The School of Greatness - 613 The No Excuse Guide to Success with Jon Taffer

Episode Date: March 12, 2018

I KNOW HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE EXCUSES. You want to be better, but you also want to stay in your comfort zone, so you tell yourself a story explaining why it’s okay to stay where you are. How to reverse this habit is to start recognizing these stories as the root of all failure. When you do this, you start to notice how your excuses are holding you back. After this becomes a habit, you won't be able to ignore it, pushing you to a more honest and productive life. To help you create this habit in your life, I'm excited for you to hear from the king of no-excuses: Jon Taffer. Jon Taffer is an international celebrity, entrepreneur, and hospitality industry guru most well known for his role in the popular TV show Bar Rescue. As the creator, producer, and star of the show, Jon helps businesses reach their full potential by assessing all aspects of their operation. Jon’s approach to business is something we can all learn from. Growing up in a broken family, Jon used this struggle as the burning fire to launch his passion projects into a career. His latest book Don't Bullsh*t Yourself!: Crush the Excuses That Are Holding You Back shows the level of honesty you must have with yourself to get to the next level. If you’re looking to turn your excuses into solutions or just flat-out stop fooling yourself, tune into Episode 613 to remove excuses from your daily life. Some Questions I Ask: What did drumming teach you about business? (7:17) What is the biggest challenge people face starting a business? (12:18) Did you always have this mindset or did you have excuses and fears in your 20s? (19:27) What’s the greatest lesson your mom taught you? (20:20) What do you look for when you hire? (22:35) How do you manage all the different personalities in different industries? (29:25) What was the biggest lesson your father or his absence taught you? (31:20) What’s the thing that holds you back from that next level? (35:00) What’s the vision moving forward? (44:01) What are your three truths? (50:20) In This Episode You Will Learn: How Jon Taffer sees business as reaction management (8:47) What Jon Taffer believes are the difficulties of the restaurant business (11:02) What Jon Taffer sees as the root of our excuses (16:55) The challenging story of Jon Taffer’s early childhood years (19:30) Jon Taffer’s views on teaching vs. training (24:00) The story of Jon Taffer going from musician to businessman (32:30) How Jon Taffer balances his professional and personal life (39:02) The biggest lessons Jon Taffer has learned working in television (44:50) How Jon Taffer learned communication through childhood abuse (52:05) Plus much, much more

This is episode number 613 with Jon Taffer. 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. John Wooden said it best, never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them. Excuses, my friends, excuses hold so many of us back. We make these excuses of why we aren't

achieving what we want, why we're stuck in that relationship we don't want to be in, why we're not healthy in the way we want to be healthy, why we haven't started on our dream, whatever it may be, we've got some excuse that holds us back. But these are all BS reasons for why you don't want to move forward. And I'm very excited about this interview because it's going to help you unlock why these excuses hold you back and the keys to being successful. We've got Jon Taffer in the house. He's an international celebrity, entrepreneur, highly sought after hospitality industry guru and creator, executive producer, and star of Paramount Network's number one show, Bar Rescue. Now, most people know him as a larger-than-life television personality who takes a no-holds-barred approach to helping businesses reach their full

potential. And his newest book, Don't Bullshit Yourself, he teaches you how to stop fooling yourself and turn those excuses into solutions to improve your life and business. He has got some powerful nuggets throughout this entire interview, so make sure to take a screenshot of this right now and the link is lewishouse.com slash 613 and share it with your friends.

Tag me on Instagram as well and let me know you're listening so we can connect there. Some of the things we talk about are why it's so important to manage the reactions of the people around you and how really everything is about managing reactions around you. And he'll talk about that. We talk about what the common denominator is of failure and why most people fail. Also, why the pace of gratification is a problem today. Talk about what John looks for when he's hiring people in his business and he breaks down the keys to finding the key players in any business and how he approaches this. This was a powerful

part. And he also covers the positive side of manipulation in business. And it's not what you think. Very excited about this episode. I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised of all the things you hear. And again, shoot me a tweet at Lewis Howes or tag me on Instagram at Lewis Howes and let me know what you think so we can connect over there. so we can connect over there. Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got the legendary John Taffer in the house.

Good to see you, sir. Good to see you, Lewis. Excited about this. Me too. I've been looking forward to talking to you because I know that there's going to be some depth to what we talk about. Absolutely. And you're so inspirational.

To jump on your inspirational wagon is a lot of fun for me. There you go. I'm excited to be here. I love it. And you used to work right down at the Troubadour. Is that right? I did, two blocks away. Matter of fact, that was my first management job at the Troubadour.

I was a doorman there when I first started. And one day, the owner of it threw the key ring at me. I was a musician. I came here as a drummer, moved to Los Angeles. He threw the keys at me and said, ah, you run it. And that's how I got in this business. But the memories that I have two blocks away, I mean, I learned my chops there. First time I ever said no to an employee.

First time I ever had to manage anything, you know, was responsible for anything. Wow. How old were you? I was about 20. 20. As a drummer, coming out to live the dream. Yep. And working there like at nights just to make money?

I worked there and I played there. You did both? Both, yeah. Wow. What did drumming teach you about business? You know it's interesting. That's a really powerful question. I'm in a restaurant, bar, nightclub and nightlife business.

And many years ago when I was a musician I learned how you could take five songs, put them in a different order, create a completely different experience. You could take a song on an old-style turntable, increase the speed by 4%, and I could get you to chew faster, walk faster, drink faster. So I learned the science of manipulating music at a very young age. When I was in my 20s, I got the only patent ever issued by the federal government for the achieving of a desired ambiance through music. I'm a nutcase about it. So I put about 80,000 songs into a database and created curves and energy levels and beats per minute ranges. And then when I did restaurants years later, I could increase table turn by increasing beats

per minute. So I'm very into the science of music, and I think a lot of my success in restaurants has been environmental. And I'm very sensitive to environments and pace and energy and what you feel in your gut when you're there. And a lot of that comes from my days at the Troubadour. Wow. When you'd see the difference from one band to another, and the power of music is emotional.

