The Entrepreneur DNA - Blueprint to Legacy: Inspirational Rise, Strategic Success, and Unfiltered Life Lessons | Brad Lea | EP2

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Brad Lea's entrepreneurial journey is a captivating tale of transformation from humble origins in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Growing up in a blue-collar family, he honed his selling skills from a young age and eventually founded a company to train others. A pivotal moment came when he helped a struggling acquaintance achieve significant monthly earnings through sales training, inspiring them to start their own business. Emphasizing the importance of self-esteem and an abundance mindset, Lea discusses the need to educate individuals on breaking out of the rat race. We delve into the significance of partnerships in business, the balance between quick success and prolonged dedication, and the challenges of blending work and family life. Throughout, Lea shares personal anecdotes, strategic insights, and candid reflections, offering a comprehensive guide to success and legacy-building in the world of entrepreneurship.

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Entrepreneur DNA show. I am your host, Justin Colby. And today, I quite literally have one of my favorite humans on the planet, and I just told him how much so. Mr. Brad Lee is on the show. What's up, brother? What's happening? Appreciate you having me. Yeah, dude. Listen, we got a lot to talk about. I was just recently on your show and I gave you so much love because you're following your community. What you have put out into the space of entrepreneurship is, in my opinion, basically second to none at this point. I think you are the leader of the pack. I appreciate you. So honored to have you on the show, dude. So I'm excited to have you, bro. Well, thanks, man. What a welcome.

I like that. Yeah. Leader of the pack. I'm saying, I'm saying, well, listen, let's jump into entrepreneurship, right? Like, you know, I know a vast majority of the people know you already probably all know your story, but there may be a handful that don't. Why don't we just kind of start off with your intro into entrepreneurship, what that looked like, and do kind of an elevator pitch for that before we dive into some deeper stuff about real time right now. But yeah, how did Brad Lee become Brad Lee? Well, that's a long story, my friend. But I became Brad Lee because my mother and father decided one night to do the dirty. Let's go.

And that ended up producing Brad Lee, and out I came. That's it. Now, when I popped out, I was living in a small town in the Pacific Northwest called Cottage Grove, Oregon. I was born in Eugene, Oregon at Sacred Heart Hospital. However, Cottage Grove was about 20 miles south born in Eugene, Oregon at Sacred Heart Hospital. However, Cottage Grove was about 20 miles south of there. That's where we lived. So I just grew up in a blue collar family. I would like to say we were broke and we couldn't afford food and all this shit, but we could. My dad didn't make a lot of money, but he had a lot of kids, so it didn't go very far. He did the best he could.

He worked his butt off. And I watched him struggle for a lot of years. And I never could figure out why he would struggle so hard because he was such a hardworking individual. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so as I was growing up, you know, it was pretty much children should be seen and not heard. We didn't, we didn't, there wasn't a bunch of, you know, lessons from the fence post. There wasn't a, there wasn't a mentorship going on. It was pretty much, they made sure we didn't, you know, die and that's about it so we were kind of raised on our own

even though we did have parental units in the in the dwelling we they just weren't parenting yep you know so so anyway i grew up a little smart ass clever little son of a gun though shocker shocker figured out i could sell at about six years old when I went around selling candy bars and outsold everybody on planet earth. There you go. Yeah. And then kind of forgot that I learned how to sell and ended up getting a job when I was 17 fighting forest fires, or at least I thought.

Didn't like that. And so I said, okay, let me try sales. So I went into sales and loved that. And so I said, okay, let me try sales. So I went into sales and love that. And so a lot of money and being very successful in the game of sales, influence, and persuasion. Grew up through the rags, selling all kinds of stuff from art to automobiles, to RVs, to you name it. And then I got very good at showing people how to do sales. And so about 30 years old, I helped this guy that was in the back of my car lot make money. And I watched him change his whole life because he went from minimum wage to 15, 20 grand a month. And it reminded me of my dad

for some reason. And it made me feel real good helping this guy. And then I said, man, I'm going to quit my job and I'm going to go start a company training people. So I quit my job. And that's technically, I mean, I tried a few other businesses before but failed. But that's technically my first real foray because I was convinced once I had that feeling, I'm like, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to go help people learn how to make more money. Oh, that's it. That's when I started. Well, 20 years. Here we are. Here we are. I love that. Well, you haven't stopped. Like I said, man, I get more messages from your podcast

