The School of Greatness - 485 Andy Frisella: Turn Your Scars Into Strengths

Episode Date: May 17, 2017

"Give more than you take." - Andy Frisella If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/485

Episode number 485 with Andy Frisella. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. We have a treat today.

Andrew Frisella is in the house. He's a mega entrepreneur, innovator, motivator, and he calls himself a regular dude. He is the founder of supplement superstores and first form international multi multi-million dollar companies that manufacture and sell nutritional weight loss and fitness products he's also the host of the mf ceo podcast and boy did i learn a lot about amy. He has an incredible story, unbelievable things that he's overcome. I love some of the stuff we talk about

where his entrepreneur journey for the first like seven years, he didn't make any money launching his business and all the things that he learned along the way on how to grow his business to being $100 million plus business over the time he's been doing this. Incredible stuff of what he's overcome.

He's about to share with you quickly in the beginning of this interview the things that he had to do, where he's come from, and how he's gotten to where he's at. I think it could apply to anyone listening. And what we talk about are how to use social media the smart way in your businesses, what happened to Andy in college that changed his whole viewpoint on life. It's unbelievable the things he went through. How adversity tells you what someone is actually made of. What the zero option mentality is.

He's going to talk more about that. And the difference between managing and leading a team. So for all you entrepreneurs listening who are looking to grow a team, between managing a team at a company and growing and leading a team, what the difference is and how to get more results with any team you're on. I am super pumped about this one, guys. Make sure to share with your friends right now, lewishouse.com slash 485 and tag me at Lewis House and Andy Frisella on social media to let us know you're listening. Before we dive in, I want to give a quick shout out to the iTunes review of the week. And this is from Prongs216, who says,

My name is Logan Meek, and I just wanted to thank you, Lewis. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in February of this year. But because of the inspiring messages you give, I am not only determined to overcome this obstacle myself, but to also try to help inspire others affected by mental illness to realize it is nothing to be ashamed of and it cannot prevent you from achieving greatness. You are a true inspiration and a fantastic role model. Logan Meek, that warms my heart. And just know that there is support there for you. There are people that want to lift you up and to guide you throughout this journey, as I know

that adversity and that challenge cannot be a fun situation. But I love the positive mindset you have in setting up the right habits and the rituals and routines to keep you on track to achieving your vision as opposed to going down a dark path. So big shout out to Logan Meek, and you are the iTunes review of the week. If you guys want to leave a review and you haven't yet, and you want to get a chance to be the review of the week, go to iTunes.com slash greatness. All right, guys, get ready to be inspired and to learn so much about building a business

and what it takes to grow anything with the one, the only, Andy Frisella. Welcome, everyone, back to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got Andy Frisella in the house. Good to see you, man. Good to see you, too, man. Very excited about this. We connected probably two years ago, I would say, maybe a little over two years ago. And the thing I love about you is you're such a giver. And you just reached out to me and you

said, hey, how can I support you? And I had my book coming out around that time and you just bought a bunch of books and you said, hey, I'll just support you however I can. You never asked for anything and you've just been always a giver. And that's what I love about you the most. And that's the way I like to approach my life. And I know it's paid off for you a thousand times over by having that approach. Your company is a $100 million plus company, right? Yeah, we do about $150, $160 this year. $150. But who's counting?

Yeah, right. But the thing I love about it is it wasn't always doing that well. I think you said in the first few years, first seven years it took to get get over $700 a month, right? It took seven years to get over $700 a month. Our first three years, we, I mean, our humble beginnings doesn't begin to describe where we came from. You know what I'm saying? Less than humble beginnings. Yeah. We started out with literally $12,000 that we had from painting the parking lot stripes. Like that was our summer job. Wow. Okay. And when you're 19, 18 years old, from painting the parking lot stripes. That was our summer job. Wow. Okay?

And when you're 19, 18 years old, it was a pretty good job. That's good money, man. Yeah, man. That's good money. So me and Chris, my business partner, we had like 12 grand. We said, okay, we're going to start a tanning salon. In St. Louis. Yeah, in St. Louis, right?

No, we were in Springfield, Missouri. Oh, okay. So we were at college. And one tanning bed was like 50 grand. We're like, okay, well we've got 12, so we can't even do that. Right. So we're like, let's start selling vitamins. Don't ask me where it came from. Sure. And so we, we we couldn't find anybody to rent the space to us because we were kids. We didn't have any credit for like a store. You mean? Yeah. For a storefront. And we went around and we found this guy and he said, we'll rent to you for a thousand bucks a month but you got to pay up front so

that took all our money uh so for us to finance the rest of the store we had to go get credit cards and we put everything on a credit card we built all the shelves ourselves uh from you know stuff that we got at home depot and uh basically lived at the back of that store on and off for two years um until you know we could even afford an apartment Wow yeah so it was very very very humble our first day we sold seven bucks it took us a hey yeah eight months up but yeah man I mean yeah this is the second two days the third the second third day we sold zero so really yeah so seven was a big day for us back then it's deflating right yeah you make a little that you make nothing yeah, I mean, and when you start a business,

you think that it's just going to come flooding in and it was a reality check really quick. You think everyone's going to buy, you've got this great idea. Right, and everybody puts so much weight

on their friends. Like, oh, all my friends are going to support me. No, they're not. No, they're not and it's not enough even if they did. They say they might,

but until they write a check or give the credit card or pay, they're not. That's why I always talk about I don't care how good your idea is or service is that you think it is, sell it first. This is what I like to do. Sell something first, whether it be a service, a software, a coaching, a course, supplements. Do the Kickstarter method. Right.

And see if people actually pay you for it. Right. Then you can go create it and launch it. Yeah. As opposed to investing all this up front. We're in an amazing time in the ability to test things. Absolutely. You couldn't do that back then.

No, that was 99. Wow. So, I mean, you know, it was either you made it work or you got a business. Yeah. And so. There's no social media. Right. There's no digital marketing.

Right. And the only way that we could get word of mouth out was literally every day I got in my car, drove up and down the streets, knocking door to door to meet people. Passing out flyers or something. Anything that we could do. Anything. So it was very different than it is now. Yeah.

But the principles are still the same, right? You know, get people to like you, make friends, you know, build relationships. A lot of people rely so heavily on technology now when if they took it back a few steps they could be a lot more successful yeah it's all about partnerships and relationships and you've done an amazing job with that over the years and something else that I love that you've done is there's so many traditional businesses that were around in 99 2000 or whatever that grew and became successful and as digital media and online marketing and video and all these different platforms that we have

became available, they didn't go and innovate with the rest of people. They didn't transition. They stayed in that space. Right, and they're dying. They're dying. Right. Yeah, dude, that's one thing that I think is,

that I'm very proud of, is that we've been able to build a successful company pre-social, and then also another another company first form post-social. The Superstores was the first thing. Yeah, Supplement Superstores. It's a brick and mortar retail company. We still own that company. And those are all over the US?

