The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex - Tragic Career Ending Injury to 7 Figure Entrepreneur ft. Trey Toner

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

In this powerful episode of The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex, I sit down with Trey Toner to dive into his incredible journey—from being a Division 1 football player with a promising career to facing a life-changing back injury that ended his dreams on the field. But instead of letting his setback define him, Trey turned his pain into purpose, building a 7-figure business and proving that resilience and mindset are everything.🔥 In this episode, we cover:✅ How Trey overcame a devastating career-ending injury✅ The mindset shift that helped him go from rock bottom to success✅ Lessons from sports that apply to winning in business✅ The habits of a 7-figure entrepreneur✅ How to turn setbacks into your biggest advantage💬 What’s the biggest challenge you’ve turned into an opportunity? Drop a comment below!📌 Subscribe for more real conversations on resilience, success, and entrepreneurship!👍 Like, comment, and share if this episode inspired you!CHECK OUT TREY: https://www.instagram.com/thetreytoner3/?hl=en“Your Network is your NETWORTH!”Make sure to add me on all SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:Instagram: https://jo.my/paulalex2024Facebook: https://jo.my/fbpaulalex2024Youtube: https://jo.my/ytpaulalex2024Linkedin: https://jo.my/inpaulalex2024Looking for a secondary source of income or want to become an entrepreneur?Check out one of my companies below to see if we can help you:www.ATMTogether.comwww.CashSwipe.comFREE Copy of my book “Blue to Digital Gold - The New American Dream”www.officialPaulAlex.com

Welcome to the Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. I went from being a cop to an eight-figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and me make money every single day. I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together.

Remember, I have your six. Get ready to level up right now. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. And today we're gonna be talking to one of the youngest sales entrepreneurs in the online space. He goes by the name of Trey Toner. Trey if you guys didn't know was a Division 1 football player out of Texas.

Yes for all my football fans you guys are gonna love this story but also is so inspirational guys because he took a critical incident of breaking his back To going ahead and going full-time as entrepreneur that he's been able to help companies grow to multiple eight figures Generating a total of 70 million dollars in revenue Trey. How you doing my man? I'm doing great, man It's hard to have a bad day in Miami. Yeah, dude, dude. So how long you been in Miami now? Just over a week now. So this is over, yeah. How are you liking it, bro? Look, I came from San Diego, so I was thinking it was going to be a little similar vibe.

Everyone's like, hey, you got to learn Spanish when you come to Miami. I'm like, dude, I'm coming from San Diego. I'm going to be good. It's a completely different world out here. Everything's bigger. Everything's better. Everything's moving faster, too.

Dude, I always tell people Miami is like the United States, but it's also little South America. With the amount of mopeds and stuff going around? I feel like I'm in Cuba or something. Miami is like the United States, but it's also little South America I'm just like I feel like I'm in like Cuba or something. No, absolutely, dude. So Brother, you know the level of podcast. We always like to inspire entrepreneurs We don't fluffy here every guest. I know personally I've known you for the past almost four years now Yeah, Since I went down in San Diego back in 2021. So with that being said, dude, you're 22, you're in Miami, you're now working with a brand new eight figure company, and you're looking to, you know, basically rocket, dude.

So tell us a little bit about yourself for the person that does not know you listening to this podcast for the first time. Tell us a little bit about your background. Yeah. So originally I'm from Minneapolis, Minnesota. So if you don't know know winter happens up there. It's a really cold, cold city. Beautiful city but there's not a lot of foot traffic especially for athletes because that's what I was aspiring to be. I was kind of

groomed for the first 16 to 17 years of my life to be an athlete. Luckily enough I was blessed to be able to be born six foot five and decently athletic so I got the opportunity to go play a Division I football down in Texas. So if you're not a football fan, Texas is like the hub. That's like where you want to go. That's where if you're playing football, it's like you're on a different echelon of like humans almost. It's like gladiators is the best way to put it.

So I went ahead, graduated high school early. I'm young, I'm an 02 baby. So my senior year of high school is when the pandemic broke out. Oh, snap. That's crazy, bro. Yeah, so when the pandemic broke out, so everything got canceled.