drop and it's all about people believe in what you say and getting out of the rat race. And I know now you have multiple brands. I think, you know, in our space, I first heard of you through software, right? Educational software, which is a game changer in and of itself. So if you're an educator out there, you need to hit Brad's team about that software. But now you have a bunch of brands, right? You're working on the financial side, the solar side. Uh, what else did we talk about? You have a credit card, uh, merchant processing side. Yep. So you have all those opportunities out there. I mean, is it, that's a lot of opportunity, right? I mean, you really, what I'm saying is you're really showing you are passionate about helping people make money and break out of the rat race, not by just educating them, but actually

giving them the opportunity to do so. Well, yeah, because I mean, a lot of times I was teaching people how to sell, but they were selling the wrong thing and they weren't making much money, even though they were good at selling whatever they were selling. So I decided to go, you know, take it a bit farther and start the companies that they can go sell for. And I've made sure that those companies are companies where someone could make $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 a year as long as they're willing to work. So those are the three that I've come up with so far. I'll be coming up with more. I also have RV dealerships. Again, I have a software company.

Lightspeed TV, by the way. So if you're an educator, you need to hit up Brad about Lightspeed TV. There's no doubt. Don't do TV, dude. That's a porn site. VT. VT. Sorry, brother.

One time I was at a meeting. There was 12, 13 GMs in a room. And I'm typing Lightspeed VT up on the screen because it was on. And I fat figured it and accidentally put in TV. It enter. Oh, porn site. Big meeting, big fun, big laughs. There was laughter.

And I couldn't believe it because it's like, damn, dude. Like I'm transposing of letters away from a porn site. Dude, there's definitely people that, uh, that transpose that letter and say, well, I might stick on this site for a little while. I'll get there. What, um, so let's talk about this idea that, uh, I've become really, really passionate about. And this is the ability to get around the right people such as yourself and how to do that. I think everyone wants to say, man, how do I level up? How do I, how do I get there? How do I become you? How do I get around you? How do I do these things? And they do that to me. I can only imagine what people are saying to you. Let's give people

some words of advice of how to get to be to our level, to be around us, to be at the same dinner table, et cetera. How would people do that in the, in this economy? Well, when people ask me, how do I, you know, how do I get around influential people? I say, you become one, you know, you become one. That's how you get around them. Or the other way, which is much quicker and easier, is you buy access. You pay for shit, bro. You know, when someone's joining a country club, you know, go join the country club. You know, when someone's going to a $5,000, you know, charity dinner, go to the $5,000 charity dinner, sponsor a table.

People are like, well, I don't have any money. Well, dude, listen, if you don't have any money. Well, dude, listen, if you don't have any money, you're not going to hang around a bunch of people that do. Trust me. That's right. Okay. So, so what you need to do first, before you worry about hanging around your people is go figure out why you're not making any money. Because the reason why people don't make money nine times out of 10 is because they don't actually believe they're worth money. So I try to get people to focus on fixing their self-worth so they can fix their net worth. And then once they start to realize they are more valuable than they've given themselves credit for, money isn't limited. Things are possible. And they start getting out of, you know, things are possible, you know, and they start getting

out of that limited scarcity, whiny bitch, crybaby victim mindset. Now you're ready to go talk to other people because if you go around other people with that attitude, broke, desperate, dude, you're not going to stick around those people. I'm telling you right now. Those people do not want a bunch of freaking negative, low-level, low-frequency people around them. Go ahead. They'll repel them. It's repelling when you have someone who's needy, victimized, woe is me. I can't. It's just when I get around those type of people, it literally repels me. I will have to leave the room, the situation,

the area. I don't care. I just can't do it. I'll tell my tribe, my students, I'm like, there is no can't. You either are going to say I give up and that's your decision, but there's no can't because you can, everyone can, everyone can achieve greatness. And I said this on your podcast, the difference is not everyone's willing to work for it. Well, that's a fact. So I tell people, you know, that's how you get around somebody. Let's pretend you already have a good self-esteem and you're already, you know, abundant mindset and you're pretty good dude. You dude. You just don't have a big network. Bro, go places that they go. Do things that they do. And then once you establish those relationships, nurture those relationships. Grow in those relationships. But again, if someone said, Brad, what is the easiest way? What is the quickest way? What is the best way to get around all these influential people?

