The School of Greatness - 842 Building a Hospitality and Wellness Empire with Eugene Remm

Episode Date: August 28, 2019

PLAY MORE CHESS AND LESS CHECKERS. We always make fun of dogs chasing their tails. It’s funny to watch- they spin and spin and spin trying to catch the impossible. They eventually flop onto the ground exhausted. What’s the “tail” you are chasing? You probably think something will change when you finally catch that thing that is just out of reach, but the reality is that it probably won’t. I’ve accomplished so many goals that ultimately left me feeling empty. Stop spinning around reaching for things that won’t ultimately bring you happiness. Instead, focus on the process and the impact you have on others. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I talk about figuring out what really matters with a King of New York hospitality: Eugene Remm. Eugene Remm is an entrepreneur and wellness expert whose companies include Catch Hospitality Group (Catch Restaurants, Lexington Brass) and the boxing-inspired group fitness concept Rumble. Forbes Magazine dubbed him one of the “New Kings of New York Hospitality.” Eugene has been able to leverage social media in truly innovative ways by staying ahead of trends and being authentic. He had to learn through failure to be a team player. He now teaches that looking out for the benefit of all benefits you as well. So get ready to learn how to play big and stay humble on Episode 842. Some Questions I Ask: What happened to your nightclubs? (27:00) How do you handle relationships when their investments are lost? (28:00) What was the moment you had the biggest ego slap? (34:30) Why does a nightclub guy think he can start a fitness company? (47:00) How do you attract such high profile investors? (52:00) How do you manage 1000 people? (1:04:00) In This Episode You Will Learn: Why you should focus on the process and not the goal (7:00) Why it’s important to know your limit (21:00) The power of taking accountability for your failures (25:00) Why you need a balance of gut instincts and data (38:00) The three things you need to be successful (40:00) When to lean into a trend and when to go against it (42:00) Why paying people isn’t the number one thing (1:06:00) If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/842 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes

This is episode number 842 with Eugene Rem. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, 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. Walt Disney said, do what you do so well that they want to see it again and bring their friends.

I've never had someone on quite like Eugene Rem. And most of you probably don't know his name, but you might know his brands. And Eugene is an entrepreneur and wellness expert whose companies, Ketch, Hospitality Group, and Rumble have achieved notable success as bi-coastal multi-market operations. Forbes Magazine called Eugene one of the new kings of New York hospitality. Eugene, along with his business partner, propelled their seafood restaurant catch from a standalone New York City flagship to an international phenomenon with successful locations in LA, Playa del Carmen, Las Vegas, and additional outposts slated for this year. He is currently the chief brand officer of Rumble, which is blowing up in LA and New York

and taking over the social media world. It's one of the fastest growing fitness concepts with numerous locations opening up all over the United States and a recent minority stake acquisition by Equinox Fitness Clubs. And with a new bootcamp-style running concept, rumble treading, rolling out this fall,

rumble is further poised to take the fitness and wellness space by storm. So watch out for rumble. And in this interview, we talk about Eugene's definition of success and why he thinks money is like sugar. We talk about how he got his chops in the New York club scene and all of the mistakes

and failures that he learned by opening up too many restaurants and clubs too fast. What investors need to understand about all industries out there, the importance of constantly innovating and when to lean into trends that are happening in the industries, how to find branding that works for you and will have longevity, and the most powerful ways to manage teams and egos. When you have hundreds or thousands of employees, it's challenging to manage all the egos and build teams within your business. He talks about how he does that with all of his brands. Excited about this one. And now without further ado, let's dive into this episode with the one and only Eugene Rapp. What would make this the most impactful thing you've ever done in your life?

This conversation. If one kid out there who was similar to me at 21, 22, got some information that shifted his perspective. And then he went out there and did some cool stuff. When I was 30, I made some money. I put 50K into a basketball foundation in the town I grew up in in Queens. And I thought I was going to find a bunch of Russian Jewish kids that wanted to play basketball

and hear about life. And I was super disappointed that none of them gave a darn about life and just wanted to like play basketball and hear about life. And I was super disappointed that none of them gave a darn about life and just wanted to come play basketball and could care less about any information on their growth. And I thought that other 14, 15 year old kids would have questions and opportunities when they met me or the other people that I brought in to speak with them after the basketball, that they would be into it and they weren't. I was disappointed initially and I spoke to someone and they said, it's not result driven, it's the process driven. So as long as your goal was there, if you want to be just driven by the result, you're

going to be disappointed way more often in life than you're going to be happy. So focus on the process. So in that scenario, I wasn't able to reach one single person to do something successful. So why I go on these things is if I can communicate to young people who are trying to do something, they can take something from this and pivot. That's awesome. So I know I'm not going to have a chance to have one-on-one lunches or dinners with 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, whatever amount of people. So if any opportunity to share an authentic message with no personal agenda for me, that would make my day.

That's great. I love it. We've got Eugene Ram in the house. Very excited about this. Good to see you, man. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I love what we were just talking about because I think in my life, I was so driven by results and goals of needing to achieve my dreams. As an athlete, I wanted to be an All-American, a professional football player. And I achieved those dreams and I was always disappointed by achieving them. And you were just talking about having this goal of having these kids be impacted and really want to be hungry for mentorship, and none of them were.

Isn't it interesting that it always comes back to the process in life? Even when we achieve the goals, I remember being miserable for days, weeks afterwards, being like, I did everything I wanted to do, but I'm still not happy. Yeah. And so it doesn't matter if we achieve it or not. It should always be focused on the impact, the process, what we learn in the process, and how we help people. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I educate through storytelling.

So for me, it's you can give a statement like, hey, enjoy the process. And people are like, cool. Yeah. But for me. I really want this thing. I really want this thing. So for me, I could simply say that every time I look back on a successful moment, the moment where something sells or something happens is the most uneventful part of the entire process. Like raising all the money or selling the company.

The whole thing, the day-to-day journey. So I remember sitting with someone, and I own two nightclubs. And they said, what do you want next? And I said, three nightclubs. And he goes, and then what? Four nightclubs. And he goes, and then what? Four nightclubs. He goes, and then what? He goes, a restaurant.

He goes, and then what? A hotel. And then what? And then you start thinking like, oh my God, I don't even know what I really want. And I always compare it to the way we make fun of dogs when they chase their tail. They spin and spin and spin, then they get dizzy

and then they flop. And I feel a lot of times people are just chasing a tail. They never catch it. And then they just flop. And even if they do catch it, then what? They just sit there. So I think sometimes you're wasting a ton of energy on the goal. And I can tell you at certain moments where you hit financial success,

I thought something was going to change, right? And nothing changed. So if you think that your happiness is based off of financial success, and by the way, what a wonderful thing to put in front of people because say, when you make a lot of money, you will be happy because most people will not make a lot of money. So then they can go on that journey for their whole life and never reach their goal, which is kind of fun because then the process is there for them. So no one's really crying for people who are super successful or wealthy or doing the best

at what they do, but they should have a little bit of empathy because when they keep achieving things, they realize that it's not enough. So it's really, really important to think that money is dangerous and the idea that getting it is going to fix life's problems and the world's problems. It's so not true. But most people are like, yeah, right, you say that because you have it and they don't. So they won't be able to really understand. But that's just a fact. I think Jim Carrey said something like, I wish everyone becomes rich and famous one day so they can realize it's not the key to happiness or something like that.

