THE ED MYLETT SHOW - What It REALLY Takes To Build a Billion-Dollar Brand from Nothing Feat. Andy Frisella
Episode Date: June 14, 2025👇 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL - so this show can reach more people 👇 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIprGZAdzn3ZqgLmDuibYcw?sub_confirmation=1 Click the Link Below to Subscribe to my emai...l list to MAXOUT your life (all value, no fluff) https://konect.to/edmylett 💥 Get my exclusive Monday Motivation training in GrowthDay, the world’s #1 app for advanced mindset and personal development. Visit https://growthday.com/ed. This show is sponsored by GrowthDay. What separates those who dream about building a brand from those who actually do it? In this episode, I’ve pulled together some of the most hard-hitting moments from conversations with true builders—people who didn’t wait around for perfect conditions, they made things happen. You’ll hear from Andy Frisella, Jesse Itzler, Tom Patterson, Codie Sanchez, Bedros Keuilian, Barbara Corcoran, and Gunnar Peterson. Every one of them started from scratch. No shortcuts, no handouts—just a relentless commitment to making their vision real. Andy kicks it off with his straight-up truth: no one's coming to save you. Jesse Itzler jumps in with what it really means to create moments that matter—personally and professionally. Tom Patterson walks us through betting on yourself when nobody else does, sharing how he turned rejection into drive and built Tommy John from zero. Codie Sanchez gets tactical about ownership, explaining why buying boring businesses might just be the smartest path to financial freedom. Then Bedros Keuilian talks about how trauma can either chain you down or become your greatest weapon. Barbara Corcoran breaks down the power of rejection and what it takes to stand out in the face of doubt. And Gunnar Peterson reminds us that how we train our minds and bodies sets the standard for everything else in life. Each of these guests shares real lessons from the trenches—what it actually looks like to do the work, to fail, and to rise anyway. This isn’t about inspiration. It’s about responsibility. These voices are proof that you don’t need a perfect plan. You need a decision. You need action. You need hunger. And you need the mindset that says, “Why not me?” This mashup is a call to all the underdogs, builders, creators, and fighters who are ready to stop watching from the sidelines. If you’re serious about becoming the person capable of achieving the dream—you’ll get everything you need right here. Key Takeaways from This Episode - Andy Frisella on building 1st Phorm and setting an unbreakable standard - Jesse Itzler on creating meaningful life chapters through bold decisions - Tom Patterson’s journey from rejection to retail disruptor - Codie Sanchez’s approach to buying cash-flowing businesses most overlook - Bedros Keuilian on rewriting your identity through pain and discipline - Barbara Corcoran’s mindset on turning “no” into next-level growth - Gunnar Peterson’s insight on how physical discipline fuels success everywhere Success doesn’t respond to your excuses—it responds to your execution. This is your moment to stop playing small and start building what you were born to create. Thank you for watching this video—Please Share it and get the word out! 👇 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL👇 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIprGZAdzn3ZqgLmDuibYcw?sub_confirmation=1 ▶︎ Visit My WEBSITE | https://www.EdMylett.com #EdMylett #Motivation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Hey everyone, welcome to my weekend special. I hope you enjoy the show. Be sure to follow
The Ed Mylett Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an
episode that way. So today's a really special day for me. I get to share with you one of
my best friends in the world if not my best friend. He's one of the most influential people
on the planet and he's my partner in the Arte Syndicate that we coach entrepreneurs together.
And we're going to have a remarkable conversation today with Andy Frisella. Welcome brother.
Thanks bro. What happened? Like what's gone on with you the last seven years that's caused
this stuff to explode like this by the way real af
Go to the top podcast in the world. Yeah, I mean the MF CEO project before that which may or may not resurface
Yeah, it is coming back. I know but I don't know they have right it's coming back. It's coming back
So like what's been some of the keys to you doing what you've done
the last, say, seven, eight years?
What's happened?
First of all, I'm surrounded by killers, dude.
Like, that's the thing we gotta understand.
You know what I'm saying?
I've got tremendously successful,
smart, intelligent people around me in every direction.
So my brother, who is the CEO of First Form now,
my executive team, the people who show up there every day,
these are incredible people.
And they do the rowing of the boat, right?
And the truth is what happened was,
is everybody developed, everybody leveled up,
everybody got better, and I don't think
there's anything magical about it.
I think it's basically what we talk about
all the time with people,
which is executing day in and day out,
day in and day out for years.
And as things, the more days you execute,
the more they compound,
and they compound and compound and compound,
and eventually the growth goes from gradual to steep.
And I think over the course of our business life,
if you own a company, you go through many of these phases
where you go very slight growth or even flat for a while
and then you go up and then you go very slight growth
and then you go up and you know,
when people think of entrepreneurship
or growing a brand or business,
a lot of times they think it's just a straight line
or it's just straight up and dude, as we know, just lot of times they think it's just a straight line or it's just straight up
and dude, as we know, just kind of like the meme,
you know, it's like this.
And I think we just, you know, I think we figured out
a lot of things on how to really get good at what we do
and really what it comes down to is great people
doing great things to help people with what they're coming to our business for,
which is in my case, they want to get more fit. They want to get mentally better.
And, you know, with our affiliate program, they want to make some money.
Yeah. So we do a good job at all three of those things, serving the need of the customer in an obsessive way.
The thing I think of the most of with you is culture.
You're a culture builder and that culture's allowed it to grow exponentially
even without you driving it all the time.
But you've been the driver.
You're giving it to Sal, and you're right,
in your businesses.
But the truth is, the brand has been you.
The driver's been you.
I think one of the things that you talk about better
than anybody is, because of social media and most
of the BS that's out there, is I think people underestimate.
First, we're going to have a real conversation, me and you, about what do we talk about behind the scenes? BS that's out there, is I think people underestimate,
if we're just gonna have a real conversation,
me and you about what do we talk about behind the scenes?
Because that's what I get asked,
what do you and Andy talk about behind the scenes?
Here's the truth.
We don't talk usually when things are going great.
We talk when things are not going great.
And I think if we're gonna have a real conversation
that helps entrepreneurs or just humans today,
we need to let them into our lives, like the real lives.
I'm sitting in a room right now
that's just a mind blowing room. There's 30 cars in
here. Yeah. Collective value of these cars is what in this room roughly,
probably. Around, around between 30 and 40 million. 30, 40 million dollars of cars
plus the building, the house that's attached to this, a former president of
the United States lived in, Grant. Like it's crazy, right? It's way harder than
people think. Yeah. It's way harder. It's way more debilitating to be an entrepreneur,
mentally taxing, emotionally taxing.
I sent you a video a few weeks ago
of a very successful guy who got asked in the interview,
hey, if you had to do it all over again as an entrepreneur,
would you do it?
Or what advice would you give yourself?
And he says, I don't think I would do it.
And we both went, I don't know that I would either.
If we're being really real.
Yeah.
Talk about that just from your perspective.
How the real stuff of being an entrepreneur,
mentally, emotionally and physically,
the toll that it takes on somebody,
not the pretty stuff that they see,
everyone's in Turks and Caicos,
everyone's tan and partying and in nightclubs,
but the real stuff of building something great,
how hard is it on all those aspects?
I think it's harder than anybody could possibly imagine.
That hasn't done it.
And this is why I get so frustrated with the current state of the environment
of entrepreneurship on the Internet.
Yeah, because we have a lot of people who haven't really built anything.
They've maybe built a little cash flow, but not any asset or not a real company.
And they tell everybody that entrepreneurship
is for everybody.
And unfortunately, entrepreneurship isn't for everybody.
It's statistically only for seven to 8% of the people
and only 1% of those people actually ever become millionaires.
And when we statistically break that down
and we look at the way it's marketed,
it bothers me a lot because I think a lot of people
get sucked in who would be tremendous intrapreneurs tremendous contributors?
what's an intrapreneur somebody who is a part of a brand who takes ownership of the brand who operates at a high level and
cares and and
Helps to build whatever it is that's being built. So they work inside a company. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And I'm blessed to have just unlimited amounts
of those kinds of people.
And I think when we talk about the mental toll,
and this actually leads into why the book was written,
and why 75 Heart was created, a lot of people are confused.
They think I'm out here trying to be David Goggins.
Right.
The fuck I am.
I'm trying to survive.
And that takes a certain level of toughness. I'm out here trying to be David Goggins. The fuck I am, I'm trying to survive.
That takes a certain level of toughness. And as you know, contrary to what a lot of people think,
I struggle a lot.
I have real struggles.
I struggle mentally, there's a lot of pressure,
it's a lot of pain, it's a lot of frustration,
and it's extremely difficult.
I feel an obligation to be honest about that
with people because I feel like,
because everybody looks at it on the internet
as it's such an easy thing for everybody to do,
what happens is, is that a lot of young people
get sucked in and then they can't get it done
or they can't win with what they're being told.
And because they're being told a false reality of it,
they have a false expectation.
And so when they get in and they're like,
holy shit, this is actually really hard,
they blame themselves, they think it's them.
And I see this every day, I see this in my DMs,
I talk to people and they, you know.
So I just feel like it's better to be honest with people
about how hard it really is and what it really takes
so that you can prepare yourself for the journey.
And I think that's the proper way
to present entrepreneurship,
which is why I'm so big on mental toughness.
Because as entrepreneurs,
we are actively choosing to walk the unbeaten path, right?
Like we are actively choosing to do a life
that most of our friends, most of our family,
most people are never gonna understand
and they're gonna attack you for it.
They're gonna say, oh, you know,
why do you think you're too good for everybody?
What more do you need?
Like, you know, remember where you came from?
Are you still messing, like,
the amount of negativity that comes
with doing things outside the norm of society
as an entrepreneur is so fucking hard to deal with
that you have to be prepared to deal with it.
And then not only deal with it,
but also learn how to leverage it.
And you know, the truth of the matter is, man,
and I talk with Emily about this all the time,
and I talk with you about this all the time,
it's hard as fuck, and it beats the shit out of me.
And like dude, 25 years in business,
first form's only 14 years old,
but I've been in the same line of business for 25 years
with something, super stores.
I feel like an old man sometimes.
Me too.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I feel like, and then when I do the math,
how many hours I've worked, I've worked a full lifetime.
Many lifetimes.
Yeah, already.
Many.
So it's, you know, I get a little frustrated,
actually I get highly frustrated with the way
that it's presented in real life.
There's a lot of fake.
And it really doesn't bother me from an aspect
of people are cheating.
People are gonna cheat in everything that they do.
That's the nature of human beings. But what bothers me is the good people who
are honest that want to build something that gets sucked in. And then, you know,
what I think about is like how many good ideas, how many good businesses, how many
cures, how many good solutions are lost because the expectation of the...