The best way is to become one because now you walk in, they want to know you instead of you wanting to know them. I mean, I literally, now that I've built a brand, I literally get people that see me on social media which they think is the is the new tv like i'm at the airport dude and people will come up and be like hey can i take my picture i'm like sure and i'm taking a picture with them and then they're like dude i freaking love your shit and i'm like thanks man and then and i'm like where do you where do you follow me they go dude i see you on tv all the time and i'm like i'm trying to i'm not on tv and I'm like, well, where do you, where do you follow me? They go, dude, I see you on TV all the time. And I'm like, I'm not on TV. And they're like, you know, Instagram, Facebook, you know, Twitter, like social media.

I'm like, yeah, but they think it's TV. Cause that's where everyone is nowadays. That's it. So that's it. So the best way is to become one and you become one by building a brand by, by becoming, you know, unique. Okay. Everyone tells you to fit in your whole life. You don't want to fit into, you want to stand out, but yeah, you build a personal brand and you become one and then you'll start hanging out

with them all the time because you'll be invited to all those places they go. And you know, you'll be rubbing elbows with all the celebs, et cetera, because you became one. The other way is to pay. Like, dude, I can call, I can get any person you name right now, I can get them in my office or at my event with a check. No doubt. Tony Robbins, dude, he'll probably charge you about $400,000 or $500,000 now.

No doubt. And his jet fuel but guess what you want to hang around tony robbins dude i'll put his ass right in your studio that's it now you got an hour with him now what now you better you better have your game prepared again i always tell people instead of worrying about meeting a bunch of people, dude, go meet yourself first. Dropping bombs already. I don't have a cool little bomb dropping sound machine like you do, brother, but come on. You're bringing it. I agree 100%. Listen, I think you and I are both, well, and I don't even know if you do this anymore.

You're at that level, but I absolutely pay to play. And I'm not ashamed of it ever. If I need to go be around people that are, say it again. I do too. That's it. It's just a faster route. So what you're bringing up is maybe a slower route, but a good route become one. Well, that puts it a lot of work, right? I mean, 15 years is taking me to become friends with Bradley and Grant Cardone and people of that nature. And by the way, there's times where there's checks being cut just to be in the damn room with them to get the relationship started, right? But that check doesn't get cut 15 years ago when I'm sleeping on a couch and my home was taken to foreclosure and my repo man

took my car and I have no money. I had to grind for 15 years. That is, I think, again, the missing link. When you say become one, that means work your damn face off, make money, put yourself in positions to win, get into a country club, get into, go watch the Vegas Knights. Is that the hockey team? Yep. Vegas Golden Knights. He's row one, people. You can find Brad right there. You could rub shoulders with the man, but the reality is those tickets aren't $45, right? You know who sits behind me at the hockey game?

Everyone. I saw. I was dying, I couldn't. I'm so happy you said that. I'm in bed with my wife. We're about to watch the AM, scrolling through Instagram. Your story pops up and you do that exact line. You'll never guess who's behind me. I'm like, well, shit, who's behind you? Your next thing says, everyone, I was dying, bro. Cracking up. I love it. It's true. But in what I'm saying is true. And what you're saying is true, right? Like people, I believe people want it today. They look at Bradley today and they say, I want to be Brad. You don't know the last, however many,

how many years you've been putting in the work. I don't blame them personally. Facts, facts. I mean, realistically, dude, I'm not the, I'm not the guy that'll tell you, you know, I struggled and I, you know, even though I did, but I won't tell you because my mindset the whole time has been of gratitude and optimism, meaning I don't really think I've had that hard of a time. Now I've been homeless on the beach in, in, in California for a couple of weeks. And someone asked me, you know, what did it feel like when you hit rock bottom? And I'm on a podcast and I go, yeah, I've never really hit rock bottom. And they go, didn't you just say you were homeless on the beach? And I'm like,

well, yeah, but it was a beach in California. Yeah. Like, dude, like, come on, dude, people pay to sleep on the beach. So, I mean, at the end of the day, it was a beach in California. Yeah, like, dude, like, come on, dude. People pay to sleep on the beach. So, I mean, at the end of the day, it was a choice that I made. I didn't have any money. I didn't want to go home. You know, it was just a simple choice to, well, I'll crash on the beach.