Absolutely. It's not going to solve all your problems. Look, I think I compare it to when you're in an airplane and they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first so that you can help other people. I do think money is energy and energy is oxygen. So I do think it's important to like have enough money where you feel safe. Like I will admit that I can sit here very comfortably talking about how I want to create relationships in my business, how I want to grow our teammates because financially we are doing well as a business. And if I didn't have that financial security as a business, it'd be much

harder to sell this in to myself and to others. So I do think there's something about a level of a platform that money can give you so that you could take that next step. But by no means is it a pill or a silver bullet to any sort of happiness. It might give you a sense of peace around safety, but there might be a lot of other emotional challenges you're faced with. I think people with money have a weight of responsibility that people that don't have money will never face. And that can cause a lot of stress and anxiety in itself. And I'm not saying like poor people that have money and they have so many problems, but I know a lot of people with money, I'm sure you did too, aren't happy, who are struggling more than anyone, it seems like.

I was making $65,000 in 2005. I was working for a gentleman named Steve Hansen. I was running one of his 30 stores. And every night, people would come in and they were incredibly wealthy. And it was the first time I saw wealth because there was no Instagram. So when I was growing up-

You saw like- Yeah, you saw stuff. The cash coming out, the bottle buying stuff. That's right. So when I was growing up and someone said, oh, I'm going away on a ski trip for vacation, I didn't know what that meant. I only saw the little tag on their jacket and I knew they went skiing, but I don't even know what that meant.

So I didn't understand that they had means to go skiing and where they stayed and all that sort of stuff. So I just thought like I went to the Poconos and stayed in a hut and they went to Florida. There was probably a hut in Florida. I didn't realize that there were different layers of it. So you don't know that growing up. In 2004 and 2005, you start meeting these really successful people. And at first, you're enamored with their ability, with their title.

And then they are kind to you because you are the key holder to their fun. So they communicate with you and share with you and then you with time you find out that most of them Have just as many problems as your buddies from college that have just as many issues and you would think that they are Unstoppable and completely secure with their wealth, but they're not so being in that industry and seeing all these successful people and understanding that they are no different other than this outer layer that they show to the world that that was really interesting because that's the first time you really understood what wealth did it was this thing you heard about so again when you hear about it and you never accomplish it you just think when i get there i'll be really happy so let's spend my entire life getting. Getting there, trying to get there. Trying to get there.

And that's kind of a scam. And I think that needs to be flipped on its head and people need to really focus on. That's true, man. On doing things that make them happy. I think if you're financially rich, but you're spiritually, emotionally, relationship poor, you're just like trapped, you're dead.

You're gonna feel exhausted, you're gonna feel lonely, you're gonna feel sad, resentful, angryful angry all those things money's a sugar rush. It's an immediate High with a very very very long that sugar tastes good for a second one second So I I really I really believe that like you in your 20s when you're starting out you try to you can take as much sugar As possible and you're willing to give up what I'll call the broccoli. Great in fiber, great in minerals, really healthy for you, really will give you long-term energy.

It doesn't taste like sugar, but that's the food that will actually make you feel great. And people that are driven by the sugar, they're going to burn out and they're going to need a lot more sugar to be one bit of happy. It's like in the beginning, one cup of coffee, you're flying, right? Then you need four or five to get that same result. So that's what I find that successful people do with successful.

When I say successful, I mean financially successful. They need more coffee. So they make a million, then they need 10, and then they make 10, and then they need 50, and then they need 50, they make 100 to try to reach that same thing that that first cup of coffee did for them in the beginning. So what's the difference between, okay, you've got one restaurant, and now you want to have multiple restaurants, and you've got another business with a gym, and now you want to scale it to 20 gyms. Like, why not just stick with one each? It's a very good question. Why do we need more? I'm not saying it's right or wrong. No, like, why not just stick with one each? It's a very good question. Why do we need more? I'm not saying it's right or wrong.

No, no, no. I think about it often. And I think about what life was like when we had, when Mark and I had one nightclub. And we lived in a cool apartment three blocks from the club. And I think it's growth. And I think it's evolving. And I think it's opportunity to grow other people. Because at the end of the day, if you're not in service to others

You will be incredibly lonely. That's true That's and I really feel that if you're given a platform to create things that more people can enjoy that it can employ more people that can then make them enjoy things and Do more things like that's exciting to me. So at 25 or at 30 one club would have been enough But that's not enough if you want to grow. But it's really important to know what your limit is. And I've gone through it several times where I think my limit is this. I push it and then the world slaps me back. So how did that happen? I mean, look, we had, we went from one venue, 10 June.

Which was the hottest nightclub in New York and the country. It was certainly something special, and it was something we certainly weren't expecting. Every celebrity, all the models, all the important people came, right? Day one was Kanye West, Jay-Z, Penelope Cruz. Our first birthday party, Mark and I are both born on the 10th of June, So we called it 10 June because we really wanted to make sure everybody knew it was ours. No ego involved at all. No, no, no. Of course not.

And I think it's okay at 28, 29. Of course. You want to make a name for yourself. That's why I say when people say, oh, what's the key to success? I was like, I have what has been successful to me and what has failed to me. And I'll share that. And I think everyone has their own different version. I think there are times to be, to have ego and to be positive about who you are. And then there's times to pull it back. There's no one strategy. I think a 28, 29 to make it about yourself because it was about us

and we were driving it. So that went to one and fast forward to 14. 14 nightclubs. And restaurants. And restaurants. Yes. Atlantic City, Miami, New York, New Jersey, all of it. And we had to go back down to three. So you went to 14, is that what you said? 14 to three. And then what happened? We got slapped in the face. We thought it would be great to just continue to do it the way we did it and grow it. And that's where you have to learn about structure and strategy. Operations. Operations and stuff where it's not just a sizzle and you need the substance. So now in 2019, it's structure and culture.

And we're in a seesaw in our business on how to balance the culture, which is the fun, because we're in the business of fun. And that's the challenging thing about the business of fun. It can be really fun, but you better find the structure to it. And if you're all structure, you're boring, and then you're a widget company, and then people won't come to your restaurants or your gyms or anything like that. We went through this process of 14.

The world told us that the way we did it was wrong and it snapped us back down, but that was the best thing that ever happened to us because it allowed us an opportunity to retreat, reset, refocus. Probably get some coaching and mentors from people that have done it before. Yeah, absolutely. Look, because again, going from one to 14, who's going to tell you you're wrong when everything you do is right? Is working. Is working.

And that's important too because if you came to me right now and said, I'd like to open up a restaurant, I'm going to say, you're going to fail. You're like, well, you didn't even tell me the idea. And I'm going to say, I'm 95% right. Just because you say you want to open up a restaurant, it'm going to say, you're going to fail. You're like, well, you didn't even tell me the idea. And I'm going to say, I'm 95% right. Just because you say you want to open up a restaurant, it's going to fail. So you really want to make sure in the beginning, you do listen to that 5%. We're like, yeah, I get that most are going to fail, but that's not this. This is going to be different. And you need that to be successful in the beginning. But after a while, you have to start understanding that I should probably start listening to a few more people because we know how this story ends. Just like every athlete that makes $150 million and burns it all. How is that possible?