So when I, today, now many years later, I don't play music. I play reactions. I achieve it through music. I don't serve food. I achieve reactions. I achieve the reactions through food. And all that lesson came out of the true word. Wow.

What do you mean by reactions? So I believe, and I trademarked the term reaction management. And reaction management is the premise that if you can manage the reactions of the people around you, you can better manage your life. So if I can manage the reactions of my boss, I'm more likely to get a promotion. Wow. If I can manage the reactions of my customers, I'm more likely to get a second visit. If I can manage the reactions of our customers, I'm more likely to get a second visit. If I can manage the reactions of our audience,

I can have a bigger audience. So we're not in the podcast business. We're in the reaction business. We achieve it through podcasts. And we're not in the music business, we're in the reaction business. And he or she who creates the greatest reactions in life wins.

That's it. It's all about the experience. It is. I have this event in Columbus called the Summit of Greatness. And when I put it on the first time a couple years ago, I said, I've got to create an experience, not an event, that makes people talk about it all year, that brings their friends along so that it sells itself. Yeah.

So the business wasn't the event. The business was the reaction. That's it, yeah. The event is the vehicle. Right. But a lot of people don't get that. Exactly. A lot of people think they're in the restaurant business, not the reaction business. Right. Or the entertainment business, not the reaction business The event is the vehicle. But a lot of people don't get that. A lot of people think they're in the restaurant business, not the reaction business, or the entertainment business,

not the reaction business. We got to take it that step further. It's how it's received more than how it's done. Right, right, right. You wrote this book, just came out, called Don't Bullshit Yourself, Crush the Excuses That Are Holding You Back. But you've been working in bar and restaurant management for many years, right? I have, but more than that. I've taken companies public. I've taken them private. I ran one of the largest trade shows in the world in Las Vegas. I founded it, ran it for many years. Obviously, I have a media company. I'm in a publishing business. I have an on-site video training program where I train people. So I'm in a lot of businesses. But every one of them is very much people-based, you know, inspiring, growth-oriented.

I love to impact people. That's what's really powerful to me. I guess that's why I wound up in the nightclub business. Because when you do it right, people react. They smile, they move, they dance, they eat, they have fun, and you see that. And it comes back at you. So you're re-energized.

The stronger their reaction, the stronger you want to make them react. And that's exciting to me. What's the negative side about working in bars and restaurants? I'm working a four or five in the morning sort of sucks. You know, that's one thing dealing with alcohols, over-intoxicated guests is difficult. But what's tough about the nightclub business and a restaurant business too, is that the two largest cost centers are product and labor, which you have to manage. You know, rent is what it is. Insurance is what it is. Utility, you can't change those things.

But those two elements, labor and product costs, are about 60% of revenue. Really? So that's the challenge. If you don't manage those effectively, you don't make money. And people think bars are inherently profitable. In Lewis, they're not. I mean, the average bar, if you do it right, will make 12% to 18% of revenue. Wow. So if one cost is over by five points, another cost is over by five points, that gets eaten up pretty quickly. Absolutely. So people think, oh, you open it up, costs $0.50 to make a drink. You sell it for $6.

How can you lose money? Well, first time out, about one out of 12 make it. So a lot of people are losing money. Right. Yeah. And you've held over 1,000 bars. Is that right? Oh, I have 1,000 bars. But I've also been on the advisory board of the NFL. I created Sunday Ticket, which I'm very proud of and worked on that project. That's pretty cool. So I've done a bunch of things.

And if there's anything I've learned, it's that the more diversified we become, the more exciting life is. The more different things we do, the more exciting life is. You know, I'm envious of you. You get to talk to different kinds of people all the time. If you talk to the same person every day, it wouldn't be the same.

Right. So it's those differences in life that changes, those shifts in environment that are the most exciting. Mm. What is the biggest challenge that people face when starting a business, whether it's a bar, a restaurant, just a business in general, because you've built many businesses,

but what's the common theme you see as a big challenge? If I could change that slightly, and not necessarily the biggest challenge, but what's the common theme you see as a big challenge? If I could change that slightly, and not necessarily the biggest challenge, but what I see as the biggest pitfall, I've done 160 bar rescues now, 160. I've seen failures that are unbelievable. And, you know, people like yourself and your listeners, we always learn about the blocks of success,

the steps of success, the principles of success, you know, the actions of success, the steps of success, the principles of success, you know, the actions of success, the words of success. After 160 bar rescues, Lewis, I know more about failure than anyone. And there's as much to learn from failure as there is from success. So looking at all of these different people and the husband and wives and the brothers and the partners and the single proprietors, all of them are so different, but there's one common denominator in their failure. And after 160 of them, I truly believe that I found a common denominator of failure. What's that?

It's so simple. Excuses. Let me share what I mean. Let's say you were failing at something. And that's not very likely, but let's say you were. If you wake up tomorrow morning and blame the government, the environment, the weather, you know, Joe Blow, if you blame anything or anyone else, you have no reason to change. But if you blame yourself, you're not going to like it. So what happens that morning in the mirror? Do you look at the mirror and do you blame something else or do you blame yourself?

And if you blame yourself, that's not cool. You change. So when I take a look at it and I say, well, if the common denominator of failure is an excuse, then an excuse becomes paralyzing. It's always a reason not to do what you should or to do what you shouldn't or to make a bad choice. So then I take it a step further and I say to myself, what's the definition of an excuse? So the definition of an excuse is the rationalization of a mistake. If you didn't make a mistake, you'd never mention the excuse. There's no purpose for the excuse without a mistake.

So if I can get people to stop creating excuses, they have to take action. And be accountable and be responsible. Bingo. So the determination that I made after this long process, and it all started for me on a one day in Youngstown, Ohio, which I'll tell you about in a moment, was if I can get people to truly identify an excuse is poison,

and if I can teach them to catch those excuses and stop themselves, I've taken away the paralysis that freezes them. And this all started for me about a year and a half ago. I was doing bar rescue. And you'll find the story powerful. I'm in Youngstown, Ohio, your home state. And I'm driving through the community with the mayor because I'm doing some bar rescues.