All over the Midwest. Midwest, yeah. And so, you know, but the perspective that we gained from having the brick and mortar before pre-social allowed us to learn so many great lessons about how to actually utilize social to engage people. And it's not just, you know, hey, click a like or share a photo. You know, it's about creating real relationships through this tool. real relationships through this tool. I feel like a lot of people and a lot of companies now, what I observe is that they look at social and the internet and all these conveniences we have as the main way to connect, when in reality, the main way to connect is still going to be this. That's it.

We're just going to use this as a accessory to that. To reach more people. Exactly. But if we're not, and that's why I think it's so important for people like me and you to continue to be on the phone with people, to continue to meet in person, continue to go to the events where people are at, especially the bigger partners or entrepreneurs, because that's where we do deals. That's where we build relationships, build like and trust. Dude, it's everything still. And so many people are discounting the face-to-face, sit down and break bread, shake a hand.

You got to do it. Dude, it's still everything. It's always going to be everything. Yeah. You know, the best part about social is that it's just, it's an accelerator to the stories that are told about you. You know what I mean? So it's not how you should build the story.

It's how you should let the technology tell the stories that you create here. You know? No, that's powerful. And I love the story. I didn't know the full story. I don you create here. Yeah. You know? No, it's powerful. And I love the story. I didn't know the full story. I don't want to hear it, but you got stabbed. And this was what,

13 years ago? Um, it was, yeah, it was 2003. So this is after a long time ago, a few years after, a few years after your,

uh, you launched the supplement store. You're what? 20, 23, 20 years old. You're what, 20? 23. 20 years old. You are walking home from a bar with a neighbor. Is that right?

Yeah. And she's Mexican. Yeah. And someone starts yelling racial slurs at her. Yeah. And then what happens? Your ego gets in the way. Yeah, man. I mean, like, dude, i'm a red-blooded uh

protector defender collar dude man from missouri you know i feel you yeah i'm not gonna let somebody talk that kind of stuff you know and uh so we got into was he drunk too i'm assuming it was like a whole dude it came out he was on all kinds of drugs that was his defense in court i was high i almost killed you but i was high so you should let me off but anyhow um yeah man and uh so what happened he starts yelling yeah he was in a car and i walked he was parked in front of my apartment so he's yelling at me this is st louis yeah in springfield okay so he's yelling at me and we're going back and forth and he's parked directly in front of my where i was living so i couldn't we're having this argument and if i walk in he knows he knows where i live right so i walk up to the car we start arguing through the car

uh we get in like a little altercation through the window of the car really all right he rolls my arm up in the car and uh and i turn around to walk away and i pretend like i'm gonna call the police and i say hey man i'm calling the cops you know get out of here and you know I'm going to call the police. I say, hey, man, I'm calling the cops. Get out of here. I'm trying to keep it clean on your show. Sure, sure. Yes, with other words. Yeah, yeah, right. I turn my back.

You were like, hey, man, I'm going to go call the cops. Right, right. Hey, buddy. I don't like the way you're talking to my girl. Right, exactly. So you turn around. I turn around, and he came up behind me and he stabbed me here and he was trying to stab me in the throat so like you could see it here a little bit

wow he came from behind and tried to like yeah and I heard him right behind me and I turned like that and that blocked him from stabbing me in the throat oh my gosh man yeah

and then when I turned around I didn't know he stabbed me I thought he punched me and uh cause it was probably so fast it happened quick right and um

dang that's hard yeah right and so I turned around and he stabbed me stabbed me here, here, and then in the back. Wow, man. And I ended up choking on my own blood and falling on the ground. I mean, it was pretty brutal stuff. And the last thing I remember is riding to the hospital in the ambulance before I passed out, and the nurse or the EMT saying on the radio,

you know, I can't stop the bleeding. I don't know how to stop. She's, like, freaking out. And I'm like, oh, the, the nurse or the EMT saying in the radio, you know, I, I can't stop the bleeding. I don't know how to stop. She's like freaking out. And I'm like, oh dude, I'm going to die. Yeah. I'm dead. So, uh, you know, I wake up in the hospital and, you know, my face is all stitched up and, uh, you know, and it was, uh, that was kind of the easy part of it. Um, believe it or not, you could take the pain. Yeah, man. You could take the – Yeah, but my face swelled up like real big for like a year because he severed a blood vessel and it kept leaking. Oh, my gosh, man. And so my face was like – and I don't have any feeling on this side of my face at all anymore.

You can't feel it all here. So like when I smile, like it doesn't go up. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it's like totally dead over here still. Oh, man. doesn't go up oh wow yeah so it's like totally dead over here still oh man um but uh but yeah man it was you know it was rough because uh you know my face was completely disfigured you know i mean it's gotten way way better with time but uh i mean for years it was like yeah it was it

looked like terrible and look at yourself yeah right and and and you know it's an overnight thing and you can't fix it and i didn't have the money to have surgery or fix it or anything man and um and so i got you know that's your face man you know like i'm in college i'm in the prime of my youthful years you know what i mean i'm out chasing girls and having fun and all of a sudden now i've got like this screwed up face and uh it's not so fun anymore no man it was not and then i'm in retail so like i'm dealing with people all the day so i have people that come up and they either stay on to do one of two things they either look at the ground while they're talking to you or they look at you and they're like dude what happened to your face so you get one or two reactions and that would just

further like how it was people were noticing and how you felt and you have to constantly say what the happened the story or make something up yeah i just made up all the time i told people i got in a car accident right you know and um but but uh you know i got really depressed man like um like real depressed like uh like suicidal depressed for probably two, three years to where I was totally, you know, I mean, dude, you're not getting that back. Yeah. And I still don't have it back. You know what I mean? And when at that time of your life, I don't have, I'm not successful. I'm not really seeing any traction.

You're not making money to business and growing. I don't have anything. I'm just like, you know, this is what the fuck, you know? So, yeah, man. And then you start feeling sorry for yourself and you start going down that, you know, it's a spiral, man. You know, you start adding fuel to the fire and just going to that dark place and constantly staying there. You know what I mean? And feeling sorry for yourself and it just spirals and you get to a point where you're like, well, what's the point of this?

This is not fun. I'm a big believer that things happen for a reason and that you have to pay attention for things to happen, why they happen and look for them. But I learned that in one, basically in one moment, um, I was, uh,

I was walking through, um, it was an IGA, which I don't even know if you guys know what that is out here. Is that like a drive through grocery store? Yeah. Yes, of course.

It's like a little rural, rural tech store. So, yes. Um, it's not, they have a drive through to, or no,

I don't know. Do you know in Ohio we have a drive-thru where you can pick up beer? Do you guys have that? Like package liquor? You can pick up anything, like snacks, beer. Really? You drive through. Yeah, we don't have that.