Their whole life since they've been five years old, they're the best at what they do. They're the best kid in their middle school. They're the best kid in their high school. They're the best kid in their college. Why would they ever think it's going to end? Yeah. Their talent's never going to run out. Absolutely. Why would they think it would ever going to end? And you can understand it now. And even I can understand it now. You get caught up and that's when you slap back. That's when you reset. And with that reset, we found this diamond. The diamond is catch.

And it wasn't 4 a.m. nightclub seven days a week. It wasn't multi-concepts, Mexican food and this. And it wasn't multi-city. It was catch. In New York. In New York City. And that property was reshaped. And it was led by great food, great service, great vibe. And that was put into place. And our basic core principles of running the business, take care of the staff, staff will take care of the guests, guests will take care of the bills. In the past, it was, I need money,

so I'm gonna take care of you, the guest, and staff, you better work because you're making money too. So I had it backwards. And I take full responsibility for that. In the past, that was the other thing. I blamed other people. I blamed employees that worked for us. I blamed developers and partners and other people.

But quite honestly, I made the decision to hire all those people. So as soon as you take accountability and responsibility for your failures, and yes, other people may not have executed, but you hire them. You decide to put them in that position. You chose not to pivot earlier. You chose to go down the path. You didn't instruct and inspect. You kept them on for a year, two years, hoping they'd change.

And hope is not a strategy. And that's a big one. Hope is not a strategy. I hope this works. That's not a strategy. That is almost just blind faith. And occasionally blind faith works. But I think if you're trying to be successful in a percentage game, you need more than blind faith.

So 14-2, focus on catch, expand to Los Angeles, understand that. Did the nightclubs stop then? Yeah. You said we're done with the nightclub business. It wasn't one moment where 12 places closed. But but you know, 10 June was in its eighth year, stopped being successful. We gave it back to our partners who own SDK upstairs. Abe and Arthur's had run its course, the club below it has run its course.

Atlantic City, which was a $2.4 billion casino where we were doing incredibly well. The casino went bankrupt. Wow. It went bankrupt. So these are things like you can write this in a story, but it happens. Miami, the project didn't work. So here you are. We did this project on the Lower East Side called Finale and the General. 22,000 square feet.

And we're supposed to open and then Hurricane Sandy hits. Oh, man. So we go about $1.5 million on overages to get it open. It's not successful. It's not soundproof. The concept wasn't proven. The neighborhood wasn't proven. And we're in $12 million.

Oh. Bye. Oh. Yeah. What do you do about that when you're down 12 mil? Your own money or investors' money? Both. Oh, man.

Both. I mean, you have to have honest conversations. You have to accept that the process wasn't executed and there's many reasons for it. And you have to figure out how to pivot and move on. How do you handle those relationships when I've never taken investors in my brands? I've had a lot of different offers and I've always been timid. I never felt like I needed it yet, but how do you deal with that when concepts may pay dividends

to these investors for a while, but then a $12 million loss, and they're out, and you can't really do anything about it. How do you have that conversation? And is that relationship done forever? Do they back you again? I'll tell you this. As an investor myself, when I give anyone money in anything, like a restaurant or a nightclub or anything along those lines, I basically take the money, hand it to you, and in my head I expect to throw it in the toilet.

Gone, yeah. And anyone who invests in some of these, even these venture capital guys. Especially a restaurant, right? Actually, today, anything. If you want to invest in a tech startup, if you want to invest in an app, you better just assume that your money goes into the garbage. So I think everyone comes into it with eyes wide open. And investors at that time were definitely older than me and definitely had more experience than me. Again, I'm in my late 20s, early 30s, no financial background when I did these things. Now, with real partners,

with real capital, we run it different. So the conversations today are super easy. Here's our risk tolerance. Here's our P&L. Here's how much it's going to cost to build. And here's what we think we're going to do. Here's your low-case scenario. Here's your base-case scenario. Here's your high- case scenario. And yes, there is always a shot of losing it all. And anyone knows that. So I think at the time, honesty is just really what you do. But the biggest challenge wasn't the conversation with investors. The biggest challenge was swallowing of your own pride. Ego pride. Yeah, because you believe you're the best. So I think honestly, most people were super

understanding and understood what they got involved in. And that's part of that game. No pride. Yeah, because you believe you're the best. So I think, honestly, most people were super understanding and understood what they got involved in. And that's part of that game. But I think, in general, partnerships are challenging. Investors are challenging. So pick really good ones. Wisely. And don't go into businesses unless you are 100% sure.

And I use this line a lot. You have to be 100% positive to have a 50% shot. Wow, interesting. So don't go in like, I think this is going to work. In anything. Wow. In anything. Say it again.

You have to be 100% positive to have a 50% chance. Okay. So we're in the middle of opening up a restaurant right now. We've hired 16 front of house managers, 24 back of house managers. Yep. And when we interview them, openings are challenging. we've hired 16 front of house managers, 24 back of house managers. Yeah. And when we interview them,

openings are challenging. There is no system in place. It's not a spoke on a wheel. There's not structure. We're winging it. We're building it. It's a six, seven day a week. This company is really about work-life balance,

but not for those first 90 days. No, no, no. So I say to a manager, because sometimes managers who've been through an opening or are concerned about an opening are like, oh, you know, my work-life balance, my family. And I say, I want you to be 100% sure that you want to be part of this opening, because that's the only way you have a 50% shot of making it through this opening. So if you are not. You're wishy-washy.

Yeah, if you are not. Now, you can be, you can have a little bit of nerves. Doubt. Doubt, a little bit. You can be all in, though. You gotta be like, I'm going for it, right? And I actually think that goes for anything in 2019. Oh, wow.

People smell... Relationships. Yeah. Intimate partners. Absolutely. Businesses. Yeah, look, everything is challenging. Owning a dog is challenging. So hard. You better

love your dog because when it poops on the floor, you're not going to be happy unless you really love the dog. And when it's 11 p.m. and the dog doesn't want to pee and you're outside and you're freezing and you're like, why am I out here in 24 of it? You better be 100% loving of that dog to have a 50% shot of being like, accepting that situation. So I really think that in general, you got to have that attitude. You have to be 100% believer. So in the beginning, you play craps, right?

You throw a bunch of stuff on a bunch of thing and see what hits. But as you get a little bit older, like, and Tillman Fertitta, our business partner in Landry's, he always says, you know, pick carefully. Make your decisions. Pick things that are smart. Pick things one by one.

Don't just spray it all out there and do a bunch of stuff. Just pick the things. And then also be conscious of your time. If this one project can generate 10 times the revenue of these 10 small projects, what is your time worth? So we do big box restaurants and always I want to do like, I'll go to like a Chick-fil-A and I'm like, oh, I could do this better. Or I go to like a small 12-seat Omikaze and I'm like, oh, I'd love to do a 12-seat Omikaze. And then you're like, wait, it's the same effort to do a 12-seat restaurant as it is to do a 300-seat restaurant.

