The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – David Ask, Entrepreneur, Creative, and The Most Encouraging Person on Earth

Episode Date: December 3, 2023

David Ask, Entrepreneur, Creative, and The Most Encouraging Person on Earth Statguardplus.com Davidask.com David Ask is a dynamic and innovative figure in the entrepreneurial landscape, renowned for his significant contributions to product development. At the helm of StatGuardPlus.com, he has successfully propelled his unique product into the limelight, securing its presence in over 3,000 prominent retail stores including industry giants like The Home Depot and Lowe's. This achievement not only underscores his prowess in entrepreneurship but also highlights his ability to navigate the competitive retail market. Beyond his entrepreneurial ventures, David is deeply involved in mentoring and leadership. He plays a pivotal role in steering two mastermind groups under the esteemed ISI Mastermind umbrella. His leadership in these groups demonstrates his commitment to fostering a community of like-minded individuals who are driven by growth and success in the entrepreneurial field. David’s passion extends beyond business success; he is deeply invested in personal development and helping others overcome challenges. His approach emphasizes the importance of recognizing and nurturing one's unique purpose. His guidance and mentorship are tailored to help individuals identify their distinct paths and overcome any obstacles that stand in their way.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show. The preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. This is Voss here from the chrisvossshow.com. There you go. When the Iron Lady sings it, that makes it official. Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen.

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Anyway, guys, we have an amazing guest on the show. liked you ever since we all have been there right is it just me no it's probably just me anyway guys we have an amazing guest on the show and as always for the last 15 years going on 16 we've been bringing the most smartest minds the people who bring you their life journeys their life experiences hundreds of thousands of hours a lifetime of hours they put into their trade or to their knowledge or to their experience between cathartic moments and rising from the ashes and everything they've gone through, and they bring and disperse that information to you. The Pulitzer Prize winners, the authors, the CEOs, the billionaires, all the wonderful people we've had on the show who come on and share with you

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for just Christmas, linkedin.com for just Christmas. Chris Voss won on the TikTok. Sign up for the big LinkedIn newsletter. I didn't know there was that many active people on LinkedIn. And also go to our 130,000 group on LinkedIn as well. Today, we have an amazing gentleman on the show. We're going to be talking to him and getting inspired. I think he's going to bring some inspiration to the show. David Ask joins us on the show. He's an entrepreneur, a creative, and calls himself, or maybe other people call him this,

the most encouraging person on earth, which is the opposite of what people call me, the most discouraging people on earth, at least people close to me. That, and they usually refer to me in Fort Lauderdale Expos. David Ask is a dynamic and innovative figure in the entrepreneurial landscape, renowned for his significant contributions to product development. At the helm of StatGuardPlus.com, he successfully propelled his unique product in the limelight, securing its presence in over 3,000 prominent retail stores, including industry giants like the Home Depot and Lowe's.

This achievement not only underscores his proudness in entrepreneurship, but also highlights his ability to navigate the competitive retail market. Beyond his entrepreneur ventures, David is deeply involved in mentoring and leadership. He plays a pivotal role in two mastermind groups under the esteemed ISI Mastermind Umbrella. His leadership in these groups demonstrates his commitment to fostering a community of like-minded individuals who are driven by growth and success in the entrepreneurial field. And we're going to be talking about some of this stuff today. Welcome to the show, David. How are you? What's up, man? I'm glad to be here. I tell you what, I went back and listened to

a ton of your podcasts over the last few weeks and to be sitting here among those and to be on the show is an honor. So thanks for having me. You are among the those. So there you go. Give us your dot coms. Where can people find you on the interwebs? Sure. My personal website is David Ask. My last name is pronounced Ask, but it's spelled Ask. So David Ask.com. And my main business is StatGuardPlus.com. S-T-A-T GuardPlus.com.

There you go. Tell us, kind of give us your journey here because you you do a lot of things and we of course want to cover stack art and find out about that's is because i i'm mildly entertained by that yeah yeah tell give us a 30 000 overview about your journey and and how you got you know launching your own company and and going into home depot and lows man i you know it's it's my it's funny because whenever I start to tell my story and really in in recent years I'm actually getting more comfortable with it and and it's because I I kind of found found my people like people that are kind of cut from the same cloth so

really from a young age I mean I started my first business when I was 16 and you know of course had no idea what I was doing a whole lot of, you know, excitement around some things. But then when, you know, you actually have to go out and sell something, right, things get a little scary, that kind of thing. And, and also, oddly enough, I grew up in a real musical family, where my mom was a music teacher, both of my older siblings were, you know, vocalists and so on. And And well, so from an early age, I realized I could actually sing a lot better than I could do anything else. My attention span was about a big fat zero. And I really just, you know, I wanted to hang out with people. I loved anything that involved,

