also you know the bank also in his car so then i spent the rest of my childhood going how come my dad has shit uh these other people don't what's the difference what do I need to do to get that BMW, and eventually I did, several of them. And, you know, it really, you know, having that sort of drive and ambition to see that and want something more really help, just like you were talking about. And then be willing to go implement it. Yeah, go implement it. And you're going to, you know, as I talk about, you know, this getting unstuck, we all get

stuck. It's just a matter of getting yourself unstuck. And that's something I've tried to really work hard at over the last, you know, multiple years because you get in these ruts, even when you get a business and it even becomes successful, you kind of plateau. And it's that, you know, if your business isn't growing, it's dying. You know, my business stayed pretty flat for a long time before I finally realized, you know, that I wanted more again.

And I got complacent. You know, it's one thing about being content, but you don't want to be complacent. Yeah, yeah. You got to keep it up, man. So let's talk about some of the offerings you have on your website and get that in there. and let's get some plugs in for the podcast, too, please. Yeah, so the seven shifts that got me unstuck is kind of our big one right now on our website. And we're just trying to help people go through this, you know, trying to figure out about, you know, again, make a decision, right?

Stop chasing motivation, things like this. And it just gives you a layout and just gives you some stories to let you understand how that works. Of course, our books on there, Born or Made. And we are in the process. We'll have another one coming out in October, which will be our second book coming. out. And so that one's going to be called Born to Move. And so trying to show people how to start accelerating and doing things. And, you know, if you've got a foundation to build upon that. And we're just out there actually. And then I'm doing keynote speeches now. I'm doing,

I've got 10 scheduled by the end of the year. And we're just going out there and really starting to push that. So I can get, you know, get out there and start talking to people and tell them the real truth about entrepreneurship. And, you know, I'm not flying out there in a private jet. You know, that is the cold, hard reality of it. So that's what we're trying to do and trying to just, and we're building this in that direction. And we just launched the Larry G. Dix I. So that that's the one we're shifting a little bit to really start going down

this keynote speaking and tools to help entrepreneurs get through this. Again, physical, mental, and financial stress that it's involved, that you and I both know that other people think they want, they need to understand what it really is. It's very doable. It's just hard. Yeah. It's funny.

I have, and I get this from Gen Z a lot, but they're always like, yeah, they'll be like, yeah, I want to do what you do or I want to do this. Tell me how to do it. I'm like, well, here's the hard work. And they're like, oh, man, that's a lot of work. That's really hard. And I'm like, how did you get this far in life and not understand that anything of value,

anything that is worth having and that is, you know, kind of exclusive or maybe highly valuable, it takes a lot of work. A diamond takes a lot of work to remove from the ground. You know, if it was easy, you know, you could, you know, you pay five cents for a diamond in a freaking gumball machine. And everybody would be doing it. Everybody would be doing it. And then it would lose even more value, probably. You know, if it's kind of like fast food, you know, I mean, why don't we pay fast food workers a lot of money, you know, the outcome they don't get paid like surgeons? Well, everyone can kind of do those jobs. I did them when I was a kid or it's a pizza at McDonald's and uh you know i anyway could do them pretty much but

few people can probably pull off brain surgery successfully uh successfully has to be the qualifier there because i could probably do brain surgery but i do a different there may not be a live patient afterward right yeah i think my intent would not have a live anyway or whatever i'm going to do brain surgery on enemies anyway uh so uh so people can go to your website they can sign up for that seven seven yeah got me unstuck this the seven shifts that got me unstuck see i need it because i'm getting stuck there i just couldn't find you're getting stuck tell us about what you guys do on the podcast who do you interview what sort of conversations you have over there we start off with very simple questions what we try to do is paint a picture because what you

find is most entrepreneurs people see is where they are today and so what we do is we start off from literally like if i was interviewing chris i'd be like chris where am i talking to you from today. And you tell me that. And I'd be like, tell me where you were born. And we just start this process from the moment they're born through grade school, through middle school, through high school, and just kind of seeing these things, how they developed. Did they have certain skill sets? Were they good at school? Were they not good at school? Were they artistic? Were they athletic? And you start seeing these trends in this determination. You start seeing a lot of these people. You find out, you know, everybody says there's no shortcuts. Every one of

these people I interview, and I've done 80, I think, because number 60 came. out today that they all are hard workers. They never had shortcuts. None of them were ever like, oh, you know, yeah, my dad's Bill Gates, and he gave me a couple of big, you know, a couple of million dollars to start a business. These are all people that started with nothing and did this. And it's from, you know, artists to people do, you know, Mad's underwear, you know, Dan, who's this great entrepreneur, you know, and he's developed this thing because guys were, have all these, you know, micro toxins in them. And he realized it was because of our freaking underwear. We're polyester in them.

