The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - #57: Gary Bosstick: Father and Entrepreneur, Never Quitting, Always Learning, and Execution Over Ideas

Episode Date: April 4, 2017

Real Estate Developer, Entrepreneur, President of JetBed, & Michael's Father Gary Bosstick, joins Lauryn & Michael to share his story of how he grew up in the small city of Marshall, Illinois, joined ...the Navy and wound up in Southern California. Gary highlights how he made the jump from a young man in the Navy to becoming a Real Estate Developer, how technology has changed & its effect on business, why you shouldn't put limitations on yourself, the importance of reputation & trust, how to bounce back from failure, and why ideas are valueless without execution. Gary also gives some background on Michael and how he raised him.  To connect with Lauryn click HERE To connect with Michael click HERE This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Bombshell Body Guide and Meal plan.  tired of combating inflammation & bloat? Want to feel lighter and sexier? Check out lauryn’s latest 7 day meal plan. In this simple & super effective plan you’ll find: + tsc grocery list with every ingredient you need for the 7 days. + what the f*ck to do when you love carbs guide. + quick and delicious recipes: breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and dessert. You will also find 28 weeks worth of fat burning, muscle toning, 27 minute long, effective workouts you can do at home with no equipment. USE PROMO CODE: HIMANDHER at Checkout for 20% Off

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Thanks for downloading this show from PC one. Before we get rolling, here's a word from one of the folks who helped bring you this podcast. Okay, you guys, so if you follow along on Snapchat, you know, I have been sharing my new and two years ago, and I'm still kind of swollen. So I've basically put together all my recipes, tips and tricks, hacks, a what the fuck to do if you love carbs guide together in one spot. All you have to do is go to members.theskinnyconfidential.com and we are giving all listeners 20% off. Just enter the checkout code HIMANDHER at checkout. That's all caps, HIMANDHER, and you will love the meal plan. All right, let's get this show started. The following program is a podcastone.com presentation.
Starting point is 00:00:55 She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to The Skinny Confidential, him and her. Welcome back, guys, to The Skinny Confidential, him and her podcast. I am Lauren Everts, creator of the blog and brand The Skinny Confidential. And I have my lovely fiance, Michael Bostic, here.
Starting point is 00:01:24 Well, we spent a bunch of money and I have my lovely fiance Michael Bostic here. Well we spent a bunch of money and went down to Mexico and had this huge wedding so I think I'm your husband now. Oh shit I keep saying fiance. That's okay um I don't mind but you know it is like an honest mistake too. No it happens all the time but I know why do I keep calling I called you my boyfriend the other day and in my phone you're under boyfriend Well, I mean shit if we're just gonna do that I mean it could have saved me a lot of time and money and not had to go down to mexico and drag All of our loved ones down there and had a three-day ceremony and I needed my moment though beat the hell out of our livers
Starting point is 00:01:58 No, I needed my moment. So we're back again. Here we are. Michael's had a black pepper in his tooth for a whole week What are you calling me again? Like Polly Pepper or something? I'm calling him Peter Pepper. Go on his Instagram and call him Peter Pepper. You literally still have the pepper in your tooth. Like it's wedged so far up. I don't know what to say. I've been trying to get it out. You should try a little harder. So what's been going on fiance or wife? Last night we had a going away party for Michael's cousin and my friend named Leah
Starting point is 00:02:25 at Japango's. And Michael had two sips of wine and that was enough for him. And he was hung over today. Well, I'm just, I'm done. I've been on a health kick. So yeah, we're going on. Can't hang anymore. Ever since I turned 30, it's been downhill.
Starting point is 00:02:38 We know it's been three days and it's been downhill. Peter Pepper. So today we have a show that... We have a show. We have a show that I'm excited about. A little nervous, a little excited. You're like a little sweaty today. Are you like nervous about it?
Starting point is 00:02:55 I'm excited. No, I'm excited. So we're having my dad on the show. He'll be on in just a moment. Wait, let me back up. We're introducing your dad. He's never been on. He's never done any of our social media he's never been on the show um it's crazy because he does have a fake
Starting point is 00:03:10 snapchat account that he watches on sometimes like yeah it's called jetbed i see it so yeah we've never had him on the show we haven't a lot of you guys haven't been introduced to him yet but he's a character it's time he's a character and he'll the thing is is like we're going to introduce him in the show and then he'll come back on um we're going to go to europe this year with him and so we'll have him on then and we'll have him on a couple other times so you'll you'll get to hear his whole personality because it's a personality all right guys before we get into the interview with michael dad, I am going to talk to you about Kopari Beauty again because their line of beauty products are amazing. Their body products are some of my faves because there are no sulfate, no silicone, no GMO, and no parabens, and it's
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Starting point is 00:04:35 for you guys to try, I definitely would say it's Kopari's coconut body glow, because you can put it on your chest bones and your chest and it gives you like this perfect dewy like glow. I was wearing it in one of my Snapchats and you guys were like texting me over Snap and asking me what it was. And it just gives you, it's like not too oily, but it's like just kind of the perfect dewiness. So definitely try that one if you're going to pick one. It also makes you kind of shimmer. So say hello to the best skin and hair of your life with Kopari. Go to koparibeauty.com slash skinny to get 20% off your order. That's kopari, K-O-P-A-R-I, beauty.com slash skinny for 20% off.
Starting point is 00:05:18 Koparibeauty.com slash skinny. So before we introduce him, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back with my dad. Hey, everybody. I'm Heather Dubrow. And I'm Dr. Terry Dubrow. Every Friday, check out my podcast, Heather Dubrow's World. We also have a brand new show, The Dr. and Mrs. Guinea Pig Show, every Tuesday. So don't forget iTunes and Podcast One.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Tune in to Dr. and Mrs. Guinea Pig on Tuesdays and Heather Dubrow's World every Friday. This is The Skinny Confidential, him and her. All right, we're back from the break, geared up, ready to go. I would like to introduce someone. I don't even know where do I start here. In a nutshell, my best friend, business partner, mentor, fountain of knowledge, and my father, Gary Bostic. Hello, and it's nice to be on the show. Welcome to the show, big guy. Yeah, this is pretty interesting, never having done this sort of thing before.