you know, kind of something exciting and daring and inspirational and things like that, you know, with regards to people. Same time, I just, there was this, I guess I'll paint the picture this way. The people, you know, the older men, as it were, that I looked up to were always entrepreneurs. They always, it's like they were different, right? They had something else that, you know, that the nine to five guys didn't. And it's not to say that they're, they're bad, they were just different. And I was just drawn to that. I, you know, I didn't know what that, you know, what, what's my niche, right. And so I tried a lot of different things. And then, of course, I'm 49 now. So really, about 10 years ago, kind of started to find my stride, you know, with this particular, you know, thermostat guard with a combo lock and

a little bit of a niche. And, and then, you know, at that point, right, just figure it out like every other entrepreneur. Start asking questions, start hanging out with people that, you know, can help you, you know, put that story together and that kind of thing. And yeah, and started to find some traction and it got kind of exciting. There you go. So how did you get led into this product that you've launched? Here's the cool thing. Technically, it was really not my idea. My brother-in-law called me one day. I was working for a large retail chain. I'm doing facilities management. And my brother-in-law

called me one day and he goes, where do I get us? He was kind of mad, like, where do I get a stat guard with a combo lock? He goes, nobody can keep up with this stupid key. And he was kind of mad, like, where do I get a stat guard with a combo lock? He goes, nobody can keep up with this stupid key. And he was working for banks that own foreclosed properties, and they would get them back up for sale. And, of course, the agents would mess around with the thermostats, which caused the banks to have these high energy bills. So what is a stat guard so we can establish that? Right. So it's just a box that goes over a thermostat so people don't tamper with it. We all know the thermostat wars, right?

The thermostat wars. Yeah. Yes. There's so many bodies left behind. Everyone grew up with that in their family. Did you touch the thermostat again? Yeah. I forget what movie it is even in the last few years with Mark Wahlberg.

Oh, I think I've seen that meme bit yeah it's the older guys daddy's daddy's home not daddy's home what is that yeah it might be daddy's not sure the movie i just i've just seen the meme on tiktok yeah did you touch the thermostat and then it was like some young girl or something right right yeah some lodge or something yeah yeah so we all get it and right it's not my my product isn't like some new thing it's just a better mousetrap situation so you don't have to keep up with that tiny key but that's the real key to you know what entrepreneurs do they they build better mousetraps so instead of having a key yours is what it's just a three-digit combination so it's you know kind of a little jog

dial that you'd see on a briefcase or something and and what's nice too of course is you can change the code so if somebody finds out what the code is you can you know change it to something else and pretty simple and i think what the brilliant thing about your product is is it's not rocket science it's not super software it's taking something you know like i remember you know looking at paperclips when I was a kid going, I think that's pretty much done. And then all of a sudden they came up with all these variations of paperclips. They had painted paperclips. You get the flavor of your choice when it came to it. Isn't that crazy?

But you get the colored flavor of your choice. They had, then they put ridges in them and they put all sorts of different cuts in them that would hold it better and angles and, you know, different variations of it. And, you know, there was, I was like,

wow, okay, I guess there's a lot of improvement and innovation you could do to paper clips. Yeah. Who would have thunk it? And that's the beauty of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur usually will take something.

It's a pain point sometimes for them. And they just go, Hey, I think I can make this better. You know, we even just had an author on recently. usually will take something it's a pain point sometimes for them and they just go hey i think i can make this better you know we even just had an author on recently who's a very successful novelist now she used to read a lot of books and she'd be like god i know so many ways to make this book better you know if they would have done this or that you know and she kept reading these books going you know this could have done that so So finally, she says, I'm just going to write my own damn book the right way. I like it.

And it turns out everyone else likes it too. And so that's the beauty of just being an entrepreneur, finding pain points, basically solving people's problems. It is. I mean, isn't it funny when you think about on a marketing level, it's the front and center, what problem do you solve? Or if you're selling Coca-Cola or something, there's the front and center, what problem do you solve? Or if you're selling Coca-Cola or something, there's not necessarily a problem, but hey, our product will make you happy if you drink it. You've got to convince somebody that they're sad and unless they have your product, they're going to be happy, that kind of thing. But problems, I think it's way

easier just to solve a simple problem. And people want comfort. And I think a lot of people too, the reason I'm highlighting this is a lot of people, too, they come to me and they're like, I want to start a company. I want to do something like AI. You don't know anything about AI. That's the thing. Or, you know, the next big thing,

or crypto, or, you know, they're always trying to figure out something that they don't really have a passion for, they may not have a knowledge base for, and yet some of the simplest things like with what you did, you know, it's one of those, it's one of those,

Oh gee, why didn't I think of that moments? And if you could make products like that, you know, I've seen a million products where I'm like, fucking duh. Why don't I think of that? You know,

you know, the funny thing though is, is getting here, here's the weird thing. And this is how naive I was, right? You know, the funny thing, though, is getting here. Here's the weird thing. And this is how naive I was, right? If you build it, they will come, right? That's just not true. There are so many products out there that are viable.