So Mark Tillman and I are always of the mindset that if you're going to put in the time, go big. Wow. And, again, someone who owns a 12-seat Omikaze restaurant should really look at themselves and be like, am I a 200-seat restaurant guy or am I a 12-seat guy? And that's okay. And why do I want to do a 200 seat restaurant versus a 12 seat restaurant? I like blockbuster movies. I have no interest in making independent hits. So for me, I want to make movies that reach as many people as possible, not just for financial gain, because it also allows me to hire talented managers because I'm not looking at a P&L dollar by dollar

where a small restaurant has to really focus on the nuances of the details. And I want to make hits. I want to reach people who travel from New Jersey and Connecticut. I want to reach New Yorkers who live locally. I want to reach them all. I have no interest in just like doing this really needle

type restaurant that focuses on just a specific demographic. I'm trying to connect large groups of people of all different ages, all different demographics, and put them in the same room, because that's what I like. Yeah, yeah. Trying to make the maximum impact. And exactly, and I also,

I live four blocks from the majority of our businesses. Mark, my business partner, he lives here in the West Coast and he breathes Catch LA and he breathes this vibe here. And I do the same for New York. So it translates to our properties. It's amazing. What was the moment you had the biggest ego slap where you thought you were the man like, man, everyone wants to be a part of this. Everyone loves me. Everyone's showing up. They're throwing money left and right. And then the big wake-up call.

I think it was during the closing, that probably 12-month process where those properties were closing, I remember. 12 of them in 12 months? I mean, some of the 12 were like three-in-one buildings. So, yeah, by name. But it was really like four projects. Wow.

That's got to hurt. Just like every couple months, boom, another one. Yeah, but it hurts, but it feels really good once it's done. Free. Free. And like most things in life,

the idea of doing it is much harder than actually doing it. The buildup to telling someone you want to break up with them is way worse than the breaking up with the six months of agony of what am I going to tell this person about this, that that is way worse than actually doing it. Because if you're doing it from a place of love and a place of honesty, it is what it is, but it's the buildup. So honestly, the buildup was the hardest part and

not knowing how to do it, how to unwind it all. How to unwind it was a challenge. But after, it felt great. It felt great. It didn't feel great to downgrade your office. It didn't feel great to have to let go of people that were super close to you. It didn't feel great to do those type of things. But it certainly felt great to get back out of a big corner office and move your desk to the middle of the office. It felt great to sign every check over $200 again. It felt great to reconnect with every single host, server, bartender, as opposed to not

even knowing their names or where they're from because we had so many. So having that, those principles. So that was super challenging. And I remember sitting with five friends, my best friends from college, and we'd take a ski trip every year. And we were sitting. Poconos?

No, no, no. No more Poconos. Nice ski trip, though. Now we go to ski trips, we go west. I actually don't know what East Coast skiing is. I see. It's not good. I only started to ski when I was 32.

But I remember we were sitting there, and we all said, what would you like to change in this upcoming year? Just in a conversation. And everyone answered, and it came to me. And I said, I think I'm doing everything right. I think I got it all handled. Wow. I think I'm, I'm working on my business. I'm working on my health. I'm working on my spirituality. I'm working on my relationship. I'm just great. And I came home from that trip and I think literally there was a light switch of just, that's when every challenge started coming.

Wow. So I think it's almost comical that what your ego will allow you to believe versus the reality that sets in. And I think ever since then I'm much more cautious and much more checks and balances. I had no checks and balances to feel that way. It was just a feeling. And that's a challenge between gut and data, right? Like I'm a big gut guy, but you better have, like, that's like if you can run a five

minute mile, but I can run a 10 minute mile, but I got GPS of where we're going to, but you're running in a circle. So you may be more of an athlete than me, but without that GPS, you don't know where we're going to reach that mile point. So I think data, as I've gotten into my late 30s and now in my 40s, using data to support my gut is the best balance of both. And any one in any extreme is a terrible way to do business.

It will work once in a while, but if you want to keep, if you want a good batting average, it doesn't work. Yeah. It doesn't work. That's true, man. You got to know the data of like, okay, this pitcher usually throws a fastball in the first pitch.

70% chance he's going to throw a fastball, this, but you got to know the timing, the situation, and have just like natural intuition as well. Like when do you swing the bat? That's right, when we opened Rumble. 2016? 2017 January. So we're two and a half years. Two and a half years, we have seven open.

It's crazy man, so fast. It was never part of the plan. And look, growth comes with its own challenges and its own excitement. So to grow is awesome and every person's into it and then it comes with its own challenges and its own excitement. So to grow is awesome and every person's into it. And then it comes with its own learning curve. But if you did one a year, less learning curve, but less growth and less opportunity.

Less stress. Yeah, yeah. So it's really, I think it's a balancing act of finding it. But we opened that in 2017 and it wasn't like, oh, I think boxing's gonna work and I think group fitness is a good business, so let's go do it. But we opened that in 2017 and it wasn't like, oh, I think boxing is going to work and I think group fitness is a good business, so let's go do it. We knew what every other group fitness concept was doing within a one mile square radius. You knew their numbers. We knew some basic numbers of what people do. We were able to figure that out and most people could.

We knew what it would cost to build. We knew what on a low case scenario, base case scenario, and high case scenario, it would cost to return the capital. And that's how you go into it. And then you still got to feel like, I'm going to kill this thing and these numbers won't matter because we're going to destroy these numbers. That's right. I got great people. These amazing trainers are so much better. But you still, it's like, I think there's three parts, right? There's an amazing team, there's capital, and there's timing. And there are great teams that have failed at projects. Howard Schultz, one of the best people in the world, he has not always been successful, but we know he's an amazing leader and we know he has amazing capital,

right? So sometimes it's timing or the idea, but I think you need all three to be successful. But most importantly to me, in my opinion, is timing. So we opened that nightclub in 2006. By the way, economy on fire. Everyone is making a ton of money. I just walked in. We would walk in on Tuesday night. We would do $60,000 on a Tuesday, and we'd have crazy celebrities. And I'm like, oh, I guess this is what it is. Every day. And again, I'm 28.

I don't know any differently. So, oh, I guess guys buy buildings and sell buildings and make $100 million all the time. sell buildings, and make $100 million all the time. I didn't then realize that there was a propped economy by mortgage and crappy mortgages. So I didn't know any of that. So that club opens in 2008. I don't know if I have an opportunity to be sitting here with you. I don't know that we have the Ketch Hospitality Company

and all these amazing people. I don't know that I even get an attempt to do rumble because then I just fell at a nightclub and then I go work for somebody yeah that's it and that's it and that and then then I got a house in the suburbs and I'm you know I'm doing that thing probably don't have tattoos probably don't do any of these things probably don't get to hang out here in LA so timing and in 2017 group fitness hit its peak, and social media really hit its peak. Stories has just come out.

Instagram just starts doing paid posts. And we have this hot new thing. So I always find that like celebrity and trend, it's either gasoline or water. If the product is good, all of these factors make it gasoline and make it explode. If you have celebrity and you have hype, and my friend likes to call it born famous as a business,

if you don't back it up with a quality, it's water. So you're a flame. Puts it out. That's right, and there's no time to build it or pivot it. Wow. So what was great in 2017 is now super challenging in 19 because now everyone has mimicked what we've done in branding at- With like the cool group fitness class. Yeah. And like, it's like, all right, oh, look, you want to do a boxing photo shoot with attractive people

in a warehouse. And all right, got it. So what we have to do in those situations is pivot and counter program. So recently another business started doing warehouse photos with attractive people in a boxing gym. And I saw it and I forwarded to our marketing team and I said, remove every image on our social that connects to this sort of thing. We did it and it was awesome, but now that's it. Now you've got to innovate. Back to the avocado toast, right? Right, right.