School went remote, so I was able to do all my high school work online. So I was able to go down to Texas early, because graduation was canceled, couldn't walk, all that stuff, because the world got put on pause. So I went down there, living the the ideal dream right it's something where now I was able to get a full scholarship I was able to actually get paid through stipend checks for being an athlete which is I mean every every boy's dream

if you want if you're playing a sport you want to get paid for it right. So that's what I was living that was my my life and get down there and Nothing too alarming had a shoulder surgery right away So I went ahead and they said I actually had a fractured humerus and my labrum was torn for over two years Wow, so I thought I just had like a weird shoulder on my hey Bruise maybe turns out it was broken. So I was just like cool. Let's fix that so Went ahead had that surgery and for the first time in my life It put me in a position where I had a little bit of money set aside because I never Grew up with a bunch of money always had a job had my first job when I was 13 years old

I know that sounds crazy, but my first real job was when I was 13 years old I went ahead and I was playing for Little League and I was able to work the concession stand on days I didn't have a game. Oh, that's badass dude Yeah, so I had a little bit of cash flow But I got put in a position where I had like my first little identity crisis because I've always had an able body Always had an identity and aligned as being an athlete and then when you're injured and it's something past like a bruise You know you're in a sling you had a real surgery You're sitting there for a second, so you might might ever going to be able to do this again. So I started planning for what life could look like,

and I did what most people do. I looked to the online space. This is when the gold rush started for a lot of Internet entrepreneurs. I looked into some drop shipping courses, I looked into a Walmart store automation, everything e-commerce you can think of I've looked into and Nothing worked for me at that time But that's kind of when I started looking around healed from my shoulder went ahead played my freshman season and right before playoffs My freshman season we were nationally ranked team. We were doing pretty well

I actually broke my back in two places in college or I broke my back in two places during practice So so tell us about a man like the day that you broke your back tell us like just paint the picture here like how did it happen? Yeah it was a normal Tuesday right when I had started my day was it was at practice and for those of you don't know when you're in the middle of the season practice is scaling back there's less contact it's more about staying healthy keeping your body fresh keeping your legs. So we're just doing drills. This isn't even a contact injury. It's not even live, not even during a play. I

was a defensive end so there's a there's a pad called the dick pad and it's a big cylindrical pad and you know you're going ahead you hit it and you do your hand moves on it. I hit it, went to lift it, and just freak accident. As I moved, my L3 and my L4 hit each other. And I literally felt like a little shotgun blast went off in my back. And then next thing I know, I'm just laying on the ground. And I'm sitting there.

I feel something pinched. I'm just like, that's not good. There's a problem. I'm just lucky to be in the position where I met where I was still young and able-bodied. That was to happen to me later down in life. It would be a lot worse than it was. But through an operation and then

through a lot of physical therapy, I'm able to get up and be moving around again. And that was your first year in Division I football. Yep, my freshman season. Yep, my true freshman season. So dude, at that time, did you have aspirations to go to the NFL NFL? Absolutely that was the whole point. That's what I was bred to be that was my identity not only as a as a student or as you know, 18 year old but also as a grown man. That's everything I ever aspired to be because

Not only was I in love with the game, but I viewed it as an entrepreneur and I understand that more now Yeah, that I've been able to grow up a little bit and kind of expand my business. But I had an entrepreneurial mindset about football and why I want to do the best. I was never the most gifted physically. I was never the biggest, the strongest or the fastest. But I took a technician's approach. So I would sit and I would do more film review than anybody else. I would have better technique than anybody else. And those skill sets are something that can really transfer into being an entrepreneur because you don't have to be born great, right? I don't think that's a thing

I think people are born into opportunities that can make them great But every single person has a decision what they want to do So I was taking that craft of football that seriously to where it was my life So when my back broke, I felt like my life was over Wow. Yeah, I love that Well, actually no to go back Amelia make sure you cut that off Yeah, I know so Love that for you. Yeah

Okay Yeah, that's that's that's pretty hard man. So let me ask you. I know you're pretty close with your mom. Yep What was your mom thinking at that time? You know the number one concern comes to Probably is my kid okay, right? Yeah, and it was a it was an interesting phone call for me to have to make you know I've had injuries before knee injuries stuff like that and I call them boo-boos for me if you're not loaded up an ambulance It's a boo-boo. Yeah, like stopping a little bitch like get off the field because you know the guys There's like I broke my finger.

Who gives a fuck? Tape it. Like that, okay. That's a part of the fucking game. It's football. Right? Spine, two places, a little different, right? So I didn't really tell right away.