And they're very excited that we're there and we're spending money in the community. We're there for three weeks. Downtown was empty. Every store was empty. Wow. 21, 22,000 empty residences. And as I'm driving through Main Street, I looked at a couple of storefronts and something powerful happened to me. Suddenly I realized that store that's empty was owned by a family. That was a dream. That was life savings. That was a business I was planning on passing to my children. This is powerful.

And then I went and I did more homework. And I found out that 600,000 small businesses start in America every year, but 720,000 are closing. Really? And then I found that in the year 2000, 62% of small business was family owned. Now it's 40%. So I said to myself, hold on a minute. We're losing small business. We're losing family small business. And to me, business is the pure sense of growth. When an individual starts a business and starts to create something, that's the essence of growth. Without new products and new ideas and new companies, as a society, we get stagnant.

So when I saw that empty store, I truly said to myself, I want to do something about this. So I got to inspire people. I've got to teach them how to be successful. I've got to convince them that their fears shouldn't hold them back. That using the excuse of scarcity or consequence or ego or any of these things holds us back from our future. So trying to light up those stores, I then said, okay, I want to write something, I want to do something that will inspire people to move forward and not be frozen anymore. And that's how the book actually came to be. And it was really a very noble mission for me. How do I write something that inspires somebody? So then I said, okay, if excuses are the center point of failure and self-accountability, so if I can make people own their failure, I can make them own their success.

But without that ownership of failure, I got a real issue or a real challenge getting them to own success. So then I went further and I analyzed all 160 bar rescues and the different kind of personalities and stuff that I was with. And I realized that there were really six key excuses that are in the book that we focus on. The first one, and very relatable, fear. I'm scared of failure, or I'm scared to do it in the first place place or I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm worried, I'm fearful. But if we stop and think about it, somebody else has been in the same position as you, if not thousands of people,

and they got past the fear. So the fear is really BS. If you really sit and think about it, it's a BS excuse that paralyzes you. Then I look at the next excuse, knowledge. Oh, I don't know enough to do this. I don't know enough to do this. I don't know enough to do this. Or my ego is so great that I know too much to do this.

It's beneath me to do it. So now I say, okay, I don't have the knowledge to do it. Tell that to Steven Jobs. Tell that to Henry Ford. So knowledge is not an obstacle of growth. Growth is knowledge. So if you don't try it, you never learn it. If I try it, son of a gun, I learned it.

So then I love the excuse of circumstance. Well, the economy is bad. Somebody made money in a bad economy. It rains. You know, years ago, I opened a restaurant in Seattle, Washington, and everybody says to me, John, it rains every day here. So I put these metal poles in the deck

where you could put golf umbrellas in. So I could walk around, put the umbrella down, we could talk, and it was a really cool thing. So we take the reign from liability to an asset. Consequence is a big one. Ego is a big one. You know this. This isn't your child.

It's a podcast. If it's great, so be it. If it isn't, you're not going to blow your brains out. It's not your child. Let's just keep this in perspective here. This is a business. If the wall stinks, get rid of it. If the color is wrong, change it. If the color is wrong, change it.

If the content is wrong, fix it. So circumstance is a big one. Then we take a look at the premise of time. I love this one. You know, Lewis, I would have done it. I didn't have the time, buddy. But I sat on social media for three hours this morning. Then I had the time to do it.

Hour and a half breakfast, extra cup of coffee, maybe look at the sunset, beautiful view outside. You know, when I wake up in the morning, that's my time. I do what I want with it. All of these excuses are complete BS. BS. So if I can get people to understand that, I can move them forward. And that's my passion. I love it, man.

Did you always have this mindset or did you have excuses and fears in your 20s when you got into this? Yeah, you know, I was not the best student in school. I struggled through that and matured well, but I struggled when I was young. My dad died when I was two. So, you know, I had some family issues when I was younger growing up and I could have used those as excuses, but for some reason I used them as inspiration. You know, I grew up with a very tough mom, a little violent. Yeah. I heard you didn't talk to her for years, is that right?

Yeah, I had an issue, we didn't talk for five years, and I regret that, but the important thing is that her violence or her aggressiveness could have weakened me, but I chose to let it strengthen me. You know, and then there's a difference of a mistake versus a choice. You know, you trip and fall, that's a mistake. You write the wrong word on a piece of paper,

that's a choice. that's a mistake. You write the wrong word on a piece of paper, that's a choice. There's a difference. How do we reel in our choices, minimize our mistakes, and stop being paralyzed? And I think that my book hopefully moves a bunch of people to that direction. That's cool, that's cool. What was the greatest lesson your mom taught you growing up?

You know, the greatest lesson my mother taught me is really a cold lesson. You know, she taught lesson my mother taught me is really a cold lesson. She taught me that people are unpredictable. Dollars are predictable. She taught me that there's no charity without money. She taught me that there's no ego without money. She taught me that you can never achieve purpose without money.

So the fact of the matter is I understood that if I want to do something that's good for people, I need the resources to do it. If I want to do something that's good for people, I need the resources to do it. If I want to do something that's good for myself, I need the resources to do it. She made me a capitalist. She made me understand that. And then when I do bar rescues, you know, I always find it fascinating when you meet the guy who's got the biggest ego in the world and you ask him to show you, show me your wallet. It's the thinnest wallet you ever sold in your life. I mean, there's no money in there it There's no credit cards in there, but his ego is huge And I don't understand how somebody has a large ego with a small wallet that doesn't make sense to me So we call those $30,000 millionaires on Instagram

That's right all these like young kids that are in front of Lamborghinis and big mansions, but they have no money and no money Yeah, but they have ego. Yeah, which, you know, the interesting revelation about today's generation. You know, I was talking earlier today about what I think is the big difference between millennials and older generations is what I call pace of gratification. And I think you'll find this interesting. You know, today young people post something on social media, they get a like right away, comment right away. I posted, oh man, you look great, Oh, you know, great shirt, great this. Ugliest girl in the world, poster, picture.

You look beautiful today. So today millennials get this instant gratification. But yet guys like you and I had to work hard for our gratification. It took us years. They're not used to that. They're used to short-term gratification. The last generation is used to longer periods of gratification.