When avocado toast became popular, everyone took a picture of avocado toast. They put the egg on top of it. They cut the egg. It oozed. It was great. You have no interest in seeing another avocado toast on anyone's social media.

So there's times to lean into the trend. There's times to completely go against the trend. So we leaned into it in 2017. Same with Catch. There were many nights where Mark and I would sit at Catch and be like, I wish people can see what's going on here right now. The Rangers, the Knicks, the Knicks were playing the Lakers and the Lakers were there and celebrity X, Y, and Z is there. I wish people can see it and they couldn't. And then all of a sudden social media comes out and they could.

When Drake performed at 10 June in 2010 when we just handed him a bottle of Grey Goose, no one knew, nobody knew. So it was cool, but I have no, you have to be there. So you can lean into that with the restaurant and the fitness business now because people who are there, if they choose to be seen, you could tell the whole world. So you don't need to be there.

But now everyone's got an Instagrammable wall or experience. Everyone takes photos in front of every gym gym that's right and I think we were really big on that in the beginning and that is something that I think set us apart but you could put anything somewhere but the connectivity to that image still has to be backed by the brand product yeah that's right so it's not that people were like oh if that moment was at a bad gym I don't think anyone takes a photo in front of it because it's an entire package.

They don't care. It's not one or the other. It's not like, so if Coca-Cola calls me right now, like, hey, we've got to make this product really cool. Can you just give us one of your designs that you did at Rumble and we'll just take a picture of it? I was like, no, no, no, no, no. First, you've got to move back 10 steps.

Coca-Cola, you have to be cool. There's 25 things for that person to take that photo in front of that Yeah, so like I said you lean into that right everyone did it and now oh That's not working anymore. So when we're thinking about our design for the rumbles 2020 2021 new studio new studios I'm I'm scrapping it back to simplicity New studios. New studios. I'm scrapping it back to simplicity. Really?

That's right. With all the gyms or just with the new ones? With the new ones. And it doesn't mean that we won't have Instagrammable moments because I still think people want to show what they do, and I think our product is unique in the way that they will want to show something, but it's not going to be the same thing. So we put Basquiat's up in the first couple of studios. Yeah.

Not real ones, obviously. Can't afford that. But I thought it was cool, and I had no really reason for it. I was just like, you know, I really love this artist, and people don't really get to see it, so why don't we just put up a print of it, a really good print, and let people take photos of it.

And that was done. But now it's done. So that's the challenge. You need to stay constantly relevant, constantly evolving, and sometimes you just have to take risks. I always use the analogy of a basketball game, right? Team's up by 20, they stop shooting. They just try to run the clock out to get to the 24 seconds to play defense to get through the end of the game. And that's where the other team goes on a run. I don't want anyone else to go on a run. So at Catch, constantly innovating with the food, constantly innovating with the design,

constantly innovating with our social media. So our social media campaign and our marketing campaign, we have no care for critics. We're opening Catch Steak in September. I gotta try it out, man. Yeah. In New York, right? Not in LA? In New York.

Lighter, brighter, fresher take on steak, smaller portions, shareable., fresher take on steak. Smaller portions. Shareable. A really unique experience on steak where it doesn't just like you get the filet, I get the strip. Here's our side of potatoes. Everything comes as it's ready. So it's fresh. Taking out a lot of the like lard and everything like that.

So super lean cuts, but premium cuts. So every bite has an amazing flavor. Wow. I'm sure a lot of people have asked you is like why does a nightclub restaurant guy think he can start fitness? Right. Why does he? And be successful and... Because that's that 5%.

That's that 5% where we were... I was working for a gentleman who owned 20 restaurants and nightclubs and I was able to spend enough time to see his organization. And then I said, I think I can do that. Maybe a bit arrogantly, maybe a bit naive, but we did it. And then when we opened up that first nightclub, there was a restaurant above us and we got to watch how they operated that restaurant. And Mark and I looked at ourselves and said, I think we can do that because we got to see it. So we did have some data. We were able to see what they do on a day-to-day basis. And then they said, well, why didn't you open up a 60-seat restaurant for your first one? But we opened up a 350-seat restaurant for our first one. And then that was successful. So why wouldn't you think you can do it? And in 2016, I barely drink anymore.

I don't go out late at night. I wanted to do something in fitness. And I train all the time, and I really enjoy it, every aspect of it. But I still couldn't find that thing for me. And I enjoy a SoulCycle class, but spitting isn't my personal preference. But I enjoy it once in a while, but I was trying to find that thing that I can do. And I was going to the gym, but boxing became something I really loved. And the idea that I couldn't find a boxing version

of something that I love to do in a group setting with like-minded people, to find a white space in New York City is really, really hard. There's nothing you can do. Everyone's thought of something. That's right. You're just doing it, trying it.

You can get anything you want in New York City at any hour of the day. At 3 a.m. there's a. Everyone's thought of something. That's right. Doing it, trying it. You can get anything you want in New York City at any hour of the day. At 3 a.m. there's a place that serves burritos and they're great. Any type of food, yeah, yeah. That's right.

Burritos with ice cream or chicken or whatever it is. There is never a moment that something can't happen in New York City. So when you find that, and that's actually what happened with our restaurants.

We wanted to go to a restaurant that was shareable, that played hip hop, that wasn't white cloth, that wasn't classical restaurant where we can see the people who were going to a nightclub before they went to a nightclub. We couldn't find it, so we did it.

We wanted to open up our first nightclub because we thought that people weren't as kind to people when they walked into nightclubs and that they weren't giving the proper service. We wanted to play the music we wanted to play. We wanted to invite the friends that we wanted to invite. We wanted to have control over that, so we did it. And that's really what happened with fitness was the team that came up with the idea together, we cumulatively thought there's a white

space here. Our partners, Great at Scale, another partner, Tech, and me with the Nightlife Restaurant Experience came together. Another partner that came from five years of group fitness experience as the leading instructor, Noah Neiman, at Barry's Boot Camp. And he was a beast. And he happened to be a kid who went to the same school as me. He probably was one of the only kids I knew in group fitness. Wow. Right? Timing.

Timing. That's what I'm saying. That's where you can't put it in a P&L. It's the magic. That's right.'m saying. That's where you can't put it in a P&L. It's the magic. That's right. And it happened to be when Instagram started. It was three years sooner. Maybe it wouldn't have worked.