So I went ahead and kind of made sure everything was okay. You wanted to make sure that you were out out. Like it was for sure things Yeah, I have to worry her exactly and you know then the concern came because she's a mother right the other day and she's always Been concerned about concussions and she's always been concerned about like Lifelong injuries that could happen because she always supports anything I do right right she my mom's the mom who's always been like hey If you want to be a football player, I'll support you. You want to be a ballerina I'll even support you doing that like I'm gonna support you with whatever you want to do

And that's the best type of mom you can ever ask for absolutely But no it was heartbreaking when you know she saw me work my ass off to get to where I am because I had made A lot of sacrifices, you know I wasn't out partying. I wasn't doing a bunch of crazy stuff I was literally my routine in high school was I would get to high school before anyone else I would lift in the morning I would go through class throughout the day. I would leave school two hours early to drive to a different gym called Game Face Training. Shout out to you guys, DaVenture.

And I would do specialized football training for about two to three hours every single day, working with guys who were in the NFL. And my trainers at the time were people who were prepping people for the combine. And if you're in Minneapolis and you want to get better, go check out game face but

She saw me do all those things and then I would work a night shift at a fast food restaurant Just like most high schoolers do but I was always closing because that was my only availability So I'm talking I'd be out of my job at around midnight I have a 30 minute drive home get home 12 31 o'clock Rinse repeat and get up leave the house at roughly five to go lift again. And that was my entire high school career. You got to think most high schoolers are smoking weed, taking weekends off, just chilling. I'm like on a grind trying to go get somewhere. And

then my first year where it's finally paying off, something out of my control happens. So her main thing was making sure one, are you physically okay but two what's your plan next because she comes from a very traditional aspect of like viewing the American dream where it's just like cool you go to high school you get good grades you go to college you get good grades you get your degree then you maybe get another degree maybe get your master's degree and then you start your career and you start your career six figures plus in debt But that's just how it works

that's what she did she was a teacher right and The kicker was when I told her in the same conversation. Hey, I broke my back and I'm dropping out of college yeah, that was not only one shot of oh my god, that's two shots of She went from feeling bad to me or bad for me to now being mad at me. Right. All in one conversation. I mean, I don't know one parent that wouldn't be mad. Yeah.

You got a college, right, dude? And I'm pretty sure they still will cover the scholarship. It was covered. Yeah. Yeah. Even though you got injured to at least get your degree. Right. It was free, completely free from a great school.

So let me ask you, dude, what was your plan? You're 18 years old, you broke your back, now your dreams of being in the NFL are gone for that moment and you told your mom what's next? What happens next? Yeah, so I had a little bit of an internet side hustle going on, right? So after my shoulder surgery, I had time, right? So I started doing this little organic outreach, sending leads leads to sales teams and I was cash flowing a little bit doing that but I had proof of concept and when I say like a little bit of cash flow I'm talking for two months of work my first two months in sales I only made 200 bucks yeah but for me most for me I was ecstatic most people if they

work two months and only make $200 they're pissed off of course but for me I'm just like holy holy shit, it works. I have an opportunity to do something that's not physical. I don't physically have to show up anywhere. I don't have to physically put myself in harm's way. I can actually use my brain and my words and articulate myself to receive income. Well, cool. Let me just go all in on that.

Because I know I didn't go down to college to listen to a professor who's making $40,000 to $60,000 a year teach me how to become successful in life when they're driving a Camry. It just doesn't make much sense So I went ahead and I dove all the way in that and I went balls to the wall my first month after dropping out Of college. I made thirty five hundred bucks For me at 18 with a broken back in bed not being able to get up and live life 3,500 bucks. I was like, holy shit. I cracked the code. I'm rich. I was convinced No for sure 18 year old make 3,500 bucks off internet money. That's like unbelievable. That's almost like hitting the lottery Let me ask you so you were doing cold outreach and it's because we get a lot of people that view and listen to this

podcast on Spotify Apple and then YouTube that you know, they're coming into entrepreneurship like newbies. Yeah So it's just like when you do cold outreach, what does that mean? Yeah So basically what I was doing the term is I was an affiliate. Okay, so I wasn't employed with the business But I would find businesses who have online offers whether they're personal training coaching consulting whatever the case may be And I would be the guinea pig. So what I would do is I would spend what little money I had to join These paid Facebook groups people who are looking for side hustles people who are looking to get in shape Jim owners who want to scale their gym offers and I would go ahead and DM them hop on a phone call with them and Refer to them to businesses that I was associated with,

just passing leads to their sales team. Because I couldn't get a sales job, because who's going to hire an 18-year-old with a broken back with no experience? So that was my way to get my foot in the door. And for what most people don't understand is for me to make 3,500 bucks a month doing that, I had three Facebook accounts.