So what I see happens with younger people today is if you don't give them that gratification along the way, they lose their steam. Because they really need that pat on the back, that like, that comment. So it's a change in the way we manage and the way we hire and go at people. And it's a powerful dynamic that is not the best for business, candidly. Because the fact of the matter is great success comes after a longer period of work, and gratification doesn't come every day. Yeah, it's going to be years. That's why you've got to appreciate the small wins.

It might be something not this thousands of likes, but like someone gave you a nice compliment or really enjoyed your food or whatever it is that you're doing. It's like the small day-to-day things that you can build over time. Yeah. And that's the way to manage employees today. Yeah. Is, you know, you have to understand that there's professional correction, but then there's personal recognition. So, you know, I want to look and say, great job today, buddy. Really, really great work, but I need you to do something for me or you know who is I'm really proud to have you on board you know you're a great asset to the company your pride your performance is terrific but you need to

do something for me you're gonna fix something for me so you know today we have to be very cautious in the way we manage the person versus the way we manage the process and there's a great sensitivity today if you're not good at managing both it's very difficult to be successful yeah what great sensitivity today. If you're not good at managing both, it's very difficult. Yeah. What do you look for when you're hiring them for any type of business you're in? That's a great question. I love answering this question. I do a lot of commencement speeches at universities. And when I used to started doing those, all the professors sat in the front row. And I was at UNLV last week, which is the number one hospitality school in the country giving a speech. After three or four years, they were in a back row.

Then they're not in a room. And here's why. If you look at a college textbook or any corporate manual in America, they will say the word training. But what's the difference between teaching and training? Huge. Training is behavior modification. You ever meet somebody who never looks in your eyes, you know, they stare at your forehead? Can't change that.

How about the guy who walks around like this, you know, how are you Joe, fair to middling tomorrow, how are you Joe, hanging in there, next day, how are you Joe, two hours to go. I mean, 365 days a year, this guy is never great. Can't change that. What about people who have no sense of humor, no compassion, you know, no sensitivity,

you know, don't care about it. You can't change that. So when we in business say that we train people, it is complete bullshit. All we do is teach people to work in our business. Training is behavior modification. That's why we have prisons. Or I say, don't do that. I'd send you back out in the street again. So training is a behavior modification process, takes years. No business trains anyone. So the mistake that businesses make is they hire on a resume.

And that's a mistake, unless you're an attorney or something that is in essence so detailed or educational based. You give me somebody who has a lousy resume and the greatest personality for a particular job description in three weeks, and I'll show you a superstar. Wow. You give me –

You give me some certain things. Of course, because their traits are right. Their personality is right. Their attitude is right. Their connectivity is right. I can teach them. Their passion. Yes.

I can teach them what they need to know, but I can't train them, anything. So would you rather have someone with the personality and the characteristics and the attitude who knows nothing about a certain skill over the person who knows everything about the skill, mastered it, but hasn't mastered the behavior that you want? Or would you rather have? I got the former every time. I'm going to go for personality every time. Personalities drive business. Process is easy, especially today with computerization and automation and such. So what are the personalities that will connect me with my business? And I do a lot of educational programs, and I'll be in a room with 1,000 people. And I did one for a big chain restaurant just a couple weeks ago, and I looked around the room. Actually, it was the National Restaurant Association, the largest trade association in America.

Just last week, I gave a speech for them in New England. And I said, how many of you in this 400 or 500 operators room, how many of you have employees working for you that you shouldn't have working for you? And almost every hand in the room went out. Wow. So I just don't understand it. If I think my employee's not going to succeed,

and if you're really important to me as a customer, how dare I put somebody in front of you that I don't believe in? I mean, how dare I do such a thing? So then I say, okay, so you have employees that you don't like working for you. They don't have the right traits to be successful. So I don't understand this. If it was the Super Bowl, would you field the worst team or the best? The best.

The best, of course. So how do you walk out on the field knowing that your team isn't the strongest? And that then raises the next issue of hiring, which is standards. And my whole life as a business communicator, and I've been one who's done educational programs and leadership programs my whole life all around the world, you take a look at the premise of leadership and then standards. So what is a standard? So a standard is a measurement of performance that is qualifiable. This is what I want you to do. Quantifiable. This is when you're going to do it. And verifiable. I'm going to make sure you do.

And if it doesn't have all three, it's not a standard. So what happens is we hire people with the wrong personality traits, then we don't protect the standards, and it unravels. We must have the right personality traits, and then the number one role of any manager, any owner, no different than what you're doing, is you must protect standards. Fight for them. Do everything we can to enhance those standards. If McDonald's puts too much ketchup on those burgers, everything changes. Right. If there's too much onion in one and not enough onion in the other, everything changes.

We are in a world of standards. And standards of performance are critical. If I have the right personalities and I protect my standards, I'm not going to lose. Yeah. How many businesses do you run right now or that you're a part of? Well, I have five television shows in various stages of development or on the air. I have right now my, I have another company off television, which is my B2B company, Taffer Dynamics.

Taffer Dynamics has been in business for over 30 years. Our clients are people like Anheuser-Busch. We're building a huge resort in Pigeon Forge now, an entire mountain with attractions and hotel rooms and hospitality business. Anheuser-Busch is a huge client for us, as I mentioned. Huge banks are clients for us for credit card processing and increasing sales potential. Right now, I'm reinventing the customer experience for the largest hardware store in the world, chain in the world, 2,200 units. Wow, that's cool.

So, you know, we are very focused on customer experience modification, and we cross many business models. So we go through banking, we go through hardware, we go through hospitality, television, media. And bars and restaurants are your own? No, I sold them all. I had 17, sold them all. Got it, yeah. And all the pieces are the ones you're working on now?

No, no, no, we don't do that. We keep it completely autonomous. Right. You know, so as a bar rescue host, it's their business. I'll make suggestions. But it's their business, so they have to choose. Sure. They have to own it.

Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course, of course. But you know, so I guess all in all, I'm running about 12, 14 businesses. How do you manage all the different personalities and all the different industries and businesses that you have? It's difficult. It's difficult. While you're 12 hours on air and preparing for a show and speaking and doing all those things. I'm going to be cold for a moment. To me, the definition of management

is the achieving of objectives through the manipulation of others. That to me is a definition of management. I'm very good at manipulating others. In a positive way. Absolutely. If I give you a raise, that's great. If I pat on the back, that's great. So I don't mean it in a negative sense. Manipulation can be very positive.