Most importantly, I only knew it because I followed him on Instagram, and he started posting videos of him boxing. The trainer. The trainer. Noah, who's our partner. That's when you were like, oh, this guy's amazing. This guy's amazing. I know him from Barry's, but he boxes. So I sent him a text. Hey, if you know anyone in group fitness who really

loves boxing, that is looking to make a move into becoming a partner into this new business, not you, of course, but anybody else, please let me know. And that's where the conversation started from. But that doesn't happen without social media. Right. Wow, man, this is crazy. And then it all came about. And then the first one on 23rd Street, similar to the story on 2006, 10 June, the timing, the location, and everything hit at the same time. And then obviously, celebrity relationships that build it. And there you go. I think I read you have, what, Sylvester Stallone, Bieber, Blake Mycoskie, you've got

Scooter Braun, even probably more investors. How do you, one, attract those investors? And these are people with a lot of big egos, a lot of big successes who are saying, you know what? I deserve 30%, 10%, whatever it is. How do you divvy it up, all the investment, and still make it worth it for you? With four partners, tons of investors. Everyone thinks that they're responsible

for the amount of clients it's getting or the success, the promotion. How do you manage all the ego and energy of that all? You manage everyone else's ego by controlling your own. So you start by saying that this doesn't happen because of me. And then for me personally, Eugene Rems says, I can't do this by myself. Without this team.

Without this team. I'm a team guy. I do not like doing businesses by myself. I love my partnership with Mark and Tillman. I love my partnership with the Rumble founders. I love my investment community from Equinox and Harvey Spivak and Scooter and Blake and all of the other celebrities. So to manage everyone else's ego, you must not have one. And for me, that's super important. So to me, I remember Tommy Hilfiger said it one day at a speech. He said, I'd rather be

a small piece of an elephant than a large piece of a pea. And I'm interested in doing big things, but I certainly know that I do not have the skill set to do all aspects of this P. And I'm interested in doing big things, but I certainly know that I do not have the skill set to do all aspects of this business. So that's the first thing you need to do. The second thing you need to do is treat everyone equally. So everyone involved is an equal participant and everyone's money is the same and everyone's belief is the same. No matter how much they put in.

Yeah, everyone's treated the same. And no one's responsible to say, I love Rumble. Here's 10 bucks. Now say it again and say it again. So that's the other thing with our social media. We have never done a paid pay to play in our entire life. I have never paid a human being to walk into Catch and say, have dinner and post about it. We have never paid a single human being to walk into Rumble and say, I'll give you $5,000 for

this post. Never. We would comp like meals or classes or something. Yeah, but we would do that I would do that to you. I would do that to friends because that helps and adds value to everyone else's experience. So that's part of the business model. But as far as a pay to play thing, we don't do that. So I think it's really important

that everyone gets treated the same and then for me, it's really important that everyone gets treated the same. And then for me, it's not one thing like, oh, I know a lot of people. A lot of people know a lot of people. So you have to know a lot of people. You have to have a great track record or at least a track record where you've been honest throughout the whole way, where people want to do business to you. So great product, an honest track record, and then you really just got to make sure that they love it. Because if they love it, they're down to do it much more. And then you have to make a decision. He or she wants to do it for the right reasons, down to have them. But if someone's

trying to get more or less or think they're more important, no one is more important than the whole. Rumble Boxing is the brand. That is the important product. The team and the people who work at rumble boxing are the most important thing. Yeah. At Catch, Eugene Rem, Mark Birnbaum, Tilman Fertitta is not the priority for Catch. It is the brand, it is the food, it is the services, the vibe. And if last night it's Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan, they're important, but no one individual makes it. We did 785 covers last night on a Wednesday. Everyone enjoyed seeing Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan.

Covers? What do you mean covers? People. People in the room. At the restaurant? Yeah. 700 people? 755 people. In L.A.? In L.A. I was here last night.

We're in Los Angeles. So those six gentlemen had a great experience. Right. But if we just focus on them, the other 700 plus, that's a miss. So I think the best way to get all of this to work is make sure that everyone is handled. And there are people with way more relationships than I do, way more people in their cell phone than I ever have. And there are many, many businesses that start with celebrity that are

complete and total failures. Fail big time. I mean, in fact, I think if you did a case study on it, I think it would be probably nine to one, 10 to one of successful business started with celebrities versus those that don't. Why is that? Well, because for everyone, Randy Gerber and George Clooney, who absolutely love their product and create Casa Amigos, there's 999 who are inauthentic to the brand. Just want to make money. That's right. Or maybe they are authentic to the brand but don't have the business practices involved or don't have the timing. Or the partners.

Or the partners. So maybe they don't have the capital, maybe they don't have the team, and maybe they don't have the timing. So for every time someone refers to Casa Amigos, i really just enjoy oh the billion dollar business amazing randy gerber who i who used to work for has loved tequila since the day i met him when i was 24 years old he knows this business and they both enjoy their product mike melman as well so that's why everything had to work they They're authentic. They're backed financially. They probably ran a great business.

And they also had all those relationships. So it's never one thing. So if someone's listening to this, looking for a silver bullet for success, it doesn't exist. Because if there was one, everyone would just mimic it. And as soon as they mimic it,

it will change. Yeah, you've got to reinvent it. Yeah, you're no longer unique. So how important have relationships been for you over the last, I guess, 15 years since you started 10 June and have been in the business? Have you cultivated these relationships consistently for 15 years? Have you burned a lot of relationships from certain things? I think I'm a relationship guy. I work really hard on relationship. I try to put relationship before dollars in almost everything I do, which is why I love having partners.

So to me, and this isn't the case in any of my businesses, but if I did 90% of the work and you did 10 and we were co-partners, I wouldn't care splitting it 50-50 with you because the end result is I want an A. Because to me, that 10% that you do might be really special and allow us to create this 1% product. So I don't really have an issue with that. So my relationships are a priority to me. I care about friendships. I care about relationships. I hope I haven't burned any relationships. I'm sure everyone has burned a relationship. I would never want to. And sometimes though, you have to look at someone and say like, what you're asking for is unreasonable. I would love to make you happy, but it doesn't work for me. And if that's a burning of a relationship, then that's a burning of a relationship. And I think the better you get

in business, you better get some thick skin for some of that. Because burning a relationship and ending a relationship are two very different things. Sometimes things don't work out and people have two extreme different points of view on things. And then it just has to end. Countries go to war and people are willing to die because both of them think they're 100% right.

So of course there's going to be differences of opinion. And of course, you can't maintain every relationship. I think it's how you do it. And as long as you can keep to whatever makes you sleep at night really well, that's the key. Because there is no amount of money that makes up for a good night's sleep. That's true, man. There is no amount of money for me to wake up this morning.

I am not nervous when this ends to go look at my phone and see what's coming in. I'm certainly confident that nothing wrong in a big scale is going to happen. Now, $10 more in my bank account is not going to be worth the potential of creating those conflicts. And that's another thing. People need to know their own threshold, their risk tolerance in business, who they are. I'm sensitive. Yeah, me too. I'm very sensitive.

I know I'm sensitive. And that's a hard thing to say as a man in this world today. But I'm generally a sensitive person. And that's also made me really good at taking care of people because I'm sensitive to their wants and needs. So in the restaurants, I don't want people waiting that I know. I want them to really enjoy their experience. If they're on a date or if they're with their mother, I would be heartbroken if they sent me an email that said their experience was anything less than great. So I go a million times over to make sure that that's taken care of. And that's partially due to

my being somewhat sensitive to being upsetting people. I don't like to upset people. But there's a concept called the bread of shame. It's don't give people bread they don't deserve. It'll come back and hurt you. So that's my line. I want to take care of people. But if I'm paying you and you're not delivering

on the service that I'm paying for you, I'm hurting you because you should go do something else. And I'm hurting myself because everyone around me is like, you're continuing to pay someone who isn't delivering while I am delivering. Busting my butt here. That's right. So now these people aren't happy. You're not happy.