I would send over 150 DMs a day per account until my account got flagged. I would do that seven days a week. Out of that, I would get maybe a 10% response rate, and I was still able to convert enough leads to put food on my table. So when you're looking to start your journey as an entrepreneur, it's not going

to be glamorous right away for the majority of people. Because at the time, this is still when the internet gold rush just started there Weren't people necessarily crushing it how they are today It was everyone's trying to figure it out as they go the pandemic changed everyone's life changed every business owner's life And people were trying to fit in the gaps and find the riches in the niches And I was able to kind of weasel my way in there That's awesome, dude

And then like where did you initially learn this skill set or at least this method like did you buy programs, books, courses, a mentor like what was the humble beginnings for you? Yeah so the humble beginning for me was me being 18 years old and I was like okay I need to make money somehow. Well I've always heard scared money doesn't make money I'm like cool got it. I had roughly five grand in my bank account, which was from playing football something. So I did unloaded right now cool. I'm good and Luckily enough I was able to leverage credit back in the pandemic days If you could speak English and you had a Social Security number you're getting something funded for you. It's just that simple So here's ten grand son. So I went over

$65,000 in credit card and loan debt. Holy shit, so I purchased every program I could buy Looking back at it You know it was a learning experience for me because I didn't have success with the actual programs What I had success with was right before I was about to renew on another Amazon FBA offer I was about to drop another ten thousand dollars on credit Which is money I didn't have because I at this point I was probably down to a thousand bucks in my actual bank account I Asked the guy who was about to close me the closer on that side. I'm like so cool

How much money do you make if I do this and you know when you kind of catch somebody? When they're trying to be a little slick and there's like um and they do a little look around I Was like aha I found something So how much do you make and he's like well? You know it fluctuates make any routine like 10 to 15 percent and For me, I was just like Well, how do I do that?

Well, I don't want me to do I like I can talk to people like I can do this I've always been kind of good with my words Let me do that and that's what propelled me to being like cool I can just distribute leads to these businesses and then a door opened up where I actually started Being a closer. Well actually started as an appointment center and I worked my way up to a closer Selling online fit pros, right? So before we move on on that. What is an appointment center? Yeah, so an appointment center? Yeah. So an appointment center is someone

who's going to continuously make phone calls. So as someone opts in, so what opt-in means is they're going to go ahead and see the funnel. Another word for funnel is like the website or the piece of content that catches their eye. When you click it and you put your name, your phone number, and email in to submit your information, to get the free thing that you're looking at,

what happens is that triggers an appointment center. They see Jimmy Jr. just opted in for the free webinar or it could be a free course or to join a Facebook group. That triggers an automation to where an appointment center is going to get a text message of, hey, call this guy. So I would literally just be calling people who were inquiring or showing any sort of interest in the program I was representing at that time. And I was making anywhere between 250 to 300 phone calls a day.

Wow. Wow. That's that's that's insane, man. So let me ask you this out of all those programs that you invest into, I mean, you invested, you said around $65,000, which, you know, I'm not gonna say that's common. People go ahead and they invest $5,000 and then they give up. They invest $5,000 to like a niche or a program to learn either real estate or Amazon or Forex or ATMs or credit card processing. And then if they get one roadblock, that's it, they give up. So let me ask you, out of all those programs, mentorships,

and everything that you've invested in, would you recommend any of those to our listeners or viewers right now? Put it this way, the thing that I would recommend everyone to do, no matter what journey you want to take as an entrepreneur, no matter what niche you want to get into, no matter literally anything it is, the number one skill set that you're going to need is sales.

You're going to need to sell. It doesn't matter if you have the best product in the world It doesn't matter if you can literally if you have the cure to cancer in your hand It doesn't matter if you can't sell it if you can't market it if you can't push it So if you want to get into something stop looking for a shortcut stop looking for the easy way out Learn to communicate at a high level and learn a sales process So if you're gonna start somewhere that would be the first thing I would do and then from there you can start building skills. People get so caught up with their business too especially if you start a new business there's like my marketing needs to be perfect I need my

back-end support no you don't fucking need any of that shit what you need is a phone and your words and go call somebody. Everyone just the majority of people fail and the majority of businesses fail just due to lack of action They're gonna sit there on their ass and they're just gonna hope something happens They're gonna do all these cool things automation this trigger that and you're broke and you're still broke and you're spending money on shit You shouldn't be your phone bill. You're already paying that just uses. Yeah. No, absolutely I mean sales solves everything man. You need that client acquisition tough, right? You start making the cash flow, and then the cash flow, you could feed a sales team.