This must be an Ohio thing. I don't know. Yeah. It's weird, man. Yeah. So you got IGA. Yeah. So I'm walking through, pushing my cart down the aisle aisle and i come to the tea at the aisle and

i'm like looking like this and i hit this cart and i'm like oh you know and i look around and at this time i'm like very anti-social i'm not looking at people i'm looking at the floor all the time yeah um totally the opposite of what i am now um and i look up and there's this person there that i like and i say thing because I didn't know if it was a male or female because its face had been like completely burned off. No way. Yeah. Like completely burned off and it was wearing like a bucket hat.

No face. I couldn't tell. No, I couldn't tell if it was a male or female. I ended up being a female. Yeah. But so she looks at me and I look at her and she looks back at me and I look at her she looks back at me and i look at her and she looks at me and she goes dude what the f**k happened to your face like yeah like she knew that i knew and like made a joke like she knew you know what i'm saying so it was like an

instant connection and dude i just bust out laughing and we started talking and uh it turns out she was in a plane crash and her whole family had died in a small plane. She's the only one that lived. And, you know, total, I mean, total disfigurement. You couldn't see. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, and so we spent like 10, 15 minutes talking. And, dude, I walked out of that store feeling the best I'd ever felt in my life.

You know what I mean? Yeah. So the perspective change was instant. And, you know, I got over all the negative the negative shit literally in a 10-minute conversation. Wow. And I never saw that lady again, never talked to her again. It just totally changed my whole perspective on everything. And it was a powerful thing, man.

What did you do after that? Did you commit to some vision? Did you, you know, I just started, uh, looking for what would, what the good things were about it. And there was some good things. Uh, for example, you know, when I was, when you're building a business, one of the biggest challenges is, is that you want people to remember you and know who you are. And, and, and so remember your face. So like, so like I would go places and this was happening before I met this lady, obviously, but I wasn't paying attention to it as something that was positive, right?

So like I would go to a trade show or go to an event, and people would say, oh, yeah, you know, Andy, the dude with the scars, right? And I would get pissed, but now I'm like looking at him, and I'm like, wait, I could use this. Yeah, Scarface Andy. Exactly, right, exactly. And so I would go to these national trade shows and meet people and they would remember

me like that. And it was already happening. I just wasn't seeing it as a good thing. And then I was like, okay, I could use this. And it started working in my favor based solely off my ability to see it in a different way. Yeah. That's amazing. in my favor based solely off my ability to see it in a different way. Yeah. That's amazing.

There's a, you know, there's a principle from my book where I talk about from all the people I've interviewed, they always have some type of adversity that they turn into their advantage. Right. And that's what you did. Yeah. You had this adversity.

You're like the alchemist of, of, of everything, but especially adversity. That's it. You know? And I think that's a, I think that's a trait amongst all successful people.

I think if you see or talk to or get in a conversation deep enough with somebody who's actually built something of their life, they're going to be able to tell you something that was terrible and they're going to be able to show you how they saw it as an advantage. And I think that's such a huge key. How many things do we hear about from the average Joe that you or I or any of these other guys could look at and be like, wait, dude, this is actually a good thing if you look at it this way. No, no, no, no. It's terrible. Yeah. I'm like, okay.

If you ask anyone who's made a difference in the world or anyone who's had a massive business, any great athlete, whatever it may be, scientist, doctor, it doesn't matter who it is. If they're at the top of their game, they've gone through some extreme adversity at some point in their life. Maybe it was when they were 8. Maybe it was when they were 28. Maybe it was when they were 48. But they've gone through something extreme that they've had to overcome.

Right. And, dude, those things are the things that are going to teach you what to do when things go wrong, how to react. They're going to give you your strength. They're going to give you your strength. They're going to give you your competitive advantage. And people spend so much time trying to seek the comfort that society tells us we have to have, right? They say, oh, well, get a safe job and marry and have 2.5 kids and do all this shit that is considered safe.

And people seek the path of least resistance. And by doing that, they avoid all these things that could potentially end up making them so much more fulfilled, impactful, and all the great things that make people quote unquote successful, not just financially, but in any area. Where do you think you'd be if you didn't get in that fight that night? Dude, I don't think I would. I don't know. I don't think I would be here. You know what I mean? Because it was that impactful on how I see my whole world view that I just don't know what could have.

That's why I say, like, I actually look back now, and I'm like, dude, that happened for a specific reason. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I was out drinking a lot and like getting in scraps with people and just doing dumb kid shit yeah and it straightened me out like instantly and got me focused on business it got me focused you know on the path i am now i certainly wouldn't i don't know man i don't think it would be uh anything like what you have now yeah it'd be a totally

different life wow yeah i i honestly tell people all the time i think it's the best thing that ever happened yeah yeah i mean for me when time, I think it's the best thing that ever happened. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, for me, whenever my injuries were the best thing that happened to me, the things that got me out of that, my sports career, got me thinking differently. Right. It got me thinking bigger. Right.

And I went through a period of time where I was depressed and like, what was me type of attitude and pissed off at the world. But then I was like, let me make something of this and figure it out. Right. And I think we need those. If I would have never got injured and never had any pain, you wouldn't be who you are. Right. And now what you're doing is so much bigger on the big picture scale.

And you're dude. And the great thing about that is I was an athlete too, is that now you have your whole career ahead of you. Yeah. You know what I mean? Exactly. I'm not like, right. Just started now.

Right. And, and, uh, that's, you know, I think about that a lot too because I always wanted to be a pro athlete growing up. Yeah. You're a football player, right? Yeah. Yeah. My brother played minor league ball.

Baseball? Yeah. Yeah. And so we were, you know, it was always like something that we dreamt about, you know, and then when those things didn't happen, you're like kind of, you're like, and that played into my whole depression. I'm like, dude, I, you know, I failed at this. I whole depression i'm like dude i've you know i failed at this i failed at that i'm not you know face is messed up no i can't i can't meet any girls you know what i mean like all the things my business sucks i'm worthless

right why even be here right exactly and i think there's so many people that are like that that just have not had an experience that snapped them out of it or chosen to actually think about like, Hey, what could I do with the situation I have to make good of it as opposed to going down the dark hole? You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, and it's just,

uh, I don't know. It's interesting to see how people react to adversity. I think it, I think it defines just about everything productive out of somebody's existence. Now, do you feel like this, this, because that was a big trauma of yours, do you feel like that trauma still affects you in a negative way today? Or have you kind of been able to process it and move through it in a way?

No, I think I'm pretty good. The only thing that I think it still sticks with me about it is that, well, a couple things. One, I'll say this. If you're somebody who, because I think a lot of people see people who are in wheelchairs or are deformed or have differences, and they try to look away because they're uncomfortable, don't do that. That makes people feel like total dog shit.