We're running around with chemicals around them. Things like that and just finding these little niche markets and, you know, to, you know, health organizations that they're running and doing things like that, that they develop these apps and things. And it's just, and you're just trying to figure it out. But there's always the same trend. They never have shortcuts. They all work their butts off.

And they have lots of failures. And lots of times they don't think they're going to make it, but they got this self-determination. And they don't listen to their family. because you know like oh you're taking a big risk and like yeah you know you don't want to listen to that kind of stuff and and those are the people that we interview and even in the crazy thing is something i'm learning is two things is drug addicts alcoholics and dyslexics make incredible business people when they get sober and they figure out their dyslexia i mean it's

not all three but any one of those three they are phenomenal business people because they're able to hyper focus on businesses and they take all that energy that was being attached to, you know, something they were addicted to and they figure it out and then they just kill it. It's, I can't tell me these guys and gals I interview that were, yeah, I'm a 12 year old recovering alcoholic or I've been sober for 18 years, you know, that's something else that you really find. And then dyslexia is one that I'm very interested in. I'm starting to study a lot more is once these guys figure this out, it is amazing how

well they do in business. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, you know, nailing down all these things that'll make all the difference in the world for you. So as we go out, give people your final pitch out on how to find out more about you, order of the book, etc., etc. Order of the book. You can get that on Amazon. You can get Barnes & Noble. Any kind of book outlets you can go to. You can get born or made. Fear is a liar. Defeat is overrated. Go out there and buy them, folks. It's a great story of what I've accomplished so far. We're real excited about our next one born, you know, born to move. And we're going to kind of stay on that, that kind of theory and just

see where this thing takes us. It's a great journey. It's, you know, a guy that literally started as a yard dog and became a founder and just all the trials and tribulations, all the good things I did and really all the bad things I did to help. I want to help the entrepreneurs not make the same mistakes that I made. And it's like you and I both know, right? You talk to your dad. You can call your dad and ask him something. He's like, well, yeah, I've already made that mistake. Here's how I got around it. So why I would go make the same mistake twice? And we're trying to help entrepreneurs with that. And it's freaking hard, but it's worth it if you can get to the other side. Worth it if you get to the other side. You know, it's, I remember I've talked about this

before in the show. There's a gentleman who's, I think, probably 65 or 70, who he's on TikTok and he sells, he's a broker for commercial planes, or not commercial planes, private planes. Private. And you may have seen him. He's a kind of distinguished gentleman in English and I think he's Italian looking. And, you know, he's been selling planes for 40 years or all of his life pretty much. He got started when he was young. And I remember watching a video of him he did of what he goes through during his day. He like works out in the middle of the day, which is kind of interesting. And, you know, how he goes through his thing, his day. And he said, he says something really stuck to me one time. He says, you know, really, You would think that after 40 years or whatever, being in this business, that it would just be a cakewalk every day. It would just be just the same old, I just do the same thing, right? He goes, every day, it's new problems, it's new technology, it's new challenges, it's the new financing, new this, do that. He's like, he's like, all really businesses is problem solving all the time, and it never ends. You're just a problem solver.

You're just solving one problems today. there was some big problems from all and he goes you know it's funny they're all new problems he goes you think after 40 years we'd have this down but you know do technology new new whatever new things you got to learn to stay adapted and i thought that was a really good analogy i'm like we just need to rename entrepreneurs problem solvers that's that's all we do all day yeah i mean your phone rings my phone rings it's usually a problem i mean yeah yeah i mean you do and it is never the same and you and you just get in there and get it done. It's never like, hey, we just wanted to call you and let you know, like, everything's fine.

It's working great. There's no problems. It's never that check. Yeah, and my last 20 years of paychecks have cleared. Thank you very much. Yeah, no, there's no doubt about it. That's a great analogy. Yeah.

Well, thank you very much for coming to the show. We really appreciate it, Larry. Yeah, thanks, Chris. That was really enjoyable. Appreciate it. Thank you. And to you as well. Give us your dot coms as we go out.

one last time so people can look you. Larry will do L-A-R-R-R-Y-G-D-I-I-I-D-X-I-I-com and then born-or-made podcast.com. And then all of those are on every social media, Larry G. DixI-I-I-I-D-com. And we will, and you reach out to us. We will answer your questions and we will help you. And we'd love to help you out any way we possibly can. Born or made, fear is a liar. Defeat is overrated at March 11, 2025. Thanks, Larry, for being on the show. Thanks to Ronis for tuning in. Go to Goodreadrease.com, Fortess, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com, Fortess, Chris Foss, Chris Foss, 1 on the TikTok and all those crazy places in it.

Be good, each other, stay safe. We'll see you next time. And that shows.