I mean, they truly are better than what's sitting on the shelf, as it were. But then how do you get attention? You know, how do you get it out there? And so there's a, I mean, it's amazing how, if you think about who's sitting in the seat, in the right seat on the bus in a company, right? You've got product developers, R&D, you've got somebody manning the books, you've got marketing, you've got delivery, all that kind of stuff. And it's amazing what happens or what needs to happen in order to actually get a product out there.

There you go. But you got it out there and i guess you navigated that maze was that hard to do and getting into lows and depot and so let me let me tell you this story i love i love you know hearing stories you know similar to this just because it's you know i feel like i've i've had some divine intervention along the way so So you, for instance, Home Depot, right? You can't call them. I mean, they have an 800 number, but, you know, it says, if you know your party's extension, dial it now. If you're a vendor, go to their website, click on vendors. And, you know, so I'm a dude working in facilities management for a retail chain. And, you know, so when I go click on vendors, right,

they want my financials and all this kind of stuff. I don't have any financials. I've got 10,000 thermostat guards sitting in a storage unit because I thought if I built it, they will come. And I didn't know any different, right? I'm just all excited. I'm getting after it and get it done. And so the interesting thing is, is I called my

dad and I said, Hey, you know, who do you know that's really successful that might, you know, point me in the right direction. So he, you know, introduced me to a buddy of his who introduced me to a guy. And I remember the day, by the way, Chris, I was mowing my lawn and my, you know, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. So I shut the mower off, answered the phone. And it was a gentleman named Bob who had three products on Home Depot's shelf. And he said, you know, Hey, tell me about this. So I did, he goes, send me a couple of units. I'm going to meet, you know, with the buyer in a few weeks. So he walked it in the door. Holy crap.

Sat it in front of them. And, and of course they're like, this is intriguing. I wish we would have thought of this. And about a year later, we finally, you know, got finished the onboarding process and the, you know, resourcing it, all that kind of stuff and, and started to get some traction on homedepot.com. And then about a year after that, we got on the shelf. And, you know, it's been a heck of a ride. That's, I mean, a much longer story than we could unpack here. But it's holy smokes for a saga, really. But, you know, you were asking questions.

You were asking for help. You were networking. You're doing a lot of these things to try and make things work. You weren't getting stuck with one model or one box, but you know, I got an important lesson for if you, you know, a lot of people think that, I remember seeing that a lot when, you know, the big app rush was going on with, with the iTunes or the iPhone first came out and everyone is making apps.

And you know, so many people, they will put all their money into making the app and i'd be like so how much have you budgeted for marketing they're like no the the app's so great it's just gonna go yeah and i'm like somehow it works and they're like but that happened to twitter and that happened to you know a couple of these companies and twitter and i think it was foursquare or something they had gone and they actually didn't have a marketing campaign but they had gone to south by southwest and it had blown up but a lot of people just came across came back with data

that they're like oh they just went there and it blew up they just went there and promoted it and it's no they they had a full-on marketing campaign that you know made it the thing it at the thing but you know for a lot of years i would just hear it like you just take your app to southwest and it blows up i'm like no it doesn't and i you know i i live here in nashville tennessee right and with i'm a vocalist with a ton of other vocalists and and quite often just like i did back in the day too you think all right i'm going to record a record and you know if you build it they will come there are there's so much talent here that would just blow your mind you know i go to lead worship on church and they got you know on sundays and the guys standing with me are playing for alabama and have produced records for

backstreet boys and all kinds of stuff but But it's amazing how we think the cream rises to the top with regards to just ability and talent. Quite often it does. But quite often it's the one who laces up their shoes at five in the morning and gets out there and hustles and knocks on doors. There you go. And if you see people in the music business, sometimes they don't have any talent either. But they did the marking. Yeah. Or somebody did it for them or they're just pretty i don't know it helps if you're pretty evidently yeah exactly there you go not me not me either we have to we have to get work for a living we just we just can't flash our rings and that's right our eyes but i'd rather have it that way

anyway let's get into so you developed the product i i just think this product is fun the stack man thanks i appreciate that it's just so brilliant it's so simple it's not you know i've looked at so many people and they're like they're like you know i was talking to somebody the other day and he's trying to do everything that everybody else does yeah i want to be a youtube star i want to be big on tikt You suck it. You suck on video. No one can understand your communication. You suck on video. You have a hard accent. And, you know, he'd been trying for three years on YouTube to be successful. And, you know, I could look at any one of his videos and tell him all I need to see was one video and tell you, you're never going to make it here.