Starting point is 00:06:12 I understand why you guys would be nervous, because for the first time I'm actually observing you and making sure that you're not doing anything that I wouldn't do. We probably are. Well, anything you wouldn't do falls on a broad spectrum because you do a lot. Well, I would say that's a very generous scale of conduct. But, you know, I still look at you guys as little kids that are still under my wing, even though you think you're not. Gary's known me since I was 12 years old.
Starting point is 00:06:43 Oh, my God. you're not so gary's known me since i was 12 years old oh my god i saw her first time i saw her she was walking along by my son and he looked like a like a dwarf next to her she was the tallest girl in the class and he was the shortest girl in the class girl i'm a girl now i've been referred to as a fiance and a girl okay well i mean a guy in the class and i had the biggest boobs I don't remember noticing that I think I think you were like 12 or maybe younger I was 12 and um I've known Michael's dad ever since then and he's seen the ups and ins and outs and curves of our relationship yeah I think when I saw her when she was 12 I looked at her and I thought she looked like she was about six two but of course she wasn't five seven she was only six but six feet but yeah i had puberty
Starting point is 00:07:26 before everyone else did so yes there's that okay so gary introduce yourself tell us about yourself tell everyone who doesn't know you all about the gear bear well we haven't got this is not going to be that long a program okay give us give us a quick summary we know we don't have that so let's hear a little backstory you're from a small town in Illinois. How did you end up living here in California? Well, it is a small town. My sister was out to visit us the other day. I left there in 1965, and the population has been steadily growing ever since then.
Starting point is 00:07:58 It's now up to 3,900 people. It's a gigantic metropolis. We flew over it once. I took my kids and we flew over it in our airplane. And I was trying to point out Marshall as we flew over it. And they missed it. I had to fly back around and circle it. I said, no, no, that's it right there. That's it. So Marshall, Illinois is the town, 3,900 people. How did you get, I know the story, but for those listening, how did you get here? How did you get to California, San Diego? I joined the Navy.
Starting point is 00:08:30 See the world. I joined the Navy and went on a special program where we were supposed to go to boot camp and then go to college at the Navy's expense and then give the Navy a year of officer duty for every year of college. Unfortunately, even though I scored rather high on all the exams, when I got to the boot camp, they discovered I was colorblind and not eligible to become an officer because you have to be able to see the red and green lights on ships.
Starting point is 00:09:02 So rather than, I didn't know I could have at that time, say, wait a minute, the deal's off. I just went into the boot camp, and I'll never forget that day as we walked through the gates of the boot camp. All the other guys in boot camp were sitting in the windows, leaning out the windows, yelling, you'll be sorry. I never forgot that day. Felt like, oh my God, what have I done?
Starting point is 00:09:27 Well, life's thrown you a lot of curve balls, I'd say. And we're going to get into it in the show because I want to hear your perspective on that when life does throw you curve balls. But so, okay, you're in the Navy. You thought you're going to be an officer. You're not. You're enlisted. How was that experience? Well well it's very interesting you know for an 18 year old kid from a little tiny town in illinois it's it's a way to get out of town if you can't afford college and you don't know what you want to do i i didn't know i still don't know what i want to do when i grow up and i'm 72 so i guess it's a life is life is an experience but you have to keep going forward just like i said when i got it out of at
Starting point is 00:10:05 the boot camp i just looked at it as there was no going back i've always uh if if i always advance and see what uh comes up next well you have made three amazing children and now i'm your other child you can talk about later how i'm your favorite. But tell us. You're the tallest. I'm the tallest. Not anymore. Not anymore, Michael Stoller. I got her by a few inches.
Starting point is 00:10:31 I don't know. Not by much. No, you really have made three incredible kids. And I want to know some of the values and the tips that you would give parents out there to instill. Because I always look at you and Lisa's parenting. Lisa's his wife and I'm envious of how amazing you guys have been and how great your kids are that's interesting
Starting point is 00:10:51 because basically about every friend we have told me I was doing it completely wrong because I always kind of taught my kids or treated my kids like little adults I I tried, rather than to try to tell them what to do, I tried to give them ways to figure out what I wanted them to do by their own desires. So it worked pretty good. I talked to my kids. I think Michael would agree. Even from the time they were little kids, I talked to them more like adults than like kids.
Starting point is 00:11:19 Wouldn't you say, Michael? No, well, we've talked about this a little bit in the past. I said, my parents never, you guys never babied me, I don't don't think like you never treated me like you know like you said you never treated me like a kid i always felt like we were having adult conversations i always felt like they were being honest with me i never felt you know it's funny i we talked a few weeks back that i've never done any drugs and it's not because uh it's it's not because i didn't ever have an urge it's because i was never curious about them like i always had conversations about that kind of stuff and drinking and partying. And it's not that I'm a square, but I just, there were certain things in life that I never felt like I had to go and
Starting point is 00:11:54 find out for myself because I was, you would, you always provided me examples like, listen, you can go do this. This is what will happen. These are my experiences. And if you want to do it, like good luck, but this is probably what you're looking at. And so I never had that urge to go and discover things. You know, there are certain things I've done. And there are certain things I look at and say, hey, that doesn't make a lot of sense because the consequences are dire. No, I think I taught you that I did a lot of drugs. And, you know, that was the era in the 70s and the 80s. And I found that every time, every drug i ever did made me
Starting point is 00:12:26 stupider when i finally got as stupid as i thought i ought to be i quit no and we're going to get into some of these crazy stories because i want to i want to hear about them and i think lauren wants to hear about them but i want to backtrack a little bit so you're in the navy you get out you're in your land in southern in Southern California from a small town. What was it like here back then? Because I know you've said it's changed a lot. Oh, yeah, it was small. What year is this, though?
Starting point is 00:12:52 1965. Okay. Yeah, I actually got out of the Navy up in Bremerton, Washington. Our ship that I was on was up there for a yard repair. And I'd gotten married at that time. I got married a few months before i got out of the navy that was a very short like a trial that's like a temp marriage i guess i was married for a couple of years no children no dogs no pets no alimony no harm no foul a starter wife
Starting point is 00:13:17 yeah start well sort of kind of yeah it was a it was a teaser. For lack of anything else. A preview. A preview. And then I waited a long, long, long time until I was almost 40 to get married again to your mother. How did you know that his mother was the one? Well, she wouldn't have anything to do with me, and I chased her and chased her until she caught me. Like father, like son. You guys have similarities there.