Nailed it.
Yeah, the expectation of the path is painted to be something that it isn't.
And people who would otherwise succeed
if they just knew what to prepare for, quit.
And then us as human beings in business
lose out on a lot of good things.
Yeah, we're cheated out of their greatness
because they've been presented a picture.
Brother, you're exactly right.
The value of what you're talking about
is immeasurable for everybody listening to this
because being an entrepreneur is so difficult
mentally, physically, emotionally.
By the way, I think it's worth it.
Yeah.
But, and sometimes I wonder whether it is.
I do too.
So, I mean, I really do.
And, but, but I think this is the real talk
because when an entrepreneur begins
to experience these things, they're like,
well, this isn't what I see.
I must be doing it wrong or I'm not cut out for this
or my business doesn't work because I'm feeling all these things and we're one of the few two people,
maybe the only two.
There's probably somebody else that's like, actually, if you're experiencing all of this
heat setbacks, financial catastrophes, emotional catastrophes, people stealing from you, suing
you like they shouldn't, you're probably on their actual right path as an entrepreneur
and all stages are difficult one thing most people don't see with you because the story becomes dated because you're so successful now
Is I want you just to tell the audience because they may not realize this because yeah, we're in here with you know
I don't know you have hundreds of millions of assets now
you built a company that's a billion dollar plus brand and
Even at this stage, it's not roses and bubble gum
most of the time.
But the first decade for you.
It's harder now.
Really?
It's harder now than it was in the beginning.
It's harder than when you were living in the back
of a supplement superstore?
No question.
Okay, tell them about that and then tell me
why it's harder now.
Well, that's how we started.
Chris and I started in 1999.
This is so good.
With $12,000 from painting the stripes on parking lots.
We had a buddy who had a striping company
who was gracious enough to give us a job,
and at that time it paid very well
for a couple of young kids, right?
We were making like 20 bucks an hour,
which back then was like making like 100 bucks an hour.
So we were able to save a little money
and start this business.
The first store, we bought the shelves at home,
we literally bought the shelves at Home Depot.
We built the counter out of particle board from Home Depot
and like metal roofing and shit.
Like our friends and family helped build it
and that's how we started.
Our first day we sold seven bucks.
Our first inventory order was $10,000
that we financed on credit cards,
which we got totally screwed on.
I thought we were getting a good deal.
That was my first business lesson, you know?
And dude, like we just started and-
And you slept in the store.
Yeah, on and off for the first three years.
Slept in the business.
What'd you make the first five years?
The first three years I made nothing.
Like we didn't make anything.
And this is the other thing.
We both worked other places to kind of keep the business open.
Stay on that. Yeah, before we move off.
I think that's another thing entrepreneurs need to hear.
So did I. I stock shelves at night the first two years.
I don't think enough entrepreneurs are hearing you may need to have a job
outside of your business to stay in business.
Well, you know how like the young guys now they talk about side hustles, right?
Yes. Like so. So like for me. The side hustle was the thrift store? Well, you know how the young guys now, they talk about side hustles, right? Yes.
So for me, the side hustle was the store, right?
If you were, if you were, if you're today,
in today's language, you would say the side hustle
was the store, my main deal was doing these other jobs,
and then I took the money there, Chris took the money there,
and we kept reinvesting in the store.
And the first time I got paid was three years in.
I got paid $695 a month, and then for seven years,
that's all we made, $695 a month.
So for the first 10 years I was in business,
now remember, this is a different era.
No social media, no way to get your word out, none of that.
The first 10 years I made $58,380.
Combined.
Combined for 10 years.
Not a year, total.
Yep, and by the way, the reason that matters,
and the other thing you said matters,
just I love how our brains think similarly.
I think for a real entrepreneur,
that's still a three to six year window.
It may not be a decade if you're doing things right,
but you're gonna go through two, three, four, five,
six potential years of no profit potentially
in order to build something that is profitable for a while
and it's not get rich quick.
In fact, if you got rich quick,
I see these guys getting rich in two or three years,
I'm like, that's someone who won't be rich in a decade.
Correct, because you don't learn the lessons along the way.
If the delayed gratification and the beating that you take
when you first start something is actually necessary because that's where you learn most of
your skills.
Most of the things that we teach these guys that you talk about in your show,
that I talk about my show and that we teach in our day are to whoever would come
ask us. Those are things we learned in the beginning.
Those are things we learned when it was really hard.
How's that harder now that someone's looking at you, they're like, dude,
you slept in the back of a supplement
superstore for a few years.
You made 58 grand the first decade.
And then first form starts to grow.
You become a brand, MFC.
Now that part was fun.
That part felt easy.
You know, like the part where everybody's kind of seen me
in my life, that part felt easy.
When I say it's getting harder now,
the reason it's harder, a couple reasons it's harder now.
One, we're entering a phase of quote unquote
big business, right?
It's no longer 10 of us in a room, or 20 of us,
or even 50 of us, and we can say,
all right guys, this is what we gotta do,
and everybody goes and does it.
Now we have to coordinate a massive amount of people
to go execute, right?
And as you know, coordinating a massive amount of people
to execute is very difficult.
And so there's that, that part is very difficult.
The other part is, you know,
when you get to this level of business,
for me, it's almost like you're starting over
because you don't know any of that shit.
Like you don't know, I don't know, I do now,
but I didn't know the financial lingo.
I didn't know how to, and the reality is
to get to that next level, that big business level,
you have to create partnerships
and you have to work with people
because there's, like we talked about when we did my show,
you know, the 20 year room, right?
You have to start playing ball with the bigger players, otherwise they, you know, the 20 year room, right? Yeah. There's you have to start playing ball
with the bigger players.
Otherwise, they keep you out of the game
because these people own the market at the top of the game.
So it's just different, dude.
Isn't it also the pressure of having the responsibility of having?
That's what I was going to get to.
Yeah.
It's the amount of these guys who are all sitting in the room with us.
I love these guys.
Those people at HQ, I love those people.
And like, knowing that you're responsible
and that they've invested in their lives
into my project that we've started so long ago,
our project, is a tremendous amount of weight to bear.
You know what I'm saying?
These people have families, they have kids,
they have people to provide for,
and if, like if we don't, if I make the wrong call,
or we make the wrong move, or we do something wrong,
there's consequences that are outside of us.
Exactly.
And that's a lot, I think also as you get older,
that becomes more of the forefront.
Like dude, you know, when you start getting,
be able to take care of yourself,
and you know, you're not starving anymore,
and you get to the point where you can do some cool
like both of us have been able to do,
you start to like look around and you're like,
well, man, all these people, they got to win too.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
I want to tell you something about you, okay?
That's the thing I'm most proud of you.
Is that right there?
Is that, no, no, no, wait, let me just say it.
It's real.
Because people don't, people see a side of you
that's like this just in crazy intense,
he's pissed about what's going on on social media,
he's pissed about what's going on in culture.
They don't understand the nature of where it comes from.
And I'm one of the few people that can give people context.
Very few entrepreneurs, they don't care.
They get to a point, I'm just gonna be in real,
they build their company up,
then they just decide to exit,
who cares what happens to everybody else,
and you have this thing about you,
which is probably why you've been successful.
You're really hard on people.
You're a hard dude to be around.
You're a hard dude to be in business with.
I'm in business with you.
You're not.
I'm a hard dude to be friends with.
You are.
But by the way, you're also,
if my car broke down in the middle of the night
I just said this is somebody yesterday about you that whole analogy. I know for sure who I would call
Yeah, I know be you yeah, and and so you're also a great friend to have but you're hard because you set incredibly high standards
yeah, right and
you care deeply and
The thing I admire most about you
I just want to say this you, is that the challenge is
if you're one of those people and you're nodding,
you're like, I care about people too,
you're in for a difficult ride
once your business gets big too.
Because now you've got your customers
you care deeply about,
you've got the people that work with you,
you care deeply about,
you've got society you care deeply about.
And this stuff wears on people.
And it's the thing about you that I admire the most,
it wears on you.
I think it's almost like any great leader has that, right?
But I want people to know that about you.
The other thing that I want, I want you to,
I'm gonna ask you this in real time
and I want you to answer it honestly.
For me, my greatest strengths are my greatest weaknesses.
When I harness them, they're great.
They've also been the things
that have hurt me the most in my life.
And then for me, I would say one of my great strengths
is my intensity level I
Run real hot. I Thought I ran the hottest of anybody I've ever met until I met you and then there's I don't know
Maybe I handle it differently than you I think I've been good for you. You're you're you've gone through that maturity process
I haven't gone through yet. Yeah, but I see you doing it
Yeah, but to talk about that from it so you're you're one of your great gifts It's not people don't know it's actually your brilliance in your marketing mind and your branding which we to talk about that for a minute. So you're, you're one of your great gifts. It's not, people don't know.
It's it's actually your brilliance and your marketing mind and your branding,
which we'll talk about in a minute, but from an emotional personality trait,
you, you got to run hot. Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Andy,
Frisella, whoever myself at my level, whoever it is, Alon Musk,
you, you, you cut open these humans. They're a little bit crazy.
Yeah.
And if you're a little bit crazy, I like you.
But for you, I want you to be, probably no one's ever
asked you this before on camera.
That is one of your great strengths.
It is also one of the things that is hard for you
in your life, too.
This is the truth.
Like, so how do you feel about that sincerely?
Like, do you sometimes you wish you could just lose it?
Sometimes you just go, I want to throw my hands up, man.
And like, I don't want to care anymore.
I don't, or if you have accepted, like, I'm going to be crazy
and you're going to see me at 65 years old
and I'm still going to be nuts because I mean,
you look at these guys that are
Who are you like politically? It doesn't matter
There's like 70 80 year old dudes trying to run the world still right like there's just some people that are just wired for crazy
Yeah, and maybe they just need to accept that's who they are and I ask you that because there's a lot of people listening this
Because in their family, they're the crazy one. Yeah. Their version of it in their family they're the unreasonable one, they're the crazy one. They may not yell and scream like you
do but in their family they're like everyone's like what is wrong with you? Yeah. Right? And maybe
there is something slightly unhealthy about it. Right or wrong? I had an interesting conversation
with Zoltan who's the from Five Finger Death Punch. He's a brilliant man. I told you about this. And we were sitting,
he was sitting exactly where you're sitting.
We were talking and he brought up,
we were talking about some of the issues I have
with running hot, because he runs hot,
but he's very calm.
And one of the things that I've been working on
is trying to accept that as reality.
Because when you look around, when you're wired that way
and you're wired for winning, which is the truth,
I hate fucking losing, dude.
I hate not being competitive.