You start building your sales team, and then that goes into fulfillment. And those are the three big needle movers I always say you need, man. It's client acquisition, sales, and then fulfillment. That's it. Simple, right? So around this time, OK, you made $3,500.

What year is it? Is this still, you're still 18 or? This, yep, I'm 18. So this is 21. Okay, so 2021, towards the end of the pandemic. Okay, so you make the 3,500, now what happens next? Yep, so the 3,500 for me was again, just the proof of concept.

Now it's like, cool, I can actually do this. And I just go balls to the wall. I say that I take that same technique that took me from being Decent athlete to being a division one athlete which is just out working everybody having no sympathy for anybody working more hours than everybody taking a technician's approach So I did that and then my $3,500 check rapidly turned into an $8,000 check And then my $8,000 check turned into an $8,000 by weekly checks And I'm making 16,000 a month and a snowball to the point where I was consistently making anywhere between 45 to 65 thousand dollars a month and just commissions that wasn't me being a business owner That wasn't me being a manager that was no that was me closing fucking deals making 45 to 60k a month That was no that was me closing fucking deals making 45 to 60k a month

Then I went ahead and actually made a transition a lot of people want to be successful, right? Have you ever heard the term where everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die? Yes, they don't want to give shit up. I made the transition by myself as an 18 year old man Packed up my car and moved to San Diego for an opportunity Within six months of me landing in that opportunity, I was still 18 years old. As I turned 19, I took control of an eight figure Inc. 5000 company as an executive. Yeah. Only reason I was able to do that is sales.

Yeah. If I was not able to sell them to give me the keys to the business, it would have never happened. If I wasn't able to sell them on me adding value or being able to move up or tweaking things here and there never would have happened but nothing was ever handed out to me nothing was ever given to me my salary has always been zero I'm a performance-based individual so what that means is how do I want to

add more value how can I get a bigger chunk of the pie solve problems everyone looks for a fucking handout well if you want me to do this work what's my salary? How many times have you heard that in your career? Oh absolutely it is so many times It's the dumbest shit ever in my mind cool. You want to make more money get more responsibility You want to how you get more responsibility solve more problems and the problems that you solve point them out Let your good work be known don't be too much about it It's like hey guys saw this and I started implementing this kind of slide it across the desk in a sense

Have other people do that as well Guess what's gonna happen sooner or later the guy running the company is gonna figure out. Hey, what's all this going on right now? They're gonna look down you're gonna be looking up smiling. Just like yeah, that was me. Yeah, that's how you move up You saw fucking problems. You don't become a problem. So so let me ask you real quick, man What does it take because I'm pretty sure people are listening to this You're probably gonna have quite a few people that are in sales right now, and they're probably like scratching their head So let me ask you real quick, man. What does it take? Because I'm pretty sure people are listening to this. You're probably gonna have quite a few people that are in sales right now.

And they're probably scratching their head. They're like, dude, how is it possible that you went from 35 to then 8,000 to then 16,000, and then ultimately 45, 65 before you transition to an executive? So what is the biggest needle mover that a person has to do in order to transition like that. Yeah You have to take your craft seriously

And what I mean by that is you have to judge what you're doing through statistics. It doesn't matter how you feel Feelings don't fucking matter in this world. What matters is numbers and facts So what I would do is I would review my calls and see which technique worked the best to get the higher percentage of clothes And I would break it down. I look like I had schizophrenia if you walked into my office I literally had things pinned all over my wall all over my desk it looked like a madman But just through all of that I would find out cool if I set it with this way if I pre-frame my deals this way I have five different options I'm gonna get the highest conversion and I stuck to a process when people just want to get lucky and they just want to like

Cool, let me just try this. Let me go on a whim it never fucking works So I just boiled everything down to an exact process of what I'm going to be doing and then I game the system So what I mean by that is I would look at someone who maybe was doing better at me at the time mm-hmm And I understand principles If I asked for help why the fuck should he help me? Hmm? He's busy. It's we're commission-based There's 24 hours a day who's gonna give the fucking 18 year old kid an hour. I wouldn't Now it's a little bit different when the 18 year old kid shows up with a coffee and a breakfast sandwich She's like hey, can I talk to you for 30 minutes? Yeah, I would start instantly adding value to people who are doing better than me