You'll thank me for it if I do it well. That's a very powerful element. And then you've got to surround yourself with winners. There's no question about it. My grandfather once said, my grandfather invented direct mail. It was a very wealthy man. And he once said to me, he goes, you know, the only guarantee of success in life is you really got to be the smartest guy in the room. And there's another side to that. If I'm the smartest guy in

the room, I'm not going to learn much. So I want to be the smartest guy in the room about what's really important to me and then have the people around me that are smarter than me and the other things. But that's a really powerful element. The other thing that he taught me that stuck with me my whole life is you don't have to have a big checkbook if you have a big idea book. But you need one or the other. Right. So if you need that big idea, you need that big check to get that big idea. Yeah. You know, those are powerful elements for me. And I think that when one is inspirational, when one leaves a positive influence on the people around them, they rally. My new book came out.

As we speak next week, the network's running free spots for me. Wow. I got free commercials running for me. I just did the Dr. Phil show. He's a dear friend of mine promoting my book. And you know this because when your book came out, your friends supported you too. When we support them, they support us. And there's an integrity to life that causes people to want to come through for you. Yeah. And I think that's the best way to manage people, candidly, is by example.

Absolutely. What would you say is the best lesson your father taught you, even though he was gone when you were two? What did you learn about his absence or the lesson that he left behind in some other way? Mickey Mantle, the baseball player, said a quote that was really powerful to me. His father died of Hodgkin's, his uncle died of Hodgkin's, his brother died of Hodgkin's. And he always said, you know, had I known I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself. And it's a very powerful line because he thought his life was so limited that he didn't have to worry about the later years of his life. You know, when your father passes away at two years old and it throws your family in a disarray, and then my grandfather died, who I was living with when I was seven, and then, you know, you deal with this death as a child, you start to think to yourself, there's a clock ticking.

Tomorrow is important. I don't want to waste it. So what it did is it had a profound impact upon my desire to hurry up and to realize that life does have an urgency. Yes. And finding what makes us feel good in life is something that should have urgency. Happiness should have urgency. Success should have urgency. Because the quicker we get there, the happier we are.

That urgency helped me a great deal. And I think it's a positive message for people. Did you always think you'd be a business person or did you think you'd be this rock star drummer? I took nine years of drum lessons when I was a kid. When I was a jazz drummer I was really good. Really? And took it very, very seriously.

I still have a drum set in my office as we speak. My Marshall mini stack, my guitars. Music is a large part of me. Today I play more steering wheels than I do anything else. But music was a large part of my identity growing up because I wasn't a great student, but I was a great musician. So I could be with the hands.

And it was something that was very, very meaningful to me. And when I left music, what happened to me was in the middle of my senior year in high school, I got an offer to play in a band, professional. And I actually sat there with my parents. And shocking to me, affluent East Coast parents, they parents I said listen I want to drop out of high school in the middle of my senior year and go on tour with this band and it wasn't the

most pleasant conversation that I had with my mother but they actually agreed to it and I left and I went on tour with the band this is back in what year this is would have been 1972 Wow and I made a whole bunch of money it with a band. This is back in what year? This would have been 1972. Wow. And I made a whole bunch of money. It was a band whose drummer had gone into a drug rehab program, so I found myself now. So now I'm 17 years old, I'm touring with a band, we're a rock star.

And I realized it didn't feel as good as I thought it would. I wasn't necessarily into the whole rock star thing. I found a hollowness in it, to be honest with you. And it was doing that that showed me how much I liked the business end more than the music end. So then I evolved into trying to manage bands and trying to do that. And then Doug Wesson one day threw the key ring at me

and that was that. But I have a love of music, but I get a greater sense of accomplishment out of business. That's interesting. Why jazz drums? Because it's the toughest to play. Yeah. If you're going to do it, the toughest route is always the best.

That's it. It's funny. My brother's the number one jazz violinist in the world. He played with Les Paul for 10 years. He's a radio man in New York City, and he's traveled all over the world. I grew up watching jazz through him, and so I have an appreciation for it. I can't play it, but I have appreciation for it. And one thing about jazz, you got to have your chops. Exactly. So you can't fake it in jazz. So that's what was really important to me.

And the jazz drummer can play anything else. So if you can play jazz, you can play. You can play basic rock beats or whatever you have. Sure. Every drummer can do with one hand, but a rock drummer can't do it with two. Exactly. What do you think is the biggest challenge or struggle that you're facing today? You've had so much success, and you've learned so many things,

and what's the thing that holds you back from the next level? You know, that's a great question. And of all the people I've talked to, nobody's asked me that question before. Everybody talks about where you are. Nobody talks about where you're going. I wake up every day, and I think to myself, I got these 12 balls on my desk.

And each one is a project or something that's important to me. And I have to move those balls every day. If I don't move every ball, I can't sleep at night. I'm a nutcase. So I don't live my life by completing things necessarily, because things take time to complete. I have to move every ball every day or I freak out. It's something that if I don't make progress every day, I can't live with myself.

So I truly move every ball every day. So if I was to find what I did for a living more than anything, I'm a push man. I push people to do things faster. I push people to do things faster. I push them to do things better. And I push myself harder than anyone. Wow. Do you feel like you push too much and that's something you want to ease off on?

I think if I asked my assistant who's sitting on the other side of the room, she would say I push too much. I take on a lot. But I have a high view of myself, candidly. I believe I can handle it. And self-confidence is very, very important. If you don't believe you can handle it, go handle it. And then you'll believe you can handle it next time. Yeah. When is there too many balls? When you can't move them anymore. The minute I can't move all of them, I have too many. So then you either have to remove some from your desk, put them aside, or you have to start to

prioritize. But if you can't move every ball every day, then you have too many balls. And that's just the way I look at it in a simplistic sense. That some balls are more important than others, bigger than others. In theory, you move those first, and of course we have priorities. But if you're gonna start 11 things

and you move 11 things every day, or only start 10, only start nine. And that's really important, because without that progress, there's no growth. Without the growth, there's no growth. Without the growth, there's no result. Right. There's another book called The One Thing.