Starting point is 00:13:44 It took me roses once or twice a week every week for months and months i think almost six months to get her to go to lunch with me i didn't get roses every week you were a lot easier whoa no i wasn't that's true she told me she was had a boyfriend and she was pretty serious about it and he was going to get married and that was it i said nah you're not she's're not. And she said, why do, why do you think that? I said, because he'll put your feet to sleep and I'm more fun. Want to go to Rio.
Starting point is 00:14:12 So when she finally said yes, like how fast did it move from there to marriage? Oh, fairly, fairly, fairly quickly. When she finally said, yeah,
Starting point is 00:14:21 I think maybe six months or something like that. So you convinced her real quick, quite charming. said, yeah, I think maybe six months or something like that. So you convinced her real quick. Quite charming. Once she decided, yes, it was quick, but it took a while. The convincing was not so quick. Okay. All right. So you had to get uncomfortable to get comfortable.
Starting point is 00:14:37 So you've done a lot of different things in your life, but primarily real estate. How do you make the jump from, how do you make the jump from how do you how do you make the jump from young navy guy doesn't know shit from a small town doesn't have any money to real estate developer well i felt like you could get away with a lot more back then well you could but when you don't know shit you don't know what you don't see the problem so i just dove in i said if i knew then what i know now i would i would have never tried it because i would have known it was impossible i think we've said that about everything we've ever done yeah pretty much i didn't know but since i didn't know it was impossible i did it and
Starting point is 00:15:14 it worked out a friend of mine that i was in the navy with was in real estate and he persuaded me that this was the thing to do and so i did And I started to make a little bit of money. And I kept putting deals together for other people. And one day I decided that since I was having to do all the brain work to figure out if a project was viable, find a project, find out if it's viable, figure out how much it was going to cost, what the exit strategy is. I had to take a blueprint for an entire business plan to somebody in order to get them to buy a piece of land. Maybe I should just figure out how to buy the land and do it myself, and that's how we started. I had another partner that had a few bucks, and he was also a good businessman.
Starting point is 00:16:01 And we put our heads together together and we started doing buildings no it's interesting i mean i think the theme of that is a lot of people don't make the correlation that you know you don't really need to have every single piece to start to put to start putting something together you can start with a couple pieces and start kind of string them along as you go and before you know what you have all the pieces we didn't't even know if there were pieces. We just started. Hey, here's a piece. We're sitting at a table with a jigsaw puzzle on it. And that's kind of like the way business is.
Starting point is 00:16:33 You open a box of pieces up and you start trying to find a corner. And you just keep working from that point on. And when you open the box, you don't know if all the pieces are in there or not. You hope they are. And if they're not, well, tough shit. By the way, you guys, Gary's analogies are incredible. So just like get out a pen and paper because his analogies are kind of my favorite thing ever. I want him to write a book called Garyism.
Starting point is 00:16:57 There's probably been on this show a lot of quotes that have been repurposed from things that I've learned from you over the years. For sure. There's been a significant amount of plagiarism yeah well i mean shit i grow up listening to all these weird analogies and quotes and things like it's gonna you know it's gonna rub off eventually how was michael growing up michael was pretty interesting he was he was you never quite knew what to expect next like give us like the full like rundown uh there are so many things i don't i wouldn't even know where to start we'll start when he was little he was kind of a kind of mischief mischievous always into mischief there's a story i hesitate to even tell he was we were trying to teach him
Starting point is 00:17:41 to be potty trained and we got him potty trained and then he decided he didn't want to be potty trained. Oh my goodness. He'd come and get a diaper and go over in the corner. Whoa, between that story and the pepper in your tooth. Well, this is starting off on a great tangent for me. You can see now why I was a little nervous to bring you on to the show. Nothing like starting out with that story. So that's all i did i mean
Starting point is 00:18:05 other than that i was a perfect young man i used to go up and down we had this we had this really cool condominium down at the beach and it had a curved stairs and he was just kind of learning to walk and he learned how to go up and down the stairs but not like most babies backing down slow he just turned and and like like going down a log slide, he just zoomed. You couldn't catch him. If you chased him and he got to the curving stairs, you're not going to catch him. He's quick. He's very quick.
Starting point is 00:18:34 Yeah, Michael's quick. He's very quick. He's quick in every sense. Yes. He's quick. In every sense. Yeah, in every sense. Oh, there we go.
Starting point is 00:18:42 Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. So, okay. So when he was in like seventh, eighth, ninth high school, like what was his personality? Because you guys had a really close relationship. And I remember when you took him to Europe and he had this whole epiphany in Europe when he was in like eighth grade. Oh, God. Here we go. We can start that.
Starting point is 00:19:02 But I was going to say before we, even before we did that, he had all these friends, Rocco and Dante, and I don't know, I can't even remember all their names. The only reason you remember Rocco and Dante
Starting point is 00:19:11 is because they still work for us. They still work for us, yeah. And what's the cook? Steven? Steven. Steven Sandoval.
Starting point is 00:19:18 Oh, my God. And I don't get all the names. He's not the best with names, you guys. Remembering names for you guys in the audience doesn't mean a goddamn thing because you don't know who these people are either. They might know some of them. But they make movies.
Starting point is 00:19:31 And I'd go out and I'd look in the back room. They'd come and get my video camera. And these guys are out in the back room, backyard. We've got a big backyard. And they're making movies, Batman movies and Star Wars movies. And I figured he was going to be a film producer and now he's sort of this isn't film but he's into entertainment. Well I've been slowly
Starting point is 00:19:49 I've been slowly you know creeping into the spotlight and I haven't told Lauren. I think we still have those tapes of those movies. I know let's hope I know they're here somewhere. Let's let's not go let's not worry about those So then you took him to Europe though remember when you had to go to Europe, honey?