You know what I mean? So when you see somebody who is in a wheelchair or who is different go out of your way to say hi those people are normal people too because i think that was one of the things that really affected me at the time was the way that other people would just like they would look at you and look away because they didn't want to feel like they were staring you know what i mean yeah it's like dude i know i got this like you're not it's okay to look yeah say hi you know what i mean that was one thing that that I think has always stuck with me since then. So I try to make sure that I go out of my way to make people who are different feel comfortable.

And I always like to say that when I tell the story, because I don't think people really think about how impactful that is on people. You know, negative wise, I would say the only thing negative, and it's, I don't even know if it's negative, but that still sticks with me about is I'm just very aware of my surroundings all the time because it happens so quick uh the actual act of it that like you know i'm just very not not nervous but i'm like aware aware when i'm around people i'm very aware of what's going on yeah and uh i don't have any knives around me don't worry yeah no hands hurt yeah and so it makes me it sometimes it makes it hard for me to relax you know when i'm in like a crowd, I get a little, I get a little, not nervous, but

just on edge. You never know. Right. It could be anything. A bunch of people up around you. Right. Exactly. And so I think that's something, that would be the only thing I would say negative that

stuck with me. All the other things that's come of it positive, you know, you know, I had to let go and forgive that dude a long time ago. Were you able to? Yeah. I mean, I didn't talk to him, but I mean talk to him, but I don't wish bad on him. You know what I mean? Everybody's like, oh, don't you wish all these bad things?

I'm like, no, because he went to jail. He did go to jail. Yeah, for three years he spent in jail. That's a considerable amount of time, more than I want to spend in jail. You know what I'm saying? But people do dumb shit and I'm sure he probably learned his lesson

and I'm hopefully hopefully yeah you know and maybe not but I can't hold on to that it's not gonna help you no it's gonna hurt me

and you know I don't have any animosity about the situation and quite honestly you know like I said I really do believe it's one of the best things

that's ever happened so how can I I can't feel good about it in one way and then be mad about it in another way you know what I mean if you could go back to that night would you do anything differently no yeah i wouldn't wow yeah yeah in fact like i went to my friend my my my really good friend in st louis mike nyack is a plastic facial plastic surgeon he's president of facial plaque surgery and he asked me the other day he's like man do you want me And he asked me the other day, he's like, man, do you want me to fix? Yeah. And I'm like, no. He's like, cause I can, you know, I can afford

it now, but, uh, I'm like, no, I'm like, you know, it's part of who I am. Like, you know, if I get a fix, it's going to take away from that. So I just, wow. Yeah. And I'm curious, why didn't he, you know, finish you off? You're laying there on the ground. Why didn't he just, oh, dude, my, my buddy who still works, my buddy who runs the distribution for First Form was with me. He was like 10 yards away and tackled the dude. Really?

Yeah. So he didn't know. Dude, it happened so quick. It was dark. He didn't know he had a knife probably. He was just like, oh, what happened? Did he just punch you or something? Yes, exactly.

And he tackled the dude and pulled him off of me and the dude ran and then uh there was a police officer in a parking lot that was adjacent that i happened to actually know like i know this dude he witnessed the whole thing so like when it you know he ended the guy ended up being guilty because it was a there was it was a sound yeah um wow but yeah so i mean my my buddy who i'm still you know my best friend he's in my wedding and he works for me savior yeah wow crazy what happened to that guy's car i'm curious to his car the guy oh dude he got in the car and drove off and he got in the car yeah and he drove off and then the the cops pulled him over like a block away oh gotcha

yeah i was gonna say if that was if that was your buddy and I would have tackled him, I would have been like beating his car. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, man.

Stabbing everything, you know, like the tires. Dude, it was, it was so fast. Like it was like, like it sounds like this big long story.

It's like 10 seconds. Right. It was like 30 seconds max. But it seemed like forever probably, right? Yeah. And I, I mean,

when I live it, it's like that, you know, it's weird how things are like, you ever been in a car wreck and like, uh, you're like hitting. It's weird how things are like... You ever been in a car wreck and you're hitting shit and then all of a sudden it gets quiet

and you're waiting for something else to happen? It's like that. That's crazy. Were you just holding your neck the whole time? What were you doing? I still didn't know that he had stabbed me. So I started swallowing my own blood. Oh my gosh.

The cop called the ambulance. And it was there like – Quick. Yeah, super quick. Wow. And they were like, you got to go. I'm like, no, I'm fine. Yeah. Because I thought he had just beat me up.

Right. You know? And I was just busted open. And they were like, like dude this guy is like you know he's got you in the face here yeah he's got a big gash probably than a yeah this one was like hanging open like the bone yeah and this one here was through my face into my teeth yeah gosh man yeah so it was uh it was brutal but you had so much adrenaline you probably weren't aware of what you wouldn't be any different nobody would be like They're like, I'm good. Yeah. Let's go. I was going to shock.

Tape me up. Right. I wasn't trying to be a badass. Right, right. I just didn't realize how bad it was. Wow. Gosh, man. That's crazy.

That's a crazy story. Now, were you this big? Were you like a big, strong guy back then? Or were you like. No, yeah. No, I was just like a little wiener. You were a skinny guy then? No.

I didn't know. Come on, man. I was like born this big. Yeah. I didn't know. I was like born this big. I don't know if you were like jacked up. Yeah. No, I was in good shape. Wow. I was like 250 and lean.

This dude was like, and that was like the thing because my buddy Scott was like, this guy was like 180 and just kicked my ass. Yeah, knifed. Yeah, right. It doesn't matter how big you are. You got a knife or a gun. Right. It doesn't matter.

Nowadays, it doesn't matter because you got all these dudes that are mma trains so like you don't want to mess with a hundred no 120 pound guy i might kill you no these dudes that's what's so funny these dudes who like lift weights and they're big and they walk around and they're like oh that guy's only 150 i'm like that guy kick your ass yeah you know exactly some of these girls will kick your ass too i know man i would not want to mess with people in the ring. The train, right. I'm not even going to try to act like I'm a big guy or anything. No, man. Now, you talk about the importance of starting your business when you're broke. Why do you think that's something that people should do?

Because there's a lot of people that listen to your podcast, which everyone should download, the MFCEO Project, correct? Make sure you guys go check it out. You do it once a week? Twice a week. Twice a week. So we have a full-length episode on Tuesdays and then a 10-minute episode called Thursday Thunder on Thursdays.

Oh, that's a good name. Yeah. I like that name. So that's all motivation on Thursday. Yeah. Tuesday's practical entrepreneurial mindset advice. Yes. And then get it on iTunes or the mceoproject.com.

Yep. Right? And you talk about building a business while you're broke. And I know there's a lot of people that listen to you and there's people who are here who are beginners or just getting out of college or whatever, or maybe they are leaving a career and they're starting something. They want to try something on their own. Why do it when you're broke or that mentality? Yeah. So I call that zero option mentality. It's something I talk about a lot on the podcast uh basically you want to get yourself

in as much in much of a situation as possible to where you don't have an option but to succeed um you know people use the idea of i don't have the funds i don't have the resources i don't have this as an excuse so often and i that dude i hate like, dude, this is the best thing you could ever have. It is the best thing you could ever have. Giving investment is not going to help you in my mind. No, you're just going to go spend it. Right. And then you're not going to be resourceful.