I'll take a shower at the freaking gym or the, you know, bathrooms that have the showers. So, like, to me, I don't think, man, it's been a struggle. I just think it's been pretty easy. It's been pretty easy the whole time. Like, I'm a lucky son of a gun. Let's go. You damn right. So is everyone. I mean, we all have our stories. Don't get me wrong, but I think you said something that really resonates with me at least. It was a choice. Brother, I swear, people would rather choose to play mediocre because of their fear of failure

than actually choosing to go for an epic life to become the next Bradley. Either way, they're looking in the mirror and they're making that choice because if they chose to go for it not that you aren't incredible you are bro but like people become can become the next bradley right 100 dude it's a choice but i don't think they should become the next bradley i think they should become the next whomever they are. Who they are. Yeah, I got you 100% there. Yeah. It's going to be pretty difficult trying to keep up with me.

But I think that's the next thing. It will be, bro. I got you. But that is also a disconnect in our society right now, dude. People are trying to be the next Brad Lee or Grant Cardone or name the name. They want to become them. And you said it perfectly. Go become you.

Exactly you. And by the way, my philosophy and that's what we did. That's what we did. I didn't do that. Somebody else. You know, I became myself. And so did Grant. So did pretty much every influencer or, or, you know, guru out there.

Right. And it, in the more I spend time around all of you, the more I'm appreciative of that. And I think there's a lot of people out there that watch you or Grant or name the name again and might say, oh, they're blustery. They're cocky. They're arrogant. They're this, they're that. I can tell you honestly, from someone who's spent time with Brad

and Grant and name the name, like these guys are some of the best people you will ever meet. You ain't lying either. I ain't lying, dog. And so, you know, kind of just what I'm trying to impress upon people, make the damn choice to win. It is your choice. We all have our story. Brad's on a beach. I'm on a couch. We're both in California, by the way, but we made a choice to win. It is your choice. We all have our story. Brad's on a beach. I'm on a couch. We're both in California, by the way, but we made a choice to go win. Right. And that's why we have levels of success. Um, I want to bring up a point real quick. I know. Do you have, how many partners do you have in your multiple, multiple businesses? Right. So you have light speed, merchant services, solar. I mean, you got a lot, you got a lot cooking. How many actual partners do you have in those businesses?

One in all of them. Okay. And when I say one, sometimes it's a couple or a pair, but there's one in all of them because they're the operating partner. Love that. All right. So let's talk about that a little bit. Cause in my world of real estate, there's always the people that are like, yeah, me and my buddy are going to, we're going to partner on this. And I don't, well, I don't like that Brad, um, for a lot of different reasons, but it's usually because they just don't want to be alone to go out there and get it themselves. And they want to buddy up. I can respect it. I get it, right? It's hard to be the lone wolf. But let's talk about partnerships and why you've

decided to partner on all of them, right? And how that looks. Well, because let me tell you something, my friend, and this is a fact. You're not going anywhere by yourself. You'll never, ever get to the promised land by yourself. So if you want to get to the promised land, then you're going to need partners. You're going to need employees. You're going to need team members. You're going to, you're not going anywhere by yourself, bro. So if, if someone said, should I team up with somebody? Uh, not necessarily, but I would say you have to team up eventually. You can't do everything.

Like I have eight companies. I can't run all eight companies, you know? So, so what I can do is, is, is talk with eight people that run those companies. Now it would be, it would be an ego thing for me to say, oh, I own them all, all by myself. But guess what? I wouldn't own them all if, if I owned them all by myself. That's myself. So that's the point I want to get to. I've now bought into that belief more so than ever. I think in my space, mostly in the real estate space, people buddy up. I don't believe that's the right reason to have a partner. Brad mentioned what I believe is the right reason.

It's the same thing that David Grutman here in Miami, a big restaurateur guy. Are you familiar with David Grutman here in Miami, a big restaurateur guy. Are you familiar with David Grutman? No. He has all the really amazing... When you come to Miami and hang out with me, we're going to go to his restaurants. Let's put it that way, right? The best of the best.

He has the same philosophy. You have the same philosophy. And that is to be able to get bigger, to get to the spaces that you want to get, you have to do more and you can't do more if it's just you. That's the philosophy. Brad can't own and run and win at eight different companies. He can't. I can companies. And he can ultimately be the leader of those leaders. Right. And I think that is where I believe I've really adopted this, right. I was really against all partnerships, um, for a while, but I just believe if you want to attain more and have more, like I don't have eight companies, but I have four and there's no way I could do four without having people to help run the companies. And then people get greedy.