I hate being bad at shit.
And it's not about winning.
Like to me, it's about I fucking hate losing.
And I would say that the fact,
the combination of me being wired with hating losing
and me being as tense as I am
is the reason for the success 100% personally.
But it's also the reason for a lot of failed friendships.
It's also the reason for maybe when I was younger,
I would deal with people the wrong way and actually hurt them. for, you know, maybe when I was younger,
I would deal with people the wrong way and actually hurt them.
So there's some regret that comes with that.
And there's also a lot of self-analyzation
that comes with that, that basically, you know,
you look around at everybody else, man,
and you see, especially right now with victim culture,
right, like you see all these people getting attention off of the things that have gone wrong in
their lives.
And I don't talk about those things that have happened to me.
I don't talk about the bad things in my life.
Like we've all had bad things.
I'm looking at one.
There's a scar on the left side of his face.
He was stabbed.
Yeah.
And most people don't know that.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, and I think the underlying truth is that, yeah, it creates a lot of wins, but
it creates a lot of difficulty too, and a lot of mental anguish because you're not like
everybody else.
You know, when you're built different than everybody else and you have this desire for
more and this desire for achievement and this desire to win, everybody else looks at you
like you're fucked up.
And they'll tell you that too.
You know, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Like, why can't you just relax?
Why can't you just do this?
Why can't, because I'm just not built that way, man.
And as I've gotten a little bit older,
I've gotten better at accepting it.
And it's sort of embracing the fact
that this provides a lot of good,
but there's a lot of things and they make
That you have to deal with it that come that aren't so good
It is interesting because sometimes when I'm with you I'm like I wish I could get them to wind down a little bit
Yeah, you know and then there's this other part of me brother that I'm like I I have friends that are like different than me politically
like you and I don't agree on everything politically or socially or
The personalities are different. I have other friends. That's okay,. Cuz like it's it's you can be wrong once in a while
Well, I appreciate that
But I but like I wouldn't
I wouldn't I don't think I think unreasonable people change the world. Yeah, they do
And I like that there are unreasonable people, no matter what form that takes.
And the unreasonable people change families.
Unreasonable people are the one.
And so however that manifests itself for you in your life,
if you're listening to this, I think
weird equals rich and normal equals poor.
And I don't mean that just financially.
I mean in life.
Like, bro, you're a damn roller coaster.
Yeah, I know. You're a roller coaster. And you know what?
The ride is worth it because life would be boring without you and the world will
be boring without unreasonable. What would the world be like without Steve jobs?
What would the world have been like without Henry Ford? Right.
What would the world have been like without some of the great leaders we've
had, you know, geopolitically around the, around the planet, the great entrepreneurs, advanced culture, right. And they change families.
And so if you're listening to this, stay unreasonable, but have some grasp, have what I think you've
had happen the last three or four years. And I take credit for this. Some of it is you
become a much more self-aware person. Yeah for sure and I think self-aware
That's a fair comment to like you should take some credit for that like real talk because being around you
Like you're one of the only people that when I do get upset
Mm-hmm you you help me work through it as opposed to just reacting and that's something that I I truly appreciate
Thank you, bro
You know like there the one thing I could say about the people
that are around me is that they have a lot of race.
Yeah, they do.
They also have a lot of gratitude, Andy.
Yeah.
And that's important.
Look, there's certain people in the world that just shake
things up all the time, and they're hard to be around,
and they win championships.
OK, that's what Belichick does.
That's what Phil Jackson did. That's what great leaders do. You saw Jordan talk about it in his documentary. Yeah. Okay. That's what Belichick does. That's what Phil Jackson did. That's what great leaders.
You saw Jordan talk about it in his documentary. I mean, he was crying about it.
Perfect. Because like he's out here on the court demanding the best of all his teammates and they hated him for it.
That's right. And that bothers him. Now, you know, it bothers him.
And by the way, some of them to this day still don't get it. But you know what they got from being around him?
Rings, championships, wealth, notoriety.
Which is now their whole identity.
Correct.
That's right.
Do you, you say something that I love
and it goes to 75 heart.
You've then created things in your life though
to give you some mental peace and fitness.
So not only is it developmental toughness for you,
but like we'll put it up on the screen right now.
If you're watching YouTube and if you're not, I'll describe it up on the screen right now. If you're watching
YouTube and if you're not, I'll describe it. What did you weigh at your heaviest?
Well, I don't know, but the heaviest I ever saw on the scale was 350.
350. So probably a little bit heavier than that.
Yeah, that was once I got the courage to get on the scale.
Okay, so you had been heavier than that. And now just so you all know, like this is
a 245, something like that. Yeah, 250.
And he's a big dude and he's shredded and he's in great shape.
So you've not only just changed your brand,
you've become wealthy, you've built multiple big brands
and you've changed your body, okay?
And so you've created a catalyst for change in your life.
How?
Is it 75 hard?
Is it doing hard things?
Is it cold plunges? Like what's the stuff?
Is it all of that crap? Like what has changed you? Because here's the other thing about you
I'm just gonna say I'm watching your face
You never spend any time taking any credit for it
You you do not allow yourself even as we sit here to look around here and where we're sitting is the most impressive room
I've ever sat in in my life.
Okay, and you've done some remarkable things in your life. My
frustration for you as your friend is I wish you'd enjoy it more. Same time,
same time, success leaves clues.
Very few humans have changed their body, their finances, their brand and their businesses to the extent you have the last decade.
On the planet.
Listen to me.
On the planet.
Okay?
And by the way also, even though,
also the way that you treat people is,
you've always been kind behind the scenes.
You're great with people, bro.
Off camera, you literally said to him,
I heard you, you just, I want everyone to hear this,
then I want you to answer the question.
We were lighting up these really good cigars,
and he asked about them,
and then you handed him a cigar, right?
This is someone that works with you
that is behind the scenes on the camera.
And I heard this just so you know.
And you literally,
because people that see you screaming on TV all the time,
okay, and you literally said to him,
hey bro, anything you ever want or need, just ask me and I'll give it to you
Yeah, you just said that off the camera to this guy just so people know so give yourself a little bit more grace and credit
Okay, but how have you changed all these things someone said Andy? How have you changed these things your answer would be?
What?
I'm a systems person
in business I operate on systems in personal life I'm a systems person. In business, I operate on systems.
In personal life, I operate on systems.
And I got very successful in one area of life
on systems alone, mainly the powerless system
that I talk about.
Powerless system.
Yeah, the powerless system is,
I believe it's episode 16 on Real AF.
If you wanna go listen to it,
it's just a systematic way to work through your day.
Most, all successful people,
people think there's magic to it.
There's not magic to it, dude.
If you win the day, if you win one single day,
if you can win one single day,
you have exactly the amount of magic needed
to achieve anything that you want.
And I believe that every single person can win a day.
And all I did was figure out a system
to where I could track my days
and see how much I was winning.
And so I was able to build good company
and a couple good companies
and financial success and things with that system.
But what I realized is that, you know,
I wasn't gonna be able to get to that next level
without handling this.
The body.
He's pointing to his body.
Mind, body, being.
And some things happened to me around the time that I discovered and started thinking
about this.
One of them was I was really sick.
I had pneumonia and I missed work for like, this is like 2014, 15.
And this is just a first realization of how I came
about this.
I realized that I was sick, I couldn't go to work,
and I was checking my bank account,
my bank account's going up, and at that time,
I thought I was rich.
And by most people's standards, I was.
But I was miserable, dude, I was. But I was miserable, dude.
I was sick.
I was watching the same movie on TV every day
like 10 times a week.
I had this massive realization and it was very simple.
It was like, f***.
This is why rich people kill themselves.
And that's what came onto my being.
And I thought about it for a second.
I'm like, dude, you have a much bigger mission ahead of you.
It's not just take care of you.
It's build something that other people
can have their dreams in as well,
and which is something that you talk about a lot.
And so that got me started,
and I was always mystified by people
who were mentally tough.
I never had mental toughness. I wasn't like I was an athlete in high
school and I was I was good gifted athletically but I was soft you know what
I'm saying and I looked at people who could stick to a program or follow
through or people who could you know stay keep in shape and I always thought
why did they get that gift and I didn't get that gift and I thought of it wrong
I thought of it as a gift or a trait that they had when in reality
mental toughness is an actual skill that we need to develop.
And once I figured out, and I got my mind kind of
on the track of like, okay, this is not a trait,
this is something I need to develop,
that's where like the pieces started coming together
for 75 Hard and Live Hard.
And you know, I worked a couple years really hard, like the pieces started coming together for 75 hard and live hard and
You know, I worked a couple years really hard I lost a hundred pounds, but I was still soft and
And then I met James Lawrence the Iron Cowboy
Okay, and he came on my podcast the MSCEO project and he said one sentence to me that kind of made it all go together
And really kind of made 75 harder come to fruition. He said, you know, to develop mental toughness you have to intentionally put yourself in
hard situations on a daily basis and overcome them.
And that intentional hard, that part of the intentional, intentionally do hard **** is
the part that kind of made me, the pieces come together.
And then 75 Hard was born because I picked all the things
that I had done over the course of my life
when I was operating at the highest level.
I thought about them for a long time, right?
And then I just did the 75 Hard myself.
I got on the podcast, I said, hey, I'm doing this thing.
75 Hard, who wants to do it with me?
And a ton of people did it with me.
And they had incredible
Transformations and uh and that's kind of how it was born and so for me, dude
Like when I started thinking of it as a mental thing and not a physical thing the game switched to me because dude
You know how I am competitive right like I don't want to like it's it's one thing to say like okay
I'm not in the best shape
It's another thing to say you're not in the best shape because you're you're you're mentally soft as and you're not
You're not competitive in that area and so that flipped it for me when it became a mental test as opposed to a physical
Altering that I'm trying to do. Yeah, that's what switched the perspective for me
I think that's what switches for most people because we're told in diet culture
You know get in shape so you can look good at the pool or put your clothes on or go buy normal clothes switched the perspective for me. I think that's what switches for most people because we're told in diet culture,
get in shape so you can look good at the pool
or put your clothes on or go buy normal clothes.
When you're 350, bro, you can't buy much clothes.
And when I started looking at it,
I didn't have control.
Someone could set a beer in front of me
no matter what time of day, no matter what I had going on,
no matter what I told myself I was gonna do that day
and I'm drinking it.
And someone, I could walk into a
restaurant and I would have in my mind
the
Meal that I should eat but then as soon as the waitress comes over dude, I'm ordering pizza
I'm ordering wings. I'm ordering beers and I'm telling myself this lie in my head, which is hey, don't worry, dude
We'll start tomorrow. You know, you work hard. You've been successful you deserve this and
I started becoming aware of my internal dialogue
around these things, and then I got pissed off
that these inanimate objects have control over me.