I would add value to their life. I'll make their life easier Hey, let me know what I can help you with and just do like servant leadership like that They started to kind of give me some tricks of the trade some sauce that I could pick up and I would fully go ahead And embody it because what you guys need to understand there's there's four pillars. There's four M's Okay, the first thing you want to do if you want to become successful is you have to identify the model? So you have to identify who's doing what you want to do. Who is that person? The next thing you have to identify who's doing what you want to do. Who is that person? The next thing you have to do is mimic it you don't need to create shit You have to mimic it because guess what if he says that and it works

I'm gonna say that it works so once you find the model and you mimic it then you're gonna master it That means you're gonna make the information yours. You're gonna consume it regurgitate it with your own flair So it sounds more natural so after you find the model you mimic it you master it the last M is you're gonna multiply it so here's how I moved up I started a new sales process I started doing stuff that wasn't in place before numbers started to go up and I started training everyone around me on how I was pitching it now they started to look up to me 45 year old men who've been in sales for years they're like this 18 year old kids doing something I don't know how to do yeah and that one thing they don't know how to do is make a shit ton of fucking money

Right so I figured it out So now they started listening and now multiplying more of me and then why would you not give that personal leadership position? Why would you not have that person be your sales director right? I gave them no opportunity, but to give me the fucking keys Yeah, that makes sense man. So you going into an executive role, was it like, did the glove fit right away, man? Or did you have any issues with being an executive and managing people? Because I build multiple eight-figure companies.

I've helped other entrepreneurs build their seven, eight, and even nine-figure companies. And to me, it ultimately comes down to a couple things. Culture, who you're working with, and then the leadership. And that's mainly the key elements to building a great company. So to you, was it like the right fit right away,

or did you have to learn to lead by example? This might be an answer you're not ready for, but it was the right fit right away. Okay, like it really was That's good. So leading from example happened from sales. Mm-hmm, right? So everyone already knew what I was capable of I've been a shit talker my entire fucking life and until someone can shut me up or out produce me I'm gonna talk my shit. Yeah, right At the end of the day my numbers back themselves up. I have bank statements I have everything that you would have guys would ever want to see I'll show you I will happily show you what's in my bank account

Yeah, right. Yeah, if someone's not comfortable doing that that should be a red flag. That's true So for me when I got that position, I was very respected amongst my peers now respect verse liking are two different things I was not the most liked I Was not feared at all, but I was not the most liked because I'm gonna say stuff you don't like I'm going to give you on But I was not the most light because I'm gonna say stuff you don't like I'm going to give you on Fucking bearable accountability. Hey that was fucked up. This was fucked up This was this but at the same point if you listen to what I was saying and it was a sales pitch if you guys listen To what I was saying if you follow my process if you follow this I promise you will get X Y & Z result Because it's just how it works

Magically guess what happened and took a guy who was working construction within two years He was making more than I ever did in commissions. He had a seventy five thousand dollar month in commissions I never made that yeah, so that's following those four pillars of M's But when it comes to the other executive side about like learning how to manage a figure bank account things like that Obviously I needed guidance and mentorship when I first started, but now I'm balancing my own seven figure bank account. I'm doing it just fine. Yeah, no, absolutely, man.

I mean, you're crushing it, obviously. Like I said, I usually just invite people that I actually know personally and I know they're the real deal. So with that being said, all right, so you're managing this team, it's an eight figure team. How long do you do that for? Yep, so as the sales director mm-hmm about three months three months. Okay, so three months sales director

What happens next I get the keys around the entire company okay about three months So after that what happens is I actually get the keys to run the entire organization So now I'm the number two guy in the company the only guy above me is the founder Mm-hmm right so I'm being groomed to take kind of take over the entire company and the way I'm the number two guy in the company. The only guy above me is the founder. So I'm being groomed to take on and take over the entire company. And the way we had the organization set up was in seven different divisions. We had the executive division, we had HR, we had sales, treasury, delivery, qualifications, and public outreach. Now I'm managing over a hundred employees at 19 years old. I'm the youngest person in the organization.

The average age at that time was north of 30. So we got this 19 years old I'm the youngest person in the organization the average age at that time was north of 30 Hmm, so we got this 19 year old kid because guess what I might have been a legal adult But when you're 19, you're still a kid you still have a lot to learn. Yeah, absolutely managing all these 30 40 and late 20s and It was a lot of responsibility But there's two things that happen when you get thrown into the fire either You're gonna get fucking cooked or you're gonna harden and for me. I hardened Hmm do my my my feelings what people thought this that you didn't care that I don't give a fuck Cuz cuz my whole thing if I'm gonna listen to you you better be better than me

Yeah, and money's not everything and I know we're talking about money a lot on here cuz we're entrepreneurs Yeah, and I get it There's more to life than money. But life with money versus life without money are two different things. And it's, you know, really the only scoreboard in life is the only numbers that you can show up to actually show what you've done. You can do a bunch of great work. You can be a great fucking person.