And I want you to talk to this. Yeah, well, I don't want to give up 50% or I don't want to give up. What do you say to those people? Well, I would say that's a matter of negotiation. You don't have to give up 50% to have a partner. I own more than half of all my companies. Um, and I, and if I were you, I would definitely try to retain at least 51% of all companies if you want to be in control. Yeah. But, uh, partners can be 10%. Partners can be, you know, salaried. I mean, you know,

there can be all kinds of partnerships that you can create, but you need, you need people or you're not going very far. There's a saying that says, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. I like that. Yeah. Cause you like that. You're not getting very far by yourself, not in business. Now, again, people say, well, look at this person, look at that person. I guarantee you go look at these people. They've had their partners. They've had their team. They've I'm telling you, they do. They may not say anything, but they do.

You know, Steve jobs had Steve Wozniak, you know, um, and, and, and, and both of them had multiple people. Yep. You know, here at light speed, I got of them had multiple people. Yeah. You know, here at Lightspeed, I got a guy named Jason Straw. You know, he's the CTO here. He's the one that I convinced a long time ago to build the first version of this software. And he had a company, fairly good-sized company, that built websites and, you know, scheduling software for casinos and, you know, high-level, high-level things.

And he was tired, coincidentally, of continually needing new projects to make money. So he'd do a $2 million project, but when it was over, it was over. Now he had to go get another one. And so he had a kick-ass development team. I approached him to build my vision, the interactive training system, now known as Lightspeed VT. And he was one of the only people in the country that was able to do so. And so ultimately, I offered him a little piece of the company and told him, hey, why don't you and your whole company become us? Then we'll go do this. And coincidentally, I closed him on that. Boom. I picked up, you know, 14 loyal programmers and, you know, three or four different, you know, badasses. Then,

then I brought in two of my friends, made them partners, had to buy them out. Cause they ripped me up. Well, they didn't rip me off. They were trying to. But had to buy them out for millions of dollars each, which was screwed because they did nothing but try and sabotage me and the whole company. Right. But see, those are partnerships. And that's why most people will be like, Brad, I'm surprised you're for partnerships.

I'm not for partnerships. I'm for kicking ass and taking names. And I realized that you're not doing that by yourself. Dude, you could totally. And so much of it. Yeah. Your experience with your friends, I didn't have the same experience, but like I have just gone through it before. And it's just, if you're doing it for the buddy reason, which maybe that's why you brought your two friends in or not, I don't know, but I just would pass on that. I would go find someone to help run the company so you can go make more money. My whole belief is I can't go be the lion and go make more money if I have to run one

company, period. So I need someone to go watch that and grow that herd that tribe while i'm out being a lion and killing and in you know getting done what needs to be done for the greater good right um so that's that's my take on it um real quickly you know i heard you say i don't remember where i heard you say it but getting rich fast is better than getting rich slow. So you said something very, very Brad like there, but I want to talk about that because I, I think there's a lot of people that have this microwave society thing that everything happens now. And I think that's really where I want to go to kind of close this circle is, is there's a lot of people that see Justin Colby, that see Bradley, that see Grant. But we got to talk about that this isn't overnight.

It's just not, right? You can work hard and you can make some money pretty quickly. But to get to these levels, people have got to really be willing to, to lengthen their, their timeline, their time expectation. Yeah. I mean, anything's possible, but they should, they should, I would agree. You know, what I said was someone asked me, what's the best way to get rich? And I said, quickly, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The best way to be best way to get rich is quick, but you know, it's, it's, and no and no one's gonna argue with you just to call it out who the hell is gonna argue that point yeah well well it's much more rare to do it quickly

but um in my mind you know there is get rich quick shit that's real and it's you know the question is is what is quick because if you ask me 10 years that's pretty quick totally that's what i'm talking about bro that people want it in like two years i just it's possible but guys i mean you're gonna need to grind for a little bit you're gonna need to get some feedback you're gonna need to get some market research you're gonna be able to you know and again i've seen people in two years blow up yes it's totally possible and i wouldn't tell anybody it's not i encourage people to go for whatever they want to go for however getting rich quick is sometimes 10 15 years and and it's like you know but you made it and when you look back dude it'll seem like it