And, you know, being able to communicate if you have a really heavy accent and you're just not that interesting as you think you are which is pretty much describes me on the show yeah yeah by the way your your voice and i'm sure you've heard this for years but it's unbelievable like you're you have the quintessential radio podcast i mean it's kind of almost creepy you almost don't feel like you're real. But really, though, your voice is like quintessential. When I first heard your podcast, I'm like, is this the host? Like, what in the world?

It's that good. You have that tempo and the... I don't know. Tempo is a real part of it. If you understand comedy and delivery entertainment, tempo is important. we used to keep a tempo machine beside me but i kind of keep it in my head what's nice is the the intro sets the tempo right the main thing is making sure the guest gets the same energy and tempo too

which we usually have they read the show notes but thank you i appreciate that comment yeah you know the the voice is important and entertaining is important. You know, there's so much that goes into being a host than just setting up a pedestrian podcast. But what was my point on that? But yeah, it's, you know, doing what you're good at. Oh, I have radio face. I think that was the joke. I have radio face. So that's why.

God is like, he's ugly. Give him a radio voice because he has radio. Hey, you can't go wrong when you've got a beard. When you've got a beard. Hey, hold on. Can I tell a quick beard joke? Sure, go ahead. Okay, so it's great when you have a beard and you go out on the town with your friends who don't have a beard because everybody assumes that you're their leader.

Is that how it works? Yeah, you just look a bit more masculine. Is that? I tried doing the big masculine Viking beard thing, and it just doesn't work on me. It was fucking up my dating pool. All the girls were like, you look 10 years older with the beard.

I'm like, I'm trying to look like a masculine Viking dude, and I just can't pull it off. So I gave up. But I do. We're rocking the goatee. That's right. So I got a little bit of that. So let's talk about some of the other things that you do.

I think you do some coaching and some counseling. You help people sort of achieve the same sort of results you do. Tell us about what you do in that sphere of your life. Yeah. So it's kind of neat about, I guess it's been almost six years ago or no over that seven years ago, I was, I was introduced to the ISI mastermind and a guy named Aaron Walker started ISI. And, you know, I'll be honest at the time I was just kind of getting my business going. And, you know, that imposter syndrome was very present. I'm looking

at the guys that are in the group. I knew some of them and I'm thinking, man, they're beyond me. And why would they want me to, you know, sit at their table and to give them counsel or encouragement and things like that. And of course, I didn't know. Because you're paying membership fees. Right. Yeah. But, you know, at the same time, I didn't know what I didn't know. And I kind of lacked some self-awareness as well, as far as my strengths and, you know, things like that, you know, that I had to offer and so on. And so it was kind of funny when I started to gain traction in my business, I realized very quickly I'm in over my head. I don't know how to scale this. And I was, I just so wanted to, you know, to have it be a home run. So I, I reached out to, we call them big A and I, you know, he actually lives here in Hendersonville, just on the North side of Nashville. And we met at Starbucks and we were sitting there, you know, shooting the bowl. And, and he looked at me and said, you know, David, you don't know what you don't know. And I want to, I want to encourage you to jump,

you know, jump in. And I, in that moment, I'm like, all right, I have to do this because I don't know what I don't know. And it was, it's been amazing. You know, you, these are my, this is my posse, right? These this is a board of directors for my business. These are my band of brothers, you know, for my personal life. And we kind of, you know, very, very literally in some ways, like we're just the knights at the round table right we're sitting at a round table i'm the facilitator of a couple of groups now i lead two groups but the table's round there's no there's no sense that i'm some guru dispensing wisdom as needed you know unless you have the beard then you're well you know but it's so cool to sit at a table you you know, and in the council of many, there's wisdom, right?

So you got, you throw up something in the middle of the table and say, hey, guys, can we beat this up? How would you look at this? And so it's great to have, you know, all of that input. But then, of course, you know, ISI's got, I think, 150, you know, different men in the group. So we've got access to a lot of really smart guys, a lot of, you know, a lot of experience. So it's been super helpful. That's really good. That's really good. So why are masterminds important? Why is it good to have that sort of networking for people that maybe haven't discovered it?