Starting point is 00:20:06 Yeah. Why? That was one of the best things. Yeah, therapy. No, my dad did not like the way I was behaving at the time. And we took a boys' trip together, and it gave me a lot of perspective. Yeah, Michael was in junior high school, and he had the pants hanging down to his ass. And his hat turned on backwards and a baggy
Starting point is 00:20:25 t-shirt and so i i decided i had to do something because he was turning into an idiot oh my god i took him i said okay we're gonna go to europe and he says oh okay why we're just gonna be a lot of fun so you kind of like cars i said i'm gonna take you to the I'm going to get you a tour of the Ferrari factory and the Porsche factory. Mercedes factory. Take you a lot. We spent quite a lot. We went a lot of places. I said, but if we're going to go, you got to do a couple of things.
Starting point is 00:20:55 What's that? Well, you got to get some pants that fit and you got to get a blazer and you got to ditch the hat on the back of your head. At the time, a blazer was like a no-no for me. I was going through a phase. He says, why? I said, because I'm going to introduce you to some really interesting people and I don't want them to think my son's a dipshit. So he did.
Starting point is 00:21:16 He dressed normally and we go to Europe and we got to do a lot of things. But we were driving into Paris the first time. We were in Paris on a bright, sunny day. And he says, Dad, I thought Europe was darker. I think he'd been watching all those Frankenstein movies and things. Goosebumps. But we did a lot of things. He met a bunch of different, personally met Formula One drivers.
Starting point is 00:21:41 We went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Well, let's back up here and the reason this is possible i will i'll tell you this but the reason this is possible is because you used to go you used to travel over these places a lot so you you you met a lot of really crazy interesting people over the years so a lot of these people we met were just guys you used to run around with probably in that era when you were not behaving we ran we were we were involved in with a a famous racing team dick barber racing in a limited financial way and wait what the hell does that mean limited financial way well we we put up we were we put some money into the team
Starting point is 00:22:19 you know all these guys these racing teams unless you know you're Donald Trump or somebody, they have sponsors. So we had some money in that. So we went all over the world, and we were in Le Mans a couple of different years. This team was the world champion Porsche endurance racing team in 1978 and 79. So I got to know a lot of drivers, Nicky Lauda, guys like that. I don't think a lot of them. Rob Stallman and, oh,, and Johnny Rutherford. I can't even think of all the names that drove for that team. So I knew a lot of people.
Starting point is 00:22:52 Did this investment pan out, or how did your racing team end up? No, it wasn't a big investment. I mean, my business partner had the money in it for the most part, and he got his, I'd say broke even, except for the expenses. We had expenses out, but we met. Yeah, I'm sure those expenses were right on the books. Yeah, well, we had a lot of fun. Did you get over our breakup when you went to Europe? Because that's the first time we broke up.
Starting point is 00:23:18 You know, that Europe trip was probably, I would say, one of the better things that have happened for me in my life. But not just because of the time we got to spend together, but because what the travel did to my field of vision and my perspective I had on the world, when I got back, my thought process was just completely changed. That's when I, that's around the time I was always into reading, but I got much more into reading. I got much more into history. Um, I got much more into different cultures and languages and kind of figuring out and, and realize, like, wow, the world is a lot bigger than you think it is. And so it just, it kind of, it felt like somebody turned the lights on in my head.
Starting point is 00:23:52 No, you came back from Europe. You're a totally different person. I mean, your personality changed completely. You're much more grown up and much more focused. You were just a much, much, much improved person. It worked so well, I took each of my children, when they were about 14, I took them to Europe, and we spent a month or so, and went to a lot of different places,
Starting point is 00:24:16 and it's had a very positive effect on all the kids. You know, not everybody has the opportunity to do that, but for anybody that does, I suggested my youngest daughter, Michael's sister Tara, actually when she was 15 in junior high school, came to us and said, I want to go to Europe for a year. Yeah, right, you're 15. No, she says, I want to go on this AFS foreign exchange student thing. And his mother and I looked at each other and I said, ah, we'd already taken her to Europe. I mean, she'd been over there, but like for a trip with us. And I'm thinking she's 15 years old.
Starting point is 00:24:49 She's going to go to Europe for a year. But she did and came back a completely changed person. She's, and then she went to, when she was a senior in high school, she spent six months in just outside Paris in a little town called Cheville out by the Palace of Versailles and speaks fluent French. And now we're all learning French. Michael's learning French. He calls me up and he says,
Starting point is 00:25:11 Dad, I got this website called Duolingo. It's an app. It's an app. Oh, it's a website too, I guess you're right. So he says, yeah, I'm learning French. So I got to thinking, I'm not going to let him do that if I don't get to do that.
Starting point is 00:25:23 I've been in French school though too. I just had a class this morning. Oh, good for you. I'm still working to let him do that if I don't get to do that. I've been in French school, though, too. I just had a class this morning. Oh, well, good for you. I'm still working on my computer. But I got a doctor now. I got a new doctor that speaks French, so I spoke French to him today, so la-di-da. Whoa. You also took me to Europe at 21.
Starting point is 00:25:37 We did. We took you to Europe. And how was my packing situation? Oh, God. We told Lauren we got to pack light. One bag, light. I've never been to Europe before. My wife and I now, we can travel to Europe in one medium suitcase for the two of us, or two carry-on bags, and have more clothes than we need.
Starting point is 00:25:59 The lighter you travel, the better you travel. That's just the bottom line. Everybody takes too much stuff. But Lauren shows up and sure enough, she's got one suitcase, but it looked like one of those Louis Vuitton trunks. It was soft-sided, but it must have been, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:26:14 three by four by three, and it needed a dolly to pick it up. We asked what the hell is in there? We looked at it. I don't know how many pairs. She must have had nine pairs of tennis shoes exactly alike, different colors. Nine pairs of tennis shoes, different colors. We took, the limo was waiting to take us to the airport,
Starting point is 00:26:34 and Michael and Lauren and my wife were unpacking her bag as fast as they could. They probably took 100 pounds out of it, and still it was unmanageable. We were shipping stuff. When we got to every place we went, we would take another huge amount of stuff out of Lawrence Banks and send it somewhere. Send it on to someplace else or back to the United States. If Snapchat would have existed then, everyone would see a much different picture because I was so pissed off carrying this thing around through airports it was bigger than michael we went to it wasn't that bad
Starting point is 00:27:10 we weren't with you guys at this part of the trip lauren and i were off on our own but we went to venice and i had to load this thing into the boat well i think i didn't i think one of the drivers said i quit yeah no no it was just me loading this thing i wanted i almost just threw it in the in the canal i'm a better packer now. No, we've figured it out now. We've figured it out. I'm more efficient. Only six pairs of shoes.