was a year or two right now it feels like i've had light speed for maybe five years it's been 22 bro wow i had no idea 1999 wow and it feels like five years max you know people say how long have i been in this building because i have a you've been to my offices i got a pretty sweet setup over the bro it's dope it's dope people are like how long you been here and i'm like uh i don't really remember i asked my assistant how long how long we've been here she said 13 years i'm like we've been here 13 years like holy shit i remember moving in like last week you ain't leaving i'm surprised you haven't bought the building you might have tried but shit i would have i tried and then shook the covid hit so i backed down real quick yeah i didn't hey you know going home and not paying rent because everybody

like i paid rent i paid all my bills all the way through covid i see you bro you know and uh well i mean that's just how i am dude like if i got the money i'm gonna pay you if i didn't have the money i would say dude i don't have the money people aren't paying me or whatever but i had the money so i just kept paying but um well if i bought the building and then cobit hit i don't know if everybody else was paying yeah i didn't want to be the landlord. You know how they say steal from Peter to pay Paul? Yep. Well, I'd rather be Paul.

Dude, your wits, it gets me every time, bro. Let's wrap it up with this, bro. I know you have a family. You're a big family man. Let's talk about that a little bit. I think it's important for entrepreneurs to realize, at least in my opinion, I want to see what you hear about this

or what you say about this. There's no work in family, right? There's no separation of life. You have one life, in my opinion. And you, as the leader of that life, you need to find a way to blend it. Right. Um, and I'm newly a father.

I have a two year old. We'll probably have a second one coming around. I think you have several children, right? Seven. Just a couple. Jeez. For you. So, uh, I would say in my opinion, only having one, like I do my best to make sure I blend my life so that there is congruency throughout. And I'm not hyper on one side and then hyper on another side.

Talk to me a little bit about your philosophy. Seven kids, hyper successful in business, you know, from everything I've seen. I've never met your family, but you look incredibly successful in the family side as well. Talk to me about that, that whole story there. Well, you know, I had three different quote unquote opportunities, you know, to, to get it right. So I'm finally, I believe getting a lot better at it. Um, but what have you learned along the way? Well, I mean, again, like I used to want to be their friend when you don't really want to be their friend, you want to be their parent, you know, and, and I'm still a little guilty of wanting to be their friend and giving them the things that you want, you, you know,

that you want them to have, but you know, much so they get become spoiled and entitled and all this so it's like a it's like a juggling act but to me it's just priorities right like today my wife is getting her hair did which by the way that takes for her literally all day. So my kids are with grandma now, right. They love grandma. I don't need to go bother them with grandma. Cause if I went home right now, they wouldn't be talking to me much anyway. Right. You know, they don't need me to come home and look at them in the eyes and, you know, act like, you know, I need to spend all my days with them because they don't even want to like normal kids do not want to spend all day with their parents yeah okay now with that being said i definitely think you should spend time with your kids but i just i just think there's no such thing as balance it's it's more

like priorities now when i say that it's because sometimes I'll go to work for six days straight and not worry about home. And then sometimes I'll go home for six straight days and not worry about work. But there's no balance. It's just priorities. Well, it's one life. I mean, I think you're just saying it in a different way, dude. Yeah, there's times where you need to be a killer for your work. And you got to go kill. And that's who you are. And then there's times where you need to be a killer for your work and you got to go kill and that's who you are. And then there's times

where you need to be Papa and you need to be the husband and you need to be all that. And that's exactly who you are. It's one life. There's no, this separation and there's some work life balance that everyone's saying Kumbaya that it's just, and at least for me, that's not how I view it. Now, now, now watch what I say there's no balance and then now ask me what my average hours are what are your average hours brad i usually come in from uh nine to five and then i go home from five to nine and what that is great yeah so even though i say there's no balance i'm pretty you're out very balanced yeah i'm at home as much as i'm at work but you know listen

you choose that's your life that's what i guess where i'm trying to go is like it's what fits you but there are times to your point like especially on the come up well you don't have as much balance when you're grinding no i mean again you're correct there's there's times in my younger years that i had to you know be gone for weeks you know people say oh you're gonna regret it you're gonna regret it i've never regretted it my kids have never regretted it i wasn't gone so long that that that, you know, they forgot what I look like. Okay. Like, you know, and when I came home, I'd spend good quality time. I tell someone the other day, they were commenting on my YouTube posts about this very

thing. Cause I said, basically your kids don't need you as much as you think they do. Like, you know, focus because a lot of people want to use their kids as an excuse not to succeed, you know, and I'm telling them like, dude, you don't have to do that. You can, you can go home, you know, spend two or three hours, quality time, put your phone away, quit working when you, cause I can work at home too. So put your phone away, you get down on your knees, you get at their level and you play with them and you focus on them for two or three hours. They'll eventually run off and be done with you. Yeah.