Yeah. You know, on a basic level, if, you know, I was a solopreneur, right? So I'm trying to sit in every seat on the bus. And it's debilitating. I mean, you know, it's this whole idea of, you know, find it, kill it, drag it home, skin it, you know, cook it. I mean, you're just doing all of those things. And of course, once again, out of ignorance, I just thought every entrepreneur, every business owner just starts to learn to do these things. That's really low and limited thinking. So when I got into ISI, they were like, wait a second, if you're not, you know, really great at something, or you really enjoy it, you're probably not going to do it well. In fact, you're probably going to avoid certain things. So as soon as you're financially able, start delegating some of that, get some fractional, you know, people involved or virtual assistants and things like that. So right now I've got, you know, two VAs. And I mean, it's amazing, you know, when I start offloading some of those other tasks that I don't like because I'm not a details guy. I hate details. I like people. I like people. I like sales. I

like marketing. I like talking, obviously, you know, and it's, but when I started, you know, again, wise counsel, you know, they could look at me, read my label, you know, sometimes we're inside the peanut butter jar as it were, and we need somebody to read our label. So they started helping me understand me. You know, you need someone on the outside to say, hey, David, guess what? When you do these things, your energy rises. When you talk about these things, you look like you're going to, you know, fall over dead. So how about we start to avoid some of that stuff? So I anyway started to create a much more wise, you know, business model, you know, sat in my seat on the bus and, you know,

that kind of thing as much as I could while I scaled my business. There you go. You know, a lot of people need that. There's, there's, you know, I was lucky enough to have a partner for 13 years who I was the visionary and the creative, and he was the rudimentary guy who could do, you know, the, the most rudimentary, annoying tasks that made me insane. Oh yeah. You know, which is the whole reason I became an entrepreneur because the, the most rudimentary annoying tasks that make me insane, you know, which is the whole reason I became an entrepreneur because I don't do rudimentary well, I don't work in a line well, but he was good at it. And so we made a great team because I

could develop and create, and then he could implement the systems and do them. And I could move on to more creation and innovation. And so it worked really well. And if you can hire people that can do that now, with VAs and stuff, when we were coming up in business in the 90s, there wasn't any of this. There wasn't the internet yet. It was just barely coming online.

And you had to navigate everything you had to do for a business. And really the only business sort of mentor you could have was an attorney and you had to pay him you know and your attorney would give you you know business advice and accountants and stuff but you had to pay them too but nowadays you know where you can have mentors and people and other things coaches and stuff man i would have killed for having that back then oh i mean really scale is so much quicker yeah isn't it crazy yeah you you feel like you're alone and it's that that isolation isolation is just the you know we often say it is the enemy of excellence i mean you're just and you brought up the point that we talk about on the show fairly regularly there's the things you know the things you don't

know and that the things you don't know you don't know and those are the most the things you know, the things you don't know, and the things you don't know, you don't know. And those are the most important things you can do. In fact, we recently had Brandon Dawson on who works with Grant Cardone. Okay. His book, Nine Figures, and we got into that. And it's something I've always told my nephew and my niece, you know, as they go through life, try and figure out what you don't know you don't know. And don't lock into stupid thinking. Don't lock your thinking into whatever it is, whether it's politics, whether it's life, whether it's what society is telling you to do, what life is telling you to do. Try and understand the game. Know the game.

You either run the game or the game is run on you, I like to say. Man, I like that. Yeah. So you're talking about earlier about you know finding out what you don't know you don't know is so important and it expands your horizon so much and it always seems like the thing that comes out of you in the blue that whacks up side of the head is the thing you weren't ever you didn't know was existed yeah and so you, at least having your eye on the horizon can help. Yeah. You know, this idea of assumptions, right? That's we, I assume so many things. We tend to project our own, you know, worldview and personality and all that kind of stuff on

other people. And it's, it's kind of funny. I, you know, as you were talking there, I was thinking about this idea of vulnerability. So if we are, I guess, really wanting to be effective leaders and scale our businesses and, you know, lead our families well, things like that, vulnerability is really like the precursor to growth because you have to admit, you know, I don't know what I don't know. And you have to take a more humble, a humble approach where most of the world, right, is telling us you got to smash through walls and you got to be the man and all that kind of stuff and i'm finding that sucks that gets you that gets you frustrated and nobody likes you smashing through walls that's that's basically the kool-aid

guys in it i don't know that's right yeah yes it didn't look very healthy over there but yeah it's it's one of those things where you you look at and you go, you know, there's so much. There's so many hats you have to wear in a business. As you said, all the seats on the bus. There's so many different things you need to do. And trying to do them all is just nuts and suicide because you've got to be able to scale. You've got to be able to scale. You've got to be able to delegate. Yeah. You know, if you're an entrepreneur who has staff and you're still micromanaging everything and trying to do everything, you're just wasting time that you could spend doing something else. Oh, man.