Starting point is 00:27:30 The same color. No, here's what I do now. I'm actually really diabolical about it. I only bring two pairs, and then I realize when I get there, I need another pair. They sell them. Yeah, so Michael needs to go take me to get a pair. So I've gotten smarter i i read once or a guy said to me once the best way to travel is to take a small bag of clothes and a large bag of money and you don't
Starting point is 00:27:52 need with credit cards you don't need the large bag of money so just take a small bag of clothes you're done you give me your credit card um so we're off this year to Europe with you. Um, and are you excited for this trip? Oh yeah. I'm gonna, we're gonna have fun. I'm gonna, I'm gonna meet a, meet a friend of ours over there and they know the friend Moose Knuckle. Who?
Starting point is 00:28:18 Moose Knuckle. That's his radio name. Moose Knuckle. Oh, Moose Knuckle. Moose Knuckle. Moose Knuckle. Oh, Moose Knuckle. Biggest package. Moose Knuckle is in the car business, and one of the companies they have is a Porsche dealership, so we're picking up two brand new Porsches, I believe a Turbo S and a GTS in Leipzig.
Starting point is 00:28:38 So you guys are, this is where I worry, because Alex, Moose Knuckle, is supposed to pick up these cars, and I hope that whoever... Wait, and Alex works at the Porsche dealership. You have to explain the manager he's the general manager but so just to be clear you guys are supposed to bring these cars back in one piece to be sold I never promised that yes I never made any representations of any type I said I would come on the trip and drive one of the cars yeah I'm fully worried that these two cars are not going to come back in the condition that they're supposed to. That's why you have insurance. Speaking.
Starting point is 00:29:11 You just have to be sure you can locate most of the big parts. Speaking of cars, there's a story. And it's really maybe irrelevant to this conversation. But I just think it's also very relevant. Because you used to play a game. And there's just no way in hell you would ever get away with this anymore. And this, you know,
Starting point is 00:29:27 sometimes I'm happy to be alive in 2017 because there's so many great things and technology and Uber and, you know, postmates. And there's a lot of stuff that makes life easier. But I also sometimes think like, man, you can't get away with nearly half the stuff you guys got away with.
Starting point is 00:29:42 Can you tell them the game you used to play in your cars called Bump Bump? It wasn't called Bump Bump. It was called Unsmash. Unsmash. Okay. Unsmash. Well, you have to understand that in those days, cars had bumpers. You know, big old chrome, huge rubber cushioned bumpers.
Starting point is 00:29:57 So this friend of mine and I, we used to, we always drove fast, and we liked to play this game where you just come up behind each other and just give them a little tap. You'd be running along about 100 miles an hour and come up behind them and just give them a little NASCAR bump. Is that a tap at 100 miles an hour? Yeah, well, it's the relative speed. Maybe he was going 100, and I'd come up behind him at about 101.
Starting point is 00:30:18 That sounds safe. Just enough to give them a little bump, a little bump. We used to do that to each other all the time, and it was mostly fun when you could catch the other guy unsuspecting. You know, you're driving along, and I'm driving along the freeway, and I see him in his car up ahead of me. He doesn't even know I'm on the road. I just run up behind him and give him a little bump. We used to do that all the time.
Starting point is 00:30:35 We thought it was funny as hell. So we're over in Europe, and that's how we got there and why is another long story. But to make a long story short in this segment, we were driving through France, and we were in this big rented Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL, which is a big-ass car over there in those days. And we're going along in France. And for those of you who don't know, there's a little car about the size of a Volkswagen Bug called a Duceve, a 2CV. It's a little Renault car that's maximum speeds maybe 55, 60 miles an hour. We're coming along down the road running about 120, and there's some big trucks up ahead of us, and this little car pulls out from in between them and gets in the fast lane.
Starting point is 00:31:24 So in europe you you kind of blink your lights and people pull out of your way and if they don't then you you turn on your left blinker to say hey are you paying attention and if that doesn't work then you flash your lights and honk your horn and we're doing all that stuff and these guys are looking out the back window and just laughing at us because they we were they knew we were trying to go fast and they're just puttering along about 50. So were they not letting you go around them? No, they were just staying right beside the big semi truck.
Starting point is 00:31:51 Intentionally or? Yeah, intentionally. So we're getting a little frustrated. So my friend said, why don't you just get up there and give them a little unsmash? I said, okay, we'll do that. So I just kind of creeped up on there. I couldn't hit him very hard. The bumper would fall off if you hit it with a
Starting point is 00:32:07 badminton ballad. But I just pulled up behind him, and once I got the bumper on him, I started pushing him, and I pushed him faster and faster. We got up well over a hundred mile an hour in this car. These things look like they're made out of corrugated metal, and
Starting point is 00:32:23 the doors are flapping, and the windows don't roll down. They just kind of open out at the bottom. They swing out, and the windows are flopping like bird wings. We're pushing them down the road about 100, and after, I don't know, a couple of miles, I slowed down and let them get off the front bumper, and they pulled off the side of the road the way we went. See, if you did that, well, first of all, those people are lucky to be alive. No, no, we've...
Starting point is 00:32:46 That was really... I know exactly what to do. Yeah, no problem pushing somebody down the road at 100 miles an hour that doesn't want to be pushed down the road. Well, it was fun. If you did that in 2017, you would be in jail faster than you can get off the freeway. Yeah, but it's no fun anymore. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:01 Yeah, you're right. It is no fun anymore. We have political correctness. That's true. We do. I'm sure I would have been called all sorts of all those politically correct names. I'm sure you would have and more. So speaking, you know, speaking of 2017 and technology, you know, we work together now.
Starting point is 00:33:17 We work together at JetBet. I think we make a good team. I think we've done a lot. How has technology changed and impacted business since you got started? Because I know when you got started, I remember growing up and looking at your work, and you had all these yellow pads and all these notebooks. Wait, wait, wait. You still don't have yellow pads, though.