And that person's not happy. So that's where you just make the decision where like, hey, you might not be happy that I let you go today, but I know it's the right thing for all parties involved. Because you need to go find that. How many people have been fired from a job and say it's the best thing that ever happened to them because then they found their next thing?

How many people have ended a relationship or a marriage and then two years later find the love of their life and couldn't be happier, but at that time. It's miserable. Miserable. So these just people, people got to play more chess and less checkers. That's true. I'm pretty good at checkers though. Yeah, I'm terrible at checkers. Chess I'm not good at. Yeah. And I'm terrible at chess as well. And

that's because I don't have the patience and I don't, and I don't care about the result, but I think in life. Yeah. Emotional chess. I'm good at mental chess, but not the game. Yeah. Yeah. Emotional chess, I'm good at. That's right. Mental chess, but not the game. Yeah. You're 41? Is that what you're saying?

What was the biggest lesson you learned when you were 30 after four, five, six years in the nightclub business? Hitting 30, what did you learn about yourself in that decade? The biggest lesson you learned about yourself from 30 to 40? Running the city at 27, 8, 9. The big shot in town, building things, everyone's coming to your club. I know nothing. That was 30. No, that's what I learned from 30 to 40.

Okay. I thought at 30, I thought I knew everything. Oh, wow. At 40, knowing way more than I did at 30, what I have learned, I know less than ever. Wow. way more than I did at 30, what I have learned, I know less than ever. And every year I look back at the gentleman who I was a year before, and I hope this to be the case till the day that I die, is like, that guy was silly. That guy was an idiot. Because I constantly want to grow and evolve. And I want to look at the 42-year-old version of myself and look at the 41-year-old

and be like, wow, he didn't know. And I really love the idea that I keep pushing myself personally through business coaches, through personal coaches, through mentorship, through spirituality, through all of these things to constantly evolve. But what I learned at 30 was that at 30, I thought making money was everything. And I had my first exit when I was 29 years old. I had our partnership with Tillman Fertitta when I was 39 years old. And I can tell you that there's such a difference in those two experiences of what I felt at those times. At 29, you just feel this. I'm the king. I'm the king of the moment. I'll never have to work again.

I'm just going to, I could just live off of this for the rest of my life. And boy, was I wrong because when those things did not do well, every dollar that we made went into keeping this business afloat. And at 39, when we had our experience, I learned that it was about relationships. I learned about it was sharing with small groups of people,

not bragging about anything, removing all of that. At 30 years old, we would take pictures of like bottles of we were buying in Cristal. And we would take pictures when we were on private planes of other people. We would take pictures of fancy hotel rooms. At 39, I have no interest in any of that stuff. I have no interest in showing any of that stuff off. I have no interest in any of that. I just care about building businesses. The business and other people's success is my success. And I try to

really minimize my own personal wants and needs and keep it pretty basic. And how do you manage 1,000 people, 1,000 employees? From like a, you know, one nightclub of whatever, 30 people to now 1,000. I don't manage 1,000 people. I probably manage 50. And putting the care, I've always managed 50. So when we had 10 June, Mark and I managed 50 people. You managed everyone. That's right. And when we tried to manage 500 people

ourselves, we failed. So the shift there was managing, still managing 50 people. When I say managing, really day-to-day maintenance of those 50 people, growing them. That's how you do it. You just hire amazing and talented people. You have to recruit. You have to constantly evolve. They don't have to inspire you. You have to inspire them.

That's my job. My job is to continue to be inspiring to our operators, to our marketers, to our talent, so that they continue to want to work here. So what do I have to do? I have to keep elevating. I have to keep creating a better offering financially, but not just financially. I found that financials, paying people, represents this much. I spend my entire day trying to focus on a work-life balance for myself and my employees. I try to find ways to grow my employees so they can take the position of the employee above them so that person can then grow above them. So to ask your question,

why do I want to keep growing and not just stay with one nightclub? Because I will create stagnant growth for the people who work with me. So at this point, we are creating projects that fit the people that we have. And I tell my team all the time our team in both properties The only thing that slows down our growth is the lack of people that we can put in the position to do it

Mmm, so the more of you that become capable to take on bigger roles the more that we can open Wow because financial we have the finances and we have the ideas and we think people that can you know, we need them we have the finances, and we have the ideas. We need the people that can implement. We need the people because Mark, myself with Catch, and our partners at Rumble, we're limited unless people below us, not below us, next to us, want to continue to grow. So if they stay limited, then we can't grow. Yeah. You've got tons of investors that would want to help fund new ventures.

But those ventures have to be successful. So you better, as soon as you stop being successful, that capital dries up real quick. That's true. And people jump ship and go on to the next thing. Yeah. And that's also important to remember. Be careful of who you think all your friends are. Because one failure. They're not a friend anymore.

That's right. Someone told me you spend your entire 30s building your Rolodex from 50 to 5,000. And then you spend your entire 40s taking your Rolodex back from 5,000 to 50. Really? I'm 36 right now. I'm learning that. And what you realize is New York, Los Angeles, the guys at the top stay on the top. And everyone else is just visiting. You want to be great at a business?

Stay in a business. Guys who do this for two years and do that for two years and do this for two years, they don't stick. But the head of a record label is still the head of a record label, maybe a different one. The guy who runs the hedge fund still runs the hedge fund. The guy who's the best restaurateur 10 years later. He's doing restaurants. Is still the best restaurateur. And it's very, very few people.

Who stay there. Who stay there. And there's very even fewer people in 2019 that make it into that group. So in 2006, there was an elite group of nightclub guys. And we were the new kids. And we made it in and we stayed and It's the same people that are still the elite today Same people there's been probably one or two big restaurant groups that have come up with us

Maybe one that I can really think of that's been super popular and has a growth the way we have one in ten years Super popular and has a growth the way we have one in ten years Nationally crazy. That's how hard excuse me. That's how hard this business is. It's crazy. It's a hard hard business What's the regret You'll have by the time you're 50 if you don't do something What's the thing that you know like man if I don't do this in the next nine years, I'm going to really regret it. Or if I keep doing this and don't stop doing it, I'm going to regret it. I don't know.

I'm not regretful of anything that I have been doing. I find that the biggest challenges have given me the biggest opportunities. So I'm not sure I regret. I don't think I regret anything in anything I'm, like for example, I'm trying to have a great work-life balance. So I don't put my iPhone in my room when I go to sleep. I don't check my phone for the first hour that I'm awake. I do my 20-minute meditation. I drink my one liter of water. I work out six days a week, I am unapologetic for that hour and a half.

So I will not regret starting another business in order to then not have to do those things. So I think I'm trying to accomplish those things, but I will regret if I do not continue to grow, if I do not continue to listen to people, if I start to believe my own BS again, if I revert continue to grow, if I do not continue to listen to people, if I start to believe my own BS again, if I revert back to the guy, 26 or 31 or 35 year old version of myself

that stopped listening to others, that started to believe my own BS, if I revert back to that guy, I will be really disappointed and I will be very regretful that I could not have learned from these opportunities that I had. That would be the biggest regret. If I go backwards instead of forwards to that guy or be any other version of myself from the past, I would be really disappointed in myself.