I tell you what, for years I did that. And it was debilitating. I think I took on so much stress or held so much stress by acting out of my authenticity. Right. I was acting, you know, all this big, you know, everybody wants to be authentic. Right. Well, when you're when you're running a business, all of a sudden you just start thinking crazy. And I guess I have to be everything to everybody.

And I got to be Superman. Yeah. It's debilitating. You carry around a load of assumptions and whatever else that you were never meant to carry. It's tough. Yeah. It's, and you can't carry the world on your shoulders. I mean, there has to be a time where you delegate, where you, you know, you have a stack of management sort of, you know of form and leadership and everything else.

As you've gone through this, what are some of the aspects of leadership that you've had to develop or you've found yourself utilizing to help you lead your business, help you teach other people to lead in their companies as well? Yeah, this is the kind of stuff, honestly, I get really excited about. So I'm going to kind of dive into the deep end of the pool here my my favorite quote is by benjamin disraeli he's the former pm of england back in the i think 1800s and he said the greatest good you can do for another is not to share with him your riches but to reveal to him his own and i think that there's something so marvelous you know about looking at someone, you know, I like to say the things, you know, that are not just true about someone, but the truest things about them. You know, that zone of genius, that top 10% of things that when

they operate in that sphere, that courageous, you know, that moment when you see someone just step out and say something that is meaningful and convictional, and they do it in a way that is, you know, passionate and expressive, right? It's that thing you don't see very often, because we're almost afraid to do that type of thing. Because what if somebody doesn't like that? What if we get, you know, laughed at or, you know, whatever that is, and it might be, hey, you share a song or you share a poem or you present a product or an artwork or whatever that might be. It's that highest good in you, the greatest good in you.

One of the things that I've really learned to do, and it comes kind of true to my nature, is I like to encourage people, be the chief encouragement officer. But to do it in a way where I'm really validating, you know, the greatest good in someone, the riches in someone, not just, hey, dude, you've got nice shoes. Thanks for showing up yesterday on time. You know, those are fine things. Sure. and they actually have the courage, you know, to maybe even confront me on something, but they do it in a virtuous and kind and courageous way, you know, that starts to change people from the inside. And I, I love to see those types of behaviors, those types of courageous moments in people and, and to validate them, right. Just to, if you see something, say something. And I think that that

type of a leader is, is, is someone that people will follow regardless if they have the title or not. I actually had an example of that with an employee once, but it wasn't saying anything nice. They'd been mucking up and going home to solve a relationship problem they were having where their husband wasn't changing the baby's diapers and feeding the baby and they kept asking for time off and they started losing more money for me than they were worth getting paid because they weren't collecting they just weren't doing their job they weren't collecting fees and and so after multiple write-ups and conversations one day they walked into my office and they just exploded to me about what an asshole and a jerk I was and blah, blah, blah and all this stuff. And I sat there listening to them as I poured myself a scotch from my back bar in my office. And I let them run themselves out.

And I said, and then they got done. And I go, are you done? And they go, yeah. Because they were kind of surprised at how I took the whole thing. Yeah. And I said, so are you quitting or are you going back to work? And they go, what are you talking about? I go, are you quitting or going back to work?

You just came in and told me what an asshole you think I am. Good for you. But all right. So what are you doing now? And they're like, you aren't going to fire me? And I'm like, no, I'm not going to fire you. You got a lot of balls to come in here and talk to me that way. But you're half right.

I'm an asshole. And let me explain something to you. I don't know if people like this story, but I said to him. And so they kind of perclunkety sat down in the seat after screaming at me at the door. My whole office was hearing it too. My door was open. So it was a teaching moment and so i i used to keep a small bar behind me in the thing with a nice crystal and

so i sat there and poured myself a drink while i was listening to them and they just were shocked at the nonchalant manner that i was responding with and i said to him you know are you going to quit or go back to your chair and they're're like, you're not going to fire me? And so they sat down and I said, do you want to scotch? And they said no. And I said, let me explain something to you. I am an asshole. I go, every boss that I've ever worked with is authoritarian.