Starting point is 00:33:34 Yeah. Yeah, but I just use them for drawing sketches and stuff for the most part, making little notes. No, well, when we first started, we had probably the first portable telephones, car phones, in San Diego. In those days, a car phone was the size of a medium-sized suitcase, and they bolted it into your bumper. And you had the handset wired into your car. So did you have to talk into it in your trunk? No, you didn't have to talk to it in the trunk. You had a handset inside the car.
Starting point is 00:34:03 It would be difficult to drive down the road and get in the trunk. I understand that. I thought it was like you had to get out of the car and open the trunk. No, no, no. It had a handset. But to make a call, you didn't dial a number. You just pushed a button, and it would blink. And it would blink until a central operator, until a line would come open,
Starting point is 00:34:21 and they would ask you who you wanted to talk to, or they'd connect you to wherever you're going. That was space age in those days. I mean, I think there were 25 or 30. San Diego was a million people, maybe close. I don't think there were more than 25 or 30 people who had those things at the time. That was space age. So we ran our original development company out.
Starting point is 00:34:42 We had boxes of bankers' boxes of papers and stuff and we're building buildings and keeping all the records in the trunk of the car and our offices wherever our cars were it was pretty cool we built millions of dollars worth of buildings before we ever had a secretary or an office those things were just overhead and we didn't want any of that the reason i wanted you to talk about this is because i think there's so many people now that put so many limitations on themselves in terms of getting stuff done. And it was, I mean, while you guys had less, I would say less regulation, there was a lot more hurdles that you had to go through. I mean, now if you want to get in the real estate business, you pick up your phone or your computer, you Google a few things, you look at some properties, you pull up all the records and it's done in you know 10 20 minutes no you all had to do it all with shoe leather and and cars and we used to we used to even in those days we used to get helicopters about once or twice a year and
Starting point is 00:35:33 just go fly around to see where development was going on because flying around in a helicopter you can see uh you can see you can see in 20 or 30 minutes what you you couldn't see in two two weeks you see now people just pull up google earth or google minutes what you couldn't see in two weeks or two weeks. You see now people just pull up Google Earth or Google Maps. Well, they didn't have that then. No, I know. But I guess my point is, you know, when you think about how technology has affected your current businesses and the industries that you've been in now, what do you do? You think it's been a good thing?
Starting point is 00:36:02 Do you think it's made it easier, made it harder? What do you do? You think it's been a good thing? Do you think it's made it easier, made it harder? What do you think? No, I think I think that the government is gradually destroying the opportunities for young, especially young people, just because of all the regulations and restrictions. You really couldn't do what we did in those days. I think I saw an interview with the founder of Home Depot. He said if he was starting out today, he couldn't have started Home Depot. And it's a shame because what you need in order to be successful is to have an idea and figure out how to put it together. And if everything you're trying to do in order to make your dream come true is prohibited and restricted by regulations or has hoops that you have to jump through that are almost impossible and that cost money to do.
Starting point is 00:36:50 I mean, the first building that I built, we found a piece of property. We hired an architect. We drew some plans. We went down to the city and got a building permit. And in less than six months, I'd say four or five months, we were building. The last little building I built took four and a half years to go through the government process to get a permit. That's crazy. But I would argue with you that I think that nowadays it forces you to get more creative to reach your full potential.
Starting point is 00:37:20 And not only that, that the Internet has made it possible to not have to start maybe a Home Depot that's brick and mortar. Well, let's look at it. But go online. Let's look at it from this level. Like, you know, 30 years ago to do what we're doing right now on this show wouldn't be possible. No. And I was referring to starting. I was qualifying my remarks, for example, specifically to becoming a real estate developer to building buildings
Starting point is 00:37:45 there's so let me rephrase my question you have to understand is the hard part is to get from the beginning to profitability at the beginning most everything you start is at least at the very beginning is is not profitable. So if you're sitting there where maybe you could start something, if the non-profitable period of time is four or six months, you can survive that. But if the non-profitability gets stretched out into years, almost no one who's starting can get through, can last. So you're specifically talking about real estate. Oh, no, even in all sorts of businesses.
Starting point is 00:38:28 I want to talk more specifically not about regulation, but technology and what it's, like, for example, when we do Jetbed, we wouldn't be able to do this business without the internet. Absolutely true. So what I'm trying to point out is, while things were maybe less regulated back then, there's now some newer opportunities. So I guess the point I'm trying to point out is while things were maybe less regulated back then, there's now some newer opportunities.
Starting point is 00:38:46 So I guess the point I'm trying to make is there's a lot of people that complain because things aren't the way they used to be. And I think you're a perfect example of somebody who's evolved. You're an older person. You started in real estate. Now we have JEPA and some other things. But the business that you started in this market wouldn't have been possible when you were starting a long time ago. No, that's true. There are more problems, but there are also different opportunities.
Starting point is 00:39:13 And to get to those different opportunities, you have to have a lot of knowledge. And you also have to have nerve. I tell people the world's greatest idea never made anybody a penny. I love that quote when you say that. It's true. Think about it. You have the greatest idea in the history of man. Probably got it from you. And if you don't do anything with it, if you don't actually put it into
Starting point is 00:39:35 effect, execution is where you make money. Ideas valueless, completely valueless without execution. I think there's a lot of young people that are kind of getting a slap in the face with that because there's so many stories of, hey, this person raised this amount of money. Or I have an idea for an app
Starting point is 00:39:51 or I have an idea for a website. I also think it's funny because I remember when I had an idea for the Skinny Confidential, I never talked about it. I didn't talk around town. I didn't tell what I was going to do. I did it.
Starting point is 00:40:02 And I think that I see nowadays a lot of people talking about their idea around town, but there's no execution in place. Yes. Yeah, I watched you do this. You did it. You were all execution. You just started doing it. Doing it, doing it, doing it doing it doing it doing it there's nothing that succeeds in life like perseverance and determination and no and and and not quitting and keeping your blinders on so you
Starting point is 00:40:32 you know this kind of leads me into a question i was going to ask you later but i think it's relevant now you've been through a lot of ups and downs made money lost money made money lost money making money is more fun yeah but you've also been through a lot of personal up and downs. What advice would you give to young people when things get tough? I think the advice I would give them is the advice that almost anybody that's lived very long would give the same advice. As the old saying, it's not how many times you're up to bat and strike out. It's how many times you get back up.