Right. And you could think about this. Think about this. So you have you who has zero resources and then you have your competition who's got rich parents or an investor or inheritance or some other thing that you don't have in your own mind. Right. But he's got resource quote unquote resources, money, right? You to get successful are going to have to go out, get creative and think you're going to have to become resourceful. You're going to have to get yourself, uh, solutions to problems that money can't buy. Yes. Okay. And that is going to all bank in your little P brain as competitive advantage over the long haul. So let's say 10 years later, you have you who has 10 years worth of creative lessons, resourcefulness, innovation, creative solutions. And then you have

your competitor who was able to buy his way into the market because his mom and dad gave him $10 million. This dude hasn't learned shit for 10 years. He has bought his way into his market share. And then all of a sudden, you guys converge. And you have to compete. Who's going to win that battle? The creative guy is always going to win. The resourceful guy is always going to win because he's going to be able to figure out how to get the most result for the least amount of money and be effective. And people want to, they want to jump from day one to day 10

by getting some big seed money or big investment. And dude, I don't care how much money I've made. I try to pretend like I'm broke every single day in the way that I think because it forces me to create new solutions and innovate in my brain, you know? And so when people say, oh, like you said, I don't, I hate it when people say that. I do too, because you're missing the point of what the entrepreneurial journey is about. It's about taking an idea. It's about executing on the idea. And it's not about having the perfect plan. It's about your ability to adjust and create and improvise your way through this path. You know, and so many people, especially with the way the internet is right now,

you and I have talked about this many times. You got these make trillion dollars in 12 month guys advertising shit on the internet. And these young kids, they think that that's what they, that's the way it goes. And it's just not, you know, you're not going to go from time, dude, it takes time and you want the lessons, you know, dude, we're going to be in business for 30, 40 years, you know,

calm down. You know what I'm saying? Like, dude, some of the best times I had in business were when I was broke. Yeah. Like dude, and we were living in the back of that store and we were like buying 12 packs of natural light and beer bonging them in the back.

You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah. And just try to make a couple hundred bucks. Yeah, dude. Like so we could go out and, you know, go get pizzas and shit. Like that was fun, dude. And people don't realize like you don't want to skip that stuff.

Like that's a cool part of the journey. You know, it's not all about the money, man. The money makes things a little more interesting. But, you know, at the end of the day, and this sounds corny, right? It all about the money, man, the money, the money makes things a little more interesting, but you know, at the end of the day, it, it, and it sounds corny, right? It's about the journey, but it really is about the journey, you know, and you don't want to try to jump past, uh, all the good stuff that you're going to experience because you're in some sort of hurry, because not only are you going to miss all this cool stuff, you're going to discount your education to level zero, you know, by getting somebody to give you X amount of dollars. I mean, dude, if somebody had given me a million dollars the day that I started, I would have blown it in a week. You know, oh, we could do this, we could

do that. Dude, I don't care how much money you have. Time is a factor in business. You know, like it takes people as as you know we talked earlier about the human relationship part and connection part of of uh business it takes people time to like and trust and become loyal to a concept so that's why you see people who spend they get these big 40 million dollar uh super bowl commercials you never hear from them again yeah you know what I mean? Because, dude, you can't buy your way into a market. It comes through trust.

It doesn't matter how creative the commercial is, how funny, catchy. Maybe they'll remember you for three weeks. Right. But they're not going to stay with you for a lifetime. Exactly. As if you built them a relationship. And that's something you do great

is you're building consistent content. Something with my podcast as well, I've been around for over four years with the podcast so many new podcasters come out and say well how do i get this many downloads really quick i'm like you gotta like my first my first year i i got 700 000 downloads the whole year yeah right yeah we're getting more than double that a month right but it's like because i've been consistent every single week for over four years yeah you can't just hope in 30 days you're going to be like the top of the charts and stay there. No. And the other thing is, you're hitting on it. You've got to be diligent to be consistent.

Like, dude, we do Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. We've done that for two and a half years now. Our podcast is growing. It's getting big. And it's not just about creating something. It's about getting it out there in a consistent way as well. Right. And I talk about a lot of authors come to me and say, well, how do you make it a bestseller? I'm like, because I'm constantly promoting. Yeah. And something you do so well is like you're constantly creating unique content to share to the world that adds value consistently. Thank you. If you just posted a podcast and said, and then just hope people find it, it's not going to happen. You've got to put it out there and tease people to get in there. Right.

Constantly. So that brings up a whole other point, all right? That's the lack of patience and the lack of consistency. And so what we have now, and you have a pretty big millennial audience, I would say, right? Yeah. It's broad, but yes, it's there too. So I want to talk to those guys just for a minute. Sure.

Because they get a bad rap, in my opinion. My company is made up of all millennials except five people, and they are the hardest working, best employees, best team that you could ever imagine. You can find the hungry ones, yeah. Yeah, well, so it's not that they're not hungry because I see all this stuff that's put out. Like I saw Simon Sinek's interview where he said, and I thought for the most part he was spot on, but he said something that irked me in that interview. And he said, millennials want to have a, they work for a purpose, that we're in a situation where business is so transparent that for us to get

customers to become loyal to us, we have to go and lead with purpose first. If we lead with profit, they're going to see through it. So we've got to solve their problems. Otherwise, they're going to post about it. They're going to talk about it. They're going to share about it. And people are going to know that you don't give a shit about your customers instantly. Yeah. All right. So you're dead. Here's the great thing about millennials.

Millennials are awesome because they do care about purpose and they do care about solving a problem. They do care about creating impact over money. And when you care about those things first, the money is always there. So millennials are the ultimate people to work with when it comes to building a company. However, the reason they're getting a bad rap is because we have all these older, gray hair, gray beard managers and CEOs. They're saying, these guys, they're not motivated by money.

Well, why don't you consider this, that it might not be them that's the problem. It's you. It's you trying to motivate them the way that you were motivated when you were 20 years old by getting an extra SPF or an extra commission or an extra this because financial hunger was more important in that generation. So we have a situation where we have this amazing workforce who is able to solve problems being driven by purpose,

and they're getting this bad reputation for no reason. Right. Okay? And when we talked about a minute ago, what we were talking about was being consistent and being patient. That's the downfall of the millennials. They want it now. Yes.

But you can't blame them for wanting it now because think about how you you and i grew up right um we didn't have you know we we we were like the last generation that grew up with like old technology yes and then now we're a new technology i got a cell phone when i was 17 exactly and i was the first one in my high school to get a cell phone exactly me too but it wasn't like you know smartphone it was like a flip phone. Yeah, a start-up. Yeah, right. Singular. That was my provider.