And a lot of times in life, we think authoritarians are assholes. You probably thought your parents were an asshole at one time. Every boss I've ever worked with, even though I maybe regarded them or respected them for a lot of things, every now and then I thought they were an asshole. So if you tell me that I'm an asshole, I'm doing my fucking job.

I bet you were being pretty authentic in that moment. We're getting really authentic in the moment. So I said, so my question to you is, are you going to go back and do your work now that you've let that out of your system? Or are you quitting? And they go, well, no, I expect you to fire me. I'm like, I'm not going to fire you. I go, let me explain something to you.

You just came in here and did what you said earlier. Most people would never come and say to my face. And most people wouldn't come in to challenge me. So that kind of, you know. How did that work out? Did they, I mean, did they do a good job? So they end up quitting. Oh, okay.

I'm not going to go back to my thing and keep working. You know, if you're not going to fire me, I'm like, I'm not going to fire you. I just, I kind of respect you a little bit more than i came in here and said a bunch of shit you're not doing your job and you're costing me a fortune and you got some stupid husband at home who won't change the baby's diapers and and feed the kid during the middle of the day so somehow that's on me to pay for that i you your, your home life is complete mess, but somehow I'm the asshole. But, you know, I said, I said, you know, now that we've got this all out of the way, I mean, you can go back to your desk and, you know, as long as, you know, we've resolved that you're going to do better, fine. But no, they just quit. They, they really expected me to, I guess,

respond emotionally and fire them. I wish I could have filmed the moment because it was just so classic, but you know, that, that brings us to the point of, you know, maybe people stand up to you, but as you said, in your example, you're like, you know, in a nice, respectful way. You know, I, it's funny. We, we can't, you know, we always say I can't control anybody else. That's really true. And I, so some of the things that, you know, when Dr. Andy and I coach people through, you know, his resilient blueprint thing, it's, it, what's fascinating the things that, you know, when Dr. Andy and I coach people through, you know, his resilient blueprint thing, it's, what's fascinating is, is, you know, again, jumping into the deep end of the pool, right? That word authenticity that we throw around all the time. It comes from the word author, right? You didn't make you, I didn't make me. You didn't

choose your eye color, your taste buds, your fingerprint retina. You didn't choose your own freaking personality. And those of us who have children know that they come out of the gate hardwired. My brother and sister are very different than me. And when they're two and three and four and five, they're not thinking about being authentic. They're just doing their deal. And so what's fascinating is, is when you, you know, and of course we throw that word identity around, right? It's all this woohoo authenticity and identity. What's really cool is when you, when you identify what's valuable and

what, you know, those words that describe your convictions and strengths and what gives your goosebumps, goosebumps and things, right? That's your identity. You've identified your authenticity. When you've done that, it gives you a sense of authority in your life. You know who I am, who I'm not, you know, the values at which I'm making decisions through that matrix, that kind of stuff. When I want to tell somebody to take a hike or I want to give them a hug, I've already predetermined, you know,

when I'm going to do that because I know what I believe. And that sounds kind of deep and whatever, but it's way more, I think, elemental, you know, when, especially when you think about our, I don't know about you, but in general, I had really great parents at the same time, they grew up in a generation where guess what? You work hard. Like you get up, you kill something, you drag it home. If you bleed, you wrap some duct tape on it and you keep going. You don't cry, you know, be a man. Some of that's honestly a really good thing to pass on. At the same time, you know, looking back, I mean, and

this is what I've tried to do with my kids and people around me, right? Is to see their uniqueness. What's their freaking, you know, the retina scan or fingerprint that's on their, you know, their soul, right? And to start getting to know that guy and bring that forth. And it's amazing how then you feel authentic. You feel like you're giving someone permission to be themselves as opposed to I want you to fit into this box. So there you go. And that's how I knew that I was living authentically when I told her, you're right, I am an asshole.

So there you go. And nothing's really changed. I think I've just gotten better at it. One thing you talk about is crushing the serpent's head, the internal lie of an entrepreneur. I don't know. We may have discussed that already. No, no. It goes back to a moment in ISI, my buddy Scott Smith. We're talking about the obstacle that the shadow self right you know it's you've got that headwind when you get up in the morning you know should i do this say this try this you know whatever that is and you've got that idiot in the mirror sometimes yourself you know telling

you telling you no and i love scott said he looked at me one day because i'm trying to talk myself out of doing something really great and he said said, David, crush the serpent's head. Like he was really passionate. I think on that Zoom that day, right? We're all around the country. And he said, David, look at me. And I'm like, I am looking at you. He goes, look at me.