Starting point is 00:41:06 I guess it's better to say how many times you get back up. I guess it's better to say how many times you get knocked down. It's not important. It's how many times you get up. You can't quit. Determination is the key to anything and everything. Of course, it's also a good idea to figure out if what you're determined to do
Starting point is 00:41:20 is going to work. That's true. Otherwise, you can have a long and determined life and not do very well. That's true. But so, I mean, that's like you said, that's a, some good blanket advice, but can you give, is there examples of times in your life when you've felt like not getting up, but did, and now looking back on it, I would say everything I ever did, there were moments when I thought, what in the hell am I doing?
Starting point is 00:41:47 I'm going to quit this, but I didn't. Every single building, every single project. Keep in mind that the deals that I did, for the most part, I have great admiration for you guys that can figure out how to raise money publicly because I couldn't do that. I either had to get a single partner or I had to do it with my own money.
Starting point is 00:42:07 I never figured, if I could have figured out how to raise capital, I think I would have done a lot more things. But when you're doing that, one of the ways you raise capital is to sign your name on loans. And I can't tell you how many times I've put everything I owned and everything I could borrow on the line and had to live with the consequences. And for the most part, uh, I won, but there was at least one time in the late eighties when I put everything on the line and lost everything and millions and millions
Starting point is 00:42:41 and millions besides. And that was hard to come back from, but. And you had kids then. So you're rock bottom at that time. You have kids. I told my wife if I could win the $5 million publishers clearing house, I could be broke maybe. So let's, let's dive into that a little bit because I want people to understand when you're that down and you're that far under and you've got a young family and kids and there's all that pressure on you. How did you like mentally? How do you deal with that? Very hard.
Starting point is 00:43:08 It's very hard. Very. But the secret, one of the secrets to that is whatever you do, do it honorably. Keep your word. Don't weasel out and find ways to stiff your friends or stiff people you owe money to. I believe that the fact that everything I did was honorable and everybody got paid out and I ended up making a lot more money again was because people trusted me.
Starting point is 00:43:38 So if people trust you, they'll help you. But if they decide that you're not trustworthy, then you're really gone. That's your reputation. And you only get one of those and you got to keep it no matter what. Speaking of trust and integrity, you and your wife's relationship, I think, is based on the foundation of that. Yeah, I would say. What do you mean you would say? You know it is. And I think you've given that trait to your son, which is why I'm so in love with him. And it's a charming personality. Well, if you're honorable and you don't do things that you don't want to speak out, have everybody know, then that's just the way it is.
Starting point is 00:44:12 I mean, I always treated people like I wanted to be treated. I wouldn't want my wife to cheat on me, so I don't cheat on her. Guys, take notes. If there's guys listening in the audience pull out your composition girls too no especially girls are nasty really so is there like an unspoken also the most jealous people are the people who are planning to cheat themselves true so is there an unspoken thing that you and lisa have done that's really worked for you is there a relationship tip that
Starting point is 00:44:50 you guys have been together for how long well in my case she's a second degree black belt in karate and i would be terrified yeah she'd kick your ass yeah there'd be no there'd be no coming back and just so you guys know his wife is hot l Lisa's hot. She is. She's very, very pretty. Um, so do you mean she's, she has her boundaries. So,
Starting point is 00:45:11 so can you give us a relationship that's really worked for you and Lisa? Cause you guys have been married for how long? Uh, we've been together since 1982. Okay. Married, married for since I think we got married in 84, 83 or 84 i can't
Starting point is 00:45:25 remember now okay so long all right so what's the relationship tip what's one of the secrets well i always tell people it's because i'm hard of hearing say what you say i know i've told this unless you told me a long time ago i said dad how the you know i tell this all the time i said you know i love mom obviously and you guys are still together and i don't want you to be with anybody else and it's great but you know people women can mom, obviously, and you guys are still together, and I don't want you to be with anybody else, and it's great. But, you know, women can be a pain in the ass sometimes. I asked my dad, I said, how the fuck have you been married so long? He said, son, I don't speak and I don't hear.
Starting point is 00:45:55 Actually, I think my daughter, Jordan, has engaged to a very, very nice guy. They're not engaged. Are they engaged? Well, they might as well be. Nico, you just got called out, man. Whoa. The're not engaged. Are they engaged? Well, they might as well be. Nico, you just got called out, man. Whoa. The pressure is there. That's off you.
Starting point is 00:46:08 Sometimes they would get in some fighting. And I told Nico, I said, Nico, I'm going to give you some really good advice. He says, what's that? I said, when you absolutely positively have to say something, don't. Michael, are you writing that down? I've actually said that on this show. I told you there's been a lot of this guy's advice. You shorten a lot of fights
Starting point is 00:46:28 if one person just shuts up and just lets it go over your head. Just shut up. There's also some other advice he gave me. Just shut up, Michael. It says even if you win a fight with your wife, you lose. Oh, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:46:41 Because you'll be paying slowly. You'll be paying for it in 20 years. Remember that fight back in 97? You do need to take a couple notes you know yeah just don't fight just shut up yep so what's cooking good looking me with my big box of blue apron whoa michael made me the spinach and fresh mozzarella pizza with olives, bell peppers, and ricotta. And I threw a little chili flake on there to make it spicy. And it was insane. And don't forget about the sweet and sour salmon with the bok choy, carrot, and ginger fried rice.
Starting point is 00:47:18 Yeah, you guys, that's right. He thinks he's a chef. You can hear it in his tone. Ever since we've been getting Blue Apron, he just is in the kitchen. He puts his apron on. It's super creepy. I got my whole office on it too. All these guys that didn't think they could do it, Dante was in there the other day. He's killing it. Wesson was killing it. Taylor. Everyone's cooking up a storm.
Starting point is 00:47:41 I mean, it's just so efficient. Here's the deal. It's all spaced out for you. You don't have to go to the store and buy all these ingredients that comes in a box. It's cold. It's ready to go. The beef, the chicken, the pork comes from responsibly raised animals. And it's just, I just feel like cooking together is fun. Well, one of my buddies came and said, well, why can't I just go to the grocery store and buy all the ingredients myself? I said, you can, but it's really annoying to go and do that. You know, I don't have time to go to the grocery store. A lot of men don't have time. A lot of women don't have time. What's better than just having it show up at your door pre-portioned so you don't have to measure anything out. Waste time. I just show up, throw on the apron, act like Mario Batelli.