Like, when I started thinking about it just at that level,
like a fucking beer or a piece of food
has fucking control over me, that offended me.
You know what I mean? Like that pissed me off.
I started making those things the enemy mentally.
And that's where I connected it all. And that, and like, dude,
I've been able to maintain it pretty, pretty good, you know,
for the last seven, eight years.
So you're onto something I want to ask you about, by the way,
the first off that you became aware, like I said, you're more self-aware.
So here we go.
This is kind of the root of what I think you became aware, like I said, you're more self-aware. So here we go, this is kind of the root
of what I think you stand for in your work.
And I know you mean this in a kind way.
I think when people see you yelling at everyone,
I think if they don't know you well,
they'll think this dude thinks he's got everything together
and he's arrogant.
But what I know, and I mean this as a brother,
I'm trying not to get emotional when I say this,
but like I know all your insecurities.
And I know that a lot of times you're still looking
at this stuff like a fat dude.
I'm a fat dude, right?
And so I want to go to this work,
because this contradicts most of what everyone's
going to hear in personal development.
And here's the truth.
You're right and they're wrong.
And here's what it is.
You just got to love yourself as you are. It's a big thing in personal right now. You're
perfect as you are. Yeah, you're amazing as you are self love.
Okay, now, you and I both know the what that means. I mean,
self loathing and self hatred is not a healthy thing. Right. But
but self delusion is a more unhealthy thing.
To tell yourself everything about you is perfect
and you're okay.
So you don't say this in an unkind way.
You say this as somebody,
I want everyone to hear this before he says it.
He says this is someone who has lived way overweight.
Who has lived with not being proud of himself.
Who has lived with being ashamed of himself
and angry at himself and heavy
and been suicidal many times since I've known him if you might be Frank, right? Yeah. So
What do you say now that I've set the context to this notion of?
self love yourself as you are you're perfect as you are show up as you are as opposed to being
Self-aware and allowing yourself some pain and discomfort
Because that causes you to want to move away from things about you that don't serve you that make you unhealthy mentally or physically.
So speak to that.
Well first off, I think anybody that watches my content, no matter what I'm saying, you should understand I'm talking to other people like me.
I'm talking to the past version of me.
Yeah. I'm talking to the past version of me. And I'm not for everybody.
Not my message isn't for everybody.
It's for people who are wired hot,
who want to f***ing win, who are having a hard time.
And the reality of life is this.
The world's f***ing relentless.
And it will not stop beating your ass
until you wake up and start beating it back.
And you know, when I see self love and all this shit,
I do understand where they're coming from. Those people are talking to people who are on the brink,
right, and they think their entire world's crumbling,
and they're telling them it's okay.
But I actually think that's the wrong message.
I think the right message is this.
Hey, this is how it is if you don't go hard.
This is what you're going to get if you do not try hard
to develop yourself and get off the bench
and get in the game.
And I say that out of a place of love and caring for people
because I want them to feel better
and I want them to do better
and I know what's not going to get them better
is just accepting themselves and all their behavior
and all their vices and inaction and procrastination and low standards
is creating the way you feel.
And so when we tell people that self love is just accepting ourselves who we are when
who we are is a combination of unacceptable standards and bad behavior.
I personally I believe we're violating our covenant with God.
I look, I don't have kids, but if I did, I would want the kid to be the best version
of themselves.
And if I were to give that kid all of his gifts and all this ability and all this upside,
and they were to just say, well, I'm perfect the way I am, I would feel insulted because
I put you here for a reason and
that's how I feel like God looks at us when we don't capitalize on our gifts and I feel like
that's what I feel like. I feel like God put me here, gave me some tools. I think the journey's
supposed to be hard but for me to do what I'm supposed to do when I'm here is required. It's
part of the deal that why I'm here. And I think that's for everybody.
And I think if we all live like that
and we thought about that just a little bit,
the world will look completely different.
Cause we have a lot of people who are just coasting,
who are hearing the self-love talk, right?
And then they're hearing it in the toxic way,
which is just accept yourself and your standards.
And that's denying the world of gifts
and solutions and inspiration and stories.
And I mean, do we have a whole generation
of people coming behind us?
They gotta have something to look at.
You know what I mean?
Like we did.
And I just take that very seriously.
And I think it's real.
And when we break down the meaning of life, you know, a lot of people just see it different
than me.
They see the meaning of life as being a fun, enjoyable journey.
And maybe that can be for some people, but I know that's not what I was here to put.
So when I speak and people hear me and they might say, what the f*** is too much?
Well, dude, I'm too much because I f***ing love you, man.
I'm too much because I know you got more in you and I know you can do better and it takes a certain kind of person to really
resonate with who I am and you know unfortunately because of the tone that I
have you know if people I find that here's what I get a lot of bro when I
first heard you I hated you yep but I listened like three episodes yeah dude
you're just a good dude that wants more for people and that is it.
It's one of the best answers in the history of the show.
Everyone should go back to the last three or four minutes
of what he just said.
And the first off with you,
the reason is it comes out intense,
comes out with a lot of F bombs.
And so that immediately, some people hear a certain way.
You look a certain way,
but the truth is I know what's inside there
and I know your heart.
Very handsome, unbelievable.
More handsome with more of that smoke around your face
because it's a filter.
But I gotta tell you what he just said is true.
When you really love somebody, self-love is belief.
People that really love you believe in you.
And so accepting a lower standard of yourself,
that's not love.
That's some other perverted weak emotion.
And the truth is real love comes with belief
and knowing that someone can rise to a higher standard
and do better in their life.
It's not judgment of where you are.
It's love and belief of where you could be.
And so when someone says you get up and work
or get in better shape or improve your life
or start a business, it's not judgment as to where you are.
It's belief in what you could be.
And that's the difference in the two things and that's what?
He's describing right now. Let me ask you a question. Yeah, I ask you a question
Okay, so you played sports at a high level just like my brother did just like a lot of our friends did a lot of our
Friends do who was the best coach you ever had?
Coach Dennis Paul was was Dennis was Dennis Paul good to you and nice to you so hard on me, bro
I just posted about it a few weeks ago to the point where, I mean,
I went home some nights in tears.
Like just he pushed me so hard.
And the truth is that I ran into him.
I hadn't seen him in 30 years.
He came to a speech of mine and he was standing in the picture line.
And I saw him down in the line and I immediately almost fell to my knees and tears
because next to my dad, I'm most grateful to coach Paul for where I am in my life, because he got me to accept a pattern of my life
of high standards, of believing I could do more,
that if I actually put work in,
that eventually there's a payoff for it,
and if he'd have held me to a lower standard
and accepted me as the dude that I was,
I would be a miserable human being right now.
And by the way, I've only had three or four, five
of those people, and you're one of them.
In my life it's like no bro you're
better than that you can do better. I don't want friends that accept me as my
are. I want I want friends that see me as I could be. Well that's the other
context of where I'm coming from. Like you know I said earlier in the show I'm
hard to be friends with. The reason I'm hard to be friends with is not because I
yell and scream at people. Not at all. It's because I demand high standards from
you. Yes. Like if you're in my circle, bro,
you're gonna get all you can out of yourself
or you're not gonna be in it.
And that's reality.
I cannot, dude, one of the, you know this, dude.
I am such a hot wire competitor
that any level of mediocrity or apathy about not caring,
it literally, dude, I can't tolerate it.
It drives me insane.
And so this is why my circle's so small
because like dude I'm really incapable of sitting around.
I mean I am capable, like you get a couple smokes in me.
I like to smoke guys, all right, that's what it is.
He likes to smoke all kinds of things.
Yeah, not crack, all right.
Anymore.
Not 100 Biden shit.
I'm not smoking Parmesan cheese, man.
But here's the deal.
Once I got some of my buddies to come in for the podcast, I do my podcast a little different
than you.
You have the names on.
I just have buddies on.
They always come over here after the show and we smoke and drink and f***ing hang out.
And in that environment, I can be a bro.
But dude, any other time, like I'm here to do.
Yeah, I think some people look at you like, I don't
I don't know that I want to be that hard, which is OK.
Some guys look at Goggins.
I mean, you and Goggins are different.
But yeah, but there's this thing Grover talks about.
I love Goggins.
So do I. We brought David into our group, I think a couple of times.
We've done it twice, I think. And we both love David and we both love Goggins, So do I. We both do. We brought David into our group I think a couple times. We've done it twice I think and we both love David and we both
love Goggins which there's two different people right. There's Goggins and then
there's David and there's two different people but we love. He calls himself Goggins.
Right well the Goggins dude is the dude. Very short intermission here folks I'm
glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Milett show on
Apple and Spotify. Links are
in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. So everybody, this is Jesse Itzler.
Jesse, thanks for being here. Thank you so much, man. I appreciate it. Success isn't being good in
one bucket. It's not about like, I made all this money, you know, and I know, oh, it's easy for you
to say. No, success is not about being good in one bucket. It's about being good in all the buckets.
All the buckets.
It's about being a good dad.
It's about being good to your employees.
It's about giving back in the charity bucket.
It's about doing the right thing when you do it.
It's about standing up for something that you see is wrong.
That's success.
When I see people that are mega wealthy,
they're just fucking wealthy.
No, they're just wealthy.
Yeah.
That's not what it looks like.
And you don't have to be wealthy.
If you're struggling in one area,
you can still be good in all the other areas.
So true, man.
You can't spiral down because success,
the way you look at it, isn't happening.
Well then go be successful in the other buckets
and fill up your plate.
And then what it does too, by the way,
I can feel you coming at me with that
because you feel so strong about it.
Your physiology changed too.
But what also happens is when you,
and you talk a lot about this,
but when you get wins in other areas,
you get life momentum.
And people just, I did a training on this the other day,
but like you're, to me, I look at you, I go, okay look,
the thing you said about associating with these people
and their habits, I didn't have a jet card company,
but I joined the club where I could meet these kinds of guys.
What is your schedule?
What's your workout routine?
How do you eat?
What do you think about?
How do you talk?
I'm sorry to interrupt you.
You're getting me all fired up.
Everything comes around your day.
Yeah.
We're talking about all these successes.
They took years.
Yes.
Years.
Yes.
I remember walking into the president of Coca-Cola
about the
Zico thing. He's like, it takes eight years to build a brand in this country. Of course,
there's get rich quick things and now it's a little faster, but it takes time. But what
the foundation of that is your daily habits. It's creating winning habits, winning routines
and a winning mindset. That's, that's It is. There's no way around it.
It is.
It doesn't happen without that.