Right, right, right. So you have to understand, these people who are now 20 years old to 25 years old, and they're very young, they grew up in a situation with social media, with texting, with everything instant. instant gratification yes everything instant information instant instant instant you couldn't do there wasn't google when i was starting in business i couldn't get on the in the what was the internet yeah you know what i mean like i had to read a

newspaper yeah you know do i have yellow pages dude a beeper you don't say it like this my girlfriend in high school she wants to say i love you she like text me like the code yeah you know what i'm saying right so like you can't blame a whole generation of people because they were raised in a, in a time and an era that doesn't really cultivate patience. So when I'm saying, I want to speak to the millennials, you guys have to work on your patience because what Lewis is saying about being consistent with, you know, putting out content every single day for a year or working on your business every single day all day for five years to build a multi-million dollar brand, that's not going to change. So you have to understand, you guys have awesome asset by

being purpose-driven and you're set up because you understand technology, but please understand that patience part of it is not going to change. It's still going to take time. It's always going to take time for us to adopt a concept, for us to become, to like a concept, to trust a concept, to become loyal to a concept when we're buying things. It's going to be no different if you're selling things. So if you're a millennial entrepreneur listening to this,

dude, remember, use the technology, but don't rely on it and think that shit's going to happen like it has your whole life. The patience aspect, the time aspect of human psychology is always going to be there. Absolutely. That's a great segment there. And one of the things that I think is important is that any entrepreneur today, I believe, needs to have a purpose behind their mission, behind their business. Otherwise, you're not going to get the millennial customers who want to buy because of a purpose.

They want to believe. They want to consume something, whether it's supplements or a service, software, whatever it is, clothing line. They want to be attached to a mission bigger than just product. That's right. And that's why I think it's so important to talk about what our purpose is as a company, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur. As opposed to just creating courses,

like give some of that for a bigger purpose back to something and have that lead with your mission that way. And what do you guys do about that with your company? Well, so my biggest thing with First Form, I'm going to talk about that because it's a global brand now. $160 million a year, right? Yeah yeah and we're selling national and international we've got 3 000 outside reps we're not multi-level we do direct rep program um we call it the legionnaire program so we we go out we find people who uh you know trainers influencers regular people who want to start a business yeah we teach them everything how to do it now we don't have them do all the

annoying stuff that like you Sliding people up. Right. It's none of that. But they're selling products. They're representatives of the brand. They sell products. They make money. So what's different between that and like affiliate commissions? Like influencer just makes money off commissions. Basically it's, you know, it's

very similar. Yeah. So it's actually the same thing. A lot of it's just in person. You know what I mean? Got it. So it's actually the same thing. A lot of it's just in person. You know what I mean? Got it, got it. So the thing is, is you have to understand people, and they want to be a part of something, okay? We all have a need to feel a part of something. And so many brands right now are discounting this aspect of their business.

Now, and the aspect I'm talking about is culture, okay? Now, if you want to look at a case study on culture, let's look at Harley Davidson, all right? You can go to any tattoo parlor on the face of the earth and they will have a book of Harley Davidson tattoos. Wow. That's culture. That's people saying, dude, I belong to this.

No matter what color I am, no matter what gender I am, no matter what sexual orientation I am, no matter what, if I ride a Harley and I meet another person that rides a Harley, we're automatically connected. Okay. That's culture. And so many brands are not understanding that that is the ultimate competitive advantage that you can create because once people decide that they're a part of something, it's very hard for them to decide that they're not a part of something. All right. So for example,

like let's say just use Harley, for example, victory motorcycles, which is a terrific brand. They make an excellent motorcycle. Some would even say far superior than Harley, but people will not switch because they don't have a culture right because if you ride up to the community that's right like that right

and so it insulates you from your competition a strong culture does wow so you know all these people trying to compete on price or trying to compete on you know all these different things when when price quality doesn't matter really what they should be doing is trying to create a situation where customers feel engaged with the brand 100% to where they're loyal. And that comes through a multitude of different things. And purpose is the biggest part of it. So like with our brand, our big initiative with purpose is that, dude, we include everybody. I don't care if you're a fitness star with 10 million followers, which we have those.

Or if you're a mom who's got to lose 200 or 300 pounds, we're inclusive. We want people to feel a part of our family. We want people to understand that fitness is not just for these people who look beautiful on the internet. Dude, the people who need fitness the most are the ones that are most terrified of going into a gym. And that's a culture in our industry that is very toxic because why should, you know, somebody who's 200 pounds overweight that needs to go to the gym the most, be afraid to go to the fucking gym. That's not right. You know? And so then that comes from massive egos, people who look down, you know, make jokes. And dude, it's just, you know, we're not about that,

man. We're about creating a community of help. You know, the people who have the 10 million followers who are fitness experts are out there holding the hands of, you know, the mom who needs to lose 250 pounds and showing them how to do it. And that's the difference with our brand is it's not, it's not, Hey, look at us. It's Hey, you're a part of us. You know what I mean? That's powerful. Yeah. What advice would you give to someone who's looking to create a culture then if they're like, well, I don't know how to do that. How do we empower our community to be the heroes? That's a great question. It's actually a very simple answer.

Identify the core values that you stand for. So what your company stands for. What does it stand for? What are you trying to do? What are the actual values? You know, do the right thing, go the extra mile for people, take initiative to help people. You could define those, okay?

So define half a dozen or a dozen core values that your company lives by and then communicate to your employees and your customers and those core values. And if you do that, the culture will naturally form. So kind of create a value statement or a list. It's just real easy. and your customers and those core values. And if you do that, the culture will naturally form. So kind of create a value statement or a list. It's just real easy. We have 10, you know, and then we go through and when we talk, we talk about those values.

And it's just communicating and obviously living the brand through those values. So like all of our marketing, all of our advertisement, all of our content, all of our products, all of our service, everything aligns with that. So when you build a product that aligns with those values, and you're living it by example, and you're always speaking about it, eventually, people start to fall in line. What do you think is missing? What are people missing in providing a quality service today in business? Hmm. I think today the biggest missing gap when it comes to quality service comes from the fact

that the lack of patience again. Okay. I think a lot of people are, they're so focused on today's ROI that they lose the, the perspective of what a customer is worth over the lifetime. And so I think that's the biggest part that's missing right now is the understanding that the way you grow a multimillion, a nine-figure, a billion-dollar brand is by retaining people and getting people to go out and tell the stories for you. Because now we live in this situation where, like we talked about earlier, social media is an accelerator for the story. So 15 years ago, if you did a really cool thing for a customer, they could tell three people and maybe 10 wouldn't know about it. Now, hundreds can know instantly. So take some of the money that you're using to try to acquire all these customers and put it back towards the stories

that you could create through great service and let them grow your brand for you. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, uh, we have these amazing tools with social now for us to do that and nobody's doing it. Yeah. You know, people are because of Facebook ads and affiliates and all the, all the stuff that's out there right now, everybody's focused on acquiring. No one's focused on retaining or creating loyalty. And if you can be somebody who focuses on retaining and creating loyalty, these people have the ability to build your brand for you through the word of mouth. And that's how we buy. How do we buy things? Why do you buy the shoes that you wear? Why do you buy the shirt that you wear? You don't buy it because you saw a commercial on TV. We bought

it because somebody that we admire or respect in that way or think is cool, we saw them wear it. And we're like, oh, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. They might not have told us to buy it, but- I bought LeBron James shoes recently because I like LeBron. Right, exactly. He's wearing them.