Look at me. Yeah. And it was like one of those moments. He goes, David, crush the serpent's head. You are fully resourced for what you need to do in this life. Now get after it, whatever that is, you know, cut its head off and kick it out the door and get going. And I think, you know, having a bit more of an aggressive approach to, you know, the BS that goes through our minds and hearts, I think is kind of refreshing, honestly, because we entertain

all this bull crap all the time. There you go. Cut off the serpent's head. I think you described my first 10 divorces. I don't know what that means. Sorry, they're just jokes, people. Calm down. Let's see. There's another thing I want to ask you about. Becoming the most resilient person you know. We're kind of getting down there on the time, but what are some ways that you found that

people can become the most resilient people that they might know? So it's funny. It helps to define that word, right? So when I'm talking about resiliency, I'm thinking, you know, it's assuming that there's a headwind, right? You get knocked down. Well, if you're resilient, it's really, it's the time from when you actually hit the ground, metaphorically, to the time you get up. Is that 10 minutes or is that 10 weeks? And in a more resilient, you know, internal culture, whether that's in yourself, your family, your company, there's literally a return on investment. If a

company, this is one of the things that Dr. Andy and I are doing now is walking, you know, what kind of director level and up, you know, leaders and corporations through the resilience blueprint, because it's not just that stupid credo that's on the wall that nobody looks at, right? We teach people how to become resilient in and of themselves so that when there's a setback, when there's disappointing news, when somebody says something offensive or whatever it is, you're like, okay, based on my values and convictions, my framework that I've already predetermined, you know, how I'm going to handle these things. How am I showing up?

And I like this. I like this. This question is, what would someone like me do in a situation like this? So it's an identity I am statement as opposed to, gee, I wonder what the president thinks about this or Joe Rogan or, you know, any David Goggins, what would he say? I have to go, not that those guys are bad people, but, you know, david goggins what would he say i'm you know i have to go not that those guys are bad people but you know can i not make a decision for myself and have complete and total ownership over how i'm going to respond to something oh yeah yeah heck yeah yeah david

goggins man that guy's something else man he's read his book yeah Yeah. Like I, his, his drive, his resilience. Unbelievable. Yeah. I'm pretty sure he's a masochist at this point. I just, I read his stuff and I'm like, dude, you seem to really have a masochist.

Do you hate yourself? Yeah. I'm just saying you hate yourself. But yeah, he's, I mean, he's extraordinary what he's done. and, and,

and his books. So there's one of his books that I read recently that just is so moving how he's done his life. But, hey, all the more power to him. I just read his books, and I feel like I'm sweating just from all the, I went on a 250-mile freaking marathon. I'm just like, what? And did 400 burpees before breakfast. Yeah. I'm still working.

I do my first. So, David, it's been inspiring to have you on the show. Give us your final thoughts and pitch out to people to onboard with some of the systems you're doing and dot coms. Man, thank you for that. What a pleasure to be here. You know, again, I'm married 25 years. I'm sorry. And I pay my bills by selling thermostat guards right now. And so the stat guard

plus is the, you know, the first one out there and there's some knockoffs. So buy the original, not the cheap knockoff. So you can find me at hello at David A.S.K. at davidask.com or statguardplus.com. And, and by the way, I like to leave people with this. If, you know, if I can help you in any capacity, I don't care what it is. You know, let me know and I'll just do my best. There you go. I'll send you my cash app thing here in a second. I'm very wealthy. Don't worry about it.

I got you. Okay. All right. You're definitely getting that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You're married. You've been married for 25 years.

I know you're not wealthy. I'm just kidding. I'm a single guy we do lots of marriage jokes on the show that's that's one of the that's why we do the callback of the marriage jokes the divorce jokes because people write me and they'll be like you you say you've been divorced 10 times six times seven it's always a different number how many times is it i'm like it's zero that's the beauty of it that's that's the really the joke so there you go i i'm i still own 100 of my shit really the joke. So there you go. I still own 100% of my

shit and I like it. So there you go. I'm still saving up for my first divorce. I got a couple more million and I think I'll be ready to get married. Thanks for coming on the show, Dave. We really appreciate it. Thank you. What a pleasure. There you go. Thanks so much for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrisfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrisfoss. Twist your friends' arms, not physically, just verbally. You know, just kind of guilt and shame them just a little bit. Tell them to subscribe to the show, damn it, or already, or else. I don't know what that means.

Don't do that. Anyway, guys, youtube.com, 4chesschrisfuss, 4chesschrisfuss1 on the TikTokity. Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe, and we'll see you guys next time.