One of the unique things for me,
because I completely agree,
one of the things that's unique about you and I
is we both will be creating this content for a while
and then when we looked at each other's stuff,
we're like, my God, we so believe the same things.
We say it a little bit differently,
but we so believe the same things.
One of the unbelievable things about social media
or podcasts like this is that you kind of can peek in
to what you had at Marquee Jets doing this.
If someone follows you on Instagram or follows myself,
you get access nowadays to something you and I never had.
You can get access daily to some of the most successful
entrepreneurs in the world or fitness people or, or parents, or people of faith,
or whatever your area is, through digital connection now.
It's not the same as live, but it's incredible
the information you can tap into now.
You are my virtual mentor.
No, you are.
I mean, I'm in tune to what you say.
It resonates deeply with me.
You're in it for the right reasons.
Like, there's a lot of reasons why the things you say
really have stickiness with me.
But to millions of people, you're a virtual mentor
and that's exactly your point.
And we didn't have that growing up.
Our mentor was like my dad and anyone in my small town.
Yeah, me too.
Don't you think part of your life, Jesse,
that you got some life momentum going though, right?
I mean, the journey is, I think it's the most,
I mean, you're a young man,
but I think it's the most remarkable journey
that I've, of anybody I've talked to,
because of the breadth of different areas.
It's just bananas to me.
So let's even move out of one for a minute.
Let's go to another thing,
because I just would love the formula,
because you talked about the formula.
So you have these wins in business,
which we'll talk about more of them in a minute,
but then you like go,
like I'm gonna go run like ultra marathons.
These guys run a hundred miles in a day.
There's some stat like 36,000 miles you've run in 25 years.
Is that right?
Yeah.
What?
Like, do you hear that?
It's just consistency though.
I know the number is big and I'm proud of it,
but it's, cause you know what Ed? It's just consistency though. I know the number's big and I'm proud of it, but it's, cause you know what Ed?
It's just part of my lifestyle.
So again, we talk about daily habits.
Yes.
I have a very, very unique lifestyle that's worked for me.
I only fruit until noon.
I've been doing that for 27 years unwaveringly.
Happy to talk about that.
I run every day.
Why?
Because it's all about energy.
Okay.
And you use more energy to digest food than everything else you'll do in your life combined.
You'll eat about 70 tons of food in your lifetime.
And to digest all that food takes a lot of energy.
So if you could streamline your digestion and use less energy for digestion, you'd have
more energy to have a vibrant life,
to deal with infection, disease.
And I have boundless energy.
I mean, knock on wood.
You have boundless energy.
And by the way, here's how real this is.
When he showed up at my house today, he's like, someone's dropping off food, right?
Like, he's that meticulous about what he's going to put into his body.
I also enjoy on your social, by the way, the tips he gives on Instagram about the different
things that are in some of the foods we eat that harm us so badly too. Think about this.
I'm gonna tell you why it's so important to me. Let's say you're a billionaire. You have a billion
dollars, you got the helicopters, the farm, Laguna, you got all this stuff, you own sports teams and
everything and you're on a beautiful island in Hawaii with nine Victoria's Secret models feeding you grapes ahead and
Massaging your feet and life is good except you got a sore throat
And every time you swallow
It kills
The house the plains the lasso says the grapes none of that matters
All you want to do is get rid of your sore throat
Yeah, that's how important health is.
And there's a famous quote,
if you have health, you have hope.
If you have hope, you have everything.
So nothing means anything if you don't.
So I take it very, very, very, very, very seriously.
I don't play games with that.
So I don't think you play games.
Well, actually, it's funny.
I think you actually, life has sort of been this game to you
that you're winning, but like you, I just gotta understand something, man. Like you do things now, and I just think you actually life has sort of been this game to you that you're winning But like you you I just got to understand something man
Like you do things now and I just think you you kind of take them for granted like it's same for me
Like if someone repeats back to me some accomplishment I've had or something I've done it just I don't even know how I feel about it
It's weird. I'll tell you how I feel about it. I don't care about it
I mean, I we have an audience. They want to know the story and I'm happy to share it if there's value.
But the way I look at my life, I'm 50, I'm about to be 51.
You talk about this all the time,
the average American lives to be 78.
So that means I have 27 summers left if I'm average.
All the past stuff, that's done, man.
My life is this window, 51 to 80, that's it.
And I wanna do this much shit in this much amount of time.
So I have to be mega efficient,
I have to focus on the things that I wanna do
with the people I wanna do them with.
And I gotta eliminate the other stuff.
So like the past, when people talk about it,
it's like, okay, but who cares?
Do you care that the Dallas Mavericks won the championship
a couple years ago?
I could care less.
No, this is the window.
Yep.
I am very, very excited about today's program because I've got a legend with me here in the fitness industry
and in the personal coaching industry as well, and that's Bedros Koulian. So Bedros, thank you, brother.
Thank you, sir. Thank you for having me.
I feel like even prior to you going to therapy, though, you feel to me like someone who's really worked on themselves.
And so I think if I were betting, had I met you even the three or four years ago before
this, I still would have met one heck of a higher identity guy who'd worked on himself
who had kind of this mark on his identity.
I don't think that you can-
That's a really good way to define it.
Yes, exactly.
Okay, that's what it seems like to me.
So talk a little bit about even your journey because I know guys like you, right?
I have lots of friends, several who grew up as immigrants, really rough backgrounds.
Santa Ana, for those of you that don't know, the parts of Santa Ana, it's a wonderful
place, the parts of Santa Ana that Baderose is from is not white picket fences and, you
know, rosy, you know, perfect families all around him.
The good news is we did eventually move to Anaheim,
which was a lot nicer.
That is that, that is that, that is that, right?
But so you had that environment you grew up in,
learning the language, immigrant mentality,
so probably a stricter upbringing in your household
and other people, some cultural differences too,
lots of friends like that.
If you grew up in Southern California,
you have friends like that, right?
And so I'm curious, was part of you becoming you
like a ferocious dedication to personal development,
self-improvement, like talk a little bit
about that piece of your life
and how important it has or has not been for you.
Yeah, yeah, well as we were talking about earlier
in the other room, I was a personal trainer,
right after high school I decided
to become a personal trainer.
And one of my personal training clients,
his name is Jim Franco
We're still dear friends to the state one day. I asked him. I said Jim
I'm a personal trainer and a fry cook and a bouncer at a gay bar and the reason I was at a gay bar
Because they paid four dollars more per hour and I needed the money
Okay
As it turns out the reason they paid a lot more is because skinheads would come every weekend to gay bash and it was our job
Wonderful, right? They didn't tell you that before they hired you?
No, no.
So the good news is that by this point I'd gotten so many fights that
You were equipped.
I was equipped to fight but I was starting to learn that I don't think I want to fight
anymore because Jim Franco gave me a cassette tape from Tom Hopkins.
Me too.
I love Tom Hopkins.
And he goes listen to this Tom Hopkins cassette tape so you can learn to sell so you can get rid of your side jobs. And Tom Hopkins leads
to Brian Tracy, Brian Tracy to Zig Ziglar, then to Dan Kennedy and Jay Abraham and Tony
Robbins. Before you know it, I'm learning sales and marketing and personal development
and influence. And so I was building this side of my life really well. I was doing everything
I could where personal development was concerned
to become a better entrepreneur. I chose to put what happened to that little boy into
a box and put it far away. And I still, till this day, I still have the gift of compartmentalizing,
which is probably...
It is another strength.
It is another strength. Yeah, it is another strength, but I use it for good. I mean, if
someone crosses me, I don't just put them in a box and put it away. These days, I like to communicate, hey, Ed, why were you late? What can we do about it? another strength, but I use it for good. I mean, someone crosses me, I don't just put him in a box
and put it away.
These days I like to communicate.
Hey, Ed, why were you late?
What can we do about it, et cetera, right?
See, I'm nicer.
You guys are good.
For the record, you weren't late.
It was just a hypothetical.
Yeah, no, I was early.
But anyway, all that said, I was very fortunate
that Jim Franco helped me become a better entrepreneur soon.
I didn't have my side jobs.
And before you know it, I had five personal training gyms and I
was successful with those. And at a time this company came through and bought out
my five gyms and it was the first time I'd sold something for six figures.
Okay. It's like holy cow like you can build and sell a business. Yeah. Like I
didn't even know that. I thought business is just being self-employed. Right.
Owning a job. And so I started coaching and consulting personal trainers
and I really loved coaching and consulting trainers
because I can teach them and give them the shortcuts
that I never had.
And so I would hear these trainers,
man, I'm making now 8,000, 9,000, 12,000, 15,000,
$30,000 a month on reoccurring income
because most personal trainers sell
five, 10 sessions at a time,
they've gotta come and resell you. My whole thing was we're going to put you on EFT, electronic
fund transfer and build the reoccurring revenue. So before long I've got 43,000 customers
over a 10 year period who buy my courses, come to my workshops and live events, etc.
And in 2010, 11 came up with the idea of FitB fit body boot camp and franchise it by 2012
And so I was able to go to all these
Customers and say hey look I've created this franchise brand. Do you want to be a part of it?
So it's everything about fitness, but all the systems are built in and boom it took off now
There was a lot of work involved and I had to evolve into become a leader to be able to build a team around me
Yes, and that was a work in progress. Yep. But holy smokes. How many of them are
there? 612? 619 fit body boot camps worldwide. Yeah. Yeah. Growing. I mean all the time you
tell me every other month in here you've got 20 to 40 people coming in here that you guys
are training. Yeah. We're adding an average of 15 to 20 locations per month. Unreal. Yeah.
I mean unreal. And those of you that are in the fitness industry, if you want to build
any sort of fitness practice, this is the Mac Daddy right here.
This is the guy.
Either getting involved with the FitBody Bootcamp
or just getting coached on how to grow your practice, right?
You've got all this content, all this material.
This is the guy.
But let's talk about all entrepreneurs for a second.
So you built this environment here, right?
You're the leader here.
What's unique when I walk around here
is what I would consider to be the energy level.
There's a positive energy in here.
There seems to be a mutual inspiration or affection that you have for them and that
they have for you and creating a culture.
So all of these entrepreneurs are listed.
By the way, most people that are listed that think they're entrepreneurs are actually still
only self-employed.
I'm so thrilled to have this woman here today.
You would know her best probably from Shark Tank, which airs on Friday nights.
She's got an awesome podcast called Business Unusual. Barbara Corcoran,
welcome to the show. Thank you for being here.
Thank you so much. All your compliments are a little bit premature. Ed, why don't you
wait a little bit on it?