I don't know if you've heard about this. It's called The One Thing and it's all about focusing on the one thing you're really good at and becoming great at that one thing. In theory,

that sounds incredible to me to have all these other distractions away and just focus on one thing. But as a guy, I would just get too bored doing one thing every day. But it's like, how can you manage building up a team and the resources so that they all move forward in a powerful way?

They're not average. Because I think once it starts to be average or less than the best it could be, then I'm not going to feel good either. I agree. Putting out something that's not the top of the line. Well, that's a personal pride. Right. People who exercise a practice every day without pride,

I feel bad for those people. Because what's our purpose? At the end of the day, if we don't feel good about what we've accomplished, what's the whole purpose? So, you know, when I take a look at what you've accomplished, you have a broad group of businesses and activities that you're involved in. So do I. But you know what's interesting?

I think I'm only in one business. People? People and communications. Yeah. And so are you. Persuasion. Absolutely. Now I'm influencing a lot of different businesses and a lot of different things, but it really is one business. Inspire, influence, and communicate. Wow. What's the one thing you can get better at, you think, to improve your level of doing that even better? That's a great question. You know, I think there's a number of things I could be better at. I think that I could be better personally.

What I mean by that is I am professionally incredibly disciplined. I mean, I work. I am working day and night. My professional discipline sort of makes me personally undisciplined in a way. Because then you kind of relax and let loose personally. Yes. When I'm down, I don't hit the gym as often as I could. My diet isn't as strong as I could.

I mean, if there's an area where I could improve, it's I'm so focused on my professional life that I leave my personal life behind. Why do you think you do that? I guess I get more gratification out of the business work than I do the personal work. I'm guessing. But that's a great question. And you're going to leave me something to think about tonight. How do you think your professional work would improve if you took the same pride in your personal life as in the professional? Or would it not improve?

I think it would have to improve. Why? Well, stamina, conceivably. I mean, maybe I get an extra hour a day out of it. Who knows? Energy is always great when it's higher. You know, when I shoot 50 episodes a year, I burn out on energy. I do that, yeah.

It's really difficult. So obviously more energy would be helpful. So there's every logic to do it. But it's interesting that as one who is such an example in business, I'm not always the best personal example. And it shows that there are facets of our lives that we're all really good at and some that we can all improve at.

Is it something you want to improve at? You sort of got me going here. I got a feeling I might get a phone call from him in a couple weeks. What's going on, John? How's that personal stuff going? Let's go, baby. I'm with you.

No excuses. That's it. You might have a desire, but is your desire following up with your actions? That's right. That's right. I don't think it is. But maybe you don't want it bad enough, and that's okay, too. I don't think you need to.

I just think— In life, we chase what we want, but sometimes we need to chase what we need, too. That is true. The more I'm connecting with you, I realize how powerful of an influence and persuasion you can be for good. And I believe that when you own up to or whatever it is that you don't feel like you're doing as good at personally, when you take complete control of that and ownership and responsibility, you're going to make it ten times the impact you're making. Because people are going to say, wow wow this guy's the complete example and complete package i'm not saying it's easy there's a lot of things i can do personally too to be

better at but i'm just saying as someone looking from the outside in if you're making that big of an impact already imagine where we could imagine the way to change the world that you could do imagine that every time you speak on tv the the influence you have, it doesn't take longer, it takes, it's instant. And that's what I see as possible. Yeah. Something to think about. Oh no, something to think about.

Something to think about. No, something hard to think about. But you know, the fact of the matter is, you know, we inspire people in many, many different ways. And I'm still surprised by the whole thing, to tell you the truth. You know, I went into television very late. Yeah, how old were you when you started?

Oh, I've only been on television six years. I've never been in that business. I never thought I'd be in the television business. If you told me 10 years ago I was going to be in television, I would have never believed you. I gave a speech at a convention in Las Vegas. And after the speech, somebody came up to me and said, you should be on TV.

I wrote up a little thing, which was originally called On the Rocks. And it was sort of a cross between Kitchen Nightmares and Mission Impossible. So I had a file and I opened up the file and I pulled out my experts, right? Like the old Mission Impossible show. And then I would went and I would rescue people's bars and restaurants. And I put it together and I brought it to a friend of mine who had been the president of Paramount Television

and had just left and now at a production company. And years earlier I had done some licensing with Paramount, so I knew them. So I bring them my idea and sit down in my office. I say, what do you think? He looks at me. Can I say the F word? John, you will never fucking be on television. You're not good looking enough.

You're too old. It'll never happen. I was devastated. So I walked out of his office. I'm getting to know you pretty good in the time we're together. I was devastated. So I walked out of his office, and I'm getting to know you pretty good in the time we're together. When somebody says no to you, what happens?

I do, I'm like, I'm gonna show you. I'm exactly right. So I walked out of that office with a vendetta, Louis. Yeah, of course. Screw this guy. I shot my own scissor reel. I put the thing together myself. I sent it to five production companies.

I got four offers. And I got them in days. One of them called me from France, or at the television convention in France, and says, don't do anything. We'll be them in days. One of them called me from France or at the television convention in France says, don't do anything. We'll be back in two days. Don't do anything. So I wait and now I get four offers. So I don't know the entertainment business. I don't know which offer is better and everything. So I get a manager. I find out that you got to get an agent, but you can't have an agent until you have a television show, but you can't have a television show until you have an agent. I'm still trying to figure that one out. So I pitch it.

I get these deals. I sign with the production company. They bring it to then Spike, which was the network. They pick it up in four days. Wow. So literally three weeks after that guy said to me, you will never fucking be on television.

You got a show. I got a show. So now the pilot gets picked up. In less than a year from when that person said, I'll never be on television, the series premiered. And I did something I'd never done before in life. I got one of those caskets with black roses in it. You ever see those? So it's a casket-shaped flower box with black roses in it.