Starting point is 00:48:14 I'm ready to go. I'm cooking up a bok choy. Don't even know what that is. Yeah, you guys, he actually. And it was good. Wear an apron though. It's really weird just because, you know, thinks he's a full chef. Anyways, it's affordable.
Starting point is 00:48:28 There's lots of variety. It's flexible. It's easy. It's guaranteed. Check out this week's menu and get your first three meals free. That's insane with free shipping. You got to at least try it, you know? Yeah, you got to try it. Nothing to lose. By going to blueapron.com slash him and her. You will love how good it feels and tastes to create incredible home cook meals with blue apron. So don't wait. That's blueapron.com slash him and her blue apron, a better way to cook. So before we get going, I have a question, a big topic here on this show, or a lot of questions that I get is about reading because I read a lot. And I think you're one of the primary reasons that I read so much or not. I don't want to say you're the reason I read because I read a lot and I think you're one of the primary reasons that I read so much or not I don't see you're the reason I read because I read multiple but I think you're the person
Starting point is 00:49:10 I told you I was I was reading books to you when you're still before you were born so reading you read like I mean you're basically a book with legs why is it so important and what advice did you give to young people like why they should read because the more you you read, the more, you know, the more, you know,
Starting point is 00:49:29 the, the, the more of the better vision you have for what's around you. I mean, I, I, I honestly, there's, there are people like I can't even begin to have a conversation with because they don't know anything. I mean, they, they,'t know anything. They don't even know what they don't know. They have no clue about anything in the world. That's why those trips to Europe and stuff was so educational to the kids because they got to see that there were whole civilizations, whole ways of life, whole cultures, that they had absolutely no idea even existed,
Starting point is 00:50:06 let alone know anything about those things. How often do you read? Oh, every day. Every day. Every day. How many books a week, if you had to average? Three. I always see you reading.
Starting point is 00:50:16 Yeah. And you read on your Kindle, preferably. Well, now I read on my iPhone 6 Plus because it's big enough to read, yeah. Or Nook. I mainly read on Nook, not Kindle, but only because the Nook was connected with Barnes & Noble and they had a bigger variety of books. But I read everything. And if there's something that gets my interest, you guys Google. I mean, you can Google a lot of stuff, but Googling a subject is not the same thing as reading a book about it.
Starting point is 00:50:47 It doesn't need to be the nonfiction. You'll find so many incredible facts just reading fiction because the guy that wrote the book had to have some information in order to make the book interesting. You'll find out lots and lots of true things reading fiction. I want to also point out, you're not college educated. No. And you come from a small town. But you've had, you know, you've founded a lot of successful projects and companies. I know a lot about a lot of things.
Starting point is 00:51:15 I think the one correlation that I would make and the one observation I would make about my dad throughout my life, and this is where the point I was trying to make really what's rubbed off of me is seeing somebody come from the place that you came from and having such a wealth of knowledge in so many subjects i think that if you hadn't read so much and handed things i don't think you'd have nearly the success that you've had no no it's uh you don't need to be a specialist since It's better to know a lot about little things than to be a specialist in something nobody gives a damn about. The point is, though, you can come from any beginnings,
Starting point is 00:51:52 any humble beginnings, and if you pick up some books and gain some knowledge, there's a lot that can be possible. And execute. Execute, yeah. So before we go, if we can leave the audience with one tip, like an overall tip, one of your best Gary-isms, what would it be? Those things have to come spontaneously. I don't have one right to pick out right at the moment.
Starting point is 00:52:13 You have so many of them. You have to leave them with one. Penny, what's your favorite one? It could be a life tip. It could be a relationship tip. It could be... A life tip is read the wall street journal every day great tip why seriously i've i started making my kids read the wall street journal
Starting point is 00:52:33 and inevitably just the front page just glance at the front page i'm not saying read stock charts and all that junk you'll never people unless you're unless you're doing that as a specialized business, that's stupid information you'll never use for anything. But just read the front page, and then there's a column on the left-hand side that has a bunch of different topics. Just glance through those. Some days you'll glance through them, and there'll be nothing that really gets your interest.
Starting point is 00:53:00 And sometimes there'll be several things that you can't learn enough about. And then always read the editorial page. I think it's the only honest newspaper in the country anymore but if you would read that i remember i think michael i think when he was reading it when he first started and i think after about a month or so he came to me he says dad he says well none of my friends know anything. That's true. None of them know shit still.
Starting point is 00:53:30 That's I think that's the exact word he used. I don't think he didn't say they didn't know anything. I think he said they don't know shit. All right. Well, Gary will be back on when we're in Europe. We're going to have him on again. And thanks for telling the story of me shitting myself as a kid. That's wonderful.
Starting point is 00:53:45 I thought it was important that your audience knows. You couldn't have come in and been like, you know, Michael was just a great guy, like super ambitious, always smart. You had to come in with, he shits himself.
Starting point is 00:53:52 Yeah. I don't know how turned on I am between that pepper in your tooth and the shitting yourself story, but we'll have to talk about that later. You might not have gone after him. Probably not. True. All right, you guys make sure you're subscribed to the skinny confidential,
Starting point is 00:54:04 him and her podcast on iTunes. Follow us on Snapchatchat at lauren everett's and at michael bostick unfortunately you can't follow gary because he has a secret uh pseudo snapchat name um but he will definitely be back on and make sure you're rating reviewing and telling your friends thanks guys and thanks dad see you Bye. Thanks for listening to the Skinny Confidential, Him and Her, with Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic. Download new episodes every Tuesday at PodcastOne.com or
Starting point is 00:54:33 subscribe now on the Podcast One app. Hey, this is Richard Marks, the host of Song Talks right here on Podcast One. Listen right now to my interview with Jane Lynch. Acapella in this most beautiful arrangement. It was just... By the way, thank you for saying acapella and not acapello. Or avocado.
Starting point is 00:54:52 Can you do that avocado? Check out Song Talks every Wednesday at PodcastOne.com, the Podcast One app, or subscribe at iTunes.

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