But if you really want to help somebody, it's impossible without money. God forbid illness happens. This happens, that happens. Money can solve 99% of the problems that you have and just Based off that just something theoretical to think about if you have a problem that money can solve. Do you actually have a problem? Not really if you have money. Yeah, no, you're right You know, there's always solutions to everything but money gives you options and for a lot of people either relationship personal or business You know, it's usually a money problem. Yeah's the most common conflict it's one of the most

leading is the leading cause of divorce. Yeah no a hundred percent I agree with that I agree with that. Okay so let me ask you man did people hold your age against you I mean you're managing a bunch of 30 year olds well people about to be 30 year olds I'm pretty sure some of them were over 30. Did you ever have like people just look at you and be like dude this kid's 19, what does he know? Those people became unemployed and not because of me. I never fired anybody. Yeah, those people became unemployed because they weren't willing to change. So what do I mean by that? The things that I'm looking for are people who can judge things based off statistics.

Yeah. Age is a stat you can't change. what you can change is how many hours you work how seriously you take your profession and those people who are sitting there? Like oh this kid's 19. He got this all that that I've accomplished more my first two years of being an adult They've done in the past 40. Yeah, so when anyone's pointing a finger, it's the old classical You got three of them pointing back at you. Yeah, right So if you have a problem with me in my age and all I'm doing is increasing the company's bottom line doubling tripling and quadrupling the revenue that you guys did last year that says a lot about you doesn't it yeah so that was the approach I would take and being a football player being aggressive I play on defense it's not a very passive

position every single play I'm smacking somebody in the mouth I take a very aggressive approach I'm like if you're a problem let's talk about it yeah and I will it doesn't matter who you are how old you are in a non confrontational way I'm like hey let's talk and majority of the time there's not substance there when someone is holding you against age because for me when I look to hire somebody I don't care you can be 80 you can be 18 it doesn't matter the thing I look for are you willing to learn are you willing to show up and are you willing to commit?

Notice how none of those are skills notice how none of those are past experiences. None of those are on the resume I just want to know if you're willing and if you're willing Guess what you have everything it takes to become successful So let me ask you how many people have you hired in the past four years since you've been doing this role I was actually thinking about that last week. Yeah kind of going through thousands thousands like for sure in the past four years since you've been doing this role? I was actually thinking about that last week. Yeah. Kind of going through thousands. Thousands?

Like for sure in the thousands. I would say north of 2000. Okay, so out of those thousands of applicants that you've actually hired, because we know in sales, there's a huge turnover, it's not meant for everybody. But for the people that stay and do extremely well, what do they all have in common when it comes to being a great sales guy or gal and I don't want to make this Too too casual, but they're just dogs. Mm-hmm. They have the fucking dog in them to be successful in sales you have to have the ability to look at someone and

Guide them through the product. Yes, make sure it's an ethical product to sell, but at the end of the day you have to have the ability to look at them in their eyes and extract cash out of their wallet. That's not for the faint of heart. Because here's the deal, sometimes it's very hard to ask someone to invest $50,000 if you don't even have $50K in your own bank account. So a lot of hypocrite syndrome happens from that where you're just like, I can't't ask or do something I haven't done so I'm a big believer in actions. I make my sales guys go by programs I make them go buy books I make them do personal development because I believe people will buy as you buy

Yeah, so if you're not consistently investing yourself Why the fuck would someone spend money with you absolutely right it doesn't make much sense So having them do that It's perfect But there's a couple principles because to get a sales team where my average closer was making Just south of a quarter million dollars my average closer is making two hundred and forty thousand dollars a year To do that there's principles to the game The first thing you have to do is identify who's real because guess what there's turnover in sales a lot of people talk a lot Of shit a lot of people say they've done this I've been in sales for 15 years

And you're still fucking broke so you don't know what you're doing right you've seen those people Yeah, so first identify who's real the second thing you want to do is pull them in and treat them like family What that means is genuinely take care of them once I find someone who's real a seed worth watering per se I'm gonna drown you in the best possible way dude I'm gonna need your support if you have a flat tire, and I'm not the first call you make I'm pissed off Like I'm offended yeah, I'm just saying why did you not call it's three in the best possible way dude. I'm gonna need your support if you have a flat tire And I'm not the first call you make I'm pissed off like I'm offended. Yeah, I'm just saying why did you not call? It's three in the morning. I didn't want to bother you. I'm pissed off now, right? Right because you genuinely have to take care of your people But the third principle of that is you have to push their success you have to continuously make them uncomfortable