Right, right. And that's why we buy. We don't buy because a company tells us. We buy because a person tells us. Yeah. And so I think that's the biggest gap missing right now is that people are not utilizing the power of social media and social connection to tell great stories. And where do you think your business would be if you didn't have influencers promoting? I just started that and dude, I haven't paid first form has not paid one influencer until 2017.

And we grew to $120 million without spending a dollar on advertising, all based around the stories aspect we're talking about. Wow, wow. So all organic growth. And what has influencers done for you then, I guess, in the last few months? It's still, I mean, it's helped us.

So basically, the purpose of influencers is to get new eyeballs on the brand, right? But we want people to look at our brand, be excited about the brand, possibly join the brand if they're a good fit. If they're not a good fit, I don't want them. Right. You know what I mean? And then become loyal to the brand. So basically, it just gives us a chance to gain more eyeballs.

It's not, hey, I want to sell these people something today. I want to capture them forever. That's powerful. Yeah. And I mean, most of our athletes are all just regular people who, they're not like these paid celebrities. They're people who have regular jobs, who live regular lives, who use fitness to enhance those lives and set a

realistic expectation of what, you know, that lifestyle should be. You know, like, dude, this stuff of like, you know, I work out seven hours a day. That's not realistic, man. You know what I mean? Nobody's doing that. You're not living a life. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. That's cool. And on a few more questions. One is as you've grown, you've got more and more employees, right? You've got a bigger mirror team. How did you go from essentially being you in a store with a buddy or two to managing a team?

And what's the difference between managing and leading a team? Ooh, man. Well, um, the growth happened organically. Like a lot of people I think, uh, in business make a mistake where they try to have employees or have people in this department or that department before they actually need them because they want to, quote unquote, play business. I want to have this person. I want to have that person. Dude, don't hire people until you need it. There's certain exceptions to that. Like great customer service people can actually turn into a positive, you know,

cash flow situation where you're actually able to service more people and make more money. It's an investment. But most of the growth happens organically. But the difference between managing and leading, you know, to me, and I think if you ask 10 people, they're going to get 10 different answers, you know, which is why it's a cool question. I think managing is ask 10 people, they're going to get 10 different answers, which is why it's a cool question. I think managing is the enforcement of policy.

And I think leading is inspiring people to be the best that they can be. And I think that's the difference. You have a good manager. They can enforce the rules. They can make sure nobody's messing up. But at the end of the day, they're going to stifle potential of all your employees. You're not going to have the growth that you would have amongst the personal development growth, which is what you need in a company because you want people to come in, move up, succeed, create new career opportunities because if they grow, you grow, and everybody's happy.

So a manager will stifle those things. I think a leader will bring those things out. That's powerful. Yeah, yeah. This question is called the three truths. And if this was the last day for you many years from now, and you only got to share three final thoughts and there was no other content about you out there,

you write kids books as well. We forgot to mention, you've got other content constantly putting out there, but if all this stuff you weren't able to share anymore and you only had three things you could say, that would be the lessons you leave behind to the world. What would those three truths be? I think the first thing would be always do the right thing. Always do what you feel is right.

And sometimes what you feel is right is going to be wrong. But I feel like if the intention is always that you're, that you're trying to do the right thing, you can always recover even when it's wrong and make it right that you're trying to do the right thing you can always recover even when it's wrong and make it right um i would say that's the first thing i've been very fortunate with that mentality um two is give more than you take i feel like if you give more than you take uh you're always going to feel good about everything that you have in your life you're not going to feel guilty about the blessings that you have or the fortunates, the good things that you have.

I see a lot of guys who feel like they don't deserve what they have. And I feel like that's because they've taken it all and not, not given more. Um, I feel like we all have, um, the internal drive to contribute and be a part of something. And I think that, you know, giving, uh, is a big part of that. I really feel like for me personally, giving is, is creates much more happiness in my day-to-day life than anything else. Um, third, uh, I don't know. Those are those first two ones are the main ones. I think third, uh, if we're going to make it a business thing, it would be to always focus

on making impact or making a dollar. I think, you know, people get so focused on making a dollar that they lose the idea that we're here to provide a solution. We're here to provide an impact. And that's what makes the dollars. So focus on the impact and forget about the dollars. And the bigger impact you make, the dollars will naturally come. Um, you know, that's, that's a little bit more business minded, but I think the first two cover my life. Yeah. That's great. You know, so, uh,

this is a question, fun question. I like to ask people, if you had a tattoo on your forehead for the rest of your life, that was in reverse that you could only see when you're in the mirror. Yeah. Uh, what would that tattoo say? It was a word or a phrase. Calm down. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh,

so, I mean, you know me, dude, you've known, you know me for a few years. I have a tendency to get super riled up. I mean,

if you listen to my podcast or follow me, like, you know, that's how most people know me, you know? And, uh, I, I'm, I'm impatient and i'm intense and i want to win today and so that's why i can relate with the millennials so well because dude i want it today too yeah i've just learned through experience that you know your cake just because you turn the oven up to 800 degrees doesn't mean it's going to bake twice as fast you know what i mean so i've just learned

that i've burned enough cakes to know that yeah so uh you know calm down i think uh would be a good one for me because you know i i i have such an amazing team and staff and they put up with me it's like dude if you knew like how i see your snaps yeah well yeah i mean these guys but like even like my brother who runs first form day to day and my business partner and my, my other, you know, guys who are just the key people, you know, they've all taken the time to understand my character that like, dude, I'm intense and I want to win. And when shit gets screwed up, I'm like a monster. Yeah. And, and, and they deal with it. And so I'm trying to work on, you know know appreciating everybody for who they are a little bit more not just for like us trying to win in business you know what I mean and it's it's made my life a lot a lot more fun that's good yeah if you had an unlimited amount of money right now that you could that you had to put towards solving one challenge in the world or one issue or concern or thing and you had to use the money on that thing and it would solve that thing in the world or one issue or concern or thing and you had to use the money on that thing and it would solve that thing in the world whether it be a disease or issue

emotional issues whatever it may be what would you do with that money man that's a hard question i think i would use it to fix the education system. I think the traditional education system is broken. I think it teaches people to live inside a box that is predetermined by other people who have never been outside the box. And I would use it to evolve our education system to somehow be more accommodating to people who maybe think about different career paths other than just going out and getting a nine to five job. You know what I mean? I had a very hard time in school

because I've always been an entrepreneur. You know, I was a CD student all through school and struggled, you know, because I was, I always knew like these dudes would be out there teaching. I'd be like, I'm never going to do this. Not what i'm never gonna do this not what i'm gonna do i'm gonna leave here i'm gonna sell baseball cards you know what i mean like i was not interested in it so and there was never an avenue for me to like besides what i did in my own time to like cultivate that skill you know um which is what's cool now right like because you could buy from people who are entrepreneurs, real entrepreneurs. There's a select few of them that you could buy their courses and learn how to be an entrepreneur. Couldn't do that when I was growing up or when you were growing up.