That would be a real disappointment. I'm inspired, man. I didn't know what I would learn from you, but I'm really inspired to go to Catchmore. We've got to get you into Rumble, too. Yeah, I want to go to Rumble. It's right like a mile away, not even. And how can people support you?

I've got three questions for you finally, but how can people support you with your endeavors right now? I continue to support what we have. We have Catch, we have Rumble. We're opening Catch Steak in September in New York City. It's a 15,000-square-foot, 450-seat restaurant steakhouse. I think steakhouses need to be redone, and I think there's a 2020 version of it. And we're excited to give it a try to try to hit that.

So that's a big one and a new one for us. We're opening our second concept for Rumble, which is our treading concept, which is half treadmills, half weights. And Rble boxing is half the class boxing and the other half weights. So we're just, in boxing, we taught you something you didn't think you know how to do, and we got you to do it. And in treading, we're going to make you enjoy something that you do but don't like doing, which is running. It's not fun to run.

But when you have it with an experience and a passion and the music and the lighting, like a SoulCycle feeling. Look, I think SoulCycle was the king of group fitness. They're certainly the OGs of this game. They are what inspired me to get into the group fitness. And I think what they've done with cycling, we were very excited to do with boxing and we're very excited to do now with

training. That opens at the end of October and that opens in 23rd Street down the block from Rumble Boxing and also in San Francisco simultaneously in the marina. Is it coming here to LA too? It is. 2021 maybe? You're trying to find space.

One thing I can guarantee that the team that we have at Rumble is working hard to get it wherever, wherever it makes sense to have. So for me, those are the things

that are great, but honestly, if anything here is valuable and in some way can help you use it and then if anything, more importantly, you use it

and it works, share it. Yeah. That's true. You're on Instagram, Twitter. What do you spend time on personally online? I'm on Instagram.

My name, just Eugene Rem. I think I have a Twitter, but I think it just connects to my Instagram. But yeah, I'm on Instagram, Eugene Rem. A website too for you personally or no? No. Okay. So Instagram, message you, tag you, all those things.

Instagram's where I'm at. And I take breaks from Instagram now on a regular basis. It's smart. I take probably a week, a month off. But I think if people, there's a lot of entrepreneurs that listen. I think if people want to learn about branding and culture, go follow, catch Instagram and Rumble, because you guys do an amazing job of creating this experience for people. And I think they can learn a lot in their businesses. Whether you have a small business business you're a solo entrepreneur you can learn a lot from what the way you've branded and created a culture and i think that's really cool thank you

we work really hard on that and i think we just try to do it authentically if i were to give any advice to any brander don't brand the way someone else's brand because you see it working for them brand what you would like what you would, what you think you're good. If you can be authentic. In 2019, in 2017, unauthenticness worked because we were flooded with it in social media. But in 2019, right now, everyone smells everything. In 1990, whatever, Pepsi needed to sell things. They put Michael Jackson on a commercial for 30 seconds,

and everyone, that doesn't work anymore. So find what works for you and make sure you have a point of view. That's amazing. This question is called the three truths. Okay. So imagine it's your last day on earth many years from now, and you've accomplished everything you want. You've created every restaurant concept, fitness, written the books, Whatever you want to do, you've created it. Yep. And you've got no regrets. Yep. But for whatever reason, you've got to take it all with you.

So all the restaurants have got to go with you wherever you pass them to. And you get to leave behind three things you know to be true about all of your experiences in life that you would share with the world. Kind of like your three lessons to humanity. And that's all people would have to remember you by. What would you say like your three lessons to humanity, and that's all people would have to remember you by. What would you say are your three lessons or three truths? Oh, wow. Do people pause on this one? Because this is a... Whatever is off the top of your mind right now. It doesn't have to be perfect. Three things I would want to leave this world to know is that...

Three lessons. world to know is that three lessons three lessons have real relationships many many likes many friends doesn't equal many real friends one partner and one best friend is bigger than any of that wow just one just have one one love and one best friend if you you can die with that, you are way better than most people on this planet. Wow. Yeah. Okay. That's one. That's powerful.

Two, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. Or is it love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life? If your work is fun, it's not work. Yeah. Number three? Take care of your body or none of this is possible. Right. That's true.

Health is everything, right? A healthy man has 10,000 problems. A sick man has one. That's a good one right there. Is that your line or is that someone else's? Definitely not my line. Definitely. Anything smarter I've said today is mostly from someone else.

And any of the silly isms my friends call it eugenisms are mine but anything that actually has some real the 150 thing that one I'll take credit for everything else is things that have been taught to me and I pull those. Wow that's great.

I would acknowledge you Eugene because I think someone like in a position of yours who is in the top of the world in New York City in your 20s can continue to ride off of this energy of getting all this attention, all this acknowledgement, all the celebrities, whatever came with this and the fast money and the success. It can be really easy to stay there. but you decided to continue to reinvent and live with humility in the process of all the attention, celebrity acknowledgements that you get. So I acknowledge you for constantly doing the work. We talked earlier about you doing Hoffman stuff and working on emotional intelligence and getting coaches and really diving into your health and not drinking as much.

I think it's cool that someone who lived this lifestyle that was working realized it's not what it's all about anymore. No, no. Thank you. I appreciate it. And you're trying to create new innovative products and businesses to serve your employees and staff as opposed to have them serving you. Yeah.

And you just keep reinventing yourself. So in our limited time, I really appreciate your wisdom and your reinvention of yourself. It's really inspiring. I appreciate it. I enjoy talking about failures more than successes because I feel that people learn better from failures. And when the winners write the history books, they never talk about their failures. So I enjoy talking about things that don't work, and hopefully that can resonate to other people. Yeah, that's cool, man.

Final question for you is, what is your definition of greatness? Consistency. There you go. Eugene, thanks, brother. Appreciate you, man. Appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Thanks, man.

Appreciate everything. And there you have it, my friend. I hope you enjoyed this interview. If you did, make sure to share with your friends. Text one friend today, the link lewishouse.com slash 842 and be an inspiration in someone's life today. If you know someone that could be inspired by this, that can learn from this, that could help them in their career, their business or their life, then send them the link that you're listening to on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anywhere you're listening to this podcast. You can be a champion in someone's life by sending them some powerful wisdom and information absolutely free. As well, share it

on social media, tag me, atlewishouse, on on Instagram and tag Eugene Rem as well. I'm sure he'd love to hear your thoughts on what you got out of this episode. So make sure to share it with him on Instagram and let him know what you thought about this interview. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Please leave your feedback over on Apple podcast. I don't care if you leave a one star review or if you go five stars like most of the people do. Leave a review and share your thoughts. Write a sentence or two about how this podcast specifically impacted your life, how we can improve this moving forward, and how I can improve your life with other great content for free for you.

So leave us a review, leave a comment, and let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you over there. a review, leave a comment, and let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you over there. As Walt Disney said, do what you do so well that they want to see it again and bring their friends. I love what Eugene has done with his brands. I just went to his restaurant Catch Today in LA, and it was packed. Lines, people taking photos everywhere. They created an experience to really captivate you to want to always come back. Make sure you're doing that in your business and in your brand, and you'll never have to do marketing ever again. I love you guys so very much. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.