You can't just be a nice guy I've never been known for being nice people who genuinely know me No, I'll do anything for people who are in my circle, but to get in that circle. There are high fucking standards and qualifications Those are the three things that build a sales floor where the brokeest guy walking around is clocking like 210 in his pocket a year dude I love that because your role and the way you speak and articulate it, is just like you really pour into your people. You really build it into the culture, which is awesome. I'm a big believer in that, man. So last question before we wrap it up, brother.

What would you say for any listener or viewer right now, if they wanted to get into sales? Let's say you got like some college athletes, they're like, dude, Trey's the man. Like, how can we get started on this? like some college athletes, they're like, dude, Trey's the man. How can we get started on this? Yeah. So opportunities come every so often.

There are things called once in a lifetime opportunities. If you're watching this podcast right now, I have an Instagram. So why am I saying that? If you're watching this podcast and you've got some sort of value and you don't reach out you're wasting an opportunity A lot of people have people in their DMS or handling them and do I know mean you have a very similar approach We actually to connect with people

So if you shoot me a DM you say you saw me on the podcast dude I will find time in my day to have a conversation with you because the best thing you can do is throw your hat in The ring, but remember what I did to get started. Don't just ask me for shit. You should ask me what you can do for me. And I don't mean that in an arrogant way. You have to bring value if you want me to give you value. It's the way the world works. There's a principle to it.

But number one thing I can say is reach out. It never hurts. Because when I was started in my career, I was reaching out to everyone possible. If you would have a conversation with me, I'm going to fucking talk to you. Right? And that's as simple as that. No, I love that man. I love that and then Any books that you would recommend for? Our viewers and listeners right now that they can actually read up on on sales or entrepreneurship or some of your favorites

So here's I'm gonna recommend one book because I think this is the ultimate book. It's old-school But if it's if it's not broke don't fix it Yeah, how to win friends and influence people is the number one book you can read all the grant card on shit celery soul blah blah That's cool. That's all sales stuff. That's there to make money What you want to do when you're trying to consume information and learn something is you want to find the source? Yeah, where did grant get his information information where did this guy get his information where's Tony Robbins getting his information right where are these guys going you want to backtrack it to the source because if we find the source that's the

purest form yeah right go ahead read that book it will teach you everything you need to know on the ability to make people do things that you want them to do but it will make it their idea I love that I Love that yeah, Dale Carnegie man. He he dropped so many gems so many gems He's the og og. Yeah, he's the goat man cool Anything motivational that you would like to leave as far as a message to the listeners and viewers right now Yeah, I'm a piggyback this with my story Here's the deal if I was a kid from Minneapolis, Minnesota, growing

up downtown who was able to make it out, go play division one football, break my frickin back, flug it out, move to San Diego, just grind grind grind, take opportunity, go $65,000 in debt, have to tell your mommy dropping out of college, all of those things stacked together. If I was able to go through that, stay consistent, stay persistent, keep my head down, and now pop out, and I'm making seven figures on the internet for the past four years, anything's possible. And I'm not saying that to be a fugazi

or be overly motivational or just make you feel good about yourself. Anything is possible. If you actually put your mind to it, it will be done, but you have to make a committed decision. If that decision's not made, it's not gonna happen. You have to make a committed decision if that decision is not made It's not gonna happen you have to make the decision that you're wealthy before you even get rich That's what I'm talking about and where can we find you brother?

Yeah, so go ahead my Instagram is the trade toner three go ahead and shoot me a follow Shoot me a DM and we'll be in touch guys and guys there you go trade toner one of the fastest growing sales And guys there you go trade toner one of the fastest growing sales executives in the online space guys He has already generated over 70 million dollars with eight figure companies under his belt and he's Man 22 years old amazing, right? So can't wait to see where he goes in the near future Now if you want to connect with them make sure to connect with them on Instagram guys and make sure to let them know that you saw and listened to this podcast. With that being said guys, make sure to actually subscribe,

share this with a friend that you care about and make sure to hit that like button on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. We are currently ranked top 10 business podcasts in the United States guys. This is Paul Alex and we'll catch you on the next one. Thanks for listening up to Level Up Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode,

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