So, you know, I don't know. I think the education system could be improved tremendously to help people. Cause I struggle with that, right? Like I was a CD student and I'm being told I'm stupid. I'm being told I'm stupid. Yeah. I'm being told I'm never, dude, I had a guidance counselor tell me straight up that, you know, hey, look, you're like a CD student, Andy, you know, guys like you,

they don't really do that well in college. You know, you might want to look at just like, you know, maybe getting in the family business or work construction or, you know, and I'm thinking like, dude, I don't want to do that. Like, you know, and I'm not stupid. just like maybe getting in the family business or work construction. And I'm thinking like, dude, I don't want to do that. And I'm not stupid. You're stupid. And I just think that's a problem.

That's a major problem that needs to be solved. Sure. Well, that's good. That would be a good place to put the money. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. sure well it's good to be good place to put the money yeah for sure yeah um if this mic was connected to every person on the planet right now and everyone put on headphones and it was a direct line to everyone's ears yeah and you got 30 seconds to say a message what would you say oh man

everyone would hear it everyone Everyone would have headphones in. I would think of like the dirtiest joke I could possibly tell. I got a couple of them. No, I don't know, man. Like that's such a hard question. I think I would tell people straight up, like, look, you can analyze, you can think, you can guess, you can plan. But at the end of the day, it's going to come down to you starting and doing the work. You have to go start, you have to go do, and you waiting is only

delaying where you want to be. We hear it from all the good entrepreneur gurus that it's execution, and it is. That's all it is. And so many people want to wait until they get permission from someone to say, oh, your plan's good, or you could do this, or you could be a part of this, which goes back to the education system, how we're programmed, that they don't do anything. And at the end of the day, I'm not a smart guy. I'm just a guy who does shit. Yeah. You know? And then I'm okay being wrong sometimes.

You know? And I learn. you know and i learned so i i would figure out a creative way to put that in 30 seconds to understand sure you know how to uh how to how to be okay with failing man be okay with doing things and learning lessons welcome those things yeah you know i love it i love it uh check out the mfceoproject.com yep correct yep or go to the mfceCEO Project on iTunes. Download the podcast for every Tuesday and Thursday. Yep. Entrepreneurial information and then motivation on Thursday, Thursday Thunder. Check out firstform.com.

Yep. Check out, you've got kids' books that are awesome as well. What else do you have going on? Yeah. The kids' books are cool. It's a passion project for me. You know, I was on my way to speak at Sundance Film Festival a couple years ago, and I was crabby.

I wasn't in a good mood. Because, dude, you speak a lot. This is a good question to ask you. Do you ever get frustrated that you feel like people are not listening? You're going to go up there and pour your heart out and give this information and they're not gonna do anything like i just want them to do frustrating yeah dude like i just i just want you to go do it you know and and so it's it is frustrating so i was in one of those moods where i was like you know dude i don't want to do this because i'm gonna go up there i'm gonna i'm gonna do a great job i'm gonna tell

these people the truth and they're gonna go out and look for some other answer yeah you know and and then so i started talking it out. I'm like, you know, we need to meet, we need to, we need to hit these people like before they've got all these pre formed notions in their head.

And I'm like, we need like a, like a teenager book. And then I, and then I'm like, no, cause they're already like messed up. Yeah.

And then I'm like, man, you know what? I should write a kid's book. And I, and like I said, because my brand, you know, the MFCO stands for Mother F***ing CEO. It's more high profanity. You know, it's intense.

And so everybody, we were on a plane, and there was like five other people on the plane, and they started laughing. And then I looked up, and then everybody got quiet at once, and they were like, oh, dude, that's actually a great idea because it's a story in itself. Like here's this crazy dude writing kids' books. Sure, sure.

So we came up with this idea for kids' books. The series is called Otis and Charlie's Hardworking Tales. And it's based on the characters of my two actual dogs. Yeah. And it goes through and it's a series of eight books. And it goes through and it's a series of eight books and it goes through and it teaches parents. It's really a tool for parents to teach their kids how to communicate entrepreneurial lessons when maybe themselves weren't an entrepreneur. Because a lot of the questions I get were from parents.

How do I teach my kids this even though I've never done this? Okay. So we created this as a set of tools for parents who wanted to instill these values in their children but maybe hadn't lived those values themselves. So it's very simple things like competition. You work hard. You get rewarded. Simple things. Sure, sure. You know what I mean?

But kids get it. Yeah, right. Exactly. That's cool. And where can people get that? Amazon. Amazon. Yeah. It's called – what's it? But kids get it. Yeah, right, exactly. That's cool. And where can people get that? Amazon. Amazon. Yeah.

It's called, what's it called again? Otis and Charlie's Hardworking Tales. I like it. It's a good title. Very cool, man. Well, before I ask the final question, Andy, I want to acknowledge you for a moment for your incredible gift and charisma

to get a mess to cross in a simple way for people to consume it who maybe weren't as smart in school and to be able to use it to take action in their life. Thank you. I know you help so many people just from your team at first form, from the people that are taking the supplements to help them get better in their life, from the education you teach people about how to live a healthy lifestyle and fitness, from your audience, all the people that consume your information, they're all benefiting in a powerful way.

So I want to acknowledge you for using your gifts to make an impact. Thank you. And be for good as opposed to for bad. Thank you, brother. It means a lot, man. Of course, man. Thank you. Of course.

Final questions. What's your definition of greatness? The pursuit of fulfillment of potential. I think that potential is always going to be a sliding scale. And if you gauge your greatness off of fulfilling your potential, you're never going to feel successful or greatness because it's going to slide. You're going to pursue this. You're going you're gonna pursue this you're gonna improve your skills are gonna improve and and your potential is going to expand yes and I feel like as long as you're pursuing

this and constantly growing and constantly pursuing the natural principles that evolved from that process are gonna create greatness and once potential so my man thanks so much for coming. Thank you, brother. Appreciate it, man. Yeah. There you have it.

Super inspiring episode. If you enjoyed this, share it with your friends, Lewis house.com slash four, eight, five, and make sure to tag me at Lewis house and Andy for Sella over on Instagram, on Twitter,

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