Well at the end of the interview, if it's not very good, I'll amend my remarks, but
I'm pretty sure we're going to crush. You see it on your face when you talk about, you
said wired earlier and then you said these traits and I think that's an important
I get asked this too and I don't know that I answer it very well so I'm curious
what your answer is. What are some of those traits? I'm sitting here I'm
driving in my car I'm on a treadmill I'm watching this on YouTube wherever I am
listening to this I'm like you know I want to be an entrepreneur or I am one
but I'm still not totally sure I should be. What are a couple of those traits in
your mind that are just you must have these or you shouldn't be one? I believe front and foremost is competitiveness. Wow. I have invested in a lot of
businesses. I have to tell you there's not one really successful one where the principle isn't
fiercely competitive. You know and I don't mean competitive like I want like Saban and Jim of
Cousin Maine Lobster is equally competitive. It's not like I don't wantan and Jim of Cousin May and Lobster, they're equally competitive.
It's not like I don't want to be the biggest lobster brand in America. Not that kind of
competitive, but Luke's did what? Luke's Lobster? Oh, they're out of the shop. Their horns come out.
Whether they wanted the shop there, whether they wanted the city there, whether they even
had an interest, but they're competitors there. It's like a fast fuse. My most successful entrepreneurs are sickly
competitive. I know for myself, I used to compete for things in my field that I had no interest in
just to show them that I could get it. That's sick. I needed a shrink, not a job, right? But
it's a wiring that you're, that growling, you know, that you want to be competitive.
And I think that's the number one trait.
I think the number two trait,
and if I only had an hour or two,
and there's so many things you tap into
and you're an entrepreneur, you've got all guns blazing,
but the second one I would say is that you have to be able
to get back up fast.
Everybody, you know, gets a hit and feels badly
and you have a lot of excuses to rest a bit and stay low or make yourself right.
He told me he was right.
Whatever.
But I think it's the ability to just like get in the habit of getting up.
I am such in the habit of getting up.
I'm almost not really almost at the point now where somebody slaps me around.
I don't feel it because I'm so much in the habit, the good habit of getting back up.
And the interesting, if I could add, even though that wasn't your question, I'm going to throw it
in here. It's interesting how often I'm asked by parents how to build a child's confidence,
if only they find something they're really engaged in, if only they're really, if only,
you know, I believe parents can very much help children find their thing by getting them in the
habit, trying things,
failing and getting back up. And you can control that. Force your kids to go back out and try.
Back up at bat, try at that sport if you're not going to try at that sport. Or you can't
do your homework, try harder, go do it again. I think that kind of building a habit of trying
is where all children get their confidence from. And as dumb as I was in school, man, I was not allowed to coast.
I was shoved out back and back and back and back and back.
So I didn't think that lying down was an option.
I got in the habit.
And what an asset that was as an adult to have all that practice as a kid.
I had an advantage, you see?
So that's, I think I answered your question.
Maybe not.
You asked it again.
I think I dropped a piece of it on you or something.
It's so good and it's interesting.
I have to tell you, because I've asked that I don't, I would like to have a different
answer.
I got asked that a couple months ago at a speaking engagement.
I have an I said the word competition.
Oh, there you go.
Because when I was done though, I wasn't so sure I, but that was the one thing.
But I actually, I just, we just did this new podcast deal on a, you know, starting new businesses and somebody asked, I asked the other day
to my friends, why am I still, I'm like, I'm doing all these things. I said, what is, do
I need to shrink? Like what you said,
you do need to shrink. Yes. Don't get one. You won't be as profitable.
That's what he said. Almost verbatim. He said, he goes, Eddie, listen, dude, here's the
deal. You're competitive. You want to, you, dude, here's the deal, you're competitive. You wanna, you just, you wanna,
and also you're competitive with yourself.
You wanna see how much you can expand,
how much you can contribute.
And he said, you'd be dead just sitting around, man.
Like I told him, I said, I live here on the ocean,
I'm looking at the beach.
I said, I have not put my feet on that sand in like
four weeks.
He goes, you get out there, you find a way to do it,
but you're competitive.
And I actually enjoy doing this more than I do just sitting there.
It doesn't mean I don't like to rest.
It doesn't mean I don't like to, you know, recuperate, but I like expanding.
I like contributing.
I like growing.
I want to compete.
And so I completely agree with your answer.
And this has been a trend with you.
So now I'm like, okay, how's she got on Shark Tank?
You have the exit in 2001, bunch of money.
And then you're, I think you think you're going to get the show. Yes, I have the show. They hired me.
Yeah, I signed the contract. They hired you. And then it was like, maybe not. You got it. This is
amazing. I mean, think about this. What's happened to your brand, to your reach, to your influence.
I mean, this one decision, we're one decision away from altering our life,
right? One little competitive psycho streak in you. So tell them what happens. You get the show and
then what? Then I get the call from the Mark Burnett's assistant and same one who called me
in the first place saying, I'm sorry, the show's changed its mind. They've hired another woman
for the lone female seat. I couldn't believe my
ears. You know, you have to remember at this point, I had already bought Hollywood outfits,
just gonna sign autographs. Oh, I had done my movie going. I had new leather luggage,
wasn't gonna be plastic in Hollywood, it's gonna be leather matching luggage. And so I was already
there, told my friends, I'm going to Hollywood, I'm going to Hollywood, I'm going to Hollywood.
So I was mortified more than anything. I honestly, the first thought I had is what will my, what will my friends think? What will I explain? I hate
to be that shallow, but I really thought of that. And then I hung up the phone. I couldn't
believe it. I had to shake my head. But then I did the thing that's more important than
anything else in life, which I had learned to do, get back up. So I got back up
and I typed out a very brief email to Mark Burnett, whom I hadn't met, and called the assistant
to promise she would deliver it to him, because I didn't think he'd read it. And she said she'd
walk it over and promise that he'd read it. And I told him I considered him to be my lucky charm.
All the best things
in my life happened on the heels of rejection. When Sister Stella Marie told me I'd never
learned to read a right, she was wrong, I learned when the big boys in New York said
I couldn't compete, I became the number one rival. When Donald Trump said I'd never see
penny of the four million dollar commission, I collected every penny in federal court.
I just went right like that. And I said, I'd like you to invite both women out
to compete and I expect to be on that plane on Tuesday.
And what do you think happened?
He invited us both out and thank God
that was 13 years ago.
To pointing again to the power of not being so smart
and not working so hard
or all the rest of the stuff you have to do in life,
but the power of getting back up, you know, just take another swing.
By the way, Ed, what was shocking to me, well, I was not so shocked I turned it around because
I was used to turning things around.
What was shocking to me is my, Clay, my producer, two weeks after that we were on Shark Tank,
he said to me, you know, we hired four times more business owners than we needed and we
rejected three out of four. He said
it not one wrote an email. I was like, what? No one objected. So I got the seat purely
for writing that email, not because I earned it or I had good luck, but that email got
me that seat. No doubt.
That is just amazing story. And by the way, not only did you respond, I was gonna give
you a little, everyone just a paragraph of the email. Not only did you respond, I was going to give you a little everyone just a paragraph of the email, not only did you respond but you did it in such
a way that just had a level of certainty. I think certainty. I love that though but
see but certainty is influence. Listen she says Mark I understand you've asked another
girl to dance instead of me.
Yeah great opening line even I laughed at that one.
It's so good it It would get your attention.
You would laugh at it.
And he says, although I appreciate being reserved
as a fallback, she says, I'm much more accustomed
to coming in first.
Yeah, that's another good line.
I might say so again.
It is.
It's so, it's just, I got to say, guys, I mean, these,
there's moments that define our lives.
And do we get back up?
Do we compete again?
Do we dig deep?
And these things may seem sort of hokey.
They're real world things that end up deciding
whether or not you've had a pretty successful life
or you're one of the most influential entrepreneurs
on the spinning earth, which is what Barbara's become.
Isn't that amazing?
And it's just remarkable.
Now, someone pitches on the show.
I'm curious, what are you looking for?
In other words, is it the business model itself?
Are you evaluating the jockey or the horse?
Or is it both?
And how do you end up reaching a determination
like this is at least one I may be in on?
Or can they say one thing and you're like, I'm out?
Is there something in particular you'll notice
where you're like, I'm out is there something in particular you'll notice you're like I'm out with these a few hot buttons uh first of all I really form a first
impression before they ever say a word based on how they look they're standing in front of sharks
lower than us the intimidating come through the doors they're standing there they had told not to
talk until they're asked to start so there's this long silence while they set the camera shots
up close in their face, very intimidating.
And I watch how they handle the pressure, okay?
So when somebody's falling apart,
looking at the ground shifting, can't handle that pressure,
I just am out right away.
I mean, I can't say I'm out, but I know I'm out.
No matter what they say,
that it would be digging out of the hole.
I just can't really believe that this would be a strong business partner. That's one. I do pay attention
to the model to the degree that I say, hey, will enough people buy this service or product?
Is there a need for it? And will enough people buy it? And if it seems yeah reasonable, I'm okay
with the business model. All the details that we go into, the margins and blah blah blah.
I'm honest to go as a dyslexic, almost sleep on the wheel. I'm often making a shopping list while
it's going on because I can't hide in there to pay attention. Okay. But I already have formed my
opinion on the very important piece. Hey, does it make sense when enough people buy it? Now I'm just
watching at the person and just thinking myself, could I picture them as my business partner? Do I like them?
Do I trust them?
And if I do, there's one last question.
Do they have enough energy to make it to the finish line?
Because I've never met a successful entrepreneur who didn't have a ton of energy.
So if they don't have that energy, I think they're going to run out of gas.
Now I could be wrong, who really knows?
But I know in hiring people my whole life,
thousands of people, when people don't have high energy, they're never great.
So that's like a breathing test almost. So that's kind of the summation of it. And then you have to
hang in there for another 45 minutes before you can say, I'm out and make up another reason why
they're out. Cause you don't want to say to everybody, I don't like your energy. You're not
competitive. You know, I don't like the way you look.
You have to come up with something more businessy.
And I spend the rest of my time trying to come up with something more
businessy that makes sense for the show.
You know,
Businessy.
I love that.
I do that all the time on this show.
Let me sound more businessy so I can just fit in.
I know exactly what you're talking about.
Very short intermission here, folks.
I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far.
Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett Show on Apple and Spotify.
Links are in the show notes.
You'll never miss an episode that way.
We've been doing ads for Tommy John forever.
They're my favorite ads to do because I'm a raving fanatic, not just a client, because
that's what they have.
And I want to pick his brain about that and life in general.
So Tom Patterson, welcome to the show.
Thanks, Ed.