And I sent it to my buddy who told me I'll never be on TV. We've been friends, of course, ever since. But now 160 episodes later, number one show on a network, 77 million people watched the show last season. Amazing. And we're now in over 4,000 channels, five continents, and three languages. It goes to show when you think to yourself,

I can't do this, that's when you should. And you know, sometimes the fact that you've never done it before means you're going to do it different. Different perspective. You bet. And you might wind up with the best formula of all because you've never done it before. That's it, yeah.

And that's why I look at things. Wow. What's the vision moving forward? You've done it for six seasons. You've got, you know, more coming. Do you want to continue to do TV, or what's the vision for? Well, you know, I'm doing a number of couple of TV shows. I'm very proud to have linked up with Dr. Phil.

You know, with Dr. Phil, we can take it to the next level of really helping and inspiring people. So for me, something interesting happened to me. Last year, I canceled my agreement with that very production company that I signed, and I went to a contract directly with the network. Wow. So now I'm contracted by the network. And you own the production company. And the production company now works for me.

Right, right. So I'm in complete control of the show. So we've mixed up format, I'm really playing around with it, I'm really having some fun with it. And honestly it's the most inspiring season I've ever had. It's really, we've really changed some lives this year. That's cool. And again, it's because I'm going at it in a different way.

So it's fresh for me now. It's exciting again. Yeah. Huh. What's the greatest lesson you've learned since starting the TV show until now? You know, I've learned that being political is foolish. I've learned that because of Bar Rescue, there's a phenomenon that happens in Bar Rescue that's fascinating. I only have four days. Normally, this would be a 60- to 90-day project.

So there's this clock ticking in my head, Lewis, every minute. I don't have time for you to get on a bus. You've got to get on it now. I don't have time for you to do this on your pace. You have to do it on mine. There is no tomorrow. I must move you where I need you today or we're dead in four days. So I am under pressure every minute it causes me to put them under pressure to be highly confrontational

But imagine this for a moment. I mean they call me up to four hundred thousand and that they're living in their parents basement They've owned this place for years. They have enough money to make it another two or three weeks on their last chance So I take that really seriously. So I go at them. But here's what I've learned. I've learned, and this was shocking to me, I can actually tell them in very ugly terms what I think of them and get a hug ten minutes later. And I've learned that bluntness is not an enemy.

Being straight with people is not an enemy. If you displease, say it. If you think they're screwing up, say it. If you think that they're not going to improve their situation, say it. For years I didn't say things that I should have. For years I was political.

This television show has given me an envelope where I do not have to be political. That's probably what makes it work, too. Yes. And because I'm unpolitical, I am able to move people at a rate, a pace, and change their actions in a way that I would never be able to do politically. Yeah. And it's fascinating. And it's almost like I want to cause you to doubt yourself.

So I show up on their place at their business, and they're going to show me this, and they're proud of that, and they're proud of this, and they're proud of this, and they're proud of that. And then I look at them and say, picture it all, $400,000. And then they tell me how great this is and how great that is, and then I look around, but there's nobody here. So then I realize, okay, I can't change what they do. I have to change the way they think. If I change the way they think, I can't can't change what they do. I have to change the way they think.

If I change the way they think, I can't help but change what they do. If I land on what they do, I don't have a great chance of success. So how do I change the way they think? I have to challenge the way they think. Every decision you make, I am gonna challenge. I'm gonna lay it on you.

That's the wrong color wall. Those pictures suck. That should be blue, not orange. That should be green. This is completely wrong. That left. I am going to attack everything until a moment comes of self-doubt. In that moment of self-doubt, you know,

maybe he's right, maybe this is. In that moment, his brain opens up a crack and I walk right in. I have to catch them in doubt because their egos are typically their worst enemy In that moment of doubt if I can walk in and make them reassess their decision-making. I got him. Mm-hmm And that's ugly. Yeah, because I have minutes to do it. You politically would spend weeks with me getting it It's ugly. So politically would spend weeks with me getting me to that point. It's ugly. So I learned to hell with political approaches.

Be direct, be blunt. Understand that this is their time. This is their life. They should have the urgency. And through political incorrectness, bluntness, directness, sometimes vulgarity, sometimes touching them, getting them angry, I can change their lives.

If I don't make them angry at their failure, I don't get anywhere. I gotta make them pissed. They have to make a drastic change quickly, otherwise they're gonna stay where they're at. And they gotta get mad at themselves. Yeah. They gotta get mad at their situation.

And they gotta funnel that anger into action. Without that anger, they've got no energy. They're just lost. They're complacent, Lewis. How do I get them uncomplacent? So I go at them. Then finally he goes, you know, I've had enough with you. I've been waiting for that anger for two days. Okay, now you care. Now we can go forward. But without that anger and that inspiration, they're screwed. Yeah. Wow. I want to ask a that inspiration, they're screwed. Yeah. Wow. I want to ask a couple final questions.

This is fascinating, so thanks for opening up. Of course, my pleasure. This is called the three truths, this question that I ask everyone at the end. So imagine this is many years from now, and it's your last day. You're 100 and whatever you want to be. You choose when you go out of the world. So I'm staring at the box right now. You're staring at the box.

You choose. You're like, I've done everything I want to do. I've conquered it all. I've had a great life. It's time. And you've done it all. And everything that you've created, you have to take with you.

No one has access to it anymore. It has to go with you in the box and wherever it goes. But no one has access to your books or your videos or content or businesses. So I'm completely gone. Everything has come with you, right? That sucks. It with you, right? That sucks. It's hypothetical, right? But you get to leave them behind one thing.

And it's a piece of paper that you get to write down your three biggest lessons of life, your three truths, the things you know to be true about all the experiences you've had. And that's what you can leave for everyone else to be remembered by you. What would you say are your three truths? A man of many ideas and philosophies and keys, but what would be the top three for you? Be true to yourself. If you don't be true to yourself, you're going to get lost. You shall never find yourself. So be true to yourself.

Be open to the knowledge of others. And live a life of morality. Because there's not enough of that now. I mean, I think that those are the three messages. Those are great. And you know, I think the morality one is a big one. You know, I worry about where our society is going. I worry about the divisiveness of today.