Well, then get up and go to work again. But, you know, if someone said to me, Brad, are you telling me not to spend time with my kids? No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is don't use them as an excuse so you don't be successful. Because when you, if you really think about it you're great great great like do you know what your great great great grandpa's name was hell no that's because he never left you anything right if you think about it if your great-great-grandpa left and left and left and left, if that legacy kept being passed down, you'd know his damn name.

Damn right. So worry just as much about legacy. What are you going to leave them? Are you going to leave them with a bunch of memories? Or are you going to leave them with a bunch of memories and money and land and you know real estate like what are you going to leave them i don't want them i don't want to be sitting there you know best friends with my kids we've been inseparable since the day they were born and and and they're supporting me you know i'm borrowing money from them right because because

guess what when you get 18 19 20 years old what do you want to do anyway you want to leave you want to go hang you're out you're that's it there and hang out with your parents all damn day that is exactly right yes right don't all i'm saying is don't be foolish and act like you have to be there 24 seven or you're a bad parent. That's not true. If you ask all of my kids, with the exception of maybe one who's not real happy with me right now, they would all say that fricking I'm great. You know, they love me.

I'm the greatest. And, you know, it's, it's awesome. And fortunately when they needed cars, I was able to get them stuff. So, like, in my mind, I'd sacrifice a little time for the ability to give them unlimited support. You know, it's just a tradeoff. But do I regret not spending as much time as I could have? A little bit, yeah. Like, you know, back when they were playing football

they were like you know little you know i kind of miss them being little yeah yeah yeah and i think man i wish i could i could have spent more time with them when they were little but in reality these these new ones that i have now that are little dude they're growing up so fast it was i i just think that i didn't spend time with them. I've been there the whole time. Yeah, yeah. I hear you. I'm trying my best, bro. I feel the same way where I'm like, man, I'm doing everything I can to be a part of this little thing.

I don't feel like it's enough, but I'm like, I'm literally watching this whole thing from A to Z. This is incredible. And I would say, I was on your show, and I think you guys just came back from Disneyland. Did you guys just go to Disneyland? You had the fam at Disneyland? Yeah. Not just, but yeah. So I just came back from Disney World.

We went to the, have you gone to Disney World? Yeah. Taking the family out there? Yeah. It's, dude, we just did this Mickey Christmas holiday thing. Bro, I hate amusement parks. I now love this thing. This whole Mickey Christmas, the face of my daughter, she goes to bed at seven o'clock every single night, 11 PM. She's rocking in Disney world, just rocking it because there's this parade

and this whole thing. I say all that to say, you are doing what needs to be done to be an incredible husband and father by spending the right time in quality time, whether it's Disneyland, Disney world vacations, whatever that is. And that's, what's the most important part, right? Is I work as hard as I work. And I believe you probably would say the same, so that those moments we can afford. You couldn't price me out of anything in Disney World. It's expensive as fuck. You know it, and I know it. We just talked about this.

You were telling me about L.A. I'm at the Ritz. There's nothing that is too expensive for me while I'm there because that's why I work is to have these moments that are quite literally considerable priceless to me. Right. And I just think that's the reason why it's you and I can kind of say, hey, do we regret working as hard or trying to do this? To me, the answer is no, because it affords me the ability to give my daughter something that I for sure never had as a kid. Awesome.

Yeah. Disneyland is a, they say it's the happiest place on earth. I say it's the biggest ripoff on the planet. It is a racket, my friend. You know it and I i know it they got you once you're in those gates they do but my kids do love it so i do go three four five times a year and when we go i've spoiled them because i get what's called a vip host have you ever got one of those yep yep so a vip host is is now nothing more than a tour guide. Yeah.