It's an honor. I'm so grateful to be here. In building this business, you
know, you had to give up a lot of different things as well. But if someone
was to start right now and said, hey, I think I'm gonna become an entrepreneur,
this is sort of an open-ended question, I want to become an entrepreneur, but I'm
not really totally sure where to start. This thing you said earlier in the
interview about solve a problem, that type thing do you think everybody is an entrepreneur or do you
think that that's reserved for a certain type of person that's a great debate I
mean I I think I have a different answer at five-year periods hmm I think
everybody has a million dollar idea I think some people are struggle with the discomfort and the
uncertainty and being an entrepreneur is all about uncertainty. You have to be
ready to move and pivot and change and I again I'm gonna go back to sports like
sports and being that Roomba vacuum and failing and I had this coach that said
to me Tom you're never gonna increase your capacity to grow unless you fail. And if you don't fail, you're going to be an underachiever
in life. So by not failing, you're not reaching your potential. And I think for me, I always
got pushed and wanted to drive more and more and more. And I think seeing entrepreneurs
and seeing the type of family and the type of life that they were living,
it was really inspiring for me.
I wanted more.
I wanted to do more.
I wanted to travel more.
I wanted to be around different personalities.
So for me, I think, it's a question
are entrepreneurs born or made?
I think for me, it was probably born.
I had lawn mowing businesses.
Dude, I shoveled sidewalks and snowblowed sidewalks
before basketball practice in high school.
I would knock on doors and ask to do the mowing
for the summer.
So I always worked and I was always curious
about making, learning ways to make more money.
But I would say for anybody here,
I didn't have the perfect network.
I didn't go to the perfect school.
I didn't have the perfect connections. I didn't go to the perfect school. I didn't have the perfect connections.
I didn't get the right internship.
It was really people.
I have LA cars in Scottsdale when I went to college.
I sold cell phones at a kiosk in Fashion Square Mall in Phoenix.
But those people skills and interacting and understanding
how to read nonverbal cues, that EQ part, I think,
really prepared me
to be in a position to see the signs
or opportunity to start a business.
And I think that there was a preparation
through my childhood and through things I was involved in
that allowed me to see those signs.
Yeah.
But I didn't grow up in an environment of entrepreneurs.
My parents weren't entrepreneurs.
And you say this, middle class, I would say we were middle class, maybe at times lower
or upper, but middle class is the hardest one to get out of.
It is.
And I oftentimes wonder how did I get out or why did I get out?
I wouldn't say, I don't know if I have the perfect answer.
I don't know either in my case.
I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking of listening to you.
You just said some more real brilliant stuff
that I wanna unpack there.
But like, I think, like my dad wasn't an entrepreneur.
I don't know any entrepreneurs in my family.
My grandfather worked in a union, right?
My grandfather was a printer.
So, what does this come from?
I remember when I was a little boy,
I used to sell sodas at the golf course
and candy bars through the fence.
I had that little business when I was young.
Then I had a baseball card business.
Then I had an auto detailing business.
So somehow as a little guy,
I was experimenting with being an entrepreneur
and wanting to make money and wanting to expand.
And then one thing I always had, and I think you have too,
I've always been fascinated with growth.
And I think sports, to your point,
sports gave me that competitive thing
you talked about earlier.
Sports gave me and you both the ability
to deal with and accept failure,
almost like of course I'm gonna strike out,
I'm gonna get out seven out of 10 times.
Of course you're gonna miss a jump shot, right?
You always miss something, right?
Of course I'm gonna drop a pass.
So I think that helped.
But you said something earlier, man, that I have never thought of before which is this notion I'll probably say
it wrong but that to be successful you actually have to become comfortable
being uncomfortable but then you said the reverse and it describes me very well
and you I'm uncomfortable being comfortable now I got all the way the
other way it wasn't my problem is not being comfortable now. I got all the way the other way. It wasn't, my problem is not being comfortable
being uncomfortable.
My problem is I'm uncomfortable being comfortable.
Or content.
Yes.
Yes, yeah.
And I think that it's like, man,
I want that to be on some speech I give
because that's a really profound thing
that you just said right there and super describes me.
What was the, what's a hidden huge benefit?
I ask hard stuff.
What's a hidden huge benefit of making your dream come true
most people wouldn't know about?
Forget just the wealth or you could travel.
I mean, he could live anywhere in the world.
This dude lives in South Dakota.
Like, so he's not like, you know.
So what's, no offense to South Dakota.
Some of my really good friends are there, but it's not.
I invited you, there's parts you'll like.
There are parts I'd like, but I'm not going,
I can tell you right now, I will not be there in January.
But I will go there with you.
But, and especially the golf place that you described,
we need to go do that.
Having said that though, what's a little,
give us all, you know, what's a little thing that happens,
and I'll give you mine after you give me yours,
that you didn't think would be cool
about making your dream come true that now is? I think you know there's I'm still
always surprised about how many people are aware of the brand. Right it still
blows my mind, blows our mind that people are so familiar with it and wear
it and the types of people that we meet that are wearing it that have not met us
that didn't know our brand values or beliefs and just found the product.
It's connected.
And it's just, one, it creates a lot of fun conversations,
which we've had of just the underwear category by nature.
But it's got us in a lot of rooms
that I would have only dreamt of being in.
And it's one thing to get in the room,
but it's another thing to stay in the room.
And I think there's, Jim talked about this where we were,
like everybody in this room fought to get in this room.
Right?
Jim Roem.
Yeah, Jim Roem.
There's this mutual respect for some of the rooms
because a lot of people don't understand what it took
or the sacrifices that were made to get in there.
And it's like, man, it's not lonely.
There's other people that have been here. Yes. Right? And I think when you're running man, it's not lonely. There's other people that have been here.
Yes.
Right, and I think when you're running a business
it's really lonely.
There's not a plan.
There's not a playbook.
And for me, that's been one of the most exciting things
to meet, honestly, like you, meeting your heroes.
Meeting people that have impacted you in so many ways.
And just not it being awkward.
My grandpa taught me, he's like treat everybody the same,
whether it's the front desk receptionist, the janitor,
they're all people at the end of the day.
And I think for me, one of the gifts I've realized I have
is I'm not intimidated by people,
but I have a lot of respect for people.
And people are like, how is you get to this level
that you're at?
I'm like, I've never been scared to ask questions.
I've never been scared to send Kevin Hart some product
and talk to him on the phone.
At the end of the day, there are real people
that wanted to be treated just like anybody else.
Nothing makes you more uncomfortable than being treated
like you're this, fanning out.
And I think being around people and just getting to know them,
who they are behind closed doors,
there's been I think one of the really cool exciting things about building a business, but it wasn't the intent. Yeah, that's just I think a side
surprise benefit of it. By the way, I think you're right about that.
And the thing is is that I think what everybody I want everyone to hear and the reason I asked you the question is
there's lots of side benefits to use use your term, to making your dream come
true that you can't imagine right now.
And there will be lots of things.
There will be an experience or a moment.
Or I think for me, it's all the stuff I didn't calculate as I was doing it.
Because I think when you have a dream, you kind of picture you in the dream.
But for me, it was when I got to the other side of it and live it now.
It's all the things I never dreamt of doing for other people or moments I could
be there for somebody when they need me that I didn't calculate that.
And if you would have told me back then, the reason I want everyone to hear this
is if you would have told me back then that you'd be able to do this, that, or
the other thing for another person, I'd have worked even harder.
I'd have taken more hits.
I'd have gone through more pain if I knew that the dream wasn't just about me
But it's about all these other people these lives you can affect and you can impact in small and big ways if I'd have known All that was gonna come with the package of winning. I'd have gone for it even harder and faster. I've gone bigger
I'd have I'd have done more so there's I want everyone to know this
There's more that comes with making a dream come true that you can even possibly imagine and as good as you think it's gonna be in Many ways it's it's a thousand million times better, but maybe not even in the way like having lots of money
It's cool, right?
But it's probably I don't think it's quite as cool as I thought it was gonna not being broke is super cool
Right, but being super rich
I don't it's not quite as cool as I thought it would be, but other parts
that come with it are for me.
Is that the same for you?
Yeah, I think once you've been poor and struggled,
you wanna do everything possible not to be there again.
But I think you brought up a good point,
and it's something I wanna talk to you a lot more about
after this, is this success, this significance transition
that you've made, how do Had you made that earlier, right?
I think as you go on, how do you make sure
you're impacting others?
And I think they always say the people that you can help,
you probably said this, the people you can help the most
are the ones who are walking through the path
that you walk through.
And I think if there's one person I can reach today
or 10 people, or you can send this to someone
that has a story that resonates
with what we're talking about,
that's really what people wanna hear hear and I think anybody that's listening
That's the beauty about podcasts and YouTube today. They're like these master classes and in like
Blinkist cliff notes on the stories. Yes, and I think a lot of people get caught up
I read this one I heard this one I listened this one, but they're not taking any action
And the hardest part is people know what to do.
The hardest part, I think, I keep seeing
is just getting started.
Yeah.
Well, they did it this way.
How do they do that?
Let's talk about that for a second,
because you're right.
If I could figure that out, we'd have way more millionaires,
way better marriages, way more parents
raising wonderful kids, whatever it might be in life,
way more people creating cures for diseases.
What is that thing that got, like you just started,
like if we go all the way back to the beginning,
I'm thinking to myself, this dude has no fashion background.
He's walking around selling these medical devices,
all of a sudden he wakes up and goes,
I think we should have better undergarments,
like what the, and then you go to the fashion district
and I know where that place is.
That's not the most comfortable place to go.
You make a couple freaking shirts
with the Donald Duck thing on there.
And now you're sitting in my studio with a brand
that everyone that's listening to my show
has heard of before.
Like there's gotta be a part of this,
like on the spinning earth, your existence on 2008,
the dude you were
flash forward 15 years later BAM like it's got to be unbelievable to you but
you did get started right do you think it's because you were naive and you
didn't know how hard it was gonna be what do you think it was that got you
started that holds other people back is that they want to be perfect like what
is it I just didn't want to be perfect? Like, what is it?
I just didn't want to play it safe. You know, I wanted to play it big and go big or go home.
And for me, I wanted to take a big swing
and see if I could do it, right?
I like getting out of my comfort zone
and doing uncomfortable things.
So I think when we started, that was really the mindset
really to do it.
But I don't know, I think everybody's different. I think some we started, that was really the mindset really to do it.
But I don't know, I think everybody's different.
I think this uncertainty or how it's going to be perceived or I don't want to live a
life in downsize and go from two cars to one car.
But if you're not comparing yourself to the others, like the keeping up with the Joneses
mentality, I don't know anybody that's made it that didn't struggle.
It didn't go through the tough times and there are very, I think, more exceptions
than aren't. So I think for us that was really just the mindset that we had.