I worry about the lack of caring of today. I worry about the political correctness of today. I worry about the political correctness of today. Let me share with you an example. You know, I just finished my 159th Bar Rescue. At the end of a Bar Rescue episode, I travel with a crew of 57 people who work so hard with us. And at the end of these 36-hour remodels, my art department has been up all night long. And I have a bunch of women in the art department. Well, for 140 episodes, I've hugged them after every episode. Great job, great job. Just like we did when we walked in here.

I can't hug them anymore. Why not? Oh, because of the... Post Harvey Weinstein. Yeah, yeah. Can't hug them anymore. I can't have the casual relationship I used to have with them anymore. If our society keeps going, there's going to be glass between all of us.

All we're going to do is look at screens. We're never going to look at each other anymore. We have to break this stuff down. Political correctness sometimes is our enemy. We have to be true. We have to be open. We have to communicate. There shouldn't be rules of how we don't communicate. We should be open to communicating in all ways. Openly, frankly, honestly.

If we don't communicate in that way, the divisiveness continues. The solution to divisiveness is communication. Yeah. We get more divisive, we communicate less, we dig in, we posture, and we don't get out. So what does this mean today? When did you learn to communicate so effectively? When I was really young.

This is a story I don't love telling, but I'm going to tell it to you because I think it's important. When I was young, my mother was abusive. And she was not in the best of moods. And I could look at her face and know that today was not going to be a good day. So I had to use humor. I had to use manipulation to change her mood to make my day better. So I learned how to communicate with her at a very young age, not consciously. I learned how to communicate with her in ways that would change her mind,

her mentality, her attitude. I could make her smile. I could do this. I could do that. And I learned that by communicating with her that way, I made it through the day. So at a very young age, I got good at this out of necessity. And it wasn't conscious. And it got to the point.

It did. And it got to the point that I can change direction in the middle of a sentence and not even think about it. So if I was talking to you, and as we're talking, you did this, I will change in the middle of the sentence and not even think about it. The minute you do this, I'm going to change in the middle of the sentence and not even think about it. The minute you do this, I'm going to change in the middle of the sentence and not even think about it. So I, through her and my survival instincts, learned how to feel the moment, change it, shift it. I start on a topic she doesn't like. In the middle of the sentence, I change that topic. The sky's a little blue. You know, there's some gray over there, too. Looks like it's going to, no, doesn't look like it's going to rain. So I learned in real time how to manage reactions.

You can't do that if you don't communicate. And it wasn't conscious. It was really an instrument to survival for me. Right. I was going to say, it sounds like you're playing music at a young age through communicating. Yeah. Through, like, understanding the environment and shifting the mood. And then you did that with music. And then you did it as a manager. Yeah, and with humor. Yeah. Through like understanding the environment and shifting the mood and then you did that with music and then you did it as a manager. Yeah and with humor. Yeah. And I use

humor quite a bit. You know I find that humor is wonderful. It's you know it breaks the spirit, it breaks the mood and I could use humor with her when I was very young and the minute that smile happened I was good for a few hours. Right. And then all I had to do was deal with the next smile. But, you know, it was always just a few hours for me. Wow. It was never days. So I always had to purposely manage my environment around her and manage her reactions to that environment every few hours.

That sounds stressful. And it was. And that's how reaction management came about. It was necessity. Yeah. That's powerful. I got one final question for you, but I want to make sure you guys get the book. Don't bullshit yourself.

Crush the excuses that are holding you back. Powerful book. Make sure you go get lots of copies and give it to your friends. Where can they follow you online? John Taffer, Facebook, at John Taffer on Twitter, Instagram, all under John Taffer, J-O-N-T-A-F-F-E-R. Where do you like to hang out personally the most? Is there anywhere? I'm very much a Twitter and Facebook guy.

Okay, cool. I'm on both of those very much, and we'll connect on there. Yeah, of course. We can find us both in the same place sometimes. So Jon Taffer on Twitter. Make sure you guys reach out and let him know what you thought about this. Let him know the most inspiring part of this and tweet it to you, and I'm sure you'll see it there. I look forward to that.

Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you for a moment for your ability to be real. You're completely 100% authentically yourself. And I love your wisdom, your knowledge and your ability to use everything you've done in your life to make an impact on the people around

you. And I can see that with you and it's been a lot of fun to connect. So I really acknowledge you for using your gifts at the highest level to make an impact on others. I'm coming for you, that means a lot to me. Yeah, of course, of course. Thank you buddy, you're an inspiration to me too. Appreciate it.

The last question is what is your definition of greatness? Greatness is exceeding your own expectations because greatness is within. You know, other people thinking I'm great feels good, but it doesn't get me anywhere. Me thinking I'm great is what's powerful. Greatness comes when you exceed your own expectations. John Taffer, thank you, sir.

Appreciate it. This is a pleasure, buddy. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Jon Taffer. Extremely inspiring, extremely insightful. If you thought it was inspiring as much as I did, then make sure to take a screenshot of your phone right now while you're listening to this.

Post this on your Instagram story or your page or Twitter and tag me at Lewis Howes and put the link lewishowes.com slash 613 so other people can be inspired and help them overcome their excuses as well. It means the world to me that you continue to listen every single Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we come out with new episodes

to help you unlock your inner greatness. And this one was a powerful one. So again, please share it out. Watch the full video interview over on youtube.com slash Lewis Howes, where we have a video coming out every single day, short videos, longer video interviews, everything in between to help you to inspire you, to entertain, all those things back at youtube.com slash Lewis Howes. You know, I hope you know that there is so much available for you. I shouldn't have been able to do what I do right now. I was struggling in school early on in the special needs classes, felt very insecure, felt very out of place, didn't have a lot of friends growing up,

didn't have a lot of self-confidence, grew up in a small town, and I had a lot of excuses on my back, a lot of excuses piling on me. And I could have easily just said, you know what? All these excuses are in the way, so I can't go do what I want. And that's why I love John's message

because these excuses don't have to be excuses anymore. You can turn them into solutions to power you forward to achieving your dreams. So I hope you guys enjoyed this one because as John Wooden said, never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them. And you don't need to believe them either.

They're just excuses that are holding you back and it's time to break free. And it's also time for something else. You know what that time is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music