Before they'd give you all the front and everything. Now, because we just did it this last time, all you really got were almost the equivalent of fast passes. Yeah. I was just going to say that. And almost kind of like a tour guide, like, hey, the ride's over here. And you're just like, well, and? Or can you just get us to the front and in? Like, that's what we used to be able to do here.

Yeah. I told my wife I'm never going back, but I'll be back on the 17th, I think. How quickly that changes. Well, brother, I really appreciate you. You know, we will definitely be hanging out when I'm coming out to Vegas. You ever head out here in Miami? Yeah, here and there. All right.

Well, hit me up. I'll be coming out there February 1 and 2 when I'm doing this keynote for this convention at the Marlin Stadium or wherever it is. Okay. I think that's the first time I'll be there, but yeah, 1 and 2. Well, I'm sure you have plans, bro, but hit me up or I'll hit you up and take you to dinner and just hang out have a cigar chill what's the best restaurant there my favorite is komodo that is my favorite what about um what's that steak place that has the golden steak i keep seeing oh uh yes, with... Big Poppy or something.

Whatever it is, and he does this thing. Salt Bae. Not that guy. Not Salt Bae? No. Oh, Poppy Steak. Poppy Steak. Yeah, maybe Poppy Steak.

I would never go to a new shred. I'd never go to Salt Bae's place. Any reason you wouldn't? Well, yeah, because I went to Salt Bae's place, and we were having fun and doing what we do, and it's just all a bunch of high price nonsense, but still it's fun. I was having fun and doing what we do with the stupid. Well, the lady brings over the check, right? I'll say it was like 1500 bucks or so. Okay. And so, and I'm leaving her a 500 tip and i say i'm in can i get it can i get a refill on the iced tea she said yeah be right back and she came back and she said can i get your credit card again and i said no i swear to you i said for what and she said well we don't give free refills and I said what she said we don't give free refills I said okay can I get the check back real quick she she went and

got my check back I scratched it out I scratched out her $500 tip and I wrote $100. And I said, no problem. I'll go buy my own. And I left. And I never went back and I will never go back because of that. They would have to, like the management restaurant, the restaurant and management would have to call me and basically beg me back. Before, and admit their mistake. Yeah. Back there.

Because, dude, if you won't give somebody that just spent $1,500 in your restaurant a free fucking iced tea, you're a piece of shit. You're a fucking dirt ball. And I don't participate. I don't patronize dirt balls. Bro, I love it. I mean, that is wildly short-sighted that that's shocking anyways unbelievable and by the way people say oh that must just been the waitress they're new

no the waitress was not the reason they did it that's their rule that's that's her wild i said are you are you kidding me she goes it's not my fault i'm sorry and i'm like and i felt bad after i left because i realized it's not my fault and i'm sorry and i'm like and i felt bad after i left because i realized it wasn't her fault and i caught and i and i scratched her tip off but i didn't know what else to do right like i was pissed dude and i never get pissed i was pissed i even got on social media and said something which i never do like if i if i go into a restaurant or a business and have a bad experience i don't sit there and bitch and complain and tell everybody in the world about it because maybe that was just an off night or

something. And I don't want to hurt business, you know, let everybody make their own decision. You know, so, so it takes a lot for me to get pissed off enough to get on social media and, and leverage my several million follower base, which I did. But again, you see new shred out of business? No. So they don't give a shit. No. But here's what I'll say.

I've never been there. But Poppy Steak is phenomenal. Bro, if you're down, I'm more than happy to. I'm sure you have your crew that you're going to be running with, whatever. I'd love to either join or, you know, we all go out. There's a steak restaurant there that have these really high-backed chairs. What's that one called? Forged?

It could be. Could it be Prime? Maybe. I mean, there's so many great spots. Root Knots place. The what? Oh, Dave Grubman? That's Poppy Steak.

Dave Grubman's a part owner in Poppy Steak. Oh, no, there's a particular steak restaurant. Everybody goes to when they're there. And I can always tell because there's these really high-back chairs that they're all sitting in. Just because Edge Steak Bar, fleming's prime fish and steak just because i'm in front of my computer noose threat and there's your noose threat no pass that place can blow me uh i'll text you offline we'll we'll take it there well brother i appreciate you coming on

dude uh i hope to connect with you here in february shortly thank you for coming on entrepreneur dna let's light it up appreciate you bro likewise man peace be cool better