I think there's something in you, bro, and I want to ask you this last. So I think
you're stepping into it. You know, I think you all probably know a
lot about Gunner. There was a lot of kind of anticipation about the show here today and I don't want to go down this
direction so I just want to get this out of the way in the beginning. If you don't
know, Gunner trains some of the most successful business people that walk the
earth, some of the most successful entertainers and athletes, anyone from J-Lo
to the Kardashians to Sampras to NBA players. But I'm also in the right zip
code in fairness. I'm in the right space for that. I get people reach out at trainers,
I want to do what you do.
I live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
I live in Scotland.
I'm like, those are great, wonderful places,
but the demographic of the potential clientele
is just not there to do what I do.
You're a trainer, but you approach the business.
I just, I thought this was awesome because it's true
of almost any business we would describe. What business are you really in? So
you're a trainer but you what business would you say you're in above all? I'm
great at connecting people. I can't monetize it for shit. I wish there were
a way to say let me introduce you. Oh you need a contractor? Well oh you're looking
for a car? Oh your wife needs a new OBGYN? Oh, you want... I can connect to so many things
that have nothing to... And we all, in our trade, we develop certain go-to lines. And
I always say, I can't get you into any restaurants or clubs, but anything in health, wellness,
medical, I got you. I know the top shoulder surgeon. I know the top knee surgeon.
I know the top nutritionist, the top dentist.
Dentist, I got dentist, I got orthodontist,
and then I have just-
That's amazing.
Yeah, so, but it's being years where I am,
and I can also call them on their cell
and connect you like that, right?
But I'll tell you, clubs,
I don't even know what clubs are hot now.
Restaurants, I got a couple go-to restaurants,
but it's nothing that you'd probably want to go to.
And it makes me happy.
Nothing makes me happier than someone,
I had a call two weeks ago,
yeah, a couple weeks ago,
somebody said, I chipped my tooth.
What can I do?
And it was a Friday afternoon, I go, stand by.
Yep, and they were in the chair within two hours
getting the video, and I thought,
yeah, that's what I can do.
Because you approach it like a,
I've never heard this before.
You approach it, this is such a lesson
because a lot of trainers watch this,
how do I grow my practice, right?
But that goes both ways.
If that dentist gets someone who's lying there going,
you know how I feel so fat when I lie in this chair,
it makes me really see my stomach.
Well, I mean, the analogy I would use
is a restaurant analogy, right?
It's you pull in, you pull into the gym,
you pull up to a restaurant.
Is there a place to park?
And I goof about parking,
but in LA, parking's a very real thing.
Is that difficult?
How much of a headache was that?
Getting into the place, you walk in,
is there someone who stops you, greets you, do they
remember you, is there a rhythm and a flow to what you do when you get there, or is it
a whole check in, who are you again, I mean, little things like that can slow the roll,
and it's a lot less fun overall, and the next time the person has to go to that, they go,
I'm not going, and then to me, then your cancellation rates goes up.
Even if you're charging for cancellations over time,
that goes away too.
You won't go back to the same restaurant if,
forget the food, the food I take for granted.
If the whole experience that preceded the meal
was a pain in the ass.
Bro, I had one of those last night, the food was great,
the experience was crap, we'll never go back.
And the experience can be bad on either end.
Yeah.
Right?
Usually we tend to, selective amnesia,
we tend to forget what happened in the middle
if the food was good, right?
But if you ask for the bill and it's 20 minutes,
puts you in a bad mood on the way out.
You get to Valet, 20 minutes, and Valet is a real thing in LA.
Every restaurant is Valet, or a lot of them.
Right?
It kills the whole vibe.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
Or the waiter just disappears and you can't even ask.
You're like, we've been here 15 minutes.
You were at my dinner last night.
All of those things.
No, but I think, as you're an entrepreneur, if you are one watching this, how conscious
are you from the entire experience the client
has with you?
Are you in the service from the minute they got there?
Cold water or room temp?
Some of my clients like cold, some like room temp.
We have water and towels out for every person.
That's a service.
Well, I don't provide it.
Well, you should.
And if you don't, we can't afford it.
But raise your rates.
If I ran a hotel, the minibar would be free.
Now the room would cost a lot more,
but the mini bar would be free all the time.
Yes, you're gonna get a couple of jerk-offs
who empty the mini bar out as they leave, okay fine,
but you're also gonna get people who don't touch it.
And you need to find that sweet spot in your price point
to make that work for you,
because nobody at the higher end of any service
wants to be nickel and dime.
I 100% believe that.
And I think you entrepreneurs, listen to this,
I don't care if you have a bakery, a dry cleaners,
or you're a software engineer.
All of these things are so important as an entrepreneur.
See, these are the things like,
and I mean this with respect, you know this,
it's not just the zip code.
Because for someone, they have to want to come back.
They have to want to keep coming back
It's like it's their disposable income. Watch this. It's their disposable income
their limited free time
for
Something that is arguably painful
How are you how are you making that? Hey, we're gonna come back, right?
Right, you have to make it as fun or as positive as it can be.
There should be so many, and in fact only,
positive associations with their experience with you
that when training comes up, when cold water comes up,
or room temp water, or your name comes up,
there's a positive association that happens.
That is the best PR machine you could ever create. You're saying earlier, we were talking, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you don't,
you're very well known that you don't have a publicist. And I think, and I think the reason
you're so well known is what you just described. When your name comes up, there's a positive
association and your clients are raving fans about you. Cody Sanchez, welcome to the show.
I'm excited to be here. I've been a fan of yours for years and I think it's really cool what you
do online. Theoretical business sounds really, really good.
Day-to-day business, if we're really being candid,
we sort of share, I'll call it like a misery amongst company
almost to some extent.
Like when you meet another real business owner,
I think the stuff online is really good or kind of,
you know, you hear certain conversations.
But most of my conversations with real operators or real business owners is most of the time dealing with the emotional
burden of the stress of it. And I don't think that part of it's Andy and I talk about that a lot for
Sola and I. What about that? Like the real of business, like how much of it day to day, even
today, the last week for you,
is like, woo, this is bliss and enjoy
and we're making deals and I'm closing
and I'm a deal maker and we're growing
and top line's awesome and the bottom line's good too.
Or like, what is it really like?
Like really, really.
Yeah, well, I think, you know,
there was a line from Michael Jordan that I loved
where he said, there is no I in team, but there is in win.
And that always resonates with me because
when you are in charge of a business, when it's yours, there is an I in team, because the only
person at the end of the day that is on the line is you. And so you have to work harder than
everybody else. You have to work longer than everybody else for a period past what you want
to, at least in the beginning. At some point, you get people that are more competent than you, but that takes a long time. Long time.
And so, I do think that there will be a point in every business owner's life where you're like,
what am I doing with my life? And would you like to hire me, Ed? For sure. And if you want to know
if this is true or not, go talk to a business owner. And if you want to cuddle up to them pretty
quickly, say, I'm running a business right now, but it's definitely hard. There are days when I
might ask you for a job, how about you? And I guarantee you, no matter if they're a billionaire
or not, they're going to say, oh yeah, I thought about that before. Never seriously, but that
little twinkle. And so- And that's by the way, why most businesses are buyable. Because you catch
an entrepreneur on the right day or the wrong day, they may want to take an exit from it.
I just, I always want people, like, I'll ask you this,
like, who do you think should be an entrepreneur?
Like if you were to describe the woman or the man
that should be an entrepreneur,
there's certain characteristics that are invisible.
They're not visible to people typically.
What are some of those things?
Like for the real, real thing, what is it?
Because by the way, one thing about you that I've noticed,
I don't think it's talked about enough.
Because then people think, well, then I can't do it.
You're a very smart woman.
You're very well read.
So I'm not naturally intellectually bright.
I'm not.
But I've overcompensated for that
with really being well read.
I read a lot.
I've updated my knowledge base about
a lot of different things so that I can have conversations and dialogue with people that do
a lot of different things so that I'm valuable to them. And that's one trait knowing you have to
have grit and resilience. Okay, yep, you do. I think that's been covered. But what about like
knowledge, like real knowledge about business, like I, I surround
myself with attorneys and accountants boring people,
because I learn a lot from them, and you're going to need them as
an entrepreneur. So yeah, what are your thoughts on all that?
Well, that one, you know, for sure, I think if you want to
make money, surround yourself with the people who understand
money, and people who understand money are attorneys, accountants,
bankers, investment bankers, people who understand real estate and financial advisors.
Those are the people. If you hang out with enough of them, it's wild how contagious money can be.
True.
I do think though that you're right on the well-read part. I was at a friend's ranch this
weekend. Her name's Wink. Wink?
Wink. She's 85.
She runs a ranch that is 30,000 acres.
Some of it is government leased land in Arizona.
She had this line that was so incredible to me.
I was talking to her, I'm like, Wink, you're like 85, you're on this horse, you're running
this land.
What's going on?
I was talking about the fact that business was tough.
She goes, well, at some point,
it's that bootstrapping thing, right?
I'm like, oh yeah, it's that bootstrapping thing.
And she goes, but we have a saying,
because wolves are a problem here.
Where they are, they eat their cows.
She's like, we got a saying about wolves.
And I'm like, well, you're not allowed to shoot wolves,
wink.
What do you mean you got a saying about wolves?
And she goes, well, yeah, we know
you're not allowed to shoot wolves. We got the three S's. I said, what are these three S's? She
goes, well, you shoot, you shovel, and you shut up. She goes, and that's business. You shoot,
you shovel, all the ****, all the nonsense, all the difficulty, and you shut up and you keep going.
Sometimes I remember those three S's,
and I think real business owners know that that's there.
The last thing I'll say though is,
I think too many people tell other people
that they can't be entrepreneurs,
and that actually bothers me,
because there are a bunch of people online like,
Cody must be nice for you and Ed, you know,
and like, you know, all these people
aren't actually doing it.
And I think think show me somebody
Who tells you that you shouldn't go become an entrepreneur?
Because it's too hard for you fine, but watch what they do not what they say
Are they an entrepreneur but they think you can't do it and I think for most people there is an ability to have some ownership
It does just suck sometimes and you got to
deal with that.
I do too. I am amazed by how many people will take advice from somebody who's not successful
in the area you're seeking the advice.
Right.
Meaning, it doesn't mean they're a bad person or that they're unsuccessful. They may be
an incredible father or mother, but they're not an entrepreneur. They shouldn't be giving
you advice on that or they're like an amazing person of faith, but they've never made any money. Why are you taking money advice from them?
Yeah, vice versa. Yeah, they can faith advice from someone who's got no faith just because they have a bunch of money
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